After Story 33

His forehead wrinkled into a frown when he heard the notification sound. Maru took off the rubber gloves and had a look at this phone.

Lee Yoonseok — the moment he saw that name, he craved some thick coffee.

He touched the screen and read the message that Yoonseok sent. For the past five days, he and Yoonseok exchanged texts like they were a couple that just formed. The quantity was so much that it might as well be a short novel.

On the first day, he didn't mind it that much. He just thought that a curious film creator was asking a bunch of questions at once in one day.

The various messages related to film production began at 9 in the morning and only ended at 8 in the evening.

As the PC version of the messenger had not yet been made, he had to look at that small screen and move his thumbs.

It was hard work, but still, it was okay. He would gladly spend a day satiating the curiosities of a young producer.

However, had he known that such a thing would continue for five days straight, he would not have said that he would help as much as possible.

"Director. Let's just meet up."

He ultimately just gave him a call instead.

-No, I can't ask you to do such a thing.

"My eyes are sore from looking at my phone all day. I'm okay with any time, so let's meet up."

-If that's the case, I'll visit you with the fixed script.

"You fixed it already?"

-Yes.

After replying confidently, Yoonseok hurriedly shouted at him to wait. Maru could hear a faint yawn on the other side. Now that he thought about it, Yoonseok's voice was sunken.

"You sound tired."

-Yes, I couldn't get much sleep, so I keep yawning. I'm sorry about that.

"You couldn't get much sleep?"

-Oh, it's not that I couldn't sleep, but I'm just lacking sleep since I've been fixing the script all night.

"Until what time did you work on it?"

-Seven.

Wasn't that closer to morning than night? Just as he was about to admire his passion, there was something that came to his mind. Maru looked at the clock.

"You didn't sleep like that for the past five days, have you?" he asked.

Yoonseok only laughed awkwardly in response. It turned out that the sense of tenacity in his words was from his nature. He was someone who put aside all the other desires once he was fixated on one thing, an avatar of stubbornness completely contrary to his innocent-looking face. He was the type to stay up all night even when he was forced to lie in bed.

"You're going to come even if I tell you that you should sleep tonight and we should meet tomorrow, right?"

-I can't wait.

"I thought so. Where shall we meet? Shall I go to Hohun university?"

-No, I should be going to you instead. You said you live in Suwon, right? I wonder if there's a good place nearby.

"Before that, how long do you estimate we'll be talking? I'm not sure about other people, but I feel like I have to ask you that question."

-I'll try to make it as short as possible, but….

His words had zero, heck, negative credibility. It was clear that an hour or two won't cut it. It would be a hassle to move around between various cafés, and above all, Maru didn't want to talk for a long time in a noisy place.

"Would you like to come to my house?"

-Can I?

"Please do. Let's discuss everything from A to Z today. But you'll have to have a general idea first. I'm only helping you in regard to things related to the shoot, not the story. If you ask me if the story is good or not, that will put me in a difficult spot."

-Don't worry about that. I'm not bold enough to let someone else take care of my child.

Maru said that they should meet up in Suwon Station before hanging up. The director was still rather clumsy, but he was not wavering. He did not just ask all sorts of meaningless questions out of passion; he clearly asked for help with a clear direction in mind.

He had the desire to do it, a clear objective, and a tenacious personality. How was Maru supposed to not respond to that passion?

After meeting up with the director at Suwon station, Maru saw that he was a lot more haggard than five days ago when they first met. His body was proof that he indeed barely had any sleep for the past five days due to fixing the script.

Seeing the director smile blankly, Maru seriously pondered whether he should be stuffing this guy into the bedroom first or not.

"Let's finish it quickly before a certain someone ends up dying."

"I'm okay."

"You sure don't look okay to me. But hey, youth is good alright. You didn't pass out at least."

"You're young too, aren't you? Wait, now that I think about it, I haven't asked for your age."

"Our first meeting was quite a jumbled mess, so we skipped a lot of things. I'm twenty-two."

"I'm twenty-one."

"I know. You did say you were in your sophomore year of college."

They took a taxi to Maru's house. Maru bought some caffeinated drinks from the convenience store on the way and put them down on the table when he got home. He ended up buying ten hearing that the director couldn't do without it.

"You look like you have something to say."

Yoonseok had been on edge throughout the whole taxi trip."

"Erm, actor Han."

"Yes."

"Should I drop the honorific with you? Or should I just keep going like this?"

"You were worried about that this entire time?"

"I think it's an important problem."

"Do as you wish."

"Then can I call you hyung? I'm usually good with stuff like this, but this is the first time I met an actor as a director. If there's something like an industry rule, I think I should follow that too."

"There is no such rule. People are the same wherever they go. You can do what you want. You're the director with the advantageous position after all."

"Then I'll call you hyung."

"Alright, I'll also treat you comfortably. But once we start shooting, my speaking tone might change. It'll be a mix of formal and informal speech; it's just a habit of mine, so don't take it to heart."

"Okay. Whew, I can finally ask you freely. Actually, when I called you 'actor Han,' it was hard to ask you something. Now that you're hyung, I can ask you to my heart's content."ƒ???????????. ?o?

"To your heart's content?"

The various messages they exchanged in the past five days flashed across Maru's mind. If that wasn't 'to his heart's content', then how bad would that be? Maru felt a sense of belated regret that maybe he shouldn't have agreed to this.

He looked at the caffeine drinks on the table. Ten looked like a lot before, but now it looked insufficient.

