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Chapter 6. This Is Why You Should Sleep at Home (3)
The next day.
The PD in charge of directing the drama was looking over the minor-role actors the staff had narrowed down.
“PD-nim! We heard back from the writer!”
“What did she say?”
“We told her Jang Ji-won stretched his shoulder ligament and got a cast, and she said she’d add a setting for it.”
“Ah! That’s a relief… How is she going to add it?”
“She said she’ll put it in like he got hurt while committing a murder. Choi Hori hasn’t killed just one or two people, so if we briefly add him getting injured in a flashback scene, it shouldn’t cause any major problems for filming. Then Jang Ji-won should be able to film with the cast on too.”
“So a scene is being added, right? That’s better than reshooting. And… I think it’ll bring the character to life even more.”
“There aren’t many scenes left for the child actor’s portion either, so I think it’ll be fine. The writer said she’ll come tomorrow and explain it too. She said she’s coming with actress Go Miwoo.”
At the news that they would not have to do a reshoot, the PD let out a sigh of relief.
But it was too early to relax.
The problem was the stand-in they needed right now. Since Jang Ji-won, whose shoulder was injured, could not film tomorrow, they needed a stand-in.
“Now we just have to pick a stand-in. The action school says they can’t?”
“They don’t have anyone who matches the conditions…”
“Height is the problem, right?”
“Yes. I thought 185cm would be common, but matching the conditions is a little difficult.”
“This is an important scene, so there needs to be a certain feel in the stabbing motion.”
“We’re also a bit short on time, so how about we just choose from these people?”
The staff member pointed at the tablet PC the PD was holding.
“The actors in there were all contacted by our staff too, and we asked them to film videos and send them in…”
“Fine. It can’t be helped. I’ll just have to hope someone has the right feeling.”
At that moment, President Park was seen entering the set.
And beside him was Myeongin, who had the incredibly sparkling eyes they had seen yesterday.
President Park had called him last night and practically begged him to give Myeongin just one more chance to act.
‘Well, giving a growing sprout one chance isn’t that hard. And I can’t ignore our relationship with Line Entertainment, where President Park belongs.’
However, his memories of Myeongin from yesterday had disappeared. He merely thought he was investing time for the sake of his future relationship with Chang-su.
* * *
Myeongin, who arrived at the set, was extremely excited, just like yesterday.
“Mister! Thank you so much!”
“What are you thanking me for? You wanted to do it that much, so I should let you.”
“But that’s a difficult thing to do.”
“What I received from the teacher is far greater. This is nothing.”
As if he meant it sincerely, Chang-su lightly slapped Myeongin on the butt.
“And when you act like that, how could I, as someone who works in this field, just sit still?”
However, Chang-su, who had been even more excited than Myeongin, suddenly spoke as if he were troubled.
“But you know. It seems like they don’t remember what happened yesterday.”
“Ah! I thought that would happen.”
“You thought that would happen?”
“You remember because you received a talisman from Mom, and other people treat me like they’re seeing me for the first time every time they see me. You know that too since you go around with me, Mister.”
“That’s true…”
“I’m used to it.”
Chang-su looked at Myeongin with a pitiful expression.
“Then what happens when you’re captured on screen?”
“I don’t know about that either, but won’t they probably remember it however is convenient? When I go around with you too, you’ve seen people who talked to me but remembered it as if they talked to you, Mister. If today goes well, when they come tomorrow, they’ll probably remember it however is convenient too.”
“Then won’t that become a problem?”
“They remember the act itself, but I’m just not in it. They’ll probably treat me like they’re seeing me for the first time again tomorrow, but they’ll tell me to do it because they trust you, Mister.”
Strangely, the memories of people related to Myeongin changed in whatever way was convenient.
“Whew… People need to properly see and remember that acting…”
At Chang-su’s regretful words, Myeongin asked back with a delighted expression.
“It was really okay, right?”
“Just okay? I thought I was going to faint. I thought I was really going to get stabbed. Ugh.”
After meeting the grim reaper yesterday, Myeongin had renewed his determination and practiced with Chang-su.
And Chang-su had practically turned deathly pale.
“Hey… hey… It’s me… Myeongin… Why are you doing this…?”
During yesterday’s practice, he had been so scared that he forgot it was acting practice and said something like that. It had been scary even during the first practice, but later, it truly felt as if Myeongin were trying to kill him.
The more he did it, the more it felt as if he was facing not the Myeongin he knew, but a real murderer.
