Chapter 52. Master Plan - The Ship

"Mr. Ma, you seem to be the youngest here."

"Oh, come on, what are you talking about."

Seokdo, who was turning on the live stream, said to Yeonwoo.

"Yeonwoo, I usually just grill the meat and don't talk much, so you handle the communication."

"Ahaha, got it."

Seokdo's live stream, where he quietly grills and eats the meat, has a dedicated fan base among food content viewers.

However, the number of viewers on Seokdo's SNS live stream was more than five times the usual.

"Hello, everyone."

Yeonwoo greeted the camera somewhat awkwardly, as it was his first time.

The chat messages were coming in so fast that it was hard to read them.

"Ah, yes. Hello, nice to meet you."

Yeonwoo kept greeting the new chat messages and hearts that kept appearing as new viewers joined.

"You look like a YouTuber or an internet broadcaster. Haha."

"This is Ma Seokdo, the host of this live stream. No, I haven't tried the meat he grilled yet."

Yeonwoo answered the questions, starting with whether he had tried the meat Seokdo grilled, and the eye-straining questions, as best he could.

"This is harder than I thought, talking to myself continuously."

- Janis UK: Oh, my angel. Please greet the overseas fans.

- Danis Y: Yeah, that's right. What he said!

Although 'Summer's Closet' hasn't been licensed overseas yet, a surprising number of foreign fans had joined.

Interestingly, nearly half of the chat messages were in English.

"Many overseas fans are also joining to support us. Hello, I'm Ryu Yeonwoo."

Yeonwoo naturally communicated with the foreign fans in perfect pronunciation.

"Wow, you speak English well? I was surprised when you said you could speak Italian too."

Seokdo, who had been grilling the meat, spoke for the first time.

- p_yoyo: Your pronunciation is insane. But did you just say you can speak Italian? Yeonwoo is a god...

- deli_03: I feel like melting. Of course, I'm talking about the meat Seokdo is grilling.

- felianD: But, the combination of Ma Seokdo and Ryu Yeonwoo is surprising. How are you two close? What's with the Italian?

"Ah, that's still a secret. You'll see it in an article soon."

Seokdo, who was grilling the meat, answered the chat messages immediately.

It was the latter part of the shoot, and it was about time for the article to be released. Since it was a known fact in the industry, it wasn't much of a secret.

Yeonwoo answered the subsequent questions as sincerely as possible.

The live stream, which lasted about 20 minutes, was enjoyable for Yeonwoo as he interacted directly with the fans.

"Yeonwoo, it's time to eat comfortably. Say hello to the fans."

"Ah, yes. If there's a chance, I'll see you again. Have a good night, everyone!"

Seokdo and Yeonwoo waved.

The chat window was filled with messages and hearts at an incredible speed.

Click.

Seokdo ended the live stream and took the smartphone off the tripod.

"Was it hard not to talk during the live stream?"

Yeonwoo asked Su-yeon and Min-soo, who were quietly eating beside him.

"It was hard not to express how delicious the meat was."

"Is that so? Hahaha. Eat more."

Min-soo's friendly response made Seokdo's face light up.

"Mr. Ryu, please try it. It's really delicious."

"Yeonwoo, try it. The meat is the best."

Min-soo and Su-yeon gave a thumbs up and encouraged Yeonwoo to try the meat.

"Sure, Seokdo. Thank you."

Yeonwoo picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth.

The taste was genuine.

"Wow. What part is this? It's really delicious."

"It's beef short rib."

Indeed, expensive meat is delicious.

Eating something delicious naturally made Yeonwoo think of his family.

He had gone down to Daejeon to have a family barbecue, but eating something delicious made him want to share it again.

'Really feels like a family.'

Looking to the side, Su-yeon was munching away happily.

'I have a friend who can confide in me.'

Min-soo, who brought various side dishes and dried fish to share with Yeonwoo.

'I have people who genuinely care for me.'

"I'm happy."

Everyone smiled at Yeonwoo's words.

The night at the campsite deepened.

Yeonwoo woke up early in the morning, jogged around the campsite, and went to the local public bath to wash up.

Jeong Su-yeon had received a message that Manager Kim Min-soo had safely taken her home after the night's meal.

Seokdo, scratching the back of his head, emerged from the tent as the sound of movement came from outside.

"Yawn. Where did you go?"

"Good morning. I went jogging and washed up nearby."

"Ah, nearby, like Geumseong Bathhouse? If you were going to wash up, you should have woken me up to go with you."

Seokdo's words made Yeonwoo scratch the back of his head.

"Um, I did wake you up. For about 20 minutes..."

Seokdo let out an awkward cough at Yeonwoo's words.

"Hmm, is that so? I usually can't wake up once I fall asleep."

Indeed, Yeonwoo had tried shaking him and using every method short of slapping his cheeks, but Seokdo wouldn't wake up.

"Shall we start?"

"The time is still plenty if you want to go wash up."

Seokdo chuckled and waved his hand at Yeonwoo's words.

"Whether I wash up or not, no one can tell. Besides, I'll be wearing a mask all day today."

Yeonwoo nodded, recalling the day's shooting schedule.

