Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 130

Who Watches Sad Endings These Days? (2)

130. Who Watches Sad Endings These Days? (2)

2022.03.10.

“Atonement? What kind of atonement are you talking about?”
“You were going to accept a punishment, weren’t you?” A low voice uttered words that seemed out of place.
“Excuse me? What?”
“No, was it obedience?”
“…….”
He was twisting the knife, adding insult to injury.
“Don’t you see how hard I’m trying to make this a success?”
*Ding!* Just then, the elevator arrived. The doors slid shut, and the elevator began its descent with the two of them inside.
“It’s not like Director Ji wasn’t doing a good job, though, right?”
“Well…” His tone didn’t exactly convey agreement.
“I know Ji Un-jae is a talented director. I’m familiar with that type because I’ve dealt with them a lot. I heard he’s also going through a slump, but there’s a limit to what Gun can do to take care of him.”
The numbers on the display slowly ticked down.
“Gun is an actor, not someone who’s there to provide therapy for the director, right? No matter who tries to help, it’s only a temporary fix.”
After saying that, Woo Do-gyeom added something rather irresponsible.
“From what I’ve seen, those types sometimes snap out of it if you give them a good jolt once in a while.”
“Wait a minute. Then, doesn’t that mean there are cases where they *don’t* snap out of it?”
“That’s right.”
“……Then what happens?”
“Well… They might become a shut-in, or something like that, I guess.”
Woo Do-gyeom answered nonchalantly.
“Hey? Then you shouldn’t have been so reckless, should you?”
“That’s not my problem.”
Woo Do-gyeom shrugged.
“People who would crumble to that extent wouldn’t survive in this industry anyway.”
[Wow… Yeon-woo. This guy is seriously crazy. I think he easily ranks among the craziest people I’ve ever met!]
The child spirit, who would normally be clinging to Yeon-woo, was huddled in the corner of the elevator, chattering away.
What was it saying? [Ugh! What kind of awful person is that?! I hate even getting close to him!]
When he first saw Woo Do-gyeom, the child spirit was very frightened. Because he was born with the aura of a fallen ghost, ordinary spirits couldn’t even approach Woo Do-gyeom. It was only because he was an old spirit that he could even be in the same space like this.
“That’s a very irresponsible thing to say.”
“It can’t be helped. That’s the truth. Anyway, my kids will continue to participate in additional filming from now on.”
“Is that really okay?”
“What’s not okay about it? Still, they’re young children, and they’re very attached to Gun, so it would be nice if you could keep an eye on them from time to time. Their guardians will be with them, but Gun is the one the kids want to see.”
*Ding!* A mechanical announcement chimed, indicating they had arrived on the first floor.
“Don’t bother coming out. Let’s see each other again next time.”
With those words, Woo Do-gyeom strode out of the elevator with his long legs.
[He’s finally gone. Ugh. That awful guy. I don’t know why someone like that is getting involved with you, Yeon-woo. That’s why our actor-nim is anxious and sent me along.]
Yeon-woo let the child spirit’s grumbling wash over him and thought, ‘I feel like I’ve been tricked.’
It was unlike him to come up with ways to mobilize the audience, and it was also unlike him to awaken Director Ji with shock therapy, which he didn’t really like. No matter how much he thought about it, it was strange that a man like Woo Do-gyeom would go to so much trouble for anyone else.
‘…Well, if it works out, it works out, right?’
As a result, it was beneficial to Yeon-woo.
‘Should I trust his goodwill for once?’
That’s what Yeon-woo thought, not knowing that he would soon retract that thought.

