TMKG 9

Chapter 9. Memory Correction (2)

A few days later, Chang-su, seated in the office, was extremely angry about something. It was because of Jang Ji-won, one of the child cast members of .

“He really won’t do. Why are you trying so hard to bring in a kid like that? Haa.”

“Director. Isn’t it a little unreasonable to just keep saying no without telling us the reason?”

The reason was something only Chang-su himself could know, and it was also difficult to explain to anyone else.

A few days earlier, a video had been uploaded to the YouTube channel Go Miwoo had appeared on.

As expected of a famous YouTuber, the video boasted an incredible number of views, and people were curious about what Go Miwoo had mentioned in the interview.

At the same time, Yong Film, the production company of , released that portion in advance.

Up to this point, there was no problem at all.

“Still, you know it can’t be Jang Ji-won.”

“Why are you being like this? Looking at the reaction right now, it’s guaranteed to succeed. Then of course people will also become interested in Jang Ji-won.”

“Ah, this is frustrating!”

“I’m the one who doesn’t understand why you’re acting like this, Director. Did something happen between you and Jang Ji-won?”

It was not a problem between him and Jang Ji-won. It was just that his actions were so detestable and looked so sly.

“General Manager.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Do you think it’s proper for someone to post on SNS as if he acted together with Go Miwoo when he has never even run into her?”

“That could just be him posting as a fan. What’s wrong with saying that senior Go Miwoo is good at acting?”

“The timing is the problem! Go Miwoo mentioned the drama! And if an actor appearing in that drama mentions the video, people are obviously going to misunderstand. You know Jang Ji-won didn’t film it too.”

When Go Miwoo’s interview began receiving public attention, Jang Ji-won linked the video on his SNS and expressed his respect for Go Miwoo, as if he were the person who had filmed together with Go Miwoo.

In the YouTube video Go Miwoo appeared in, there was not a single mention of the actor opposite her, and there was no visible problem with the wording on Jang Ji-won’s SNS either, but…Only Chang-su, who knew the whole situation, felt his insides burning as if Myeongin’s acting had not only been covered up, but stolen.

“Hoo, Director. This was also approved by our New Actor Development Team director. If you really dislike it that much, you should talk to the director. We’re just doing what we were told to do.”

“You’re the one in charge, General Manager.”

“I’m only in charge in name. You know this is being carried out with our director’s approval.”

Chang-su’s expression crumpled.

In truth, there were many unpleasant gazes within the company toward Chang-su’s overly fast promotion.

Chang-su had nothing to be ashamed of before the heavens, but because his promotion had been too fast, there was a subtle tendency for people to look down on him even if they held the same rank.

“And I also think our director made the right choice. Who is there right now representing actors in their twenties in our country? There isn’t anyone. If we bring in Jang Ji-won and raise him a little, he’ll take on adult roles, and with his popularity, he might even take leading roles. It’ll be too late to bring him in then. You know this too. It’s hard to establish yourself in your twenties, but once you do, it can carry on for a long time.”

From the company’s position, it was not wrong.

Even so, he felt uncomfortable. The more time he spent with Myeongin, the more he wanted to take care of him.

‘Hoo…’

The period of time they had known each other was fairly long, but the time they had spent together had not been that long.

Even so, Myeongin’s existence felt incredibly large to him. It felt as if he himself was feeling all the presence that other people could not feel from Myeongin, as if family had appeared for him, a person who had never had one.

That was why he was complaining of the unfairness even now.

Before he knew it, Chang-su had even begun thinking that, when the time came for Myeongin to be able to give off his presence, he wanted to help him from beside him.

‘Ah…’

At that moment, he suddenly remembered what Muwol had said before she passed away.

‘She said if I poured sincerity into how I treated people, great fortune would come to me…’

In the past, he had only been tempted by the words great fortune, but now, the word sincerity lingered in his head.

He felt that he could pour out his sincerity for Myeongin.

‘Ah… She told me to look after him because she knew I would come to cherish Myeongin like this…’

Chang-su, remembering the meaning of Muwol’s words, ended up letting out a small chuckle.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Ah! It’s nothing.”

