"Hello, PD Choi Mijin. I'm Joo Dansol from DinoSoul!"
"Director Kim Seontae! Hello, I'm Joo Dansol from DinoSoul!"
"Writer Park Miju! Hello, I'm Joo Dansol from DinoSoul!"
When Dansol arrived on set, everyone was busy preparing to film. Already knowing the staff's names, Dansol greeted them diligently.
On the first shoot before the regression, he had been late, so he was scrambling to get ready and had to start filming without even getting to greet anyone.
Because it was a survival variety show, he was so nervous that nothing registered. He was in a full-blown panic.
He tried to greet them belatedly, but once he missed the timing, he got labeled as a rude rookie. The people who'd supposedly "done their time" in broadcasting didn't tolerate a rookie's mistake. After that, no one on set accepted Dansol's greetings.
Before he even realized it, the gates of hell had been opening little by little.
"Huh? A rookie? Do rookies come on this show too?"
It was Kim Seontae, the director of photography. Maybe because the program had money poured into it, many of the crew were people who'd come from filming movies. Kim Seontae was one of them.
He was the type who looked down on idols by default. He had a knack for catching Dansol in the worst expressions with perfect one-shots, playing a major role in getting Dansol dragged.
If Dansol had to pick the people he hated most on this shitty island, Kim Seontae was easily in the top five, but to avoid devil editing and get quietly cut out entirely, he couldn't get on the man's bad side.
"Yes! Hello! I'm Joo Dansol of DinoSoul!"
"What are you good at?"
"Yes?"
"You must have a role on the team—singing or dancing. You can't answer, so are you just a pretty face?"
"Ah... I'm the main vocalist."
"Yeah? Didn't expect that. Do well."
He was rude to the extreme. Watching Kim Seontae smirk as he walked off, Dansol let out a sigh. Like his lazy drawl, he was a man you couldn't read.
As Dansol clenched his fist, barely holding back the urge to punch that swaggering back, the man suddenly turned and looked at him again.
"But how do you know my name?"
"Uh... at the meeting..."
"I didn't go to the meeting. Back then, I hadn't even said I was doing it yet."
"Uh..."
Despite his unpleasant personality, his instincts were sharp. Dansol had overlooked the fact that to survive this long in the industry, a person like that always had something exceptional.
Biting his lip at his own carelessness, Dansol thought: What idol with no schedules would ever memorize a movie cinematographer's name? Kim Seontae stared straight through him, suspicious.
'Think. Think! Say something—anything!'
"I'm... a fan!"
"What?"
"I'm a fan of the films you worked on... The Memories of That Name, and A Hundred-Year Life. The cinematography was so good that I looked up who shot them while I was watching...."
There was no telling if that man would believe such a flimsy lie.
Dansol had never watched those movies. They'd come out when he was in elementary school. He'd only spat out the titles he heard most often whenever the man bragged about himself.
"...Yeah?"
Kim Seontae's gaze softened noticeably.
"They're re-releasing them on Blu-ray these days. Want me to get you one?"
Even his tone turned oddly friendly. Luckily, Dansol's quick improvisation seemed to have worked. But that was it. He had no desire to bring another bulky item into the already-cramped dorm just for a momentary lie.
"I already bought them. I'm a fan."
"...Oh. Really? I'm honored. An idol being my fan and all. Let's do well. We've got to make something again this time."
Now fully unable to hide his pleased expression, Seontae patted Dansol on the shoulder. There was no need to win this much favor, but it was better than being disliked.
Sending him off, Dansol wandered around the set.
"Nothing's changed here. Of course it hasn't...."
He muttered as he looked at the massive lodging built grandly at the edge of the cliff. Inside the building, modeled after traditional Korean architecture, it was filled with high-end sponsored items, but Dansol had never once felt comfortable there.
Except for one place.
"Have you been here?"
It was the back yard where he had sniffled alone at night because he missed the members. He thought no one would know, since it was tucked away, but someone appeared in front of him.
It was Jeong Daesu.
Known for noir and action acting in films, he was an Alpha who looked like a handsome bear. Omegas who approached him based on his solid build, taciturn air, and fame got worn out by his sullen reactions and fell away.
In the end, he had left Chunmongdo with only the last round remaining.
'He wasn't the type to speak first, though... Was I wrong about him?'
Dansol had been in the same space for a month, but he'd barely had any overlap with Jeong Daesu.
The Omegas who made it obvious they disliked Dansol had latched onto Jeong Daesu from the start and deliberately pushed Dansol out, so there were few shots where the two of them even appeared in the same frame. That made Dansol think his memory might be off.
"No... I just meant... that's how it is."
"Are you a contestant? Staff?"
"Ah, hello, sunbae! I'm Joo Dansol from DinoSoul!"
Jeong Daesu, who had kept a blank expression the whole time, let out a quiet chuckle when he heard Dansol's greeting.
'Yeah, laugh. Go ahead.'
DinoSoul—of course it sounded ridiculous. Before the regression, whenever someone asked what the name meant, he used to recite the agency president's long-winded "worldbuilding" speech with a straight face, but now that it had all failed, it felt like nothing more than bait.
"The name's kind of... funny, right?"
