The sound of camera shutters fills the set. His face looks even more radiant under the bright flash. Praises pour in from those around him—handsome, cool, and so on. These are words he has always heard but lightly ignored. After over an hour of shutter sounds and meaningless compliments, I, who had just been watching the scene, felt exhausted. A break finally came after nearly two hours, but he still looked busy.

As soon as the break began, he was surrounded by coordinators, hair stylists, and makeup artists, preparing for the next shoot. Despite the faint compliments from his surroundings, he just stared at the mirror with an expressionless face. He frowned for a moment at the notifications piling up on his phone, which had been chiming for a while. He quickly smoothed his expression and put the phone down. With only five minutes of break time left, I approached him.

I walked up to him and handed him a bottle of water. The bottle, offered with a casual remark, went into his hand. However, the response that came back from him was enough to sour my mood.