After Story 83

“Director Lee Sooae?” Haneul approached the woman sitting by the window.

“You’re Miss Mijin, I mean, Miss Haneul, right?”

“Yes, I’m Han Haneul.”

“Nice to meet you. And thank you for meeting me like this. Let’s have some tea first. Your hands are cold.”

The director led her by her hand to the counter. Despite it being their first meeting, this person approached her boldly, though it didn’t feel that forced, so Haneul didn’t feel unpleasant. If she expressed any discomfort, she would’ve probably let go immediately and apologized.

After buying two cups of coffee, they returned to their seats. The director gave her a business card and introduced herself.

“I’ve told you over the phone already, but I should still introduce myself properly now that we’ve seen each other, right? I’m Lee Sooae, a director who decided to see you after having taken a liking to you.”

“Before I came here, I looked into what kind of person you are.”

“Really? In your eyes, what kind of person am I?”

“A director with a lot of greed.”

“Do I look like I have a lot of greed?”

“It felt that way from the things you worked on. Oh, this person must have a lot of things she wants to do.”

The alarm token next to the receipt started ringing. Haneul received the coffee instead of Sooae, who tried to stand up.

“Right. I do have a lot of things I want to do. There’s a limited amount of time, but there’s so much I want to say, which is why I have trouble all the time. Have you seen all three of my works?”

“No. I watched just one. The most recent one.”

“How was it? I’d like to hear your impressions.”

“I enjoyed it.”

“I want to hear something else though. Didn’t you find anything lacking?”

Haneul spun the cup around a little and spoke, “If I have to point one out, then it’s that Kangjin’s emotions weren’t expressed as much as Jane’s. As it headed towards the conclusion, it felt more like Jane’s personal story rather than a story of the two. Although it ended with the two getting together, I couldn’t see Kangjin’s feelings, which were supposed to be there between the climax and the conclusion, so that was a bit of a disappointment.”

“That’s a bitter assessment.”

Sooae let out a sigh after drinking a sip of the coffee.

“I said something unnecessary, didn’t I?”

“No, you’re right, Miss Haneul. It’s what the critics said too.”

“How did you feel about that, director?”

“I was personally satisfied with it. That was why I edited it that way. I think I projected myself into Jane a lot. Her story was my story, so the scales tilted that way. Actually, I shot Kangjin’s part as well. It was just removed in editing.”

“I see. Well, disappointments aside, it’s not wrong per se. If you look at it from the other perspective, of the members of the audience who focus on Jane, there’s no story better than that. In the first place, it’s impossible to satisfy everyone after all.”

Sooae locked her hands together. She seemed to have taken an interest in what Haneul just said.

“Do you believe that it’s impossible to satisfy everyone, Miss Haneul?”

“Yes, I think that way.”

“Then do you act with the intent to captivate a specific target audience? Or maybe you only do genres that will make the audience like you?”

Haneul smiled softly and drank the coffee. She noticed what intention Sooae had in asking that question.

“You told me this when you first called me, didn’t you? That it would be interesting to work together.”

“I did.”

“Is the work you’re preparing to do perhaps very strong?”

“That will depend on the individual. It might seem strong to some, but not to others.”

“In your eyes, what genre do you think suits me? No, let me change the question. What genre do you think I prefer doing?”

“Based on appearances alone, then of course, melo. Not some deep, thick melo, but more of the pure and innocent one. The genres that women in their twenties like.”

“I might be getting ahead of myself, but I believe that there’s a scenario in your bag, and it’s definitely not melo, right?”

“If you’re bored, would you like to have a look?”

“May I?”

Sooae opened the bag and gave her a scenario.

“Geez, I came here just to talk to you, too.”

“Then should I stop here?” Haneul put her hand on top of the scenario.

Sooae quickly shook her head and grabbed her wrist to take it off.

“Looks like I shouldn’t joke around with you.”

“I was joking with you too. I’ll read it.”

“Take it slowly. It’d be even better if you could pay attention to the details.”

Haneul pushed the coffee cup to the side and put the scenario in front of her. She first had a look at the title: Hidden Knife. Was that a tentative title? Or was it decided? Regardless of which, the title was not ordinary.

She flipped over the pages and had a look at the contents. She looked at everything, down to the last comma.

“It’s strong, alright,” Haneul said as she closed the scenario. There was a reason why the director kept being roundabout all this time.

“I’m not saying that we should do this right now. There should be contract terms, as well as realistic problems. I just wanted to hear your opinion. If you were offered this work as an actress, how is it? Would you do it?”

“Before I answer, I’d like to ask one more question. Why did you show me this scenario? It’s a strong story. There should be others who want to work on this.”

“Of course, it’s not a scenario I showed you only. I can’t name any names, but I’ve contacted some other actors as well. The reason I showed you this is purely because of my greed. Miss Haneul, do you believe in instinct?”

“I do. There were times I lost out after ignoring it.”

