Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 260

260. Last Scene (2)

Rumors that Onflix had even brought up the idea of a remake contract heated up the set, creating a heartwarming atmosphere.

“If we shoot today’s portion, we’ll have a break for a while.”

“Rest? What rest? We’ll be even busier. Think of how many events we have to attend.”

“Ah…… is that so?”

Whether they were happy or not, ambiguous conversations went back and forth, but the atmosphere was definitely warm.

Usually, the final filming before the last episode takes place in a rather tense atmosphere.

It’s also to maintain focus and prevent complacency as the end approaches.

If you lose steam at the end, no matter how good the content was in the early and mid stages, viewers are likely to criticize it as a ‘dragon’s head, snake’s tail’ [great start, poor finish].

The pressure to deliver a satisfying ending is immense.

Especially for dramas that are not pre-produced, it’s even worse.

‘It’s not over until it’s over! Wake up!’

The filming rushes on relentlessly.

Of course, the scripts that had been stockpiled were exhausted a long time ago.

Especially in situations where you’re swayed by real-time audience reactions, it’s not uncommon for scripts that have already been released to be overturned and rewritten thirty minutes before filming.

You can imagine receiving scripts in real-time, barely completing them page by page until the very end, and going into shooting without even having time to properly memorize the lines.

After working all night for several days, you don’t even have the energy to say your lines.

Filming while sleeping only two or three hours a day is enough to make even a healthy mind feel disoriented.

‘By that point, it doesn’t matter whether the atmosphere is good or not. The actors and staff are practically half-dead…….’

But what about here now?

Especially with Dramatic Tempest, with a second season ahead, the reaction to the final episode is an important factor directly related to the expectations for the second season.

But.

“Oh, right. I heard we’re having a company dinner at X Garden after this.”

“Huh? Isn’t that a super expensive place that costs XX0,000 won [hundreds of thousands of Korean won, implying a very high price] per person?”

“Writer! Is it true! Are we going to X Garden!”

Nowhere could you find a gloomy or heavy reaction.

Song Jin-joo wore a benevolent smile at the staff’s eager questions.

“It’s true.”

“But doesn’t it cost a lot of money to go there……?”

“We have money left over from the production budget, so it’s okay. And a big shot has bestowed a card upon us.”

“Awesome.”

Everyone was far from being nervous.

Rather, their eyes sparkled with the desire to end things definitively and pleasantly until the very end.

‘As expected, people need a good work-life balance.’

So far, the filming of Dramatic Tempest has been smooth sailing.

We got caught up in the Murder Villa incident in the middle, so it took some time, but that was a level that could be tolerated.

The fact that there were no significant NGs [No Good takes, meaning mistakes], which greatly shortened the shooting time, also played a part.

‘A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Yes.’

The staff knew very well why they were so friendly, energetic, and motivated right now.

Without anyone telling them to, the staff’s gazes subtly turned to one place.

“They picked the wrong target.”

“They…… picked the wrong target.”

“I know, why did they pick the wrong target.”

The person who always checked the lines before the shoot was there.

He never threw a tantrum before filming, and he was a diligent person who treated every staff member with the same courtesy as he did at the beginning.

It was Yeon-woo, the main character who would decorate the finale of Season 1.

“The popcorn is ready today.”

“Oh. I should go get it before we start.”

“They said mint chocolate popcorn is out, are you going to have some?”

“Of course. I never knew mint chocolate could be so delicious.”

Yeon-woo’s proselytizing, or rather, his evangelism, had taken effect.

Now, no one on set disliked mint chocolate.

As always, a staff member said he would go get the popcorn.

“Hey, don’t forget to bring mine, okay?”

“Ah, of course! Writer!”

“The director likes half garlic, half cheese.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll bring it.”

Instead of stopping them, the director and writer were adding to it.

In every way, it was a friendly and warm filming set, far from being tense.

Except for one person.

“Would you like to eat something before we start filming?”

“……No. I feel like I’m going to throw up if I eat anything.”

“Oh, why?”

“Because I’m getting murdered today…….”

“Ah…….”

The staff member who heard that left to get him some calming medicine with a pitiful look on his face.

The man, with a pale face, nodded, washing his face with his dry hands, and sighed deeply.

“I shouldn’t have taken this role…….”

The man who said that was the stalker who was being murdered today.

“Last scene! Scene 24, take 1 again. Take 1, action! Ready!”

Clack!

The slate made a cheerful sound, signaling the start.

“Don’t follow me! I said don’t follow me……!”

He shouted in a trembling voice, running through the alleyways with a frightened face.

Several cameras chased after him.

An unexpected chase broke out under the dim streetlights.

‘He runs better than I thought?’

Yeon-woo thought, running behind the cameras.

‘He said his legs felt weak because he took too much calming medicine, but.’

He’s running surprisingly well.

There was one reason why Yeon-woo was running with them even though it wasn’t a scene he was in.

“I’m sorry, but if you’re okay with it…… could you run with us behind the camera?”

“……Yes, well. I’ll do that.”

He was a stalker who was already worried about how to do the chase scene.

He probably thought it would help him act, so Yeon-woo readily accepted.

‘Anyway, well. I can just think of it as an additional rehearsal, like I’m chasing him too.’

He had already matched the movements once, but since he was doing it anyway.

It would be better to do it perfectly.

It had been a long time since he had memorized all the routes, but it wouldn’t be bad to check a few more times since it was a cut with action added.

