TMKG 7

Chapter 7. This Is Why You Should Sleep at Home (4)

Go Miwoo was truly startled.

He was a junior whose first time acting was now, so the PD had even explained things to him. That was why she had been considerate, enduring the PD’s long signal so her junior could learn, and had intended to act splendidly so he could walk the proper path of acting as a senior.

‘What is with this kid…’

And yet she had been overwhelmed by a single line.

Far from acting splendidly, she had gotten scared and could not even remember what kind of acting she had done. And yet the staff, who had only seen the scene beyond the monitor, praised her, saying Go Miwoo was Go Miwoo after all.

That praise was too embarrassing.

“Why are you all making so much noise? You’re interfering with the acting. We need to focus!”

She had only matched breaths with that child for a brief moment. And yet, inside her head, the evaluations of the people who would see this scene after the drama was released were already ringing noisily.

Starting from ‘Why is Go Miwoo’s acting like that?’ to comments like ‘She got eaten alive by a child actor.’

Go Miwoo repeated it to herself again and gathered her heart.

Meanwhile, the PD also had many worries.

If he could do as he wished, he wanted to capture on camera the devil-like expression Myeongin had shown during the rehearsal earlier, and that expression that had made Go Miwoo genuinely freak out, not as acting. But he could not reveal his face. Because he was a body double. And because, according to the scenario, Choi Hori’s identity was not supposed to be revealed.

The murderer’s identity was the drama’s highlight.

As the protagonist gathered evidence one by one, the outline of the horrifying murderer would gradually narrow down to the protagonist’s friend, Choi Hori…

The viewers had to be immersed in that tension…

“Ah… I know in my head that it won’t work… but I really want to capture it…”

At the PD’s mutter, the staff member who had filmed the rehearsal opened his mouth as if agreeing.

“You mean that friend’s face, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I did think that if that expression got revealed, our show would blow up. But that doesn’t mean we can capture the expression while he’s stabbing her either.”

“Right. We’re supposed to sell this to a terrestrial broadcaster.”

Since it was a work contracted with a terrestrial broadcaster, they had to refrain from scenes that were too explicit. So all they could capture was the murderer’s back, and Go Miwoo’s expression as she was dying.

“There are so many things getting in the way. The scenario is a problem too, and if we reveal that friend’s face, we’ll have to reshoot everything from the earlier parts. It’d be nice if there were some strong impact that didn’t require showing his face… Since it’s so good, I can’t help feeling regret…”

At that moment, Go Miwoo’s voice, sharpened to a fine edge, was heard.

“Aren’t you filming?”

“Yes! If everything’s ready, we’ll go right in! President Park, are you ready?”

Chang-su, who had been stuck right beside Myeongin, made a circle with his hand.

“Then please step out.”

“Myeongin is nervous! If you give the sign like earlier, I’ll step out right away. And please make sure to call the name Choi Hori!”

“Yes?”

Chang-su was near Myeongin, but skillfully positioned himself exactly in the blind spot so he would not be caught by the camera, then slipped away like a ghost once filming began.

The PD was slightly bothered, but he judged that watching the scene where Go Miwoo and Myeongin matched their acting would be more constructive than arguing with Chang-su.

“Scene 12-4! Choi Hori’s Park Young-sook murder scene, shoot! Let’s begin!”

As soon as the shoot signal fell, Myeongin immediately thrust his hand out.

With a knife in it.  Go Miwoo sucked in a sharp breath. She had gathered her heart and was focusing, but with one gesture of Myeongin’s hand, her concentration shattered completely.

How could it feel as if she had truly been stabbed by a real knife?

She was even wearing protective gear inside her clothes, but it felt as if her stomach was burning hot and becoming dyed with red blood.

“Haaah…”

Thud!

Thud!

An expression as if she had no idea what to do after being stabbed by a knife. But in truth, Go Miwoo could not pay even the slightest attention to what expression she herself was making.

Even her voice would not come out properly. She only wanted to scream at the people watching to please save her.

‘Camera… lights… Get a hold of yourself. This is a filming set!’

Fortunately, the moment she came back to her senses a little because she saw the camera, she saw Myeongin, who was stabbing her.

Madness-filled eyes. A face that looked as if he were simply having fun. And at the same time, he was thoroughly, almost as if licking over, observing her fear-stricken expression and enjoying watching her collapse.

At that moment, the movement suddenly stopped. Just as she thought it might be over and raised her head, her eyes met Myeongin’s, who was acting opposite her.

“…!!!”

He had stopped on purpose.

To look straight into her collapsing eyes.

As if this time was enjoyable, he slowly, with eyes rolling wide, stared directly into her eyes, then slowly moved his hand.

