Life, Once Again!

After Story 15

He barely managed to open his eyes at the sound of the alarm. He looked at his phone with sleepy eyes before standing up. It was 5 a.m. The sun wasn’t even up. He walked to the bathroom with faltering steps. He could see terrible dark patches under his eyes.

How much time did he have to invest in order to change this living pattern? Maru lamented at the thought of his own body adapting to sleeping late at night and waking up at noon as he washed his face. He put on the suit he took out yesterday and put a set of casual clothes in a bag before leaving his house. He was planning to have breakfast at the train station.

He walked under the air of early dawn and got on the bus. Everyone was looking outside in a daze. It didn’t seem to be just him who felt that the shaking of the coach was like the shaking of a cradle, as many of them had their eyes closed.

The coach arrived at Suwon station. He bought some toast in front of the station and caught a train. From his estimations, he judged that he would have 20 minutes left by the time he arrived at Yeoido station.

The purple skies became faint. He could see the sun rising in the distance above the Han river.

He pushed himself out of the crowd and left the train. The coach was waiting for him in front of Yeouido station. On the coach’s windscreen was a paper with ‘Hallim Arts’ on it.

“Part-time job?” said a man yawning in front of the coach.

“Yes.”

“Name.”

“Han Maru.”

He looked at the list in his hands before gesturing to Maru to get on. When he got on the coach, he could see others who had arrived beforehand. He took a seat at the back. Not long later, the outside became bustling.

Three girls looking to be in college stood in front of the leader while giggling. They seemed to be friends who came to do this part-time job together. The picky-looking leader had a warm smile on his face.

“First, we’ll shoot in Gapyeong, and if it goes overtime, I’ll tell you about it at that time, so keep that in mind. Also, the log book will be written at the scene.”

The coach departed after the leader finished speaking. Maru took out his earphones and put them in his ears. He had done this job to the death, so he didn’t feel excited or anything. He chose to do this despite that to see what the scene was like.

Depending on the method of the shoot, it was likely that he would never get anywhere near the main actors, but if he was lucky, he would be able to see actors acting right by his side.

His first aim was to reawaken his senses while breathing the air of the scene. He had more than enough theory, but his body was lacking. It was important to digest little by little starting with the trivial things. If he reduced the sense of disparity between his knowledge and his senses, he would not stray off the path of becoming an actor.

The coach arrived at the Gapyeong service area. He got off the coach and bought some chocolate and drinks before returning.

“What should I do if I get to see Lee Dongjoon up close?”

“We should look for an opportunity to ask for an autograph.”

“They said we aren’t allowed to do things like that. Don’t do anything that might get you into trouble and appreciate him with your eyes.”

The quiet coach became bustling with the conversation between college girls. The other people started talking to the people sitting next to them.

“Everyone here? We’re departing now.”

The coach drove for about an hour more from the service area and stopped in front of a white villa. There were various vehicles from TV stations parked nearby. It seemed that the villa was the shooting location.

Maru got off the coach and wrote down his name on the logbook and gave it to the leader.

“Once the shoot begins, you’ll have to follow orders. Wherever you go, you must report beforehand. If the shoot gets delayed because of a background actor, the atmosphere will become really bad, so bear that in mind. There’s nothing difficult so you just need to follow my words.” The leader raised his finger, gesturing to everyone to rest where he pointed at. It was a large tree.

Maru put his hand on his forehead and raised his head. The sun was scorching and looked like it would penetrate sunscreen with ease. This wasn’t weather that mere leaves could do anything about.

“Gosh, I’m dying,” grumbled a man in his 30s as he walked over.

Even the college girls, who were chatting without end inside the coach where the AC was on, became quiet as though they felt that something was wrong. Maru just looked at the frowning college girls before walking over to the tree. Well, welcome to the hellish world of terrible part-time jobs.

“Uhm, have you done this work before?” One of the college girls came over and spoke to Maru as he stood under the tree. Maru looked around. As everyone had terrible faces, it seemed that she chose to talk to him, who seemed to be around the same age as her.

“Yes, a couple times.”

“We aren’t going to keep waiting here, are we?” She seemed to be in disbelief about how people could just abandon others under the sun like this.

Maru replied to her, “If we don’t get any instructions, we’ll keep waiting here.”

“Here? But there’s the coach….” As soon as she finished talking, the coach left.

The college girls followed the leaving coach with their eyes filled with sadness.

“Coaches need to keep driving if they want to earn money for their fuel. It’s relatively cool under the shade, so you should stay next to the tree. If you keep standing under the sun, you’ll get heat stroke.”

Maru took out a fan from his bag. He was more than used to waiting indefinitely. The leader would probably call for them if he just waited while fanning himself.

He put his earphones on and played back a file that he had recorded. The voices of the best actors and actresses of the time flowed out through his earphones. He listened to their voices and thought about the actors’ faces. He tried expressing the faces of the actors that he reinterpreted in his own image. Repeated practice was a necessity if he wanted to move his facial muscles in detail. He would put on a very angry expression and sometimes laugh like a fool. Even if other people looked at him strangely, he had no choice. He had to make the most out of his free time in order to catch up to the current actors.

