Shotgun K

“Okay! That’s a wrap! Great Job, everyone!”

I let out a sigh and relaxed; my shoulders were getting sore from having to hold that last pose. My eyes were still adjusting from the last series of flashes.
“Thanks, guys. Thanks.” I said, smiling at the assistants and designers. “Thanks for your hard work.”
The photographer approached me, smiling.
“Amazing shots, as always.” he said. I smiled back.
“Fun working with you, as always.” I returned.
He laughed, shaking his head.
“You’re really smooth with words, aren’t you Jae?” he laughed.
I grinned, the mood contagious.
“Of course, but only to those that deserve it.” I joked.

We both laughed, said our goodbyes and moved on. I smiled at all the passing workers as I made my way back to my dressing room.

“Jae-Sung.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Mr. Park catching up to me. When he did, I continued on my way.
“What do we have next?” I asked him.
“You have a radio interview scheduled at 8 with the K-POPFM, then you have CM shoot for Power-Q sports drink and then you also have filming for episode 9 of Take My Hand. Oh, you also have an interview appointment for a LUV magazine.”
I frowned and gave my manager a look.
“Another magazine?”
“Seems so.”
“Ugh,” I groaned.
I entered my dressing room and saw my make-up artist cleaning up. She looked up and smiled at me.
“Great job today, Jae-Sung.” she said. “Go ahead and change; you can leave the clothes back on the rack.”
I thanked her and gave her my gratitude for her hard work as she left to give me privacy.

“I’m starting to get tired of magazine interviews,” I said to Mr. Park, continuing the conversation. “They’re always for those…girly magazines.”
“Well, it just means you are very popular with the girls.” Mr. Park said. “It means you are getting all the good attention, being so high in demand. Isn’t that a good thing?”
I chuckled to myself, shrugging out of my shirt.
“Still, it’s annoying when you have to answer the same questions over and over again, at least be creative with the questions.” I said.

I quickly changed back into my casual wear and gathered my things. I pulled out my sunglasses and put it on, for safety measures.
“Let’s get going then.” I said.

Mr. Park didn’t object; in fact, he seemed more relieved that I was cooperating willingly and walking out the door by myself.
We left the studio without much more delay, saying a few words of thanks and farewell to the staff and crew before we got in the car. Everyone seemed to be in a tight schedule in this industry so it saved us a lot of the formality manners and stuff.
Like my manager had promised, he was the one driving. Seeing I had nothing better to do, I reached into my bag and pulled out one of the fan mails I had grabbed on the way out of the agency.
“What’s that?” Mr. Park asked, glancing briefly my way.
“It’s just one of the fan mail I grabbed on the way out.” I told him, as I opened the letter. I read a few lines and sighed. “You know, the president told me they had a Q&A column open for my fans and that’s why they moved the fan mail to that room…but so far all these have been just…fan mail.”
Manager Park mused thoughtfully, keeping his eyes on the traffic.
“Q&A, huh? But nobody sent you any questions yet?” he asked.
“Well, I got one.”
“And…?”
“It was a proposal.” I said lamely.

Manager Park let out a laugh, smiling widely.
“It’s that just fine?” he joked.
I scowled, turning my eyes out to my window.
“No, it’s not! She doesn’t know me, and I don’t know her!” I argued, and Mr. Park laughed even more. “Aish, girls are scary…”

The rest of the short ride was peacefully quiet. I had just finished reading one fan mail when Mr. Park cut off the engine.
“We’re here.” he announced.
I looked up from the letter and out my window to see what seemed like an ordinary office building. Outside, there was a sign that read K-POPFM Radio. I stuffed the letter into my bag and opened the car door.
We hurried into the building before anybody recognized me. The moment we stepped in, a woman greeted us.
“Ah, Jae-Sung! Right on time.” she told me. She then turned to Mr. Park.
“They’re just finishing up the last segment that’s airing right now, there will be a brief commercial break and then Jae-Sung’s interview will be up next.”
Mr. Park nodded.
“Thank you,” he said.
The woman smiled.
“Of course. Let me lead you to the room.”

We followed her through the lobby and up a set of stairs, bringing us to the second floor.
“Now, the interview is going to feel more like a friendly group conversation. There are three interviewers in the room, and they run the station. They’ll most likely start off with an introduction to greet you in.” she explained.
I nodded.
“Sounds great.” I told her.
“They already have a list of questions ready for you to answer, but there is no script. If you feel uncomfortable, or that the question is compromising in a way, feel free to pass that question.”
I smiled at her.
“It should be fine; I have nothing to hide.” I said.
She smiled and came to a stop at the door.
“Awesome.” she said. “When the ‘ON-AIR’ light goes off, you can knock and someone will open the door for you. Anything else I can do for you guys?”

Manager and I both shook our heads.
The woman smiled.
“Great. Have fun!” she said.



“…So, Jae-Sung, you must be tired all the time, running around with such a tight schedule.” one of my interviewers commented.
I smiled politely and shook my head.
“Actually, it’s not all that bad.” I replied. “Sure, I have my bad days where I just go home and crash, but I just really love what I do. I love my fans---everyday I am thankful for their support.”
“What is your typical work day like?”
I considered for a moment, humming thoughtfully.
“Well, that all depends on the day. Like today, I had a photoshoot before I came here, and after this, I have a CM shoot, and then after that I have an interview for the LUV magazine.” I told them.
“Sheesh,” another guy said, sounding amazed. “One thing after another, how do you keep track of all that?”
I laughed lightly, shaking my head again.
“No, I don’t. My manager does all the tracking. If it weren’t for him, I would be lost.”
We all laughed, and they went back and forth joking about being disorganized.
“Ah, getting back on track,” the third interviewer said, still laughing lightly. “Is there anything you can tell us about your upcoming role in the highly-anticipated drama, SHATTERHEART?”

