After Story 90

“I said that’s not it!”

A woman caused a ruckus in front of Jichan before scratching her head. She looked unjustly accused.

She continued talking as she used both her hands and feet to express that this was unjustified.

“I was really just doing as I was told to do.”

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

“Then I get off scot-free, right?”

“I told you that’s not for us to decide.”

“Then why did you arrest me!”

“Why do you think we arrested you? Please stop venting your temper at us and let’s talk this out with words. I have a lot to do too. I’ll have to write up a statement, see if you have committed any other crimes, and also request a warrant.”

“A-a warrant? Officer, I told you I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“And I told you that if you’re so upright, then you should tell me everything. You should just report the act of crime as an innocent citizen, right?”

The woman rubbed her hands and begged. At the same time, the FD next to the camera sent a signal.

An actor waiting outside the set entered the violent crimes department office.

“This damned woman!”

The actor playing ‘husband’ jumped in. Maru watched for a while before standing up when the ‘husband’ took about three steps. This was prearranged beforehand.

“Wait, calm down.”

“Officer, let me go. I’m going to break that woman’s legs and go to jail.”

“Sir, please calm down.”

The man huffed and puffed and started pushing with his body. He was using much more strength than during practice. It seemed he was really absorbed.

However, just because the opposing actor suddenly burst out with emotions didn’t mean that Maru could do the same. He was supposed to be an investigator, so it would be an NG if he became just as emotional. Maru put his hands through the husband’s armpits and pushed his shoulder back.

The husband was startled before he was pushed backward.

“Hey! You damn woman!”

“Gosh! Stop calling me! I’m ashamed as it is that I’m your wife.”

“What? Ashamed? Fine, let’s get to the end of this today. Either you go to prison, or I go to prison. One of us will start eating prison food.”

“Then you go in! I’m innocent!”

The wife screeched while the husband struggled and shouted.

Thanks to the passionate acting of the two minor actors, the scene looked very realistic.

“Both of you, calm down. This is not a place where the one with the bigger voice wins,” Sinseo said, his eyes still glued to the document he was looking at while he was in his chair.

Hearing the extremely detached voice, the excited husband’s lips twitched before he straightened out his collars. The woman also looked at the husband before turning her head away.

“Okay. That’s good,” director Cha shouted.

Maru let go of the husband.

The husband spoke cautiously, “Are you okay? I was a little too into it thinking that we should do this in one go, so I think I ended up putting in more strength than necessary.”

“It was good. You were really good at acting, you know?”

“Haha, I’m pretty good at acting like an entitled person.”

“Please teach me if there’s an opportunity later.”

The two cameras shooting the office changed locations. The actors sitting at their desks went over to the monitor. They were monitoring their own acts while the camera was being adjusted.

Maru also sneakily stood behind the other actors. Watching the camera feed was one of the basics of acting. It had to be done at every opportunity.

“Here, when Sinseo and Jichan talk to each other, you see that slight gap? Try to get a little closer. I will overlook it this time because you two are good-looking but not next time.”

The two actors nodded after listening to the director’s words.

Director Cha stood next to the pillar in the violent crimes department office. Then he called Jichan.

“Jichan, stand here. Camera, please shoot him with him framed in the center.”

The FD stood in front of Jichan. He had a camera on his shoulder and shot Jichan.

Director Cha personally showed Jichan what act to do to instruct him.

“Your lips keep protruding out right before you say your lines, but you really need to get rid of that habit. The reason you’re doing it is that you keep thinking that you have to act. It’s here, I’m going to start acting, I’m going to say my line. Let’s get ready! That’s the kind of thing that leads to that.”

Director Cha pointed out Jichan’s bad habit and kept instructing him. After being instructed, Jichan started acting on the spot. Maru could see that he was changing slightly.

The director proactively instructs the actor, and the actor accepts it without taking that as pressure. It was great that they got along.

“The director’s really passionate.”

Maru looked next to him. He saw that Sinseo had approached him. During lunch, they decided that Sinseo and Jichan would drop the honorifics with him.

“It’s his first work after all. I’m sure the attachment he has is something we can’t imagine.”

“It’s great that Jichan doesn’t take the director’s words as offensive. There are some actors who take acting instructions from the director as disdain and an insult.”

“That sounds plausible.”

Why wouldn’t he know it? He had seen it numerous times in the past as well; there were always actors who ignored the directions of the director and just acted by themselves. It wouldn’t be a problem if one of them was overwhelmingly superior to the other, but if the skills of the director and the actor were on a similar level, the atmosphere at the set would become terrible.

This also caused some incidents where a director or an actor was changed out midway.

After a round of practice, the shoot resumed. The production crew seemed to have had a hard time scheduling the lead actors, as they kept skipping scenes and shooting all the scenes they had to at the set.

“I have a concert. This was scheduled before the shoot was decided so I couldn’t cancel it. It’s a good thing that it’s just one day,” Jichan said during a break. He also said that he practiced the choreography until late into the night last night.

So there was a reason why his lips kept getting chapped. His stylist came over and kept applying lip balm.

“You must be exhausted,” Maru said as he gave Jichan a cup of water.

“Even if it’s hard, I have to endure. I’m not doing this for anyone else’s sake. I’m doing it because I like it and I want to do well.”

“Right, you’re the one who wants to do it so you should hold on a little more.” Sinseo encouraged him as well.

