Life, Once Again!

Chapter 847. Sequence 12

“Here’s your lunch box.”

“Thanks.”

“But man, is it really okay for the weather to be this hot in the Fall? The smell of sweat won’t leave me.”

“Try staying like that for a little longer. You’ll be shivering soon enough. At that time, you’ll thank yourself for wearing such thick clothes. It’s much better than standing in front of the castle gates wearing only a piece of cloth in the middle of the night.”

“That’s true.”

Maru picked up his chopsticks and opened the lunch box. The jeyuk-bokkeum was seasoned too hard and the rice was dry, but since hunger was the best spice, he had no problem eating. He drank the miso soup without a single chunk of anything in it. Warmth returned to his body which had been cooling down from the night wind.

“I saw that the director was asking you to eat together.”

“This place is much more relaxing for me.”

He handed over a bottle of water to Mr. Choi, who asked for some water. The way they sat in a circle as they ate made them look like total beggars. Their faces were greasy from all the running, and their clothes were full of dirt because they had to fall over several times. A young guy looked next to him and giggled. Regardless of who it was, everyone told each other that they needed to wash up a little.

“The atmosphere at my last shooting set was frosty, so I’m glad that it’s much better today. It was so stifling with everyone staring down at their phones.”

“You say that, but you were dazing out until Maru talked to you.”

“Ahjussi, when did I daze out? I just had something to think about.”

“Little boy, you can’t lie in front of me. Hey, didn’t you see him dazing out a while back?”

“I did; he had his mouth wide open.”

“You guys are so harsh.”

Regardless of age, everyone enjoyed their talk. Maru liked this kind of scenery. This was the reason he went to visit the background actors and minor actors on sets. There were people who were simply doing this job for money, but quite a lot of them had the dream of becoming actors in a corner of their hearts. The fact that they shared a common dream brought vitality to their conversations. Listening to their words made him feel like the things that were being weathered away without him knowing were being polished again. Passion, effort, challenge – things like that. He thought back to how elder Moonjoong talked a lot with the background actors. He was probably influenced by that without knowing it.

“Maru, come here for a sec,” Park Hoon called from in the distance.

Maru put down the empty lunch box and walked over with fast steps.

“Can you play a dying role once?”

“By being stabbed?”

“No, by an arrow. You have to say a serious line in front of the castle gates and get hit by an arrow.”

“If I can get my face to show up in the drama, then I’d be grateful.”

“The line goes like this.”

After clearing his throat, Park Hoon puffed out his chest and shouted,

“You mongrels! I, Lee Junggyun, am here! Take my head this instant!”

His voice was so loud that the people around him flinched and stared at him. Park Hoon raised his index finger and poked his own chest before frowning and staggering.

“Something like that.”

“The name is Lee Junggyun?”

“Yeah. He achieves great feats during chaos, but he was branded a rebel after failing in politics, and instead of fleeing, he goes to the castle and chooses to commit suicide.”

“What a prideful man.”

“Try showing that prideful side of him. The assistant director should have told the makeup team about it, so you can go there.”

When Park Hoon grabbed his walkie-talkie and told everyone to prepare, Maru could hear the voice of the assistant director, “the shoot is beginning soon.”

“What did he say?” Hyungseok asked as he came over.

“He wanted me to die in a prideful manner.”

“What the heck does that mean?”

“Well, something like that. I’ll be away for a bit, so take care of yourself.”

“I’ve done this part-time job several times. I can take care of myself, so you just do your best with that dying role.”

Maru walked past the coach that the actors were resting in and arrived at the makeup van. Just as Park Hoon said, they had been notified beforehand, so he was able to sit down on a chair and get makeup done on him the moment he arrived. His hair was tied into a ball above his head, and he changed his costume to a makeshift military uniform. He also had a mustache put on him. After that, he moved to the castle gates. On top of the castle was a row of soldiers holding torches. He could see Park Hoon and the actors doing a rehearsal in front of the firmly shut gates.

“Come here.”

Park Hoon waved at him. As senior actors were gathered where he was, he ran over.

“He’s the one who’ll die.”

“Hello, everyone. I’m Han Maru.”

The actors who were well-known for doing historical dramas looked at the director’s face once before encouraging him.

“Looks like you’re up to stuff if director Park is introducing you to us, huh.”

“Senior, you should take note of him. He’s quite an item.”

“Quite an item? If you put it that way then I should introduce myself too.”

Maru looked at the actor who reached his hand out. He was Jung Goosik who played villain roles in not just historical dramas but urban dramas as well. Maru also referred to his acting quite a lot when he was studying historical dramas. The mid-baritone vocal tone as well as his precise pronunciations was a textbook acting style that by just imitating him, could allow anyone to do decently. Maru introduced himself once again as they shook hands.

“Hello there. I don’t know if you know me; I’m Jung Goosik,” said Goosik.

“I learned a lot by looking at your acting, senior.”

“Really? Then you should pay up if you received lessons.”

