The Great Prince's Woman (4)
Jeong Seo-hoon, having gotten the PD and writer's approval, stepped out to sync up with the camera alongside her. He started softly.
"Maybe it's because you're a singer by trade, but your vocalization is excellent."
First impressions were a crucial turning point that could shape future relationships.
Jeong Seo-hoon aimed to ease Han Seo-hee's tension with praise grounded in plain fact.
"Thank you..."
Unlike the vibrant projection she'd shown during her earlier take, her voice now crept out almost timidly.
She must be nervous now that the lead actor has come forward—probably second-guessing her performance, Jeong Seo-hoon thought.
Easier than handling rookie child soldiers heading into their first battlefield.
He'd done plenty of mental prep with kids even younger and far more rattled than this.
He needed to soften her defenses a bit more with compliments.
"Your profile lists your height at 168 cm, right? Is that accurate?"
"Pardon?"
As tension flickered back into Han Seo-hee's eyes, Jeong Seo-hoon reassured her with a gentle smile.
"You seem a touch taller than that. More like 171. I've got a good eye for it."
"Well... yeah, 171's the real number. But they said fans might feel intimidated if it's too high, so I haven't updated the profile yet. I grew almost 8 cm during group activities."
"Ah, that explains it. You do look taller than the profile pic."
"Will that be a problem for the role?"
"Not at all. No issue whatsoever. Don't worry about that."
"Okay..."
She still seemed wound up.
Jeong Seo-hoon pondered what might finally loosen her up.
"Doesn't the drama world—or the whole industry—feel just like a battlefield? That's what crossed my mind watching you earlier."
"In what way?"
The tension faded from her wide eyes, replaced by curiosity. It was working.
"Real battlefields are merciless. You see underage boy and girl soldiers everywhere, barely adults. I heard you debuted in middle school, so seeing everyone fighting so fiercely like this... it really feels like war."
"Ahaha..."
He hadn't meant it as a joke, but Han Seo-hee suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
Jeong Seo-hoon's sharp senses picked up the hushed exchange between Kim Sang-hee and Jang Seung-won.
"What's so funny about that? I don't see it at all."
"With a face like hers, she'd make anyone laugh—even explaining binomial cumulative distribution. I sometimes crack up just seeing the back of her head."
"That's a bit..."
Hearing her quickened breaths, Jeong Seo-hoon refocused on Han Seo-hee.
"Your acting's solid. The visuals fit perfectly, for starters."
"My visuals are good?"
She couldn't hide the delight in her voice.
Worried she'd mistaken it for a compliment on her looks, Jeong Seo-hoon quickly clarified.
"The image, I mean—your outward image. You give off exactly the vibe of the Great Prince's young wife."
"Oh, the image..."
"But it seems like you're not quite used to breaking out of that shell yet. Shatter it, and I expect you'll deliver a fantastic performance as the Great Prince's wife."
"D-Do the PD and writer see me that negatively right now? Enough to bring out a senior like you...?"
Fear crept back in, blurring the end of her words.
Unlike her mature appearance, these expressions and her speech betrayed her true age.
"No. All three of us decided on you for the casting. You're confirmed."
"Oh."
"But now that we're at the camera test, wouldn't you want to imprint an even better impression on the PD and writer before we start?"
"An even better impression...?"
"Then they'll put extra care into your scenes. It'll help your acting career too."
"Yes, sunbae! Got it!"
Han Seo-hee responded briskly, and Jeong Seo-hoon added softly,
"By debut seniority, I'm a distant junior. The years between us are huge."
"But in acting, you're way ahead of me. And three years older besides."
"Nah, come on. Anyway, you seem relaxed now. Let's sync with the camera."
"Yes!"
Finishing up, Jeong Seo-hoon stepped back a few paces, mindful of the camera.
Han Seo-hee closed her eyes, muttering to herself as she gathered her emotions.
In that instant, the massive, transparent camera lens captured them both.
Everything but Han Seo-hee vanished from his view, the scenery shifting.
It's different.
Earlier, when the camera had focused solely on Han Seo-hee, she'd crossed time into the Great Prince's wife of old.
Dressed in her era's garb, gazing at him from that bygone age.
