Chapter 619 (1/2)

Sometimes, she changed the channel subconsciously while watching TV. Most of the time, she did that when the scene was lewd or uninteresting, but sometimes she did so because she couldn’t bear to keep watching.

She did that not too long ago as well while watching a late-night drama. She kept watching it because the story was unlike that of the other dramas aired during the golden time and because the actors were good at acting, but she couldn’t bear to keep watching because of an actress that appeared halfway through. She had a hard time watching. Unlike the other actors who decorated the first half of the drama with stable acting skills, that actress looked like she was desperate to make herself known. That actress’ acting skills were terrible to the point that it made her wonder why the director okayed that in the first place. It was acting that made the viewer embarrassed. That actress maintained the vague emotional acting until the end, and Gaeul, who watched it for a while, felt disappointed before switching the channel.

She didn’t think that the actress’ real acting skills were only so much. Perhaps she was having a bad day that day, or it might be a mistake of the editors. For example, they might have taken footage off tape B instead of tape A, or other similar mistakes. In any case, it wasn’t something she could bear to keep watching, and she would have to have locked her fingers so that they didn’t curl up from the terrible acting. Gaeul called ‘bad acting’ like that as ‘uncomfortable acting’.

“Let go of her right now! If you want, I’ll become the hostage instead!”

Gaeul chuckled as she watched Heewon’s acting. In some sense, his acting was uncomfortable. As Gaeul was used to the more modern kind of acting, chuckles escaped her mouth when she looked at Heewon, who was expressing something along the lines of sword fighting, gun fighting, and some magical thing through his mimes. However, what was decisively different about him from the terrible woman from the drama was that she kept looking at Heewon’s acting. To be precise, just ‘looking at his acting’ might be a wrong expression. He made it so that she kept looking. Heewon was doing a funny act, but there was nothing that made her cringe.

It was a bit like black comedy. It didn’t make her laugh awkwardly because it was terrible to look at; it had elements that she could enjoy, which made her laugh. The contents, the lines, and his gestures were all very direct and sometimes childish - which was the intention for the targets of the original content anyway - but Heewon, who took it seriously and passionately, definitely had a charm that enchanted people.

Gaeul found herself clasping her hands. Gyeonmi’s assignment was just one line, but Heewon didn’t seem to have listened to that and continued his one-man skit for three minutes. Gyeonmi was tapping on her lips with her fingers with her legs crossed. Look at this guy - her expression seemed to say.

“My transformation time is almost up. Everyone, run! I will defend with my body!”

Heewon, who even bent his legs and said in a desperate tone, slowly stood up. He made a dazed expression for a few seconds before spitting out a lump of breath and started to laugh.

“And that’s it.”

“Lee Heewon.”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t I tell you to prepare one line?”

“It wasn’t one scene?”

“One line. Prepare a few lines from your favorite actors or actors you were deeply impressed with and act them out in class. I definitely said that.”

“If I knew it was just one line, I wouldn’t have put so much time into practicing….”

Heewon grumbled in a small voice, but as the practice room was closed off, the voice was clear to the ears. Gyeonmi probably heard it as well. Heewon, who noticed it a little too late, made a smile, but that didn’t work on Gyeonmi.

“Looks like you need more assignments. Haewon, can you lend me your ears?”

“Of course!”

Seemingly disappointed by the cheerful reply from his brother, Heewon became dejected and sat down. Gyeonmi and Haewon quietly talked to each other. Haewon wrote down Gyeonmi’s words with a suspicious-looking expression, and he wrote down quite a lot. It seemed that Heewon might not be able to rest at all until the next lesson.

“Why didn’t you listen more carefully?”

“I think I did… forget it. Ah, this is so bothersome.”

“You really are weird.”

“Don’t talk to me. I don’t have any energy right now. I did a whole scene when I only had to do one line. This can’t be happening to me.”

Gaeul shook her head. It seemed that voluntarily doing additional assignments came as big despair for Heewon. Well, he was someone who surprised her every time, both in a good way and a bad way.

“Lee Heewon. In any case, you did well. I had a fun time. Have you ever watched children’s musicals or something?” Gyeonmi said to Heewon as though she had finished talking to Haewon.

“No. Those things are expensive, aren’t they? It should cost around a few dozen thousand won for a ticket. If I had the money for that, I would spend it on food instead… is not what I meant to say, why are you asking that?”

“Because I felt like I was watching a children’s musical. Children’s eyes see what adults cannot. They use their exceptional imagination and imagery to see what adults, who are haunted by plausibility and reality, cannot through the directors inside their minds. If you did your act in front of kids, you would’ve gotten a very good reaction. It was very good.”

She was all praises. Heewon made pouty-smiled - meaning, he felt good because he was praised, but was sad that he did extra homework.

“However, you’re playing by yourself. I’m supposed to be the audience. A world inside a children’s movie has been nearly perfectly recreated inside your head, and you are freely running around inside it, but you were not conscious about me even a little even though I am right in front of you, making me feel a little displeased. Do you remember that you turned your back on me halfway through?”

“N-no.”

“It’s good to get absorbed. But don’t get buried under it. You need to be conscious of where you are and what you are doing at all times. This is especially important if you’re going to be an actor who acts in front of a camera. If you forget the angle and your movement lines, it will be the same as doing no acting even if you show the best of the best acting.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Sheesh, I wonder why everyone with talent has a screw loose. Is that the compensation for their talent?” Gyeonmi sighed softly before looking at Gaeul.

“Han Gaeul, you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Did you prepare a scene as well?”

“No, I prepared two lines from my favorite movie and one line from a drama.”

“I see. I appreciate that you understand my words at least. If you prepared something strange as well, this class might have been really tiring.”

Gyeonmi faintly smiled before pointing at the center of the practice room.

“Then let’s have a look, shall we?”

Before Gaeul moved, she looked at the note she wrote the lines on.