“I’ll buy you coffee later.”

“I like vending machine coffee better than Starbucks.”

“I’d love to treat you to the high-class, 400-won coffee.”

“This fella knows his stuff. Oh, I just ended up not using polite speech, but may I continue?”

“If you didn’t, I would be at a loss instead.”

Goosik laughed before waving his hand up and down.

“Hey, where do you belong to? Or are you by yourself, seeing as how you’re young?”

“Senior, he’s in a solid one.”

Park Hoon interrupted and said that Maru belonged to JA.

“Oh, you were one of Junmin-hyung’s boys. I believe Taeho is there too.”

“Yes, that is the case.”

“Looks like you really are quite an item, to borrow director Park’s words, eh? That hyung doesn’t take just anyone under his wing. That fellow I saw last time, uh, Yoo Sooil, that was it. He was quite good too.”

Goosik tapped him on the shoulders and wished him luck.

“Please stand by,” the assistant director shouted.

Goosik went to the top of the castle gates. It was he who shot the arrow. Maru looked at the jimmy jib moving along the castle walls. Goosik grandly said his line in between the lights that shone upon him from both sides. Maru could hear his voice clearly as though he was using a microphone.

Maru waited under the castle walls until Goosik’s act ended. When Goosik drew his bowstring, the camera setup changed.

“For now, we’ll start with the shouting. Then, we’ll have you spit blood and go to the next cut.”

After listening to Park Hoon’s explanation, Maru stood in front of the castle walls. Behind him were dozens of people standing in a semicircle. He made eye contact with the minor actors there. Some raised their fist above their heads; it seemed to be a gesture to urge him on.

Goosik was staring down at him from the top of the castle gates. Although he couldn’t see too clearly because of the dark, he felt like Goosik was smiling. He was one cheerful person.

“On standby. Three, two, one.”

Cue!

* * *

“You mongrels! I, Lee Junggyun, am here! Take my head this instant! Now!”

His voice was very crisp and clear. Jung Goosik looked at the junior shouting below. One of the reasons why young juniors had a hard time doing historical dramas was the unique speech of historical dramas that was different from the modern language. If it was a simple change of vocabulary, then it wouldn’t be a problem for actors, since their job was to look at scripts all day, but the problem was that the minute ups and downs in words were different from the modern tongue. At first glance, people would think that they would be able to do it after listening to it once, and the young actors could indeed say a word or two properly as they had learned acting, but when it came to long sentences, especially when they had to strain their stomach when saying it, the difficulty would become increasingly high and they weren’t able to cope. The listeners would find it awkward as well. The reason why young actors who were known for their decent acting skills didn’t flow into the historical drama scene was one, it was pretty hard and exhausting, but in most cases, it was the second reason: they weren’t able to digest the acting itself.

“Look at this guy.”

You have to bring out the tastefulness without exaggerating – that was one of many pieces of advice that Goosik managed to come up with after experiencing many historical dramas. As most historical speeches required a baritone-level voice, there were many occasions where the actor forced himself to squeeze out their voice, and in most of those cases, it sounded worse than a rooster being strangled when heard through the audio playback. Young fellows especially had a hard time finding their acting tone, but the fellow down there was already aware of what he should do to make his voice most charming, in a historical speech tone to boot.

His acting was good enough that they might as well go to the next cut immediately, but the director seemed dissatisfied and gave some directions himself. Seeing that, Goosik could immediately understand what kind of expectations the director had in this junior named Maru. If that young man didn’t show promise, he wouldn’t have thrown away an act on this level and requested him to do it again. Although many people said that the industry was like thin ice and that the shooting set ran on money, it didn’t change the fact that many people still looked out for the good ones. Actors knew best that acting was hard, so it was in their nature to give a piece of advice if they saw a hardworking person.

Goosik took out his phone and captured the young fellow shouting hard enough that his veins could be seen on his neck. At first, he was just going to take a photo, but he left behind a video as well. He could feel the energy from the screen as well. He liked actors like this one. One that screamed ‘I’m good’ just by watching.

“You mongrels! I, Lee Junggyun, am here! Take my head this instant! Now! Now!”

Goosik felt more and more fond of this young man the more he watched him scrape his voice from the bottom of his abdomen and spit it out in the forward direction. His voice didn’t scatter in the air powerlessly, and it clearly reached the top of the castle walls. He shouted at the general who stepped forward to maintain his last bit of pride.

“Your courage is admirable, so I shall spare you this once.”

The young man, who looked like he was ready to give up his life at any moment, suddenly said, “thank you, milord,” with a big grin on his face. When he watched the people around him laugh, another actor scolded him to stop his ridiculous improvisations.

“Why? He picked that up well.”

Goosik stroked his chin as he looked at Maru who was getting ready to be shot. From how he responded to his random words without being flustered, he seemed to have the reflexes as well. He could tell why director Park introduced him. He was amicable and was good at acting to boot.

“We’ll do that again!”

Goosik crossed his arms and watched the young fellow’s act.