“Lunch is ready.”
The staff started disappearing one by one when they heard the voice. Other than a few people to look after the equipment, they all left the gym.
“Go and have lunch. You’ll have to be back by 2.”
The leader left those words before leaving. The time right now was 1:20 p.m. They had to finish their meals in 40 minutes and come back. The staff were heading to the school cafeteria as though this was planned beforehand. Maru wondered if he could join them.
“We have to eat separately.”
The man spoke as he took off the training clothes. Maru found out his name during the wait. Park Woojoo. Although he said that he had a stressful childhood thanks to his name[1], he said that he liked it right now.
“We don’t get any food?”
“For us, we receive separate lunch money. 3000 won. So we have to eat outside.”
Maru nodded. He wondered if there was any place to eat outside the school. He remembered seeing a Bunsik restaurant when he was driven here. It wasn’t that far from the school entrance according to his memory. The dozen or so supplementary actors scattered. Some just ate some bread and milk that they brought beforehand. Maru walked towards the school gates through the back of the school. The luxurious imported cars had increased in number. Most of them were Mercedes-Benz. BMW and Audi could be seen here and there as well.
“This one’s huge,” Woojoo spoke.
“It has to be. It’s priced that way too.”
“It’s priced that way? I haven’t seen this emblem before.”
“That one’s a Mercedes-Benz as well.”
“This is a Mercedes-Benz? That’s not how I remember it looking.”
“It’s called the Maybach. If I were you, I wouldn’t be standing in front of that car. Scratch that and you might have to sign a slave contract.”
Maru brushed past Woojoo who was standing in front of the sedan. There was a Rolls-Royce next to the Maybach as well. He was wondering why the parking space right at the entrance was empty, but now that he saw the brand of the car, he understood why. It was probably something like the VIP parking space.
“So does it cost around 50 million won? I’m not knowledgeable when it comes to foreign cars.”
“50 million? That’s cute. It’s probably more like 700 million.”
“700 million? I guess I’m not getting one my entire life then.”
“Only the rich can afford stuff like that.”
“But hey, you’re quite knowledgeable about cars, knowing things like that.”
“Yeah, well.”
It was some trivia that he gained through work. When he was a road manager, he frequented places like Cheongdam-dong, Apgujeong-dong, and Myeong-dong, driving his actors to work. The first thing to watch out for when driving was safety, but in reality, he had to be more careful of the real-estate-on-wheels. He remembered the words he heard from a senior manager, who told him that his life would rapidly make a sharp fall if he ran into one of those.
He passed by the parking lot and arrived at the school entrance. The security guard nodded his head after giving them a glance. Following the road that led downwards, Maru found the Bunsik restaurant to his left. Woojoo and two other supplementary actors entered that place, while the rest headed towards the convenience store that was a little further away.
The restaurant was quite empty. It seemed to be because it was targeted towards students. On the wall, there were post-its full of writing from students. Celebrity autographs could be seen here and there as well. Maru wondered if this place was well-known.
They ordered the things they wanted to eat. Maru ordered a bowl of ramyun and a roll of kimbap. He wanted to eat some Doenjang-jjigae as well, but he didn’t order one since he knew that these kinds of places didn’t have good Doenjang-jjigae since it was targeted towards students.
“That kid back there was horrible. He has a good face, but he couldn’t look more awkward when he says his line.”
“It’s not just him, is it? Though, he did mess up four times in a row. If the producer had a bad personality, he would’ve been told to go home already.”
Since most of the others had experience doing this job already, they talked about how it was on other drama sets. Woojoo also talked about his experiences. Maru, who had nothing to say, just listened to the story as he drank the warm ramyun broth.
A lot of words were exchanged, but they were generally talking about the same thing – that it was extremely rare to find places where supplementary actors were treated well, as well as that it was extremely common to not get paid.
“Do they pay you on a daily basis like on construction sites?” Maru asked the others.
They all shook their heads at the same time.
“It’s all paid two months later. Am I right, everyone?”
When Woojoo said so, the others nodded their heads.
“It’s not like shooting the episode immediately makes money. Everything’s calculated after it’s aired. That’s why we receive payment in two months.”
“In my case, I have to actually go to the production company and get my pay, so it’s quite a hassle.”
“For us, they do directly deposit the money into our bank accounts, but more often than not, they delay their payment. So it’s hellish when paying for bills. It’s because they’re supposed to pay on the day I pay bills.”
One of them shook their head. Paid in two months? A part-time job was done because of the need for quick cash, so this was quite a weird way of payment.
