After Story 239

It was noisy outside. Yoonseok put down the profiles and opened the door slightly. What he saw was the actors waiting in the hallway all looking in the same direction.

Maru was coming towards the audition room.

“I almost thought you were going to be late,” Yoonseok said with a sigh of relief after Maru came into the room.

“Calm down and have some leisure. The actors will imagine things if they see you all nervous.”

Maru was right. Even if he was feeling incredibly nervous inside, he had to feign calmness on the outside.

He sat down and leaned against the chair before breathing regularly. His agitated mood calmed down after he spent some time in a comfortable position.

“I thought giving a presentation was the most nerve-racking thing in the world, but watching a presentation is no less nerve-racking.”

“You’re going to have to get used to that if you want to keep working as a director. But don’t get too loose. Be polite. You have to respect the actors while also rationally assessing them.”

Yoonseok looked at Maru through the corner of his eyes. Maru felt different from usual today. Instead of his amicable smile and words, his tone was a level deeper and made people nervous.

“Among the people outside, there’s probably not a single one who’s participating in this audition lightly. On the contrary, there should be a lot of people who came here in desperation, thinking that this is their last chance. Watch every single one of them carefully. If you have any questions, ask them clearly.”

“Okay.”

Yoonseok sat up. He felt like he knew why Maru was different from usual. Whether he liked it or not, this was a place of evaluation. Some would pass and some would fail.

When Maru told him to watch every single one of them carefully, it touched something deep inside his heart. He really would have to look at them properly to judge them properly.

“Are you ready?” Jiseon asked after opening the door.

Yoonseok drank half a cup of water before nodding.

“I’ll be next to the camera. Once an actor comes in, do a brief self-introduction and watch their acting. If you can feel the image you want from them or you can’t feel anything at all, ask them to do something else. We’re not doing this on a tight schedule, so I hope you can give each of the actors enough time.”

“I’ll bear that in mind. Don’t you have anything to say to the actors?”

Maru, who was standing next to the camera, thought for a little before shaking his head.

“I’ll be staying quiet unless it’s absolutely necessary. You choose who you want to work with.”

Yoonseok shut his eyes for a moment before opening them again. Maru was giving him his full trust. He had to go into this audition with a cautious heart instead of with one that was wavering around.

The door opened and the first actor came in.

“Hello,” the actor greeted.

Yoonseok shifted around in his chair a little before asking,

“What is your name?”

“I’m Lee Youngji.”

“Miss Lee Youngji, please wait a moment.”

He looked for the name Lee Youngji among the profiles. At the same time, he thought that he should organize the profiles a little.

He quickly scanned the profile in front of him. She had experience as a fitting model, an advert model, and was cast in a web drama.

Yoonseok raised his head after reading it. He didn’t realize when she said hello, but the person in front of him was very nervous. She was smiling, but her shoulders were constricted. He felt sorry after seeing that. He hurriedly asked her to show him her acting.

The actress brought a chair, which was prepared on the side, and sat down. She put her phone against her ear and started talking.

“Yes, okay. No, Mom. I still have plenty of money left. How’s dad?”

The actress calmly acted with an everyday tone. However, thanks to being stiff, her acting looked unnatural. The contrast between her head and the rest of the body was not great.

“Thank you for the performance.”

Yoonseok felt like he had made a mistake after saying those words. He felt like he had displayed too much of his disappointment. The actress quietly stood up from the chair.

What was he supposed to do now? Thank her and send her out?

The actress in front of him clearly looked disappointed and shut her mouth. She looked like she was wanting one more opportunity.

At that time, he thought back to what Maru said – look at another act if it was really good or really bad.

“You prepared another one, right? We wrote two free skits when we posted the announcement.”

“Yes. I have another one.”

“Can we have a look?”

Yoonseok kept the actress’ style in one corner of his mind and had a look at her next skit. This time, the actress walked circles around the audition room as she acted.

She definitely looked a lot better than when she was doing something still. She also looked to have shaken off her nervousness as she moved around. However, he felt that the second skit too was rather unnatural.

“Thank you. We’ll reach out to you as soon as possible.”

“Is it over?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, okay.”

The actress, who was about to leave after saying goodbye, flinched and looked toward the camera. Her eyes widened before she covered her mouth sightly. It seemed she just found Maru.

“Good work today,” Maru said.

The actress looked overjoyed.

After the door closed, Yoonseok spoke, “I think it’d be better if you sat here instead. Did you see how happy she was?”

“She wasn’t happy. She just found me curious. Also, don’t you need to organize the profiles?”

“Oh, right. I thought that too.”

Maru opened the door and called for Jiseon. Yoonseok sorted the profiles in order.

“Hyung. Am I doing this properly?”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t know what your standards for actors are.”

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“I kept watching that person, and it made me keep thinking that maybe I lack the discernment for people with good acting.”

“You can’t know everything just through an audition. The best thing you can do is to get a feel for who that person is. Try substituting that person into the role you think that person is fit for and then mark them down if you deem that they’re suitable. If you come across two people with similar impressions, you have to cross-check the two of them closely.”

Maru’s words cleared up his head in an instant.

“You’re like an internet search bar. You get me an answer no matter what I ask.”

“Don’t take what I say for what it is, and keep reminding yourself who the director is. They’re the people who would turn into reality the things in your mind. You have to think harder than any other time.”

Yoonseok picked up a blue pen as he listened to Maru’s words. He marked the first actor’s profile with an X at the top.

Her appearance was not inadequate. After all, she had worked as a model before, but she wasn’t appropriate for the role he wanted.

“Please let the next person in,” Yoonseok said to Jiseon, who opened the door.

