Chapter 263 (1/2)

Moonjoong curled up his body as he sighed. When his sigh dissipated, he put down his script on the table before heaving out another beath. That signalled the end of the read-through.

Clap clap clap, The actors and the staff all started applauding. The read-through ended without a hitch. The journalists started taking photos of Moonjoong immediately. Even Taeho, the currently hot actor in Chungmuro, was given the cold shoulder right now.

Maru shook his head before applauding. This was just a read-through without any moving action. There was a limit to how real just voice acting could be, yet Moonjoong enchanted Maru from the beginning to the end. If movement action was added to this, it would look scarily good.

He was about to act in tandem with such a person. The pressure on him suddenly increased. If he was to not make a fool of himself; if he was to not be pressured by Moonjoong’s aura, he would have to do better than he was doing now.

Maru saw Taeho who was having a conversation with Moonjoong. He thought to himself that a pro was a pro after all. Taeho’s voice acting did not lose out to Moonjoong’s at all. If there was no strength behind his lines, his lines would have been gobbled up by Moonjoong’s lines, but the two were on equal footing, and he added more to the tension of the read-through.

‘That’s experience for you.’

It was hard to do a scene where Moonjoong didn’t even talk, yet the actors around the table actually had to converse with Moonjoong. Without enough skills, their character would be trampled upon by Moonjoong’s presence and become faint. The reason why the actors near Moonjoong could be at ease should be because they have the confidence not to be trampled upon. Meanwhile, the minor actors who were sitting far away from the director looked very nervous. Overcoming that pressure, or fading away as an extra. This was a threat and at the same time, an opportunity. The ones that overcome that pressure would receive attention from the media.

“Thank you all everyone. We’re going to do rituals on the roof of this building so don’t go anywhere and come join us.”

The director spoke with a hoarse voice. The people inside the conference room started standing up one by one.

“Well done,” Maru said to Yoojin, who looked exhausted. After she made a mistake in her screaming part where she found the dead bodies of her parents, she looked pale. It seemed that she was afraid after making two mistakes.

“You have it good.”

“What’s this about?”

“Haa, I don’t know. I’m tired, I’m really tired.”

Yoojin walked behind Maru’s back and put her hands on Maru’s shoulders and loosened her legs so that she was practically hanging off Maru’s shoulders. Maru frowned as he put strength into his legs.

“You know you’re heavy, right?”

“Who’s that behind you?”

Geunsoo asked him in front of the elevator. Geunsoo was the third son in the movie, and he was the first one to get killed by the ‘elder’. Unlike his usually witty attitude, he was one of the villains in the movie who dearly wished for the elder’s, his father’s, death.

“M, my name is Lee Yoojin.”

Yoojin immediately stood up straight and looked at Geunsoo. Geunsoo replied, “oh, you’re Yoojin.”

“We don’t have any scenes together, but I hope we get along.”

When Geunsoo extended out his hand, Yoojin immediately grabbed it.

Maru saw that Yoojin was smiling after the handshake with Geunsoo as she looked at her right hand. From her expression, it seemed that he knew who Geunsoo was. Otherwise, there was no way she would rejoice that much.

“Aren’t you going to ask me anything?”

Maru thought about the meaning behind those words before speaking,

“From how I don’t hear anything about him, he must be doing well.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“Did he not cause any trouble? He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t appreciate help.”

“Family members are supposed to get angry at that statement, but somehow, it doesn’t feel offensive at all. Maybe it’s because I’m a weird one myself,” Geunsoo chuckled.

Yoojin judged that this was a conversation she wasn’t supposed to hear and distanced herself.

“At first, he didn’t even eat anything and did the exact opposite of what I told him to do, but these days, he’s at least getting his meals. It seems like men are equal before the desire to eat.”

“Well, he that would eat the fruit must climb the tree.”

Maru lowered his voice before following up.

“Did you check on what I told you last time?”

Geunso nodded back.

“Are you going to report it?”

“I’m not sure yet. I don’t want to poke around my younger brother’s mind when he just stabilized. To make a report, I’d need his testimony, but I still can’t imagine him going against father for the time being.”

“Okay.”

“For now, I’ve distanced him from the house, so I’ll keep watching over for the time being. If he’s frustrated, he’ll ask me for help, if he doesn’t, well…,” Geunsoo did not finish his words.

Although he was speaking as though he was a third person in this matter, Geunseok’s father was Geunsoo’s father as well. If his emotions were completely separate from his rationale, then he would immediately report it to the police and get an approach prohibition order, but that wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Moreover, there was the possibility that Geunseok would deny any events of violence and speak badly on Geunsoo’s behalf, so Geunsoo had to be careful about reporting this matter.

“It’s about time he grows up.”

After that, Geunsoo no longer talked about Geunseok. It wasn’t that good of a topic, and telling others about family matters wasn’t something that anyone would be comfortable with.

“Is that your girlfriend?”

“No way. My girlfriend is a hundred times prettier than her.”

“Wow, she’s that pretty?”

Yoojin approached after realizing that the topic had changed.

“What was that just now?” Yoojin whispered to Maru in a low voice.

Maru just replied, “I said you were pretty,” before getting a smack on his waist. Maru dodged sideways to parry her hand.

“She’s a bit violent, don’t mind her.”

“Why? She’s cute.”

Yoojin grinned when she heard Geunsoo’s words. Oh? Maru hopped on the elevator as he thought that this girl was helpless. Just as the elevator doors were about to close with the three inside, they saw Suyeon who was shouting ‘wait’ as she ran towards them. It seemed that she was fixing her makeup until now.

Maru looked at Geunsoo, and Geunsoo smashed the close button on the elevator without hesitation.

“She’s pursuing you, why don’t you two go on a date once?”

“I’m a free spirit. I don’t like scary women.”

A giggle escaped Maru’s mouth. As the doors almost closed all the way and Suyeon’s panicked expression could be seen, Suyeon ran with all her might and put her leg between the closing doors. She really had good reflexes as she exercised frequently.

“That’s strange. I thought I told you to wait.”