“If you know what you’re doing or go through the leader, it’s okay, but if you get the work through some weird branch company, you’ll be in for a hard time.”
“I was like that when I started out. I went to them after looking at the ad in the newspaper and worked for two days, but the company that was supposed to pay me just disintegrated into thin air. I had to pay an application fee too.”
“Those kinds of occurrences are everywhere. It will be better if the TV stations have full control over them, but they don't. That’s why it’s harder for us. A friend of mine worked for about two months, and about 3.5 million won’s worth of money, but he never got paid. They said the company went bankrupt, and that they couldn’t take responsibility. It’s a hell of a world.”
They were a ‘passer by 1’ in the drama, and they were treated as one in reality as well. These companies were not the primary subcontractors of the TV stations, but were more like secondary, tertiary, or even quaternary subcontractors. TV stations – drama subcontractor – supplementary actors company – and then their branch company. As Maru knew what kind of things happened with one more chain in the distribution process, he could only smile in vain. There were always people that took advantage of the loopholes in a system.
“Isn’t there something like a labor union?”
When he talked about a labor union, the three others widened their eyes. They all smiled in vain.
“A labor union, huh. As far as I know, there is one. The KPU[2]. Am I right?”
The other two nodded at Woojoo’s words.
“But we don’t apply. We’re treated like temporary workers rather than official employees.”
Hearing those words, Woojoo added.
“I once got into a fight with a company once. After all, my pay was getting delayed indefinitely. Thanks to that, I couldn’t do any work for a long time because I was blacklisted by them. I looked into the KPU, but they told me that they can’t do anything. Fortunately, I met the current leader and was able to get more work now, but I feel the chills when I just think about what happened back then. If you want to fight, not only do you need the courage, you need to be prepared to face the consequences as well.”
“You must regret your actions then.”
“Hm, no, not really. If I endured it, I would’ve just felt more pathetic. I can handle physical hardsh.i.p.s, but mental hardsh.i.p.s are bad.”
He smiled bitterly. Maru did not talk about that anymore. Since when did this country’s laborers receive any kind of good treatment? Even in the faint memories of his 45-year-old self, he could remember news about labor unions going on strikes, so it would be even worse right now, where laborer’s rights were practically in the ditch.
At the same time, Maru realized that Woojoo wasn’t just a naïve young man. Unlike his silly smiles, he was a man who could fight against injustice. Being able to bear the consequences and press forward with fighting against injustice was an incredibly difficult, as well as courageous, thing to do. Maru himself wouldn’t be able to do it. If he could gain profit by hopping on the bandwagon of injustice, he would hop on it without a second thought. Compromise was the path to stability.
That was why he considered people like Woojoo as cool.
“But it’s not all bad. If you get to work with the true actors, it’s really enjoyable.”
“You’re right. I once worked together with the actress Gong Yeonsoo, and she actually paid for the meals for all of the supplementary actors. She kept coming up to us and asking if we were okay too. That’s when I became a fan of hers.”
“I met her as well. It was during a traditional drama, and she was really kind. She’s pretty, both on the outside and on the inside. The man that gets to take her as a wife must have saved the country in his previous life.”
Gong Yeonsoo. She was known as the Drama Queen. She became famous during her late-teens, and the rumor that a drama would always be successful with her in it started floating around during her mid twenties. That was something he heard from the host of a TV program that his sister was watching.
A drama that aired at the end of last year, titled ‘Wing of Love’, became so successful that even Maru knew about it. 54% peak viewing rate. It was a view rate that put all other dramas aired at the same time to shame. Gong Yeonsoo was the main heroine of that drama.
The three people started praising Gong Gyeonsoo. A woman in her early thirties, whose beauty had matured, whose personality was more beautiful than a flower. There wasn’t a single bad word about her. The evaluation of her was just that good.
“Oh, we should get going now,” Woojoo said as he looked at the clock. Since they were chatting, they were nearly at the end of their allocated lunch time. They quickly paid for their meals and walked towards the school. There weren’t any people in the convenience store. It seemed that they went ahead.
When they walked past the school gates, they saw students at the school field. They were doing a group skipping rope. As they were told not to disturb the students as much as possible, they walked to the back of the school.
“Just what happened here I wonder.”
It was just then when a leisurely voice could be heard. Maru looked at the group of middle-aged people in front of the Maybach. One man was looking at the bonnet with a groan.
It was obvious that there was a problem. At times like these, the best thing to do was to just walk past pretending to not know anything. The others seemed to think the same thing as they walked past. Just then,
“Huh? It’s him. I saw him standing in front of your car, director, ” the middle-aged woman pointed at Woojoo as she spoke.
