Chapter 300 (2/2)

“Alright, I’ll try.”

Woomin nodded his head heavily. At the same time, the producer shouted ‘cue’. This was the third shoot. It felt as though the tempo was faster than the previous two shots. It wasn’t that disturbing though. From how the producer was staying quiet, it didn’t seem like a big matter.

The two actors started getting into a fight again. Maru listened to the conversation as he measured the precise time he should start acting. As it wasn’t like he would be paid more just because he stayed here longer, he wanted to wrap this up as early as possible.

Just as Woomin’s arm flinched, Maru grabbed his arm with both of his hands. The previous takes were good up to this point as well. Woomin tried to shake him off hard. This time, he looked like he had made up his mind. Then came the moment where he had to hit Maru on the head. Woomin glanced back at Maru before shaking off his arm. He was definitely putting more strength into his arm than before. However, the direction was the problem this time as well. It was supposed to head towards Maru’s face, but it was heading towards empty air.

As he had expected this somewhat, Maru pulled in his left arm, which was still holding onto Woomin’s arm, towards himself. He could see Woomin being visibly flustered. Nice expression - he thought as he put his forehead against the hand flying at him. The boxing instructor told him that an ordinary forehead was stronger than an untrained fist. He probably wouldn’t have any problems with just this.

Along with a loud pow sound, Maru fell down on the floor. The sound was louder than expected. Thanks to that, Maru saw that the students standing around looked truly worried for him. It was as though they were thinking what if he was really hurt. Maru was relieved. This would probably get an okay sign.

“Good!”

The director shouted ‘cut’ and smiled with satisfaction. Maru said that he was okay towards Woomin who came to him.

“Sorry. I didn’t plan to hit you that hard.”

“I was the one who pulled, so don’t worry about it too much.”

Maru dusted his butt and stood up. In any case, the shoot was over. He had no more appearances, so he wondered if it was okay for him to leave. He thought that he should have a hot shower once he got back home. He didn’t do much, but he felt tired for some reason. Hot water was the best for fatigue.

“Wow, that was good.”

Director Kim walked up to him from the back and put his hand on his shoulder as he spoke.

“The sound was good as well. But it must hurt. You should’ve secretly angled yourself so that it wouldn’t hurt.”

“It would be strange if that was caught on camera, so I didn’t do it. Uhm, so, the supplementary actors can go home after their scene?”

“That’s for the leader of the supplementary actors to decide. He’s the one that decides whether to send people back or to take them late into the night.”

“Ah, alright. But we don’t get any additional pay or something, right?”

“You do. A lot, too. If you go home before 4, then it’s just 40 thousand won including lunch fee, but it’s 100 thousand if you stay late into the night. That’s why there are people who get on the leader’s good side and stay late into the night despite not having any appearances.”

“A hundred thousand? That’s a lot.”

“Because that much work is involved. Waiting without doing anything is quite tough too, unexpectedly.”

Maru looked at the set where they were shooting the next scene. The supplementary actors he was talking to during the waiting time were doing their scenes now. Though, the only ‘act’ they did was to act like a flustered student. The aspiring actor looked the most natural, perhaps thanks to his experience.

“The producer must be pissed too. There are people who are better than the main actors everywhere, but they have to take people like that kid.”

“Well, they are the ones that get the views, so it can’t be helped.”

Director Kim scanned Maru from top to bottom, probably thinking ‘what is this kid?’. Maru smiled at him before leaving the group. The shoot continued for a while.

“Thanks everyone for your work.”

The scene at the gym ended with the producer patting the backs of the main actors. The students, who had been enjoying themselves, seemed quite tired as well. It wasn’t that surprising thought, since they had to go through the same scene several times.

“Your acting is becoming better by the day. You might just end up ignoring me in the future.”

“No way. You know how much respect we have for you.”

“He’s right.”

The producer grinned as he was surrounded by idols. It was as though the strict face he had on during the shoot was all a lie. His efforts into making the mood better for the next shoot was tear-jerking.

Wasn’t the producer supposed to be superior to everyone? It felt quite strange. Slight disdain could be seen in the smiles of both the producer and the idols. Power within the television media was quite incomprehensible at times.

“Director Lee.”

“Haha, director Choi. You’re here.”

The producer greeted the man that just entered the gym. There was an identity card hung around his neck signifying that he belonged to a TV station. Now that Maru thought about it, the people in the staff could also be separated into those that had an identity card and those that didn’t.

“Is the shoot going well?”

“It is. What brings you here?”

“I’m here for support. The drama production department is nagging me to support you from the side.”

“Haha… is that so?”

After talking up to that point, the two of them looked around before walking towards a corner. No, to be exact, from what Maru saw, the person not at ease between the two was the producer, also known as ‘director Lee’. This new ‘director Choi’ looked like he was at home.

An axe was thrown into the shoot schedule just as they thought that they were going to switch places. The supplementary actors were put in waiting again. When he approached the supplementary actors, they greeted him with smiles.

“You got hit quite hard back there.”

“I saw you talking to the producer. Do you know him?”

Hearing the sudden question, Maru replied to him that he was here because of someone he knew. The man who said that he was an aspiring actor opened his mouth.

“Didn’t you get hurt? It looked like you fell on your tailbone.”

“I’m fine because I twisted my body slightly.”

“That’s good. It won’t do you any good if you get injured. You should be more careful.”

“You’re right. But do you know who that man is?” Maru asked as he pointed at director Choi. The man nodded his head.

“He’s probably the producer from the TV station. He’s probably here to interfere.”

“Interfere, you say?”

“This drama is an outsourced drama. Although it’s called an ‘outsourced’ drama, the TV station is lending its staff as well as its equipment, so he can’t entirely ignore people from the TV station. That’s why it’s common for people from the TV stations to interfere. I’m not entirely sure, though. I just heard bits and pieces from around.”

“Aha.”

So they were like the super colossal company that outsourced its work and the primary subcontractor company?

Maru understood immediately why director Lee, who had the title ‘director’ just like director Choi, was acting submissive to him.