First Shoot! (1)
March 2nd. Nine in the morning.
On any other day I would already have been in my school uniform, classes just getting underway. Instead, I was only now stepping out the front door.
About ten minutes later, a van I recognized rolled up in front of the house, eased to a stop, and called my name.
"Jiwoo!"
Kang Ho-yeon, now my dedicated team manager, had come to pick me up. Choi Gayeong, the road manager, had the wheel. The moment I confirmed it was them, I climbed in.
My face was set like stone. The reason was simple: five straight days of filming started today.
Yeah... people can't always move according to plan. Sigh. Unclench the face.
I couldn't let anyone see me looking gloomy. Least of all in front of senior actors whose careers towered endlessly over mine.
That was when Ho-yeon's voice cut in from beside me, laced with worry and unease.
"Jiwoo... hey? You okay?"
I lifted the head I'd kept bowed since getting in the car and put on a bright expression.
"Of course I am. Honestly, I'm just glad I don't have to go to school."
It wasn't that I'd been looking forward to class. Getting paid during those hours? Even better. The goal of this life wasn't to play errand girl for other people. It was to make a lot of money and retire as fast as possible.
"More importantly... you've got the script in the car, right?"
"Uh... yeah! Of course. I made extra copies just in case. But... didn't you already pick up a new one last time?"
"That one got torn."
"Ah... Gayeong, let's get moving. We're going to be late."
Ho-yeon didn't ask how it had gotten torn. She just got the van on the road.
After a long stretch of highway, we arrived at the set. The moment I stepped out of the car, a small army of people was already moving in lockstep.
"Hey! Put a little more care into that setup! The camera does not go over there!"
"No! That one! Bring it over here!"
"For crying out loud! Who hired that kid as the junior?!"
Curses and muttered irritation poured in from every direction. And one after another, the actors began to arrive.
"Jiwoo. Greet people first, and then—wait, where are you going?"
Greet people? That much was obvious. On this set I was no different from the junior staff. If you had to name a difference, it was only that I competed with acting while they competed with equipment.
"Hello! I'm Lee Jiwoo, a rookie actor! I look forward to working with you!"
"Ah... ah! Jiwoo. You made it? I'm sorry... we were going to shoot over the weekend, but our schedule overlapped with the variety team. Since we air later, we agreed to knock this out on weekdays and clear the weekend for them."
Kang Wonseong bowed his head in apology, looking both sorry and genuinely put out. No matter how many times I saw him, that face still belonged on a gangster—and yet nothing he did matched it. He always tried to look out for me, always tried to work around my situation. Of course, you could argue he was only being kind because he liked my acting.
"It's fine. How can anyone's life always go according to plan? I'm okay, so..."
I gave a light clap and went on.
"In exchange, make me look pretty?"
"Just leave that to me. I'll shoot you so well you'll wonder if it's even allowed. You hear that, Director Yoo?"
"Yeah~ I heard. Just trust me, Miss Jiwoo."
Cinematographer Yoo Minho was already standing beside Kang Wonseong, waving. I dipped my head in greeting.
"Then I'll go say hello to the others!"
"Sure. Go ahead."
I smiled and left Kang Wonseong and Director Yoo Minho behind. Greeting people properly meant getting the order right. It wasn't a written rule, but the normal thing was to start with the leads and then go by seniority. This time, though, there was one extra person in the mix.
Go Eun-hye.
"Jiwoo. From here on out, you need to stay sharp. Even if the table read went well and you got praised... this is the wilderness now. One mistake and the people around you will start cutting you down."
Ho-yeon knew I'd been complimented by Go Eun-hye at the reading. She stressed that then was then and now was now, and pressed a small gift box into my hand.
"What's this?"
"The company put it together. Some people don't like receiving gifts, but it's still a lot better than showing up empty-handed. And..."
I already knew what she was going to say next.
"From the company's side, get in good with her for the sake of the actors who come after me. That's it, right?"
"Uh... yeah. I feel bad putting something this big on you, but the company has its position too."
The company's position. I truly hated that phrase. Employees sacrificed themselves for the company, and the company never sacrificed itself for the employees. I'd seen plenty of places treat people like interchangeable parts you could swap out whenever you liked.
"I understand. I'll do my best. But... that thing I showed you before? How did that go?"
"Ah... we already mixed that properly and submitted it to the preliminaries. With your singing, you'll definitely get through. Don't worry about it. Go on."
Ho-yeon patted my back and gave me a little shove. I used the momentum and walked over to Go Eun-hye, who was sitting in a chair reading her script.
"Hello! I'm Lee Jiwoo, a rookie! I look forward to working with you today! And this is a gift!"
