Life, Once Again!

Although it was August, the night at the campsite was quite chilly. There was a drizzle throughout the night, so the temperature dropped even further.

He took out the wet firewood from the brazier and put some dry firewood in it. He stuffed some small pieces of firewood in the pile and also some dried pinecones. When he used a lighter to light it, the fire lit up soon.

Myungjoon checked the tent after seeing the fire lit up. He saw Ganghwan and Maru sleeping back to back.

“Right, get some sleep. Some good sleep.”

You who want food, work for it. He poured some water into a pot and opened a pack of ramyun.

As soon as he added the powdered soup and the noodles, he heard a rustling sound.

Ganghwan crawled out of the tent, his eyes all swollen. He wriggled like a shedding snake and came over to the fire.

“Is it done?” Ganghwan asked with a sleepy expression. He was probably overcoming his desire to sleep with hunger.

“There’s still a long time until it’s done, so go wash your face. You’re supposed to be an actor, but the way you look now… sheesh.”

“Hyung, there isn’t anyone else here.”

Ganghwan yawned and stretched his arms out. As this was a camping site only enthusiasts knew about, there weren’t that many people.

Ganghwan left for a bit, saying that he was going to the bathroom.

“Good morning,” Maru said as he pressed down his bed hair.

“Had a good sleep?”

“Yes, I did. How about you, hyung-nim?”

“I had a great sleep thanks to the surround sound of one of you snoring and one of you grinding your teeth.”

Maru smiled awkwardly and crouched down next to him.

“Is it ramyun?”

“There’s nothing better than this for breakfast.”

“I’ll do it from here.”

“It’s almost done. You should get washed as well. Why do both of you have terrible faces when you’re supposed to be actors?”

“Now that I look at you, you look clean.”

“I washed up before I went to sleep.”

Maru also headed to the bathroom as well as he scratched his head.

The ramyun had finished cooking during the time he talked to the two actors. He placed the pot on the tree stump next to the tent. It was the makeshift table they had been using since last night.

He gave chopsticks and bowls to the two people when they came back from the bathroom.

“Let’s pack up and return once we finish eating.”

“Already?” Ganghwan said in disappointment.

It was okay to take it easy and depart in the afternoon, but he wanted to pack up quickly and go back to Seoul. Camping wasn’t that fun when you’re the big brother that has to take care of everything after all.

“Let’s come back once we’re done with the drama. The three of us,” Ganghwan said after eating some ramyun.

“We’ll come if the viewing rates are good. Otherwise, we’ll probably never see each other again,” Myungjoon replied semi-seriously.

Listening to Ganghwan’s chatter all day in a place surrounded by nothing but grass and trees was not an easy thing to do.

“Hyung-nim, let’s just go without the chatterbox next time.”

Hearing Maru’s words, Myungjoon smiled and nodded.

After the light breakfast, they started packing up. They packed up the trash into a trash bag and placed it next to the camping site management office.

Maru was the one behind the wheel. Ganghwan fell asleep the moment he sat down in the back seat. It didn’t seem to be a joke when he said that he could sleep for days if he was left alone. That was probably the energy source behind chatting without stopping.

“Light camping like this isn’t so bad,” Maru said.

“It’s good if you go with the people you get along with. It’s nice staring at a campfire too. Next time, let’s bring some proper food.”

“Let’s really get a whole pig that time. I thought we bought a lot, but Ganghwan-hyung’s appetite is really beyond my imagination.”

“He really ate without restraint, saying that he doesn’t need to lose weight for the role. Had I known that this would happen, I would’ve talked to the writer and made the character a skinny one.”

“Please do that next time.”

The car entered the highway.

Myungjoon opened his laptop and opened the script that writer Yoo sent him three days ago.

The schedule was decided the moment Ganghwan was cast. As a TV station founded by a newspaper company, there was a lot of advertisement as well.

Though, he really didn’t like them creating adverts for things that weren’t decided yet.

“Is that the script?” Maru asked

“Yes,” Myungjoon replied as he scanned the script. “This is the good thing about pre-produced dramas. We can start the shoot after the entirety of the story is set. We can also increase the density of the story because there aren’t that many episodes plotted.”

“And the episodes being aired are fixed too.”

“In the first place, we set that in stone. There will be no early endings or extensions. Things went well thanks to Ganghwan, who emphasized that they should lead the story tightly.”

Although his face was swollen, he ground his teeth at night, and was needlessly talkative, he was still a star. Not just an A-tier star, but an S-tier one. Thanks to Ganghwan’s support for the production team, the drama was progressing without much squabbling with the higher-ups.

The production budget increased slightly as well. This was thanks to Ganghwan lowering his own payment when he signed the contract.

“How are the lines? You think you can get used to them?” Myungjoon asked Maru.

A drama of an unfamiliar genre in a newly launched TV station. Everything was a series of challenges. That was why everyone was in this together. While writer Yoo worked on the overall frame of the script, he asked for opinions from the actors throughout, mainly about the lines.

“They’re mostly good. The lines express the characters well. It does feel somewhat excessive sometimes, but this might change when I actually do the shoot.”

“The lines don’t sound old-fashioned?”

“It’s good. It’s much better than awkwardly using newly created words. It’ll sound even more strange if we use new words while refraining from using old words intentionally.”

“Writer Yoo is very worried that his skills in writing might have dwindled. He’s someone who only used to write historical dramas, so he’s concerned about the tone of speech. You might find it bothersome, but I hope you can voice your opinions from time to time.”

“We’re all doing this hoping for good results. I don’t find it bothersome.”

