Chapter 230 (1/2)

“Scene 44. Outside. Street. Dawn. The sound of drunkards could be intermittently heard from the back alley. Doksoo is lying down on a bench. A delinquent approaches Doksoo, who’s curled up, groaning,” Taeho read the stage directions out loud. Doksoo was the main character of the movie ‘Twilight Years’.

“Well then, since we don’t know the precise location, we’ll go with a stereotypical setting. Imagine. You’re in a street with a lot of bars. The time is early dawn. Since it’s not the weekend, there aren’t many people who are drinking this late. You can intermittently hear sounds of drunk people. Now then, what is the reason for you two, two high schoolers, to be in such a place?”

“We must have had fun with friends,” this was Jiseok’s answer.

“We must be looking around for bars that we can slip through with our faces,” Maru replied while stroking his chin.

“Good. You might be having fun with friends, or maybe trying to slip through to a bar. Anyway, you guys are delinquents so you must be quite pissed all the time, right?”

Taeho then looked at Jiseok,

“Try saying the next line.”

Jiseok had a look at the script before saying his lines with a chuckle,

“Gramps. Oi, gramps. You’ll croak if you sleep ‘ere you know?”

“Good. That was very delinquent-like. Next, you.”

Maru had a look at the script. Before the line was a bit of stage directions that said ‘while grinning towards friends’. He could vaguely picture the scene. The delinquents had come across a drunk old man and was probing his state. He then thought that it would be better to say the lines worriedly. After all, it was important to see if he was awake or not. Maru first lowered his voice and spoke as though he was waking up a sleeping man.

“Grandpa. Hello? Grandpa? You’ll die if you keep sleeping here, you know?”

“Oh? Yours is different. Why did you do it like that?”

“I think this is much more realistic than approaching with a wide grin.”

“Okay, I get it.”

It was at that moment. Taeho slapped the table hard with the script. Maru narrowed his eyes and looked at Taeho.

“I get that you’re smart. I’m not saying that it’s bad to deduce things like that. But I’m angry. Do you know why?”

“Is it because I didn’t follow the script?”

“Correct. You know that this movie is based on a novel, right?”

“Yes.”

“That novel. It was written over a span of a year and a half. After that, it took another half a year to produce this script after discussing non-stop with a script writer. They went through several iterations before they produced this.”

Taeho raised the script up high.

After saying that, Taeho returned to his usual smile. His expression just before was quite frightening. It wasn’t just a condescending senior jealous of a boastful junior, but a rebuke from an experienced person to a newbie. Maru accepted it immediately. Taeho’s words were very easy for him to understand.

“I’m sorry.”

“Once is a mistake, but twice is intentional. You must first digest the things that you’re given. Give your opinion after you digested the whole thing. That is the proper order of things. Though, I doubt that the director will listen to your opinions. Anyway, next.”

The script contained the intent of the writer. It wasn’t just any intent either, but a deep meaning they spent several months to even several years working on. It was definitely an arrogance on Maru’s part when he decided to change it after reading it just once. Maru thought that he should go back to the basics. The priority was to understand the script itself.

“Well, then. Let’s have a look. There aren’t any lines, but you get the picture, don’t you? Doksoo, lying down on the bench, is thinking that the world still has hope - that there are still youngsters looking after the elderly; that people still have affection for each other. However, reality is that these youths are thieves aiming for his money. This is the scene where he loses what little affection he has of this world. Senior Moonjoong must be having a hard time because of this scene as well. There’s not a single line here. And it’s not like we can add narrations like a documentary. The joy of looking at people approaching him, a slight bit of happiness, the following despair from the violence, as well as the frustration. He has to show the audience all of those emotions with his eyes, expression and actions only.”

Taeho put his hands against his chin and leaned forward.

“You two are saying your lines and acting in such a situation. The camera angle should be an over-the-shoulder shot. After capturing your faces for a brief moment, the following scenes will capture the senior’s face from behind you, over your shoulders. Imagine. In front of you is the god of acting. The pressure is no joke. In front of you will be an elder who thanks the world for human kindness then vents his anger against the world. It will freak you out. After all, he’ll then glare at you as though he’s about to kill. You two are going to have to act in tandem with the senior under such circumstances. You know what that means? It means that you’ll be wasting several rolls of film with the slightest of mistakes. You do know the saying that you need two hands to clap, right? No matter how good the senior is at acting, the end result will be nothing if you guys slip up.”

“So we just need to do well!” Jiseok replied to that as though there were no problems at all. His face was filled with a smile.

“Yes. You need to do well. I’m not saying this to frighten you. I just want you to know. You guys might be side characters without many lines, but the weight of your roles are definitely not light. Of course, I get that you two aren’t total beginners. I did feel that you guys are different to those people who boast their career.”

Taeho leaned back on the chair and looked at the script.

“Then let’s do the important line then. What was your name again?”

“Yoo Jiseok, sir.”

“Yes, let’s start with you Jiseok. Doksoo struggles not to get his money stolen. However, he is eventually robbed of all his money by the delinquents. Doksoo rolls off the bench. He glares at the delinquents as they walk away. Well then, cue!”

“Man, your sorry ass has achieved nothing even after all these years. What kind of shit life have you been living, gramps?”

“Good. I like how you’re absolutely shameless. I want to slap you right now. Hey, are you like this at school too?”

“Me? I’m more on the side of the bullied.”

“I doubt that.”

“Hahaha.”

Taeho turned around to look at Maru.

“Should I give you a cue sign?”

“No, I’m okay.”

Maru followed the script to the tee this time. He had done plenty of research on delinquents so he didn’t find anything difficult. They say poison becomes medicine if used correctly, the now-expelled Changhoo’s nasty speech came out of his mouth naturally.