"...Hm? Ah! Jiwoo. Yes, good, you made it. What's all this... don't bring things like this next time."
Go Eun-hye first looked at me with a faintly piercing gaze. Then she realized who I was, and welcomed me as warmly as a grandmother at a country house.
I'd heard the rumors, but this is something else.
I forcibly pressed the gift into the hands that were trying not to take it.
"Please take it. If you don't, I'll get scolded by the company..."
I let my face droop into a miserably acted pout and went on.
"So please, just take it... okay?"
"Oh, honestly... all right. I'll take it. This means you won't get scolded, yes?"
"Yes! Thank you, sunbae!"
Go Eun-hye accepted the gift even though she could tell the expression was an act, and checked what was inside.
"Nutritional supplements? And a fatigue tonic on top of that? The only one who thinks of me is Jiwoo, it seems. Those men over there only want to work me into the ground."
The direction her finger pointed was Kang Wonseong and Yoo Minho, deep in a serious conversation.
"Ha... haha. I'm sure both of them would love to look after you, sunbae. The shooting schedule just changed so suddenly that their heads are probably a mess. I'll say something to them."
Go Eun-hye waved the offer away and shook her head.
"Never mind. At my age, what kind of special treatment am I supposed to expect? I just want to finish shooting and go home to rest. You do your best too, Jiwoo. Don't get shaken when the cameras roll."
I still didn't understand what she meant by not getting shaken. I just nodded and went off to greet the others.
"That's strange..."
I'd gone to say hello to the actors, but the atmosphere from all of them was wary, almost reluctant. Had I done something? I ran back through my memory.
I didn't do anything. There are even people I'm meeting for the first time today, and they're all making that face?
At last I came face to face with the leads. Both of them had had other schedules until dawn, so they were the last to arrive on set. I greeted them the same way I had everyone else.
"Ah... so you're that rookie? Likewise. Looking forward to it. Though we won't actually be shooting together."
"Not at all. I'll be watching you act from the side and learning as hard as I can."
"You'll learn from me? Sure. Work hard."
Choi Chun-sung looked a little puzzled, but he nodded.
"Ah, so you're the rookie who beat Han Mi-young. Likewise. Looking forward to it. I'm Jin Joo-hwa. I was originally the female lead of this drama. But then..."
The actress who had been the original female lead—now that Han Mi-young was gone—started glancing around as if she were reading the room. Given the nature of my role, I would be stuck to the female lead a lot. If there was a problem, I wanted it solved before we started shooting.
"Is something wrong?"
"Hm? Ah, no. Nothing's wrong. I'm just worried, that's all."
"Worried?"
"Han Mi-young. That woman is not the type to back down easily. I was sure she'd follow us all the way here and start making a scene, but I don't see her."
I remembered what Go Eun-hye had said.
Don't get shaken.
I checked the people around us again. From the extras on up, every actor who wasn't a lead was avoiding my eyes on purpose.
Ahh... so that's what she meant.
I laughed, bold and easy.
"Don't worry. That Han Mi-young woman seems to have decided I'm her enemy. So there's nothing for you to worry about, sunbae."
That was when a voice cut in, firm enough to be almost severe.
"That's not right."
"Pulling this kind of childish crap on a kid. That is not something an adult should do."
Jin Joo-hwa looked around at the actors who hadn't even returned a greeting, her expression openly disgusted. I wondered if it was really all right to say that out loud—and at the same time, I agreed with her.
"It's fine. I'll just crush them with my acting."
"What?"
Jin Joo-hwa seemed to find that genuinely funny. She threw her head back and laughed out loud. She was enough of an actress to carry a female lead, and it showed—even her laugh was pretty.
"Senior Jin Joo-hwa, you have a pretty smile."
"Those words just came out of that mouth? They did, didn't they?"
"Pardon? I said it, so... I suppose they did?"
I put on a face that said I had no idea why she was reacting like that. Jin Joo-hwa, though, folded her arms and looked me up and down.
"Jiwoo, was it."
"Yes."
"Jiwoo, you really shouldn't go around casually telling other people they're pretty."
What was that supposed to mean? I'd just given a straightforward compliment on her looks. Contrary to that thought, a faint complaint settled on Jin Joo-hwa's face.
"You don't have an objective sense of your own looks yet. That's why you're making that 'I don't get it' face. For now, go over there and get your makeup done. There's still time before we shoot."
I knew my face was quite pretty. Even when I'd said so as a joke at part-time jobs, just to loosen the mood, nobody had looked at me like I was crazy. They'd nodded. But that was only by ordinary people's standards. Standing next to Jin Joo-hwa with her makeup already finished, I shouldn't have compared at all.
"Yes..."
I had no choice but to nod.