episode_0056

“…You! What in the world are you thinking!”

Kim Sun-il shouted.

Kaga-ga-ga-gak─!

The fight over the steering wheel was fierce.

The distance left to 808 Headquarters wasn’t actually much, but Kim Sun-il didn’t feel that way at the moment.

Whether they’d arrive at the destination as is, or flip over before that. This was a matter that hinged not just on safety, but on life and death.

It was natural that neither of them would give an inch.

Kim Sun-il and Lee Soo-ah fought fiercely, and the camera captured every moment. It was quite a spectacle for those watching. It was like a game of baduk where black and white were fighting for territory.

“This is insane…!”

Kim Sun-il shouted as he barely managed to grab the steering wheel.

He glanced at Soo-ah’s face as if asking if she was out of her mind, but her expression didn’t change. What she wanted to do was clear.

Eyes that didn’t waver even an inch, containing obsession and desire for something.

That must be the single-minded determination to flip the car over. At least, Lee Soo-ah was serious right now.

There was no reason he could guess. Why on earth?

Did Kim Sun-il harbor some kind of malice?

But then.

“…!”

Kim Sun-il suddenly received a massive shock.

It wasn’t Soo-ah’s eyes or face. It was because he’d noticed Soo-ah’s true feelings in a place he hadn’t even considered.

‘Lee Soo-ah, you, could it be…’

Her hand.

It was from Soo-ah’s white, long hand.

That grip, wrapping around the steering wheel like a snake, was threatening.

But it only made the car shake, never actually flipping it over. He especially felt that in the delicacy with which she seemed to be controlling her strength.

But to the naked eye, it would definitely look threatening.

It would be the same seen on camera, and Kim Sun-il finally understood. Even this was ad-lib. And I fell for it.

Kim Sun-il suddenly went back over the situation in the scene.

It was really nothing much.

A scene that viewers might think, ‘I’ll go to the bathroom during this part’ – because all it showed was Lee Kang-cheol and Kim Yu-han having a brief conversation, a battle of wills, as they returned to headquarters. That was it.

But Soo-ah’s actions changed everything.

At this moment, all the lines were useless.

Actions speak louder than words. This one power struggle nakedly expressed everything. Even the fact that Lee Kang-cheol and Kim Yu-han were completely incompatible, and that neither of them would give an inch to the other. All of it.

Thump─! Thump─!

Inside the car, shaking violently but never flipping over, Kim Sun-il almost showed that he was admiring her without realizing it.

‘You… I can’t predict anything about you, from start to finish.’

He kept reminding himself that he had to be Lee Kang-cheol and maintained his expression, but inside, he already felt admiration.

‘You and I saw the same script and read the same scene. But how can our interpretations be so different? How long did you spend studying this one short scene?’

A normal person would have simply thought that Lee Soo-ah interpreted the scene well, but Kim Sun-il, who poured his heart and soul into acting, couldn’t help but feel it with chilling realism.

She wasn’t just a part that performed what was given.

Lee Soo-ah was an actress with the potential for creation.

Looking back, it was the same during the mock filming.

Soo-ah’s interpretations, which weren’t in the script but fit the theme even better, Kim Sun-il knew. He knew that he didn’t even have that kind of ability himself.

However.

‘I am Lee Kang-cheol. I will not tolerate Kim Yu-han. I absolutely will not.’

Kim Sun-il steeled his resolve even further.

The Lee Kang-cheol─Kim Yu-han confrontation was also the Kim Sun-il─Lee Soo-ah showdown, and Lee Kang-cheol couldn’t afford to back down, even for the sake of the quality of the early part of the show. Now it was his turn to prove himself.

‘In the early part of the show, I’ll focus solely on the role of Lee Kang-cheol.’

Kim Sun-il frantically wracked his brain, and soon found an answer. What would Lee Kang-cheol do in a situation like this?

The answer came to him surprisingly quickly now.

『Kim Yu-han, cut it out!』

At the same time as he shouted, Kim Sun-il threw a punch at Soo-ah.

Whoosh─!

