What Kind of Magic Did You Cast?
What kind of magic did you cast?
While talking on the phone with Seol Soyoung, she made this request of me at the end.
She asked me to keep watching her performance until she successfully nailed this climax scene.
When I heard that, I honestly figured I would be stuck on set all day. It was the weekend anyway, and if things ran late, Yongseok hyung would take care of getting me home without any fuss. With that easygoing mindset, I settled in to enjoy her acting.
But then.
Her performance was the kind you simply could not watch with a relaxed heart.
What is this?
Did she ask me to watch because she wanted to show off or something?
“Cu—cut!”
Director Go Dongbin’s urgent cut signal rang out, and filming came to a complete stop.
Only after hearing that voice did the staff seem to snap back to reality and start looking at one another.
And then—
—Insane.
Clap clap clap clap.
Without exception, they instinctively let out exclamations of pure admiration and broke into applause directed at the actors.
Ordinarily, when the entire crew on set claps in unison like that, it is either because every last shot has wrapped, or because they are sending off an actor who will no longer be part of the production with a gesture of thanks for their hard work.
They do not clap simply because a single cut has finished.
So why this reaction now?
The answer was simple.
The actor performing had just delivered such insane skill that pure, unfiltered admiration poured out of them.
Hmm.
Honestly, even I was left impressed by Seol Soyoung’s performance just now.
As the story writer, I believe the most critical element when portraying Gyeoul in the climax scene is the emotional line.
The joy of Haon finally recalling every memory of the past and realizing they can share those recollections together—and the sorrow of having to part from him.
Expressing those two diametrically opposed emotions at the same time is no easy feat.
If the balance of that emotional line tips even slightly to one side, the entire atmosphere of the climax will lean with it.
I never even hoped for a perfectly conscientious fifty-fifty split. Handling an emotional line that cleanly is difficult even for top-tier actors. I was prepared to accept sixty-forty, or even seventy-thirty if it came to that.
Except.
Seol Soyoung’s performance just now was a perfect fifty-fifty.
Her voice, her gestures, the very air around her—everything was the Gyeoul I had only ever drawn in my imagination. And that face looking up at Haon at the end was still burned into my mind.
A smile laced with wistfulness.
And tears that stood in stark contrast to that smile.
Seol Soyoung’s tears just now were practically an ad-lib.
From the beginning, I had never intended to use a tearful take for this scene. When actors perform crying, artificial tears or stimulant sticks can easily disrupt the kind of acting that demands emotional neutrality. And tears usually surface only after the line of pure sorrow has been completely crossed.
Having watched countless actors with my own eyes in my previous life, I knew talent and effort could make it possible to a degree. But even those actors could only manage it when they were fully immersed in sorrow alone.
Maintaining two emotional lines simultaneously while still shedding tears, the way Seol Soyoung just did, was something that defied common sense.
Which is why the skill she displayed just now could only be described as—
Possessed by the gods.
That felt like the most fitting expression.
“……”
Namgung Hwan, who had been matching her performance, wore a dazed expression as well. The afterglow of the scene they had just shared clearly had not faded yet.
If an actor who had already finished the take looked that spaced out, what kind of reaction would viewers have when they saw the same moment layered with wistful BGM, special effects, and post-production polish?
If I had to make an analogy, it would be like eating plain seasoned eggplant every day and then suddenly being handed spicy stir-fried pork.
“Hehehe……”
PD Na beside me let out an unpleasant little chuckle. He seemed to be thinking the exact same thing.
Then our eyes met naturally, and he asked the question.
“Writer, just what kind of magic did you cast on Miss Soyoung?”
“Uh……”
I really have no idea this time?
I was more curious myself. What on earth could have shifted in her heart in that short span of time to let her unleash such god-touched skill?
Anyone who had just witnessed Seol Soyoung’s performance would find it nearly impossible to imagine that she had been racking up NGs only a few days earlier.
“Haha, you’re being far too humble.”
But PD Na showed no sign of believing me.
No, this time I genuinely did nothing.
“Sigh… PD Na. Is today’s filming finished for now?”
“Yes. Most likely. Today’s goal was to wrap the climax scene, after all.”