So far, the questions have been fairly safe; nothing troubling. So far, so good.

“Well, it’s still a developing project.” I said. “I’m not allowed to say a whole lot on it quite yet, but I can say that it is a lot darker than all the dramas I have taken part in, and a lot more action too.”
“So it’s a change for you too?” one of them asked.
“Yea, it is. But it’s a good change, I think. And I’m really looking forward to playing the lead.” I concluded.
“I see… but right now, you’re still fiming an ongoing romance drama series, right?”
“I am; but that one is closing in on the end so in a few weeks I should be able to start getting ready for SHATTERHEART.”

I smiled, feeling more and more relaxed as time passed. This did feel more like a friendly conversation; no girls, just between us guys…

“Oh, that’s right; that drama that you are starring in currently…can you give us any spoilers?”
I laughed, satisfied with how at ease I sounded.
“Sorry, I can’t do that; that would ruin all the fun!” I told him. “Do you guys watch romantic dramas?”
“No, but my girlfriend makes me watch it with her. It’s like her favorite,” came a reply.
“He lies! He probably sits on his couch with a box of tissues, crying at the tear-jerkers!”
“He’s a secret Jae-Sung fan! Oh, you better watch out!”
The teasing went on, and I found myself laughing.
“I think it’s great that you are spending time with your girlfriend watching her favorite show.” I said, saving the poor guy from his coworkers.
“See! Jae-Sung is a great guy! You call yourselves my friends, but Jae’s the one that came to my defense!” he said defiantly.
The other two laughed evilly, but dropped the subject.
“Wow, this is really fun! Much more fun than it should be.” The first interviewer said. “Getting back to the interview, Jae-Sung.”
“Yea,” I said, shifting in my seat in front of the mic to get more comfortable.
“Now, last night’s promotion event…a lot of interesting things happened, didn’t it?” he started.

I kept a pleasant, easy smile plastered to my face, but I felt my stomach sink to my toes. I let him continue.
“First off, the shirt incident…”
A rush of relief escaped me in a heavy sigh. I quickly recovered with a shaky laugh, hiding the real deal with fake nervousness.
“Well…I, uh…jeez, you have no idea how embarassing that was,” I sighed out. “I mean, I unbuttoned to first two buttons because moving around on the stage with all those spotlights, and the adrenaline…I was heating up fast. I had forgotten that I was missing a button below those two…”
The second interviewer laughed.
“Really? You were embarassed? Why? They LOVED it! They were screaming at a whole other level!” he said.
“Yea,” another one agreed. “It’s not like you have a beer-belly…like this guy over here.”
“Hey, the ladies love my body. Jae-Sung knows what I’m talking about, right?”
I just kept smiling and didn’t comment.

That set off another set of hearty laughs. I smiled, but I was starting to get anxious. Since we’re on the topic, are they going to ask? About her? Please don’t let them ask about her---

“So that night was quite an event for you.”
“Yea; it was great. I was in awe with how much support I was getting.”
“Ah, there are some rumors going around about the event we wanted to ask about…”

Uh-oh.

“So according to an anonymous source, you were attacked by a fan on your way out of the building?”
Attack?
I frowned, confused. Though I was grateful that it wasn’t the dreaded question, it was important to get rid of stupid rumors and clear them.
“Attacked…” I echoed.
“Weren’t you nearly taken down by a fan while you were trying to get to your car?”

Oh! The girl with the t-shirt…

“Oh, yea…but I wouldn’t say she ‘attacked’ me.” I said. “It was really chaotic on the way out. I had four guards around me and a group of policemen around me. But yea, the girl still managed to get to me.”
“But you weren’t hurt or anything?” one of them asked.
“No, not at all; she was harmless. All she really did was give me a huge hug.”
“So you’re not mad at all?” another one demanded.
I smiled at them, taking a moment to consider my answer.
“The way I see it is, well… I think I can admire her for her guts.”
“Admire?” one of them echoed.
I sighed, pausing for a thoughtful, meaningful effect.
“If I am lucky to find a girl out there for me, I hope she would love me so that she would be determined to fight and push through any obstacles, no matter how hard the challenge is, to get to me.” I sighed out. “If she can give me her all like that, I guess I have no choice but to love her.”
The three interviewers looked at me, half-surprised and half at awe.

“…Oh…Seo Jae-Sung, you’re good…”
“Sheesh, that was…that was too cool!!”
“GAH! I envy you for that smooth line! Could I steal that?”
“You idiot! It would be lame if you said something like that! Ugh, just thinking about it gives me the creeps…”

I laughed, making sure to sound a bit bashful.
“Sorry, I think I just said something stupid.” I said.
“No, no! Not at all, girls listening to our radio love it when you make us look bad like that!” one joked.
“Yea, Master Jae-Sung…please, have mercy!”

There was more laughing and more joking. They asked a few more harmless questions about that night, and I was able to give them a simple answer. They never even brushed upon a question about her. Maybe it was because they were guys and they weren’t interested in my current love life. Either way I was grateful.

“---Okay! Well, wow…the time went by so fast! And with that, this segment comes to an end.”
“Thanks again to our special cool guest, Seo Jae-Sung; it was really an honor.”
I smiled widely, even though the people listening on the radio couldn’t see.
“Thanks guys. We should do this again.” I said.