* “I heard it’s your first time filming a movie? Then this must be your first time experiencing something like this. Is it hard?” During a break in filming, Yeon Do-hee brought warm coffee, handed it to him, and asked.
“It’s better than I thought.”
In movies, the order of the scenes being filmed is often jumbled. In some movies, they say they even film the ending first, so the order of the scenes being filmed has almost nothing to do with the flow of the script.
“Yeah. Yeon-woo didn’t seem nervous at all. I knew Director Ji’s style, so I shouldn’t have let my guard down until the end.”
Yeon Do-hee sighed deeply.
“I thought filming was over and was relaxing, but when I tried to get back into the emotions, it didn’t work, so I stayed up for several nights.”
Unfortunately, the parts they were re-shooting and adding were the parts with the most intense emotional lines. The reunion of the two who couldn’t be together takes place in an unexpected place. In a crowded downtown area, Shin Yeo-won and Kim Joo-young meet as if by fate. Kim Joo-young and Shin Yeo-won met while traveling to escape their difficult realities and fell in love. Fortunately, after time passed, Shin Yeo-won’s life became a little better and a little more okay, as if to compensate for the hardships she had suffered.
Enough to occasionally reminisce about the sweet past. Enough to wonder what it would be like if that past were now.
[Kim Joo…]
Remembering the past, Shin Yeo-won tries to call out to Kim Joo-young. However, she closes her mouth when she discovers a woman standing next to him. Shin Yeo-won recognized Kim Joo-young, but Kim Joo-young didn’t recognize her. In that situation, Shin Yeo-won turns away. As she turns away, Shin Yeo-won thinks, [We lived in such different times that we can’t love each other again.]
The time had come to let go of the sweet and faint past love that had given her strength when she was tired and struggling. It was time to let go of the lingering feelings that she had not been able to let go of, even though she had turned away coldly first. Because there was already another love beside Kim Joo-young. And.
[Oppa [Older brother/term of endearment used by a younger woman to an older man]. Why are you standing there like that? Dad told you to come quickly. He made a reservation at a restaurant for Mom’s birthday party. If you don’t go quickly, you’ll be late, right?]
Kim Joo-young’s gaze, which seemed to be looking elsewhere, turns to one side. A familiar-feeling back view. A figure that catches his eye at once among the many people is familiar. But he doesn’t realize that the back view that catches his eye is Shin Yeo-won.
“Why did he have to pick out the part that was the hardest to get into emotionally and ask for it?”
The scene itself has almost no dynamic acting. It’s just a matter of standing and turning around. The important thing was the emotional acting.
“Director Ji is one of the few people who digs into emotional lines like crazy. Ugh. It’s helpful and great, but it’s hard.”
She has to express everything just by looking. How she moves her eyebrows. How much her eyelashes flutter. How she handles the speed and movement of her gaze. And she has to express her frustration, sighs, and regrets with the simple movement of her lips. Acting with only facial expressions and eyes, without lines or big gestures, was more difficult than she thought. The acting itself is a problem, but it’s also because she has to completely assimilate those emotions into the audience.
“But we’re still mild compared to others. I heard that in Hollywood, most of the filming is done in front of a green screen.”
“Most of it?”
Yeon-woo recalled the set, which was entirely surrounded by a desolate green cloth. Thinking about it again, it was hard to believe that it was a place where movies were being filmed.
“That’s right. Isn’t it amazing? To be able to get into the emotions and act alone in empty space. Doesn’t it seem very difficult?”
It doesn’t seem very difficult. Isn’t that what Yeon-woo has always done? The saying that you can pretend not to see something clearly means that you can pretend to see something clearly even in an empty place.
‘This is all practical acting trained as a ghost for 23 years… No. Thinking about it like this makes me feel a little pathetic.’
Yeon Do-hee continued, “It’s so hard for me even when I have Yeon-woo in front of me. I really feel sorry for the extras. We keep calling them back and making them suffer.”
Yeon Do-hee sighed, saying that she felt sorry for the people who were working hard while they were just standing still.
“One actor almost got depressed while sitting and acting with dummies that would be CG-processed alone. Compared to that, we’re still in heaven. Some people say that this analog method is outdated, but I still like the unique sensibility that it has. It feels more authentic to me. Well, I don’t know what will happen later.”
The profession of acting also needs to change in line with the times. From the old silent films shot on film to the modern filming methods with the development of science and technology, the changes are truly dynamic. In the old days, they had to save film while filming, but now they can just replace the memory card. In fact, isn’t it a world where even movies with all the scenes processed with CG [Computer-Generated Imagery] are coming out these days?
‘I’m curious. What would it be like to film a movie that’s entirely CG-processed?’
Would it really feel like acting in front of a ghost?
“Filming will resume in 5 minutes! Please prepare!”
The short conversation ended. It was time to work again.
* Additional filming progressed smoothly and was nearing its end.
“How can only Yeon-woo get through it so easily? Ah, 80% of the reason why I’m messing up my lines is because of Yeon-woo.”
There were some retakes, enough for Yeon Do-hee to groan. But as much as that, the increasingly complete video became more delicate, and the emotions that were deeply embedded in it became more and more apparent.
“What did you eat to get those eyes? Did you take out and eat a gumiho’s [nine-tailed fox spirit] liver or something? You’re really trying to seduce people properly.”
Yeon Do-hee muttered and complained, not really meaning it.
“A gumiho’s liver? Something terrible will happen if you eat something like that.”
“Yes?”
“If you eat it wrong, you might become a monster.”
“……Yes?”
“Turning into a beautiful person with fox ears and a tail, like people think these days, is all nonsense. It would be more realistic for your face to turn into a fox. Then you wouldn’t be able to hide it, and it would be so cumbersome and annoying.”
“How does Yeon-woo know that?”
Yeon Do-hee, startled, blinked her big eyes and asked. How would he know? Yeon-woo smiled and changed the subject.
“Imagination. Imagination. Surely there’s no such thing as a gumiho’s liver in this world, is there?”
There’s no way it’s imagination. But if he said that, Yeon Do-hee in front of him would faint and be left behind.
“Oh my. You scared me. When Yeon-woo says it like that, it sounds so real. Strangely, everything Yeon-woo says sounds credible. I almost fell for it.”
It can’t help but be credible. Since he’s talking about something that actually exists, it can’t help but feel real. Instead of telling the truth, he shrugged and replied.
“The conclusion is that I didn’t eat a gumiho’s liver.”
“I see. You’re not going to tell me the secret, are you?”
“If I told you, would it be a secret?”
“I can’t get through to you. Oh well.”
If it was a secret, of course there was one. It could be said to be the third biggest gain he got while filming this movie. Emotional transference. It was a derived stat that he gained while filming this additional scene.
Not long ago, when he was filming a scene with Yeon Do-hee.
-Tring!
Yeon-woo made an NG [No Good/Mistake] for the first time because of the sudden notification sound. Until then, most of the NGs were made by the extras or Yeon Do-hee, so the assistant director, who was so surprised at that time, rushed over and even asked this.
-Yeon-woo? Are you not feeling well? Are you tired? Did we overwork you too much? No. Kwon Seo… Ahem. Anyway, we’re filming exactly according to the agreed-upon regular hours. Then are you sick somewhere? Do you need an ambulance?
From the words he was pouring out, you could feel how flustered he was. But he had no time to pay attention to those words.
[Conditions are met.]
[Derived stats are created by meeting the conditions!]
[Would you like to acquire derived stats?]
[Yes/No]