Chapter 25: A Girl After 5 Years

Bom brought up a terrifying topic.

“TikTok…. Isn’t that something that social media-addicted insiders do, taking over the streets and dancing without caring about the eyes of others! I won’t do it. I don’t want to. Please don’t!”

“Somehow, I feel a sense of déjà vu….”

The tables had turned from when I introduced Bom to internet broadcasting.

I never thought Bom would get her hands on TikTok.

‘Come to think of it, does TikTok already exist at this time? I thought it hadn’t come out yet….’

I remember when I went to middle school, the girls in my class would take over the back seats and hallways every break time to film TikTok videos.

TikTok was there a year before that.

I didn’t realize it.

“By the way, why TikTok all of a sudden? Did you like this kind of thing?”

“No, I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube lately, and I keep seeing TikTok ads. Besides, I heard from my juniors that they got some recognition with this?”

Certainly, since it’s the only short-form video platform at a time when YouTube Shorts hasn’t come out yet, it’s possible to gain fame if you do it right…

But I still don’t want to.

“I won’t stop you if you do it, but why are you dragging me into it?”

“It’s embarrassing to do it alone.”

“Then do it with the junior who told you about it.”

“How can I do it with a fresh junior when I have an image to maintain?”

“Then what about me?”

“What worse image could I have from you?”

“That’s true.”

“Then you’ll do it, right?”

“No.”

When I kept refusing, Bom’s cheeks puffed up.

She even pouted her lips and showed an expression that literally said, ‘I’m sulking.’

Someone else might have believed it, but she can’t fool my eyes.

How much of Bom’s acting have I seen?

“Don’t exaggerate. It doesn’t work on me.”

“Tsk.”

“Anyway, I’m not going to do it.”

I have no intention of being exposed to the media.

I’m not only awkward with such things, but the stage is not my place.

Still, Bom didn’t keep pushing.

“Well, I wasn’t really serious about doing it together. I thought you might not like being filmed.”

“Then why did you call me?”

“TikTok videos are still videos. I was going to ask you to help me film it.”

“You said it was embarrassing to do it alone.”

“I even do monologue acting, so if I can’t do this, I should quit acting.”

That means she just lied to lure me in.

I was dumbfounded by such a natural lie, but I wasn’t really angry.

“So, you’re leaving the directing to me?”

“That’s what it sounds like.”

“Sigh, okay. What do you want me to do?”

“I was thinking of filming it like this.”

She said that and showed me a video.

A video of someone doing a one-person skit at their house.

A simple script with a bit of comedy, a video that you can just chuckle at and move on.

“There are a lot of videos filmed like this with acting. I thought that if I did this, a lot of people could see my acting.”

“……Well, there are people who become famous from this and appear on TV.”

“Oh? Really? There are people like that?”

“I’m just guessing.”

“So you’re saying there’s that much potential.”

“You could say that.”

I glanced at Bom, who was sparkling her eyes, and roughly made up an answer.

“So you’re going to film it exactly like this? Honestly, I don’t think it suits you.”

“That’s what you need to direct. Didn’t you come with Director Lee Seongbeom to learn about being a PD and experience the job?”

“…That’s right.”

“So please do a good job, PD.”

I never thought I would be directing when I wasn’t even supposed to.

Was it a mistake to make an excuse about job experience?

But I didn’t say that.

I took a deep breath and immediately thought about how to film it.

I had often created a video’s story through editing.

It wasn’t that difficult to figure out how to direct it.

‘But it has to match Bom’s image and fit the concept of promotion……’

Moreover, a one-person skit of about 15 seconds.

A one-person skit that can show Bom’s acting in a short time……..

As I was thinking about that, a scene suddenly flashed through my mind.

“Do you remember the first-person monologue acting you filmed a long time ago? What was it called? The slide friend?”

“It’s <Playground Childhood Friend>…. I told you not to bring up old works.”

Bom’s face turned slightly red.

I didn’t care and said.

“That’s right, <Playground Childhood Friend>. How about filming an homage to that? Or should I say, a spin-off.”

“Spin-off?”

“Yes, the setting of the female lead is that a sickly girl from a rich family moves away for treatment, right? Show the female lead a few years after she left.

The drama’s point of view was when she was 8 years old, so you can film it with the setting that it’s a few years later now. The drama starts right away with her as an adult, so let’s show the middle part.

Then it won’t harm the drama’s content and it’ll be good to show how the female lead was doing in the meantime.”

<Playground Childhood Friend> didn’t bring huge success, but it’s a drama that imprinted ‘child actress Choi Bom’ on the world.

It used an unconventional first-person technique to highlight Bom’s excellent acting, and because of that work, Bom took on many child roles and stood out for her emotional acting.

If Bom, who did such acting, showed the content a few years after being separated from the male lead, people would definitely want to watch the video.

Bom nodded as if she agreed with my explanation, but she didn’t readily say okay.

“B-But…. Do we have to do it with that work…? There are many other works I’ve appeared in…….”

“It’s the first thing that comes up when you search for Bom and it’s the most famous scene. It’s all over YouTube, so there’s no one who doesn’t know it?”

“That’s true, but it was a bit embarrassing acting….”

