episode_0058

“I want to peel her open once.”

That one sentence from Director Go Tae-min, as he observed Sua.

The employee who stood beside him nodded.

“I agree.”

“Ugh, that’s not what I meant, In-seok-ah.”

“Yes? Ah, I didn’t mean anything bad either. Ahem…”

When Director Go Tae-min glanced at him meaningfully, the man blushed and cleared his throat. He was the PD in charge of directing Director Go Tae-min’s new work, “Crescendo from Tomorrow.”

Director Go Tae-min just clicked his tongue, tsck , but didn’t scold him.

Sua’s body was beautiful, even to his eyes.

Humans naturally pay attention to harmonious proportions; it wasn’t just the PD beside him who was captivated from the start. Everyone around her was likely the same.

A body that forcefully stole your gaze. That’s what Sua’s body did.

“…So, what did you mean by that?”

“Well,”

Director Go Tae-min continued, as if it were obvious.

“I mean I want to peel off the outer shell that’s been hidden by makeup. Don’t you wonder what’s inside? I’m sure there’s a monster in there. A monster we’ve never seen before.”

“A monster… Hmm, I suppose so…”

The PD nodded quietly, meaning he agreed.

Director Go Tae-min continued to carefully observe Sua’s acting. The scenes with Kim Sun-il, the scenes with Park Do-hee, and even what she did to pass the time when she wasn’t acting. Everything.

‘Her skills are already outstanding. The very fact that she’s going to auditions isn’t attractive, right? She’s at a level where she can just pick and choose the projects that come bowing to her first. Her skills, at least, are that good.’

Chief Seo Jae-woo was Director Kim Joon-ki’s right-hand man.

Why did Chief Seo Jae-woo loudly proclaim to Kim Joon-ki that he had found an actor perfectly suited to the phrase “Life is all about money”? Why did he suddenly visit Kim Yi-seo and Sua, pleading and begging them to just look at the script?

Go Tae-min could now understand the reason.

Because Sua’s skills were that outstanding.

But he still hadn’t understood Sua as a person.

‘But if she’s a rookie, it wouldn’t have been easy to ignore Kim Joon-ki’s reputation at the time, right? Was she scared and burdened, so she rejected it? Or was she really not satisfied? Which is it?’

But soon, he would find out the answer.

Because the first face of Sua he saw came to mind.

That stiff, frozen face in front of the 808 headquarters.

‘It’s probably the latter. That expression I thought was just her being nervous and stiff, now I don’t think that’s it. It looks like she was just concentrating. Like she had already equipped Kim Yu-han from back then.’

Around that time, Director Go Tae-min nudged the shoulders of the people nearby. He couldn’t get their attention unless he did that. The entire production team of “Crescendo from Tomorrow” was completely mesmerized.

“What are your thoughts on that Kim Yu-han role?”

Then, one of the people beside him immediately opened their mouth.

“It’s amazing.”

A simple reaction. But at the same time, it was the right expression.

“All I can say is it’s amazing. The very fact that she’s completing an unfinished role, even though the gender is different, is amazing. I wonder how much research she did.”

“That’s right. I know the 808 script a little bit, and she manages to avoid the parts where there could be setting errors remarkably well. That androgynous voice is baffling, but it has its own charm.”

The “Crescendo from Tomorrow” production team started to chime in one by one, but none of them were making eye contact while talking. They were all just gaping at Sua.

“I heard from people around that that scene itself was ad-libbed. How could a rookie possibly do that? And the other actor is the notoriously picky Kim Sun-il. That means she has an incredibly strong conviction.”

“Okay, I admit everything. Just a moment.”

It was then.

There was a person who spoke up, seemingly dumbfounded.

He was the employee in charge of casting for “Crescendo from Tomorrow.” The employee who organized the audition videos on a tablet and reported them to Director Go Tae-min one by one.

He continued.

“Excuse me, are there any of you here who have ever seen that rookie actor’s face even once? I’m really seeing her for the first time.”

“Us too…”

Everyone shook their heads, meaning they were seeing her for the first time in their lives.

“I searched for all the rookies without discrimination, so why haven’t I seen her before? Such a striking appearance, unique acting skills… She has everything, so why didn’t I know? What did I miss?”

“I know you worked hard. Don’t blame yourself.”

Director Go Tae-min soothed the casting employee, as if saying it was okay.

Director Go Tae-min knew best that he had run around until his feet were sweaty for “Crescendo from Tomorrow.” This employee had even looked into musicals and plays.

“A comet is supposed to fall suddenly. You can ask writer Lee Geum-sook or PD Choi Hee-won about the details later. Let’s see… And…”

Director Go Tae-min stroked his jaw.

“Park Do-hee. Actually, the reason we came here was because of Park Do-hee. What did you think of Do-hee’s acting today?”

“Do-hee-ssi? She did great today. Her skills have improved a lot since the last time I saw her. She wasn’t at this level when she auditioned for our show.”

“It’s a little strange to say her skills have improved.”

Director Go Tae-min’s voice was subtle.

“Yeah. It’s not her skills. Her level has just gone up a step.”

“…Her level went up?”

Praise and admiration for Park Do-hee.

