Chapter 400

Right vs Good. If asked to choose one, Maru would choose good without the slightest hesitation. What seemed ‘right’ seemed ‘good’, but the moment someone entered that, they would be thrown into a world of segregation that was different from others.

What was ‘right’, usually went against real life order. To the people that were used to order, ‘right’ only looked like self-satisfaction. Are you the only one that’s righteous? - those words would be the first words that would be heard when someone chose right instead of good.

Even if something wasn’t right, if it was deemed good, the members of a community would disguise it as right and justify it.

‘Right’ called for dispute, while ‘good’ called for harmony.

Maru knew the scariness of ‘right’. The moment one stood on the side of the ‘right’, they could become a historical figure, that is, someone sacrificed for everyone to see. It was always lonely when doing something right. It was a boring and lonely battle. The Mr. Lees and Mr. Parks he was close to would no longer talk to him, while the Mr. Kims and Mr. Chois who usually never talked to him would approach him and ask him to reconsider.

What he learned as he dug into the corruption of the president’s son that entered the company through the back door was that the right thing must never be done.

However, Maru was also aware that he was the type of person who had to carry something out to the end once he started it. He was definitely not an advocate of righteousness, he didn’t even want to be one. In fact, his dream was to get by while following the ‘good’ ‘evil’, but he always foolishly hesitated in front of that path and went back to where he came from.

Maru smiled as he saw Uljin standing in front of him. Uljin hesitated for a while before making an awkward smile. If he was to choose the good and comfortable path, he should talk about what they talked about in the bathroom and become close to him. TV media was also created by people. He might be able to get Uljin to help him if he got close to him.

A background actor retired early because of a finger injury. It was a painful matter, but strictly speaking, it wasn’t relevant to him at all. A nameless background actor he probably would never meet again versus Uljin, who was highly likely to become a popular actor. It was obvious which side to stand on.

In front of such an obvious path, he decided to walk in the opposite direction.

He saw his father’s figure from that man when he clutched his fingers in pain. This could also be considered very trivial.

How was he supposed to endure social life if he was concerned about every little thing like that? Objectively speaking, it wasn’t his father that was injured, but the voices of Mr. Lees and Mr. Parks filled his mind. It was a battle no one would credit him for, and nor was it a necessary battle. As he aspired to become one of the so-called kkondae[1], he should just make a smile and forget about it, but it seemed that it was hard to make that single smile.

He smelled some pain-relief medicine. It was from his memory. It was from to the man with the sprained fingers, as well as from his father’s room when he took a break from factory work.

Maru curved his lips upwards.

Of course, he wasn’t planning on a big revenge. He didn’t have a reason to do so either.

Just that, he was going to do his best; his best to distract a certain someone.

“I took you in as you were drying out to death, and you hang around with beggars? Hur hur, I wonder how such a rude child was born in the family.”

The scene where Moosung clicked his tongue when he saw Giwoo hang around some beggars was over. Giwoo, who watched as Moosung got back in the palanquin with his fists clenched, turned around. The producer captured the two people as they distanced apart and shouted cut.

“Senior, thank you for your work.”

“Then I’ll take my leave first. Keep up the good work. Moonjoong, you should answer my calls. Let’s drink once the shoot is done.”

“Say that after you actually call me.”

Moosung left the set. It seemed that his scenes were done for today.

“Let’s continue immediately.”

Giwoo’s monologue started with the dark streets as the background. The lights that were installed on both sides of the camera separated Giwoo from the dark streets.

“I will also become successful one day. I will one day also gain fame and prestige and stand proud in front of grandfather. Rude? Just you wait. I will pa.s.s the national exams and enter the ranks of officials. As you say, grandfather, this little one is far from being virtuous. However, it’s not like becoming successful requires virtue.”

Giwoo said those words in a low voice as he stared at the camera. When he heard the cut sound, he sighed out and loosened his body. Producer Changsung said that it was good, but also said that they should get another cut. It seemed that he was putting a lot of effort into this scene because this was the scene that showed the young Han Myung-hoe’s resolve.

Maru took out his phone to check the time. It was 9 p.m. It had been two hours since the shoot resumed after dinner. The younger members sitting next to him all yawned. They all smiled when he patted them on the shoulders, saying that they should endure just a little more.

“Okay!”

Finally, an energetic voice sounded out. After saying the same lines over and over again, Giwoo took a bow. It seemed that he felt sorry for taking so much time by himself.

“Well then, let’s continue right away.”

Producer Changsung quickly proceeded to the next step and waved at Giwoo. Maru watched the two from afar. Although he couldn’t hear their voices, he could tell that producer Changsung was trying to encourage Giwoo. Although the emotional control was the actor’s job, perhaps the producer’s job was to control the actors themselves.

After a short break, the equipment was set up again. The next shooting location was outside a tavern where there were four flat platforms. A woman who dressed up like a tavern lady received coaching on one side while travelling merchants with large baggage were placed throughout the scene.

Following that, Moonjoong appeared at the tavern. He was with a warrior with a sword, and he checked the movement lines with the producer. This scene was where he walked past the tavern and spotted Giwoo who was with Uljin.

Maru and the minor actors were also called to wait behind Uljin. The scene started with Giwoo buying some food from the tavern.

This was the scene where Giwoo left the tavern with a bag full of rice b.a.l.l.s, and his steps were quite stiff, perhaps thanks to making a few mistakes in the scene before. Only after producer Changsung instructed him to walk normally did they finish off the scene without causing an NG.

“You have to peek over the fence to see whether Myung-hoe is coming or not. I think you two should do the job.”

