Life, Once Again!

After Story 229

-Tuesday will mark the 10th day of the continuous heatwave. Many people are going to the seas due to the heat that is going above 30 degrees….

It was August. There was no rain and only the sunlight was getting stronger. The weather was hot enough to kill, and the situation at the shoot wasn’t that good either. There were many members of the staff who were feeling dizzy, so the shoot was put on hold temporarily at times as well.

“Drink water at all times, and if you feel anything strange, then tell me immediately.”

The assistant director was briefing the production team. The temperature was forecasted to peak at 35 degrees during the day, so it wasn’t surprising that he was concerned.

It wasn’t just the production crew that was losing energy to the scorching heat. The actors had a hard time as well.

“I’ll be right back after I fix the makeup.”

Maru closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. He had to fix his makeup constantly because he was sweating like crazy. Even water-resistant makeup helplessly dripped down in the presence of oil produced by the skin.

“I’ll put this on your neck.”

His manager placed a frozen water bottle against his neck.

“Yeonjin-hyung.”

“What?”

“Any news of rain?”

“Don’t you think any clouds would evaporate in this weather? It’ll be sunny for a while. Motivating, isn’t it?”

Yeonjin cheered him on, telling him to last just a little longer. The frozen water bottle melted down in no time under the heat. Maru drank the water from it and picked up his script. Although he used his body to do acting for the past few months, he had to use his expressions and mouth to do it today.

“Lord big boss, you get on with the work. I’ll go back and rest first.”

He said the line multiple times over and appreciated the line with the heart of ‘Dooho,’ Han Maru, and as a viewer. Dooho was a rough and heroic character. Even then, he was quite humorous. He had to laugh on his way to his death as well. He dusted his body and polished his emotions. He repeated the line numerous times until he felt that he had it just right, feeling like a photographer taking hundreds and thousands of photos of a scene to get the perfect landscape photo.

“If you’re holding a ritual for rain, then let me help out as well.”

He opened his eyes. Geunsoo was in front of him, having changed his clothes to those of lord big boss.

His hair, which was neat other than in action scenes, was messy today. The area around his eyes had turned black and there were clots of blood around his mouth.

“That makeup took you a long time.”

“Don’t even get me started. Additional skin, scratches, then beard patches… this is why I didn’t want to do historical stuff. I wonder why I’m doing it.” Geunsoo smiled.

“I’m refreshed because today will be my last day of the shoot.”

“Where are you going without me?”

“I was listening to the news this morning, and apparently, everyone is going to the seas. I’ll join them.”

“You have it good. I want to die and go to the sea too.”

“You can’t do that when you’re the main character. If you’re so envious, why not play a supporting role instead?”

“I really should.”

Geunsoo twisted his waist. He seemed to be feeling sore after sitting down for so long.

“Should we go over the lines together?” Geunsoo said, opening the script.

Geunsoo said his lines plainly without adding emotions. Despite that, his words contained power. He had nearly perfectly understood the lord big boss character. The more they exchanged lines, the more Maru could feel the pressure and authority of a ruler from him. He also followed along with Geunsoo’s format and said his lines lightly. The two continued, just like they were practicing before an action scene.

“I feel good today,” Geunsoo said. “I was going to buy you food if the shoot ends early to celebrate you finishing up the shoot, but I think I’ll be held up here until late into the night.”

“We can eat together anytime. Also, senior, I think they’re looking for you,” Maru said as he looked at director Nam approaching.

“Looks like they’re starting. Is scene 30 starting around sunset?”

“Yes.”

“And there are a few more cuts before that?”

“I think I’ll shoot a couple scenes on the horse too. In about an hour or two.”

“It’s hot, so wait at the hotel. Don’t sweat for nothing.”

“I won't be here tomorrow, so I might as well embrace the heat today.”

“You have quite the talent in teasing people, you know that?”

Geunsoo turned around, saying that they should meet again in the evening. He lightly climbed onto the horse that was waiting. As they refused to use any mockup horses, the main characters were now able to climb onto a horse without help. Although there were a few precarious incidents where they fell off, none of them were injured seriously. Everyone went about the shoot accepting that there was the risk of getting hurt.

Maru hoped that the final product would be just as good as the big resolutions everyone was making.

When the actors snapped the reins, the horses all stopped at once. Geunsoo, who was watching the vast expanse in front of him with a grave expression, lowered his posture again.

“Cut, we’ll do that again.”

It looked good in Maru’s eyes, but it seemed that director Nam wasn’t satisfied with it.

The shoot was repeated multiple times. Not to mention people, even the horses were suffering under the heat as the shoot went on.

Maru remembered what director Nam said on the day of the read-through: we’ll make the most out of the horses on the day we rent them.

“Okay.”

The actors came down from the horses. Geunsoo sat down on a nearby chair with an exhausted expression.

“See if my tailbone isn’t broken.”

“It’s perfectly intact.”

Maru handed a portable electric fan to Geunsoo.

“I’ll be right back as well.”

“Watch out for Browny. I don’t know if it’s the heat, but he’s much more sensitive than yesterday. He shakes like crazy as if he wants to kill the person on his back, so I was really having a hard time.”

That was the horse that Geunsoo was riding on. He had a lot of appearances as lord big boss’ horse in the movie that it was to the point that it was more than most minor characters. As it had fur that was a much thicker brown than most other horses, the actors called him ‘Browny.’

Although the trainer introduced him as ‘Dawnbreaker,’ the name Browny stuck with the actors.

