Broken Melodies (NCT)

WinWin

WinWin was bleeding. Blood poured down the side of his face, the disgusting stuff dripping into his open mouth. He staggered away from his oppenent down the dark alley, cupping his stomach in an attempt to staunch the flow. Judging by the hurried footsteps behind him, his foe was not long behind.

He turned to look at his opponent, seeing their dark silhouette framed by the dying street lights. They were injured, too, judging by his heavy limp. He would go down fighting, instead of running like a coward. He used the wall to help him turn, a fist forming as the attacker collided into him, carried away by their own momentum. His fist slammed into his opponent's stomach, making him cough out blood, knocking him down. WinWin climbed on top of the attacker, punching again and again while the enemy's face swelled under him.

WinWin's eyes widened. Looking down, he saw the handle of a blade protruding from his gut. The attacker pushed him over, the knife stabbing in his abdomen again and again, blood leaking onto the ground. WinWin swam in and out of consciousness, gathering all his strength to block the next strike, stabbing it back into his foe's chest. He rose unsteadily to his feet, looming over his fallen enemy twitching on the ground, using his foot to push it in further. He would win, and finally kill this abomination. He rose a foot over the enemy's face, ready to finish him once and for all. Before he could, he heard the sound of someone's voice:

"Cut!" the director sighed. "Sicheng, you forgot your line again."

Hearing his co-worker groan in annoyance, frustrated to redo the scene again, WinWin felt a prick of shame. This was the fifth time he had forgotten to say his line after this very scene, and he knew everyone was fed up by it. He was frustrated himself, but he could never bring himself to remember.

'Why are you an actor if you can't remember lines?' he hit his head against the wall twice, trying to jog his braincells. 'Come on, Sicheng, can't you get a grip on yourself?'

They were supposed to be finished shooting by now, but because of him, they had to work overtime. Nothing could overcome the hot feeling of shame that spread through his body at that moment, along with the overwhelming urge to apologize profusely to his coworkers for wasting their time.

He was halfway back to set when he heard voices coming from a nearby alleyway. He wasn't one to eavesdrop, and was about to leave when he was stopped by his own name coming from their conversation. Curious, he snuck around the corner of an alleyway, catching a glance of his actor coworker and his director.

"Director Liu, I don't understand why you don't cut Sicheng out of the show." his coworker was saying. "I mean, he can't even remember lines, or even act that good."

"ZhangWei," Director Liu sighed. "I hate to break it to you, but you're not attractive. At all. You think the audience will watch a drama when the actors are ugly? They'll get disgusted and leave! We need to keep Sicheng around because, unlike you, he's handsome. The audience wont care about trash acting if the actor is attractive. So put up with him and you'll get your full pay."

"But we should have finished shooting for the drama by now" ZhangWei complained. "Because of Sicheng, we're being held back another two months. A more capable actor can finish filming by then!"

"Fine. If you put up with Sicheng, I'll dock his pay by double and add it into yours. Is that good?" Director Liu said. They had apparently made an agreement and were coming back. Sicheng quietly crept away, returning to set where ZhangWei and Director Liu were there, pretending nothing happened.

"Sicheng!" ZhangWei embraced him, a surprisingly warm action for the man, but he knew exactly why he was doing it. So that he could earn Director Liu's favor and steal more of Sicheng's income. "You're finally here. Why don't we quickly finish this scene and go home? I'll buy you a meal."