Time passed by pretty quickly. Zeno thought it would be more difficult than it was, but he easily breezed through most of the scenes. Granted, being hated in the Joseon era wasn’t foreign to him. He had experienced it quite a bit, so it was easy to emulate.
However, they still weren’t on the intense parts of the scene, which was going to be filmed after their short break in the city. So, it might be too early to tell.
The week was about to end, but Zeno still hadn’t finished his first mission. He thought he would accomplish it before the second one, but he was proven wrong.
Finding friends was harder than finding something he loved—which was easily the potatoes in the field. He looked around for a prospect of a friend just as they were about to start filming.
Suho Ryu—he seemed way too detached these days. After his scenes, he would go back to his hut without a word. He also seemed a bit dazed and would often get scolded. However, he would still finish the scene in the end.
Risa, on the other hand, seemed embarrassed in his presence after he saved her from choking on a potato.
Oska Baek was out of the question.
Maybe one of the crew? But they seemed pretty busy. Daeshim PD appeared to haven’t slept for an entire month, too. Zeno was unsure if he even had the capacity to make a new friend.
Just then, the person he was going to be acting with finally arrived, and Zeno was forced to snap out of his friend-hunting scheme.
Who was he going to act with?
It was none other than Ryeo Wang.
A scene that involved only the two of them.
However, almost all of the actors were in the king’s room. Risa, Oska, Daniel, Yuan, and Shin were seated to the side.
“I can’t wait to watch this,” Yuan excitedly said, wanting to watch the two act with one another. They had been doing the best out of everyone in the set, and he was curious what their synergy would be like with only the two of them in a scene.
“Me too,” Oska muttered, but it was for a different reason. He was convinced that this was the part where Zeno would finally waver.
“It’s a good scene today,” Daeshim PD said with a small smile despite his tiredness.
Zeno nodded. It was, indeed, another key scene in the entire series. While the rest of the palace celebrates Prince Seon’s birthday, Hajin stays and takes care of his grandfather. It wasn’t deliberate.
The modern Hajin just can’t take seeing his grandfather slowly die in the confines of traditional medicine, especially since he was knowledgeable about medicine in his past world. Along with that, the king truly cared for his people, so Hajin convinced himself he was only saving an ally.
“Let’s roll!” Daeshim PD exclaimed, and they started right away.
The moonlight fell unevenly through the high windows of the empty palace hall, silvering the edges of the ornate silk hangings and gilded carvings. Laughter and music still echoed from the eastern wing, where nobles and servants alike celebrated Prince Seon’s birthday with wine, song, and excessive toasting. The scent of incense had faded here, overtaken by the more human smell of sickness, sweat, and something acrid.
Hajin stood alone.
He was never meant to be here. Not truly. He should have been at the party with the others, pretending to smile, drinking just enough to be noticed and not remembered. However, he didn’t want to do just that.
He was here.
By the king’s side.
King Jum lay slumped on a silk-cushioned daybed, a damp cloth pressed to his forehead by a servant who had since been dismissed. Everyone thought it was the usual again—the heat, the age, and his terminal diagnosis. Hajin had believed that too, until he noticed the subtle tremble in the king’s fingers and the unnatural stiffness of his posture. The way his breaths came in shallow waves, as though he were resisting a pain deep inside.
He had seen this before. On YouWatch. Back when he was still in the modern world. During the peak of his sadness, he was a man who searched every symptom twice and watched videos of ER doctors to fall asleep.
The modern Hajin was convinced there was something wrong with him. It turned out he was a depressed hypochondriac. Those searches didn’t help at all for his condition. But here, at this moment, he realized that his knowledge could be useful.
“You,” the king rasped suddenly, his voice hoarse with fatigue and suspicion. His eyes opened slowly before narrowing upon recognizing the silhouette at his bedside. “What are you doing here?”
Hajin didn’t answer right away.
He simply knelt, scanning the table beside the king. The leftover food from earlier had been cleared in a hurry, but the scraps remained: a bit of half-eaten meat and a honeyed cake.
“You are ill,” Hajin said.
The king gave a weak scoff, one that made his face twist with discomfort. “It is my illness. I am dying slowly. Go on and party with your brothers and cousins. You should not be here.”
Hajin pursed his lips. “It’s not like they would want me there anyway,” he muttered.
The king frowned, and he was about to move away, but Hajin firmly kept him in place, inspecting his body like a doctor would do.
The crew watched the two of them, intrigued. It seemed that Zeno had great chemistry with everyone he acted with. Even in the presence of Ryeo Wang, he didn’t lag far too behind with his acting skills. Of course, Ryeo was still better, but Zeno wasn’t bad.
In fact, he would be called excellent even in the acting king’s midst.
However, as Zeno continued to inspect Ryeo’s skin, he suddenly stopped, snapping out of his character. A small frown appeared on his face, and the next line was quickly forgotten.
Oska smirked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Of course, it was inevitable for Zeno to make a mistake. Daeshim PD slightly frowned.
“Cut!” he exclaimed.