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Chapter 4. This Is Why You Sleep at Home (1)
Myeongin’s eyes sparkled even more than usual after arriving at the filming set.
He was so excited that he was practically as out of his mind as an excited golden retriever.
“Is it that good?”
“Yes!”
“Heh, yeah. Seeing you so happy makes me feel good too. I’m in the mood now! Want to take a picture with Actor Kang?”
“Is that okay?”
“Of course. Let’s go!”
Myeongin did not forget to greet people even while moving with himself stuck close to Chang-su.
Thanks to that, Chang-su was the busy one.
“President Park Chang-suk, what brings you all the way to the set? Ah! You came to introduce a new actor!”
“Haha, this friend isn’t an actor.”
“Then is he a manager? Are you still teaching people field work?”
“He’s my nephew.”
“I see. No wonder. I thought he was too handsome for a manager.”
Myeongin smiled brightly as he greeted them, and the people who received his greetings also answered with smiles, as if they had been infected.
“The more I look, the more amazing it is. Myeongin, do you like people that much?”
“Yes!”
He was cute, but at the same time, it also made one feel sorry for him.
He liked people that much, but since he had no presence when he was alone, the loneliness Myeongin felt must have been even greater.
“Let’s go for now. We’ll look around the whole set, greet all the staff, and watch the filming too!”
“Yes!”
“But you definitely have to go home, right?”
“Ah, yes. Mom said I have to sleep at home no matter what. She said it’ll be okay in 1 year and 3 months.”
“Yeah. If Teacher said so, then you have to. Then let’s move quickly! And close your clothes a bit! It’s already cold, and since this is Gangwon Province, it’s even colder. Put these hot packs in your pockets too so you don’t catch a cold.”
While they were talking, they arrived at an actor named Kang Juwon.
He was in the middle of filming, so Myeongin was able to watch him act.
“Amazing, right?”
“Yes…”
“He’s acting while they’re spraying rain like that in this cold. Wow.”
“He’s so cool…!”
They were filming the same scene several times while changing angles, so it would have been understandable for him to get bored, but Myeongin was not bored at all. He was simply incredibly envious.
Someday, he too wanted to stand there… no, even among the bit-part actors behind him would be fine.
“Myeongin. If you can’t see well, look at the PD’s monitor over there. Don’t go too close. Stay beside me. I may not look it, but this uncle has some connection with that main director, PD Kang.”
“Yes!”
“How does the kid listen so well? Hey, you can go a little farther forward. Why are you just bending your back here?”
Grin!
As if being told he could go forward was some incredible gift, Myeongin happily took one step forward.
Then he began looking back and forth between the actor and the monitor without even blinking. Unfortunately, he could not hear the lines because the headphones were on.
Even so, seeing filming being done like this was fascinating enough.
At that moment, the PD sent a signal to a staff member, and the staff member who received the signal approached the actors while shouting.
“We’ll immediately flip scene 19 and continue! We’re going double, so please pay attention!”
At the same time, the camera that had been filming Kang Juwon busily moved over and took position so it could film the people who had been following Kang Juwon.
Myeongin, who had been quietly watching that, muttered as if he had realized something.
“Ah… So flipping means filming from the other direction.”
But it seemed that had reached the staff members’ ears.
When the staff all looked at Myeongin, Myeongin greeted them brightly like usual.
“Hello!”
“Who…?”
“Who are you?”
When the people began murmuring, Chang-suk hurriedly stepped in.
“PD Kang, it’s been a while. This is my nephew, and he said he wanted to come see the set. Were we in the way? I’ll make sure he’s careful.”
“Ah, so he’s President Park’s nephew. Hey, you weren’t in the way. We were preparing to continue anyway.”
The PD looked Myeongin up and down, then opened his mouth.
“How tall are you?”
“I’m 185 centimeters.”
“You’re really tall. Is your dream to be an actor?”
“It is, but not yet!”
“Hm? Haha, what kind of answer is that? But why is your smile so pretty? Huh, really.”
