Chapter 259 (2/2)

“Shouldn’t we all treat these tangerines as a family treasure?”

“No, they must be treated as good luck charms.”

“It’s such a pity to eat them.”

The actors all said something to praise Moonjoong. Meanwhile, Maru just peeled the tangerine and started eating it. The manager sitting next to him looked at him with surprise before eating his own.

“Well then, if you’re done eating, let’s start reading,” Joonggeun spoke as he pushed away the tangerine peels to one side.

The actors all lifted their scripts as well. There didn’t seem to be a heavy atmosphere. It seemed as though this was their everyday life.

Maru thought about the read-throughs that he did before. He did one with Miso, Ganghwan, and Suyeon. He held one under different instructors, but all of them were strict during read-throughs. During those times, he was always told that he had to practice like it was the real deal, yet this place seemed to be more lax than ever, which made him feel awkward instead.

As expected of pros, huh?

Joonggeun stood up. He briefly started the meeting by saying that he hopes that the movie does well. Gwak Joon, the original author, stood up next.

“Please be understanding even if I act a little arrogantly.”

Gwak Joon showed that he was not joking with his expression. The actors all groaned to themselves. Following that, everyone did their greetings starting from Moonjoong to the extras.

Yoojin, who took one of the main seats, did her greeting smoothly as though she was ready for it.

“Looks like that’s the end of our greetings. Let’s start now. I’ll do the lines for the extras. Let’s do a full read-through without rest. Let’s do this joyfully everyone.”

Maru raised his head after hearing Joonggeun’s words. He was doing the lines for the extras? Although he was slightly confused, he wasn’t in a position where he could ask, so he just waited.

A page flipping noise could be heard from the table. Maru was a little shocked when he heard the page flipping noise that occurred all at once in sync. This signalled the start of the read-through. The people sitting at the perimeter also flipped their scripts as well.

#Scene 1. Junk dealer’s. Noon

The movie started with a monologue from Moonjoong.

“Like I said, pay me 10 more won.”

The voice filled the wide conference room. Although the voice wasn’t loud, it was clear as though it was spoken from right next to Maru. Moonjoong spoke his line as he looked at the script. His back was hunched. The voice from his comfortable position was a lot more compressed than Maru when he straightened his back and tensed his stomach.

“I said I can’t, don’t keep asking.”

The director’s follow-up sounded very low-quality. His effort of not trying to make it sound bad could be felt, but it was such a drastic contrast to Moonjoong’s voice, so the listeners felt rather embarrassed as well. Joonggeun knew that he was just filling in for the extras, but felt very weird when the atmosphere became so drastically different in an instant. It was as though the scene suddenly shifted from the junk dealer’s to the conference room known as reality.

Despite that gap, when Moonjoong spoke again, the scenery changed back. The pitiful old man who begged the junk dealer to receive 10 more won appeared once again.

It was quite a peculiar experience.

Maru was flabbergasted by the weight of each word uttered by an actor that had formed an entire world. Maru was very dissatisfied with the fact that he could only look at Moonjoong’s back. Had he taken a seat a little left of his current seat, he would have been able to see Moonjoong’s expression acting as well.

The acting of the man once known as the best screen actor in South Korea was very different. The emotions in those words were not violent at all. It was just a conversation that could be heard in everyday life. Moonjoong was invoking deep sympathy within the readers with his ordinary speech alone.

Maru was reminded of the fact that masters were fundamentally different from novices.

‘Pathetic.’

Even Geunseok, who was evaluated for having the most stable act in the club, seemed trivial in front of this man.

The story progressed and more actors started joining the scene.

Maru followed the script with his eyes as he listened and tried saying the lines in his heart as well. He smiled bitterly when he found out that he was lacking compared to them.

The actors here seemed to be at such an ease. An actor that was smiling until moments ago became angry as soon as the scene switched, and one started laughing like a madman despite the fact that he was crying until moments ago.

The emotions switched in an instant. They didn’t seem to need any preparation. What was surprising was that they even chatted with other actors when they weren’t required in the scene.

Although the atmosphere was lax enough to the point that they could forgive any mistakes from junior actors, Maru had to consciously control his breathing since the lines said by the actors were so elaborate. He consumed too much stamina just trying to imitate those lines in his heart.

“Can you please remove ‘Rather than that’?”

“That’s too long to take out. Should I replace it with something else?”

“Then please go with ‘Or rather’.”

“Okay, let’s try that out then.”

Gwak Joon interrupted from time to time to fix some of the lines. He was probably fixing the discrepancies that came from words written as text becoming alive through the actor’s mouths.

“Dad, that doesn’t…. Dad, that… I’m very sorry.”

Yoojin spoke for the first time amongst the bigshot actors. Although she always acted boldly, she looked stiff right now. She seemed pressured by the atmosphere of the actors sitting next to her.

“I might swear at you if you end up doing that during filming,” Joonggeun said with a smile.

Although the other actors just laughed it over, as the person in question, Yoojin froze up and only said ‘yes’ repeatedly. Maru pitied her to the point that he had the urge to pat her back.

“Hm, shall we have a break?”

Hearing the director’s words, everyone put down their scripts. When Yoojin panicked and looked around, Suyeon patted her shoulders as though to tell her that it was okay.

“Don’t be nervous. You can just do it like usual.”

“Yes. It’s not like someone will eat you.”

The senior actors all encouraged her. Yoojin barely managed to smile back and nodded her head. While they had a break, the cameramen started moving around and took photos of the actors’ scripts. They didn’t do any interviews though, since it might disturb the read-through.

“Well then. Let’s get back to it, shall we?”