After Story 254

“I’m Han Maru, who’s playing the character Dooho. I had to carry our lord big boss, Senior Hong Geunsoo around.”

As soon as he put down the mic, camera shutter noises could be heard. He made a plain smile toward the journalists who were filling up half the hotel hall.

Following that, the actors seated next to him also introduced themselves along with the role they were playing.

"Hello. I'm Nam Goonghun, the director of the film. I'm also a lucky man who had the opportunity to work with such great actors."

After the director's greeting, the person in charge of processions for this press release spoke,

"Director. Many people have shown a big interest in this film, especially due to the fact that it's a historical film based on action. Considering your previous works, an action historical film sounds like a very fresh theme."

Director Nam picked up the mic.

"I have been thinking a lot since I was in the plotting stage. Can I really do this? I wouldn't dare dream of it if I was by myself, but I was able to give this a go thanks to the actors gathered here as well as our action director Kwon Joohyuk."

"Action director Kwon Joohyuk is well-known for being meticulous and his preference for violent action. I wonder if his good points will be displayed in this film."

"I'd like to reserve my words as much as possible because of a jinx of mine that says boating before the release would lead to trouble, but in regards to action at least, I'd like to say that the results are near perfect thanks to director Kwon's guidance."

"Perfection? I can't wait for it."

The emcee, who was talking about the film, handed over the mic to Geunsoo this time.

"Mr. Hong Geunsoo. First of all, congratulations on getting the lead male actor award."

"Thank you."

The emcee started off by mentioning the award he received at the end-of-the-year ceremonies.

"I was told you had to digest some violent action that you never showed us before."

"Thanks to that, I had a great workout."

"That must've been hard. What action scene troubled you the most during the shoot?"

"I'll have to go with the one where I had to shoot with a horse. I have ridden a horse before in another film, but this was my first time doing a lot of things while riding one. I genuinely thought about going to the director and grabbing his collar," Geunsoo said as he looked at director Nam.

The journalists and people in the audience laughed out loud.

"Sounds like the director gave you difficult requests."

"Remember how the director just said something about the action being perfect?"

"Yes. He did say that."

"As it turns out, that perfection isn't easy to come by. Once, I seriously asked him whether the focus of this film was acrobatics, not history and action."

"It was that bad?"

"From what I know, a teaser video should've been released, and if you watch it and then think that it's some good CG, it probably isn't."

Geunsoo's attitude during the press release was quite leisurely, mixing in jokes from time to time.

The emcee then talked to another actor. It was Ahn Sojin, who just turned twelve and received lots of love during the shoot.

Maru looked at the nervous Sojin with a smile. The other actors were also looking at her with affection.

"Miss Sojin, I believe this is your first film. How do you feel now that you have finished it?"

"Err…"

It seemed she had blanked out due to the numerous journalists present as well as the flurry of shutter noises.

Maru reached his hand out behind the seats and poked the back of Sojin's head. When the journalists in front all smiled and pointed at him, Sojin looked at him and spoke,

"Senior Han Maru teased me like that even at the set. He would tap me and pretend it didn't happen, and he would make funny expressions in front of me when I'm practicing."

"Sojin is such a teasable girl," Maru said into the microphone.

Sojin twitched her lips before chuckling.

"Including senior Maru, many seniors looked out for me a lot. They would pull pranks so that I didn't get nervous and would consult me whenever I had trouble with acting. That's why I could do the shoot really enjoyably."

After saying a bunch of things in one go, Sojin put down the mic and heaved a sigh of relief.

Seeing that, not just the actors sitting next to her, but the journalists and people in the audience all also smiled.

"Looks like Miss Sojin had a great time working with good seniors. Well then, Mr. Han Maru, bully of Miss Sojin, please pick up the mic."

"I didn't bully her. I only teased her slightly. Sojin shows some great reactions you see," Maru said as he turned his head to the emcee.

"I think I can see that too. Miss Sojin's expressions are just so plentiful."

"Right?"

He had some relationship with the emcee, so they exchanged jokes lightly.

"You said you play the role of Dooho. What kind of character is Dooho?"

"He's someone who's upright and never thinks about the consequences."

"So like a boar that never stops charging once it has its eyes set on a target?"

"That sounds like an apt analogy. A boar. He really does crash everywhere and gets tangled into a mess."

"Among those crashes, what scene is the most memorable for you?"

"I can think of two scenes off my head right now, but one of them is a spoiler, so I should say the other one. Dooho has a favorite weapon, and the scene where I polished that weapon still remains in my mind to this day."

"Is there a story behind that?"

"There is. That day the temperature at the shoot hit 36 degrees and 80% humidity. I thought I was going to die. Remember how senior Geunsoo said he thought about grabbing the director's collars, right? I almost did that that day."

The emcee smiled and looked at the director.

"Director. It sounds like there are a lot of complaints from the actors."

"If they didn't like it then they should be the director."

"So you aren't gonna lose to them."

