Life, Once Again!

After Story 96

Jungho pulled out a knife and stabbed. There was a thick shadow cast over his face because he was away from the center of the camera angle. This was definitely not the picture he wanted.

According to the storyboard, he would have said cut a long time ago. Then, he would flip the camera around and get the killer’s face up close.

However, he did not do that. He just looked at the monitor while grabbing his hands. He wanted to know how far the two actors would go in acting.

The knife he violently pulled out stabbed into Maru’s flank. He could hear some noise as though there were sound effects applied to the scene. No, he couldn’t ‘hear’ anything. It was just his brain creating the signal in accordance with the visual cues he was receiving.

Maru, who was strewn out on the floor like he had been hit by a car, suddenly reached out. It was not a heroic scene. After all, he was a petty and arrogant new crime investigator until he fell over.

That was just stubbornness; a last will of sorts left behind by the human known as Park Uijung.

Jungho’s hand became faster. Now, he started hacking away with the knife.

The camera director did not turn the camera away. He must know that the moment the two actors were placed in the center of the screen, it would look very man-made and artificial.

Maru’s hand fell on the floor. Any life activity in his body had come to a complete halt. Jungho’s actions became even more violent, as though his purpose was no longer to kill but to completely butcher the corpse.

They dug too deep into their characters. The two actors were throwing their emotions at each other. They received and tossed it back well as though they were in perfect sync. There was not a single thing out of line in their acting. For this moment at least, the stage was completely owned by the two of them.

He thought that even if he brought Park Sinseo, he wouldn’t do as well as those two.

There was a moment of silence. Jungho staggered and stepped back. He breathed out heavily and looked down at his own work.

As the camera was shooting from a diagonal angle, not all of Jungho’s expression could be seen, which made it look better. The curtain of the dead angle made the two actors stand out even more. Because they were hidden, they were clearer.

It was too much of a pity. It was too much of a pity to shout cut at this point.

Myungjoon said into the walkie-talkie — cut.

He wanted to capture that residual energy, but they needed makeup. It would look awkward if they added blood through CG afterward.

Both actors didn’t seem to have managers, as no one went over to take care of them.

Just as Myungjoon was about to give orders to hand the two actors some blankets, he saw the action director approach them with blankets. He was laughing as he hit the two actors on their shoulders. He seemed to be having a blast because the result looked much better than what he originally planned.

Well, he must definitely be proud to see students who did better than what he taught them.

Myungjoon looked at the two actors who started getting makeup before moving his eyes to the monitor. The camera director approached him.

“Senior, how is it?”

“Don’t you think we should just go with this? If we split up the cuts and get a low-angle, I think it’ll look bland instead.”

“Right? I think so too.”

“I don’t think you should touch the color saturation either. The contrast in this scene is nigh-artistic. The faint light coming in from outside the warehouse is good too. You lucked out on this one. The light and darkness inside the warehouse are perfect, and they’re right at the border.”

“Right.”

Myungjoon rewound the footage he got as he listened to the camera director’s words. From the first moment when Jungho charged all the way to Maru’s death, it took about one minute.

Myungjoon asked the scriptor for a script. He could see a list of editing points that he wrote down.

“Should I keep this or throw it away….”

He spun his pen around with his hand which had become stiff from the cold.

No matter how good the cut was, he couldn’t use all of it in the drama.

Even in that scene he just took, if he cut it midway, he would be able to earn about 30 seconds more time. 30 seconds was enough time for a PPL ad. It was also important to give the writer some leeway. While this was a very important scene in terms of the drama’s story progression, what mattered was the very fact that the new investigator had died, not how it looked.

Visual appearances were supposed to be filled in by Sinseo, Haena, and Jichan. That was what the audience and the advertisers wanted.

“There’s no blood in it, but don’t you think it looks even crueler than most movies?” said the scriptor. That was one of the things he was worried about.

Suggestiveness and violence — those two were things that dramas had to stay away from. A producer’s homework was to make the story they wanted to tell look pretty.

Myungjoon looked at the video again. He looked at that single cut of action that two minor actors had managed to create. He even looked at the uncomfortable emotions imbued in it. Then he made the decision.

“If there’s a ruckus in the TV station’s message board, I guess I’ll just visit the KCC[1]. Well, isn’t that how it goes with debut pieces?” Myungjoon looked at the scripter. “No edits. Use it as is.”

* * *

“But are you really okay?” asked the action director, his eyes on Maru’s flank. Jungho was no different.

Maru smiled and waved his hand in the air.

“I’m okay. Mr. Jungho here held back so it doesn’t even hurt that much.”

“Just in case, though, let me have a look.”

Jungho walked over. He told him not to worry several times but it was to no avail. It seemed that he would only feel relieved if he checked with his own eyes.

Maru scratched his eyebrows. He had no choice now. He lifted up his shirt a little.

“Holy.” The action director clicked his tongue.

Maru didn’t look at the injury. The deep pain indicated to him what kind of state it was in.

“You’re going to get bruised badly. Right now, it just looks a little red, but it’ll turn black in due time. Do you feel unwell? You have to tell me properly. If you hold it in and fall ill later, it might turn into big trouble,” said the action director while looking at the wound.

Jungho was frowning. He looked extremely apologetic.

