After Story 144

The sun that had been scorching them just two days ago could no longer be seen, hidden behind dark clouds. Moist air before the rain swept past his face. It was the weather that director Lim wanted so much.

Maru closed the script he was skimming through and closed his eyes. He pictured a vehicle on the black curtains created by his eyelids.

He pressed down on the accelerator as strongly as possible and took his foot off at the appointed place. He pressed down on the brakes lightly and looked at Dongsik, who would pop out from the alleyway.

Everything would be fine as long as he hit him slightly. It was a simple job of putting his arm against the side mirror.

However, Dongsik’s body was strange. He had moved out more than he had expected.

Just as he started to think that something was wrong, Dongsik’s body was already flying into the air. He flew up onto the hood before being flicked away. He watched as all of it happened.

A stifling silence befell him. Dongsik’s neck had been snapped into a weird angle.

The moment he saw that, he knew that Dongsik had croaked.

“Mr. Maru.”

He opened his eyes when a production crew member called out to him. He held onto the emotions he just evoked as he headed to the set.

Beomseok was lying down on the floor after putting on special makeup. The skin around his eyes looked to be ripped, and something white could be seen under his neck.

“This is gonna give people shivers at night, isn’t it?” Beomseok said.

Maru stood in front of the car with director Lim. Director Lim scanned the surroundings before speaking,

“For now, we’ll shoot everything in one cue, from the crash to the discovery to the approach to the conflict.”

Director Lim got in the car himself and showed what Gomchi had to do. He always provided a guideline before the act began. It meant that there was a complete form of the movie inside his head.

Maru committed director Lim’s movements to memory.

“You leave the car then walk past the headlights like you’re pushing it away and collapse on this spot.”

Maru moved as he listened to the explanation. He got in the car and grabbed the wheel. He looked forward and thought of the events up to the accident before leaving the car. Just as the director said, he bumped into the headlights and staggered his way to where Beomseok was sitting.

“If you feel there are any wasted movements, you can remove them by yourself. How do you feel now that you acted it out? Do you think that you’re moving according to Gomchi’s emotions?”

“For now, I think it’s okay. I’ll have to try to be sure.”

“Yeah, trying is important.”

While director Lim talked to the camera director, Maru went over to Beomseok.

“It’s gonna be terrific if I shoot a zombie movie in this state. I’m quite good at acting like I’m out of my mind too.”

Beomseok laughed. He seemed to be trying to ease the tension.

“I might hit you hard when we shoot later. Don’t make any sound even if it hurts.”

“Even corpses make noise when they’re hurt. So go easy on me.”

Beomseok lay on the ground.

“Should I just lie down on the ground like this? For you to have an easier time expressing stuff with me, then I should turn my head this way, right?”

Maru looked at Beomseok’s position while standing up and changed the positions of his arms and legs slightly.

“If you get hit from the side, it’s more likely that your arms and legs become like this according to the structure of the human body. Though, that will depend on the angle of the crash.”

“Really? You know some weird stuff.”

“I saw it in a news article.”

Director Lim came over as though he finished talking with the camera director. He looked at Beomseok’s lying posture and commented,

“That’s a good position. I was going to tell you to lie down like that.”

“Maru told me that this would look better.”

Director Lim laughed and returned after giving him a tap on the shoulder. A moment later, Kim Hyuk arrived.

“You’re off today, aren’t you?”

Kim Hyuk took out his phone.

“I’m here for the phone call. Do you not need it?”

“I’d be thankful if you do.”

Just because it was a shoot didn’t mean that all actors gathered on one day and shot the same scene. This was especially true for phone call scenes, where the director would say the lines in the actor’s stead or the actor would simply talk into thin air according to the timing.

Maru was thankful that Kim Hyuk had made some time to come.

“We’re ready,” said the assistant director.

Maru got in the car. There was a camera stuck right next to the window. He thought about the preset movement again and got into his emotions.

“Well, then let’s start. Roll the camera.”

Ready, sound, check, 5-1. After a simple situation check between the staff, silence fell over the shoot which had been bustling just moments ago.

Maru grabbed the driving wheel with his head lowered and took a deep breath of the moist air.

The director’s voice broke the vacuum-like silence.

“Action!”

Maru urgently swallowed the air in his mouth which made his throat gulp and then raised his head. The camera shooting him from the side, the microphone right outside the car, and even the sprinkler truck waiting outside left his vision. The only things he saw were the dark asphalt as well as Dongsik who had been strewn across it.

His fingertips started shaking. Before he even realized that something was wrong, his body started going haywire. He barely managed to breathe in the air that kept hitting the top of his mouth without actually going down his airways.

“Why, why.”

The inside of his mouth became so dry as though he had the hair dryer set to full power inside his mouth.

This was no good. This was something totally unexpected.

He thought about the situation from just before. He drove the car just as they promised. He did not have a shred of thought that he would fail. They did it a few times during practice, and there were no problems there, so he thought that things would not end in failure.

His expectations broke down when Dongsik rushed out of the alleyway. One step should’ve been enough. Dongsik should’ve taken just one step so that his arm hit the side mirror. Dongsik should’ve known that as well, but he took two steps.

Whether he thought the distance between him and the car was too far, or he subconsciously took another step without thinking, he could not tell.

