episode_0072

Jung-hoon is a doctor with a wicked soul.

When he saw Naju, who had been kidnapped and tied up in a basement, instead of freeing her, he interrogated her about the whereabouts of his daughter.

“Hey.”

With a sinister look in his eyes,

Jung-hoon grabbed Naju’s fallen hair and asked,

“I’m looking for someone. Her name is Yeon-hee. You should have heard of that name. That way, I might be willing to help you out.”

Truly the epitome of a person without blood or tears…

Watching Hong Geun-sik portray Jung-hoon, the audience felt a chilling sensation.

It wasn’t just because Hong Geun-sik’s character was evil and wicked.

It was because his acting vividly brought out the character’s traits.

Unexpectedly strong stimuli can give people goosebumps.

That’s how Hong Geun-sik’s acting was.

People were all in awe.

“As expected…”

“Ugh. I think I’d rather not watch. I might lose my touch instead.”

Some even thought it would be better not to watch Hong Geun-sik’s acting.

Encountering such a different level of acting could negatively impact their own tempo.

Hong Geun-sik’s acting was on a whole different level compared to others.

Just delivering lines alone overwhelmed everyone.

However…

“Oh, that name. I know it.”

Seo Yi-soo speaks her lines.

“Huh?”

“What’s this?”

And once again, people were surprised.

It wasn’t just because Seo Yi-soo delivered her lines.

“Is Seo Yi-soo following Hong Geun-sik’s rhythm…?”

Seo Yi-soo’s acting resonated with Hong Geun-sik’s intense emotions.

Of course, Seo Yi-soo’s acting was incomparable to Hong Geun-sik’s.

Even in emotional expression, which was Seo Yi-soo’s strength, she seemed lacking compared to Hong Geun-sik.

Seo Yi-soo’s acting couldn’t hold a candle to Hong Geun-sik’s.

But that was only natural.

The opponent was Hong Geun-sik.

Being overshadowed, being overwhelmed, was a natural course of action.

What was important was that she wasn’t completely left behind.

She was keeping up with the highest level of acting in the industry, representing South Korea.

Moreover, at this moment, Hong Geun-sik wasn’t acting in consideration of his scene partner.

He was simply acting as he pleased, igniting the flames.

No one in this room could follow Hong Geun-sik’s acting.

Only Seo Yi-soo could somewhat keep up with it.

“You understand? Good. She’s my ‘wife.’ Do you know what happened to her?”

The reading continues.

The two actors exchange lines.

“Wife? Well, she seems too young for that.”

“I know everything. If I close my mouth, you might never find that woman.”

And only the two of them could exchange such acting.

Cooling down the heat around them.

The heat that only the two of them could share spread throughout the reading room.

“Hmm.”

And while watching the two of them.

Director Choi Da-woon showed an interesting expression.

“It’s fascinating. How can she keep up with the teacher’s acting? It wasn’t like that before.”

Seo Yi-soo may not know herself.

In fact, she became famous among industry insiders before the general public.

It’s natural, as the eyes of the public and industry insiders have different standards.

The public’s eyes are honest.

It ends with liking it or not.

But industry insiders scrutinize acting with stricter criteria.

To those industry insiders, Seo Yi-soo’s acting had a mysterious charm.

“She’s terrible at acting, but strangely, many people praised her.”

That’s how Seo Yi-soo became a hot topic among industry insiders.

And Director Choi Da-woon, being a director,

Meeting various actors, casting them in his works, was his job.

Naturally, I had been monitoring the performance of the actor who had become a hot topic.

“Was it … and ? I confirmed that up to the early stages, right?”

That was just a few months ago.

And at that time, according to Choi Da-woon’s assessment, Seo Yi-soo shouldn’t have been able to perform the same way now.

She didn’t have that ability.

Choi Da-woon was a genius director, a person who trusted his own vision.

But what about now?

Seo Yi-soo had surpassed Choi Da-woon’s vision by showing acting that exceeded his expectations.

Choi Da-woon was unaware of Seo Yi-soo’s growth as an actress towards the end of filming.

At that time, Seo Yi-soo began a game towards humanity.

Of course, this new game could only be executed when the conditions were right to fully understand the character’s emotions.

Before that, she could only play the existing game of constructing a virtual personality.