But the landscape now surrounding Jeong Seo-hoon wasn't the past.
He stood amid a battlefield strewn with blood and corpses, clad in his colonel's uniform, clutching dog tags from his fallen men.
-Madam...
The colonel murmured her name in a fading voice before his breath cut short.
Han Seo-hee scanned her surroundings with startled eyes.
An improvisation nowhere in the script—Jeong Seo-hoon instinctively drew her focus.
-What, now even daytime drinking makes it so I can't see my husband straight?
The ad-lib, unscripted, was a reflexive pull to bring her into the scene.
Why's she doing that?
Her body frozen, Han Seo-hee glanced around wildly with just her eyes—then snapped her gaze to him, startled.
Her pale, small face flinched, then gradually settled into calm.
In that moment, her attire leaped centuries ahead.
Hands tucked into the elegant hanbok skirt and jeogori befitting a wealthy yangban's proper wife, tied tight at the waist—she became the Great Prince's wife and spoke.
-My lord. You've had far too much today.
Sympathy, disappointment, resignation, and pity for her husband's endless debauchery flickered distinctly in her eyes, expression, and voice.
It was so immersive that Jeong Seo-hoon wondered just how far forward the PD and writer were leaning outside the lens—she was fully possessed by the perfect Great Prince's wife.
What is this? The sceneries are different.
An invisible line divided the Great Prince's wife from the colonel, isolating their worlds completely.
His side: a bloodied shore littered with corpses and wrecked warships.
Hers: a serene mountain pavilion by a clear brook in some picturesque corner of the past.
The staggering colonel, wounded, limped toward the Great Prince's wife.
The moment he crossed the line, he transformed into the drunken Great Prince, the battlefield erased in a flash, replaced by the past era.
This was a first.
Whenever acting before the camera, the scenes had always built on Rashid's world as the foundation, similar though the situations were.
But now, the camera gifted him a landscape utterly unconnected to Rashid.
-Time to head in now.
-Head in where?
-To your residence, of course, my lord.
-Residence? There's no home for me under these heavens. Born of noble blood, yet in this land, this country—not a single inch is truly mine!
Lines not in this scene.
He'd impulsively pulled them from a later script section that connected here.
Yet the Great Prince trusted the rhythm of breath in his wife's gaze upon him.
She would follow, naturally.
And the wife trailed after the Great Prince without hesitation.
-So... you'll go through with it, my lord?
-Madam...
-Must you take that arduous path, no matter what?
-I must. Even if the world points fingers down a thorny road, I have no choice but to walk it.
-Then, my lord.
The young wife paused, gazing at him endlessly with sorrowful eyes.
The timing was so exquisitely tuned it felt like they could linger there forever.
Han Seo-hee was nowhere to be seen.
Only the Great Prince's wife stood before him.
-I'll go with you. Wherever you head, wherever you are... always...
-Even in hell, I'll never let go of your hand.
The Great Prince and his wife clasped hands tightly, lost forever in each other's eyes.
Kim Sang-hee clenched her fist hard.
Her silent scream reached Jang Seung-won vividly.
He wasn't expressing it, but he too was inwardly stunned watching the camera feed.
Han Seo-hee's acting, solid enough to pass muster before, had transformed completely. Just from standing before the camera with Jeong Seo-hoon.
Her eyes, face, gestures—all bespoke a royal woman's worry and affection for her husband about to tread a rough path.
"Great, just great."
Jang Seung-won barely resisted applauding.
Even genuine praise, if too effusive, could overwhelm a rookie like Han Seo-hee.
"Ah, that was excellent. As expected from syncing with your fated partner? Truly emotive as the Great Prince's wife."
Jang Seung-won's measured praise landed, but Han Seo-hee's eyes remained fixed on Jeong Seo-hoon.
He chuckled dryly and cleared his throat.
"Alright, alright. Great Prince, Great Prince's wife—back to reality now? Your humble PD begs you."
"Ah."
Han Seo-hee yelped briefly, hastily releasing Jeong Seo-hoon's hand and stepping back.
Her faintly flushed face bowed toward the director.
"Sorry."
"Not at all. Your immersion was so strong it was a joy to watch. Your take on the Great Prince's wife? I'm really looking forward to it."
