Chapter 9

Villain Only 009

Making of, Solo Camera (2)

"Wait and see. The housewives who empathized with Lee Jin-wook as if he were their son will be in for a surprise later."

"Really annoying. You said you'd never age because you had to keep pulling tears and snot out of people."

"The shock is greater when you build up the empathy and then drop it. I wish they'd curse it as a melodrama more often."

"But melodrama isn't Kim Writer's style, right?"

"Not a melodrama, but a spicy taste that makes you want to curse it as a melodrama? That's the concept this time. We need some controversy to boost the ratings."

Kim Sang-hee looked at Jung Se-hoon with a hint of anticipation.

"How about it, Se-hoon? Can you do it? It might be a bit difficult to control the emotions. Watch the American show Dexter once. It might help."

"I haven't, but I'll give it a try."

"I'll make the lines really lively. If this drama does well, you'll easily get over 20 million won per episode for your next project after Lee Jin-wok."

Song Jung-woo corrected her.

"Lee Jin-wook, not Jung Se-hoon."

"I don't care. From now on, you're Lee Jin-wook. I'll think of you as Private Lee Jin-wook until the end of the series."

Song Jung-woo quickly changed his attitude.

"Ah, if it helps our writer Kim get inspired, of course it's fine. Lee Jin-wook, is that okay?"

"It's an honor for me."

"Trust me. We've never failed to top the ratings when we work together. But we always stumble when we cheat."

"I've never stumbled even when I cheated. It was you, Song PD, who did."

"Right, right. It was my fault for cheating on Kim Writer with another writer. I won't do it again."

Jung Se-hoon calmly reviewed the script again.

He could almost see the brutal scenes of the battlefield in front of him.

But the scenes in Kim Sang-hee's script were not the ones he was imagining.

The scenes of the soldier Rashid, who started in the Kordot Sea and spent three years in countless battlefields...

Traversing all the seas of the world, conquering islands, landing on continents, and wandering with his comrades, who were like starving wolves, drenched in blood, killing the enemy...

"Just do exactly what you showed during the camera test, no more, no less."

Jung Se-hoon closed his eyes for a moment.

He could feel the tension and anticipation of the two people waiting, their saliva gulping.

His senses, which were now much sharper and more sensitive than before, were alert and on guard.

Wasn't this heightened sensitivity proof that Rashid's war was not in vain?

"Can you do it well?"

Song Jung-woo asked again, and Jung Se-hoon opened his eyes.

"I can do it."

He had done it all before.

He didn't reveal his true thoughts to them.

***

"900,000 won? Wow, it seems Song PD really likes you."

"Is that a lot of money?"

"Newcomers usually get 500,000. Top-tier newcomers are different, but the son of Lady Lee Jeong-suk isn't that level."

"How much for the daughter of Lady Lee?"

"Don't attack me with facts. I'm not an actor anymore. I'm a director."

"You're an aspiring actor, not an actor. You're a trainee director, not a director."

"Where do newcomers get to challenge their seniors in the sky-high entertainment industry?"

After a bit more bickering, Jung Suyeon, sitting cross-legged and resting her chin on her hand, asked.

"What are you going to do about your manager?"

"Manager? I can just come and go by myself."

"Without a manager, you might lose out in the power struggles with other actors. It's more tiring than being hurt. Everything from the smallest things will be pushed to the back. Managers are there to protect you from that."

"Newcomers without agencies don't have managers. I'm only doing this once or twice anyway."

"Once or twice? You mean you might do it again later?"

"Just a figure of speech."

Jung Se-hoon focused on the script.

Every word of the script was already etched in his mind.

The director and writer emphasized a thorough interpretation of the character and emotional immersion.

"But doesn't Song PD give acting lessons or anything?"

"He doesn't? Do you need lessons?"

"Really? That's amazing. It seems Song PD really recognizes you."

"Tell me more."

"Song PD is quite picky. If an actor's performance isn't up to a certain level, he'll interfere with every little thing, trying to fix it until he's satisfied."

"What if it is up to a certain level?"

"He just leaves them alone. He respects their interpretation of the character. Since there was no other talk after the camera test, it seems he's recognized you as a full-fledged actor."

Jung Suyeon was genuinely surprised.

For the picky Song Jung-woo to recognize someone who had never acted before was quite something.

The camera test lasted nearly 30 minutes, which meant he had thoroughly evaluated him.

