Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 108

The Thug and the Firefighter (4)

* * *

“Memories, those are memories.”

A male staff member muttered emotionally, watching the director, cinematographer, and Park Geon in a meeting some distance away. A female staff member, adjusting the fill light next to him, asked,

“What is it?”

“Did you forget that shot? PD [Production Director] Na and Actor Park standing like that. Even Director Kim is the same.”

“Ah, right.”

A sheepish smile appeared on the female staff member’s face. PD Na Jong-mo is famous for his loyalty to the crew he’s worked with.

They were also members who watched Park Geon’s audition for ‘The Dogs of Seoul’.

“I prayed that he would do well back then. So, did Geon *oppa* [term of endearment used by females to address older brothers or male friends] hit it big because of me, hehe.”

“Oh, really? Who was it that ignored him, saying he was just a street casting, not even an actor?”

“Wow… you were the one who said we should avoid picking up unknown writers!”

“Hey, enough with the personal chatter.”

The two staff members, who had been bickering, were startled and turned around.

The lighting director, who had approached unnoticed, glared with eyes that shone like tungsten lights.

“Didn’t anyone work with Actor Park? If you have time to chat, check the cables one more time. Are we not going to make this project a hit?”

“Yes, sir!”

The staff members quickly scattered, avoiding the flying spit. Even after a year, a private is still a private.

*

The first scene of today’s filming, the first take, actually belongs to the first episode of the drama.

It’s a situation 20 years later… right before the Sunhwa Group collapses and Eun Han-seom regresses.

PD Na Jong-mo’s working method is similar to when he filmed ‘The Dogs of Seoul.’ Unless it’s unavoidable, he matches the progress of the drama with the filming order.

“Is Park Geon ready yet?”

“Well, it should be ending soon… he’s been in there for three hours.”

At that moment, the entrance to the makeup team’s tent was lifted. Simultaneously, a message came through the earpiece that PD Na was wearing.

-Actor Park Geon, standby is complete!

The appearance of a great actor always makes the people around him hold their breath, as if sucking in all the attention and creating a temporary vacuum.

A man in rags staggers out.

Park Geon, who transformed into the human butcher Choi Seung by wearing an oversized suit in ‘The Dogs of Seoul’.

In ‘Black Priest,’ he exuded an overwhelming visual with a black cassock (priest’s robe), and in ‘Gray City Team Leader,’ he wore a full suit and glasses.

This time, the theme is old age, or rather, aging.

“······.”

Is this what a prematurely aged young man would look like? The makeup team put their heart and soul into speeding up the young man’s time.

Old age makeup. A mask that a young man wears to play the role of an old man.

The sharp jawline and smooth skin were covered with age spots and wrinkles. If Park Geon suffered hardships for decades, would he look like that?

A complete middle age… an appearance that resembles old age at first glance, and exclamations burst out one after another.

“These days, old age makeup isn’t just makeup. It’s unbelievably realistic, isn’t it?”

“They even called in special makeup artists for that, saying they’re going to make the first episode’s quality perfect.”

The watching actors also stick out their tongues. Choi Phillip said to his manager.

“Unlucky Park Geon. About 40 years? It feels like he’s been suffering in another world.”

At that moment, Park Geon suddenly turned this way. An unreadable expression flashed across his wrinkled face.

“Iron Kingdom······?”

“Yes? What is that?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s start.”

*

S#1. *Gukbap* [Korean rice soup] Restaurant (Inside)

Inside an ordinary *sundae gukbap* [blood sausage rice soup] restaurant.

The door opens and a man in rags enters. He looks to be in his forties or fifties. The eyes of the vagrant are dull as he sits in the corner and orders *gukbap* and *soju* [Korean distilled rice liquor].

*Gukbap* Restaurant Owner: (Frowning at the counter) It’s not even closing time yet, but I’m already having bad luck…

Soon, the *sundae gukbap* comes out, and the beggar begins to devour it ravenously.

Slurp… smack, slurp. Along with the sound of smacking his lips like a glutton, rice grains fly.

