His hands moved before his eyes opened. He grabbed the phone by his head and took two breaths. Ring – the alarm rang. He probed out for the button on his phone due to his blurry vision. Today was the last day of November. The early morning air was cold even indoors.
He washed his face lightly and put on his jersey.
“You leaving?”
“Yes, father.”
“It’s cold outside. You should wear warm clothes.”
“I am. You’re going down today again, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Look after your mother and your sister while I’m gone.”
“I’ll try to look after my sister, but I don’t think I need to look out for Mrs. Lee. She’s very reliable.”
“That’s true.”
“There’s medicinal tonic in the vegetable compartment in the fridge. You should have one and take some for when you go down.”
Maru put on his trainers and left the house. The outside air seeped into his clothes. The air was frosty. He felt like he could produce a crispy sound if he breathed in deeply and bit the air.
He exercised before walking down the stairs. He walked along the hiking course up the mountain before doing some vocal exercises. He took it slow so that the muscles in his neck and his vocal cords had plenty of time to warm up. He did some more exercises until he started sweating before returning to his house. His father had left, and his sister was eating breakfast.
“Good for you, not going to school.”
“You also won’t be going to school once you do your CSATs, so don’t feel jealous.”
Bada, who saw the time, stuffed the rest of the food in her mouth and quickly left the house. She wouldn’t have to worry if she woke up just 10 minutes earlier, but if she could do that, she wouldn’t be Han Bada.
Maru took a shower and sat at the table.
“I put some money for living expenses in your account,” he said as he scooped some doenjang soup.
“I told you you should save it for yourself.”
“I’m saving up plenty for myself, so don’t worry. If you don’t need it, then you should save up for when Bada gets married.”
“There’s a long time left until Bada gets married.”
“Who knows? She might end up getting married early.”
He finished eating and put the bowls in the sink. His mother, who was washing the dishes, suddenly spoke out to him,
“I’m thinking of working again.”
“Is your wrist and waist fully healed?”
“They healed ages ago. I’ve had enough of playing around as well. I don’t have anywhere to go now, so I should look for a side job. Your mom is still pretty young to be playing around, don’t you think?”
“As long as you’re okay, I have no qualms about it. But don’t do anything dangerous. Not being injured is the same as saving money.”
His mother shook off the water from the bowls and laughed.
“Do you know?”
“Know what?”
“You’ve been using formal speech for a while.”
“It’s about time I reached that age. Do you find it awkward?”
His mother shook her head.
Maru brewed some coffee and sat on the sofa. As he went to an employment-focused high school, he had to start looking for a job during the month after the CSATs, but there were rarely any students who actually started working at factories or looking for employment. Most of them just got proof of work through their acquaintances or family members and handed that to the school. Thanks to that, there was practically a long holiday until the graduation ceremony in February.
His mother left the house, saying that she was going to visit the neighbors. Maru watched the news for a while before picking up his script. He lowered the TV volume and put a voice recorder on the table. He checked to see that the record button was pressed before coughing slightly.
“Did I do something wrong? Do you think I should have said something else back then?”
He spoke without putting any emotions in. He checked to see if there were any awkward parts when speaking and kept reading the parts he had to memorize today.
After saying the last line, he stopped the recorder and played it back. He focused his attention on the voice that was flowing out. Since the voice didn’t contain any emotional ups and downs, the transmittance was key. He checked for any pronunciation errors and checked the lines on the script. Maru focused on his tongue movements when he pronounced a silent t and recorded it again from the beginning.
The human body was made up of muscles that people could voluntarily move and those that moved involuntarily. The muscles that worked outside of his consciousness for homeostasis like his heart could be strengthened through exercise but could not be controlled. Actors had to do their best to use every single muscle other than those that worked to keep sustaining life.
Among them, the mouth and the neck were two parts that could not be left alone. Just like how a stewardess would try to smile while biting a pen to create a charming smile, actors had to hone their muscles endlessly in order to create various facial expressions.