But the desire planted in Seo Yi-soo by the character of Hae-soo, “I want to understand people,” settled in the depths of her humanity.

And that had an impact on her acting horizon.

Seo Yi-soo’s acting had changed to subtly reveal that desire for understanding and empathy.

That unconscious intention of understanding and empathizing.

It added depth to Seo Yi-soo’s acting.

Choi Da-woon may not have known the background, but he could at least acknowledge the fact that Seo Yi-soo had exceeded his expectations.

“Sometimes, characters outside the norm pop up. This is the world of actors.”

Suddenly, Hong Geun-sik’s words when casting Seo Yi-soo came to mind.

“Hmm. This is interesting.”

Choi Da-woon was a genius director.

The film industry was full of numerous variables, and various actors would cause just as many different problems.

But Choi Da-woon always controlled all those variables and achieved his goal.

That goal was simple.

“I must create the best work.”

Choi Da-woon was a person who ran solely for that one purpose.

And if there was one thing he had learned while working in the film industry all this time.

It was that there were many people in the film industry, each with their own thoughts and values, but in most cases, the experiential fact was, “I’m right, and you’re wrong.”

It was quite a conceited thought, but what could be done.

People were made up of what they experienced.

Choi Da-woon rarely made mistakes in his life, at least in the film industry.

“Right… this is refreshing.”

But today.

Choi Da-woon had to admit, after a long time, that he was wrong and Seo Yi-soo was right.

It was because of Seo Yi-soo.

Because of Seo Yi-soo, Choi Da-woon realized that his long-standing pride had been scratched.

He didn’t feel bad about that fact.

It was just that his brain cells were starting to move more actively due to the new stimulus he felt after a long time.

“Let’s shorten this scene a bit. Can we highlight Seo Yi-soo more? Or…”

Ping-grrr-

The pen in his hand started to perform acrobatics.

“…”

Before he knew it, Choi Da-woon had entered a state of concentration.

In his mind, the structure that had been established according to the original script was crumbling, and a new structure was beginning to take shape.

Choi Da-woon had said he could revise the script after watching the acting.

That bombshell statement had spurred on the enthusiasm of the supporting actors.

But looking at the results, the one who benefited the most from that statement was…

Seo Yi-soo, who had been uncomfortably affected by the results of his statement without even caring about the screen time.

Of course, it was only the fact that she was the biggest beneficiary, and it didn’t mean that there were no successful actors among the other supporting actors who had performed passionately.

“Even Han Seon-yul and Baek So-yoon. That idol too. Surprisingly, there are many young friends who act well in this production.”

was like that.

It was not fixed and dead, but it was moving and thriving like a living organism according to the situation, conditions, and growth of the actors.

The reading of ended like that.

The production team made adjustments to the existing framework while watching the actors’ performances.

The actors expressed their opinions to the production team, and it was a place where they corrected their own acting while watching others’ performances.

It was quite a passionate scene.

Naturally, that scene was fully captured on film.

This footage will be used in various ways for the promotion of future works.

Anyway, all of that is part of the process. From the moment the first shovel is put into the ground for the work, it will have meaning.

Until then, the actors devoted themselves to preparing for their performances and honing their skills.

Seo Yisoo was no exception.

Even after the reading ended, she continued to take acting lessons to learn the basics.

She studied her character in for her performance.

She also regularly went to action school for training.

And so, days passed.

“Shin Jihu, Shin Jihu.”

One day, as she was doing that.

“I’m here.”

Seo Yisoo made a phone call.

The recipient was Shin Jihu.

“Can you come over to my place and hang out today? Huh?”

Seo Yisoo pestered Shin Jihu, holding onto him despite his busy schedule.

“Isn’t today December 31st? It’s the last day of the year, spending it with family.”

Seo Yisoo now understood everything.

She had learned to say somewhat mischievous things.

That’s why.

Shin Jihu said,

“But there’s no one here who can be called my family. So, huh? Can’t we hang out together?”

She couldn’t bring herself to stubbornly refuse.

It was the end of the year.

It was the moment when the first day of January 1st dawned and 365 days had passed.

It was the day when the 365th day of the year rose.

It was the night before the end of that year.

It had been almost a year since Seo Yisoo, who had become a dragon, met Shin Jihu.

“Huh? Huh?”

It was also Seo Yisoo’s last day as a 20-year-old.