Chapter 22

In the evening, Zhang Chengyuan bid farewell and left. After this joyful gathering, the relationship between Zhang Chengyuan and the four women, including Lee Hyori, had become even closer without them realizing it. However, both parties were very busy with work, and they didn't know when they could happily gather for a whole day again.

A few months passed in the blink of an eye. Zhang Chengyuan felt that his acting skills had greatly improved compared to when he first shot advertisements. Having played countless minor roles in various shooting locations, he was no longer unfamiliar with TV drama production. Therefore, he proactively proposed to Park Byung-ryul that he wanted to challenge a more advanced role.

Park Byung-ryul had long had this idea. For an artist of Zhang Chengyuan's caliber, running around as a minor character for over a hundred times in just a few months, almost every day, was a tremendous waste of resources. Many of his peers thought he was a complete fool, sitting on a gold mine without knowing how to exploit it. As a result, many people came to try to poach Zhang Chengyuan, but Park Byung-ryul naturally wouldn't agree. However, he felt extremely helpless about his peers' opinions. This was not his fault but rather Zhang Chengyuan's own choice.

Because he was very optimistic about Zhang Chengyuan's potential to become a top-tier superstar, to ensure a future contract renewal, Park Byung-ryul did not want to alienate Zhang Chengyuan. He also believed that Zhang Chengyuan's approach was more forward-thinking. Therefore, he not only did not force Zhang Chengyuan to hastily take on roles with more screen time but also supported him in various ways, treating him almost better than his own son.

Upon receiving Zhang Chengyuan's request, Park Byung-ryul immediately found him a small role in the drama "Famous Doctor Heo Jun" that allowed him to appear on screen and deliver lines. Compared to the roles where Zhang Chengyuan often had to cover his face as a killer or play an extra on the street, this was a significant step forward. If not for Zhang Chengyuan's desire to progress gradually and build a solid foundation, with Park Byung-ryul's connections and methods, and given Zhang Chengyuan's high popularity in the advertising industry, even a role as the third lead could have been easily arranged.

"Famous Doctor Heo Jun" began shooting in early October. When Zhang Chengyuan joined the production, several episodes had already aired on television. However, the role he played had very little screen time and would only appear in one or two episodes. It was a minor role added by the scriptwriter at Park Byung-ryul's strong lobbying, so his joining the production at this point did not draw much criticism. In fact, most of the actors and staff did not know who Zhang Chengyuan was. Since they were not involved in the advertising industry, their only impression of him was: "This guy is really handsome. Why isn't he shooting a romantic idol drama and instead came to shoot a historical drama? I wonder how much time he will waste and how many times the director will scold him."

Historical dramas and youth idol dramas are very different. Apart from the differences in funding, personnel turnover, and performance styles, just the dialogue alone can make modern young actors' heads spin and frequently mess up their lines. In recent decades, South Korea has strongly promoted its own Korean language culture, rejecting the Chinese cultural heritage passed down from Chinese civilization. As a result, most young people can hardly recognize many Chinese characters and are thus very unfamiliar with the ancient Korean language closely related to Chinese. If not for the persistent influence of historical dramas, they might not even understand the names of ancient Korean palace buildings.

Heo Jun was a famous doctor in ancient Korea (equivalent to the Ming Dynasty period in China) and wrote the book "Dongui Bogam," which is said to be comparable to "Bencao Gangmu." Therefore, his status in Korean medical history is similar to that of Li Shizhen, a famous Chinese medical scholar and pharmacologist of the same period. Given that the number of famous doctors in ancient Korea was far fewer than in China, Heo Jun's reputation in Korea was even more prominent, known to every household. However, from Zhang Chengyuan's perspective as a practitioner of Daoism, Heo Jun was just an ordinary doctor. His medical skills were at most on par with the disciples of famous Chinese doctors like Zhang Zhongjing and Sun Simiao, akin to a small country where a monkey can be a king.

The TV drama "Famous Doctor Heo Jun" tells the story of Heo Jun's arduous journey to becoming a renowned doctor and his chivalrous and compassionate life. Of course, it also portrays his romantic side. Without this aspect, the audience would likely have decreased by a large margin. In recent years, South Koreans have placed great importance on personal health, so the drama was warmly welcomed upon its release, with ratings steadily climbing. Otherwise, Zhang Chengyuan would not have been brought into this production by Park Byung-ryul.

