Chapter 394 (2/2)

Maru perked up his ears. Fortunately, he didn’t hear the producer’s voice. Maru reacted to that act in a way that wouldn’t look too out of place.

“Good for you~.”

He took the pumpkin candy from beggar 2 with a teasing voice. It seemed that it was okay until this point. The line that Jinhyuk drew entered his eyes. As Maru placed his foot on top of the line, he turned his face to look at the opening. He saw their captain being grabbed by the collar. He was a thankful younger brother who solved the meals for the beggars around here with his smarts and talent in speech. When he thought of it like that, anger started rushing into his head.

“Hey, you!”

He shouted and started running. The other minor actors also shouted ‘hey!’ before following him. As they took around five to six steps, producer Changsung shouted cut.

“Good, you did well. But can you come here for a moment?”

Maru and the two minor actors stood in front of producer Changsung.

“That was good, but since you rushed out forward, I couldn’t get any shots of the two of you since your heads got in the way of each other. Like that, the viewers wouldn’t know who is talking. It means that it would look awkward.”

The guy playing beggar 2 apologized.

“Don’t feel so down. You did good. You did good, but I’m telling you to do at least what we agreed on. Oh, and 2nd beggar.”

“Yes.”

“Can you….”

Producer Changsung narrowed his eyes and pointed at the rice ball in Maru’s hands before speaking.

“Can you do the same thing while eating that?”

Maru looked at the rice ball in his hand.

“If it’s edible, I will.”

“Are your hands clean?”

“Yes.”

“Hey, make a rice ball!”

One of the people that followed Jinhyuk around all the time ran towards the props team. A while later, he returned with a rice ball on a tray. The rice ball was made with white rice, powdered laver, and some vegetables. Maru liked how it looked decently dirty.

“That looks good. 2nd beggar, here you go.”

He grabbed the warm rice ball.

“Try saying your line while eating it.”

Maru nodded his head and took a big bite. He was supposed to be a beggar. There was no need for him to cover his mouth and laugh like a noble lady or something. He just munched on some rice before saying his line when producer Changsung signalled him to.

“I wish every day was like today.”

Although grains of rice got stuck below his tongue and in his gum, his pronunciation was on point. As the tone of speech wasn’t that strong, there weren’t any difficulties speaking while eating.

“Walk around and try saying your next line.”

His next line was the stretched out line. He would drag out the words ‘good for you’ and emphasize the ‘you’ at the end. Unlike the first line, it was likely that he might end up spitting out some of the rice grains in his mouth. Maru walked and said his line upon the director’s signal after taking another bite.

“Good for you~.”

The moment he said that some rice popped out of his mouth. Maru quickly received the grains with his left hand and made a sucking sound to put them back in his mouth. Then, he started walking again as though nothing had happened.

“That. Do exactly that.”

Producer Changsung smiled and went back to his position. Maru grabbed the new rice ball that the staff gave him and stood at his starting position. After exchanging glances with the other minor actors, he waited for the producer’s signal.

“Well, then. Cue!”

Producer Changsung’s voice could be heard.

* * *

Changsung crossed his arms and looked at the monitor. The group of beggars were walking forward. Seeing the beggar at the front smile in a joyous manner, Changsung smiled as well.

“He’s good.”

“He sure is.”

Jinhyuk agreed with him from the side. Yes, the lead and supporting actors were the most important in a drama. It was especially the case since actors with frightening skills could resuscitate a crappy script and a doomed direction. What was next then? Changsung believed that it was the background.

Even among the background elements, he thought that the background created by people was the most important. The minor actors, without knowing the importance of those people, who didn’t even have that many lines, one could not call himself a director. It was the sum of the images of such minor characters that created the atmosphere of the era. The minor roles were in charge of transferring what the people were like in the era that the drama was set in to the viewers.

They could be considered to have done their full jobs just by appearing on screen, and they were even good at saying their lines? He couldn’t help but praise them.

“Good for you~.”

That shamelessness of just sucking back in the rice that popped out of his mouth without overreacting was just great. If he hurriedly sucked in the rice as though it was such a waste, Changsung would have told him to tone down his act, but that boy restrained himself as though he knew that already. Even while restraining himself, he showed the necessary parts as he walked forward.

It seemed that he had thought about how he would be portrayed on the camera.

There was a common saying among the actors in this field. The camera shows what is not seen. The screen, for some curious reason, showed the effort, passion, and amount of practice that the actors had. It turned those values into numbers and allowed the viewers to evaluate the actors.

After the camera shot up to the point where they were about to rush ahead, Changsung shouted cut.

“I guess we don’t need to do that again.”

They got a satisfactory cut on the second shoot.

So it seems that beggar 2 and 2nd beggar (Maru) are two different roles… First beggar is probably Gaeguk, but he’ll probably be written as ‘Gaeguk’ in the script.

This line is supposed to be stretched out, but I obviously can’t do that with English. So you’ll have to bear with ‘~’.

The original sounds like ‘Jou~ketta!’. Some strong consonants in there will make some of the food he was eating pop out. It’s not the case in English though. I will try to come up with a better alternative and change it in the future.