Life, Once Again!

After Story 147

What was the reason for the hostility? Haneul thought for a moment before shaking that thought off. Anything could be a splendid reason to hate someone.

For example, talking to them when they are in a bad condition because someone happened to be smiling when they stepped on poop, because there was someone next to them just when they needed someone to vent their frustration on.

People resented each other for the most trivial reasons.

It was a pain to look into it, and even if it was known, it wouldn’t change anything.

As such, the best thing to do when someone hated you was to just turn away from them.

There were some people who would chase with a knife in their hand, but Dawoon was empty-handed at least.

“Am I in the early stages of human disgust?”

Haneul let out a vain chuckle before putting on her clothes. A book she read before had this phrase: The more you know, the more you hate, the less you know, the more you love.

When she thought about it now, there were no other words that expressed life better than that.

However, even in these words that sounded like absolute truth, there were always exceptions. Knowing someone too well would only leave love for that person, even turning the hate into love.

Her husband was like that. They were in a relationship where they looked into each other as clear as day.

It even felt as though her entity had split off when she reached the depths of his mind. It was a strange situation where loving her husband equated to loving herself.

She didn’t even get fed up with him either. She thought about her husband and went to the set where people would be waiting for her.

Dawoon was doing her shoot. She had heard that she would shoot together with her once Dawoon was done with her individual shoot.

Today’s photos would go on the photo albums targeted at the major customers of Eterium. The plan was to decorate the pages with collages and package an incense perfume that represented the page well.

When she first received this proposal, she was honestly surprised. Na Baekhoon’s design skills were splendid. She had to admit, he wasn’t a man who was all talk.

This collaboration was a good opportunity to make Friendly Armoa known to the customers who wore luxury brands like Eterium. This was the first step to making her brand a luxury brand as well as the first test on customers of that level.

If there were any responses, she would come up with premium-tier perfumes, and if the responses were quiet, she would focus on the mid-to-low price product category and leave the luxury for later.

“Can you put your hand on your neck slightly?” said the photographer.

Next to him was Na Baekhoon.

Under the faint lighting, Dawoon posed. She sat down on a chair without a backrest and stretched her legs forward while looking forward.

Her eyes contained strength, but her smiles contained leisure. She was a kid with talent. Given enough time, she would grow up to be a good actress or a model.

Haneul walked over to the monitor. The photos that the photographer took were displayed in real-time.

Whenever Na Baekhoon and the photographer exchanged a few words, the layout of the photo changed.

She looked at the screen that kept changing and saw through Na Baekhoon’s preferences and the overall theme of this collaboration. She also rubbed her lips lightly and stretched her body so that her muscles were relaxed.

“We’re done.”

Dawoon stepped down, getting a bottle of water from her manager.

“Please take care of me.”

Haneul stood in the center of the set as she greeted those around her.

“Miss Haneul. You have such a great impression,” said the photographer, who was looking at her through the camera.

Na Baekhoon didn’t say anything.

“Then shall we start off lightly? Please sit on the edge of the chair and look forward. Expose both your ears like you’re taking a photo for your passport and put on a faint smile,” said the photographer.

Haneul combed her hair behind her ears on both sides and looked straight at the camera. Even without being conscious of it, her shoulders and back straightened up.

There were various methods for a model to create a ‘feel’. They were all so unique and innumerable that each model had their own feel.

When it came to herself, she liked having a faint image. The other photographers cherished that image of hers as well.

She could put in the effort to give off other kinds of feel, but a faint, blurry image was the only thing that gave off a feel unique to Han Haneul.

A feel that looked clear on the surface but also like she would disappear entirely. She always managed to bring out an exclamation from the photographers whenever she needed to put on a dreamy image.

“Good. Is there a pose you’re confident in? It can be one you’re comfortable in too. Can you do it like you’re giving off your own charm?”

Haneul lowered her head slightly as she listened to the photographer’s words. She crossed her legs and placed her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands.

She slightly pulled her chin inwards so that her neckline was more pronounced, and she threw her gaze outside the set.

She thought about some methods she could use to bring about other expressions before pushing them away. She let out a thin breath and raised her head to look at the camera.

She watched as the photographer busily moved his index finger on the shutter button before changing her pose a little.

Then she caught sight of Dawoon, who was watching her while holding a bottle of water.

She decided to tease her a little. It was rather fun to act like a child after all.

She looked at Dawoon with eyes of thick seductiveness. How would that girl respond to her provocation?

She soon heard the water bottle being crushed. At the same time, she also saw Na Baekhoon turning around to look at Dawoon.

She faintly smiled and took her eyes off. Oh, how cute.

“Can I put away the chair?”

“Of course, do whatever you want,” said the photographer in glee.

Haneul took off her high heels and her socks as well. The cold of the floor climbed up her own body.

She calmed her body and slowly blinked a few times. She was in a good condition today. The muscles in her body moved according to her will. On days like this, she would often shoot above her expectations.

“We’ll take it slow.”

She slowly sat down on the ground and hugged her knees, looking at the tip of her toes with eyes of laziness.

* * *

There were words he often heard when he was young. You have the talent, it suits you. Even among them, he would receive great praise for any work regarding design.