The owner, who was watching, eventually takes off his plastic gloves and goes to the table where the beggar is sitting.

*Gukbap* Restaurant Owner: (Carefully but firmly) Excuse me, sir. Please pay first.

Upon hearing those words, the beggar slowly puts down the spoon he was eating with. The inside of the earthenware pot, mixed with rice and seasoning, is a crimson battlefield.

Soon, a hoarse voice asks.

“Why, do you think I’ll run away without paying?”

“It’s not that, but…”

“I may beg for other people’s food, but I don’t steal. Just because the group went bankrupt doesn’t mean I can’t afford a bowl of *gukbap*.”

…Is he crazy? As the owner contemplates calling the police, the beggar, muttering something incomprehensible, unties the belly band he was wearing.

“Take it all, keep the change.”

The moment the beggar’s teeth gleam yellowly, countless coins clatter and spill from the belly band.

.

.

.

The scene changes to a remote alley.

The beggar holding a bottle of *soju*… no, Eun Han-seom, the third grandson of Sunhwa Group Chairman Eun Gi-hak, staggers along.

“Ugh, uweeek!”

Eun Han-seom, who vomits into the sewer, wipes his mouth smeared with filth haphazardly.

It’s impossible to imagine that this figure, who has lost even the minimum of humanity, was once a son of a *chaebol* [large family-owned conglomerate] family.

Sunhwa Group.

A huge company whose motto was ‘Cherishing each other and harmonizing with each other.’

The dinosaur, which was founded in the 1950s as Chosun Fireworks Co., Ltd. and competed for the top of the South Korean political world, was burned and disappeared by human hands.

“Damn bastards, what kind of harmony? From the bloodline, they’re all eager to devour each other.”

Now Sunhwa Group is gone. The old slogan has been reduced to a mockery for gossips. It is said that it disappeared after being caught up in the *karma* fire (業火) rather than harmony (人和).

Grandfather and sons, dead daughters and their grandchildren.

The three generations of old feuds and power struggles for succession finally brought Sunhwa down.

The old young man’s mouth twists as if smiling.

“There are only condolences, no celebrations. If our old man were alive, he would have lamented this.”

The first is a wanted criminal, the second is missing. The third, who was a thug, wanders the streets as a beggar.

“Bellflower, bellflower, white bellflower in the deep mountains, if you dig up one or two roots, the bamboo basket will overflow and I’ll die, damn it all…”

The camera follows Eun Han-seom, who staggers through the alley, humming a folk song soaked in sorrow.

Kim Jeong-nam, the cinematographer who was filming the actor up close, inwardly swallowed his shock.

‘There must be a lot of clay and silicone attached to the facial muscles, but how can he make expressions so freely…’

Originally, the plan was to cast a middle-aged actor separately. This is because special makeup takes time and it is difficult to bring the acting to life.

Nevertheless, he expressed his intention to do it himself during the pre-meeting, and there was a reason for it.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

Suddenly, Eun Han-seom, who was walking, coughs violently. This time, it’s not food but blood clots.

His body is already broken. The organs, soaked in cigarettes, drugs, and various psychotropic substances, make a man in his prime forties look like his sixties.

Perhaps… the culprit of *progeria* (早老症) may be the mind rather than the body.

Thud, his weakened knees hit the ground. The thug, who glared at the sky, eventually collapses sideways.

The last moment of the youngest grandson of a *chaebol* family, who lived a life full of sorrow.

“…Cut! Nice, let’s go to the next one.”

Perhaps because he was vaccinated during ‘The Dogs of Seoul’.

PD Na Jong-mo’s cut comes out at the exact timing, and the scene ends.

“It wasn’t the makeup that was the problem with Park Geon. I got goosebumps even watching from here.”

As Park Geon approaches the actors, Choi Phillip claps. Gu Shin-seung, who was standing next to him, also chimed in.

“As expected of my brother. Your acting was very sharp, just like Sunhwa’s youngest son who will soon regress.”

That bastard’s concept continues even on set. Choi Phillip completely ignores him and opens the script.