The director smiled along with Myeongin, then suddenly pointed to an empty chair.
“Sit here and watch.”
“Yes!”
Seeing him sit right down without even refusing, Chang-suk was dumbfounded.
‘They said he had the look of someone who would be loved, and even this happens.’
Even so, Chang-suk stuck right beside Myeongin so that he could emit his presence.
The PD smiled at Chang-suk and said,
“I’m always filming dark pictures, so seeing President Park’s nephew is healing me right away.”
Chang-suk had told Myeongin he had a connection with the main PD, but it was not an extremely deep connection to that extent.
Yet after only answering a few words, Myeongin was stuck right beside PD Kang as if he were a lead actor.
Even PD Kang himself was accepting it in a friendly way.
“We’ll start shooting from Ban Oseok’s line in scene 19!”
Myeongin looked at the acting with sparkling eyes.
The actor performing now was a rookie, but even he was an object of admiration to Myeongin.
A little while later, when the acting ended, PD Kang said,
“We’ll clean up and film scene 38 in 2 hours. And Ban Oseok, Choi Hori, your lines are long, so match your breathing in advance so you don’t overlap.”
PD Kang, who had been giving instructions by calling their names in the drama, suddenly stood up and smiled at Myeongin.
“When you become an actor later, do a project with me. I think one incredible healing story would come out of it?”
“Yes! Thank you!”
“Hahaha, why are you so happy? I almost said, ‘Paw!’”
Chang-suk laughed as if he agreed. He was not the only one who felt that way.
“Then enjoy watching before you leave.”
At that moment, a staff member who had suddenly received a phone call hurriedly approached.
“Director, Jang Ji-won got into an accident!”
“Jang Ji-won? What accident!”
“They say he got into a traffic accident while coming to the set.”
“How badly is he hurt?”
“According to Jang Ji-won’s mother, he’s being taken away in an ambulance right now.”
“What kind of accident was it!”
“A dump truck carrying gravel overturned. It was a really big accident, but they said Ji-won wasn’t directly involved in the accident. The fallen gravel bounced up and shattered his windshield, so he got into an accident with another car. So it seems like he wasn’t badly hurt… but they said they have to check his condition.”
“This is insane… He really isn’t badly hurt, right?”
In an instant, the mood turned into ice.
Myeongin felt that atmosphere and stepped far back, and Chang-suk lightly patted Myeongin on the shoulder.
“I thought you were just purely bright, but you read the mood well too?”
“It seemed serious.”
“Right. When filming, things like this do happen, but… it’s still a bit much.”
“Why?”
“Do you know who Jang Ji-won is?”
Since he often watched dramas and movies, Myeongin knew very well too.
“Yes. He’s an actor who usually plays students.”
“Right. He’s playing the high school version of Lee Rumin, who plays Choi Hori over there. His acting is pretty good, so I had expectations for him, but this is a big problem. The child-actor portion has to pull the whole thing along. They must have filmed a lot already too.”
“Ah… I see.”
“If he’s badly hurt, they’ll have to change the actor and film everything again, so that’s the problem.”
“Filming can be done again. I just hope he isn’t badly hurt.”
Chang-suk, who had been speaking from the production team’s position, flinched for a moment.
“Ahem, right. That comes first. Goodness.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I thought I was on the pretty kind side, you know. I reflected a bit.”
“You’re a really kind person, Uncle. You always take care of me too. You even go on walks with me!”
“That walking thing again. Good grief.”
At that moment, the main PD and the staff member’s conversation could be heard.
“Ah, this is driving me crazy. Ms. Go Miwoo is coming the day after tomorrow, right?”
“Yes… Her schedule is only available the day after tomorrow…”
“Uaaaah! Why did something like this have to happen! No, people should drive carefully!”
The main PD held his forehead and thought for a long while before he began organizing the situation.
“For now, bring me all the profiles of the audition participants who tried out for Choi Hori’s child role.”
“The participants’ profiles?”
“Yes! Hey, where are we going to find a 185-centimeter-tall high school student role right now? It’s faster to look among the kids we already saw.”
