Chapter 396 (1/2)

“It sure is.”

Just sitting in the shade was not cool enough. Although the beginning of autumn was behind them, there was no autumn to be seen. Feeling fooled by the small words printed on the calendar, Maru wiped the sweat off his forehead.

“I wonder when this will end.”

A minor actor younger than him asked in a tired voice. After they shot the crowd scene after lunch, they’ve been waiting ever since. Even the ones that were excited about seeing actors in real life calmed down and just watched the shoot in a daze after around an hour or so.

“Hyung, do we always have long waiting times like this?”

A boy with a big nose asked. Maru nodded.

“If you’re unlucky, you might not do anything for three hours and just go home.”

“I was overjoyed that I was supposed to be a minor actor, but like this, we’re no different from background actors.”

“That’s because we’re minor roles without much significance. But we still do get to appear on camera a lot, right? Unless they cut it out during editing, you’ll appear on TV. Take consolation from that.”

“There’s all this stuff on my face. Would anyone even recognize me?”

He sighed as he slightly smudged the black makeup on his face.

“At least it’s better than the passersby who go by unnoticed.”

“That’s true, but still. Ah, the wait is too long. We are actors too.”

The boy that grumbled took some others to the bathroom. The shade became quiet. Maru fanned himself with the fan that the staff left with him. The soft wind brushed past his sweat. For a brief moment, he felt better.

“Aren’t you hot?” Maru asked Bitna, who sat next to him.

She could have waited in her mom’s car with air conditioning, but she did not leave the rest of the group during breaks. Her mom couldn’t be seen around. It seemed that she only watched when Bitna was on camera.

“I’m okay,” Bitna replied.

Despite being so young, she was very calm and composed. She looked cute and looked like she would act like a child, but she waited very calmly without making a single complaint. Maru faintly smiled and started fanning her. When he fanned her, Bitna thanked him with a bow.

“Isn’t it hard?”

“I’ll do it even if it’s hard.”

“Haha, I’m not telling you to not do it.”

Bitna stared at him.

“What is it?”

“Is it hard for you, ahjussi?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Then do your best.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best.”

He was trying to cheer her up, but he was encouraged instead. Bitna looked around the set with a serious expression. Maru wondered what her upbringing was like.

“Grab tight from both sides! Don’t loosen your hand! If you feel like you can’t endure, just shout!”

“I’ll try going on it.”

Even after a staff member got in it, the palanquin was stable. After checking various things, the staff seemed to be convinced of its safety as he brought one person.

“Step on this to go in.”

The one that got on the palanquin was an elderly man who had a big build. He was probably the actor playing Han Sang-jil, the grandfather of Han Myung-hoe.

‘Park Moosung. He’s quite popular on historical dramas.’

From what Maru heard, he was appearing as a cameo. It was likely that the producer or the writer asked him to feature in the shoot. He would be portrayed as the cruel man who tells his family to abandon Han Myung-hoe after finding out that he was born prematurely.

The palanquin was raised according to the staff’s signal. Although it slightly tilted towards the right at first, it soon gained balance. Park Moosung laughed heartily and apologized to everyone for being so heavy.

“We’ll do this quickly!” Changsung shouted.

The people lifting the palanquin up slowly moved forward. Moosung, who was inside, quickly became composed. He laid back on the backrest and watched the people outside doing business with a bored expression. His posture indicated his status.

When the palanquin passed in front of a hanok surrounded by a stone fence, Moosung said ‘stop’. The low voice reached even where Maru was resting. He definitely sounded different to when he was speaking to the staff members just now. It was heavy yet spread far. The sound was vivid until the very end.

They got a satisfying cut in one go. Moosung got off the palanquin and took off his gat. A woman that seemed to be his stylist quickly approached him and received the jacket and the hat from him.

Producer Changsung disappeared from the set along with Moosung. Producer Jinhyuk was in control of the set now.

“Everyone please gather round!”

The background actors, as well as the minor actors for the beggars, all gathered round. Producer Jinhyuk scanned their faces and body figures before picking a few people and telling them to stand to the side.

“The ones standing to my right, please get ready for the street scene, and as for the rest of you, I’ll have you become corpses.”

Maru was one of the corpses. Ten men of various heights left the streets and moved to the road where there were straw-roofed houses around. This was where the convenience store was, so there were a lot of tourists.

“I think they’re shooting a drama here.”

“Where?”

People flocked after seeing cameras and lights and asked the staff which actors were appearing. The staff replied to them that they were just extras in a tired manner.

Those words worked wonders. The flock of people scattered like it couldn't be a lie. The word ‘extras’ was magical. Maru laughed in a low voice before walking.

“Please lie down and cover yourselves with this.”

They lied down under the roof hanging off the side of the straw-roofed house in a line. The cold sensation from the ground made his body scream in joy. He felt that he might be able to fall asleep here. The others looked the same. Some of them almost fell asleep.

When they waited like that, Uljin and Giwoo arrived. This was the scene where Giwoo was scared out of his wits when he saw Uljin rummaging through the dead bodies.

Uljin approached and stepped on the hand of someone here. He was the man right next to Maru. Uljin flinched in surprise, but the man didn’t even groan. If Uljin continued acting, he would be portrayed as the one who boldly started rummaging through dead bodies, but still had his childish side. Unfortunately, though, Uljin could not continue his act.

“Cut. Are you okay?”

Producer Jinhyuk asked. As the alleyway was narrow, he couldn’t come in and he just stood in front of the camera.

“Yes. I’m fine. You can continue.”