Maru read the lines again while being conscious of the structure of his mouth. The sound changed according to how his breath scratched the ceiling of his mouth. The recorder that was recording his voice was a useful tool that allowed him to judge his practice objectively. Listening to his voice directly and listening to it through a voice recorder were completely different. Actors had to place more importance on their voices that could be heard through a machine.
Click.
He pressed the stop button. The emotions he could feel from the recorded line were satisfactory.
He looked at the clock. It was 3 p.m. It was about time for him to leave. He put the script he placed on the table inside his bag before leaving the house. He got on a bus to Suwon station and then got onto a train headed for Seoul. As Byungchan was busy looking after Sooil, who had recently started a historical drama in the countryside, he wasn’t able to get a ride for the time being.
Inside the train, he read a book. Since his occupation was one where he consumed his emotions, a time to recharge those spent emotions was an important process as well. He was reading Gwak Joon’s latest work until he arrived at his destination. He left the station and grabbed a taxi.
“Yoo-un market, please.”
The taxi driver glanced at him before asking if he took the CSAT exams.
“No, I didn’t take mine.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t plan to go to college.”
“I see you must have your circumstances.”
The taxi driver clicked his tongue and said that he didn’t need the extra 300 won change before giving Maru back the note. Maru smiled and closed the door.
“I wonder if it’s going to start snowing soon.”
He looked up at the sky, and it looked pretty dim. The sky was filled with dark clouds and seemed like it was about to start snowing at any moment. He also saw on the news that there was a high chance of snow in the capital region.
“I hope the first snow falls.”
That was the first thing he heard when he arrived at the shooting set. Producer Jayeon was the one who said those words while looking up at the sky.
“The first snow already fell in Daegwan-ryeong.”
“A snow that falls in another place is unrelated to me. The snow that falls on my head is the first snow.”
He learned something new today. Maru squinted and looked up at the sky. He felt like something white like snow had just fallen.
“Don’t forget to wrap up the camera and watch out for the cables. We don’t want any wire stripping in this weather.”
The camera team seemed rather busy. They were putting on protective clothing in preparation for the cold and the snow. The lights team was also tuning their equipment in preparation for the potential snow.
“It would definitely look good if it snows,” Ganghwan said, approaching him.
Maru nodded. Since this was a scene where the two characters held a quiet conversation in the pojang-macha, it would look great with some snow. The white steam from the food would also look much better.
“I heard that you decided not to go to college,” Ganghwan said while offering him a hot pack.
It was one of those that warmed up the more you shook it. He accepted the pack and replied,
“I’ll see what happens and then go to one if they invite me.”
“Don’t you have to become famous for that?”
“You sure do.”
“You sure are getting ahead of yourself.”
“They say being ambitious is good.”
“Boys be ambitious?”
Ganghwan made a suspicious smile and closed his mouth. Just then, Maru saw a piece of white fur falling in front of his eyes. He reflexively reached his hand out. The fur that fell on his palm melted into nothing. It was snow, not fur.
“It’s snowing! Watch out so that it doesn’t get into any of the equipment.”
“Get the clothes! Put all the leather ones back into the car!”
“Get out the oil heaters.”
Voices could be heard from everywhere. Amidst the chaos, Jayeon reached out to the sky and shouted ‘yes’ in an excited voice. Some of the staff glared at her before going back to their work while sighing.
“There there, get to standby quickly! Let’s get the snow in the background!”
Snow started falling. It wasn’t the kind that would pile up. It was the light kind that people would feel fine with getting hit with; the kind that could be expressed as elegant.
“The director is overjoyed.”
“She sure is.”
He took off his coat and changed into the school uniform behind the car. When he returned with the hot pack – the one that Ganghwan gave him – in his pocket, they were ready to shoot. The speed of the veteran staff made him click his tongue.
“It’s your last shoot today, Maru, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Jayeon patted his shoulders.
“Since you did well until now, let’s finish off on a good note too. Same to you, actor Yang.”
