The reason Tae-ha was surprised to see the empty seat was that its location was incredibly awkward.
In fact, even before arriving at the ceremony, Tae-ha had been slightly worried about where he would sit. He couldn’t decide whether he should sit with the *Virus* team or the *Killer x Killer* team. After much agonizing, he had reached a tentative conclusion: he should sit with *Virus*.
Of the two works, Tae-ha’s involvement was more significant in *Virus*. However, Tae-ha’s personal decision turned out to be meaningless.
When he actually saw his seat, it was positioned so that it could belong to both sides. Surprisingly, the *Virus* staff were seated to his left, while the *Killer x Killer* staff were to his right. The location was so perfect that his previous worries felt like a waste of time.
However, if someone were to ask Tae-ha if he was satisfied with the seat, the answer would not be a resounding yes.
To be honest, it was a bit troublesome because the people sitting directly on either side of him were top-tier actors—Lee Seok-hyun and Han Yun-seong. Even though Tae-ha had now risen to leading-man status, he was still not quite in the same league as Lee Seok-hyun or Han Yun-seong. In terms of influence and public recognition, Tae-ha was still far behind the two of them.
Understandably, Tae-ha couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable in such a spot. However, he did his best to hide his unease and took the seat pointed out by the usher.
At the same time, a new problem arose for Tae-ha. He couldn’t decide which of the two he should greet first.
‘Um… it’s probably right to greet Lee Seok-hyun first since he’s the more senior actor, right?’
Just as Tae-ha was quickly organizing his thoughts, he happened to lock eyes with Lee Seok-hyun, who spoke to him first.
“Oh, Tae-ha! So this was your seat?”
“Haha. Yes. It seems so.”
“Man, I saw the seat was empty for a while and thought some legendary veteran actor was coming. What are you doing? Why aren’t you sitting down?”
Tae-ha sat down as Lee Seok-hyun suggested. Almost immediately, Han Yun-seong, who had been chatting with Yoo Yeon-hwa, felt the presence and turned his head.
“Oh! This was your seat?”
“Haha. Yes, it was.”
“Wow. The organizers have great taste. How did they know we were close and put you right here?”
“I’m not sure. Is there anyone who doesn’t know? We even appeared on *Great Saturday* together.”
“Ah. That’s true. Oh?”
While speaking, Han Yun-seong spotted something and cast his gaze toward the side of Tae-ha. The ‘something’ there was, of course, Lee Seok-hyun. Lee Seok-hyun also reacted after making eye contact with Han Yun-seong.
“Oh?”
A brief silence followed. Just as Tae-ha was beginning to feel a strange atmosphere and wonder what was going on, a picture-perfect, beautiful smile appeared on Han Yun-seong’s face, and a hearty grin touched Lee Seok-hyun’s expression.
Then, the two of them reached out and shook hands. Their hands shook vigorously right in front of Tae-ha’s eyes.
“It is an honor to meet you, Senior. My name is Han Yun-seong. I have heard a lot about you.”
“Nice to meet you, Yun-seong. I’m Lee Seok-hyun. I’ve heard a lot about you, too. I’ve even made sure to watch all your work.”
“Oh? Really? Wow! It’s a total honor. Actually, I have watched every single one of your works without missing a single one, too.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. You always deliver the most accurate performance for any role. As a junior, there’s no reason not to study your work—it’s like a textbook for acting.”
“Ah, how embarrassing. If anything, I’ve learned a lot by watching your acting, Yun-seong.”
“From a junior like me?”
“When it comes to acting, what does seniority matter? If there’s something to learn, one should learn it and improve. In that regard, your acting always has something to offer. I’m actually a bit weak when it comes to smiling beautifully like you do.”
“Hahaha. I see. I don’t know if there was really anything to learn, but thank you for your kind words.”
“Haha. No, I’m the one who’s grateful. Honestly, my early debut works were a mess, so it’s a bit embarrassing that you’ve seen them all.”
“Hahaha.”
“Haha.”
Even though they seemed to have finished speaking, the two men kept holding hands and laughing for a long time. Although they were exchanging pleasantries, the scene looked uncomfortable and awkward to Tae-ha. It was natural, as they both looked somewhat stiff—a completely different demeanor from how they treated him.
Unable to bear it any longer, Tae-ha spoke up.
“Um… if you’ve said everything you need to say, how about letting go of each other’s hands? I’m starting to feel a bit awkward sitting in the middle.”
“Ah, right.”
“Yeah. Should let go now.”
Only then did their hands separate. Tae-ha felt relieved once he saw that. He desperately hoped that no more uncomfortable situations would arise.
However, contrary to Tae-ha’s wish, the two began to converse once more.
“Come to think of it, Tae-ha is the connection between us.”
“That’s true. It turned out in an interesting way. Yun-seong, you did two projects with Tae-ha, right?”
“Yes. Once as actors together, and once as an actor and a writer. I didn’t know it at the time, but I realized both projects were Tae-ha’s debuts.”
“Debuts?”
“Tae-ha’s acting debut was *Critical Point*, and his writing debut was *Virus*.”