At that moment, Go Miwoo nearly collapsed for real, not as acting.

If there had not been a camera beside her, she would have believed it was an actual situation. She had lived for more than fifty years and had been an actor for nearly thirty years, but this was the first time she had ever been this scared while acting. Goosebumps rose all over her body, and strength drained from her arms and legs.

‘I hope this ends quickly.’

Overwhelmed by Myeongin’s acting, Go Miwoo ultimately could not endure it and closed her eyes, dying earlier than the time they had agreed on before filming.

At the same time, the PD was flustered.

This scene had to be at least 4 minutes and 30 seconds long, but Go Miwoo had closed her eyes too quickly. But he could not shout cut.

‘…It really looks like she died… Wow… They don’t say someone lives up to their name for nothing.’

Around him, the staff were also sending silent applause and admiration toward Go Miwoo’s acting. Since none of them could see Myeongin’s expression, all of them were only admiring Go Miwoo’s expression.

‘Well… It’s shorter than planned, but the picture is killer, so it’s fine!’

The moment the PD was about to wrap things up as he looked at the scene that had been captured satisfyingly well.

Myeongin stood up.

‘What is he doing?’

Sensing that the acting was continuing, the PD stopped himself from calling cut and watched Myeongin.

The murderer, with his back to the camera, looked around his surroundings and then took off his gloves.

Then, with the rainwater flowing down from the roof of the low house on the set, he wiped clean the knife that had been dyed red.

The murderer, who carefully put the knife into his arms as if it were a very precious item, soon began walking slowly.

Whiii! whi-whi-whi-whiii! whi whi-whi-whiiii!

And at the sound that followed, the PD hurriedly rubbed both his arms.

His hair was already standing on end.

Whistling ‘Island Baby,’ the murderer slowly walked away.

Judging by the way his steps were a little quick, he seemed happy, but the sound of the whistle did not sound that way at all.

Could a song often sung as a lullaby possibly sound any more chilling than this?

It seemed the PD was not the only one who felt that way, because the many staff members and actors on the filming set were all holding their breaths as they stared only at Myeongin.

“…Cut!”

The PD, his mind half gone, looked at the monitor to check the scene they had just filmed.

At that moment, the writer who had visited the set today spoke with her eyes sparkling, her expression incredibly flushed.

“This scene is so good…! Director, you really paid a lot of attention to it!”

“Yes? Ah, yes…”

“It was an important scene, so I was worried about what to do if the impact was a little weak, and that was why I asked Teacher Go Miwoo for help… but I really like it so much. It’s exactly as I imagined it!”

The PD smiled awkwardly.

Since he had done nothing, the thanks felt this burdensome. Besides, it would be difficult to use this scene exactly as it was. Since it was scheduled to air on a terrestrial broadcaster, if they sent out an explicit scene of the knife being washed, it was obvious they would receive administrative guidance from the Korea Communications Standards Commission.

‘…Still, how can I throw this away! If I’m a director, I have to make it work even if I have to twist it a little!’

Even if not the knife, it seemed he could make it more impactful than the scene originally written in the script.

“PD Kim. Let’s film just this part more.”

“You mean the scene where he washes the knife and the scene where he whistles, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. It was visible in reality, but it was covered on screen, so it didn’t get filmed.”

Since it was his first time acting, it seemed he had not been able to pay attention to the camera angle.

“But if the knife comes out too explicitly, won’t it get caught by the screening standards…?”

“That’s why I’m saying let’s replace it with him washing his hands. Show the hands for just a moment, put a little more blood on his hands, and use the bloodwater flowing down the slope instead.”

“Ah! Yes. Then should we record only the audio of the whistling later in post?”

“No. We can capture it on set, right? I think it’ll be better if it overlaps with the sound of rain and has a lot of noise mixed in.”

“I’ll prepare it that way!”

They had to film this scene! The viewers had to see it too!

The staff, burning with motivation, began running around the set with flushed expressions.

* * *

After finishing the filming of the whistling as well, Myeongin was shaking out his hair in front of the stove under the tent. Even though he had been wearing a raincoat, he had stood in the rain for quite a long time, so getting wet could not be helped.

“Myeongin, move closer!”

“It’s hot even now.”

“If you catch a cold, it’ll be a big problem.”

Chang-su pulled Myeongin’s chair closer to the stove, then sat beside him.

“Teacher did say you’d do well, but I still can’t believe it even now.”

“Mom said that?”

“Yeah. She said you had the face of someone who would become a celebrity. That you’d receive an incredibly great amount of love.”

“Heheh.”

“I was really surprised. It wasn’t just me, everyone here was surprised too. This old man felt so proud.”