The movement was very big, but it didn’t actually hit her. In reality, it was a movement that was closer to brushing past her face with his fist.

Surprisingly, Soo-ah immediately took the ad-lib. She snapped her head back as if she’d been hit, and then hit her head against the car window.

Koong!

“… .”

Kim Sun-il himself was even wondering if he’d hit her too hard, so it would definitely look full of life on camera. All that was left was to add the sound of the impact in post-production.

As Lee Kang-cheol, Kim Sun-il calmly delivered his lines.

『The 808 division is in charge of identifying criminals and arresting them within 24 hours. All we do is work as parts to increase the arrest rate.』

Silence fell inside the car.

Kim Yu-han no longer tried to turn the steering wheel. Lee Kang-cheol, with sweat beading on his forehead, calmed his excitement and said.

『You’re not doing this for your own satisfaction. Got it?』

Kim Yu-han’s face was still not visible.

Thanks to being hit by Lee Kang-cheol, her disheveled bangs covered her face down to her nose, and she was still leaning her head against the car window, still.

Like that, she didn’t do anything for a long time.

Whether it was because the shock of being hit was too great, or because she realized that it was impossible to turn the steering wheel with her own hands. There was no movement. The car was running silently again when,

At some point.

『Heh.』

The corner of her mouth, the only thing that was visible, turned up.

『That hurts.』

A simple reaction.

『See? You can do it too, sunbae.』

And an addition that wasn’t so simple.

She looked like a master training her pet, or a teacher teaching her student, or perhaps like an older sunbae playing with a young child who was far removed in age.

『Keep doing that in the future. Strongly. With actions.』

At the same time, something unbelievable happened.

Blood was flowing down from the left corner of Soo-ah’s mouth. It was strange. Kim Sun-il’s fist had only brushed past her, so there was no way she could have been hurt.

…Could it be that she bit her cheek herself in that short time?

Kim Sun-il swallowed his surprise when,

Soo-ah stretched out her left hand like a snake again. But this time, she wasn’t aiming for the steering wheel. It wasn’t a violent movement either.

She was just placing it on Kim Sun-il’s shoulder.

『We both learned something from each other today.』

And a mischievous voice, as if whispering.

『I will try to stick to the rules as much as possible. And you will try to break the rules as much as possible.』

When she tilted her head slightly, the upper part of her face, which had been hidden by her bangs, was revealed, and the corners of her eyes were already curved like crescent moons. Even as Lee Kang-cheol, it was a figure that was hard to guess the gender of.

『But I won today’s match. That’s what the pecking order is all about, isn’t it? The person who laughs last wins.』

Lee Kang-cheol, Kim Sun-il, finally realized that this whole situation was Soo-ah’s scheme. It was just a setup designed to figure out the other person’s patience, tendencies, and limits.

The moment he felt goosebumps all over his body.

『…Right?』

The match was over.

Lee Kang-cheol didn’t laugh, and Kim Yu-han laughed.

“…. ”

Just in time, the car entered 808 Headquarters.

─Cut! Cut! Cut! That’s so good!

Choi Hee-won PD’s shout came through the radio.

After that, the car was completely silent.

Lee Soo-ah was still staring out the window, wondering what she was thinking, and Kim Sun-il was resting his hands on the steering wheel, deep in thought.

“That scene was so good!” “It was captured perfectly on camera! Crazy!”

Choi Hee-won PD, followed by many staff members, surrounded the car, all with excited faces. Soo-ah thought. They looked like a horde of zombies from some kind of apocalyptic world.

The most excited of them all was Choi Hee-won PD.

“Where did you prepare something like this? The best surprise gift ever! I almost called NG without knowing it was agreed upon! To do this from the first scene, I’m so touched!”

His usual rock-solid self was nowhere to be seen. He was much more excited than usual. That meant that the main filming was important, and that he was that satisfied with the scene just now.

“Ah, this really makes me want to work! This is why I started PD!”

The staff members nearby were just as excited.

“Wow, I can’t believe that scene felt like a thriller.” “That face-off between the two was crazy.” “Buddy cop shows…Are they going to be properly popular again…?”