The important thing was that the one damned step resulted in Dongsik’s torso being bent 90 degrees as the car crashed into him, and now he was strewn across the road.

His gaze was concentrated on one thing. It was Dongsik’s eye. His eyes were glued to that eye from which blood was flowing out.

Haa, haa, ha – his breathing became ragged. He hurriedly opened the door and left.

Looking down from above, Dongsik’s figure was truly hopeless.

He blocked his mouth and frowned deeply before getting himself together. He quickly checked the surroundings. They had purposefully chosen a road without any CCTVs or nearby parked cars. There were no people in sight either.

The shops lined up on one wall had all closed down as well.

Light returned to his darkened vision. For now, there were no witnesses. This was such an important fact to him.

Just then, he got a call. It was from Gyukho.

He approached Dongsik and received the call. His legs gave away as he did so. He hit the side mirror and fell forward. He kneeled down on one knee and took a large stride. Dongsik’s face was right in front of him.

He fell backward and groaned.

-Did the work go well?

“G-Gyukho.”

-What’s up with your voice?

“What do I do?”

He looked at Dongsik. The wide-open eyes seemed to signify resentment towards him.

His lower lip trembled helplessly.

“Dongsik, Dongsik this prick made a mistake.”

-What do you mean?

“I did it properly! But this bastard just had to!”

-Calm down and talk properly. Was there an accident?

An accident. That word gave him a blow on the head. Indeed, this was an accident. What would happen if he reported this situation to the police? He would definitely go to jail since he killed a man with a car. Moreover, if his relationship with the deceased Dongsik was investigated and the insurance money he got through scamming was exposed, the sentence would be even higher.

His life would certainly meet its end.

He didn’t start this job so that things could end like this. Regret, fear, and frustration intertwined with each other and rampaged through his body. It was all over. Everything was hopeless.

It was just as he was looking at Dongsik in resignation,

-Anyone see it?

Gyukho’s voice, which sounded tinny like a mosquito, suddenly became crystal clear. He responded reflexively,

“What?”

-Get yourself together and talk to me. Did anyone see it? Look around you. There’s no CCTV there, and there shouldn’t be any cars parked there either.

He stood up staggering like he was being possessed by something and looked at the surroundings again. He rationally checked the things that he instinctively checked when he first got out of the car. Then he came to the conclusion: not a single person had witnessed this accident.

“There’s no one. I’m sure of it. Not a single soul saw this.”

-Check on Dongsik.

“C-check him?”

-Check him to see if he’s really dead or he’s alive!

Gyukho’s voice became roused for the first time. He checked Dongsik while flailing like a pony with its tail on fire.

He tried slapping Dongsik on the cheek and even talked to him. He then once again checked that the thing in front of him was a piece of meat that had no use for anything other than a funeral.

“He’s dead.”

Just why was it so hard to say those two words… he barely retained his consciousness when he said those words.

-Listen to me carefully. Carry Dongsik and put him in the back seat.

“The back seat?”

-Yes. And come back here. How is it there? Is there a lot of blood around?

He looked around the surroundings. Thankfully, the bleeding wasn’t serious, so there was no blood pooling on the ground.

“No, it’s clean.”

-Good. Now, calm down before you take any action. First, load the body into the car and look around to see if you dropped anything. Then come back here. You can never be caught though. If you get caught, everything’s over.

As he listened to Gyukho’s words, he felt like his head was becoming clearer. This couldn’t be helped, and he did not want to ruin his life because of something he couldn’t help.

“I’ll be there after cleaning up.”

He put his phone inside his pocket. The sensation in his body was returning to its normal state. The onslaught of nausea had subsided as well.

His brain became rational without limits. He calmly walked over to the fallen Dongsik.

“God, fuck.”

He had heard somewhere that dead people would become stiff, but Dongsik’s body was still soft. His stomach started churning again. He had a rush of the urge to vomit as though he had acute pancreatitis. Touching Dongsik for real was more terrible than he had ever imagined.

“Really, this is such a bitch.”

He swallowed the sour liquid that felt like it was leaking through his teeth and pulled the corpse, continuously sighing as he did so. He pushed Dongsik into the back seat and closed the door.

He leaned against the car and sat down as he collapsed. He was crying. Whether these were tears of fear or frustration, he couldn’t tell.

He wiped his face with his palm before realizing that there was blood and quickly took his hand off his face with a scream.

Everything felt like a dream. How great would it be if it was one? However, the blood on his hands was too clear.

He clasped his shaking hands. His own actions of calmly moving the corpse belatedly started squeezing his conscience. He felt complex.

Just then, he heard a thud.

It was a sound that made his whole body freeze up. He carefully stood up and looked into the back window. Dongsik’s body was convulsing.

He was alive? He could be saved?

Just as he thought so, he made eye contact with Dongsik. Those eyes seemed to be pleading for life, but they also seemed to be full of resentment and hatred.

His mind blanked. His vision turned hazy and he couldn’t see anything.

Just as his ears became numb like he was at a high altitude, he heard a voice. They were the words he heard from Gyukho.

You cannot be caught. Never. If you get caught, everything’s over.

When his vision returned and he could start hearing again, he realized what he was doing.

Dongsik’s neck was between his hands.

Dongsik’s trembling body slowly became limp again.