Ninety Points
We Jae-hwi, of the entertainment outlet Deodeok.B, slipped the camera's memory card into place and wiped the sweat trickling down his palm.
"So this is going up against Top Class, right?"
"Yes. Their production budget alone is staggering, and we've got CG costs to cover on top of that — neither side is playing around."
This was the event hall on Teheran-ro where the script reading for Strange Tales would soon take place. Most of the invited reporters had also attended the script reading for Top Class not long ago.
Top Class really lived up to its name…
The sheer number of veteran actors they'd assembled gave the room an intimidating gravity. The weight of all those famous names changed the very air of the venue before a single line was read.
"Hello, everyone. Thank you for attending the script reading for Strange Tales. I'm Director Jjang, handling both the script and the direction. Has anyone here read the original web novel? Ah, yes — a few hands went up. I'll be sure to remember that."
With Director Jjang's easygoing greeting, the reading began. Seated in their places, the reporters watched Han Yeo-reum, whose name value was still only Rising; Kwon Jun-hyeok, whose visuals made for a handsome pairing with his co-star; and above all—
"It's been a while. I'm Geum Bit-gang, playing Yeom-ga."
"Everyone's been working so hard, I see~. I'm Noh Jeong-yeon, playing Jeong-an."
The two great pillars of the 1970s theater scene, the masters who had once captivated an entire generation, were both in attendance — and the shutters clicked without pause.
Geum Bit-gang and Noh Jeong-yeon. Those two names alone carried a weight that rivaled Top Class's star-studded lineup.
Please, please do well, Yeo-reum…!
Reporter Wi clenched the script in her hands and shouted silently as she watched Yeo-reum clutching her own. And then the reading of Strange Tales began.
What is this?
…It's landing.
Well, the two rookies are probably in for a rough time.
It was an utter disaster.
Where on earth did it go wrong?
I had prepared as much as anyone could. The problem was that my preparation and the other actors' preparation existed on entirely different planes.
First, Kwon Jun-hyeok…
His vocal power itself wasn't bad, but his voice sat low enough that his enunciation blurred a little. And the nerves showed all over him. Overall, under-rehearsed.
And next, me.
I got completely dragged around by Professor Geum Bit-gang. I couldn't even count how many problems there were.
The early portion of the reading had gone without a hitch. But at some point, Professor Geum Bit-gang changed course.
I couldn't tell what displeased her, but a veteran of Geum Bit-gang's caliber was incapable of mistakes — so this had to be deliberate.
She'd been attempting a more period-drama style of delivery…
It started the moment Professor Geum Bit-gang rang out her lines in that thunderous voice. Mine sounded small by comparison, so I instinctively switched to the familiar theater projection I knew best.
And the tempo shifted entirely.
Instead of the relatively measured, level period-drama delivery with its clipped, falling line endings, I'd gone to something faster and higher — the stage style. And at that very moment—
Professor Geum Bit-gang snapped straight back to the original period-drama delivery…
Which made it look, to everyone watching, like I was the only one overacting my way through the reading.
After that, I was too flustered to remember much.
I got dragged along wherever Professor Geum Bit-gang led, then rebelled in an attempt not to be dragged, and ultimately ended the reading in a state that was neither one thing nor the other.
Across the board, I fell short in both period drama and stage acting.
Once the reporters and staff filed out, only four of us remained: me, Kwon Jun-hyeok, Geum Bit-gang, and Noh Jeong-yeon.
"Yeo-reum! You did well, you did well! Even while shaking, you were wonderful."
Oh, there was one more person. Director Jjang patted my shoulder, offering encouragement.
"No, sir. Today I fell short in so many ways."
Geum Bit-gang, seated across from me, tilted her head sideways.
"I see you're at least aware of it."
"Hmmm~. Bit-gang-ie! Shh, now!"
"And here I was thinking — what a remarkable student, taking a leave from school after only a year of study."
"Don't mind her. Our Bit-gang-ie is just shy about getting the spotlight all to herself for once."
"What on earth are you talking about!"
Noh Jeong-yeon calmly defused her old friend with a smile, but Geum Bit-gang's disapproving gaze was still fixed squarely on me.
…What did I do?
My emotions cooled into something sour. If I let myself rest even a little, I'd never catch up to Do Gyeo-ul. Was I supposed to juggle school and my schedule at the same time?
I'm a rookie — an actor whose name carries far less weight than Do Gyeo-ul's.
Of course the room couldn't revolve around me.
No… and more than anything.
I didn't want to grow slowly. I wanted to grab every role that came my way, as many as possible.
"You hide your thoughts so poorly that your eyes broadcast every one of them — and you intend to carry a sixteen-episode series?"
Geum Bit-gang had read my mind in an instant, and she shook her head slowly.
"…I'm sorry for showing you my shortcomings today. I'll practice more and come back before filming begins."
"Right! So that no stain falls on your teacher's good name, our Yeo-reum~."
"Anyone would think I'm the one who took this student on."
Director Jjang, having provoked a master's temper, turned ghost-pale and leapt passionately to my defense.
"With all due respect, ma'am — I watched her Episode 16 performance recently. I know her ability. She was simply nervous today, that's all—"
"If she's like this in front of a room full of reporters, what happens on set?"
And then it happened.
"Hic…"
A faint tremor rippled through the seat beside me.
"I'm s-sorry… sob… so sorry…"
Kwon Jun-hyeok was crying, tears dropping one by one.
Wait… why are you crying?
He seemed to have been genuinely trying to hold it in on his own; the rims of his eyes were red.
"If she doesn't meet your… sniff… your standards, then how much… how much do I—! I'm s-sorry…"
Well, fair enough, I supposed. If the great Geum Bit-gang would openly nitpick a student of Korea National University of Arts, how unbearable must it look to an idol whose acting visibly fell short?