“True. On a happy weekend like this, keeping the shoot short is better for everyone’s mental health.”
“Quite right. But why do you ask?”
“My part is done, so I should head home.”
I had already messaged Yongseok hyung ahead of time. He had just replied that he would start the car the moment I reached the parking spot.
“Ah, and for the record, PD Na—if Miss Soyoung causes another NG during the filming of the final episode, episode sixteen, then wait just like you did today until she delivers a brilliant performance.”
“Writer! Then the schedule—”
“Delay it.”
I cut him off firmly.
He stared at me with a flustered look.
“What?”
“You heard me perfectly clearly, so stop pretending you didn’t. Just delay it. What good does it do to pile schedule pressure on a kid who’s only just set foot on the path of an actor?”
PD Na had no comeback. When variables arose, adjusting the schedule was the responsibility of the man sitting in the production-head seat. He was sharp enough to grasp roughly what I meant.
However.
“If I fail to properly carry out your request, Writer… what will you do then?”
This sort of curiosity was not especially welcome…
I had not thought through the details of what I would do if that happened. But roughly, it would feel something like this:
“I’ll get truly angry at Studio NMIX. Of course I’ll be disappointed as well. Well… we’ll just have to see at the time what kind of impact that has on our relationship.”
……
Hearing Eunwoo’s words, Na Yeongjin thought.
What Writer 927 had said was practically a threat. To Na Yeongjin’s ears, it sounded like a declaration that if that day ever came, he would no longer work with Studio NMIX.
“Don’t worry. There will be no more occasions to disappoint you from now on, Writer.”
Yet Na Yeongjin nodded as if the demand were only natural.
……The insane acting skill Seol Soyoung had just displayed in the climax scene.
And the young boy standing in front of him, who casually created high-caliber scripts as if it were nothing, possessed equally insane potential.
Na Yeongjin sensed it.
If these two talents continued to combine the way they were now, the landscape of the current drama market would shift dramatically.
That was why, from his position, he had to hold onto both of them by any means necessary.
Even if it meant he himself would end up… well, a little more exhausted, he thought at the time that it would be fine.
But……
It is said that the Na Yeongjin of the distant future came to regret the decision he made on this day for a very long time afterward.
“Hoo……”
Having finished her performance, Seol Soyoung let out a long sigh of relief.
She had approached the acting with a far lighter heart than usual. Those words of his—that he would take full responsibility for every mistake she made—had truly lightened her burden.
And the request she had made at the end of their call had played the decisive role.
Somewhere on this set, that person was watching her performance.
That single fact alone was enough to set Seol Soyoung’s will ablaze.
And now that the acting was complete, she could say with certainty:
The performance she had just delivered would not bring her a single shred of shame even if shown to him.
It was a performance that could answer his expectations.
And……
…Where is he?
In truth, the reason she had asked him to stay on set and keep watching her acting was partly to show him her performance—but there had been an entirely different purpose as well.
That purpose was to keep that person’s feet planted on the set.
Seol Soyoung had long wanted to meet Writer 927 face to face.
At first it had been simple curiosity. She wanted to know what the person who believed in her looked like, what kind of person he was.
Then, just a short while ago, that one-dimensional curiosity had been transformed by their phone call into something closer to thirst.
Seol Soyoung wanted to meet him right this moment, if only to quench that inexplicable thirst.
“……”
She carefully scanned the surroundings of the set.
This was a woman’s intuition, but…
That person would never casually lie to her. Therefore he would definitely be somewhere on the set in order to keep his promise.
Armed with that conviction, she looked more carefully—and what do you know?
In the distance, PD Na Yeongjin and a man with an unfamiliar back were walking off somewhere together.
Seol Soyoung instinctively started toward them, the certainty of Found him rising in her chest.
But……
“Wow, Soyoung, what on earth happened during the break?”
“Eh? W-wait a minute!”
She was forcibly detained by actor Namgung Hwan and the nearby staff, and was forced to keep receiving praise until Director Go Dongbin finally declared the day’s filming over.
By the time she was free, quite a while had passed, and Seol Soyoung never managed to meet Writer 927.
“Hing……”
The faintly sulky little sound she made was just a bonus.