He had been too shocked at the time, but now he had heard from Myeongin why he had become able to act that way.
“But it really is okay, right? Your gaze looked like it had completely changed. Like a possessed person.”
“I’m okay. As I thought about what the people the grim reaper showed me had been thinking when they did those things, I think I was able to act a little more similarly.”
“It’s really okay… It’ll be okay, right?”
“Yes. I don’t feel anything at all! If anything seems strange, I won’t do it anymore!”
Myeongin swallowed the words he wanted to say inwardly.
‘It’s a life Mom made for me, so I have to live it well.’
* * *
After moving like that, the two arrived where the PD was.
When the PD saw Myeongin politely greeting him, he suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
“You said your name was Myeongin, right? Your physique is perfect. As expected of President Park. You’re a complete savior.”
The PD, who was looking him over as if seeing him for the first time, repeated what he had said yesterday.
“But you’re too bright, aren’t you? Your face is too sunny-bright for a murderer role.”
“Please let him try it once.”
He did not remember what had happened with him yesterday, but Myeongin was in such a good mood just from conversing with another person that he smiled brightly.
Then, strangely, the corners of everyone’s mouths rose on their own as they looked at Myeongin.
Chang-su, who was watching that sight, let out a dumbfounded laugh and spoke to Myeongin.
“Do it comfortably, like you did with me. You’re not nervous, are you?”
“Yes!”
“You really would have been a born entertainer if people could only see you. How are you so calm?”
“I’m having so much fun even now.”
“Good. I just have to play the opposite role, right?”
Myeongin quickly shook his head and answered.
“I’ll try it with someone else today.”
“Huh? Then people won’t be able to see you…?”
“I want to check whether calling my name works too. Please just stay beside me until before I start acting.”
“Ah… Okay. Still, just in case, if people can’t see you, I’ll go in right away. Got it?”
“Yes!”
Yesterday, they had guessed that if the role’s name was called, people could sense Myeongin’s presence. It seemed Myeongin was now trying to check that part.
When Chang-su relayed the explanation to the PD, one of the staff members with a similar build to Go Miwoo agreed to act opposite him.
“Then let’s see you try it.”
Then Myeongin, who was wearing a raincoat and holding a knife, looked at the PD as if something was missing.
When Chang-su explained again, the PD burst into laughter as if he were hearing it for the first time.
“What, even a cue sign? Puhaha, all right. Let’s do it. Now! Scene 12, Choi Hori! Action!”
With those words, Chang-su moved slightly to the side with an expression full of worry.
Then he began watching how people reacted.
‘Oh… I guess it really works… Even if it’s a role, I guess he really is visible because he has a name…’
Everyone was looking at Myeongin.
Chang-su only marveled for a moment before turning his gaze back to Myeongin.
Thud!
The PD shouted, slightly surprised.
“Good! Good! PD Kim, film that. So I can compare him with the other kids.”
A staff member began filming Myeongin, and the PD watched Myeongin’s back-view acting through the monitor.
At that moment, the staff members watching from Myeongin’s front began murmuring.
“What is that… That’s not a real knife, right?”
“Look at his face. I’ve got goosebumps like crazy…”
The staff members’ words reached the PD’s ears too.
Just as PD Kang was about to give an instruction to film Myeongin from the front, unable to contain his curiosity, something happened.
“Da-young! Hey! Hey! Look at Da-young!”
“Hey! Choi Da-young!”
“Hey! Props team! Is that a prop? You didn’t give him a real knife, did you?”
The staff member acting opposite him, Da-young, had turned deathly pale.
The other staff members rushed over, and among them, the PD snatched the knife Myeongin was holding.
“What is this? It’s fake.”
The PD looked at Myeongin once as if he found it absurd, then spoke to staff member Da-young.
“Hey! Choi Da-young! What’s wrong with you?! Why are you acting too? What, are you doing method acting? Choi Da-young, snap out of it!”
Myeongin, who had finished acting, moved to Chang-su’s side with a slightly startled face and watched the situation.
“I think I went too strong.”
“Hey! That’s why you should have gone easy! I was going to do it because I thought this might happen…”
“It’s just that, because that person was scared, I was able to immerse myself even better…”
“…”
At that moment, Choi Da-young, who was surrounded by staff members and deathly pale, pointed at Myeongin with tears in her eyes.
Her head was lowered, as if she could not even meet his eyes.
“He really tried to kill me…”
“What?”