“Ah, I see. That is an interesting connection. Come to think of it, does that mean I also shared Tae-ha’s debut? His debut in film with *Killer x Killer*?”
“Oh, you’re right. So, Senior, what did you think of Tae-ha’s film debut? Was it okay?”
“Since you’ve seen the movie, you already know, but honestly, it was magnificent. Would it be an exaggeration to say he’s among the top five actors I’ve ever worked with?”
“Wow. Was it really that good?”
“Yun-seong, you’ve worked with him yourself, so you should know how great an actor Tae-ha is. His depth is truly unique.”
“Yes, I know. Even in *Critical Point*, he showed incredible impact with just a few short lines. He even became a hot topic in the online community because of it.”
“He did. I remember that. Oh, come to think of it, I’m curious. What is Tae-ha like as a writer? Since I don’t know that side of him.”
“He’s just as impressive as he is as an actor. Honestly, when I first received the script for *Virus*, I didn’t even know it was Tae-ha’s work. I just fell head over heels for it.”
“Aha. So that’s what happened.”
Contrary to Tae-ha’s worries, Han Yun-seong and Lee Seok-hyun continued their conversation quite actively. Since the topic was mostly about him, it was a bit embarrassing, but he thought it couldn’t be helped. As the two had said, Tae-ha was the only connecting link between them.
However, as the conversation continued even after the ceremony began, Tae-ha felt a sense of bewilderment. He got the impression that the two of them—who didn’t seem particularly close or even interested in becoming friends—were forcing themselves to talk. Even as the conversation persisted, the subject remained obsessively limited to things about Tae-ha.
Eventually, the talk devolved into bragging about who knew Tae-ha better. At this point, Tae-ha had no choice but to realize what the two were doing.
‘Is this… some kind of pride battle over who’s closer to me?’
Tae-ha initially rejected the thought. To think that two top-tier actors were having a pride battle over him… he judged it to be an extreme case of narcissism.
However, their conversation became increasingly strange. Finally, it reached a point where they said things like this:
“Having done two projects with Tae-ha, I feel like I finally understand him. What kind of personality and tastes he has. Especially after getting to know him as a writer, which others don’t know much about, I began to see many things. You know the saying—once an actor and writer become close, the depth of their bond is immeasurable.”
“Oh, is that a saying? I wouldn’t know. But I also know quite a bit about Tae-ha. Tae-ha and I talk on the phone at least once every two days. They say seeing someone often builds affection, but I guess that applies to phone calls as well. Since we talk all the time, I end up knowing everything even if I didn’t want to.”
At that point, Tae-ha had no choice but to recognize that they were fighting a pride battle over him. Eventually, he decided he couldn’t let it continue, especially since the gazes of the people around them were increasingly turning their way.
Tae-ha opened his mouth.
“Guys, please don’t do this. You’re both like close brothers and mentors to me, and I’m grateful to both of you.”
However…
“You stay out of this.”
“Just wait a second.”
Neither of them listened to Tae-ha. If anything, they seemed to be competing even more fiercely to prove how well they knew him.
It was right when Han Yun-seong was talking about how Tae-ha’s MyStar followers increased because of him, and Lee Seok-hyun was talking about seeing Tae-ha’s wink in person during a stage greeting. The two, who had been chatting as if they were performing a filibuster, suddenly clamped their mouths shut.
The reason was a comment from today’s MC, Seo Jeong-yeop, who had a connection with Tae-ha through *Great Saturday*.
“Now, we will announce the nominees for the Best New Actor category in the film division. Let’s look at the screen first.”
On the large screen located on the right side of the ceremony hall, each nominee’s name was introduced along with their performances. Among them was Tae-ha’s name.
There were five formidable nominees in total. The likely winner for the Best New Actor (Film) award was narrowed down to about two people, including Tae-ha. Naturally, the gazes of various stars at the ceremony turned toward Tae-ha.
It wasn’t just the gazes. Several cameras positioned in the hall were also focused on him. They were preparing to capture his reaction in case his name was called as the winner.
Finally, the actor who had won the Best New Actor (Film) award last year and was now serving as the presenter called out a name.
“The winner of the Best New Actor award for the film division is… Kang Tae-ha for the role of Ian in *Killer x Killer*! Congratulations!”
As expected, Tae-ha’s name was called.
However, participating in an awards ceremony for the first time, Tae-ha felt his immersion break slightly for a moment as his name was spoken. The emotion and resonance provided by the ceremony were that powerful. Just as he felt his mind going blank, Tae-ha barely managed to keep his composure and exercised his Immersion Ability once more.
He tried to stand up from his seat to head toward the podium.
However…
“What the…?”
He couldn’t.
Han Yun-seong and Lee Seok-hyun. The two top actors were now holding hands in joy, as if they had never been having a pride battle, and their celebration was blocking Tae-ha’s movement.
To make matters worse, that scene was being broadcast live through dozens of cameras that were focused on Tae-ha. It was a somewhat bizarre awards ceremony scene that even the viewers were seeing for the first time.