“Hey, Jinwoo.”
“Oh…sorry. Mr. Park.”
“Yes,” Jinwoo said.
“Do you know Heejin Kang?”
“Of course. She’s one of the hottest stars right now.”
“Well, I’m good friends with her,” I bragged. I mean, it’s true after all.
“Yeah, I know,” Jinwoo said in response, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Wait…really?”
“Of course. There’s nothing I don’t know about you…except for your real identity.”
“My real identity?”
“You know. Whether or not you’re an alien…”
“You’re…”
I almost called him a crazy bastard on the spot, but luckily, I refrained myself.
“Anyways, Heejin asked me a favor.”
“You talking about You From the Star?”
“How do you know about that?”
“The president of U Entertainment called me.”
“Oh. Really?”
Well, that was fast.
“So, are you going to do it?”
“Yes.”
“Oh?” Jinwoo said, his eyes becoming wide. He added, “I can’t remember the last time you agreed to something this fast.”
“That’s because I never did.”
“Amazing.”
“I know.”
“But, Sian?”
“Yes?”
“It could be dangerous. The fight scene is intense.”
“It’s fine.”
Really, it is. It’s my opponent who has more to worry about.
“You have to do wire stunts as well.”
“Wire stunts? Do I really have to do that?” I asked.
“Of course. You want to do this properly, don’t you?” Jinwoo said.
“Well, of course.”
“Anyways, they’re having professional stuntmen work with you before filming.”
“They are?” I said, making a face.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Seriously. Why? I don’t need anyone to work with me. I was the best of the best during my time.
“What do you mean why? You need to work with professionals and learn how to fight.”
“But I know how to fight.”
“Fighting in real life is different from fight scenes in dramas.”
“Okay.”
Fine. We’ll just see if that’s truly the case.
“So you’re doing it, right?”
“Yeah.”
And that’s how I was confirmed for the drama. Then again, I can’t say I was too enthusiastic about the idea.
As soon as I left the office, I called Heejin.
Ring ring. Click.
She picked up right away. It’s like she’d been waiting for my call.
– Sian!
“Hey, Heejin. I’m doing it.”
– I know! I just heard!”
“Oh, good.”
– Hey, Sian, where are you right now?
“In your heart~”
– Hehe. Sian, you’re so cute!
“….”
I’m thirty years old…
– Are you free? Let’s meet up!
“Sure,” I agreed. I might as well take this chance to ask her more about the drama.
***
“Get in,” I said to Heejin as I rolled down my window. I was at the U Entertainment building. That is, I drove to the building in my own car to pick her up. It was the Genesis that Nayoung’s father had gifted me.
“Oh my god!” Heejin exclaimed. She ran over and got into the passenger seat, looking all around the car. She let out a gasp.
“Oh my god, Sian! This car is so cool!”
“I got it as a gift.”
“From who?”
“The CEO of Saman Group.”
“Really? That’s so cool!”
“I know, right?” I said with a smile. I stepped on the gas and soon, we sped off.
“What should we eat?” I asked.
“I want a burger!”
“A burger?”
“Yeah!”
“Okay.”
Burgers sounded nice. A little young for my taste, but Heejin was still a baby herself if you’d ask me.
“Hey, Sian.”
“Yeah?”
“Where are we going?”
“The Han river.”
Suddenly, Heejin let out a shy giggle. I swear, if I was in a man’s body…
“What’s with the laugh?”
“It’s my first time going to the Han River with someone. Like a date!”
“Oh.”
It was my first time as well. The thought of my having first Han river date with Heejin made me rather happy.
“Have you been to the Han river before with your boyfriend?”
“My boyfriend? I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Of course I don’t have one. And I never will.
“Like never.”
“Yep. I’m SFL.”
“What’s SFL?”
“Single for life.”
“Pfft.”
Heejin laughed again.
I added, “I don’t plan on ever having a boyfriend.”
“Why not? Do you hate men?”
“With a passion,” I said with a firm nod. All men were trash.
“Really? Why? Then, do you like girls?”
“Yep.”
“Wait, you’re not…”
“Not what?”
“A lesbian?”
“….”
Just how many times am I going to have to hear that? I’m a guy, goddammit! That’s why I like girls!
“I’m not a lesbian.”
“If so, why do you hate men?”
“I just do.”
“Okay.”
And just then, we arrived at the Han River. I tried to park, but the car in front of us kept bouncing up and down. .
“Sian, what’s wrong with that car?”
“They’re probably doing things inside.”
I mean, why else would a car be bouncing like that?
“Things?” Heejin said, looking confused. Either that, or she was pretending to be innocent.
“Couple things,” I said, trying to keep it PG.
“Oh my god!” Heejin gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. She immediately looked embarrassed.
“Hey, want to see something funny?”
I expertly lined my car so that it was right behind the other car. Then, I turned the headlights.
Shocked screams have never sounded so beautiful.
***
The couple quickly drove away, looking like two parents who’d been caught by their kids having sex. I calmly pulled into their space.