Just then, someone tapped on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and took his earphones out.

“Are you practicing acting?” A man had called out to him. He had distinct facial features.

“Yes.”

“Are you an aspiring actor?”

“Yes, I am. I’m trying to become one.”

“I see. Nice to meet you. I also dream of becoming an actor.”

The man, who introduced himself as Lee Junghyuk, gave him some chewing gum and sat next to him. Maru could tell that he was amicable through a short conversation.

“Is theater your major?” Junghyuk asked.

“No, I don’t belong to an acting-related department.”

“Well, I guess college isn’t that important in acting. There are a few among the actors I admire who haven’t graduated college.”

“But it’s good to study if you have the chance. Connections can’t be ignored either. You’re in the major, right?”

“Yes.” Junghyuk smiled shyly.

“Come over here!” the leader shouted from a distance.

Maru signaled Junghyuk and stood up. He followed the leader to the building behind the villa, where there were several tables in a modern-looking space decorated in grayish-white. From the cutlery and wine glasses, this looked like it was supposed to be a restaurant.

“The two of you over there,” the leader called out to Junghyuk and a woman in her early twenties. The woman, who had her hair neatly combed back, was quite a beauty.

“The two of you can act like a couple at this table, and the rest of you come this way.” After assigning seats depending on people’s height, clothing, and appearance, the leader headed off somewhere.

Maru was sitting in the middle of the restaurant. From the looks of the lighting layout, he would be at the edge of the screen.

An actor appeared among the busily moving staff members. He was easily distinguishable even from a distance. Perhaps he was the Lee Dongjoon that Maru heard about on the coach.

“Hey, hey. It’s Lee Dongjoon!”

“Where?” From the commotion from the college girls, that seemed to be the case.

While the main actor and the producer checked the movement lines, the leader walked around the tables and gave out extra instructions, such as: talk like lovers, act like friends, never look at the actors, don’t get nervous.

Maru looked at the woman sitting in front of him. The woman, wearing a white one-piece dress, didn’t seem used to the atmosphere at the shoot. Or maybe, she didn’t like the stiff-looking man sitting in front of her. In any case, she hadn’t said anything and was just rolling her eyes around everywhere.

They were instructed by the leader to act like lovers, so he couldn’t let this continue. He clenched his hand into a fist and tapped on the table. Having successfully attracted the woman’s attention, he spoke in a small voice, “Are you nervous? Or are you uncomfortable with me?”

“Huh? Oh, no, it’s nothing. I could see the camera so it kept getting on my mind.”

“Is this the first time you’re doing this work?”

“Yes. I watch a lot of TV and thought that I wanted to try doing this at least once, but it’s quite hard, whether it’s waiting or sitting in a daze in a place with many people.”

“It’s a bit stupid, isn’t it? You don’t know why you have to waste your time like this, and it’s annoying.”

The woman blinked a few times before replying ‘yes’ with a smile.

“Once the shoot begins, the camera will point at us for a brief while, and if you keep looking awkward like this, the leader might swear at you.”

“Really? He did look scary.”

“So let us get prepared for that. There’s no need for grandiose acting. The director behind the camera over there doesn’t even want that from us anyways.”

“True.”

The woman’s stiff shoulders became lower as though she had relaxed somewhat. It was a good sign.

“The food has been delicately plated, so you can’t touch it.”

The staff placed food on the table as though the shoot was about to begin. They were mostly decorative, so Maru didn’t think about eating.

“I want to try this.” The woman pointed at the steak in front of her.

“Have you not had breakfast?” he asked.

“I woke up early in the morning, and I didn’t really think about eating. I was thinking about getting something to eat at the service area, but I just skipped it, so now I’m hungry.”

“Would you like something sweet?”

“What?”

Maru took out a chocolate from his pocket and gave it to her. “Don’t chew on it and melt it with your tongue. I’m pretty sure it won’t happen, but you might get lines.”

The woman ate the chocolate without hesitation.

As she was eating the chocolate, Maru saw the staff get out of the scene. The shoot was about to begin.

“Well then. Let us start off joyfully.” A young, energetic producer clapped and sat in front of the monitor.

The shoot started off with a cut where the main actor entered the restaurant. The camera moved and so did the staff members holding the cables attached to it.

“It’d be better off thinking that there’s no one over there.” Maru raised his fork. The woman, who was subconsciously looking toward the actor, got herself together and turned her eyes around.

“It’s quite awkward to face each other like this, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. But is it okay to be like this? Won’t they hear our voices?”

“This much is fine. That furry microphone over there will only catch the actors’ voices. The leader wanted us to act like a couple, so we should just keep talking like this. Directors who pay attention to the background will be nitty gritty about people in the background too.”

“You’re knowledgeable.”

“It’s a part-time job. You get used to it if you do it many times.”

Cut — he heard a voice. The actors were returning to the entrance.

“Is it over?”

“No, it’s just the beginning. Also, we’ll see soon if the shoot will end early today or if we’ll have to get overtime pay.”

He slightly turned around and looked at the actors as well as the lighting. Familiarity and unfamiliarity coexisted in this space.

He took a deep breath before exhaling. It was the air of the shoot that he dearly missed.