The effect was excellent.

“Hieeek! Hick!”

Strangely, every time the stalker looked back, his face became more realistically terrified in real-time.

The director must have liked the scene, as the ‘cut’ sound didn’t come out.

How long had he been running?

“Cut!”

With Gil Sang-joon’s loud voice, the stalker slumped down on the spot.

“Are you okay?”

“Hieeek! Ah, Yeon-woo. Whew. Ah. I’m okay. I’m okay…….”

Strangely, he said he was okay, but he looked like he was dying.

“Jung-shik! This scene was very good. You expressed the desperate and terrified look so perfectly that we don’t have to shoot it again!”

“That’s a relief. Whew. If I had to shoot that twice…….”

The stalker shook his head with a disgusted expression.

“How about it. Can we shoot the next scene right away? I think it would be good to push this atmosphere.”

The next scene is a full-fledged chase following the escape scene.

To be precise, it is the part where Kim Sun-woo leisurely drives the stalker, who is on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, to a dead end.

And Kim Sun-woo commits murder for the first time, deviating from his perfect plan.

When that story was first delivered.

The actor playing the stalker almost fainted.

“T, the script I received only went as far as running away…….”

“Ah. That. Well, since it’s the finale of the first episode, there have been some revisions. Hey. Don’t worry too much. It’s not like we’re really going to kill you, are we?”

Gil Sang-joon laughed kindly.

He didn’t even know that the face of the stalker actor standing in front of him was turning black.

Since then.

“Hieeek!”

“Heoeok.”

“Heop!”

Every time the stalker actor saw Yeon-woo, he trembled like an aspen tree.

Not only that, but he disappeared with the wind, barely even greeting him.

“……?”

Unfortunately, the child spirit was following him that day, so he had to listen to the sound of the kid laughing like crazy.

[Ahahahahah! I’m going crazy! How do you film that makes that person freak out and avoid you whenever he sees you? Ahahahah!]

Of course, he could silence him by quietly taking out the exorcism talisman.

‘Is he a person with a weak spirit……?’

Evil things often cling to people who are inherently weak in spirit.

It’s to push out the owner of the body and take his place.

‘But even so, there are no clinging 잡귀 [japgwi, minor or wandering spirits], and he’s not bringing anything with him?’

Of course, there wouldn’t be any 잡귀 big enough to follow him here.

Anyway.

What was completed based on one person’s silent screams was this one-sided chase.

‘This one murder will organically connect all the stories.’

Yeon-woo recalled when he first received the script for the final episode.

From the mid-to-late stages, Kim Sun-woo’s appearance, who was only a supporting character, increased significantly.

He was puzzled, but he faithfully participated in the filming.

The beginning had already been steadily building up the character for a long time, but the storyline changed from the mid-to-late stages onwards.

Accordingly, Yeon-woo also followed the storyline, developing and deepening the character of Kim Sun-woo according to his interpretation.

‘No matter how you look at it, the importance and frequency with which he is dealt with are different for a supporting character.’

The reason why he thought so at that time became clearer as he approached the end of filming.

The script for the final episode put a stop to it.

‘Baek Ha-yan and Kim Sun-woo’s story was like a side story. But that doesn’t mean it was a story that was completely separate from the main story.’

In the first place, it is a story in which the relationships between the characters are intertwined.

There was no unimportant story.

He knew that far, of course.

He knew, but…….

‘I didn’t know it would lead to this.’

The last scene that decorates the finale of Season 1 becomes the biggest 떡밥 [tteokbap, plot hook or unresolved mystery] of the first half of Season 2.

It seemed that Song Jin-joo was not a star writer with many hit works for nothing.

The murder committed by Kim Sun-woo this time was not just a simple murder.

While arousing Baek Ha-yan’s suspicion, Kim Sun-woo completely stops the indiscriminate murders he had been committing.

-I mustn’t get caught. I can’t get caught so easily.

There is also the reason that he is being careful, but as he became emotionally entangled with Baek Ha-yan, he strangely became unable to focus on murder as he had before.

Because something more interesting than murder appeared in his life, murder could no longer be Kim Sun-woo’s salvation.

But.

“They picked the wrong target.”

“Why are you doing this! I, I was just watching.”

“Come on. Let’s not make each other tired when we all know each other. You weren’t just watching, were you? Right?”

If his new salvation was threatened, murder would once again be an excellent means.

Kim Sun-woo kills the stalker.

Without even knowing that the stalker was hired by prosecutor Do Gang-hoon.

“That, that was unavoidable…… Kkeuaaak!”

“There’s no such thing as unavoidable in this world. What were you going to do with this picture anyway? Why were you watching Ha-yan’s house and looking for an opportunity?”

“Kkeueueuk!”

It was the moment when the perfection of Kim Sun-woo’s flawless murders collapsed.

It was also the moment when Kim Sun-woo finally succumbed to the emotions that complicated his mind.

It was also an opportunity for the already predicted catastrophe to reveal its appearance.

Because someone was watching that moment.

Keureuk!

A scream that was screamed with all its might, but never leaked out loudly, is faintly heard from afar.

Someone threw a cigarette butt that was burning red, listening to the sound flowing on the wind.

The glossy shoe tip was zoomed in.

The sleeves of someone’s clothes and the fingertips tapping next to the cell phone were caught on the screen.

The person who was standing meaningfully as if he had watched everything finally resumed his stopped steps.

“Cut!”