Chapter 681

Maru took a deep breath of the air in the set. He felt that he was becoming more and more sensitive with the repeated cues and cuts. Jayeon was someone who knew what she had to shoot. As she had a clear sense of objective and directionality, she solved what she lacked - instructions for the actors - by talking to the actor about it. For an actor, working with a producer who listened to their words is something happy but also rather pressuring. It might be an opportunity if the actor was ambitious with acting and knew a lot of things, but if the actor was someone who relied on the director for everything, they might find it a disaster.

He could see Yuna through the gaps in the set. She was licking her lips as she flipped through her script. Maru could tell from afar that she was nervous. The set should still be an unfamiliar stage for her. She was someone who once turned her eyes away from the fact that acting was difficult and tiring because she forced herself to think that acting was supposed to be enjoyable.

“You’re good.”

“Thank you.”

While producer Jayeon checked the footage, they got a break. The one who talked to him was the camera director who went into the set with him. Jayeon called this man ‘senior Kim’.

“You’re used to shoots, huh? You don’t look nervous at all.”

“Well, I guess I do have more room to relax after dipping my feet into it a couple of times. During my first shoot, I was so torn between whether I had to look at the camera or not.”

“It’s a problem if you’re conscious of it, but it’s also a problem if you aren’t.”

“Yes, that really was the case.”

“You’re doing well though, so don’t worry about it.”

The camera director put his hands in his pocket before taking out a piece of chocolate.

“Would you like one?”

“I’ll gladly take it if you’re willing to give it to me.”

The chocolate, which was wrapped in plastic wrap, drew a parabola in the air as it flew towards him. Maru thanked him before putting the chocolate in his mouth. When something sweet spread around in his mouth, he felt like he had gotten energy.

“I have a kid your age at home,” said the camera director.

“Is he in his 3rd year of high school?”

“No, he’s in his 1st. Because the work I do is like this, I don’t really have a lot of time to see him, and when I became aware of it, he had turned into an adult already.”

“I guess that must have made you both proud and a little disappointed.”

The camera director blinked once before putting on a faint smile.

“I’m not that proud. He’s still immature.”

“You know there’s a proud smile on your face right now, right?”

“Was it that obvious?”

The camera director laughed.

“He’s also getting ready to be an actor. I stopped him at first. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of things. This place is so desolate that studying towards success seems easier.”

“I personally found studying much harder. Maybe it’s because I’m not that smart.”

“No way, you look smart at a glance. If the almighty director Yoo asked you for your opinions and followed your words, then that explains everything. That girl, she’s more than willing to kneel to the people she could learn from, but to anyone else, she would never be subservient even to her superiors.”

“She’s a female general.”

“That’s right, she’s a female general. A fussy one too.”

As he was listening to the camera director’s words with a smile, Yuna caught his eyes again. She was muttering something with her eyes closed before she opened her eyes and checked the script. From the way she was sighing, it seemed that she incorrectly memorized her lines. It was something that everyone experienced. The lines they could practically sing before reaching the shooting set would disappear the moment they stepped into the set. They would be as clean as a new slate.

“Uhm, director.”

“Hm?”

“May I have another one of those chocolates?”

“This is my medicine, you know?”

Despite saying those words, the camera director chucked two at him.

“It’s tasty, isn’t it? They’re foreign-made.”

“It’s good. I’m planning to give one to her over there, do you mind if I do?”

“Over there?”

The camera director stepped sideways to look at Yuna who was outside the set.

“Oh, her.”

“I think she’s very nervous right now, so I was wondering if something sweet might make her calm down.”

“I see, you can give it to her if you like. Don’t forget to tell her that I’m the one who gave you them,” said the camera director with a smile.

Maru left the set with the chocolates in hand. He could see producer Jayeon and Ganghwan talking in front of the monitor. It seemed that something wasn’t going right.

“Yuna.”

Yuna raised her head. Maru tossed her one of the chocolates. Yuna, who was in a daze, hurriedly closed the script and received the chocolate.

“What’s this?”

“What do you think?”

“Oh, chocolate.”

“The camera director gave it to you. He says you’ll ease up a little if you eat it.”

Maru pointed at the camera director who was waving his hands inside the set. Although the camera director was in his middle ages, his actions looked somewhat cute. Yuna immediately bowed towards him.

“I know nothing I say will be helpful, but don’t try too hard to memorize it. If you’ve prepared properly, you’ll naturally remember everything once you start.”

“You don’t feel nervous, do you, seonbae?” Yuna asked as she fidgeted with the packaging.

“I do. I just don’t show it. Ultimately this is a group project. The actors are the ones who will show up on screen, but everyone else here make all that possible. If the person going on the screen is nervous, the staff here will feel exhausted.”

“That’s true.”

“So eat it and relax a little.”

After seeing Yuna eat the chocolate, Maru entered the set again.

“You’re looking after her?”

“She’s someone I know, so I should take care of her when I can. Though, I won’t be able to do it if the hot potato falls into my hands.”

Maru took out the script he put underneath the bed. The start was good, but to maintain this current atmosphere, he had to increase his understanding of the character.

“You’re earnest,” said the camera director who approached him.

He pointed at the script which was filled with notes everywhere,

“It’s the same for every job. Regardless of what you do, you always have to keep studying. Did you write all that?”

“Yes, it’s become a habit now. If I see any blank space on the script, it makes me feel like I haven’t done enough.”

“I wish my kid knew that being an actor isn’t simply about consuming emotions.”

“He’ll probably realize It once he starts doing it for real. There’s nothing in this world that can be done without planning.”

Just as he was about halfway through the script, producer Jayeon came in.

“We’re going to do the next scene. If there’s any improv you want to do, then try putting it in. I’ll see how it goes and will cut if necessary.”