“Nice view.”
“Yeah,” Heejin said, watching the scene in front of her with a thoughtful look on her face.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Just trying to figure out if this is all real or if it’s a dream.”
“What?” I asked with an amused smile. Then again, to be honest, I wondered that as well. Am I really a girl? Or is it simply a dream that I need to wake up from? And you know, if it was a dream, I think I might be a little sad. I’ve made a lot of friends and I’d hate to say goodbye.
“I never thought I’d ever come here.”
“Just enjoy it.”
After all, c’est la vie.
“Let’s get some burgers.”
“Okay. Oh but, Sian?”
“Yeah?”
“My agency president gave me his card. He told us to buy food with it.”
“Oh? Really?”
Well, that was sweet of him.
“Let’s get something expensive,” Heejin suggested.
“Nah. That’s too bothersome. Let’s just order some hamburgers.”
He’s a lucky, lucky man.
“Okay!”
So we ordered some delivery hamburgers. But I knew that one wouldn’t be enough, or two…or three…or four…five…six…seven…so I ordered ten. With Heejin’s, that was eleven burgers.
“You’re only having one?”
“Yeah. One’s enough for me.”
“How?”
I really don’t get it. How could one burger possibly be enough? Well anyways, the hamburgers soon arrived and we began to eat.
“So Heejin, you’re in U Entertainment?”
“Yeah,” Heejin said, dipping her fries into some ketchup.
“That’s the same company as Kyun Park from Cowboy, right?”
“Yeah. The Cowboy members have been there longer though.”
“They’re total trash.”
Heejin smiled at those words. Then, she spoke up.
“You mean Kyun, right?”
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Everyone knows he’s awful to women. Our company president doesn’t like him much either.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, but the problem is that Cowboy is a really popular group so the president can’t do much about it. Kyun alone brings in so much money from overseas. He’s filming a drama in China, you know.”
“Really?”
How could a guy like that be so popular? The world needed better taste.
“Yeah, but I heard he was attacked recently. He keeps telling everyone that it was you. Was it really?”
“Yeah,” I answered honestly. Might as well. Heejin knows how good I am at fighting.
“Ha! I knew it. I figured something like that would happen the moment I heard you two were casted together.”
“You should’ve told him to be careful.”
“I should have.”
Heejin and I looked at each other and smiled. But as we did, a weird feeling settled over us. My eyes quickly glanced down at a slight blob of ketchup on the corner of Heejin’s lips. I wanted to lick it off, but I refrained myself. Again and again. Because that’s all I can do.
“Hey, Sian.”
“Yeah?”
“If you were a guy, I’d totally kiss you.”
“….”
Ugh. Why did she have to say that?
Anyways, we continued to chat as we ate the rest of our burgers. I also made a decision to myself – to never come back to the Han River again. This was just too hard. All this pretending and holding myself back. It was just too tiring.
***
The days passed quickly, and I was soon on my way to an action school to meet with the stuntmen for my scene. They were going to teach me martial arts and judge my fighting skills for themselves.
“Hi. Nice to meet you. Sian, right?”
That was the director of the action school, Sun-dong Hong. He gave me a bow as I walked in.
“Yes, hello,” I greeted back. We shook hands. The moment I touched his hand, I knew he was a samurai. Yep. A samurai.
“It’s an honor to meet you.”
“Thank you,” I said, giving him a modest smile.
“Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“Uh, just around,” I said.
“Yes, it does look that way,” the director said. “It seems like you’ve received no official training. I can’t exactly say you’re good at it.”
“Right.”
Here we go. Another guy getting on my nerves.
“And you should probably know that fighting in real life is very different from fighting in dramas.”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
After all, showing and doing are two different things.
“That’s good. We do stunts purely for performance purposes, and it can be hard to get used to. Also, remember that the harder the move, the cooler it looks on screen.”
“Right.”
“So you may have difficulty in the beginning.”
“Uh-huh.”
“The thing is, there’s some acting as well. The original actor was supposed to be from our school, but Heejin kept insisting on using you so…”
The man slowly shook his head. It seemed like he didn’t agree with the drama director’s decision to cast me instead.
“Well, no matter. We’ll do our best to help you prepare for your scene. You just have to follow our lead. And please be understanding if I tend to get angry or go hard on you.”
“Okay.”
Yeah, yeah. Get on with it. Geez, this man could talk.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
I followed Sun-dong into the gym and that’s when I noticed – everyone was staring at me. But unlike most people who stared at me, these people seemed rather hostile. As well as wary. Their gazes were as if they expected me to fail. All of a sudden, one of them approached me. He was very tall and well-toned. He stood right in front of me and started speaking.
“Hi, there. I’m Minho Lee, the Kick Specialist here. I’ll be teaching you how to kick.”
He finished with a small bow.
“Nice to meet you,” I said with a bow of my own.
Minho then continued.
“I’m very strict, so I hope you’re ready to focus.”
“Yep.”