"If you want to work with those headstrong actors, no ordinary willpower is going to cut it. Just look at Mr. Maru. He looks like he'll swallow you whole if he has the chance."

Maru responded to director Nam's words,

"Right. The director is also no ordinary person so I couldn't win against him. That's why I laid low throughout the whole shoot."

The emcee spoke,

"I have emceed numerous press releases in my life, but I have to say, this is my first one where everyone's attacking each other like this. Still, it sounds like you're all on close terms. It's good to see."

The emcee went to the next cue card before speaking,

"Mr. Maru. You have played truly diverse roles in your acting career. This character, Dooho, is a man who speaks with his actions, not his words, right? Did you have any difficulties with that?"

"I thought a lot about how I should be expressing emotions. I shout more than I speak in the film. Although he is a boar-like character, he won't have any charm if he's too one-dimensional. Even a man with a personality like that of a bulldozer must have a different psychology on the inside. I had a pretty hard time showing that in between the dynamic action scenes."

"In your eyes, director, how was Mr. Maru's acting? Do you think his charm has been drawn out?"

Director Nam spoke,

"Maru, no, Mr. Maru."

"You can drop the formalities, director."

"Then I'll just say your name. I was anticipating that part of him when I first recruited Maru. In his previous works, Maru showed incredible talent in expressing delicate emotions. I was also curious as to what the results would be like if an actor who controls emotions in detail does action. The result was that Maru did well enough and then some, more than enough to satisfy my expectations.”

Maru looked at director Nam’s face.

“Thank you, director. I’ll visit you with a pair of new shoes in due time.”

“Haha, don’t say that.”

The emcee, who smiled a little, spoke again,

“Miss Sojin is smiling as she’s looking at you again, Mr. Maru.”

“I always think of something funny when I look at him.”

“Was the atmosphere like this at the shoot as well?”

“Yes. Senior Maru and senior Geunsoo always told me funny stories every day. They made me laugh when I was tired.”

Maru picked up the mic immediately.

“Sojin has already learned how to fawn over people. Kids these days are scary.”

“Senior!”

Following that, the questions prepared by the emcee were relayed to the actors and the director. They were good questions that were a mix of movie-related things and some personal things about the actors.

“We’ll now accept questions from the journalists from various media outlets in our audience as well. First of all, the one who just made eye contact with me over there.”

The woman who received a mic started speaking,

“Hello. I’m Kang Danbi from Daily Chowon. I have a question for actor Han Maru.”

“Yes.” Maru sat up straight.

“I’ve heard good news about you outside this film. Apparently, a film you participated in as an investor got an award from Monte Brè.”

“It was unexpected good news. I was taken aback when I first heard about it.”

“You participated in it both as an investor and as an actor. It must’ve been touching.”

The journalist continued to mention things about Monte Brè. Maru listened for a while before speaking,

“Excuse me, journalist. I hope that you can ask me questions about this film rather than news from the distant Monte Brè. You can look up Monte Brè and there should be plenty of articles about it.”

He got that she wanted to get something from an official occasion like this, but she was going overboard.

The journalist, who was shamelessly asking question after question, smiled awkwardly before apologizing.

“I’m sorry.”

“Not at all. I’m grateful that you’re taking interest.”

She seemed to be an experienced journalist as she soon changed her expression and continued asking other questions. Like that, the journalists had their session and the end of the press release was reached.

“Unfortunately, we’ll have to end things here for today. I’d love to talk all day, but everyone has appointments to attend to.”

The emcee stood up and waved his hand. As they had been notified beforehand, the actors all stood up and stood in the middle of the stage.

“Then we’ll wrap things up after a final greeting. Please give a round of applause to our actors and the director.”

He smiled and stood on the spot for a moment for the journalists to take photos. After that, the members of the staff started coming up to the stage and pulling out the equipment.

Maru tried to leave the hall along with everyone else when he saw someone desperately waving her hand. It was that journalist who kept bringing up Monte Brè throughout the Q&A session.

Maru went down the stage and approached the journalist.

“Sorry about that before. I tried to reach out to director Lee Yoonseok, but he seemed so busy that he didn’t reply to me, so I ended up asking you in person, even knowing that I shouldn’t be doing it.”

“I understand how you feel. I’m sure someone above you must’ve scolded you to bring something.”

“You know a lot.”

The journalist looked really stiff. He looked down at his watch before speaking,

“I’m free for about 10 minutes.”

“What?”

“The interview. If it’s under 10 minutes, I can do it.”

“Really?”

“As thanks, please write a good one. Actually, I’m quite itching to talk about it myself. Please wait in the lobby on the 1st floor. I’ll get there once I finish things around here.”

“Yes! I’ll be waiting.”

The Daily Chowon was something worth investing his time in. It seemed that Yoonseok had missed the email from Chowon because there were so many interview requests flooding his inbox.

He sent a message to Yoonseok to classify the media outlet's emails better.

“Maru!”

Geunsoo called from the exit. He started walking again after replying ‘coming.’

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