The New Actor Development Team’s team leader, who had been in the middle of speaking with him, had an expression that showed he felt offended by the sudden laugh.

Chang-su looked at that team leader, gave a slight nod, and said,

“I understand. Hearing you out, I think you’re right.”

“Yes…? Yes…”

The person who had come all the way to another office to complain about injustice had changed in an instant.

The team leader just stared at Chang-su in confusion.

“I took up your time for no reason. I’m sorry. Please get back to work.”

Just as Chang-su left the New Actor Development Team office, his phone rang.

“Oh! Myeongin!”

—Mister, are you busy?

“No? I’m not busy. Why, do you want to go out now?”

—No. That’s not it. I sent you a link, but you didn’t check it.

“What link?”

—I want to try working as a background actor!

“A background actor?”

—Yes! I want to practice standing in front of a camera beforehand. When I thought about it carefully, I think now is my chance.

“Huh…?”

Unlike himself, who had been angry because he thought they had missed a chance until just moments ago, Myeongin was instead calling it an opportunity.

—No one will pay attention to me, so I thought I might be able to practice comfortably. I can learn the atmosphere of a filming set too, and watch other actors act up close.

“Goodness. But why background acting? What, you mean as an extra?”

—Yes. What I did last time was no different from luck. And if you hadn’t been there, Mister, I wouldn’t even have had that chance.

“Mm…”

The way he had a good grasp of the situation, did not feel wronged at all, and was instead looking for what he could do was so admirable.

“Hold on, let me check. Uh. But… next week, and the week after that. Huh? One each week?”

—It’s not one each week. It’s one each day. I looked into it, and apparently there are companies that also handle minor roles.

“That’s right. If the part has a bit of weight, they’ll circulate your profile and hold auditions too. If it’s less important than that, it should be easier.”

—If that happens, I might end up appearing again later, and the schedule could get tangled.

“Schedule? You have a schedule? What schedule?”

—Not mine. Yours, Mister.

Chang-su checked the message once again.

“So that’s why you only looked up weekends?”

—You rest on weekends, Mister. If I go alone, nothing will work out, so I was hoping you could come with me… Would that be too much?”

“Ah… Haha. I can rest on weekdays too. When you work as a manager, you rest on days that aren’t busy.”

—Ah! Flexible work system!

“Yeah, that. Anyway, I’ll look into it too. And I’ll leave a little early today. Let’s go to the baseball stadium. There are a ton of people there.”

—Yes, sir!

At the booming reply, Myeongin’s expression came to mind.

Chang-su could already picture him looking excited, and he shook his shoulders as he laughed. But only for a moment. After recalling his conversation with the team leader, Muwol’s words from the past, and his call with Myeongin one after another, Chang-su lightly bit his lip as if he was troubled.

‘Yeah. Yeah. Let’s follow my heart.’

As if he had decided on something, Chang-su let out a deep breath and sent Myeongin a text.

[Myeongin, let’s start the minor role work one month from now.]

* * *

One month later.

After getting out of the car, Myeongin looked around with an expression full of emotion.

“It’s just a parking lot, so there are only cars here. Are you already that happy?”

“Yes! Even the air feels different.”

“Well, it is the countryside, so the air is nice. Maybe because it’s vacation, there isn’t a single student around.”

The filming location was not a set, but a university in the provinces.

Perhaps because they were trying to save production costs, even though there should have been places in Seoul too, they had chosen a filming location quite far from Seoul.

“Myeongin. Don’t you want to go to university?”

“I should take the qualification exam first.”

“Huh? You still haven’t taken it?”

“Middle school no longer has the academic achievement evaluation, so I graduated, but I couldn’t finish high school. So I have to take the qualification exam, but when I went, they didn’t give me an exam paper. I think it was because I had to enter the exam room alone.”

“Oh, dear… Then you could have just taken one and solved it. They wouldn’t know even if you took it.”

“I tried that too, but strangely, I didn’t show up as an examinee either. So I’m planning to take the exam later, after the time Mom mentioned passes.”

“Did you study?”

“I’ve taken mock exams before, and I got everything right every time I took them.”

“You got everything right? One hundred points?”

“Yes. I could solve all of them.”