Her face, which was slightly red earlier, was now completely red.

If it’s like this, I thought she might not even be able to act properly.

That’s why I took special measures.

“Ah, was it like that?”

“…Huh?”

“You mean that compared to yourself 5 years ago, your acting hasn’t improved and has regressed so you can’t catch up with the acting of that time? I understand. I should have been more considerate, I’m sorry.”

“Wh-What?”

“Scared?”

“You b*tch! Of course I’m better now! Get the camera right now! Let’s film it right away!”

It works well.

「The surroundings are dark.

All that can be seen is a small bed and a girl wrapped in a blanket on top of it.

Cough, cough, the girl coughs dryly and is in pain.

Her fingertips and eyebrows tremble.

The cold sweat that slightly flows down her forehead shows that the girl is in a very difficult situation.

She barely managed to grab the water cup with her trembling hand, but it seems like she’ll drop it if she lifts it.

She carefully lifts the cup with both hands and moistens her dry throat.

Even such a simple process, the girl struggles to do it and lies back down on the bed, curling up in the blanket.

Inside the blanket where faint light enters.

The girl murmurs while holding a picture tightly in her hand.

“…I miss you.”

It’s a picture taken with a certain boy 5 years ago.

A precious picture taken with a cheap camera at the playground where she went to play without caring about her mother’s scolding.

A picture with the girl’s only childhood friend.

When the girl is in pain like today, she looks at the picture and recalls the warmth of that time.

“I have surgery tomorrow…. The adults didn’t tell me in detail, but I think it’s a dangerous surgery this time…. I might not even be able to miss you anymore……. I’m sorry…….”

Contrary to the expectation that she would get better soon if she received treatment at a good hospital, her condition gradually worsened and she eventually had to undergo surgery.

So many surgeries.

And the girl felt that this surgery was the last.

Tears fall from the girl’s eyes.

It was fear.

Tears fall.

It was longing.

Tears fall.

It was sorry.

The fallen tears wet the pillowcase.

The girl’s eyes close due to the overwhelming drowsiness.

The girl’s eyes open.

A warm light like sunshine shines on her face.

The surgery is over.

The disease that had been eating away at her is now completely gone.

The girl cried.

She cried while looking at the ceiling without moving.

“I miss you….”

She barely took out the picture under the pillow and smiled faintly.

The last picture with the boy the girl loved.

Tears flow.

It was love.

“I think it’s done, what do you think?”

“Well…, it’s okay.”

“Then I’ll upload it?”

“Ugh… Okay.”

Even though the result was satisfactory, Bom agonized for a long time before deciding to upload it.

“Even I, who don’t know much, think your acting is much better than <Playground Childhood Friend>, so why are you so disgusted by it?”

“I don’t know. Should I say it feels ticklish, or embarrassing….”

“You were satisfied with it. Now that it’s out of your hands, don’t worry.”

Bom’s acting was really great.

She acted so well that I wondered if there was a child actor who could act at the same level.

There are only three lines of dialogue.

The rest is emotional acting.

She looked like someone who was seriously ill.

The emotions felt in every tear she shed.

They were fully captured in the video.

“TikTok doesn’t have that much recognition in Korea yet, so don’t worry about the initial views. As time goes by, word of mouth will spread and more people will come to see it.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it because the drama industry is similar. Dramas without popular actors often get a surge in rerun ratings due to word of mouth. If you think about it, <Playground Childhood Friend> was also such a case.”

The moment when a beginner who first uploads a video is most discouraged is right after uploading the video.

They tend to despair at the fact that no one even clicks on the video even though they made incredibly fun content.

That’s why I gave her advice, but it seems it was unnecessary meddling.

“Then is this the end? It was fun for me too, since it was my first time doing this kind of work.”

“The request is over, but should we do one more thing?”

“What is it?”

“I want to try this dance.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I won’t upload it. I just want to keep it for myself~”

“I’ll refuse.”

“Then I’ll refuse your refusal.”

“Then I won’t give you Sorin’s autograph?”

“Are you talking about this that’s in my hand?”

“When did you get that!”

The autograph paper of Osorin, swaying in Bom’s hand.

I definitely put it in my bag!

“I found it while you were editing.”

“……Well, I was going to give it to you anyway? But I still won’t do it.”

The insurance lost its effect, but I was confident.

I already used the wish.

Bom smiled as if it was funny to hear my firm refusal.

“Hehe, it’s okay. Then just film me dancing. It’s addictive so I wanted to try it.”

“…If that’s the case.”

“Then I’ll dance, so film it well?”

Saying that, she stood in front of the camera she had set up and danced a simple dance to the song.

It wasn’t like an idol dance, but a simple dance that almost only moved the upper body.

It was certainly an addictive music and simple choreography, so it seems like you would naturally dance along to the choreography.

But.

“…, you’re getting it wrong little by little?”

“Huh? Where?”

“You even did ballet, so why are you so bad at using your body?”

“Huh? I don’t know, can you show me?”

“I’m not good at it either…, but isn’t it like this?”

“I can’t tell because I’m watching you. Come here and show me.”

“Geez, that’s what I’m saying-“

I put down the camera and went next to Bom to dance along to the choreography.

A mischievous smile was on Bom’s face.