Sometimes, Maru could tell that something had changed with a single glance, and now was one such time. He watched Giwoo leave the hotel and noticed that he was different from when he saw him in the lobby an hour ago. It was something he couldn’t explain with words, something like a minute change in the air around him that Maru could sense with his sixth sense. Although he could just treat it as a mistake, Maru raised his guard. He might be unnecessarily wasting his energy, but that was much better than regretting this moment after something went wrong.
Gyungjin was the first one to mention that Kang Giwoo was here. Yoojung, who said that she was going to joyfully say hello, was only looking at him from afar. Leaving the hotel entrance, Giwoo walked over to the car. Thanks to his handsome appearance, people started recognizing him after he only took a few steps. The man who seemed to be his manager blocked people from approaching him.
“Hello, head manager. I never thought I’d see you here,” Giwoo greeted.
He seemed to be acquainted with head manager Byun.
“All of my people are in an uproar after they found out that you were coming. They all want to put makeup on you.”
“I’ll visit you later.”
“I’ll be thankful if you do. Are you participating in the shoot today? I haven’t heard anything.”
“My shoot is in a few days. Today, I’ll just tag along and see what it’s like at the shoot and how the director works.”
“You’re one passionate guy alright. Aren’t you too perfect? Take it easy. Don’t push yourself so far like you did in that drama and end up hospitalized.”
“It was my fault for not taking care of my stamina.”
Giwoo, who rubbed his nose, turned around to face Gyungjin and Yoojung. Maru observed Giwoo without saying anything. He had to find out why his alarm went off.
“I’m Kang Giwoo. I’ll be learning a lot from you for the next few days.”
“Learning from us, oh please. We are the ones who should be learning from you. I’m Kim Gyungjin. Nice to meet you.”
When Gyungjin shook hands with him, Yoojung also spoke,
“I’m Park Yoojung. I really enjoyed Doctor’s Office.”
He really knew how to form relationships and join the crew. It was easy for there to be an awkward silence after a greeting, but Kang Giwoo moderately distributed his words and induced the two people to speak. He truly showed why people had two ears. Who would hate such a person since he showed that he was listening? He practically seemed to be displaying the textbook example of image-making.
“Take good care of me today. I’ll follow you around and steal from you.”
The conversation was finally headed his way. Maru just adequately spoke with him. He used his prying eyes very actively while talking about trivial things like who he met while he was in Seoul and if that person ended up talking about him or whatnot. Seeing him from up close, Maru could really notice the change in the atmosphere. He was convinced that the alarm from his sixth sense was definitely not a malfunction. It also felt like Giwoo was trying his best to find something out from him. They were at odds with each other with their shields up.
“You two seem really close, eh?” Gyungjin said.
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It wasn’t strange that Giwoo and Maru looked like that since they were talking a lot with smiles on their faces. Maru finished the rather dynamic greeting after asking him to take good care of him for a few days. Although he didn’t find out anything, he became more convinced. Something had happened in the hour that Giwoo was in his room. Or perhaps, he found out about something.
“We’re going now.”
He looked at Giwoo getting in his van before heading to the bus. It didn’t seem like he was going to cause trouble immediately. There were many watching eyes after all. If he did something, it would be right after the shoot, or when people scattered to take a break.
“You two are close, right?” asked Yoojung, who sat behind him.
A woman’s intuition, maybe? Or perhaps she had really good observation skills.
“Of course. You just saw us. We don’t meet that often, but he’s a friend I get along with.”
“I’m glad if that’s the case. To me, it seemed like you two were having a mind battle.”
Gyungjin, who was next to him, said that if it there was a strange sense of tension between the two, then it would be from the rivalry between men. Maru also agreed. It was a good expression to use as an excuse. If the ‘rivalry’ was replaced with enemies or an ill-fated relationship, then it would be true as well.
The bus stopped at the foot of the mountain. They walked up the mountain path, where snow hadn’t melted yet. The dog shed was still half-covered in snow, but the entrance had been cleared out. Staff members holding equipment walked past it.
“We’re going to start within 10 minutes so get ready.”
Maru got changed. He could smell the dog shed from the black hoodie. He purposely did not get it washed. Trivial things were important in order to synchronize with the character. He smudged the makeup to make his face look dirty before going into the dog shed. The dogs had also finished preparing and were waiting for the cue sign. He said hello to the dog manager who came with them before exchanging gazes with the dogs inside the cages. They seemed to welcome him as though they had learned about him throughout the past four days. The one on the left reminded him of Bullie at home. Abandoned dogs all had deep eyes, as though they would never again reveal what was inside them so easily.