There were some writers who wanted the actors to never touch the lines because it was the writer’s authority, and there were some who asked for opinions from the production crew and the actors.

There were advantages and disadvantages to each method, so neither one could be said to be right or wrong, but as this was an unfamiliar genre, it seemed better to ask for opinions from the people around.

“It has to look like it makes sense when it doesn’t.”

“That’s the most important part.”

Bringing imagination to reality needed ‘plausibility.’

The moment an audience asks ‘how does that make sense?’, the drama would be doomed.

No matter how good the story or how great the acting was, if there was no sense of logic to the plot, the drama would fall to being worthless.

“There’s a week left now.”

Next Tuesday, they would hold a ritual to wish for success at the set and start shooting.

The casting of actors, which was originally thought to be the big hurdle, was solved in a flash once Yang Ganghwan was on the list of main actors.

Scouting shooting locations was smooth sailing as well. Furthermore, the set of the apartment was finished, so the remaining thing to do was to spend all the remaining energy on the shoot.

“People don’t recognize you, do they? Even though you were a supporting character in a movie with 8 million ticket sales.”

“Please write ‘the guy that appeared in Depths of Evil’ in the intro. Or should I gain weight again? And cut my hair short too?”

“If you do that, you’ll have to act as the murderer Yoon Hojung instead of Ahn Changsik, you know?”

Maru faintly chuckled.

“But still, the TV station was releasing a lot of news articles. It looks like they’re doing all they can.”

“I also looked some of them up. They seemed to have made me into some kind of amazing actor. People are going to swear at me if they start comparing me to Ganghwan-hyung or something.”

“So you should do well.”

“I will. I don’t want to get sworn at.”

Maru was filled with leisure. Myungjoon trusted the two actors. Ganghwan had already proven himself time and time again, and Maru also indirectly told everyone that his acting as the newbie detective in the drama was not a fluke through the movie.

What would the combination of the two bring? That would be revealed next week when the shoot starts.

* * *

-I must bring disappointing news to our audience. Mr. Han Maru, why don’t you tell them yourself?

Maru followed up on Suyeon’s comment.

-I am starting a drama shoot soon.

-Why are you doing as you please?

-I need to make a living too.

-The payment for the radio must be small, huh?

-It’s definitely not a lot for sure.

Suyeon chuckled. Maru continued.

-I tried to reschedule as much as possible, but the result was that I couldn’t. So for a few months, I won’t be appearing on the radio.

-Forget it. We’re going to bring in a super handsome actor to sit on your seat. Our audience really loves you, but you’re leaving just like that. I’m disappointed.

-This noona is at it again. Everyone, I’m not quitting. I’m going to come back when I’m done with the shoot. Unless the program gets axed during the rescheduling, I will be here until the end of the program.

Suyeon raised her voice.

-Then let me ask a question right away. What if you could only choose one? The drama or the radio?

-Today, I’ll be selecting the songs. ‘Drama’ by Han Donggil. Please listen.

Maru took off his earphones and looked at Suyeon. She was staring at the screen expressionlessly as though she had never smiled at all.

“You were encouraging me about the drama before the start and all, yet that’s what you tell me?”

“Isn’t this what broadcasts are about?”

Suyeon chuckled as though she found it hard to hold back.

“People are all rather sad. They’re saying it’ll be rather bland for a while because the master of everyday life won’t be here.”

Suyeon gestured to him to come over and see. Most of the messages that the listeners sent in real-time were messages of encouragement.

There were some people who promised they would keep up with the drama. Though, there were some that were mad that they were promoting the drama on the radio program.

“Then please take care of the program while I’m not here.”

“I did that just fine when you weren’t here, so don’t worry. Oh, and how’s your relationship with Ganghwan-oppa?”

“We went camping together a while ago.”

“So you’ve become close, huh? That oppa is actually shy around people.”

“What? That can’t be right.”

“I’m not sure about anything else, but I’m sure I know more about him than you do.”

They were words that didn’t mean much, but to Maru, they sounded like they contained some meaning.

“Then I’ll take my leave now.”

“Good work today, call me when you’re off-shoot.”

“You’re buying me food?”

“No, so we can record an episode of the radio.”

“When I first met you, I thought you were someone who’s quiet but looks after people a lot.”

“What’s your impression now?”

“Someone who quietly extorts other people. There’s a hint of the president in you.”

Suyeon smiled and waved her hand, gesturing for him to leave.

Maru left the booth and said goodbye to the production crew.

“Come right away when you don’t have a shoot. Han Maru and our program are in this together until the end of the program, alright?”

“Sure, I’m a member here now.”

He left the studio. He took the elevator down and went to the lobby and ordered a cup of coffee.

He wouldn’t be coming here for a while. He had wrapped up everything on his schedule to focus on the drama. He was going to spend all of his free time studying acting.

He was playing a main character now, not a supporting one. On top of that, his partnering actor was Yang Ganghwan.

If an insufficiency was exposed in the drama and negatively influenced the performance of it, his reputation as an actor would fall to rock bottom.

Casting a young actor who was practically new to the industry should have been an adventurous move on the TV station’s part. He had to do well.

Although he had shot numerous works before, he couldn’t help but become nervous before the start of a new one. There were many times when a drama or a film didn’t go the way he expected.

“Yeah, I’m going back right now.”

He got in the car as he got a call from his wife.

Tomorrow was the first shoot. Tonight, he would probably have a long talk with his wife.

He should be able to do the shoot calmly once he heard the assessment of a meticulous acting teacher.