Chapter 5: Even though it was just a reading

༺ Even though it was just a reading ༻

“We’ll have to see how it plays out, senior.”

Upon hearing Yoomyeong’s calm but challenging reply, Hansang’s face turned various shades of red and blue.

Just as he was about to retort, the lecture room’s front door opened and two men entered.

They were the directors of this play.

“Hello, I’m Choi Cheol-joo from the 29th class of Changcheon and the Philosophy Department, class of ’98. I will be in charge of directing this play.”

A masculine appearance. Thick eyebrows.

Yoomyeong remembered this senior, who was meticulous and close to a perfectionist.

He was the one who gave Yoomyeong his first role in his previous life, and it was his first time being a director.

“I’m the assistant director from the Economics Department, class of ’98, Sa Jun-han.”

The assistant director tilted his head and smiled. His fully closed crescent eyes were impressive.

Before he became a director, Choi Cheol-joo was the leading actor of the 29th class, while Sa Jun-han, as his slippery character suggested, was an actor who played quirky characters.

“I made a vow to myself while grinding my teeth at the cruel directors during the previous performances. If I become a director, I will be a very understanding and kind director.”

Applause was about to break out here and there. However…

“But I’m an assistant director, right?

So, I decided to become a notorious assistant director who will leave a mark in history. If you’re not ready, feel free to leave now~”

The audience fell silent as Jun-han spoke, grinning and speaking lively.

The theater club was known for its strict hierarchy based on seniority, but when it came to preparing for a performance, even the fourth-year seniors had to yield to the directing team.

– The director’s word is law –

That was the tradition of Changcheon. The assistant director pledged to uphold that tradition, setting a firm tone from the first meeting.

“And now, the heads of the crews, please step forward.”

At Cheol-joo’s words, a few people from here and there got up and went forward. The introductions of the planning director, stage director, lighting director, sound director, and costume director followed.

“Those who aspire to join the crew, please seek out each team leader for an interview. For those who aspire to be actors, we will start reading now. The preparation period for the spring performance is tight, so we will proceed with the casting right away next week.

Even after casting, you can still aspire to join the crew, but from the perspective of the crew leaders, it’s inevitable that they would prefer those who initially aspired to join the crew, right? Please consider your choices carefully.”

People began to scatter.

Meanwhile, Yoomyeong took a seat at a round table set aside for reading.

“Let’s see how far you can go, huh?”

Hansang deliberately sat next to Yoomyeong and muttered in a soft voice.

It was a childish act, hoping to feel superior by being compared with a novice actor beside him.

Thud

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Thud

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Thud

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Thud

—

The scripts were distributed one by one.

“Act 1, Scene 1 start. Kim Cheolsu, who is cleaning windows hanging from an apartment, encounters his wife, Lee Youngsook, who secretly works as a housemaid through the balcony window. Kim Cheolsu is played by Park Hansang and Lee Youngsook by Shin Nahyun. Go!”

At the director’s instruction, the two students began reading.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah! H-honey!”

“This darn wife of mine. Who told you to earn money?”

“Ho-Honey. It’s dangerous. Don’t get excited!”

The director, who had been listening, thought that they were reasonably good at reading since they were both experienced. Then, his eyes were suddenly drawn to a new face sitting next to Park Hansang. He whispered to the assistant director.

“Who is that?”

“Mun-Sik said earlier that he was from the class of ’00? I guess we didn’t know him because we were in the military at that time.”

“Nice style, huh?”

At the right time, he interrupted Park Hansang and Shin Nahyun’s reading and switched roles.

The script reading was conducted by having participants take turns reading in this way, matching the image of the actor and the role.

“Kim Cheolsu will be played by Shin Yoomyeong, and Lee Youngsook by Bae Suhyun. Go!”

And what he heard was a resonant voice with good delivery.

“What about the million won that I gave you last month?!”

“I put it in a savings account.”

“You could have used that money for our living expenses!”

“Jina said she wanted to go to a piano academy…oh my, honey, it’s dangerous!!”

“Ugh! Oh, what a surprise. Knowing the family situation, Jina…ugh…”

This introduction, which dramatically depicted the life of the poor commoners in the 1980s, was a challenging part that required alternating emotions of anger, sadness, and fear of being cut off from the rope, as well as comically and pitifully portraying Kim Cheolsu’s life.

But!

‘…What’s with him?’

‘Is he a former child actor?’

‘His voice is captivating. Who is he?’

Without any movement, Yoomyeong conveyed completely different emotions just with his voice with differences in tone and pitch. Even more…

‘The emotions are changing drastically, but the character feels distinct. I can imagine the personality of the character, Kim Cheolsu, just by his voice.’

The director couldn’t interrupt Yoomyeong’s reading until the end of the scene.

Meanwhile, Park Hansang, who was completely overshadowed by Yoomyeong, was boiling inside.

‘That… that bastard…!’

*

After the first reading was over and it was someone else’s turn, Yoomyeong felt his strength drain and slid down the backrest of the wooden desk with armrests.

‘It’s different. I didn’t expect it to be this different…’

His voice smoothly cut through the air without obstruction.

His lines didn’t get lost in the energy of the opposing actor.

Even though it was just a reading.

He looked up at the ceiling.

It was a typical classroom ceiling composed of squares, with countless dots marked within each square.

Since I’m a dot, I thought that others were dots too. I thought everyone overcame this pressure to act.

However, I was the only one who didn’t know that everyone was a square and had a certain radius.

His eyelids started to feel slightly hot.

‘Now… I feel like I can do anything.’