To Gukji, dogs were like strands of grass intermittently growing on the side of the road. They gave him zero impressions, and he would feel no guilt even if he stepped on them or pulled them out. However, there was a dog that had special meaning to him. Gukji projected himself onto ‘such dogs’ whenever he saw them during his visits to various dog sheds. He would look at the dogs who had become numb to external stimuli and did nothing but breathe, and he would gain a sense of kinship and feel relief. Maru tickled the dog sitting to the left of him. It was the dog that interacted with Gukji in the story, so he had the dog smell him and would look at it in the eyes whenever he had the time. The acting of the person was important, but the acting of the dog was equally as important, so he was asking for a favor beforehand, telling it not to get mad and to follow along during the shoot.
“I think this one likes you now, Mr. Maru.”
“I was a little worried when I first met it, but now I’m relieved. It allows me to touch it.”
“Dogs with injuries don’t easily let others approach them, but it opened up its heart after you approached it with your heart for the past few days.”
“I have a dog similar to this one at home. It was one that used to be in a dog fighting arena, and at first, he was really wary of me. Only after a while did he realize that I wouldn’t hurt him and would treat him well.”
“Dogs are just as sensitive as people. Sometimes, they are even more delicate and will feel multiple things from simple hand gestures. When I see people who just think that dogs like to get touched, it makes me stifled.”
“It’s easy to think about it if you think about whether all people like their heads being patted.”
Maru used his finger to scratch the dog’s neck and waist. When he did, the dog would twist around from time to time, as though to tell him that it wanted to be scratched there more.
“Looks like you’re shooting with this one.”
Maru raised his head. Kang GIwoo was looking down with a heat pack in his hand.
“It’s good-looking.”
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“A handsome dog for sure.”
“This place is pretty moody. I heard that the background is a dogfighting arena, huh?”
Maru nodded instead of replying. The Pit Bull, who was enjoying Maru’s scratches, raised its head and stiffly stared at Giwoo. Its nose twitched as though it was trying to remember the smell of the man who brought with him the chill. Giwoo, who was looking straight at the dog, made a smile and reached his hand out, his fingers pointing straight at the eyes of the dog.
Ruff — the Pit Bull reflexively jolted back and barked. Giwoo’s smiling face crumbled as though he was startled by the sudden bark, stepping back a few times. Maru put his hand under the dog’s neck and pulled the dog towards him as though to hug it. The dog’s taut back leg had already finished getting ready to jump at Giwoo. There would be an accident if he did not hold it back.
“It’s okay,” he said as he softly rubbed the dog’s chest area. The manager also came over and blocked the dog’s front. Seeing the familiar face, the dog seemed to have gotten relieved and relaxed.
“I should take it outside for a walk.”
The manager left with the Pit Bull. The staff, who also looked inside the dog shed at the barking sound, seemed to have realized that it was nothing much and returned to their work. Maru rubbed his fingertips. Although the dog had gotten ready to attack, its body was trembling. He could feel the fear from the dog that had chosen to attack in order to fight against the fear.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Kang Giwoo said after looking around a bit.
Maru dusted his hands and retorted,
“Did what?”
“You urged it to bite me, didn’t you?”
“Was that how you saw it? To my eyes, some idiot was poking his finger at the dog’s eyes like he was going to attack.”
“I’m not joking around.”
Giwoo creased his brows. Maru got up and stood right in front of him. His composure seemed to have been broken due to the sudden accident, and his eyes said a lot. Maru didn’t need the speech bubbles right now. Although he knew that Giwoo possessed hostility towards him, why was it that he was exploding out with it all of a sudden? Before throwing that question, he moved his hand towards Kang Giwoo’s eyes. Giwoo covered his face and flinched backwards so hard that it couldn’t be compared to when the dog tried to bite him.
“Now you see why the dog bared its teeth at you, right? Even you are so startled, so how startled must the dog have been?”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m kindly explaining to you that you should try being in the dog’s shoes. If you understand then just leave. Don’t stress out the dogs here.”
Maru could see Giwoo’s lips moving. Although there was no sound, he could definitely tell that it was a swear word. At this point, he felt curious. Just what happened in the one hour he was in the hotel room that made his gentleman mask break down completely and make him express his emotions without holding back?
“Got anything more to say?”
Giwoo looked like he would burst like an inflated balloon if he poked him just a little more. However, Kang Giwoo was no easy man. He took a deep breath before putting on a smile.
“Good luck with the shoot. I’ll be watching.”
Giwoo turned around while touching up his disheveled hair.
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