“Browny. I heard you were quite picky today,” Maru said as he stroked the horse on the underside of its chin, neck, and back, all the way to the saddle.

Browny was a professional horse that had appeared on many shooting sets. As such, he deserved great treatment. Maru fed it plenty of water and food and communed with him before getting on. The horse that was rolling his eyes everywhere neighed slightly. Rather than out of annoyance, it seemed to be a sign of pleasure. Maru tapped him on the neck and lightly tapped him on the waist with his feet in the stirrup.

He walked around the set once with the horse’s trainer.

“This one likes you quite a lot, Mr. Han.”

“I fawned over him a lot, you see, so that he doesn’t throw me off. Browny, isn’t that right?” Maru said as he patted the horse on the neck.

“Everyone calls him Browny now, so maybe I should rename him. At this point, he won’t listen if I call him Dawnbreaker.”

“I inadvertently ended up contributing to his name changing, huh? Still, it’s good that he seems to like it.”

They stayed under the shade until they started the shoot. He combed the horse alongside the trainer. The horse seemed to have calmed down a little as well, from being sensitive like Geunsoo said, as his steps were pretty light.

“Are you really okay with that?”

“Catch me if you feel like I’m going to be thrown off,” Maru said as he got the bow.

Before the start of the shoot, the director suggested to him that they should use a stuntman for this. He said that it was better to have a professional actor do this because it was a dangerous scene. As dangerous as it was, it was also a scene that Maru wanted to do.

Although he had plenty of knowledge regarding horse riding in his head, he didn’t know whether his body would be able to keep up. He was intending to give up if he felt like he couldn’t do it after getting on the horse. Fortunately, however, he got used to it pretty soon.

At one point in time, he had even done a scene where he was clinging onto a horse. When he regained his skill, firing an arrow on horseback became doable.

He tensed his thighs moderately. If he put too much strength in his legs in fear, he would only be shaken off. He let his body sync with the rhythm that the horse’s movement made. When he had the confidence that he could let go of the reins, he picked up the bow and arrow. He pulled the arrow back on top of the galloping horse and fired it toward an invisible enemy.

The arrow flew to a place much farther than the place he had expected. If this was an archery competition, he would score zero.

Fortunately, this was a movie set and there was no target.

He returned to the camera along with the horse that had become warmer. Director Nam stood up in front of the monitor and came over.

“How are you so good?”

“It’s thanks to Browny. He was being good today.”

“Geunsoo was complaining about back pains, you know?”

“Maybe he dislikes people who are too good-looking.”

“Is that why he likes me too?”

Maru got off the horse while exchanging jokes with director Nam. He got an okay in one go.

He walked over to the monitor and had a look at the footage they just shot. The camera angle was nigh artistic, splitting the earth and sky in half. Even if there was no actor on the back of the horse, it would’ve been a great picture.

“I think I didn’t have to act all that out.”

“You did well though.”

Maru returned to the place where Geunsoo was resting. He didn’t realize when he was getting down from the horse, but the insides of his thighs were hurting. It seemed that the cotton clothes had scraped against his body because of the sweat.

“That ended early.”

Maru received the portable electric fan back.

“Browny was pretty docile.”

“Maybe he hates just me.”

“When’s your next shoot?”

“I’m waiting for now. Looking at the time, I think they’re going to shoot your death scene immediately.”

“I should die quickly and go get a good cold shower.”

Geunsoo lowered his voice and spoke,

“Dooho, I will not let you die.”

Geunsoo was using his acting skills for something useless. Maru frowned and spoke.

“Lord big boss, I must die and embrace the AC.”

“Dooho. Have you forgotten that we promised to die at the same time on the same day!”

“I did forget.”

Maru smiled and leaned back in the chair. He could hear actors shouting in the distance. They were probably shooting a large-scale battle scene with the horses.

If the scenes including the main actors were inserted in that cut, it would complete a hair-raising fighting scene.

As the rental fee of the horses topped the human resources fees, the shoot continued without rest.

Today, even the director ate all his meals at the shooting location. The timeline was just that tight.

The long daylight was subsiding and the generator cars started working. They moved inside the traditional village where the lighting was all set up.

There was hay on the ground and a map on top of the wooden table. Finding a makeshift bed, Geunsoo lay down. Breathing slowly, Geunsoo seemed to have finished his preparations to become lord big boss.

Maru looked around. After having his last conversation with lord big boss, Dooho would run to his death. Sacrificing his own life for the sake of the person he served was a cliché that movies like this all had. The important thing was how to express it so that it didn’t look out of fashion or too childish.

Maru looked at the script before the shoot. Geunsoo, who was laying down next to him, sat up.

“Dooho.”

His words didn’t contain any playfulness. Maru also said his line.

“Yes, lord.”

“You must not die.”

“But of course. Who am I? I survived against dozens of those Baekje lots. I have a thicker life than you do, so don’t worry.”

“Then why do I feel like you are lying to me?”

“You must be tired. Get some sleep. We should talk later.”

* * *

“Dooho.”

Nam Goonghun looked at the two actors under the faint lighting. Geunsoo was exhausted and Maru was replying cheerfully. However, the shade was on Maru’s face.

They adjusted the lighting multiple times just for this. The contrast in lighting emphasized the acting a lot more.

“Yes, lord.”

“I shall meet Chundong right now.”

“Leave it for tomorrow. You should rest fer the day.”

Maru, Dooho, said as he lowered his head. The minute change in tone was very good. It was foreshadowing the unfortunate event that was coming up.