"Really? Thank you!"
Since they'd already locked in her casting without full satisfaction—and without further writer debate—final approval posed no issue.
Then Kim Sang-hee spoke in a stiff tone.
"One thing I'd like to ask. That ad-lib—'Must you go through with it?'—what emotional thread inspired it?"
"Ah, well..."
Han Seo-hee faltered, struggling to continue.
It wasn't in her script at all.
The 'Great Prince's wife' she embodied would never utter such lines.
Hers was purely the fresh, youthful version.
"It just... popped into my head without thinking."
"Did you know that line was prepped for the 30s Great Prince's wife later in the script?"
"Pardon? No, first I've heard."
"So it emerged naturally from the immersed role's emotions?"
"Yeah, something like that."
Her slightly interrogative tone seemed to scare Han Seo-hee a bit.
But Kim Sang-hee soon beamed.
"Perfect. Means your character grasp aligns with mine."
"Writer-nim?"
"Great acting. Keep it up."
Han Seo-hee's face lit up again as she stole a glance at Jeong Seo-hoon.
Jang Seung-won clapped lightly and asked,
"So, Great Prince—any more questions for the wife you've taken as your inner consort?"
Kim Sang-hee stomped her foot lightly with a chuckle, and soft giggles rippled through the staff.
Ignoring why they tittered, Jeong Seo-hoon voiced his pent-up curiosity.
"You were glancing around earlier—what was that about?"
Jang Seung-won nodded silently.
He'd wondered about the unscripted action too but skipped it since her follow-up was spot-on.
Figured she'd just missed the cue beat and moved on.
"Suddenly my vision got weird. I got flustered..."
"Your vision?"
"Yeah. The edges went all white? I don't know. Thought my eyes were playing tricks, but seeing your face, sunbae, snapped me back—I focused on the acting. All good now! Must've been nerves making me see things!"
Han Seo-hee answered briskly, and Jeong Seo-hoon mulled her words.
'Edges of vision went white.'
Perhaps that's how she'd perceived the lens erasing the surroundings.
Actors he'd synced with before had described deeper immersion than usual.
The better and more seasoned the actor, the stronger the effect.
Yet Han Seo-hee had outdone them all—even Lee Min-soo.
Is the camera showing me a new world ahead? Or signaling she's a uniquely special counterpart?
Could be one, or both.
One thing's certain, though.
For the young Great Prince's wife, no one could top Han Seo-hee.
That might be the camera's ultimate message.
"You're three years apart, right?"
"What outta nowhere?"
"Hey, still—two years means no. Hold off a bit."
"Not like that. Didn't you see the acting?"
"Yeah, yeah—so heartfelt you didn't seem like a high school sophomore. Thought she was the real deal, proper wife of the Great Prince's house. Her fandom would flip—scandal with you, and they'd lose their minds, scalps flipping inside out."
Jeong Seo-hoon scoffed as if it weren't funny, glancing at Han Seo-hee.
Flushed and chattering excitedly with her manager, she was just like any teenage girl.
But the camera had shown it clearly.
How brilliantly the Great Prince's wife beside him would shine.
She'd pair as satisfyingly as Lee Jin-wook or Kim Chan—maybe more.
Protagonists gained life from scripts and direction, built atop leads, supports, bit players, and extras' narratives to stand tall.
And he acted the culmination of that complete life.
"First wife's cast; now for the second. Anyone in mind? PD and writer looked deep in thought."
"Dunno. But whoever they pick, it'll be daunting."
"You feel the pressure? Oh right, just your third project. Still, you matched Yoo Jeong-ah and Chae Ji-hyun without buckling—intimidated now?"
"Not me—the actress. She'll get compared hard to Han Seo-hee."
"...You really have zero jealousy, huh."
"Should I?"
"Your fandom'll love it. Hers too. Only Han Seo-hee herself might feel slighted?"
"Quit yapping. Focus on the work."
Jeong Seo-hoon teased her lightly, then stood. Jeong Su-ryeon eyed Han Seo-hee.
She caught Han Seo-hee finally stealing a glance at Jeong Seo-hoon's retreating back.
"If he's pretending not to notice on purpose, he's a total blockhead."