"Still, as a courtesy, I'll just wash my face nearby."

Seokdo walked away, and Yeonwoo neatly packed the camping gear and loaded it into Seokdo's car.

In his previous life, safely loading equipment into a Humvee in the desert was a basic skill, so when Yeonwoo rolled up his sleeves, the camping gear was neatly stacked in Seokdo's trunk in no time.

Seokdo, who had just finished washing his face, was surprised to see the tent and camping gear disappear so quickly.

"Wow, you've already packed everything? Why did you do it alone? It must have been heavy."

"It's fine. You treated me to so much delicious food, I had to earn my keep."

Seokdo was impressed by the neatly stacked luggage in the trunk.

"Wow, it's even better organized than when we came. You've really aligned everything. Are you really a civilian?"

"Ahaha…"

Yeonwoo laughed awkwardly.

"Hmm, we have an hour left. The shooting location is nearby. Since we have nothing to do, shall we go early?"

"Sure, let's go."

Yeonwoo and Seokdo got in the car and headed to the shooting location.

"Finally, we're shooting the ending of our movie."

"Right, you know the biggest part of the budget went into this scene, right?"

In the movie, Park Kang-woo, who has been desperately gathering money and even his soul to gain control of the domestic drug trade, is dealing with Pierre Choi's gang.

For this latter part of the shooting, the most stuntmen were involved, and there is a quite complex action scene with intricate movements.

Fortunately, the action scenes the lead actors had to perform were simple enough to be guided by the martial arts director during the shoot.

While reading the script, Yeonwoo felt the urge to perform the action scenes himself, but the story didn't allow it, so he also thought about doing a project with a bit of action in the next work.

They drove through the rural roads on the outskirts of Incheon and headed to the port, the shooting location.

The imposing sight from a distance.

"…Is this the scale of Director Park Chan-hong?"

"Definitely impressive."

The film crew had temporarily borrowed an old passenger ferry before it was dismantled.

They heard that only the side and part of the gangway needed for the shoot were painted and modified by the special set team.

But seeing the result in person was truly impressive.

Yeonwoo and Seokdo saw a large military ship floating in the sea.

Yeonwoo and Seokdo arrived at the port and parked the car.

The crew was still busy moving numerous shooting equipment onto the ship.

Yeonwoo and Seokdo got out of the car and approached Director Park Chan-hong, who was giving busy instructions.

"Director."

Director Park turned around at the sound of Seokdo's voice.

"You both came early."

"The ship is impressive."

Director Park patted Seokdo's shoulder.

"It only looks impressive from the outside. The real effort went into this side."

Director Park led Yeonwoo and Seokdo to a container structure in the corner of the set.

"Go inside and take a look."

Director Park opened the door with a proud expression, as if introducing a well-performing child.

"Wow, I've never been on a military ship, but this is perfect."

"Really, it is."

Yeonwoo, who had seen many military ships in his previous life, wasn't particularly moved by the ship floating in the sea, but he was surprised this time.

The interior of the military ship, complete with electronic equipment, was perfectly recreated.

Lee Joo-seok, the CEO of the special set company, walked out from inside at the sound of Seokdo's voice.

"Actors, we put our all into this, so please take good care of it."

"Ah, this is the CEO of the special set company."

Seokdo and Yeonwoo greeted him after Director Park's introduction.

"As I mentioned before, this scene is difficult to reshoot."

The interior, which was elaborately decorated for the final scene, was expected to be in disarray, making reshooting difficult.

"Still, doing it practically is more realistic and cost-effective than using CG."

Director Park nodded at CEO Lee's words.

The cast and stunt team, who had just arrived, were practicing the final movements on set.

Today's shooting was divided into two parts.

Action scenes shot inside the gangway set and scenes shot on the actual ship floating in the sea.

While Seokdo and Yeonwoo were practicing their movements in the set, other actors were busy shooting on the ship.

"Action!"

At Director Park Chan-hong's signal, the cameras started rolling on the ship.

Actor Han Ji-sang, playing the informant 'Junk Shop,' was wearing a paint-stained work uniform.

"We need to paint quickly. We have to finish in four hours."

"Team leader, my arms are falling off. Why does Pierre always make us work on the same day?"

The team members of the passenger ferry, painting the white parts gray to make it look like a military ship.

"We have no choice, we only have today."

"Kwang-sik, add more oil. It needs to dry quickly."

This was both a setting in the movie and a real situation for the production team.

The day in the movie when Park Kang-woo visits Pierre's gang for a drug deal.

And the moment they were shooting this scene in reality.

Both had a tight schedule of only half a day.

"Be careful with that box. If it falls, we're all dead."

"Yes, Team leader."

The men carrying the box moved out of the camera frame as Director Park shouted.

"Okay, cut. Deck shooting complete."

The crew cheered at Director Park's words.

"Phew, we survived. The deck was like a frying pan under the sun."

"Let's go down."

After noon, the scorching sun heated up both the crew and the actors.

The heat wasn't limited to the ship's crew.

The container team, which included actor Jeong Hae-gyun as 'Park Kang-woo,' was also heated up as they practiced the final movements.