Maru, who was appointed, sat right against the fence. Another member sat next to him. When they heard the cue sound, they peeked over the fence. On the other side, Giwoo walked towards them. When he became sufficiently close, Maru made an expression that made him look filled with expectation before tapping on the back of the little brother next to him and pulling out from the alley.

“Cut! That was good.”

They got an okay sign from the producer.

“Thanks, hyung. I didn’t know the right time to pull out.”

“Next time I’ll give you the signal before I retract.”

“Okay, thanks.”

After finis.h.i.+ng that cut, the next scene was where the beggars ate the rice b.a.l.l.s that Giwoo brought. Along with the producer’s cue sign, Giwoo took out rice b.a.l.l.s from the bag and gave one to each person.

“Eat it.”

This was the scene where Uljin slapped Maru’s hand, telling him to not eat it just as he was about to eat. As agreed upon, Uljin slapped Maru’s hand the moment Maru took a bite out of the rice ball.

Maru looked at the rice ball on the floor with pity before turning around and grabbing Uljin’s collars.

Originally, he was going to do things moderately at this part. It wasn’t a scene that the viewers would pay attention to, and it wasn’t one that the director would put a lot of effort into either. As the minor actor’s role was to make the lead actors s.h.i.+ne, Maru always kept pace with the other party and controlled his emotions accordingly when he did his shoots. During the day, he did exactly that when he acted with Uljin and Giwoo. If nothing happened, he was going to get angry at Uljin with just his superficial emotions, but he had no intentions of doing that right now.

Maru dug into his memories as he looked at Uljin’s face. He brought out the faces of those that enraged him among his current and ‘past’ memories. If he could dig into the character he was acting, he would be able to produce emotions from the perspective of that character, but he didn’t do any research into this ‘2nd beggar’ he was acting right now. It was hard to pull out emotions from the character itself. That was why he decided to bring out Han Maru’s emotions. The petty people that disappointed him endlessly, as well as the hateful people that threatened him with his livelihood, came to his mind.

When the disgusting faces were drawn in front of his eyes, he felt his lips trembling.

This scene did not require this much emotion. In the drama, Gaeguk, albeit being young, was the big brother to all the beggars around. There was no reason to get so angry over a mere rice ball towards Gaeguk, but Maru unleashed all forms of rage he could express.

It was hard for Maru to imagine what kind of expression he was making right now. However, he could at least tell that his face looked vicious when he saw Uljin’s expression.

“Cut! Hey, Uljin. It’s your line next. Did you forget?”

Producer Changsung cut the shoot and spoke.

Maru let go of Uljin’s collars. The camera did not shoot his expression. It only captured Uljin’s face.

When he let go, Uljin started taking steps backwards. He gulped once before covering up his mouth with his hands and starting to breathe heavily. Maru smiled before turning around.

“Uljin. Why are you suddenly so nervous? Your expression is horrible. Didn’t I tell you throughout the morning that Gaeguk is a smart and proud guy? That he’s someone who can smile with a knife against his neck? You can’t make a face like that.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry.”

“Get yourself together and let’s do that again.”

Maru dusted his clothes before standing in front of Uljin again. The minor actors and Giwoo were just watching them while leaning against the wall, yawning. The reflectors were adjusted before the microphone was placed above their heads. The shoot became quiet once again, and the producer’s cue sound spread across.

He had already called out the emotion once. It was easy to replicate it. Once again, he grabbed Uljin’s collars and glared at him. He felt as though he could smash Uljin’s head right now. He directed all of his wrath towards Uljin in front of him.

“Uh….”

Uljin missed a beat and stuttered.

Emotions were curious things. Even while being aware that it was an act, the body enters a state of extreme tension when receiving violent emotions. The brain would keep shouting that the situation is all a pretense, but the body reacted differently.

The producer’s cut sound sharpy hit his ears. Maru calmed his breathing and let go before smiling. Uljin looked at Maru with an expression of not being able to understand before being called by Changsung.

“What is going on? Why is he suddenly acting like that?”

“Hyung, what’s happening? Why is he so s.p.a.ced out when he did so good before?”

Maru just shrugged his shoulders when they asked.

“Maybe he’s tired.”

“Is that right?”

Veteran actors used the emotions of opposing actors as motivation to materialize and accentuate their own before returning it back to them. This was why actors that were in sync were scary. They could continue their emotional acts like a raging train. They fueled each other until they reached their limits.

However, this ideal situation was only possible when the two actors were similar in skill. If one side could not process the emotions given off by the other, it would be impossible to continue acting.

In such a scenario, the actor that could not process the other’s emotions had one of two choices: Either ask the other to tone down their emotion, or just ignore the other’s emotion entirely and do their own acting.

The problem occurred when that actor did not even realize that the other party was expressing too much emotion. Maru saw Uljin who’s head was down as he stood in front of the producer. That guy didn’t even seem to know what he was up against. He was probably dazed because he was confused by the situation.

“Don’t get nervous. You did well during the day, didn’t you?”

Producer Changsung’s words were still kind, but Maru could notice a hint of annoyance in his words. Uljin’s face stiffened as well. Maru waited for the cue sign in front of them.

“Let’s do this properly this time, okay?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah….”

Maru patted Uljin on the shoulders to encourage him. Yes, do your best. Do your best to try to solve it. Only that will make matters much worse.

After the cue sign, Maru repeated the same action as before. He gave Uljin a deathly glare, and Uljin barely spoke a line, and there was no way the producer would be satisfied with that.

“Haa.”

A deep sigh could be heard. Changsung shouted cut and said that they should take a break. It had been less than ten minutes since the last break ended.

[1] An outdated person who thinks he/she is always right and the younger generation are always wrong, and will try to preach. Wikipedia for more details.