Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 195

Jang Hak-seon didn’t open the door; he just stared at the container, pulling out a cigarette. He felt the need to calm himself before going inside. If he entered in his current state, he might not be able to continue this job.

‘It’s not over yet.’

It’s natural for a drowning person to grasp at a straw. If there’s nothing else, you have to grab at a straw. Criticizing someone for doing so is like telling them to just drown quietly.

Finally, with a resolute heart, Jang Hak-seon opened the door.

Seeing Choi Yeon-ha with her hair disheveled, his heart ached. She was an actress, someone who always cared about her appearance, no matter where she was.

But for her to look like this meant she was under so much stress that she couldn’t even think about such things.

‘Is she going to get hair loss?’

Seeing Choi Yeon-ha’s face flushed red, he worried about her health.

“…How is it?”

It was obvious how it was.

But he couldn’t help but ask.

The small camera next to Choi Yeon-ha was already telling the whole story.

“No, it’s like you’re possessed… I hide the camera and press the button, but how can you not say your lines as soon as the camera turns on?”

“I did it exactly the same way?”

“Exactly the same? Exactly the same?”

“P-Please calm down, Ms. Choi Yeon-ha!”

Even if she was angry, she had to think about her image.

Soothing the agitated Choi Yeon-ha, Jang Hak-seon sighed deeply.

If an actress who won the Best Actress award at the Grand Bell Awards [a prestigious South Korean film award] last year couldn’t fix a single line even after four hours of corrections, it was hopeless.

“Is it not working?”

At Jang Hak-seon’s question, Choi Yeon-ha hesitated, unable to speak.

“M-Maybe it’ll be different in the actual filming.”

Yeah, right.

Among the people who failed in the regional qualifiers in Korea, there might be someone who could win a gold medal if sent to the Olympics, right?

But this isn’t archery.

Jang Hak-seon quietly closed his eyes. He felt like he was running towards the end with a can of oil, knowing the end was coming.

“…Let’s just do it, whatever.”

Jang Hak-seon nodded in a self-abandoning mood.

“We. Are. Breaking. Up.”

“Kaaaaaa!”

“We. Are. Breaking. Up.”

“Kaaaaaaatu!”

“We! Are. Breaking. Up.”

“Uwaaaah! Katkatkatkat!”

Jang Hak-seon shouted ‘Kat’ [a sound used to mark the end of a take] until his throat was hoarse.

“No, you son of a bitch! Why can’t you say that one line!”

The assistant director grabbed Jang Hak-seon and stopped him.

“PD-nim [PD is short for Producer-Director, a common title in Korean film and television], please calm down! He’s a regular person! Not an actor!”

“Agh! Aghoooo!”

Jang Hak-seon couldn’t bring himself to curse, so he started hitting his chest.

“…How long are you going to do this?” The camera director also started to nag the PD with a tired face.

“It’s two in the morning now. We’ve been filming one take for six hours since sunset. Even a handsome face can only be looked at so much; I’ve been seeing it all day, now I see it even when I close my eyes. I think I’m going to open my eyes to a new world.”

“Calm down. Don’t say such terrible things.”

Jang Hak-seon grabbed his head.

‘Let’s calm down first.’

From the beginning, it wasn’t Kang Jin-ho’s fault. He was being punished for trying to force someone who didn’t want to do it to use them for box office success.

“But do you think I’m going to give up?”

As Jang Hak-seon started to lose his mind and act up, the assistant director grabbed him and clung to him.

“PD-nim! Get a hold of yourself. This isn’t going to work. It won’t work even if we film until dawn.”

“Hey, you! How much time have we invested so far! Do you think it’ll be better if we give up now? Just a little bit! Just a little bit more and it’ll work!”

“That’s the typical pattern of people who ruin themselves with gambling!”

“It’ll be fine if we succeed!”

The filming set was becoming a mess with the noise.

Kang Jin-ho quietly looked at the scene, then turned and slowly walked to a corner of the set.

“Oh, where are you going?”

“To the bathroom.”

“Ah…”

Jang Hak-seon sighed.

‘Still, I’m grateful.’

Even the people watching were frustrated and annoyed, how much more would the person himself be? Every time they filmed a scene, people sighed and despaired; it couldn’t have been easy for him.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

As Kang Jin-ho disappeared towards the bathroom, Jang Hak-seon slumped down in his seat.

“I’m really going crazy.”

What on earth was he supposed to do?

When Kang Jin-ho came out after using the restroom, Kang Eun-young greeted him.

“Here.”

Kang Jin-ho took the warm coffee that Kang Eun-young offered.

“…Are you having a hard time, oppa [older brother or a term of endearment for a male] ?”

“Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head.

“Is it hard?”

“Yeah. Isn’t it hard? You’ve been saying the same line for hours. I’m sorry. It’s my fault for being stubborn…”

“Why is it hard?”

“…Huh?”

Kang Jin-ho spoke as if he didn’t understand.

“I’m just standing in the same spot and saying the same line, what’s hard about that?”

“Oppa, are you saying that to tell me not to worry about you?”

“Worry?”

Kang Eun-young’s face paled slightly.

This guy, he’s serious.

Kang Eun-young, who was related to Kang Jin-ho by blood, could tell.

Kang Jin-ho was really not having a hard time at all right now.

“Oppa, aren’t you bothered?”

“By what?”

“Because you keep messing up, everyone else is still stuck here.”

Kang Jin-ho chuckled.

“It’s not like I forced them to do it… They’re the ones who grabbed someone who didn’t want to do it and forced them, why should I care?” He was serious.

This guy, he’s serious.

Kang Eun-young trembled as she looked at Kang Jin-ho’s face.

Even if your mental state was made of steel, it wouldn’t be this strong; she wondered what her brother’s mental structure was like.