However, even amidst this conversation, no one suggested casting Park Do-hee as the lead in Go Tae-min’s new project.

Because everyone knew.

That there was someone else who deserved even more praise right now.

“Yeah. Not just Do-hee. Kim Sun-il is the same. The Kim Sun-il I know was an actor who wouldn’t even consider improvisation, but now he’s doing it without a problem. What’s the cause? Of course, it’s Kim Yu-han.”

And that protagonist was, of course, the actor playing Kim Yu-han.

“I also vaguely sensed it.”

The PD in charge of directing agreed.

“It looks like they’re walking in step with each other, but if you look closely, it’s different. If Kim Yu-han takes a step forward, Lee Kang-cheol hurriedly chases after her. In fact, it should be the opposite. Because Kim Yu-han is a rookie.”

“I agree. This industry is really structured to be disadvantageous for rookies.”

It is a very difficult industry for rookies to take the lead. Director, staff, other actors… there is no one who is lower in status than the rookie. Their influence is inevitably weak.

But Lee Sua was different.

She leads without hesitation and without difficulty.

As if she had always done so.

“I don’t know what happened during the mock shooting, but it seems like she’s already receiving a lot of trust. It’s a hard situation to believe. It’s such a welcoming atmosphere where the rookie can act freely and they push her forward.”

“….”

Everyone couldn’t easily answer. They understood in their heads, but it was a very difficult fact to accept.

The casting employee broke the silence after a while.

“In other words, that friend is not only completing an unfinished role but is also having the effect of encouraging the people around her?”

“That’s right. The work as a whole has improved a lot.”

Go Tae-min rubbed his stubbly chin.

“…I want to dress her up in my work too. I wonder how it would be.”

As he muttered those words.

The “Crescendo from Tomorrow” production team began to whisper.

“Director, we should go now. They just spotted Director Go Tae-min over there. They’re whispering about it a lot.”

“It looks like they’re preparing to come and greet you. Let’s go.”

Director Go Tae-min immediately got up from his seat.

It was nice to have people come to greet him because of his reputation, but this was the filming location for Special Mobile Unit 808. If the attention were to be focused on him, it would be a huge inconvenience.

‘It’s a shame to go back like this, though.’

Even as he moved his feet, Go Tae-min looked back once.

‘Her emotional lines are incredibly delicate. Compared to ordinary people, delicate friends express music well in many ways.’

He swallowed a great disappointment.

◈◈◈◈◈

The first day of filming for Special Mobile Unit 808 ended.

“This! You forgot to take your camera!”

However, the scene was still noisy, because the work of clearing up the equipment was busy. These equipment cannot be left unattended. Their work is hard because they have to fold and unfold them every day.

“I didn’t forget to take it! There are many things that need to be moved first! I’ll take care of it one by one, so don’t worry!”

“The sound team will move first! The equipment is so sensitive!”

“Let’s stay focused until the end! It’s not over until we finish cleaning up! The filming isn’t completely over! We have to do it tomorrow too!”

Installing the equipment every day and cleaning it up again.

It can’t help but be an absurd level of labor intensity.

However, there was no one who showed any signs of not wanting to do it. Rather, there were only people with smiles on their faces.

The reason was simple.

“Today’s filming was really fulfilling, right?”

“I didn’t even realize the time was passing. To see this with my own eyes…”

“How are viewers going to wait for each episode?”

“I know, right! I’m dying to know the viewers’ reactions!”

Because the scenes they captured with the camera today were crazy good.

It was unbearably good in their eyes, so they couldn’t help but wonder how the viewers would feel about it.

Eventually, one of the staff members couldn’t stand it and shouted.

“Ah! When is the first day of the broadcast! I’m so curious I’m going crazy!”

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Meanwhile.

‘Ah, I’m tired.’

Sua looked like a drenched Arctic fox.

Is there a chance that a fox living in the Arctic would get rained on? Sua didn’t actually know that either! Anyway, Sua was very tired right now.

Therefore, she was imagining herself as a drenched fox.

‘Aaugh…’

Sua pressed her finger on her eyelids.

‘Even if I somehow increased my skills with special training, my stamina can’t keep up, so I’m tired. I really need to do some exercise.’

It was a different level of difficulty than mock shooting or short film shooting. As soon as they finished shooting one scene, they immediately moved on to the next scene, and then the scene after that… There was no time to rest.

Sua suddenly thought of those words.

Arctic Fox, bear the weight of the crown.

‘…Is this the weight of the lead role?’

Honestly, Sua didn’t have much thought about the lead role.

Lead role? Isn’t it just a little better than a supporting role?

But experiencing it with her body, it wasn’t.

The lead role had that much weight to bear. First of all, the sheer amount of screen time was overwhelming, so everything from start to finish was Sua’s job.

‘Sleepy… Tired… Want to die… No, I don’t want to die…’

Sua was about to go back to the dormitory when it happened.

Whoosh

The entrance to the waiting room barrack was thrown open by someone.

And an unexpected figure appeared.

“Lee Sua.”

Kim Sun-il.

“I need to talk to you for a moment.”

He was looking for Sua, with a very serious expression.