“What?”
Woojoo turned around in a fl.u.s.ter. A middle-aged woman was still pointing at Woojoo with her finger. Middle-aged people with heavy atmospheres started looking at Woojoo.
“You were standing in front of this car, right? I saw you from the other side.”
“Yes. I was. I was just looking at the car. I mean, it was the first time I saw such a car.”
“He’s suspicious. I don’t think he’s a student here. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for the drama they’re shooting over there.”
“A drama?”
The middle-aged woman looked at the others of her group. Some of them nodded since they knew about it.
“Then why were you standing in front of another person’s car?”
“I told you that I was just looking,” Woojoo raised his voice slightly.
He was suddenly being interrogated, so it wasn’t that surprising that he was getting angry.
“Hah! What a funny kid. Hey, young man. Why are you angry at me? You did something wrong, didn’t you? From what I see, you don’t look like a person that knows the rules around here.”
“The rules? Hello, ma’am. Did I do something wrong?”
“See? I told you he’s suspicious.”
“Excuse me!”
Woojoo’s voice became another level higher. He looked like he couldn’t stand being wronged.
Maru looked at the two alternately. What would happen to Woojoo if a commotion erupted out here? The cooperation of those middle-aged people was definitely necessary to shoot the drama here at this school. Woojoo did nothing wrong, so he wouldn’t be wronged or anything, but they might go to the producers of the drama later. The name of the crime? Offending their feelings. No, it was likely that the producers might act first. It might seem petty, but there were quite a lot of people who took those petty actions. Maru knew what kind of actions a person in a superior position did to a person in a socially lower position.
Maru grabbed Woojoo’s arm from the back. Woojoo flinched and looked back at him. Maru shook his head. ‘Why’ could be read from Woojoo’s eyes.
“Should I call the security guard?” Maru stepped up and asked.
He tried to be as polite as possible. He was expressing that he had no intentions on getting on their bad side.
“Security? Ah, Security. There’s a CCTV here, isn’t there? I guess I didn’t think about that.”
“Hey, go call him.”
Maru received the middle-aged group’s permission. Maru winked towards Woojoo and went to the security guard’s office to call the security guard. Only after the security guard came did they understand what was going on. The car’s emblem was out of place.
“There’s a CCTV in the parking lot, so I’ll go check right away.”
The security officer ran into the school building before coming back out with someone that looked to be one of the teachers here. The middle-aged woman that scolded Woojoo was still glaring at him. Whenever Woojoo looked like he was about to say something, Maru pulled on his arm to prevent him from speaking.
“I checked the footage, and it seems like some of the students played a prank during lunch time. I deeply apologize.”
The teacher took a deep bow. Only then did the middle-aged group start smiling.
“A student of the school? Haha, it’s natural to play around when growing up. It’s not like there was big damage done to the car, so don’t scold them too much,” the middle-aged owner of the car laughed heartily as he spoke.
The others also laughed saying that it was something that young people do. The scary atmosphere from before was all but gone.
“Hey. Don’t act suspiciously in the future. You’re lucky because you ran into good people like us. Others would have called the cops on you. Understand?” The middle-aged woman spoke.
She was still putting the blame on others until the end. Maru blocked Woojoo from taking big strides towards the woman. He also gave glances to the other two and had them help him hold Woojoo back from the group of middle-aged people.
“Geez.”
Woojoo sighed deeply. Hearty laughter could still be heard from the parking lot. The teacher and the middle-aged people were exchanging good words.
“There’s nothing good in getting angry at shit. Let’s just go.”
“Aren’t you angry?”
“Angry? If you become angry at every irrationality, then you’ll have a hard time living in South Korea.”
“….”
“I get what you’re thinking, but let’s get going for now. We get nothing back from getting angry, so there’s no point. Also, it’s almost time.”
Maru pushed Woojoo, who had a complex expression. At the same time, he remembered the faces of the group of middle-aged people, especially the middle-aged woman.
Avoid fights you can’t win, but remember their faces – that was what was on Maru’s mind.
Woojoo, who walked with heavy steps, sighed and told him ‘thanks for holding me back’ in a small voice. It seemed that his anger had calmed down a little.
Hot blooded youths are cool – Maru thought as he shrugged with a smile on his face.
[1] Woojoo means space.
[2] ‘Korea Television, Cinema, Theater Media Performer’s Labor Union’. Shortened to ‘KPU’ for ‘Korea Performer’s Union’.
