Chapter : 26
Since it was just September, the beginning of autumn, the body that had been drenched by the water from the fire truck was quickly losing heat.
“Haejin… when will I be able to accept your death?”
Haein absentmindedly looked up at the sky, only half-covering her shoulders with a blanket.
“Ms. Haein, that was good just now. Your emotional line was great, everything was good! But at the end, you keep messing up the line. Is the pronunciation difficult?”
“Director! I think Haein is having trouble getting her emotions right since it’s been a while since she stood in front of the camera. Let’s take a ten-minute break!”
“Okay! Everyone, grab a coffee and meet back here!”
At Hyuk’s words, the staff scattered, and in the instantly emptied space, Haein sank to the floor as if her legs had given out.
“Haein.”
“Yeah. Just a moment, I’ll memorize the script again.”
“…But you already know the whole script.”
He was about to say something, but Haein’s gaze was entirely fixed on the script. She looked anxious. Watching her repeat the lines mechanically without even breathing seemed pitiful.
“My family… died. That little flame extinguished right before my eyes…! No one! No one cared about that death!”
“You should pause and take a breath here at ‘right before my eyes’.”
Haein nodded slightly and read the part Hyuk had pointed out slowly.
“Right before my eyes… that little flame extinguished…!”
It certainly seemed to come across better than before. After catching her breath, Haein repeated the same lines dozens of times until the staff returned ten minutes later.
“Ms. Haein, are you ready with your emotions?”
“Yes. Director! I think I’m ready to go in immediately.”
“Okay. Your emotions were good earlier. Just don’t mess up the lines.”
“Shoot!”
“Rolling! Please turn off your phones!”
Dojun, who had just finished an important meeting and arrived at the set, watched Haein as she entered.
The <Hypnotize> that he had seen dozens of times, ‘Hongsul,’ was resurrected right before his eyes.
Hongsul’s gaze toward Officer Baek was still complicated. Having held back her sigh, she exhaled her restrained emotion in words.
“My family… haah, my family is dead. That little flame extinguished right before my eyes. No one! No one cared about that death, and now you need me? After pushing me away… now you come?”
A strangely uncomfortable expression appeared on the director’s face. He scratched his head, shaking it slightly, as if the scene Haein created didn’t match his vision.
“Cut! Let’s go one more time!”
“Rolling again! Fire truck, spray a little more water!”
“My family… is dead! My family is dead! That little flame extinguished right before my eyes. No one! No one cared about that death, and now you need me? After pushing me away… now you come?”
Dojun also sensed a subtle problem. Hongsul’s expression changed whenever she mentioned her family’s death.
In <Hypnotize>, Hongsul is calm about her family’s death. The situation that befell her made her that way. But Yoon Haein was not calm.
They repeated the same line for another two hours. The fire truck left briefly to refill water, and as the scene dragged on, the exhausted staff began to voice complaints one by one.
However, now that everyone knew Haein’s younger sibling had died, no one could criticize her issue. The atmosphere on set only added pressure on Haein.
“Haein.”
Sitting alone in the waiting room, Haein, her wet hair hanging down, was obsessively poring over the script.
“Yoon Haein.”
Unable to stand it any longer, Hyuk snatched the script from her hands and tossed it carelessly among the shopping bags filled with costumes.
“Why? I need to see this. Don’t interfere, Hyuk.”
“You know this isn’t about the script. You’ve memorized the entire thing!”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Haein reacted unusually sensitively. From that, he could tell she still hadn’t fully accepted Haejin’s death.
“You said it yourself. You said it’s impossible to act in front of the camera. That you can’t show someone else’s side.”
“….”
“Right now, you’re showing Yoon Haein, not Hongsul. That’s why you said you could do <Hypnotize>. Because there’s a monologue where you can remain as Yoon Haein without becoming Hongsul.”
It was as if her innermost thoughts had been exposed.
Exactly as he said, she tried to complete the monologue as Yoon Haein because she couldn’t become Hongsul. But that Yoon Haein couldn’t accept her sibling’s death, so she couldn’t even complete the monologue.
In the end, she was nothing more than a crippled actor.
She had to cross that line. No matter that it was a monologue, Yoon Haein was already overwhelmed by the atmosphere of <Hypnotize>. Hyuk continued.
“You’re showing Yoon Haein right now. You’re not even trying to show Hongsul; you’re just drawing your own pain. Is this acting? Have you completely given up on portraying someone else in front of the camera?”
Haein hesitated at Hyuk’s unusual tone. His usually gentle eyes felt unusually intense and alien. Haein finally turned her gaze away.
“…Stop. Stop it.”
“No. When you said you’d start again, I thought you had at least some willpower. I wanted to see you create someone other than Yoon Haein in front of the camera.”
It was a necessary critique, even if no one wanted to say it. In this state, Yoon Haein couldn’t move forward.
Having once experienced the end of an actor who couldn’t move forward, Hyuk couldn’t let her go through it twice.
Haein’s talent was too great to give up the path she hadn’t fully walked, and the passion hidden within that talent was immense.
That’s why she couldn’t give up.
“Look at me. Watch me portray Hongsul.”
Hyuk grabbed Haein’s shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. Haein’s eyes trembled anxiously at Hyuk’s unusually firm expression, and she pushed his hands away.
“…Stop.”
“Yoon Haein!”
“I said stop!”
The script in Haein’s hands fell weakly to the floor.
She had thought she could handle the monologue. But the death of Haejin within it could not pass through her lips.
Five years had passed, yet she still hadn’t accepted her sibling’s death.
When would I ever fully accept my sibling’s death?
She suddenly recalled leaving the entertainment industry in a rush five years ago. If she couldn’t accept Haejin’s death, she wouldn’t be able to uncover the truth hidden in that incident either.
Her mind grew more and more tangled. And a voice cut through the chaos, breaking into her thoughts.
“Let’s go in for a moment.”
Haein looked toward the doorway at the voice outside. Quietly, the waiting room door opened, and Dojun entered, carrying an unidentified stack of documents.
outstargram
[Dodokyung updated her profile picture! Everyone ♥ I uploaded the mission video on MiTube ♥]
Really nice. Dodokyung suits any concept lol
Unnie! Is this allowed in auditions? So pretty it’s almost cheating ♡
└ Haha, the above comment is too strong, but I admit it, Dodokyung is super pretty
└ Honestly, she’s the top among the 70 this time. Appearance-wise.
Management Dio
Sitting anywhere in the empty conference room, Dokyung quickly scrolled through the comments on SNS.
[The One: Actresses] It had only been six hours since the first mission video upload, but thanks to the algorithm, or maybe the company’s excellent handling, the view count was rising faster than expected.
The manager in charge, watching Dokyung focus on the video, looked at her with a worried expression.
