The Script-Eating Actor – Chapter 4

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, after my acting. They said they were enjoying the drama.”

“Wow, that’s a good sign!”

“As expected! I knew Ju-won Oppa would get it!”

“….”

Everyone except me was in a festive mood. I couldn’t be sulking alone, so I smiled appropriately and went along with them.

It’s even more nerve-wracking because I’m last in line.

At that moment, the meeting room door opened, and the casting director came in.

“Next is, Do Jae-hee?”

“Ah, yes.”

I got up from my seat.

“Go do well.”

I nodded at Park Chan-ik Team Leader’s perfunctory greeting and left the meeting room.

The drama office, which was only 10m away from the meeting room, felt so far away.

“You don’t have much experience, do you?”

I nodded roughly at the casting director’s question as he briefly scanned my profile.

“I did a little theater when I was in university…”

“Not theater.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Don’t be too nervous. Okay?”

Then, he patted my shoulder a couple of times and opened the door to the office.

Perhaps because they had already seen so many actors’ auditions, the office was filled with a hot, stuffy air that enveloped me. But soon that heat turned cold. The atmosphere itself wasn’t warm.

A long rectangular table was placed in a row at the back, and on the table, there were profiles with the souls of numerous actors, messily placed.

There was a camera in the corner, and there were about six people sitting.

They seemed to be the production PD, assistant director, and the directors, and I knew at a glance who the director was.

He was scanning me up and down with hawk-like eyes in the middle, and maybe because I was hesitant, he turned his gaze away from the start.

Somehow, the atmosphere isn’t good.

“I am Do Jae-hee.”

The person who answered my brief greeting was a man in his early 30s, who seemed to be the assistant director sitting on the far left.

“Yes… Do Jae-hee Actor-nim. Um, you received the side script, right?”

I answered the assistant director’s question.

“Yes.”

“But, you’re not holding it? Did you leave it behind?”

“Ah… that’s. I memorized it.”

“Yes?”

“I memorized all the lines.”

“… Ah.”

At my words, the assistant director’s lips curled up slightly. And the director’s gaze, which had turned away, returned to its place. But he spoke to me with a very expressionless face.

“You applied for the role of Kim Do-hoon, and the amount of lines isn’t small, but you memorized them all?”

“Yes.”

“You can look at it if you want, but anyway. Shall we take a look?”

It was a very low, cold voice. I thought that the sharp eyes I saw through his glasses were unusual, and as expected.

I lightly closed my eyes and pulled out ‘Kim Do-hoon’ that was in my head, and in my body, in each of my fingers.

And the role of Kim Do-hoon slowly rose from my toes and began to erupt.

“I will read from scene 17 of episode 1.”

The assistant director began to read the other person’s lines dryly. And I savored each line and responded.

Even though he is a supporting role, he is a character with his own narrative behind the main story.

If we were to rank the male leads, he would be third.

The major images written in the script reacted like animals, and the characteristics not in the script were created as if Kim Do-hoon and ‘Do Jae-hee’ met and interacted.

“Next is scene 6 of episode 2.”

And as each scene progressed, I could feel the atmosphere of the audition site, which had been as cold as ice, gradually warming up.

“Next is scene 25 of episode 3.”

How would I look in those people’s eyes? Without thinking too deeply, as I was acting, I could be sure.

‘This might work.’

There was a very small smile on the director’s lips, and the woman in her 40s sitting next to the director was looking at me with a big, beaming smile, as if she were watching her cute youngest son’s talent show.

“The last scene. Scene 33 of episode 4.”

Episode 4 has a scene that emphasizes that the role of ‘Kim Do-hoon’ is very attractive.

The lines that start calmly gradually gain explosive power, and the scene where he pours out his passion at the end. It was a scene that required an immersive performance, and when I finished acting, the director’s mouth was slightly open.

It was as if he was about to say ‘Oh…’ but quickly shut his mouth.

“Thank you for your performance.”

And at the same time as the director’s very short closing remark, applause broke out. It was applause from the woman in her 40s sitting next to the director.

“Wow! That was really chilling.”

I could easily tell who that woman was. A woman who sat next to the director at the audition site and had enough influence to exclaim even though the director didn’t comment.

The writer.

“How did you catch even the subtle parts? In episode 1, there’s a sentence that says, ‘There is pain from the separation, an outwardly visible disease.’ and you habitually blinked your eyes when the emotion grew, expressing it with a slight tic? Is that right?”

I nodded at the writer’s question.

“Yes, I didn’t know what kind of image you had in mind, so I did it as I pleased. If you were displeased, I apologize…”

“It’s excellent. The image I had in mind while writing was exactly that kind of image.”

At the writer’s praise, the production PD and the assistant director’s faces brightened.

It felt like they were saying, ‘We finally found it.’

However, the director’s comment had not yet come out. I waited, hiding my emotions as calmly as possible.

The director opened his mouth.

“When did you memorize all the lines?”

“I memorized them all two days ago.”

“… Is that so?”

The director looked at the casting director, and the casting director said.

“Uh… we sent the full script up to episode 4 to each agency two days ago? Then, you memorized it all in one day?”

… Unintentionally, that’s how it is.

Sorry, friends who couldn’t memorize the lines.

“That’s amazing. Both memorizing the lines and analyzing them. It’s top-notch, isn’t it?”

The production PD subtly praised me, and finally, praise flowed from the director’s mouth.

“It’s excellent. Well done.”

It was short, but it was the most intense praise for me.

Whether the words “well done” were the director’s promised ending comment, the casting director got up from his seat to guide me out, but the director stopped him.

“I’ll ask you one more thing.”

“Ah, yes. Please do. Director-nim.”

The casting director hurriedly sat down, and I also sat down with a bewildered face.

It was a question. The director asked.

“Looking at you now, it seems like you have analyzed the role of ‘Kim Do-hoon’ very thoroughly… If the lines increase a little, or the character itself changes, can you do it?”

This question, it feels good somehow.

I nodded confidently.

“Of course.”

Then, for the first time, a bright smile appeared on the director’s face.

“I like how your eyes change 180 degrees between when you’re acting and when you’re not. Good, you can go.”

“… Thank you.”

I bowed my head and got up from my seat. The casting director guided me to the door, and since I was the last one, I was alone in returning to the meeting room.

“Good work.”

The casting director patting my shoulder and the voices heard from beyond the closing door were.

“Where did an actor like that pop out from?”

“They’ve been debuted for quite a while, why didn’t we know about them until now?”

These were the conversations, and soon the door closed.

I stood there blankly, seized by the urge to eavesdrop on their conversations more, but I moved my feet.

It felt strange.

Have I ever received such high praise while acting before?

Even if I get eliminated here, it was a good time, enough that I wouldn’t be regretful anymore.

When I returned to the meeting room, Park Chan-ik Team Leader and the juniors were watching my appearance, but they all had eyes that didn’t expect much.

They just said calmly,

“It took quite a while?”

That was all.

I answered nonchalantly.

“Is that so.”