"I didn't laugh because of your name."
Jeong Daesu stiffened as he said it to Dansol, who'd added that awkwardly. As an uncomfortable silence filled the space between them, a manager's voice calling for Jeong Daesu carried over from far away.
"Hyungnim! Daesu hyungnim! Seriously, where did he go again...."
"Um... you should... go."
"I'll... go first."
They broke the silence at the same time.
"See you next time."
Jeong Daesu was the one who left first. He patted Dansol's shoulder a couple of times, then walked away.
'Whew.... Finally, he's gone.'
Once, Dansol had dreamed of filming cool movies like that. Looking at the casting list, he'd been excited at the thought of building connections with famous stars, but now, to him, they were people he needed to avoid at all costs.
Especially early in the program, Jeong Daesu had been someone who received nearly unanimous popularity from the Omega contestants. If Dansol loitered around him for no reason, he might get scolded even worse than before the regression.
"This is a new life I somehow got—why would I get tangled up with someone like that and get screwed over again? Absolutely not!"
"We're starting filming!"
The opening began with the cast appearing from different parts of the large mansion and gathering in the plaza. They said agencies had caused a commotion over entrance order even before filming, but Dansol's company stayed quiet.
After all, whether by seniority or age, Dansol was the youngest, so he had to come out first.
Before the regression, he'd spent the entire day clapping in the blazing sun until his skin turned red, suffering for a long time afterward. The haters had even pointed fingers at him for using cucumber packs on his sunburned skin.
'Getting burned once is enough. I'm not getting burned twice.'
Dansol sprayed himself thoroughly with a whole can of sunscreen spray and went outside. Stepping out from behind an orange tree with a fresh, bright color, Dansol acted as if it were his first time.
"Huh...? No one's here yet?"
In a neat sky-blue shirt, Dansol filled the silence with a sheepish grin. Instead of the gaudy shirt the stylist who loved complicated fashion had picked, Dansol had brought his own low-profile outfit so he wouldn't stand out.
But the effort was pointless. The color that perfectly matched his skin tone made his looks shine even brighter than before the regression.
The cinematographer made an intrigued, odd expression. His camera zoomed in on Dansol, whose earlobes were tinged red. Awkwardness and shyness coexisted on his face, and with it, the fresh clarity of a pure young man.
His satisfied smile was obvious enough that even the quick-witted assistant director noticed.
But no one knew that the change in Dansol's expression wasn't from awkwardness—it was from anger.
'Since it's Omega then Alpha, next should be Lee Yiyeon . Bastard.'
Lee Yiyeon was an Alpha who used to be a model, and not long after switching to acting, he gained huge popularity. He was talented and straightforward. From the beginning, he openly showed interest in Dansol.
He was the type who could create funny situations with an easygoing charm that wasn't oppressive, so Dansol had liked him too. But when Lee Yiyeon tried to initiate skinship too quickly, the distance between them grew fast.
Maybe his pride had been hurt. Lee Yiyeon got angry at Dansol when Dansol asked for help, and he was the first to turn his back on Dansol because of Yoo Dohyeon's instigation.
Ironically, he didn't get attention early on, but he survived all the way to the end of the survival show as someone people called "weirdly hard to ignore."
If Dansol had a hit list, Lee Yiyeon would be the next name after Yoo Dohyeon.
Calm down. Control your expression. Control your expression.
His face tried to twist on its own, but knowing the production team could capture any moment and turn someone into a national traitor, Dansol shaded his eyes with his hand as if he'd only squinted because the sunlight was bright, then stared at the door Lee Yiyeon would come out of.
"...Huh?"
But the person who came out was Jeong Daesu. The order had changed from before the regression. By fame, popularity, and editing value, it would've made sense for Jeong Daesu to come out last.
"...Hello?"
"Haha, yes... hello!"
Dansol stood there with his mouth slightly open at the unexpected situation, and Jeong Daesu greeted him first, as if they were meeting for the first time.
'This is a problem... If I'm next to someone as famous as Jeong Daesu, I won't get cut out completely.'
Only prepared for Lee Yiyeon , Dansol now had Jeong Daesu as a major variable. While greeting and waiting for the next person, Dansol deliberately inched away from Jeong Daesu.
But Jeong Daesu matched him, inching closer toward Dansol. If this continued, Dansol would keep getting caught against Jeong Daesu's shoulder in frame. In the past, he would've welcomed that with open arms, but now it was different.
When Dansol stepped away, Jeong Daesu stepped closer. When Dansol shifted half a step, Jeong Daesu followed half a step. After the prolonged silent tug-of-war, the PD finally spoke.
"You two went out of frame. There's plenty of space for others to come in, so move farther inside."
If Dansol had been alone, the PD would've cursed, but with Jeong Daesu there, he gave direction politely.
As an embarrassed Dansol walked farther inside, Jeong Daesu trailed after him again. When Dansol looked at him like, what is this guy doing, Jeong Daesu answered briefly.
"The sun."
Puzzled, Dansol glanced down at his feet. Just as Daesu said, a shadow had formed beneath him, blocked by Daesu's large frame. Out of everyone there, Dansol was the only one who hadn't squinted under the scorching sun.
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