“It’s true. He really tried to kill me…”
“What is this… Why are you acting like this?”
At that moment, Myeongin cautiously approached.
Then Choi Da-young must have been so startled that, while seated, she pushed against the floor with her hands and tried to back away.
“Noona, I’m sorry. I think I got too immersed!”
“…?”
A moment ago, he had clearly tried to kill her, but now he was not.
Seeing Myeongin, who was fidgeting and could not even come closer, Choi Da-young was confused.
She could not imagine that a child with such clear eyes would kill anyone.
‘Did I mis… understand him…?’
Until just now, he had been terrifying.
She had clearly seen the road to the underworld… But it seemed that had all been her own misunderstanding after all.
There was no way a child like that would do such a thing.
“I-I think I misunderstood… Because his acting was too good…”
“What the hell. You scared us. Go rest for a bit. That startled me…”
Since it would be a big problem if an accident happened on set, PD Kang also seemed to have been truly startled.
The PD let out a sigh of relief and looked at Myeongin.
“You brought in a proper kid. But because that friend got startled, I didn’t get to see it properly.”
“Should I do it again?”
“Want to try? The movement was incredible. Where did you see that wrist-twisting move?”
“I practiced it last night!”
“You’re well-prepared. Okay, I’ll watch it just one more time. Huh? Why are you calling me?”
At that moment, the staff member who had filmed Myeongin’s acting called the PD while swallowing dryly.
The PD asked for a moment and checked the monitor. The PD, whose expression grew more and more serious as he checked it several times, ultimately had no choice but to point a finger at Myeongin and shout.
“Whoa… He’s killing her…!! He really tried to kill her!”
* * *
The next day.
It was already Myeongin’s third day visiting this place, but the staff treated Myeongin as if they were seeing him for the first time today.
Even though they had clearly been together for several days.
He had to greet them every day and show them the acting he had already shown again, but still, they remembered Myeongin at least a little.
To be exact, they did not remember him, but remembered that Chang-su had brought an actor.
So every time they saw him, they merely reacted with, ‘Oh, was it this person yesterday? I see,’ and no one cared much. And the director was extremely satisfied every time he saw Myeongin’s acting.
“Myeongin. Stick right by me.”
“Yes!”
“Why do their memories get corrected however they want when you’re away from me? Whew, seriously.”
“I’ll stick right by you.”
Today too, a few people he had not exchanged greetings with treated Myeongin as if seeing him for the first time. But that lasted only a moment. Thanks to him working hard and going around all day, everyone now showed interest in Myeongin and spoke to him.
“Myeongin, eat a lot.”
“Yes! The food is really delicious.”
“Hahaha! Eat, then eat more! Who cares if some other people starve a bit!”
Not only the staff members, but even the actors were gathered around Myeongin.
‘People naturally gather around him…’
Chang-su found it incredibly fascinating.
If he, who had the talisman, disappeared, Myeongin’s presence would disappear too and everyone would definitely scatter, but right now, Lee Roo-min, who was playing the adult version of Choi Hori, was also seated in front of Myeongin and eating dinner.
“Actress Go Miwoo is coming later, you know. She’s a little cold. She’s not a bad person, but should I say her energy is really strong? So she might sting even when she’s not saying much. She doesn’t say it with bad intentions, so don’t get hurt.”
“Yes, I won’t get hurt.”
“Haha, good, good. If something like that happens, hyung will step in and cover for you.”
“Thank you!”
“You little rascal.”
Not only Lee Roo-min, who messed up Myeongin’s hair as if he had gained a cute little brother, but Kang Juwon, the lead actor affiliated with Line Entertainment, also could not take his eyes off Myeongin.
“Director, you have to catch that kid no matter what. His charm is unbelievable.”
“Hoho, does it look that way?”
For some reason, Chang-su’s shoulders rose at the compliment toward Myeongin.
“The actors gathered here all like only Myeongin. Is it because the kid is bright? You said he’s your nephew, right? Then, well, of course he’ll come to our company.”
It was a matter to think about when Myeongin became an adult, to be exact, after he passed twenty.
Still, seeing people like Myeongin like this and seeing Myeongin happily accept it, Chang-su’s smile would not leave his face either.
At that moment, the drama’s main writer and Go Miwoo, an actress representing Korea, appeared.
Everyone who had been eating stood up and greeted them.
“What are you greeting me for in the middle of eating? Just eat.”
Go Miwoo coolly waved her hand and went far away. Just as Lee Roo-min had said, her first impression was extremely cold.