Come to think of it, among the things Muwol always said while looking at Myeongin, the words that he was more brilliant than anyone were always included.

“Yeah… Well, I’m sure you’ll do well. Anyway, let’s hurry. Everyone should be there by now.”

“Yes!”

“And I told you, right? I’ll introduce you to the team leader when we get there, so just do well according to what the team leader tells you. Of course, I’ll be beside you until filming starts, but you should know that too.”

“Yes. Then there’s no script, right?”

“Yeah. They said you just have to sit in a lecture room. They’ll assign all the seats too, so don’t worry.”

Without even knowing what kind of filming it was, they headed toward the place where the background actors had gathered.

When they arrived there, there were quite a few people who looked to be around his age.

Chang-su greeted the person who looked to be in charge first.

“Team Leader Kim!”

“You’re here! Ah… mm…?”

The person called Team Leader Kim had a slightly troubled expression the moment he saw Myeongin.

“Is that the friend you mentioned?”

“Yes, that’s right. Say hello. This is Team Leader Kim from Sun Planning, who handles background actors.”

Myeongin bowed his head deeply and greeted him.

“Uh. Goodness. You were saying you’d have this friend appear as a background actor? At this level, his physique is top class, and his smiling face stands out too… His clothes too… they don’t seem like 2013 fashion… Do they? Are they?”

It was clearly praise, but his expression was not one of someone giving praise.

“Why does he look so stylish? He stands out too much… If this is the case, the assistant director might say something.”

One of the virtues of a background actor was not standing out, so that focus could remain on the actor.

They had to be in the same space, but invisible.

However, Myeongin, who had presence, stood out far too much.

For this short appearance, they had even gone to Dongmyo street market to get old clothes, and yet they still suited him too well. Even though it was only a checked shirt mixed with blue and beige cotton pants. Even the background actors gathered there were all showing interest, perhaps having mistaken Myeongin for one of the actors appearing in the production.

Myeongin, who noticed that, immediately opened his mouth.

“I can do well!”

“Can you…?”

“Yes! I’m confident I can stay really unnoticeable!”

“You’re quick on the uptake.”

He was truly confident.

Since he did not have a role assigned to him, there would be no chance for his name in the story to be called, so he was certain there would be no one better than him.

Seeing that, Chang-su must have found him both pitiful and funny, because he laughed lightly.

“Wouldn’t it work if he hunches down?”

“That’s true, but… Understood. Let’s do that.”

“I made a difficult request, so thank you for accepting it.”

“Why are you saying that over something like this? Then are you planning to raise that friend now?”

“That’s not it. We’re just trying to experience it.”

“You’re not? But why did you quit the company then…”

“No! Oh, dear! Team Leader, you sure are working hard!!”

“Yes?”

Chang-su, who had hurriedly cut off his words, sent the team leader a look, and the team leader closed his mouth as if he understood.

* * *

Myeongin waited in advance in the lecture room that was the filming set.

“Myeongin, look at this.”

“What is it?”

“I got you a script.”

“Wow, thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for? You have to keep your head down anyway, so just look at this.”

As Chang-su, who had gotten him the script, moved far away, the gazes that had been focused on him until just moments ago scattered in a strangely precise way.

As if he was used to it, Myeongin scrunched his nose once and waited for the filming.

‘It takes this many people just to film one scene.’

On top of that, the filming had to be divided into four parts. This was a scene that needed background actors, and there were even more scenes where the actual actors filmed.

‘They’re filming more than what we did before.’

It seemed like a less important scene, but the number of takes was higher. Even for just the conversation between the female lead and her friend in the lecture room, they had to film the same scene twice.

Once for the female lead, once for the friend. Like that. Because of that, the number of times they filmed had no choice but to increase.

Of course, even this was an experience for Myeongin, so he was simply enjoying it.

Then, when the call for action rang out and the lead actors’ acting began, Myeongin focused on the script Chang-su had given him while simultaneously reading the atmosphere of how filming was done.

Myeongin’s eyebrows rose slightly.

‘So it’s a mix of romance and thriller?’

Because the university was the background, he had thought it would be a romance drama between young men and women.