“Okay.”

Maru chucked the script beneath the bed again.

* * *

Feeling something sweet in her mouth, Yuna looked inside the set. Maru-seonbae’s shoot was currently underway. Like the two people before him, his shoot was progressing smoothly. Cut signs could be heard, and whenever that happened, producer Jayeon talked to seonbae with a pleasant smile on her face. It felt like two pros working towards the same goal.

Yuna thought that she shouldn’t get nervous, but she was still worried that she might derail everything. She had recovered to the point that she was able to look around her thanks to seonbae’s consideration for her. 10 minutes ago, she was so out of it that she couldn’t hear anything around her.

She could see Maru behind the door in the set. He lied on the bed before standing up and going to his desk. They were simple actions that did not require anything technical, but Yuna knew that the less technique there was, the more an actor’s skill would show.

“I did about that much when I was his age.”

Hearing the voice next to her, Yuna was startled and turned around. Ganghwan was there. Yuna stared at him with her mouth slightly agape. Ganghwan’s act, which had started off the shoot, shocked Yuna a lot. Actually, when she saw him for the first time during the get-together, she just thought that he was one of the seniors who had spent a long time as a nameless actor. Even after hearing that he had been an actor for a long time on the theater side, she didn’t think he was that amazing. That was because of her bias that actors who were active on screens were generally better than the ones in theaters.

He seemed light-hearted and laughed very easily. She just thought that he was a cheerful senior actor when she heard about his life stories, which she couldn’t tell whether they were true or not. However, the moment she saw him acting, her bias was shattered to pieces. She felt ashamed for thinking that actors in theaters would be inferior to actors who were active in dramas.

Producer Jayeon asked for a few changes because of his vocalization and speech tone which was unique to theatrical acting, but that only happened once. From the 2nd time onwards, he looked just as professional as veteran drama actors. Ganghwan expressed a rather successful writer who hit a writer’s block with just his movements and breathing since he did not have any lines. Even viewers who did not know the scenario would instantly realize that this man had a big worry.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“N-nothing.”

“I guess I am a little handsome.”

Hearing the joke, Yuna chuckled. She then realized that she was laughing in front of a great senior and tried to hold back the laugh, but she couldn’t do anything about the fact that she had laughed already.

“If it’s funny, you should laugh.”

“What?”

“You know? For actors, there definitely comes a time when they have to look at their own feelings honestly and express them. When you first start acting, you would probably think that hiding yourself is the essence of acting, but once you keep doing it, you realize that there’s a limit to hiding and that revealing yourself is the only way to survive. How do you feel right now? Are you nervous?”

“Yes, just a little.”

“Then try getting close to that nervousness. Don’t just think ‘I’m nervous’. If you are nervous, observe what kind of changes are happening to your body, from the tip of your head to your toes. Since I said that, let’s try that right now instead of watching that kid over there, who can take care of himself.”

Ganghwan pointed at Maru with his index finger. Yuna inwardly flinched. This wasn’t the time to be looking at other people. She had to use this time to improve herself. Just as Maru said, she had to do it for the sake of the people working here.

She closed her eyes and focused. She intended to find out how every one of her cells was reacting to her current feelings.

* * *

“Kids these days are scary.”

Jayeon, who was still standing up after shouting cut, tilted her head when she heard Ganghwan’s words. Ganghwan was pointing at Yuna, who was standing next to the set with her eyes closed.

“They absorb everything they’re told. At this rate, I will use up my arsenal of tricks.”

“Is there even an end to that?”

“If I keep taking things out, it will bottom out eventually.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“So it’s not happening for a while, huh. Anyway, I’ll let you take care of the others when it comes to acting. That’s why I picked you after all.”

Ganghwan cringed one eye.

“If you’re gonna do that, do that after you pay me extra. I might look like this but I once taught at the Myeongdong Arts Hall, you know?”

“I’ll treat you to meat.”

“Good. I accept that deal.”

“You’re such an easy man.”

Jayeon smiled.

“But Han Maru, where the heck did that guy pop out from? He’s really good.”

“I told you he’s a precious disciple of mine. Try using him well. There’s probably no one who has made full use out of him yet.”

“I’ll drain him to the bones so don’t you worry.”

Just then, Jayeon saw Yuna making a resolve behind the shrugging Ganghwan.

“Looks like she’s ready too. I guess we’ll be able to finish today’s scenes before sunset.”

“Do we get a get-together if it ends early?”

“Uhm, hello, actor Yang? We don’t have a lot of budget, you know?”

Jayeon pushed Ganghwan away and walked over to Mira who was waiting.

“You ready?”

“I’m always ready. It’s a matter of whether I do well or not.”

“All of your comments are gold. Just keep doing that. It fits your character.”

“I think I’ll have an easier time thanks to that. The character has a similar personality to me.”

“That’s why you were picked. So show me perfect acting.”

Jayeon stood in front of the B set. The set that was Byungjae’s room before had changed into Mira’s room. The position of the furniture had changed, and when the color of the walls changed, it felt completely different before, despite the fact that it was the same space. There were posters of rock artists on the wall, as well as a shelf full of hiking boots. Mira’s room was a stark contrast to Byungjae, who was an examinee who lived a strict everyday life, since she belonged to a well-off household.

“We’ll do a rehearsal and shoot in five minutes.”

“Okay.”

“Show your confidence in the form of acting.”

Jayeon looked at Mira, who boldly walked into the set, before turning her eyes over to Yuna. These were the actors that she chose. Until now, there had been no problems. As long as that girl shows her colors, this drama would definitely do well.

“Well then, let’s get ready!”

KTLChamber's Thoughts

I'm still waiting... for the day when Maru becomes big

Editor's Note:

Ganghwan actually acting like a senior seems odd.