SWAP 52

It took a little time to understand what he meant.

Seoul tilted his head as if he didn’t know what exactly was supposed to be “okay,” and only after a moment did his eyes widen with realization.

How old does he think I am right now?

Shaking his head at the thought that Saheon was bringing up stories from who-knows-how-long ago, Seoul gently patted the hand that was holding him. There was a time when he was terrified of heights, but that was a thing of the past now. Still, that outdated overprotectiveness didn’t feel bad; it made his heart feel ticklish.

“Heon, I wear wires and film action scenes now.”

“……”

“I’m the best at keeping my balance.”

When he instinctively soothed him as if coaxing a child, Saheon’s hand finally fell away. It was written all over his forehead—But there are no wires here—making it obvious he was letting go reluctantly only because Seoul said he was fine. Seoul found it both funny and somehow touching, so he playfully grabbed the hand that had moved away, gave it a little shake, and let go. It was intended to lighten the mood, but it didn’t seem particularly effective.

Nevertheless, Seoul’s own mood had brightened, and letting out a giggle, he stepped onto the mat.

He gave a polite nod to the instructor who had been waiting patiently, and the lesson resumed.

“Great, you can move while maintaining your balance like that. Shall we try the start?”

After taking the proper posture and receiving coaching on hand and foot placement, Seoul applied chalk to his hands and gripped the yellow start holds with both hands. With the thought that the texture was rougher than expected, he reached out his first foot onto a hold as instructed.

One step, then another.

The moment he finally became suspended in the air, a chill ran down the back of his neck.

Was it because of what he had just heard? He felt like forgotten memories might resurface, so as if to shake them off, he grabbed a yellow hold to his upper right. Every time he found a path and moved, the height jumped up rapidly. Fortunately, by focusing only on the colors and moving forward, no stray thoughts could pierce through.

“Wow. You’re doing great. Change your feet there, reach out your left hand—right. Just grab that one. You’re almost there!”

At those words, he snapped his head up to see the top hold marked with a T.

Without difficulty, he reached out and gripped it with both hands, and following the count of 3, 2, 1… Clap, clap, clap! A thunderous round of applause rang out. Startled, Seoul instinctively looked back and his gaze dropped down. Ye Juyeol was giving him a thumbs up, Yun Hyeok was holding a camera, and the rest of the production team and nearby members were looking up at him and smiling.

And among them, the most familiar face stood out.

Everyone else was enjoying themselves, yet he alone was staring intently with a somewhat sour expression; seeing that he hadn’t changed a bit since childhood made Seoul burst into laughter. Usually, Seoul would just quietly curl the corners of his mouth, so seeing him laugh so brightly that his cheeks puffed out left the people below feeling puzzled.

What is it? Is it that fun? Did he get a sudden feeling that he found his life’s hobby just by finishing one climb…? While everyone was making their own guesses, Yun Hyeok was busy pressing the shutter with great care, and Seo Saheon’s expression was now almost at a fierce level. His gaze looked like he was barely holding back from shouting at Seoul to stop smiling and just grip the holds tight while coming down.

It was the instructor next to him who conveyed Saheon’s sentiment instead.

“Now, you can come down slowly. You can step on any color, so don’t rush and just come down safely.”

Only then did Seoul stop laughing and reach his hands downward.

He wasn’t the type to rush anyway, so he calmly felt out the space beneath his feet, stepping on each one until he was back on the ground in no time.

“Heave-ho,” he muttered, turning around to step off the mat, where Ye Juyeol immediately raised both hands for a high five. After they slapped hands, Yun Hyeok, standing next to him, also sheepishly raised his hand.

“Haha.”

Finding that funny, Seoul high-fived him too and then stood in front of Saheon. Unlike the others, far from saying he did a good job, Saheon just kept his lips pressed in a straight line and quirked an eyebrow. Anyone watching would think I’d cheated him out of money. Suppressing his twitching lips, Seoul asked.

“Aren’t you going to give me a high five?”

“Why would you turn your head like that when it’s dangerous?”

“I just didn’t expect to suddenly get a round of applause.”

Even when Seoul shrugged as if to claim it was an act of God, Saheon still looked dissatisfied, which eventually made Seoul burst into laughter again.

It was because he realized why the guy, who had been perfectly fine until they arrived at the center, was suddenly in this state.