“I get it. Get going with the rehearsal already.”
Jayeon pointed at the camera and spoke,
“We’re going to move the camera as little as possible, and we won’t separate the scene into many cuts either. We’re just going to shoot you two like a picture in a gallery, so do your best acting. This angle entirely depends on the actors.”
“That puts a lot of pressure on me.”
Maru smiled faintly.
“That’s what I want you to feel. I know what kind of synergy you two can bring, that’s why I did it. The camera director also said that this picture would look the best.”
“Yeah, if the director wants you to do it, then you just have to do it.”
Ganghwan brushed up his hair once. Steam started rising from the pot of fish cakes. Ganghwan crouched and adjusted the valve. The broth that boiled like boiling magma calmed down and seemed like the tranquil sea. There was enough steam to make the pojang-macha look moody.
Jayeon looked around the pojang-macha once and nodded before walking away in satisfaction.
“It’s been a while since we did anything with the two of us.”
“Yeah. Yuna isn’t here either.”
“It’s snowing too. Looks like today’s gonna be good. Let’s get something satisfactory for our director, yeah?”
“I just follow your lead, hyung-nim. Please lead me well. I’ll follow you.”
Ganghwan smiled nonchalantly before stretching his arms out. When he lowered his arm with a groan, he was no longer Yang Ganghwan; he had become the affectionate owner of the pojang-macha, Lee Jaewoo, who was also a writer who had hit a block. Maru exclaimed every time he saw Ganghwan’s method acting that switched his character in an instant.
Maru also lightly shook his head and calmed down his emotions. The more absorbed in acting he was, the clearer his mind became, which made his calculations quicker as well. It was impossible to become the character in this state. The only thing he could do was to meticulously analyze the character and cover that analysis with the skin of Han Maru.
“If you’re ready, let’s start!” Jayeon shouted.
Following that, the familiar cue sign fell from the director.
“You’re alone today,” Ganghwan said indifferently as he shook the moisture off the noodles.
No, he was ‘Lee Jaewoo’. Maru picked up an egg from the basket in front of him. The character he played, Park Haejoon, was not someone who reached out for other people’s items so easily. Ordinary politeness and a bit of introvertedness was his identity, but he had changed after meeting Yoon Jihae. The audience would feel a discrepancy if he showed a drastic change, so he had to keep reaching out to the audience with trivial actions like these.
“It just so happened.”
He thought about Yuna, Yoon Jihae’s face. He lined up the emotions that rushed up within him and observed them. It was time to see which one suited this situation the most, as well as which one he could use to match Ganghwan’s acting.
“Did you two get into a fight?”
“No. We didn’t fight, we decided to be just friends.”
“Just friends, you say.”
“Ahjussi.”
“What?”
“Do you have a lover as well?”
“I did.”
“How about now?”
“I don’t have one.”
“Why did you break up?”
“Because my future looked uncertain.”
“That’s a clear answer.”
“As you get older, you start despising things that are vague. Do you want some fishcakes?”
“I only have 1,000 won.”
“It’s a freebie.”
“Then I’ll gladly take it.”
Silence fell as agreed upon beforehand. Maru rolled the egg on the table before taking out a ring from his pocket.
“Couple ring?”
“How did you know?”
“I saw you two wearing one together. Did she give it to you?”
“Yes, she did.”
“I see.”
“Uhm, ahjussi.”
“What?”
“Do you think I did something wrong?”
As he fidgeted with the ring, the udon bowl was placed in front of him.
“If you don’t know, then I’m sure you did something wrong.”
Maru picked up his chopsticks and put some udon in his mouth. There was one emotion that popped out from the line. He judged that it was the right one, so he let that emotion take over. The moment the noodles touched his lips, his chin shook. He lowered his head as he swallowed the noodles. He could see the camera lens flash at the perimeter of his vision. He felt conscious about it but did not get hung up on it. This was the basics of camera acting.