Compared to the historical figure, the TV drama exaggerated Heo Jun's great image to attract viewers' attention and foster national pride. Although it also portrayed some of Heo Jun's flaws, in terms of character, the protagonist Heo Jun was almost a selfless and perfect medical sage.

Of course, the drama had just begun, and Zhang Chengyuan did not yet know the scriptwriter's intentions. Otherwise, he would have been even more dismissive. However, work is work. Even though Zhang Chengyuan felt a sense of pride as a Chinese person and looked down on Heo Jun, he could only obediently follow the production's arrangements.

After reporting to the production, Zhang Chengyuan followed the crew to Jirisan in Sancheong County, Gyeongsangnam-do. Here, the main scenes shot were of the protagonist Heo Jun learning medical skills from the famous doctor Yoo Yi-tae, especially herb gathering.

This time, Zhang Chengyuan played a mountain youth who had grown up in the mountains, living by hunting and gathering herbs, with extraordinary martial arts skills and the strength to fight tigers. Of course, this was just the script's setting; it was impossible to really have Zhang Chengyuan fight a tiger. It wasn't that they were afraid of the actor's safety, but rather that tigers are now more valuable than humans. The cost of renting a tiger from a zoo is dozens or even hundreds of times more expensive than hiring a stunt actor.

The first scene shot was Zhang Chengyuan's entrance in the drama. He appeared fighting a tiger. To avoid overshadowing the protagonist and to save time, this scene was not detailed, and the fight sequence was very casual. The martial arts director gave a few brief instructions and then let Zhang Chengyuan and the actor playing the tiger practice on their own.

When filming began, Zhang Chengyuan, bare-chested on his right side, wielded a light wooden two-pronged fork and engaged in an "intense" battle with the tiger. After a hard struggle, he finally drove the tiger away and then chased it, catching up in a few steps and impaling it with the wooden fork.

To keep up with the camera, the tiger ran extremely slowly, probably just a bit faster than a three- or four-year-old child. This forced Zhang Chengyuan to use slow motion and act as if he was running very hard, which made him feel very awkward. However, he felt even more sorry for the stunt actor in the tiger suit, who earned very little money but was exhausted like a dead dog. To make the scene more realistic under the given conditions, the stunt actor and Zhang Chengyuan practiced many times before filming. Because they couldn't see the path clearly, the stunt actor tripped over stones and roots many times, almost rolling down the mountain twice. Fortunately, Zhang Chengyuan's agile movements allowed him to catch the stunt actor, preventing any injuries.

The more Zhang Chengyuan shot this scene, the more he felt it was a bit ridiculous. During the filming, he almost burst out laughing. At least the production could have given him better props. How could a wooden fork possibly kill the king of beasts? It probably wouldn't even pierce the tiger's skin. To avoid making the audience laugh out loud when the episode aired, Zhang Chengyuan had to put in a great deal of effort to portray the mountain youth as fierce and brave. Not only did his eyes and demeanor command respect, but he also used his inner energy to create a wind that blew the leaves, enhancing his presence.

After finishing this scene, Zhang Chengyuan was quite exhausted from using too much inner energy. He sighed inwardly that as a minor character, he had to rely on himself to do a good job.

While shooting this scene, on another mountain, the scene of the protagonist Heo Jun gathering herbs was also being filmed. The actor playing Heo Jun, Jeon Gwang-ryeol, was also quite pitiful. At over forty years old, he had to wear straw shoes and carry a medicine basket, climbing rugged mountain paths and even scaling some cliffs to show the hardships of herb gathering. Although he received some help from the staff, it was extremely tiring. After continuous shooting for four to five hours, Jeon Gwang-ryeol finally couldn't take it anymore and vomited profusely, almost bringing up his gallbladder. The crew was very worried, fearing that he might have to be hospitalized, which would affect the shooting schedule.

Seeing this, Zhang Chengyuan thought, "Shooting a drama is much more tiring than shooting advertisements. However, what others can do, I can do better, and I will do it even better. At least my physical condition is stronger than that of most actors, so I can endure more hardship."