“Then are we going to film all the footage we’ve shot until now again…?”
“No. Hey, PD Kim. Get a grip. Don’t you know what scene we’re filming when Ms. Go Miwoo comes as a cameo the day after tomorrow?”
“Ah!”
It was the scene where the narratives of the two protagonists, Choi Hori and Ban Oseok, began.
It was an incredibly important scene, and the reason they had cast Jang Ji-won was also because they thought he would be able to handle this scene well.
“This won’t do. When Jang Ji-won comes later, we’ll separately take only the eye shots, and for now, let’s find a stand-in and do it. Since he’ll be wearing a raincoat anyway, it’ll be fine.”
“If we do that, wouldn’t age not matter…? His face won’t show anyway.”
“Yeah, right. Now you’ve come to your senses a bit. Just in case, ask Choi Hori, no, ask Minseok… no. I’ll talk to Minseok myself.”
“It probably won’t work… He has a photo shoot in Japan, so he has a flight tomorrow morning…”
“Haa…!”
“For now, I’ll keep in touch with Jang Ji-won and try to find someone…”
At that moment, the staff member who had been tearing at his hair discovered Myeongin, who was watching from a slight distance.
“Huh? Around 185 centimeters… slender? A male student… Even his age is just right… More or less…? Director, that friend is…”
“Ahh! Ah… Hey, no. Look at his eyes. How are those the eyes of a murderer?”
“Still, just once… his face won’t be shown anyway.”
Perhaps tempted by those words, the PD looked at Myeongin and then slowly approached.
“What did you say your nephew’s name was?”
“It’s Myeongin.”
“Is that why he’s so bright? As in ‘bright’ and ‘person’?”
“No. It’s Mu Myeongin. ‘Name’ and ‘person.’”
“Uh…? His name. But is there a surname Mu? Ah, anyway, that’s not the point…”
Since he also needed permission from Chang-suk, who was the guardian, the PD began explaining to the two of them.
“Tomorrow, Actress Go Miwoo is coming to help with a cameo. She agreed to help us as Ban Oseok’s mother. It’s a role where she’s murdered by high schooler Choi Hori… but the original actor got into an accident.”
“Yes, we heard. But Myeongin has never acted before…”
“It’s nothing difficult! His face won’t show either, and he just has to do the movements for a moment. How about it, want to try? Your physique is really perfect for it. Myeongin, you said earlier that your dream was to be an actor, right?”
To match the schedule of Actress Go Miwoo, who had allowed a cameo appearance, they had to immediately bring in someone by tomorrow whose physique matched 185-centimeter Choi Hori.
Though he was a complete beginner with no experience, the PD, who wanted to grasp at straws right away, looked at Myeongin with sparkling eyes.
Nod!
Myeongin immediately nodded quickly without even thinking.
“Hahaha! Right? Yeah, let’s try it! By the way, why is a guy as big as a mountain so cute? You’re like a huge puppy.”
“Thank you!”
At that moment, Chang-suk stepped between the warm and friendly PD and Myeongin.
Chang-suk quickly whispered into Myeongin’s ear.
“Then you’ll have to be away from me. That won’t work, you know.”
“I think it’s a good opportunity, so I want to try it once!”
“Yeah…? Hey, fine. There is a way… Yeah. Try it once. Since you’re here, think of it as getting experience and give it a try.”
Chang-suk, who knew Myeongin well, found it fascinating.
‘Is it because acting is written as his calling? He gets this kind of offer as soon as he arrives…’
When Myeongin, having received Chang-suk’s permission, looked at him with sparkling eyes, the PD smiled.
“To explain it roughly, Choi Hori is a psychopathic murderer. He commits murders every time it rains. There are lines too, but they’re short, and we’ll dub them in separately anyway, so it’s fine even if it’s awkward. Just follow behind her and then call out to her. That person is Actress Go Miwoo. She’s Ban Oseok’s mother, okay?”
“Yes!”
