Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 35

Who Calls Them Outsiders (3)

* * *

“Hello.”

“Oh, Park Gun! I heard you have a reading today?”

“Yes. It’s in Practice Room 4.”

“I already got the message. There should be chairs and desks set up for you. By the way, that priest outfit looks great on you.”

“Thank you. I’ll make sure to tidy up when I’m done.”

Noh Hyun-suk, Roman’s vocal trainer, grinned.

“Don’t worry about it. We’re all in this together. We’re not too busy these days anyway.”

Reading day morning.

Usually, movie script readings take place at the production company’s office, but Roman’s practice room was borrowed because Keunbeom Studio didn’t have enough space to accommodate everyone.

“Wow, I get to see this place.”

“Hey, hey, don’t let your eyes wander. You’ll look like a country bumpkin.”

Keunbeom’s staff looked around Roman’s facilities, constantly exclaiming in admiration.

As a comprehensive entertainment company, there are many people, but because the area is so large, there are always plenty of empty practice rooms and recording studios.

Park, the head of the management support team, gladly offered one of them.

‘Park Gun’s movie? We have to film it here no matter what. Making a making-of video from the script reading scene isn’t just for dramas. If we film it well and send it to the PR team, Gong Gi-hyung will take good care of it.’

Starting today, all sorts of articles will be released in earnest.

There’s still some time left before the reading, but several of Keunbeom’s staff and related personnel have already arrived and are bustling around.

Last night, CEO Tae conveyed the progress so far in an excited voice.

-It’s amazing. Almost everyone Kim Director sent a love call to has come.

“So, does that mean that actress is also…?”

-Ah, Lee Jang-mi! She came at the last minute and auditioned with you. You should have seen it, Park. It’s a shame we didn’t film a separate video.

It was as expected. Her face, which said, ‘I’m not acting,’ was covered with regret and lingering feelings.

It would be a waste of time to try to catch her now. It’s better to let her come back on her own like this.

“How was it?”

I could picture CEO Tae grinning on the other end of the phone. After a moment of silence, he gave a strong review.

-How was it? She killed it completely.

Gun looked down at the scenario the staff had given him.

The story, into which Director Kim Ryul poured his heart and soul through revisions and more revisions, was like a sharp knife.

The details of Seo Yohan and the supporting actors have been modified, and the overall narrative has been strengthened with a few changes to the dialogue. It’s so good that you could believe it’s a remake, not just a remodeling.

‘I want to do it soon. Whether it’s reading or filming.’

Suddenly, Gun felt thirsty. This state had been going on for several days.

He drank water and coffee as he grabbed them, but it only moistened his throat and did not quench the thirst in his stomach.

He wants to act.

He wants to quickly feel the old memories of the Iron Kingdom again in front of the lights of the set.

“Hyung, let’s go. I heard the actors will be arriving soon.”

“Okay.”

Following his younger brother, Gun quickened his pace.

The day to go to that place, which is both this world and that world, is not far off.

* * *

1:45 PM. The actors opened the practice room door and gathered one by one.

Those who had been intimidated from the lobby entrance were surprised to see each other’s faces. Soon, the practice room became as noisy as a marketplace.

“Hey, Choi Seo-hyung! Why are you here?”

“Huh? Why are you here, senior?”

“Ryul hyung called me. My dad’s having a hard time, so I have to lend a hand, right?”

The relationships tied together by school ties, regional ties, and performances do not easily fade.

While the seniors and juniors were happy to see each other, old colleagues who had met after several years awkwardly greeted each other on one side.

“Hwa-young, this is amazing. You’re here too?”

“Yeah… that’s how it happened. The production team came to find me…”

Greetings are exchanged, but there is also an atmosphere of embarrassment that this is not a production site for a large movie or drama.

‘This is ambiguous, really.’

The supporting actress bit her nails anxiously.

There are no faces that stand out anywhere. They are all people similar to her, or below her.

‘There are only kids here… and oh, that senior said she quit acting a few years ago?’

Looking over there, there were even middle-aged men she didn’t even know sitting there. Work clothes and work shoes, as if they had just come out of a construction site.

…Isn’t this going to be a historically bad movie for the film company?

A colleague from the theater company who came with her poked her arm as her worries deepened.

“Hey, isn’t that Lee Jang-mi?”

Looking back, a familiar face was sitting with a backpack as big as her body. The actress’s eyes widened.

“Why is she here? I heard she ruined every work she filmed and went back to her hometown?”

“No, I heard it was because of her agency. The president there fell head over heels for her and invested hundreds of millions…”

“Kim Hwa-young, Seo Won-gi.”

The two were startled by the cold voice. Lee Jang-mi, who had been sitting far away, was already in front of them.

Lee Jang-mi muttered with a blank face.

“I can hear everything, so talk about others later. I don’t know why her acting is so bad when her pronunciation is so good.”

“Hey, what are you saying…!”

The male actor, who had stood up to fight, shrunk back at the attention of those around him.

Having gathered here, they are colleagues on the same boat, whether they like it or not. It is foolish for people who are desperate for every opportunity to create discord.

After a small incident passed, the actor seats were full, and officials and production staff also entered.

There was a camera in the back that seemed to be for making-of films, but unusually, it was Roman employees, not Keunbeom, who were holding the tripods.

‘What, are they really filming the reading too? Like a broadcasting station?’

‘Shh, the director is speaking.’

A large round table in the center of the practice room. Director Kim Ryul, who came to the center, pointed to the table.

“Hello. I’m Kim Ryul, the director of this work.”