Myeongin smiled brightly with a happy face. Just doing the thing he had wanted to try so much was enjoyable enough, but now that he had even received praise, he felt as if he might fly.

At that moment, the PD and the writer came to the tent.

“Myeongin, you really worked hard!”

The PD first showered him with praise while raising both thumbs, then introduced the writer.

“The writer here said she was grateful and really wanted to greet you.”

“Hello. I’m Um Ji-su, the writer of .”

The PD and the writer continued praising Myeongin’s acting and poured out questions.

“How did you think of washing the knife in the rainwater?”

“That was in the script, so I did it that way.”

“In the script?”

The PD tilted his head.

“Is my script different from Myeongin’s script? It wasn’t in mine.”

“Ah, there wasn’t a scene where he washed the knife in the script I saw either, but looking at it overall, I thought he should wash it.”

“Mm? Tell me in detail.”

“I only saw up to Episode 4, but Choi Hori was portrayed as someone who can’t stand dirty things. And it said that later, the more he kills, the more he even tidies up the scenes. So I thought that even if it wasn’t a proper cleanup, he might wipe off the blood on the knife at least.”

“…Amazing.”

After blinking for a moment, the PD looked at Myeongin as if he were too lovable.

“This is really your first time acting, right? It’s your first time, but you caught that? And you read up to Episode 4? How?”

“PD Kim Joo-young said it was okay for me to look. I read it while I was waiting.”

“That’s incredible. If I could, I’d like to reshoot everything with Myeongin.”

The writer’s eyes as she looked at Myeongin were also dripping with honey.

An actor who analyzed her work in such detail.

A tall height and a solid-looking body. On top of that, a face that was so likable, unlike his body.

Everything about him looked pretty to her.

“I’m so proud! I feel as happy as I did when production was confirmed. But you sang ‘Island Baby’ after seeing the script too, right?”

“Yes. I only got to see up to the Episode 4 script, but I could still guess. All the people killed by Choi Hori are middle-aged women, right? Mothers with harmonious families, too. And it could also be seen in around the end of Episode 3, Scene 31, night, where Choi Hori is in his room with the lights off.”

“Oh my! I did put that in for people to notice, but you really noticed everything!”

“There are only photos of his father, and photos taken with his father. And the chairman grandfather tries to come in, then sees the dark room and closes the door again. Seeing him mutter, ‘Because of one damned woman, this family fell apart,’ it seems like there was a problem with Choi Hori’s mother.”

“That’s right! Exactly! Oh! This feels so good!”

“Seeing him sitting with the lights off, I also thought Choi Hori might have a bit of longing in him. And putting together the victims, they’re mothers with harmonious families. By killing them, maybe he wanted to make the victims’ children feel the same kind of waiting he felt… that was what I thought.”

“So that’s why you sang ‘Island Baby’?”

“Yes. If you look at the first verse, the child is left alone, waiting for their mother, and falls asleep. I thought that would suit it.”

“Amazing! Amazing, amazing!”

The writer looked as if she wanted to bounce up from her seat and hug Myeongin.

The PD was the same. Their expressions looked as if they found him so adorable, like a lucky charm that had rolled in from who knew where.

“You’re incredibly good at script analysis. Where did you learn it?”

“I learned through online acting lessons!”

“Wow. Not even an academy, but online? Are you a genius?”

Grin!

Myeongin was simply enjoying this moment so much.

A little while later, after the staff came looking for the two and they left, only Chang-su and Myeongin remained in the tent again.

Chang-su opened his mouth with an admiring face.

“I’d heard you were smart… but you really are smart…”

“No. If anyone read it carefully, they would’ve been able to know.”

“No way! If that were true, PD Kang over there would’ve already put it all in beforehand. She said you would be incredibly bright, and you really are incredible. The script analysis too. Catching a song that suits it isn’t easy either.”

“That’s because I remembered the one Mom sang for me.”

“Teacher did? Teacher sang you a lullaby?”

Myeongin, who had spoken without much thought, wore not his usual bright smile, but a faint one.

“Yes. She sang all kinds of things to help me find my memories.”

“Teacher did?”

“Yes. She said there might be a song that existed in the place I came from too, if I listened to songs. Then maybe I would slowly remember, and she sang them for me.”

“Wow… Teacher really put in a lot of effort…”

Perhaps because he felt Muwol’s heart, Chang-su’s expression grew slightly heavy. It would have been nice if she had been able to see Myeongin, whom she had treasured so much, acting.

“Mister! I didn’t say that so your mood would go down. Mom always told me to live brightly, didn’t she?”

As if he would keep Muwol’s words, Myeongin smiled brighter than ever.