Chapter 11

Chapter 11

‘Oh, what should I do? Should I stop them?’

From the moment Lee Homin started an argument with Jinseok, Kang Heeyeon became restless.

‘For no reason did I say that I was auditioning for the same role... I’m such an idiot.’

It was Kang Heeyeon who informed Lee Homin of Jinseok’s existence, but she couldn’t help it either.

This is because Lee Homin, a well-known actor, asked about his competitors. And very high-handedly. As Kang Heeyeon, a junior staff member, I had no choice but to tell him.

‘Originally, I would have to say that I cannot tell him in principle... I don’t have that courage yet...’

However, if Lee Homin had talked that way to Jinseok, Kang Heeyeon would never have told him.

Meanwhile, Homin Lee put more pressure on Jinseok.

“···How did you audition for this role? Did your agency support you?”

Lee Homin even says things that should never be said among actors.

As the atmosphere became increasingly serious, Kang Heeyeon became restless.

‘What do I do···? Should I tell other seniors? ‘I’m in big trouble?’

However, because today was the weekend, there were only the minimum number of people in the audition room. So everyone was busy walking around without even a moment’s notice.

Still, such a big problem could not be left unattended, so Kang Heeyeon reported the situation in the group chat room.

No one read it.

It seemed like everyone was so busy that they didn’t have time to check the messenger.

Lee Homin continued to complain.

“To hurt my pride, why are you tying me with Anonymous? It’s absurd.”

Kang Heeyeon, who could no longer watch, stood up.

‘I have to step forward. Because it happened because of my mistake...!’

Kang Heeyeon squeezed her slightly trembling hand and approached Lee Homin and Jinseok. And just as she was about to say something, Jinseok responded coldly.

“Senior Lee Homin. You keep saying it’s absurd, but I’m the one who is absurd.”

Kang Heeyeon was surprised that Jinseok could speak with such a voice.

She said, ‘When I saw you before, you seemed very gentle... and kind. Was that just an illusion?’

Kang Heeyeon decided to quietly observe first.

***

“···What?”

“An audition is a truly precious and desperate opportunity for someone. It’s rude for you to behave like this.”

Jinseok spoke clearly while looking into Homin Lee’s eyes, as if a junior were throwing cider on a senior in a drama.

Homin Lee, perhaps pushed back by Jinseok’s bold spirit, kept his mouth shut. Then he spoke in a questioning tone with a slightly red face.

“What, bad luck? Are you saying I’m being rude now?!”

“Then what else is it other than bad luck? It’s distracting other applicants from concentrating on their acting.”

“What, what? Are you trying to teach your senior now? You said everything?!”

It was easy to cringe at the word ‘senior,’ but Jinseok pushed back harder as if he didn’t care about that at all.

“No. There’s still a lot to say. To put it bluntly, isn’t the reason Lee Homin is here now because he is in the same class as us? If anything was a little better...”

“If you want to be treated like a senior, first act like a senior.”

Kang Heeyeon looked at Jinseok with surprised eyes.

‘When I saw you before, you were extremely considerate to your seniors.... You have the personality to say what you have to say...’

But it didn’t seem excessive. Maybe it’s because I’m at least polite and don’t speak emotionally.

‘It’s cool...’

The reason I can say that is because I am confident.

An acting skill that PD Kim Mansoo recognizes and recommends to other close PDs. And a personality worthy of recognition from senior actors in the industry.

The actor who has it all is Kang Jinseok, whom Kang Heeyeon has seen so far.

The argument between the two continued for a long time, but it was too one-sided to be called a fight.

After a while, Jinseok’s decisive words filled the audition waiting room.

“If you are that confident in your acting skills, go for an audition. If you get the role, I will treat you like a senior.”

This was a perfect provocation, an invitation for those who were confident.

Lee Homin, who couldn’t have known that, trembled and shouted.

“A shameless bastard... hey! How much acting have you done so far? You were lucky enough to get a chance to audition, but is there anything you can do? This bastard is really...”

At that moment, Homin Lee tried to push Jinseok’s shoulder.

“Mr. Lee Homin. Why is it so loud?”

I knew it well because I had auditioned countless times.

The audition room arrived shortly after.

Kang Heeyeon carefully knocked on the door.

Hello.

“Lee Homin and Kang Jinseok are coming in.”

“Come on in.”

***

A middle-aged man’s voice was heard. As I entered the audition room, I saw two men.

One is writer Jo Seokwon, whom I saw a while ago. The other is PD Na Jinho, who produced this work.

As I sat down on the chair, PD Na Jinho spoke quietly.

“Hmm... First of all, we will be auditioning two people at the same time today. So that we can check each other’s skills and accept whoever gets the role.”

As soon as PD Na Jinho finished speaking, writer Jo Seokwon continued.

“I don’t care about investors or agencies. I’m just a person who uses the actors I want to use in my work. You know it well, right?”

Writer Jo Seokwon said in a stern voice. Then Lee Homin nodded his head with a nervous face.

An audition room full of tension.

Okay!

Producer Na Jinho and Lee Homin looked at my profile and slammed it down on the desk.

“I won’t look at what I’ve filmed so far and what roles I’ve played. What’s important is your skills ‘now’. And...”

“···.”

“Before the actual audition, let me tell you why I brought you two here.”

PD Na Jinho said as he poured water into a cup.

“For this work, we needed a new face that is not well known to the public. Still, you had to have skills. So, I received recommendations from various places.”

“···.”

“KL Entertainment ‘strongly’ recommended Mr. Lee Homin. He doesn’t appear in dramas often these days, so he feels like a new face, and his acting skills are outstanding.”

PD Na Jinho particularly emphasizes ‘strongly.’ The tone didn’t seem to mean anything good, but Lee Homin didn’t seem to notice that.

“Thank you!”

PD Na Jinho shook his head in disapproval at Lee Homin’s bright voice.

“...You can thank the agency. And that person, Jinseok Kang, was selected as my junior’s debut film, so I invited him here. I received recommendations from about 40 people other than those two, but I filtered them all out.”

‘Forty people.’

Auditions have a competition rate of 100 to 1 for one role, and up to 2,000 to 1 at most. Considering that, if there are around 40 people, you may not think that the competition rate is high.

‘But if there were 40 actors who received recommendations, the story would be completely different...’

Recommendation means putting your name and skills on the line to introduce someone to someone else.

In other words, those 40 people are actors who can easily pass most auditions.

‘What kind of role was it that they had to skip all those actors?’

While I was thinking about that, writer Jo Seokwon gave me a piece of A4 paper and said,

“Today’s audition is free acting. Instead, please keep this in mind.”

I carefully handed over the paper given by writer Jo Seokwon.

‘This...’

This was written on the piece of paper given by writer Jo Seokwon:

——

Casting: Japanese police officer and 1 other

Ambassador: Freedom

Role 1: Japanese police officer loyal to Japan (police during the Japanese colonial period)

Role 2: A Japanese police officer who realized Japan’s true nature and decided to help the Korean people (police during the Japanese colonial period)

Important 1. Realism of characters

Important 2. Realism of dialogue

——

When I read this, I suddenly remembered my conversation with Kang Hoshin.

“I was shamefully a stooge of the Japanese Empire who pointed guns and swords at my compatriots. Later, I realized my mistake and tried to be liberated...”

‘···Could it be that Kang Hosin was a police officer who was loyal to Japan but then turned to Joseon?’

TN: Joseon – before Korea, it was called Joseon or Joseon Dynasty.