Her reaction was even stronger after reviewing the script.

"What? Your lines have increased a lot? It seems Writer Kim really likes you. I thought you were just average during the camera test."

Jung Suyeon, resting her chin on her hand, spoke seriously.

"This might actually... turn out well? If both the PD and the writer like you this much."

"You used to tell me not to get my hopes up."

"The cheese in the trap is bigger than expected. Hey, if you do well, don't forget that I helped you."

"What help did you give?"

"Hey! If I hadn't used you as a porter, you wouldn't have met Song PD!"

"That was because you secretly drove the car and damaged the bumper, forcing me to take the job."

"You won't even say a word. Do I have to put our names side by side on the family registry to die with you?"

"You can't do that based on your own standards. It has to be based on our parents' standards."

Jung Se-hoon delved back into the script.

Through the script's words, the vivid scenes of the battlefield appeared before his eyes.

It was still far from the imagined scenes of the writer, but the actual battlefields he had experienced.

The vivid hell was so clear that he could almost draw it.

A heat rose inside him.

He jumped up from his seat, found a sketchbook, and grabbed a pencil.

Jung Se-hoon had never drawn anything that could be called a picture.

He had drawn electronic circuits endlessly for his studies.

But as a soldier, he held a pencil every night before going to sleep.

He would draw the sorrow, fear, hatred, terror, disappointment, pain, and occasional happiness of the day until he fell asleep.

The pencil scratched the paper, quickly filling the sketchbook.

The precise shading fell onto the white canvas, vividly depicting the pain etched in his memory.

-Why didn't you follow orders, soldier?

The incompetent commander who had led the unit to certain death for personal gain.

The day he shot the superior who avoided responsibility, standing on the bodies of his comrades.

Though it was quite a while ago, all his senses were as clear as if it had just happened.

Jung Se-hoon felt himself drifting away from the surrounding stimuli, immersing himself in the soldier's world.

The stimuli were much fainter than when the camera was rolling, but even that was as precious as a drop of water in the desert.

So he moved the pencil even faster.

Just a little more, just a little more.

But as if mocking him, the surroundings didn't change like they did back then.

The itching sensation drove him to the brink of madness, and his hand moved frantically.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

As his hand moved wildly with the pencil, a woman's scent suddenly came close.

It was definitely Jung Suyeon, given the genetic aversion.

He snapped out of his hallucination and returned to reality.

"Wow... When did you learn to draw? You're really good. No, with this level, you should have gone to art school, not engineering."

As far as Jung Suyeon knew, Jung Se-hoon had never properly drawn before.

His art in elementary, middle, and high school was at a typical child's level.

But now, it was clearly different.

"Ah, is this a scene from the script? When Lee Jin-wook wanders in the overseas deployment. Wow, you really captured it well."

Jung Suyeon was genuinely impressed, unlike when she reluctantly praised him out of obligation.

"Damn, I thought you were just drawing a random picture, but you were capturing your emotions like this? And you're really good at it."

"Get out. I need to focus."

"Just a moment, just a moment."

Jung Suyeon quickly left and came back with a camcorder, a digital camera, and a phone, setting them up at various angles.

"What are you doing?"

"Do you know? You might become a big star with this project. If that happens, even small things like this become content for your fans to enjoy."

"What do you mean by content?"

"A suddenly famous newcomer actor drawing the scenes from the drama to capture his emotions, and it's really well done and matches the scenes in the drama. That's all content, content."

"It seems you didn't waste your time learning directing."

"I'll stay out of the way, but don't turn these off. Just pretend they're not there. They're not there."

"Get out. Now."

"Sure, sure. Director Jung Suyeon is stepping aside."

Alone, Jung Se-hoon looked at the rolling lenses and thought.

Could he enter that place again, like he did back then?

The strength and speed returned to his pencil-holding hand.

He was completely immersed, pouring the soldier's memories onto the white canvas.

'It should work. It has to work. Hurry... '

He didn't know how long he was focused.

When there were no more pages left, the pencil snapped.

"Haah... "

The intense immersion broke, leaving only a burning thirst.

Jung Se-hoon stared at the camcorder lens and, without realizing it, spoke.

It was a line from Lee Jin-wook's monologue, the one that most vividly reflected his current state of mind.

"Why did you do it? Because of the thirst. A thirst I don't even understand... "

The busy atmosphere of the set, which was now desperately needed, seemed very distant.

Making of, Solo Camera (3)