“It’s raining and she’s walking down a dark road, and you’re following behind her. At that moment, Actress Go Miwoo will check behind her with a face full of fear. Then when she sees your face, she’ll be relieved.”
“Because she knows Choi Hori?”
“That’s right. At that moment, you say, ‘Why are you scared?’ And then, ‘Want me to show you something really scary? Watch closely,’ and stab! Then stab! Then stab! Keep stabbing! Stab the neck too! You get the feeling, right?”
“Ah, I understand.”
“You understand?”
After hearing the explanation, Myeongin understood all the filming scenes he had watched just now.
The reason Choi Hori’s role, who had been the protagonist’s companion, looked like he was hiding something while remaining relaxed was here. It seemed to be a role that stayed beside the protagonist, toyed with him, and enjoyed seeing the protagonist suffer.
When the staff member had already brought the prop as well, Myeongin quickly put on the raincoat and even took the prop knife in his hand.
Then, when he was about to act, the PD said to Chang-suk,
“President Park, you should step aside a bit…”
“That won’t do. There’s a bit of a reason for that… Well, I should play the role of getting stabbed!”
“Aha! Ooh, as expected! President Park! Right. It’ll feel realistic if we have that!”
When the method he had thought of worked, Chang-suk let out a sigh of relief and prepared to match his acting. But at that moment, Myeongin lifted the raincoat slightly and spoke to the PD with a bright smile.
“Can you also do the thing you did earlier, like scene something, shoot! for me?”
“Uahahaha! He asks for all sorts of things. Fine. I’ll do it. All right, scene 12, Choi Hori, we’re going into the shoot. Action!”
It was a strange thing. The fact that the original actor had nearly dropped out and they had been in a desperate state of grasping at straws disappeared somewhere, and the PD happily granted Myeongin’s request.
The staff were likewise smiling as they cheered for Myeongin.
“Choi Hori, fighting!”
“Keke. That friend’s kind of fun. We might meet him on a filming set later?”
“Do well and take Choi Hori’s role. Choi Hori, fighting!”
A child they wanted to cheer for.
People kept shouting “fighting” as they cheered him on, and Myeongin, who answered them with a smile, began to concentrate.
A dark alley with rain falling.
Ominous footsteps following from behind.
When the frightened middle-aged woman turned her head.
“Why are you scared?”
A knife was somehow in his hand.
“Want me to show you something really scary? Watch closely.”
Stab!
“Ugh!”
Stab! Stab, staaab!
“Hup, haah.”
The first moment he showed himself to people.
After finishing his acting, Myeongin smiled brightly because he was happy about that. And from the mouths of the people watching that sight…
“Ah…”
“Uh…”
Sighs flowed out.
While everyone was only inhaling, the PD laughed and said, “This won’t do. You’re too gentle. Is it because your eyes are so clear? The feeling doesn’t come alive… Whew, this is supposed to be, you know, stabbing with a knife?”
“Ah, yes.”
“But you stab too gently. On top of that, the look in your eyes doesn’t feel like you’re stabbing someone with a knife. It feels like you’re forcing pocket money on them!”
“Ah!”
“Here’s fifty thousand won in your left pocket! Here’s ten thousand won more in your inner pocket! Do you need more? Then I’ll give you more! That kind of feeling. Whew, haha, anyway, good work helping out.”
Though he had received criticism, Myeongin was instead incredibly happy about it.
He had finally tried “acting.” And in front of people, at that!
The very fact that he could actually show his acting in front of people was something he was grateful for.
He could study this and that on his own, but actually experiencing it and receiving feedback was on a completely different level.
Myeongin politely bowed to the PD, who had patted his shoulder, and then approached Chang-suk, who was still sitting after getting stabbed while playing the opposite role for him.
Then, suddenly, he stopped walking.
“That’s strange. There was distance between Uncle and me, but it seems I was visible…”
Myeongin muttered while looking at the PD and staff, who were busily heading that way.
At those words, Chang-suk also looked at him with a startled face, as if wondering what in the world was going on.