4 p.m. – Maru left the set for a little as he didn’t have any scenes for a while. There was a scene scheduled for 8 p.m., but he wondered if that was going to happen. Unlike in the morning, there were a lot more NGs in the afternoon. The director also asked for a lot of reshoots.

Everyone had become sensitive because they were shooting the important scenes in the first episode.

After getting some fresh air, he returned to the set. There, he saw Lee Haena saying goodbye to the staff members. It seemed that her scene was over. Maru also said goodbye to Haena as he walked by.

“Thank you for your work today.”

“Yes, you too.”

Haena stopped just as she was about to walk out.

“Mr. Maru, right?”

“Yes.”

“I heard from senior Sinseo that he talked about dropping the honorifics with you.”

“He said that would be for the better. He was being considerate of me.”

“Then please allow me to do the same. We’re both in the crime investigation department.”

“Okay.”

“You look younger than me, am I right?”

“I’m twenty-two.”

“I’m twenty-five. Can I?”

“Go ahead.”

Haena smiled and waved her hand.

“Then see you at the next shoot. Good luck with the rest of the shoot!”

“Yes, be careful on your way home too, noona.”

“Alright. Also, look out for Jichan-oppa a little. He’ll do better if you compliment him from the side. He looked exhausted.”

“I will.”

“Bye then!”

Haena winked and said goodbye. She was one cheerful lady. Many people had a good laugh during the shoot thanks to her.

Maru spat out a short breath and looked at the set lit up with bright lights. The mood maker had left the set, meaning the already volatile atmosphere would become even more sensitive.

He quietly walked over. The shoot was in full swing. It was a scene where Jichan was saying his line while walking around the office.

Maru stood behind the director. He could see the monitor over the shoulder of the scripter.

The camera was framing Jichan in a bust shot, while the left monitor showed him the full shot.

Director Cha looked alternately between the two monitors. His expression was stiffening up. Maru could tell that he was going to raise his hand soon.

“Wait. Jichan, can you come here for a bit?” Director Cha called Jichan.

Jichan stopped and rubbed his eyes before quickly coming over.

“Look here. At this part, your gaze is too unstable. This is not good. It’s too obvious that you’re conscious of the camera. This is a shooting set, not the stage that you’re used to standing on. You should leave looking at the camera whenever you see a red light to when you’re standing on a stage.”

“I’m sorry.”

Director Cha tapped on his own neck with a rolled-up script. Whether it was director Cha saying something bad, or Jiseok who was being pointed out, both of them should have it hard.

“Let’s take a 10-minute break before doing this again.” Director Cha stood up.

The assistant director and the camera director left the set with director Cha. In their hands were cigarettes.

“This is driving me nuts,” Jichan said as he sat down. He probably had a big headache.

He listened to the explanation, so he probably knew what he had to do in his head, but he couldn’t fix what he was being pointed out for when he actually did the act.

Until he became used to acting techniques, he would probably keep receiving scoldings.

Jichan’s manager came over and consoled him, saying that it was okay and that he was doing better and better.

Jichan drank his drink with an exhausted expression. His lips were more chapped than before.

“The air here is stale. Let’s go outside as well,” Sinseo said.

The three of them left the set together.

“Anyone here smokes?” Sinseo asked.

Maru shook his head while Jichan said that he didn’t want to for now.

Sinseo lit up his cigarette and asked, “Jichan.”

“Yes.”

“It’s hard, isn’t it?”

“A little.”

“But you should also know well that no matter how hard it is, other people can’t resolve it for you.”

Sinseo took a single puff before throwing the cigarette on the ground. He stepped on it to put it out before picking it up again and putting it in the trash.

“This is something you wanted to do, so you should keep challenging it. I don’t know much about singing and dancing, but I’m pretty sure they’re similar to acting. You might feel stuck at first, but if you keep doing it, you’ll see a way forward, and you’ll learn new tricks. Acting is the same. If you keep doing it, it’ll get better. It’s nothing amazing. No matter what you do, you’re bound to improve if you keep doing it. So keep doing it. The director understands you. He knows that you’re not being arrogant and you’re doing this seriously, so don’t be afraid, and don’t chicken out. Just keep at it.”

Sinseo told them to get some more air before going back inside.

Jichan leaned on the wall and stretched out his arms.

“Isn’t he awesome?”

“Yes, he’s awesome,” Maru replied with a smile.

“Maru.”

“Yes?”

“What should I do? I get what the director’s saying, but I just can’t do it once the shoot begins. Was I this stupid?”

“Don’t blame yourself. No one’s good from the beginning.”

“I know that, but it’s driving me nuts because I need to do it right now but can’t. Hey, do you read news articles?”

“News articles? I looked some up related to the drama. There was nothing about me though.”

“You’ve seen the comments there too, right?”

“I did, I guess.”

“What did they say?”

Maru looked up at the sky. “This and that.”

“Weren’t there a lot of comments about how an idol is arrogantly trying to sneak in again?”

“You’re concerned about that?”

“Sure I am. I will never get used to toxic comments until I die. Maybe it’s because I’m introverted.”

“Who cares if you get insulted a little? They’re insulting you without even watching it. They’re those that’ll turn around if you do well.”

“What if I don’t do well?”

“...Who cares if you get insulted a little?”

Maru repeated the same words. Jichan giggled after hearing that.

“Yeah, I guess I’m going to get a lot of insults.”

Jichan snapped up from leaning against the wall.

“Hyung.”

Maru called out to Jichan who was stumbling his way forward.

“Yeah?”

“Try calling me a son of a bitch.”

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