“Next, let’s see. Mr. Hyeok, would you like to try?” At the instructor’s request, Yun Hyeok tossed his phone to Ye Juyeol and stepped onto the mat. While watching the instructor set up the first posture for him, Seoul stood side-by-side with Saheon and whispered in a small voice.

“Your expression is exactly the same as back then.”

“As what.”

He answered grumpily, clearly knowing exactly what Seoul meant.

Leaning in, Seoul pressed his shoulder against Saheon’s forearm and muttered, “You know what I mean,” and Saheon didn’t deny it. They must have been thinking of the same period. Naturally, their gazes drifted away.

It happened, then, during the filming of his first drama.

It was Seoul’s debut work, the terrestrial weekend soap opera Rose Garden, which turned him into a star child actor. Had they said they liked his large eyes that looked like they might fall out? Hey, you’re going to be really good at crying scenes, the director’s voice still lingered in his memory. Back then, he thought it was just a compliment.

The plot went roughly like this: a male protagonist, who had been raising his son alone believing the female protagonist had died in a tragic accident, enters a political marriage. Naturally, the son is abused by the stepmother, the villainess, and in the process, the biological mother, who has lost her memory, enters the house as a babysitter… a very cliché story.

It was utterly trite, but clichés were exactly what soap opera viewers wanted to see.

With Jung Jung-hyun, now known as South Korea’s representative “flower middle-aged man,” taking the male lead, an idol-trainee-turned-actress as the female lead, and So Ga-ram, already famous for her method villainous acting, joining the cast, the drama sailed forward as if it had wings.

Having gathered great expectations from the start, the first day’s viewership rating was 20.6%.

Subsequently, Lee Seoul’s role was undeniably significant in achieving the massive record of a 47.9% peak rating.

Seoul’s appearance—with cheeks like pink ranunculus, a tiny face, and features prettily arranged within it—became a huge topic not only in households at the time but also on the internet. His visual was like an angel who had just dropped its wings, but he also delivered acting skills beyond his years, shocking everyone.

For a child actor, he had quite a lot of lines, but the little thing pronounced them so clearly. He cried so well, and acted so sorrowfully, that whenever ‘Raeum’, Seoul’s character, suffered humiliation, living rooms everywhere became a sea of tears. Despite being on terrestrial TV, the intensity of the abuse Seoul received in the drama was at a level that couldn’t be watched without tears, as the rating was high enough to barely pass censorship.

Dunking him in a bathtub or making him walk the streets barefoot was basic; some days he was locked in a car trunk, and other days he was abandoned on a rural road without streetlights, left to huddle and shiver. When he was pushed from a second-floor railing, one’s heart felt chilled even while knowing it was acting. The moment his large eyes, filled with terror, filled the screen, the news headlines that evening were entirely plastered with ‘Acting Prodigy’ and ‘Lee Seoul’.

By that point, it would be only right to hate the stepmother who treated him that way.

But every time, the little thing would cling to the stepmother’s pinky finger and cry sorrowfully, calling out “Mommy.” Because he could never forget that first moment she had been kind to him. No matter how harshly she tormented him, he would sob and promise to be an even better child, making a pinky swear.

Thus, mothers with children had no choice but to fall into a deep “Raeum-ache” from that point on. Seoul, who obtained an “all-pass” status as “my child” without even a denial period, swept every award a child actor could receive that year and graced the end-of-year award ceremonies.

To an interviewer who asked how he could act so well at such a young age, Seoul smiled brightly like an angel and said:

‘I didn’t do it alone; everyone helped me a lot. I was happy to be able to act as ‘Raeum’. Thank you for looking upon me kindly.’

After delivering his thanks clearly in his still-young voice, Seoul finished his response by reciting every name he had memorized in advance. Once he stepped off the stage and could finally put down the trophy that felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, he couldn’t hold it in anymore and ran to the bathroom. Without even having time to loosen the bowtie that was suffocating his neck, he rushed into a toilet stall, locked the door, and began to retch.

Why?

Because just pronouncing the name ‘Raeum’ made his stomach churn.

Because half of the things he just said were true, but the other half were entirely lies.

Only after confirming no one was around did Seoul begin to throw up his upset stomach; in truth, there hadn’t been a single moment he was happy while acting as that boy. There were times he prayed for a bolt of lightning to strike the filming set, though.

The reason was very simple and hideous.

Those performances that everyone praised in unison—half of that was right, and half of it was wrong. Under the leadership of the director, who began to get greedy for ratings once the child actor started becoming a hot topic for his acting skills, every scene became not “pretending” but “real.”