Baekhoon thought that his ability lay in seeing through beauty, in discovering the beauty of the flower that had yet to bud, and then polishing it before displaying it to the world. It was a blissful thing to do.

Whenever he watched all the products of beauty that were reborn through his own hands, he even felt a sense of beauty.

Jung Dawoon was an item that he could acquire that beauty from. She was someone who was worth polishing.

Missing Han Haneul was a bit of a pity, but he wasn’t too disappointed.

Han Haneul was definitely completed in terms of appearance. Other than the fact that she lacked a bit of sexy beauty because of her young age, she had all the other elements that people of her age could possess.

However, the beauty of an actor wasn’t something that was decided by the completion rate of their skin.

Only when they could tap into the realms of abstract hard to explain in words could they possess true beauty as an actor.

In that sense, he thought that Jung Dawoon and Han Haneul were no different. Until just ten minutes ago, he had not changed that thought.

He crossed his arms and looked at Haneul in front of him.

She, who was laying down on her stomach with her two arms acting as pillows, looked somewhat precarious. It was to the point that it wouldn’t be strange if she disappeared right in front of his eyes if he blinked a single time.

It wasn’t that the model lacked any character and didn’t catch his eye. In fact, she possessed intense power that attracted everyone’s eyes. It was hard to take his eyes off her. And yet, the presence of the target of the shoot was faint. It was hard to describe.

He felt like if he reached his hand out to touch her, she would scatter like smoke.

That was why, whenever Haneul changed her pose slightly, he had to swallow his groan in secret.

The photographer he had been working with for a long time didn’t even think to look at the kind of photos he was taking and kept pressing the shutter.

Normally, he would look at the monitor after taking three or four photos, but he didn’t do so today.

No, to be precise, he didn’t even approach anywhere near the monitor while he was shooting Han Haneul.

He could understand how that felt. That fellow must have also felt that Han Haneul might disappear at any moment.

Photography was the art of an instant. There couldn’t be two photos that were the same. Even at the same point of shoot and angle, there could not be two same photos.

That photographer fellow was bringing out extreme focus to move each and every moment into the realm of digital.

She was sometimes daring and sometimes modest. Han Haneul possessed both high and low class.

What was interesting was that she didn’t show both sides in an awkward fashion. She changed dramatically like a coin that would show a completely different face when flipped.

He felt like a woman was trapped in a fog, doing a play by herself. It was an incredible play where one actress played multiple roles.

Whether it was her expressions or actions, nothing seemed to be lacking. She was unbelievably proficient.

It had been a long time, but Na Baekhoon had to admit his mistake. It was a clear error to tie Haneul and Dawoon into a similar category. The two actresses were standing on two different foundations.

Han Haneul stood in a place where Dawoon had to raise her head to look. It was nigh impossible to reach.

He gulped dryly. The woman in front of him was no source stone. She was a jewel that had already gone through the hands of a polisher. The reality was that her young age and appearance were dragging her down instead.

Given enough time, that face would look… he placed his clenched hand against his mouth. He couldn’t hold back his smile. He could never have imagined that he would come across the essence of beauty that he was pursuing in a place like this.

He felt complicated. How could he be of help to a form that was already near perfection, to someone he couldn’t do anything to? This woman didn’t have any beauty to excavate. Only time could help her mature.

It was so tragic and yet so blissful that it drove him crazy.

The shoot was dragged out endlessly. Shooting one target for so long was bound to result in a lack of freshness and a sense of déjà vu, but that didn’t apply to Haneul.

Just how many emotions and expressions did that small body contain?

“Ah.”

The photographer finally put down the camera as though he thought of something. His gaze was on Dawoon.

Baekhoon had forgotten about her as well. Another model was waiting for her turn.

“Let’s rest a little before shooting both of you together.”

He saw that any sense of vitality had left Dawoon’s face. She was a smart woman, so she must have noticed what the atmosphere was like at the shoot.

Baekhoon followed Dawoon who went around to the back of the set. Dawoon spoke when there were no eyes around,

“Keep your promise. I don’t want to be buried under that woman. You told me that you would make me the original.”

“I did. I haven’t forgotten.”

“Then do it properly.”

Dawoon turned around and walked away. He leaned against the wall and sighed.

He had never felt frustrated in his life. If a problem blocked his way, he would analyze it and overcome it.

But for the first time today, he couldn’t see a solution.

Dawoon’s request was simple: make me shine.

He had the confidence to do that. He had brought some results as well. Compared to a few months ago, Dawoon had improved from a spark to a flame.

Yes, a flame.

He stroked down his face. How big of a flame did he need to compare it against the sun? His mind couldn’t come up with an answer to that question.

However, a promise was a promise. He would not give up on his efforts in his attempt to do so. However, ultimately, it would be Jung Dawoon who would become Icarus and crash into the ground.

There was only one way Jung Dawoon could continue her career as an actress. It was to give up becoming Han Haneul and look for new traits as Jung Dawoon.

He was going to talk to her about it. It was something that hurt both of their prides, but there were things that simply couldn’t be helped in this world.

If Dawoon accepted it, he would give her new kinds of consultations, and if she didn’t….

“We’ll begin the shoot.”

Baekhoon shook away his thoughts. There was one determined result. The choice was in Dawoon’s hands.