“Wow! You really have a strong mental fortitude, brother.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Oppa, you’re not doing it on purpose, are you?”

Kang Jin-ho’s face finally became a little serious.

“Is it that weird?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think there’s much difference…”

‘He’s sick, he’s sick.’

It was clearly a type of incurable disease, camera shyness.

‘It’s a shame.’

Kang Eun-young was in favor of Kang Jin-ho debuting in the entertainment industry.

Aside from whether it would help her or not, she wanted to show her brother to more people. But someone with such extreme camera shyness could never survive in the entertainment industry.

Kang Eun-young felt a contradictory emotion, half regret and half relief, as she headed to the filming set with Kang Jin-ho.

“Still, think of it as a good experience. When else would you get to act with Choi Yeon-ha? You had the whole place to yourself for a day, right? I thought you were doing it on purpose.”

“Tsk.”

Kang Jin-ho clicked his tongue.

When they returned to the filming set, everyone was waiting for them in a tense posture. Jang Hak-seon PD’s stubbornness to continue filming until the scene was completed, whether it was dawn or tomorrow, had worked.

In the early stages of a drama, there was no one who could resist the PD’s power. They could speak up after gaining some standing, but now they were filming the first episode of the drama. The moment they were annoying, they would be replaced.

Everyone fell silent at the words, ‘If you don’t want to make a broadcast together, leave.’

‘With that kind of guts, change the actor!’

The camera director sighed repeatedly.

As Kang Jin-ho stepped into his place, the sigh became even louder.

In the following takes, there was no improvement in Kang Jin-ho’s lines, and the camera director and PD slumped into their chairs in a self-abandoning mood.

It was at that moment.

“…Are you still filming?” A man in a black suit walked into the filming set.

“What is it?”

Jang Hak-seon, who was already at the end of his rope, yelled when he saw a face he didn’t recognize enter the filming set.

“Hey! Who told you to let a civilian into the filming set! Is this how you manage the filming set? Is this why the filming is such a mess!”

As the assistant director pointed his finger wildly behind Jang Hak-seon, the FDs [Floor Directors] rushed to push the man out.

“Just a moment.”

But the man, with a confident attitude, politely stopped the FDs who were trying to push him out, then pointed at Kang Jin-ho.

“I’m that person’s manager.”

“…Huh?”

Jang Hak-seon’s face contorted. What manager would someone who didn’t have an agency and was acting for the first time today have?

“Drag him out!”

“Hey hey!”

Jo Gyu-min grinned and handed over his business card again.

“I’m Jo Gyu-min, director of Code Entertainment.”

“Code?”

Those who checked the business card looked at Jang Hak-seon and nodded. It meant the business card was correct.

‘Code, you say?’

Code was Kang Eun-young’s agency. Although their position in the acting field wasn’t that big yet, Code was such a huge conglomerate that there wasn’t really any agency bigger than them in the entertainment industry. A director from such a place was not someone that even Jang Hak-seon could easily ignore.

Jo Gyu-min glanced at the people who had stepped back and asked Kang Jin-ho.

“Why have you been here until now?”

After hearing the whole situation, Jo Gyu-min let out a hollow laugh.

“No, how bad was your acting that…”

“Wow, I thought there was nothing Kang Jin-ho couldn’t do, but you had this weakness. Still, it’s a relief. If a person acts that badly, they can’t lie.”

To be precise, it wasn’t that he was bad at acting, but rather that he couldn’t act in front of a camera, but Kang Jin-ho didn’t bother to point that out.

“But I thought it was something big. It’s nothing much.”

“It’s nothing much?”

Jang Hak-seon gritted his teeth.

Could he not see that so many people were suffering because of that ‘nothing much’?

Just as he was about to say something, Jo Gyu-min looked at Jang Hak-seon and said.

“Can I see the footage you’ve filmed?”

“…Of course, I can’t show it to you.”

“Don’t be like that, please show it to me. I’ll solve it right away.”

Is this guy a scammer?

Just as Jang Hak-seon was about to lash out, Kang Jin-ho opened his mouth.

“He’s a trustworthy person. He’ll be able to solve it.”

“Kkuung.”

If Kang Jin-ho said that, then the situation was different.

‘Okay, let’s grab it. A straw.’

“Come this way.”

“Ah, before that…”

Jo Gyu-min looked at the PD and said.

“Please tell me the lines that Kang Jin-ho has to say. The tone and speed, perfectly.”

He wondered what he was doing, but Jang Hak-seon said the lines as Jo Gyu-min told him to. At Jo Gyu-min’s request, he recited the lines several times, and Jo Gyu-min nodded and started watching the filmed footage.

After about 10 minutes of watching.

Jo Gyu-min suddenly raised his hand.

“This one, let’s go with this one!”

The screen that Jo Gyu-min pointed to had a clapperboard that said ‘TAKE 152’.

“No, is this guy really messing with me!”

Jang Hak-seon shouted as if he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Go with this one? What do you mean go with this one! Didn’t you hear that textbook reading tone? I’m already annoyed to death, is he making fun of me?”

But Jo Gyu-min, despite receiving Jang Hak-seon’s anger head-on, chuckled and replied calmly.

“I don’t understand it either. Isn’t the atmosphere great? Our actor’s face is glowing, glowing!”

“Ah, really! Okay, let’s say the face is fine, but what about the acting! Can’t you hear the voice?”

“You’re so frustrating.”

Jo Gyu-min sighed and said.

“You can just dub the lines. Don’t you have a voice actor?”

“…D-Dubbing?”

At that moment, the audio director’s muttering voice alone represented Jang Hak-seon’s feelings.

“Wow, damn. Why didn’t I think of that? That guy… is he a genius?”