Directing, sound, filming… They were all busy spitting out their impressions. A scene that made them have so much to say out of joy.

The moment that Soo-ah and Kim Sun-il created was exactly like that.

“When Soo-ah-ssi’s bangs were lifted, did you see the corners of her eyes curved up? I seriously got goosebumps. I think the viewers’ emotions will be complicated? Should they fall for her or be scared of her….”

“Sun-il-ssi’s emotions were perfect too. Suppressing it and then exploding, that’s exactly Lee Kang-cheol. These two are seriously so good.”

Their admiration was bound to be special.

The Special Mobile Unit 808 conducted mock filming unlike other dramas, which meant that production was several times harder than other works. The staff members were really ground down.

And now, they were feeling the reward for their hard work.

“…It was worth the suffering. It was really worth the suffering.” “I agree. This will definitely resonate with viewers too.”

It was natural that the other actors were also busy praising Soo-ah and Kim Sun-il’s acting, and Kim I-seo of Mystic was nervous.

‘…Soo-ah, I don’t know how far you’ll go.’

It was certain that the actor that Mystic had in its arms would reach the top someday, so she had no choice but to be nervous. She couldn’t become a representative who was holding them back.

Park Do-hee and Hwang Myung-pil were scratching their heads the same way.

“Soo-ah-ssi is good at acting today too.” “I agree.” “Do-hee, don’t you have a shoot with Soo-ah-ssi today?” “…I agree.”

At that moment, when the whole set was dyed with the aftereffects.

Kim Sun-il belatedly opened his mouth.

“PD-nim, please check on Lee Soo-ah’s condition.” “Yes? What condition? Ah, could it be…?”

Only then did the people near Choi Hee-won have surprised faces. They realized that what was flowing from Soo-ah’s mouth wasn’t makeup.

Choi Hee-won PD widened her eyes and asked.

“No, is that real blood? Soo-ah-ssi, why did you do that? It’s no big deal to call NG once, right? We could have prepared a blood capsule and filmed again.”

Soo-ah slowly shook her head. “It wouldn’t have been filmed like this if it wasn’t for this take.” “Still…No, then let me ask just one more thing.”

Choi Hee-won PD’s voice was full of panic.

“Why did you even think of trying something like that in the first place? Soo-ah-ssi is an actress, and if you get injured, whether it’s small or big, it’s a big risk, right? We could have all looked for another way….” “It’s not Lee Soo-ah.”

But Soo-ah cut Choi Hee-won off in the middle of her words.

“It’s because I’m Kim Yu-han.”

And what followed was a calm voice.

“Kim Yu-han would have done that. ‘This scene wasn’t filmed because it was painful. This scene wasn’t filmed because it was dangerous’…. I can’t say that to the viewers either.”

“…. ” “I’m going to act like this in the future too.”

Then everyone started to have strange expressions.

“And don’t misunderstand.” “…Misunderstand?” “Yes. I mean, please don’t look at me like I’m an actress who is struggling to film while enduring all sorts of pain. The reality is different. Not at all.”

Soo-ah said.

“I’m having more fun now than ever before.”

Smiling. With a smile that had no lies in it.

◈◈◈◈◈

Filming continued after that.

“Let’s go one more time!”

Seo Yeon-ju’s scene.

“Go as cruel as possible! Abandon your humanity!”

And the scenes of those who played the roles of criminals.

The filming set was getting hotter and hotter thanks to Soo-ah, but there were a few things that were particularly noticeable.

First of all, Park Do-hee was determined.

“I’m not going to faint today… I’m confident….”

First of all, after a fierce discussion by the production team, the scene that was salvaged from the mock filming – Park Do-hee biting her arm and fainting – was kept as is.

Therefore, from now on, Park Do-hee, Kim Sun-il, and Lee Soo-ah would film other scenes. Park Do-hee let out shouts several times.

Another thing.

“…. ”

The big fish that Kim I-seo mentioned.

The CF team of Product Extreme. And Director Go Tae-min.

The two camps began to pay attention to Soo-ah.