A perfunctory applause spread.

“First of all, we don’t have things like rituals. I know very well that even if you stick cash in a pig’s head and wish for good luck, those who aren’t meant to be won’t be. Instead, I’ll use that money, along with my meal expenses, to feed you, put you to sleep, and make you work.”

It’s a grim warning, but it feels sincere.

Lee Jang-mi, sitting at the very end of the round table, is listening to the story with her lips tightly closed.

“Most people in the world… no, everyone doesn’t think we’ll succeed. Even now, there may be people who are worried about whether their lives will be ruined by following that bastard.”

Several actors who actually had similar thoughts avoided eye contact. At that time, a calm voice was heard.

“Not me.”

Park Gun, wearing a black cassock [priest’s robe] and collar that he got from somewhere, raised his hand, and two middle-aged male actors joined in.

“Not us either! We reduced our work a lot just by looking at Director Kim. We’ll starve to death if the movie fails!”

Laughter spreads at the support fire from the lead actor. Director Kim Ryul, who nodded, said quietly.

“I’m going to make you suffer a lot. I’ll suffer with you too. I’m going to shoot like crazy, thinking of this opportunity as the last one. Please help me.”

More passionate applause poured out than before.

There are many people here for whom this movie is the last, or perhaps will be the last.

Perennial unknowns, supporting actors doing three jobs, extras who haven’t even debuted, theater actors who have been pushed out of Seoul and wander around local theater companies like nomads…

Director Kim Ryul’s gaze stopped at Park Gun as he scanned each and every one of them.

‘I need you. Mr. Park Gun.’

Still with a blank face, the collar of the priest’s robe twitches slightly. As if to say, don’t worry about this side.

This is enough. No, it’s more than enough.

Director Kim Ryul, who bit his molars until they broke, held up a bundle of scripts.

The actors sitting around the round table also opened their scripts, and the staff put their eyes on the cameras.

In a tense atmosphere, the reading began.

* * *

Two hours later, people staggered out of the practice room door.

Some of the officials went down to find coffee with blank faces, and the rest massaged their goosebumped wrists, recalling the reading just now.

“…Park Gun is really crazy.”

One hundred and twenty minutes passed in a flash.

At the center of it was Park Gun, of course.

Choi Seung-eun, who showed off his crazy action in ‘The Dog of Seoul,’ was nothing. A real exorcist… no, Seo Yohan himself descended in the middle of the reading room.

-Save us. Be our refuge. Leader of the heavenly army, cast Satan and evil spirits into hell!

This went beyond the level of method acting. And what about the breath of acting that rushes in without a break?

Because he repeated possession and exorcism, and then possession again throughout the reading, even the actors exchanging lines and the officials watching were exhausted.

“How can a person become that? What, is he an AI robot? If you input it like this, does it come out like that?”

“There’s really no monster like him. I heard he was like that on the set of ‘The Dog of Seoul’ too.”

“Morons with no eyes. They babbled about bubbles to such a human being?”

When Park Gun entered Roman, how many speculative articles were published?

There were many malicious reports that Roman had made a hasty contract and that he would collapse in the next work.

Sophomore jinx? Action one-trick?

If the reporters who said that had come to the reading room, they would have cried and begged.

I’ll do everything from correcting the content to apologizing for the misreporting, so please give me just one video exclusively.

“Park Gun is Park Gun, but… Jang-mi? Tulip? Who is she, where did they bring another crazy person from?”

When it came to Lee Jang-mi, who played the role of the leader of the ‘Salvation Society,’ even admiration did not come out.

The acting she showed today was not far behind compared to Park Gun.

Unlike the other actors who were eaten up by Park Gun before they even uttered their lines, she fiercely led the reading room as Seo Yohan’s only rival.

Of course, there are not a few actors like this if you go up the actor pyramid.

But an unknown director found and brought jade in his first debut work? That’s ridiculous.

Promising seedlings receive calls from hyenas from the time they are seeds.

In this world where you either rise endlessly by receiving light or are buried forever in the abyss, it is almost impossible for a pushed-out person to find a fallen star.

Where did it come from?

Even if you search all the management companies and agencies, there is no actor profile registered anywhere.

The same goes for Jo Yong-jo and Jang Seong-hwa, who showed off their strong acting skills, not just Lee Jang-mi.

At this point, the theory that Kim Ryul went to another world to scout is credible.

“Is it really Park Gun magic…?”

To the Roman team leader who was muttering blankly, other officials added a word each.

“But well, the other people were just so-so, right?”

“Well, I guess it was a bit boring because the lead and supporting actors exploded, right?”

“I heard there weren’t many good actors anyway. Isn’t it a strategy to just fill the numbers except for a few people?”

“That’s right. You can’t gather only acting talents for a 10 billion won movie. That’s wise.”

“…Well.”

The team leader, who usually claims to be a movie buff and is the only one who has found and watched Kim Ryul’s works, made a meaningful expression.

[Titles of Kim Ryul’s previous works are omitted for brevity].

The movies that Kim Ryul ruined, the main characters who came out there were terrible third-rate people. When you look at other appearances, it’s a waste to call them actors.

But in Kim Ryul’s movies, they showed decent or comparable acting skills anyway.

“Maybe he was confident.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Movies are a medium where the actor’s acting ability can be extremely covered depending on the director’s ability.

There are limitations in dramas due to tight schedules and time allocation, but in movies, one director can turn a novice actor into a great actor.

If Kim Ryul has that ability,

And if Park Gun and Lee Jang-mi are added…

“Those people might not be an outsider team.”

* * *