“But why didn’t I die? Wasn’t the original setting that the second brother died in a car racing accident?”

Gu Shin-seung shrugged as if to ask why he was asking him that.

“Ask the secretary’s office. Is it a big deal that the roles… executives’ positions change every day or two?”

“If you’re going to stick to the concept, stick to it until the end. It’s so ambiguously sloppy that it’s even more annoying.”

Gu Shin-seung’s gaze, who was about to say something, stopped on the other side. As if he knew, Park Geon was already turning around and giving a greeting.

“Having the three of you together, there’s no need for lighting. It’s as flashy as a nightclub.”

An old man with white hair slicked back and tied tightly behind his neck appeared. Even without special makeup, the chairman’s force that he saw on the screen overflows.

Great actor Seok Pil-ho smiled gently.

“How are you, are our grandsons ready?”

*

The filming speed is directly related to the quality of the drama.

Does a good work come out just because it’s filmed quickly? Of course not. This is a problem related to reserves.

‘If we film just about 4 episodes before the first episode, we’ll have plenty of time for a while.’

PD Na Jong-mo’s brow furrows. The directors on set are also human. If you’re pressed for time, your mind gets busy, and hasty filming leads to mistakes.

“Hey, hey! The boom mic’s shadow is coming in, raise it higher and catch it!”

The lighting, filming, and sound staff move busily to readjust the setting.

The penthouse concept of Eun Han-seom.

It is a set where furniture such as beds and sofas are arranged in advance, but movement occurs as equipment enters.

“I’m ready.”

Park Geon, who had already removed his makeup, says. He changed his shabby clothes into a classy indoor suit.

Whether it’s his old debut work or now, this leading actor never wastes time. As soon as he tears off the silicone wrinkles covering his face, it’s the next scene.

“One person here, the other person there. No, don’t lie down, just lie down naturally. Hang your arms under the sofa. …Stop looking over there.”

Female models wearing underwear and gowns, or only blankets, glance at Park Geon and receive directions from cinematographer Kim Jeong-nam.

Soon, PD Na Jong-mo shouted.

“Okay… focus, standby – cue!”

S#.5 Penthouse Interior (Dawn)

Inside the penthouse, the epitome of luxury.

The art director and his staff created a set that was even more real than the real thing.

On the wide white bed like a deck, the eyes of a young man entangled with women suddenly opened.

“······Huh!”

His wide-open pupils shake wildly. It’s because the scenery in his field of vision is familiar.

The ceiling with chandeliers, the arched stairs, the furniture all wallpapered in black, and the drooping beauty models…

It is the interior of the luxurious penthouse where Eun Han-seom lived before the collapse of Sunhwa Group.

“Umm, umm.”

A woman who is closer to being naked than clothed tosses and turns, but he can’t see it.

Eun Han-seom, who came down from the bed and moved his feet, suddenly stopped. On the luxurious marble… his face is reflected on the translucent floor.

It’s not an old and sick old man.

He has returned to the prodigal son of his prime.

“How could this happen······.”

At that moment, a middle-aged man suddenly appeared from the other side of the spacious living room.

An expressionless face that doesn’t seem to bleed even if you stab it. He is wearing a suit as black as a crow, and even the sound of his clothes brushing against each other cannot be heard.

He is Woo Jong-sik, the secretary general, Chairman Eun Gi-hak’s loyal right-hand man and the hunting dog who protects the group.

“…Secretary Woo, could it be that you too?”

Eun Han-seom asks, but Secretary Woo Jong-sik asks back bluntly.

“I contacted you, but you didn’t answer?”

“That’s not important right now. I’m back, 20 years ago!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Eun Han-seom closes his mouth. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but it seems that he is the only one who has regressed.

That loyal man, Secretary Woo, also disappeared suddenly after the group was torn apart.

A monotonous voice recites an order.

“The Chairman is looking for you. He will have breakfast with the three young masters regarding the appointment of the Vice President of the Defense Industry.”

The grandfather is calling the returned youngest grandson.

* * *