Lee Roo-min jerked his chin toward the direction Go Miwoo had disappeared and said, “I was right, wasn’t I? That’s just how she usually talks.”
“Haha, she’s chic. She’s really cool.”
“Still, we’re so grateful she’s even appearing as a cameo in our drama. She’s someone who even won the Academy Award for Best Actress.”
“Ah, I watched the award ceremony video too!”
“You watched it? Sunbae-nim is appearing to keep her loyalty. When you see things like that, she really is an amazing person. Our current writer used to belong to Writer Kim Eun-jung’s team. She started there as a junior writer and became independent this time, and they said Sunbae-nim came out because of that connection. It’s just that her energy is strong, so people misunderstand her, but she has good sides too.”
Myeongin also looked in the direction Go Miwoo had disappeared. Since Choi Da-young had nearly fainted, he had been wondering whether he should act weakly.
‘If she’s a strong person, wouldn’t it be okay to do it properly?’
Myeongin’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
* * *
Once the sun went down, preparations began before the main shoot.
“The lines are going to be dubbed afterward by the kid originally cast for this role anyway, right?”
“Yes! That’s right!”
“Then let’s just match the order.”
Before the main shoot, Myeongin wanted to try matching his acting with Go Miwoo, but Go Miwoo did not even meet his eyes and only conversed with the staff.
Then she merely looked around her surroundings to see where and how she had to act. Since the other party would not respond, there was nothing he could do. It felt like that time when no one could recognize him even when he was right in front of their eyes.
When Myeongin became slightly gloomy, Chang-su, who was stuck right next to him, patted his back as if telling him to cheer up.
“You’re wearing a raincoat, so the actress probably can’t see you properly. If she saw your eyes, she would have liked you.”
Myeongin smiled brightly, as if he had never been gloomy.
“I’m okay. A lead actor and a minor-role actor are on different levels.”
“Where did you see that?”
“It comes up in dramas sometimes. And if you look online, every now and then, there are proof posts where minor-role actors say they were grateful because a lead actor looked after them. I figured those proof posts go up because it’s not something that should be taken for granted.”
“Mm… That’s right. You’re really smart.”
While Myeongin was talking with Chang-su, filming of the scene began.
“We’ll go into Scene 12 N, Park Young-sook’s return-home scene.”
First, it began with Go Miwoo walking alone in the rain. It was a scene where she kept checking behind her and walked with an anxious expression.
“Cut! Sunbae-nim, you were slightly leaning to the right just now. Please stay in the middle of the road. When Choi Hori follows a little later, I think it’ll overlap.”
“Then you should have checked the blocking in advance.”
“I told you earlier…”
“You said earlier that I collapse by the telephone pole on the right. So I went slightly to the right.”
“Yes, understood…”
“Next time, check it properly. Let’s go again.”
She grumbled, but she was still doing what she had to do.
After Go Miwoo’s solo filming ended like that, Myeongin’s turn came.
“We’ll go into Scene 12-3! Choi Hori and Park Young-sook running into each other. We’ll flip it and shoot it as a double-action shot, so please act with the same pose.”
“Why are you explaining so much?”
“Ah. That friend is here for the first time today.”
“Hoo. Okay.”
Even for one scene, since the viewpoint changed, multiple shots were essential, but since it had to appear as the same scene, it meant the movements had to match.
He had explained it for Myeongin’s sake.
“Then we’ll go into the scene where Choi Hori and Park Young-sook run into each other. First, we’ll go all at once up to the part where Park Young-sook feels relieved and then immediately gets horrified.”
Filming began like that.
According to the script, Myeongin appeared in front of Go Miwoo.
When Myeongin slightly raised his head, Go Miwoo let out a sigh of relief with an expression as if all the tension had drained from her.
—Why are you scared?
But only for a moment. Along with Myeongin’s line, Go Miwoo’s expression turned pale as if she were horrified. The writer, who had been watching the monitor with the PD, opened her mouth in admiration.
“She really is incredible. Does it make sense for an expression to change this quickly?”
“Yes… That’s right.”
“I can really see why people say Go Miwoo, Go Miwoo. As expected, not just anyone wins the Academy Award for Best Actress. Wow, even watching it on screen gives me goosebumps. That’s exactly the expression I wanted.”
The writer kept exclaiming in admiration at Go Miwoo’s expression.
However, the PD was terribly curious about the expression Myeongin must have shown Go Miwoo.