"Hyung, this is the most urgent part." Yoonseok took out the script with an innocent smile on his face.

Maru muttered to the cat being wary of the unfamiliar guest from the bedroom — go bite him and shut his mouth.

"What was that?"

"Huh? No, nothing."

The young actor tapped the place next to him, gesturing to him to sit. Maru sat down next to Yoonseok with the feeling of a criminal walking the last mile. The caffeine drink in his hand was his last saving grace.

* * *

Zombie. Yes, these must be zombies — Jiseon decided after looking at the two floundering creatures in front of her.

They had bags around their eyes, were uttering something unintelligible, and their bodies were flailing around aimlessly. What else could anyone call these other than 'zombie'?

"What were you two up to?"

It was three days ago when she received Yoonseok's message. He was elated to visit actor Han Maru's house. After that, the last message she received was that he dropped the formalities with the actor before she lost all contact.

When she met the two after three days, they had become zombies.

"A satisfying conversation?"

"An experiment to see if words could become a motive for murder."

Yoonseok responded with a big grin, while Maru barely responded with his face planted on the desk.

She could figure out what happened. The human woodpecker just smashed the skull of a perfectly normal man with words. This was something that those in the club had already experienced at least once.

Jiseon looked at the two people alternately. These two had become quite close as though they had a fulfilling conversation for the past three days. They didn't drop the formalities in just words, but their attitude as well.

"Can I drop the honorifics with you as well?" Jiseon spoke first. She was feeling bothered about calling him 'actor Han' anyway. Since they were working together, she wanted to do away with that.

"Miss Jiseon, was it?"

"Yes."

"Are you the type to be talkative?"

"Compared to this guy, I might as well be meditating silently."

Maru then spoke with a smile, "Alright, Jiseon. Please take care of me. Can I ask you a favor in celebration? Please get this guy off me. And if you can, duct tape his mouth too."

"Are you okay with tape? This guy would end up learning telepathy if he can't use his mouth."

"True."

"Oppa, Can I ask you one thing?"

"If it's not long, then anything."

"I might be being impolite, but I'm really curious. Have you ever received mental consultation?"

"I haven't, but I think I need one now. I think I'm hearing a ringing in my ears." Maru raised his head. While he responded as a joke, he seemed to be asking what her intentions were in asking that question.

"Your acting was too realistic. It gave me the chills. Your eyes when you looked at me even made me feel that I was in danger."

"That's the best kind of compliment for an actor. Thanks."

"So it really was acting. Can all actors do that kind of thing?"

"I think all actors who have put enough effort can?"

When Yoonseok was about to speak, Maru held his mouth shut. Jiseon looked at that and chuckled.

So he was the type to change completely once he began acting. The acting she saw through the screen was totally different from what she experienced herself. It allowed her to realize just how much professionalism actors needed.

At the same time, she thought that she was lucky. The actor in front of her was someone who could clutch the audience's feelings just through a short practice. While Maru said that actors who have put enough effort could do it, how many actors in their twenties could do that?

She only had hopes that the actor was decent, but it turned out the actor was far above their expectations, so it could be said that they were lucky.

"Hi."

Jiwon came in through the door. She was an unni who said that she'd gladly help out when they said that they were shooting a film.

Her role was the main character's deceased girlfriend. She would only appear at the very beginning of the film and intermittently throughout the duration.

"Noona, you're here."

"Of course I am. The director is calling for me, so how could I not?"

Yoonseok introduced Maru and Jiwon to each other.

"You look tired. Yoonseok gave you so much trouble, didn't he?"

"Sounds like there are many victims here."

"I had it better off, since I'm only helping out a little bit, and I can run away if I don't want to do it. Jiseon has it the hardest."

Jiseon replaced Yoonseok to explain the schedule for the day to the two actors.

"She doesn’t appear that many times, but she’s still the most important person to the protagonist in the story. The story will only be persuasive if the emotional description between the two people goes well. That’s why we plan to see what it feels like when the two of you are together.”

Yoonseok took out a digital camera and stood in front of the two actors as though he was never tired at all. As professional video equipment cost money with every rent, cheap cameras and phones replaced them during rehearsals.

“This is so sudden. It’s always like this.” Jiwon grumbled but still got into position. She sat down upright and looked straight ahead as though she was taking a photo for her passport.

Maru sat next to her.

“Is this okay?” Jiwon asked.

Jiseon looked at Yoonseok. He was quite still as he looked at the camera screen as though he didn’t like it. He would be jumping all over in excitement if he liked it.

“I don’t get anything just by watching like this.” He put down the camera.

Jiseon was the same. The camera test didn’t seem to just work with shooting a still photo. Maybe acting was necessary.

“Noona, would you like to do the thing we rehearsed last time with Maru-hyung?”

“Looking face to face? I’m a little embarrassed.”

Yoonseok explained the scene to Maru. Maru soon nodded, as though he already had the script in his mind. The two actors faced each other.

Actually, there was nothing special about this ‘act’. First of all, there were no lines. Maru would be just looking at Jiwon with longing, and Jiwon just had to respond with expressionlessness.

“Start!”

With an awkward signal, the acting began. And just a few seconds later, Jiseon found a serious problem. Yoonseok frowned as well, probably feeling the same as her.

It was a still cut where everything consisted of just looking. Despite that, there was an indescribable sense of disparity. To put it simply, one side looked like reality, while the other side looked like a cardboard cutout.

“This is bad,” Yoonseok muttered. Jiseon agreed with him.

It looked strange because one of them was miles better than the other. This was a problem they didn’t expect.