Life, Once Again!

Chapter 827. Sequence 10

Hyungseok made a visit. As Maru had told him that he would not open the door if he came empty-handed, he brought a large bottle of water in one hand and some dog food in the other. While Hyungseok, who came inside his house, played with the dog, Maru set up the drinking table. Two bags of snacks, some dried squid, and a beer pitcher.

“Hey, it’s starting.”

He raised the TV volume. The ad for the kimchi refrigerator ended and the screen switched to something else. An ambulance was rushing across the street. A child was crying in the middle of a fiery traffic accident site. Along with tense music, the car that the child was in started emitting smoke. The camera quickly scanned the scene where screams and groans were strewn all over the place and eventually focused on the child's dilated pupils. The fire was coming closer. The fuel that leaked out from the fuel port foreshadowed the worst possible event. Just then, there was a man who rushed across the fire and grabbed the door to the capsized car.

"There's the main character," Hyungseok said as he pointed at Lee Heewon.

Heewon dragged out the child from the car and started running with all his might. The car exploded as though it was just waiting for that to happen. Heewon's face was zoomed in on as he hugged the child tightly. He said 'I saved him' while gasping for breath and wiped his forehead with a hand covered in soot. That was when the camera started falling back. Heewon's figure became smaller as he lay next to the big fire until the scene was switched to the hospital.

"That's a big impact for a first scene. They even blew up a car. That must have cost a lot, right?"

"Even if it does, it's not a loss as long as they can retain viewers."

Maru took a sip of beer. There were a lot of talks before the drama even began. Many people wanted to know which one – 'Doctor's Office' or 'Doctors' – would take the crown for the Wednesday-Thursday drama series. The fact that their genre and not just the airing time were the same made many of the viewers want to compare the two. 'Doctor's Office', which started earlier, had 18% viewer ratings last week. It wouldn't be strange to call that a super hit. Today was the third episode of 'Doctor's Office'. If 'Doctors' could not one-up them, they would not be able to defeat the first comer and get pushed out of the competition. As many people watched dramas due to momentum, the one with more viewers today would get to laugh next week as well.

"I'll look at Doctor's Office for a bit."

Hyungseok changed channels. As though to fight off 'Doctors' which started off with a big boom, 'Doctor's Office' also showed many doctors in white gowns walking through the corridor under intense music. The story writer's ambition of wanting to lay bare the politics occurring within the hospital was complimented with great production, resulting in a great sense of tension. The narrow gaze of the founder of a foundation wanting to build a new facility as well as the gazes and expressions of the head of the hospital and the heads of various departments were caught on camera. They fidgeted with pens, sipped drinks, made creaking noises with their chairs, coughed lowly, etc. There were no lines, but the cuts that changed every second increased the immersion. Maru felt like he was sitting inside a conference room where he would be chewed on the moment he got distracted. The director seemed to be telling him that this was the reason he hired a veteran actor.

"You can't look down on experience, huh."

Hyungseok moved his face. He was imitating the expressions of all the people related to the hospital on the screen. Maru also paid close attention to their gazes and hand gestures, and he even imitated them at times. It might be awkward to imitate them at first, but if he got used to it, it would become a part of his skill set which he would then be able to use at any time. Considering that there were numerous people who paid money in order to do such acting, he couldn't miss this opportunity. As with all forms of studying, acting was also like a tower that was built from the bottom. Placing that one brick in front of him might not look like anything meaningful, but when the tower reached the top one day, he would know how important that single brick actually was. The twitch of the eye and the fickle movements of the hand were all bricks that he could take.

"This looks dangerous. Doctor's Office is actually quite fun too. I want Doctors to do well, but my tastes lean more towards Doctor's Office. How about you, Maru?"

"For now, I'm on the side of Doctors because of my affiliation."

"What if you leave aside your affiliation and think purely about the fun aspect?"

"I've been watching it, so I like Doctor's Office more. Political struggles fit the taste of old men like us too."

"I can't exactly deny it when you say we're old men."

"But the important fact is that it is usually the women of the household that possess the authority to change channels. There may be women who like political fights, but time has told us again and again that romance is vastly superior."

"Doctors is much better when it comes to romance."

Hyungseok changed the channel again. Unlike Doctor's Office, where a bunch of men were glaring at each other over the power of the hospital, Doctors showed the warmth of the doctors as they looked after the patients. The reason that people pointing fingers at daily dramas and calling them out for having implausible plots didn't affect the viewing rates was that there was an overwhelming majority that still wanted to see such a thing. Even with dramas related to specialists, there were many people who criticized the dramas for not doing surgeries or investigations that the jobs of the characters required them to do and just focused on romance instead. Regardless, there were many cases where viewing rates would increase instead. Totally implausible plot twists as well as sweet, polished love stories, had the incredible power to cover up the disadvantages of the piece itself. As the trend of dramas was changing, it wasn't entirely sure if that would be the case this time as well, but considering that the one acting was Heewon, there was a very high chance of success. That fellow knew what it meant to charm people out of their souls. As long as he managed to provoke the romantic feelings of women, the outcome of this competition of viewing rates was unpredictable.

"I'm on it!"