Maru said a word before the door closed,

“Jiseon. If no one says anything, send the next participant around 30 seconds after the previous actor leaves. You should only hold off if we specifically tell you to wait.”

“Okay, got it.”

The next actor came into the room. He was a man in his 30s with curly hair and a messy beard. They mentioned on the audition notice that the store owner was a man in his middle thirties that was about to close down his business, and based on image alone, he passed.

“Hello,” said the actor.

Unlike his undecorated appearance, his voice was very good.

“I came here looking messy because the notice said the role is someone who is about to close down their business. I thought that person wouldn’t spend a long time caring about his looks since he must be having a hard time.”

“So you didn’t shave on purpose. I was surprised because you had just the image I was thinking of.”

“Thank you for your good impressions.”

Yoonseok checked the profile. Moon Seokjin.

“Mr. Moon Seokjin. Please show us your skit.”

If he was a good actor, then the laundry shop’s owner would go to this person.

* * *

“Jiseon, wait a sec,” Yoonseok said as he stood up.

He had a sore back after sitting down with nervousness for so long. He didn’t know that it was such a hard thing to watch a person intently.

“You held around seven camera tests, so I’m guessing there must be one or two actors you have in mind at least,” Maru said as he stood next to him.

Yoonseok showed him three profiles.

“I’m thinking of these three. What do you think?”

“Your thought matters more than my opinion.”

“Tell me anyway. It’s a movie we’re making together. I want you to tell me how my discernment is, not as an actor participating in the film but as an investor.”

Maru picked up those three profiles. He carefully looked through each one of them and spoke,

“Two out of these three people caught my eye.”

“Who’s the one you didn’t choose?”

“I won’t tell you.”

Maru returned the profiles. Two out of three. It was a number he could be relieved about.

“There’s not many left now, huh? It’s really exhausting going through dozens of people. I wonder how judges who go through hundreds of people cope.”

Yoonseok stretched his arms out and sat down. He told Jiseon to send the next person in.

“Hello!”

Her greeting was very energetic. From how her cheerful voice and smile looked natural, it seemed to be just her nature. Feeling energized, Yoonseok also greeted back.

“Hello. You’ve waited for a long time, haven’t you?”

At this point, he had gotten more leeway and was able to converse a little with the actors aside from just greeting them.

“I don’t care that I have to wait when it’s an opportunity to play a role in a good work. Also, senior Han Maru. I’m a fan of yours!”

The woman in her early twenties talked to Maru as well. Maru nodded with a smile.

“Miss Ahn Haeun.”

“Yes!”

She responded immediately like a student. Yoonseok held back his smile and told her to show them what she had.

“I’ll start now then.”

It would definitely feel good to have an energetic person like that on set – thinking such things, he watched her skit.

“5 thousand won. Fine, I’m feeling generous today. Just give me 4 thousand. Hey, if I gave you such a discount and spent so much of my time on you, shouldn’t you be buying it?”

The notice for actresses had no particular requirements except age, so the free skits were quite varied.

The actress in front of him played a pushy saleswoman. It fit her cheerful image.

Just as he was thinking that she was pretty good, the actress flinched. It seemed she had forgotten her line. Some of the actors before her had made similar mistakes before.

Just as he was going to tell her that it was okay and that she should take her time to try again, she spoke,

“Dammit, I’ll do that again.”

He didn’t know whether she was mad at herself or at the situation, but the actress vented her frustration audibly before starting her act again.

Yoonseok made an awkward expression and straightened his face before watching the skit.

Just as he was thinking that it was just a human error, the actress stopped again, at the same spot in the skit even.

“I wasn’t like this before, ah, really. I’m sorry. Can I try again?” the actress said to Maru.

Yoonseok was about to speak but ended up staying quiet. He felt awkward, but at the same time, thought that it couldn’t be helped. Maru was an actor whose popularity was increasing by the day, while he was a director who couldn’t even fund his own work properly. He could understand that the participants looked to Maru for permission instead of him.

“Miss Ahn Haeun.”

“Yes!” replied the actress with a bright smile.

“Why are you trying to get permission from me? Shouldn’t you be asking the person seated in front of you?”

Maru sounded like an office worker here on business. His tone was very flat and contained minimal emotions.

Hearing Maru’s words, the actress’ bright face turned into stone in an instant.

“I’d like to say a few words to Miss Haeun, is that okay, director?”

Yoonseok immediately responded with a yes.

“An actor should be displaying their themes through acting. Miss Haeun. Do you always smile like that? Outside and in front of other people?”

“N-no.”

“Then why did you do that? You can’t guarantee that you’ll pass even if you focus on your acting alone, yet you were making up a character that had nothing to do with the role you were acting out.”

“I just wanted to look good….”

“If you wanted to look good, then you should have focused on your acting. You should have studied your own skits if you had the time to work on ridiculous roleplay like that.”

The actress’ eyes dropped down. The cheerfulness in her shoulders calmed down as well. She admitted through her silence that her cheerful image was just an act.

“I can understand that you’re nervous. I can understand that you want to do well. But if you plan to take acting seriously, if you aren’t here as a joke, then show us what you have after you perfect what you have to do. And also, keep your manners.”

“I’m sorry.”

Maru gestured to Yoonseok again. It seemed that he finished what he was going to talk about. Yoonseok coughed softly before speaking,

“Uhm, Miss Haeun.”

“Yes?”

“Calm down a little and show us what you prepared. Don’t be nervous. I actually liked your act just now.”

After saying that, Yoonseok turned around to Maru.

Maru smiled and nodded, as though to indicate that Yoonseok didn’t need to be so mindful of him since it was Yoonseok himself who had the right to decide.

“Proceed when you’re ready,” Yoonseok said as he picked up a pen.