After Story 240

“Thank you for your performance. We’ll notify you of the result as soon as possible.”

The actress who finished acting, let out a small breath. She maintained her emotion well until the end of her act. Her tone and her expressivity were good. Overall she was an actress with talent.

“Miss Haeun,” Maru called out to the actress who stepped back while flinching. She shriveled her neck inwards and firmly sealed her lips like she had done something wrong.

“How did you feel when I said the things I said before?”

“I just… thought that I made a huge mistake. As you said, this was supposed to be a place where I was supposed to show my acting, but I focused on other things. To tell you the truth, I was so nervous. I wanted to say hello calmly, but I felt like I wouldn’t be able to do anything out of nervousness, so I played a cheerful character.”

“Do you not have confidence in your acting, Miss Haeun?”

The actress stroked down the back of her hair before speaking, “I’m not sure. The acting school tells me I’m good, but I failed every single audition. After that happened a few times, I started to lose whatever confidence I had.”

“What about now? Are you nervous?”

The actress shook her head. “I’m not really nervous. I just feel slightly bitter.”

“Do you think you finished off your acting well?”

“I made mistakes at first, but I don’t have any complaints in regard to anything I did after that.”

Maru looked the actress in the eyes. “I can’t tell you to keep trying. I dare not say that you will pass this time. However, I can tell you that your acting was good. Believe in the things you have done until now. Stop thinking things like ‘how do I lighten up the mood at the audition? What do I have to do in order to get attention?’ Anyone who sees your acting for what it is will remember you as an actress.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry for telling you all this after I scolded you earlier. I just felt a little angry when I saw someone who can do well go off on a tangent.”

“Not at all, it was me who made a mistake.” The actress looked at Yoonseok before continuing, “Director, I’m really sorry for what happened before. I was definitely not looking down on you or anything. I was just flustered and happened to catch sight of senior Han Maru first. That’s why I inadvertently asked him for permission. I really had no intention of ignoring you.”

Yoonseok replied with a smile, “You can ignore someone like me. It’s true that I’m a no-name director who doesn’t have much to give you. He was overreacting.”

“Yes. I was overreacting,” Maru said with a smile.

The actress, who looked around nervously, eventually smiled.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

The actress quietly opened the door and left.

“She must’ve been surprised. You know, you can scare people off if you get angry for real. I feel like I’m getting scolded too.”

“I could see that she was frozen up for something totally weird. I went a little strong because she looked like the type of person who would pull herself together if she was scolded properly. She had a solid foundation, so I did want to see her do things properly too.”

He wouldn’t have said anything if she was below his standards. He could simply erase her from his memory altogether whether she was polite or not. He said all he said because he saw that she could do better. He had seen many people like her when he was a professor in theater. There were those that put too much energy into other things because they were unable to fully trust in the acting skills they had prepared.

“You can see things like that?”

“You can see things like that when you’re my age.”

“You shouldn’t be doing acting, but doing supernatural things. I heard that a foreigner is willing to give 1 million dollars if you can prove supernatural things are real. I think your discernment of people should be sufficient to get that.”

“I’ll try if I have the time.”

Yoonseok wrote some words on the actress’ profile. Maru couldn’t see what he was writing, but whatever he was writing, it was pretty long.

“Hyung, I know I have the right to decide, but you can give me some advice, right?”

“What do you want to ask?”

“If you can choose just one person out of everyone we saw until now, who are you going to pick?”

“That person just now.”

“You didn’t hesitate.”

“It’s because she’s good.”

“Okay. I’ll reflect the investor’s opinion.”

Maru opened the door slightly and looked outside. There weren’t many people waiting anymore.

“I guess we should be done soon. I know there’s more time to decide, but you’d better start thinking about who you’re going to pick if you want to start the shoot as soon as possible.”

“I made my pick already. If there’s no one suitable among the people left, these will be the people I’ll be picking,” Yoonseok said as he put forward a few of the profiles. Maru looked at the photos and the names on the profiles and nodded. They were exactly the people he had in mind.

“Hello!”

The next actor came in. Maru looked back at the viewfinder again.

* * *

“Please give me one of each,” said Na Baekhoon as he pointed at the products on display.

“All of them?” the employee asked for confirmation.

“Yes. All of them. Oh, and about this photo book,” Baekhoon said as he picked up a photo book with Han Haneul as the cover.

“Are there other covers as well? With Miss Haneul as the model, I mean.”

“Wait a moment, sir. Miss Hayoung, can take over for a sec?”

Another employee took over the sales front for a moment. Baekhoon locked his hands behind his back and looked around the other souvenirs.

Not long later, the employee from before came back. In her hands was a plastic box.

“There are ten different photo books.”

“Then give me all ten of them.”

“The ones with Han Haneul as the cover, right?”

“Yes,” Baekhoon said, handing over his credit card.

These were goods he could easily get his hands on from home through his connections, but wasn’t merch all about going to the place and lining up?

He cautiously picked up the shopping bags that were overflowing with goods. He could feel the people waiting outside the booth give him a glance. A man nearly forty walking with his hands full of celebrity merch was quite a sight to see even in his opinion.

“I really enjoyed the performance.”

Haneul, whom he met in the makeup room, seemed more interested in the souvenirs he was holding instead of greeting back.

“Did you buy all of them?”

“No one bought them for me, so I did buy all of them.”