Hyungseok put down his glass and took a selfie with his camera. After smiling in satisfaction in front of the camera, Hyungseok suddenly frowned.

"Why do I suddenly look so dumb?"

"Because that's how you look."

"I stood there looking stupid like that? No way."

"Then you can conveniently think of it as CG. You actually did well, but someone who was jealous of you put computer graphics over your face."

"I can't believe my sharp eyes look like that on camera. Isn't the camera malfunctioning?"

Hyungseok tapped on the innocent screen and was grumbling until he shut up when Heewon and Yoonseo stared at each other affectionately.

"You know? Heewon isn't that good-looking. but he's strangely cool after you look at him for a while."

"Heewon is on the better-looking side."

"No. Honestly, Kang Giwoo is much better when it comes to looks. He's a total pretty boy."

"What do you think if you put the two of them side by side?"

"Based on photos, Kang Giwoo is the overwhelming victor, but from the way they act, I think Lee Heewon's going to win. The girls around me told me that Heewon can 'act' good-looking. He's a total slowpoke when you see a photo of him on the street, but his acting literally makes him the male version of the Venus statue, apparently."

"Slowpoke, huh. That suits him."

Maru sent Heewon an image with the word 'slowpoke' on it. He soon got a reply, saying that it was cute. Heewon was probably watching the drama at the get-together alongside other actors. Although the director said that they should drink together, Maru declined, saying that he had a prior engagement.

"But hey, why didn't you go to the get-together?"

"So that I can drink with you."

"Really? I'm touched. Honestly, if you said you were going by yourself, I would have called you and cried, asking if you went there to see Yoonseo without me."

"That's why I stayed behind at home. Also, it's much better to be at home if I want to compare Doctor's Office with Doctors. If I did that during the get-together, people will fling their cups at me."

"But if you get invited to the get-together next time, you should go. Of course, you'll have to take me with you."

Maru shook his head as he looked at Hyungseok who latched onto him.

* * *

Kang Giwoo kept changing channels as he looked at the real-time reactions. People these days had so many things to comment even while watching dramas. Even without watching the screen, he could figure out what was happening in the dramas just by looking at the comments on the internet. Someone did something, what OST was coming out, and even what food they were eating.

"That's so childish."

He chuckled as he watched 'Doctors'. No matter how he looked at it, it was an overwhelming victory for Doctor's Office. He could obviously see that they were trying to attract viewers with childish romance because they didn't have any strong points in the plot area. Is that even possible with Yoonseo, who's an idol? He had to admit that Lee Heewon was good at acting, but you need two hands to clap. No matter how good one side was, it would be meaningless if the receiver wasn't up to stuff. In that sense, Yoonseo was incomparable to Han Gaeul. A proven actress versus a starting idol actress. People were even saying that Lee Heewon was the only one doing this drama justice, so it was game over. Doctors was also pretty good overall thanks to the veteran actors who held their ground, but the viewers who disliked Yoonseo would leave bad comments whenever she appeared. There was a saying in the drama industry that rumors were scarier than promotion ads, and there were bad things being talked about her from the very beginning. He felt like he could hear the groans of the production staff who used an idol just because of her pretty face.

Just as he was about to switch the channel, thinking that there was nothing more to watch, a face that he wanted to trample on the most appeared on the screen. It was the scene where Han Maru joked around and walked among the doctors. He had a trivial role and didn't have any influence on the plot. He was in a pitiful situation overall. Compared to himself, who was always among the list of top male actors in their twenties, there was nothing good about him. Giwoo put his thumb between his teeth and started nibbling on it. Even though there was nothing notable about him, this guy kept getting on his nerves. He despised the fact that he subconsciously flinched whenever he came across this guy at the gym. Whenever he found himself wanting to get his acknowledgment even while trying to act boldly in front of him, he felt like vomiting. Han Maru, who had once driven him to a corner and whispered to him in a low voice, reminded him of his grandfather. The figure he saw back then still remained in Maru's face. Whenever he came across Maru, he could hear his grandfather's wrathful voice through Maru's face. You are no good against me – his face always seemed to say those words.

"Son of a bitch."

Whenever he saw that face, Giwoo felt as though the refined 'Kang Giwoo' that he created was collapsing. The only flaw to what was supposed to be a perfect man was him. He already felt frustrated whenever he saw that guy, so when he saw Han Gaeul stand up for him, he felt as though his guts were going to spill out from all the churning. He's incomparably better than me when it comes to acting – whenever he remembered Gaeul saying those words shyly, veins would pop up on his neck even now. He only managed to hold back from slapping Gaeul on the cheek thanks to his extreme patience. Why did that guy wound his pride every single time? He felt displeased.

"I should trample on maggots like him."

Giwoo picked up his phone. He had just heard something interesting from a friend of his. Apparently, there was a young person who was focusing on acting amidst a financially weak household, and that person was getting praised for acting skills from around, and he felt like he would feel a little better if he trampled on the guy. Giwoo called up his friend. He was just about to call him to drag that person down the stage discreetly so that there would be no consequences.

"I'll send you off one day too," Giwoo said in a small voice as he looked at Maru on the screen.