Maru pulled down his shirt to hide the wound. The moment his clothes touched the wound, a pain bad enough to raise the hairs on the back of his head tingled through his mind. He barely managed to control his expression from deforming and spoke,

“It’s because it’s soft flesh. It’s only bruised on the outside, and it doesn’t hurt that much. There won’t be any problems. Rather than that, Mr. Jungho, that act was so good. I ad-libbed because I got caught up in the atmosphere, but you received that well too.”

“Not at all. It looked natural only because you were really good at expressing yourself. But hey, are you really okay? Don’t you need to go to the hospital?”

“If I have to go to the hospital just for this, then stunt actors might as well commute to the hospital for their work. Isn’t that right, director?” Maru said to the action director.

There were still some shoots left. He had to create the atmosphere so that Jungho, his partnering actor, could finish up until the end in comfort.

“That’s true. Jungho, the person in question said he’s okay so don’t worry about it too much.”

“But still.”

“It’s not like his injuries will heal just because you feel sorry. Isn’t that right?” The action director said to Maru.

They were perfectly in sync. Maru also responded with a smile, “Just as he said, don’t worry too much. It wasn’t a real knife, but a plastic mockup. You were really skilled in feigning the stab as well. Don’t worry about it and finish things up well.”

The makeup artist arrived. She applied blood on Jungho’s face and also some on his clothes.

Meanwhile, the props manager scattered some blood on the floor around them. Reddish-black liquid seeped into the asphalt.

Director Cha walked over with the walkie-talkie in hand.

“The two of you were so good that I don’t need to say anything. Let’s keep this up until the end so that this cut doesn’t go to waste.”

Director Cha gave Jungho some instructions on where he should go. This was the scene where he removed anything that might become a clue before leaving the warehouse.

Maru crouched down on the ground. It was the place he had to lie down if the light on the camera started blinking.

“Good, then let’s go with that.”

Director Cha walked over as though he finished his explanation to Jungho. Maru raised his head to look at director Cha.

“You okay?”

“People will write about me if I die while shooting a drama, right?”

“Don’t say nonsense.”

“It hurts a little, but nothing serious. I’m sure I’m going to writhe in bed when I wake up tomorrow, but I can move completely fine right now, so you can use me however you like.”

“There’s nothing to use you for though. You’re a corpse anyway. Just lie down still.”

“Okay.”

“And also….”

Director Cha trailed off and raised his thumb. He winked before turning around.

Maru slightly pressed down on his sore flank and smiled. He managed to get praise form the director as a minor actor. He felt proud. From director Cha’s expression too, it didn’t look like this was going to get edited out.

He lay down on the floor and frowned slightly due to the pain. The shoot was about to begin.

The cold was seeping up through the floor, but it was bearable compared to being hacked at by a plastic knife.

He got into the position that the staff told him to. He remembered the position so that he didn’t have to do it again. He fixed his arms and legs and only moved his head left and right.

He saw Seungah standing behind director Cha. She said that she was going to throw a small afterparty, and who could’ve guessed that she was actually still waiting.

He also saw Jichan next to him. Did he have a shoot late at night? Or maybe a get-together?

He made eye contact with Seungah.

Maru waved his right hand. He could tell that Seungah was looking at him pitifully even from this distance. Looking at her worried expression, it seemed that the camera took a really good cut from the scene before. He spat out a breath and looked at the ceiling. The white breath that seeped through his mouth rose into the air before disappearing.

“Get ready!”

The FD’s voice could be heard. Maru breathed in through his nose before closing his eyes. Today was over now. He just had to wait for time to pass as a corpse.

* * *

“Be careful when you get on.”

“I’m not a patient.”

Seungah poked Maru’s flank as he was laughing. She could see Maru clutching the door while swallowing his groan.

“You are a patient. What else can you be?”

Seungah pushed Maru inside the car. Jichan went over to the driver’s seat after checking that the two people got on.

“The van is really big,” Seungah said as she looked around.

Jichan put his seatbelt on and spoke, “This one actually isn’t on the larger side. The van we use when all the members move together is even bigger.”

“It must be expensive right? Both this one and the one you just said.”

Jichan started the car and drove off. He had sent his manager home a long time ago.

“You’re hungry, right? Should we go to the restaurant that I usually go to?” Jichan said as he looked at the two people in the back.

“Can we? I’d love to. A restaurant that a top idol goes to huh? I’m really curious,” Seungah replied.

“Hyung, are you really okay on time? If you have a schedule tomorrow, you shouldn’t push yourself. We should just go somewhere nearby,” Maru said, his hands still on his flank.

He parroted that he was okay, but it seemed that it was really painful after all.

“It’s okay, I’m on a break. The concerts are over too. But there’s one place we must go to before we eat.”

Jichan made a call after putting some earbuds into his ears.

“Hyung, it’s me. You’re at the hospital, right? Someone I know is a bit injured, can you take a look? He’s not sick. He has a serious bruise. Alright, see you there.”

After the phone call, he looked back.

“We’re going to a hospital?” Seungah asked.

“My brother’s a doctor. He’s in Seoul Hospital so let’s get him treated before we eat anything. I also got injured a lot while practicing my choreography, so I had him take care of me a few times.”

“I’m really okay though,” Maru said.

Jichan eyed Seungah to poke him on the side again.

Seungah quickly caught on and immediately reached her hand out. Maru groaned and butted his head into the window.

“I’ll… just get some anti-inflammatory medicine,” Maru said, almost sobbing.

[1] Korea Communications Commission. Basically where the standards of age rating of media content is decided.