“How much did you buy?”

“I asked for everything, so it’s probably everything. These days, the people selling merch are cunning, provoking people’s aesthetics and whatnot. They release the same content just with a different cover. When a friend of mine complained that her daughter was obsessed with collecting idol photos, I just laughed it over, but now it’s me who’s like this.”

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“What are you going to do with all of those?” Haneul said as she picked up one of the photo books.

“I’ll put some on display and store away the rest. Tell me if you need any of them later.”

“Would there ever come a day when I need these?”

“You never know. You might use them when you reminisce about old memories on TV when you’re older. Rather than that, I quite like this photographer. Whoever it is, they’re skilled. I should contact them and work with them.”

“Seems like that person stimulated your aesthetic possessive desire.”

“It’s not to that extent. They just seem skilled at their work?”

Baekhoon talked to Haenul over some drinks. He asked about what she was doing recently and then switched topics to the film she was preparing.

“Is the scenario you told me you had a reliable writer take care of going well?”

“The speed is slow, but the outcome is satisfactory. I think I’ll be able to show you the completed script before the end of the year.”

“You aren’t someone to give empty promises, so I guess I’ll be looking forward to that. If it’s possible, I’d like to be able to talk to that writer in person. As meager as it may be, I do have the title of investor.”

“Do you not trust me?” Haneul smiled.

Baekhoon slowly shook his head. “If that’s how it sounded to you, then allow me to retract what I said. I was simply curious like a child not being able to wait for a Christmas present.”

“I was just joking. I’ll tell him about it. It might not happen for a while since he’s on the edge these days because of writing.”

“That’s enough for me. Oh, does the writer write at home? Or does he have a workshop?”

“I got a workshop for him.”

“Please tell me the address then. I’m not planning to visit him. I just wish to send him a small gift. I’ll just write a few messages as encouragement.”

“He likes food, so you can send him some food.”

“I know a very good oriental doctor, so I’ll send him some invigorating tonics.”

Baekhoon wrote down the address. His life was filled with joy ever since he got to know about Haneul. She was a person he felt satisfaction from just by looking. How joyful was that?

He then asked about his other joy in life,

“Is Mr. Maru doing well these days? I was busy with work, so I even feel guilty that I paid less attention to you two.”

“Maru’s doing well.”

“I heard the news that he finished the movie shoot. He must be resting right now, huh?”

Haneul shrugged.

“He’s someone who just can’t stay still. He’s working on something else right now.”

“Really? That’s peculiar. It turns out there’s a project in Chungmuro that’s so secret that it’s not even known to me.”

“It’s not surprising that you don’t know about it. It’s not in Chungmuro after all.”

“Then…”

Baekhoon looked at Haneul’s mouth. An actor who was gaining rapid fame and must be getting called from all sorts of places, was preparing for something else aside from a movie?

“Hollywood?”

“You went too far.”

“I believe it’s a plausible possibility.”

“Even if there’s an opportunity, that person won’t go overseas so easily, unless it’s going to an overseas film festival through a domestic film.”

“Well, I too like Mr. Maru shooting movies that are in line with the Korean sentiments. High-budget blockbuster movies aren’t my cup of tea either. Then what is he shooting? An indie movie?”

“Yes, it is.”

An indie movie. Baekhoon thought about stories that were filled with uniqueness. It would be great if the subject of the movie didn’t contain any entertainment and went frowningly deep into a topic.

There was no movie that made him uneasy recently, so he quite looked forward to it.

“Who’s the director he’s working with?”

Haneul smiled and told him that it’d be better if he got the answer from the person himself.

Baekhoon accepted that advice. He separated from Haneul and returned to his car. He cautiously put the bag of souvenirs in the passenger seat and picked up his phone.

“Mr. Maru. It’s been a long time.”

He felt pleased as soon as he heard Maru’s soothing voice. Haneul and Maru. It was a great fortune to be able to watch this couple from the side.

After saying that he was on his way back from meeting Haneul, he asked about the indie movie. He waited for an answer with great anticipation about who the director was.

-It’s director Lee Yoonseok.

“Director Lee Yoonseok?”

He rolled his eyes up and down and probed his memories. Unfortunately, that name wasn’t on his list of ‘decent directors’ in his head.

Though, it wasn’t that he knew all the directors in the country, so he asked again.

“What kind of person is he? He must be quite talented if you’re putting off a commercial movie to work with him.”

Maru calmly explained to him what kind of person the director was.

Until just a moment ago, he thought that Maru’s voice had a soothing effect on a person’s heart. However, the more he spoke, the more Baekhoon’s mind became chaotic and the more his eyes frowned.

“A director who just got out of the military and released an indie film before?”

-That’s a great summary.

“Mr. Maru. I have not been able to hide my admiration for you when I looked at your previous works. I thought you were a great actor when I saw you trying out new characters at a stage where you should be digging into one type of image to gain fame. Whether it’s the works you were in or the popularity of them, they were all great.”

-It puts a lot of pressure on me whenever you praise me like that, director. I’m not that good.

“Even if you deny it, I believe you are, so it doesn’t matter. Anyway, I always applauded your decisions, and at the same time, anticipated what your next work would be.”

Baekhoon leaned back against the seat.

“But your decision this time is baffling me. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but… a director who just got out of the military and is someone who is neither a major nor has any experiences in real movie shoots…”