After all, if you put Kwon Jun-hyeok and me on the same scale, I came out overwhelmingly on top.
"I'll take responsibility and resign, I'll resign…"
"Are you a politician? Resign from what?"
"Th-then I'll withdraw from school…"
"Do you think this is a school?!"
At Geum Bit-gang's bark, Kwon Jun-hyeok's sobs grew even louder. Judging by the scrapes on the backs of his hands, he really had thrown himself into the action training, at least.
"Hmmm~. My, my."
All things considered, this whole situation was hopeless. Yet Noh Jeong-yeon, smiling even amid the wreckage, spoke gently.
"Now, it's no good for actors to be bickering like this before filming even starts. Let's all get a meal and have a nice long chat. Nobody has anything scheduled after this, right? We'll take my car!"
"A meal? What damn meal—"
"Come along, Bit-gang-ie~."
"I'm not going!"
And then she seized Geum Bit-gang by the shoulders and dragged her off. For all her delicate features, her grip strength seemed absolutely terrifying.
Geum Bit-gang, unable to mount any real resistance, was hauled away by Noh Jeong-yeon.
"What are you all standing there for? Nobody's coming?"
Noh Jeong-yeon looked back over her shoulder with a radiant smile. That was why — that was the only reason — Director Jjang and the weeping Kwon Jun-hyeok ended up boarding Noh Jeong-yeon's van.
"Professor, I…"
"Yes, my little chick?"
"The meal location is… a bit far, isn't it?"
"We're almost there! Almost there!"
Perhaps because the van's windows were curtained, I couldn't see outside at all.
Judging by the tear-production rate of the sniffling Kwon Jun-hyeok, we'd been driving for at least an hour, and still the car didn't stop.
Where on earth are we going…?
The moment something began to feel truly wrong, the car finally stopped.
"Everyone out! Think of it as your own home and make yourselves comfortable!"
I opened the door and stepped out, and there it was—
"This is my villa! Who said you could treat it like your own home?"
"Exactly. So think of it as Bit-gang-ie's home and make yourselves comfortable!"
It was Geum Bit-gang's mountain villa, ringed on every side by untouched nature. Even the air reaching my nose felt different — the cold, crisp scent of grass told us we were deep in the mountains now.
"There's plenty of food in the fridge. Everyone likes beef, don't you? Hmm?"
"I haven't been here in ages — how would there be anything left—wait! Where's your manager going? Turn that car around right now!"
"I restocked everything myself. Don't worry about a thing~. Everyone, come on inside!"
By then, Noh Jeong-yeon's car was long gone. We were completely stranded here.
"Now then, since we're all gathered together, let's spend the next few days pushing ourselves to the limit, shall we?"
Noh Jeong-yeon beamed. Geum Bit-gang pressed a hand to her forehead like a woman watching her doom arrive. Kwon Jun-hyeok's eyes went damp all over again. Director Jjang simply stood with his mouth hanging open.
"…Isn't this, technically, kidnapping…"
"Hmmm~. These days the young people call it 'boot camp training,' I believe?"
"That's not really modern slang, Professor… Professor? Hello? Professor?"
Noh Jeong-yeon's retreating figure, dragging Kwon Jun-hyeok in one hand and Director Jjang in the other, grew smaller and smaller.
Geum Bit-gang, standing beside me, murmured:
"…Give up."
"Professor…"
"In all these years, no one has ever beaten that face of Noh Jeong-yeon's…"
And so the residential bootcamp of the Strange Tales team began.
"Now that everyone's had a good meal, let's move on to the main event."
The instant the meal ended, Noh Jeong-yeon clapped her palms together and announced cheerfully.
"Alright! Then let's have that Episode 16 performance. Right here. I'd love to see it."
The target, of course, was Han Yeo-reum.
Noh Jeong-yeon met Yeo-reum's eyes; the girl looked caught off guard by the sudden demand. And sure enough, supporting fire came from Geum Bit-gang.
"Can't do it?"
Han Yeo-reum drew a long, deep breath and answered without hesitation.
"No. I'll do it."
She closed her eyes for a moment. The lids lifted slowly, and eyes unlike anything she'd shown during the reading turned toward Geum Bit-gang.
"You wretched creature. Yeom-ga… the most shameless thing this world has ever known."
It was clear she had drilled these lines over and over. This was no mere recitation of memorized sentences.
Her fury and bitter love-hate toward Yeom-ga soaked every syllable of that first line.
"Tears of blood never dry in your eyes! Your hands fester into clotted masses of blood and pus!"
Thunderclap after thunderclap of voice rolled through the hall, echoing off the walls. This was nothing like the little chick who'd been dragged around by a veteran during the reading — the skill on display now was on another plane entirely.
What comes next?
Yeo-reum's performance flowed onward without a single stumble. As if she had truly become the shaman Seo-ryeong.
"O wandering ghosts of travelers, who walked and perished on the roads a thousand li from home—"
Collapsing in agony, clawing out sutras, Yeo-reum broke her diction at intervals as if vomiting blood.
Watching a performance that looked nothing like a rookie's work, Noh Jeong-yeon marveled inwardly.
…And yet.
When at last Yeo-reum finished, Noh Jeong-yeon studied the look in her eyes and thought:
It isn't a hundred.
Director Jjang, apparently overjoyed simply to witness the performance a second time, sprang to his feet and turned to Geum Bit-gang.
"Well?! Professor, now you understand why I believe in her, don't you?"
"Roughly."
"That was a perfect hundred, wasn't it! No — a thousand! Ten thousand!"
"No."
Geum Bit-gang looked down at Yeo-reum, still collapsed on the floor, and spoke.
"Ninety."