“I’m the same. Although it’s not common, I sometimes get the ‘hunch’. I got that hunch when I looked at the film you featured in. Your empty eyes, dry face… bluntly speaking, I fell for you when I saw that a pretty girl managed to create such a charm. I’m sure you know about it since you read it, but such an aspect is necessary for the character.”

Haneul looked at the scenario, her hands clasped. It was really pointy, as though the ‘hidden knife’ would really poke her eyes. It was a film that only actors who had not been stereotyped could boldly try out.

“I’d like to do it if I can.”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

“But there are other actors who are better than me. If such actors desire this script, then there won’t be a place for me.”

“Who knows? You can never say that for sure.”

“Would the production company like me? An actress who just started and has no name?”

Sooae tensed her eyes in order to say something, but she eventually just leaned back.

“Honestly speaking, it’ll be difficult to ignore the power of money. But with your charms, Miss Haneul, I’m sure we’ll be able to persuade them.”

“I hope that happens.”

Haneul pushed the scenario to Sooae.

“I haven’t told the company about this. This was just me individually listening to your opinion, so if there’s any progress, please contact my agency in the future.”

“If it’s about that, I told them about it before I came here. What you need to do is to persuade your CEO, Miss Haneul. They were originally an idol management agency, so they should be very sensitive about image management. If the image that the company wants from you does not correspond to the image that this film will show, there’s a possibility that they’ll reject it even if we do give you an offer.”

“Would they go that far for a new actress? They’ll have me do something.”

Sooae smiled and raised her cup.

“It’s somewhat funny for the person who showed you the scenario to say this, but are you okay with it? If things do work out, it’ll be very hard. You might have to live with wires attached to your body. I’ve seen many people who took action lightly and were crying throughout the whole shoot.”

“Fortunately, I’m quite confident in something that requires my body. I have some tricks too.”

“You know some tricks? Do you have any experience?”

Haneul smiled and shook her head, “I was just saying that I am confident. I’m sturdier than I look.”

“You’d better be. There will be a lot of fights.”

Haneul looked at the scenario going inside Sooae’s bag.

Hidden Knife. If she ended up doing it, it would be quite a fun shoot.

* * *

“An espionage movie based on the Japanese rule period huh? Is it hard-boiled? Or just espionage action?”

-Somewhere around the middle, I guess.

Maru chuckled upon hearing Haneul’s answer.

“How was it when you read it? Do you like it?”

-It’s something I can do without any fear because I’m starting off. It’s merciless and cruel. I did say I want to do it, but I’m slightly worried because this might stereotype my image.

“You just have to leave a line in Korean film history. Han Haneul will be the first person people think of when they think of a villain actress.”

-It’s not a villain role.

“You know that you’ll get a bunch of scenarios with villain roles if your image consolidates that way.”

-After I shoot it, I’ll have to look at how things go and quickly snatch a fresh and cute film.

“You sound like you’re the main character already. You sound confident.”

-Don’t both of us have nothing left without our confidence?

“That’s true. We’ve done so much, so if we didn’t have any confidence, we would have lived the wrong lives. But I’m slightly jealous. That person didn’t come to me after watching the film I was the lead in, but you, a supporting character, and offered you the chance to be a lead character.”

-I’ll get the new actress award first. You can follow up slowly.

“How could I stay still after you said that? Should we make a bet?”

-What bet?

“Which one of us will get an award first at an award ceremony hosted by the three public TV stations.”

-Are you okay with that, sweetie? I’ve never lost a bet like that.

“There must be something wrong with your memory since I’m the one who’s at an advantage in bets like this, you know? I have luck too. The one who loses will be in charge of cleaning for a year after marriage. How is it?”

-Good. Let’s go with that.

The call hung up. Maru put his phone on the table.

His wife sounded confident. While victory or loss didn’t matter, it was better to win since he started.

No, he had to win. He changed his mind after imagining her giving him that mocking smirk while holding the prize. Haneul could be endlessly petty at times.

…And their daughter was also used to teasing her dad, getting it from her mother.

-But you know that I won’t lose out even if I lose, right? Even if I’m the one cleaning, I can already see you following me with a mop.

That was a message Haneul sent. She was right, so he couldn’t even retort.

He made a great bet but didn’t think properly about the reward. He had to ask for a liberated weekend instead.

He checked the time. There were still 10 minutes until 2. Considering the personality of the person that was about to show up, the door to the café should open soon.

Just then, he saw a car stop in front of the café. The moment Maru saw the man who got off the black sedan, he let out a short breath.

Someone who he was seeing for the first time, yet was a familiar face. Someone he was used to, but couldn’t help but be tense around.

The door to the café opened. After a song with some electronic ringtone played, he could hear the employee’s welcome.

Maru did not turn around, instead, he focused on his ears. The soles of dress shoes, drenched in snow, made some rough noises due to friction with the floor titles.

He took a deep breath before breathing out. He was now ready to see the customer.

“Mr. Han Maru?”

Maru raised his head to look at Lee Junmin, standing next to the table.

“Yes.”

“So I found the right person. Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Junmin.”

Junmin took off his top hat and sat down.

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