Acting had always been fun.

It was painful but enjoyable.

But now, it was going to be comfortable and enjoyable.

Unable to imagine what kind of world would unfold, Yoomyeong let out a small sigh.

But there was something he didn’t know.

Just as a person who has been in the water for a long time feels lighter several times when they come up on land, as he had been acting under the pressure of others’ vitality for a long time, he could act several times more freely than others when the pressure was gone.

He was the ceiling itself, not confined to any square.

And even that ceiling couldn’t be considered as his limit.

*

After two long hours, the reading ended and it was break time.

“Shin Yoomyeong.”

“Yes!”

“Have you acted before?”

At Cheol-joo’s question, Yoomyeong pondered for a moment.

In his original life, this performance was his first, and he couldn’t exactly say that he had returned after 15 years of acting…

“No, it’s my first time.”

Cheol-joo stared at Yoomyeong for a moment, then nodded and turned his gaze away.

At that time, Hansang poked Yoomyeong’s side.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

After whispering unilaterally, Hansang stepped outside, and Yoomyeong followed him without a word.

Arriving in the corridor where no one could see them, Hansang stood with his legs crossed, leaning against the wall.

“Hey, aren’t you overdoing it?”

“What? When did I…?”

“Why are you overdoing it in the first reading? As a second-year student, you should participate quietly with a learning attitude and aim to debut by taking a suitable minor role. Besides, reading while sitting is easy. Do you think you’ll get that same reading once you actually use your body and say your lines?”

Yoomyeong was taken aback.

In an amateur play, not a professional one, a 24-year-old was wielding authority over a 23-year-old.

In the eyes of Yoomyeong who was originally 38 years old, it was indeed pitiful to see a 24-year-old lad admonishing him as a senior.

“I’m sorry if it seemed that way when I was just doing my best.”

“Yeah, just do better.”

Hansang lightly hit Yoomyeong’s shoulder and walked back inside.

As Yoomyeong went back into the classroom and sat down next to Hansang…

[Role Preference Form]

Kim Cheolsu

Reporter Kwak Ki-ja

President Nam

After glancing over Hansang’s preference form, he wrote the same ones and submitted them.

In society, there was a way of revenge that socialites used.

*

Seo Ryu Shin arrived home around 10 o’clock.

In addition to the dense schedule of major courses in the first semester of his third year, he was extremely busy preparing for the spring performance of Oedipus.

When he opened his bag to unload his belongings, a bundle of A4 paper rolled out.

‘Ah, I need to look at this.’

Ryu Shin remembered the peculiar business student who had written this.

He looked calm, but he was a rather daring junior.

He didn’t expect a novice playwright’s work to be remarkable, but…

‘Maybe there would be something unique about it?’

He unfolded the script with a slight anticipation.

The first scene began with a monologue from Freddie Mercury, who was dying from AIDS.

[Day by day, death is approaching. My body is decaying, but my mind is at peace.

Jim, who stays by my side, and Mary, who visits me every day, makes me feel less empty than when I was at my peak.]

<BGM> You’re My Best Friend -Queen

.

.

Blink—

He snapped back to reality.

Ryu Shin only realized that he had read the script from beginning to end without losing focus when he arrived at the very last page.

His hand was damp with sweat.

It was cold sweat.

‘Is this guy… a genius?’

Ryu Shin’s eyes widened and he flipped through the script again.

Since it was a one-act play, the changes in time and place had to be conveyed solely through the protagonist’s acting.

He had thought that he would need to put in sound or theatrical devices at such points himself, but…

[Freddie turns his body to the right. His gestures and expressions change.

From a boy’s face to a young man’s face. He starts to seduce Mary.]

[Freddie turns his body to the left, and the atmosphere reverses.

From a heterosexual’s face to a homosexual’s face. Men’s voices can be heard from all around.]

The script demanded scene transitions simply by having the main actor turn his body and perform a certain way, relying solely on that acting at that moment.

It also used the metaphor of turning right when he’s normal and left when he’s odd.

It was an unreasonable demand. An unreasonable demand indeed, but…

‘I can imagine it.’

An actor with extraordinary acting skills changes his character and acts as if he’s aging with a slight twist of the body.

Ryu Shin had imagined it after reading this absurd script.

He imagined himself… performing the acting.

‘What was he doing?’

The reason Ryu Shin could imagine this was because the smooth script compelled him to immerse himself.

This was absolutely not a beginner’s script. It couldn’t be.

‘It’s either he’s a scriptwriter who only works under a pen name, or he has dozens of practice pieces if he’s been practicing alone… No, that still doesn’t make sense.’

The dialogues had rhythm and flow.

For someone who had never tried to turn a story into a script, it was difficult to write sentences that naturally sounded when spoken. That’s why when turning a novel into a script, a separate screenwriter was always needed.

But what about this script?

The dialogues flowed naturally as if they were not only written by a professional screenplay writer but a professional actor.

And that wasn’t all.

From the tension when the dialogues intertwine, the firm and attractive characters for each role, to the dramatic flow of scenes, it was a script that was tightly packed towards ‘dramatic fun’ without wasting even a single minute of the 15 minutes.

‘Why would someone like this want to act? Doesn’t he know his own talent?’

Ryu Shin anxiously bit his fingertips and roamed around the room for a while, then pulled out a piece of paper from his bag.

It was the contact list of the group meeting he had circulated earlier.

Ring—

After about two rings, he heard the sound of a connection being established.

{Uh? Ryu Shin… brother. Hello, why…}

“Do you want to try writing this as a two-hour script?”

{What??}