Promotional Activities
Hiss— pop!
Foam surged up the beer can in a cool, satisfying rush as the carbonation escaped.
Three days of filming were finally over, and the wrap party was well underway.
"Huh? Where'd Seo-jun go?"
"Seo-jun said his stomach wasn't feeling great, so he went to rest."
"Yeah… that tracks."
Lee Seo-jun was nowhere to be seen.
It happened often with actors — especially the method actors, the ones who poured everything into a role. When they sank deep enough into a character's emotions, those feelings could swallow them whole and leave them wrecked. All the more so when the characters demanded something as raw as Lee Seo-jun's and Gil Ara's.
"But still…"
Ha Il-gwon's head turned, and everyone nearby followed his gaze.
Where their eyes met, Ara was calmly eating meat.
"How is she completely fine…?"
"Beats me…"
For the past three days — and in the scattered moments before that — he had been watching Gil Ara carefully.
He had rewound the recording of her audition dozens of times, that bone-chilling performance, half-convinced she might actually have antisocial personality disorder. But the background research he'd done beforehand, and the second opinion he'd quietly sought from a psychiatrist just in case, had matched her to nothing of the sort.
She was simply someone with a catastrophic lack of conversational skill.
Who also happened to possess monstrous acting ability.
He'd doubted her for no reason, without even knowing that much. Locked inside his own frame of reference, his field of vision had narrowed and his judgment had gone soft.
And the decisive moment had come last night, when Ha Il-gwon contacted Director Yu Hui-min. He'd asked whether Hui-min could show him the role Ara had played for him. Hui-min agreed without hesitation and, a short while later, sent over a brief clip.
After watching it, he had no choice but to change his mind.
Come to think of it, they were the ones who'd asked her to act like that.
I suspected an innocent person for nothing.
What if they'd given her a different role?
She would have nailed it brilliantly.
That was just the kind of person she was.
It hadn't been long, but from what little time he'd spent observing Gil Ara, he could tell she was introverted — but not timid. If anything, she was bold. The way she clearly knew her own weapons and swung them without hesitation was almost meticulous.
Gil Ara's acting stole every eye around her. It went further than that — it devoured its surroundings and dyed everything in her own color.
Ha Il-gwon considered himself lucky. How often did you get to build a project alongside an actor like that?
Today's brutal scene between Lee Hyeon-woo and Lee Eun-ju had, astonishingly, been finished in a single take. Where else would you find actors who could get through a scene that horrific without a single mistake?
Well. Thanks to that, Lee Seo-jun was laid out sick in bed.
After wrapping, when they'd sat down for monitoring — the main directors, the writer, the PDs, all of them — they'd fretted together. No one could figure out how to touch the direction. The ingredients were too good. The problem was they only knew how to eat them raw. Tinker with it now and you risked losing the original flavor entirely.
So what do you do in a situation like that?
Oddly enough, the answer was simple.
You ask the actor who actually performed it.
Even if it was a little terrifying.
This is actually terrifying.
Just a moment ago, Ara had been summoned by the director. She'd gone over, watched the monitoring footage with him, and that was her takeaway.
What kind of absolute maniac is this?
The result of handing her emotions completely over to the special privilege and just acting. It was far too shocking.
The strange looks people had been giving her since yesterday — she finally understood why.
"So, uh… what do you think?"
Ha Il-gwon asked for her opinion, his words slightly faltering.
What do I think? What is there to think?
Honestly, it was horrifying.
And scary.
They took a crime thriller and turned it into a horror thriller.
Ara spoke frankly.
"Is this… okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"It feels too grotesque. It sits kind of wrong in my stomach."
You're the one who acted it…
Ara had simply thrown herself into the script she'd been given.
"Then what should we do?"
"I think you need to cut it boldly. Or tone it down."
He understood what she meant.
"Hmm……. It's a shame, though. This footage."
A shame was still a shame. He sat there fretting without a real answer — until Ara offered one.
"If you're torn, why not just produce two versions?"
Make both, then air whichever one turns out better.
Besides, from what Ara could tell — she wasn't an expert, but this looked like it would have a hard time clearing broadcast standards. They were airing on MBS, a terrestrial network. Those standards were only going to be stricter.
"Two versions……. Ah! That's it!"
Ha Il-gwon lit up like a man who'd just found enlightenment.
"Hahahaha! Why didn't I think of that! Thank you, Ara!! Go get some rest!! You worked hard!!"
And just like that, time snapped back to normal — back to the wrap party still in full swing.
Right! If it's a shame to lose either one, just make both!
Glug— glug—
Ha Il-gwon drained his beer.
Ahhh—
One for the main broadcast. And one—
The director's cut.
An uncut version, made solely for Episode 4.
The moment the main broadcast ended, each episode would go up on every OTT platform and paid streaming service. Upload the uncut version right alongside it, and that was that.
How would the audience react?
Ha Il-gwon was in a good mood. Whether it was from solving a hard problem or from the alcohol, he couldn't tell. Either way, there was still a long road ahead — but for this moment, they could just enjoy themselves.
"Alright!! Everyone, listen up!!"
Ha Il-gwon raised his glass high.
"You've all worked hard these past three days!! Of course, we haven't even finished half the shoot yet, but good things are good things. Once again, thank you all for your hard work this year. Our next company dinner will probably be next year, once all the filming is done."
He continued under the weight of every eye in the room.
"So, a round of applause for Lee Seo-jun and Gil Ara, who wrapped their final scenes today — and since Seo-jun isn't here, Ara, would you like to say a few words on his behalf?"
Ha Il-gwon passed the baton to Ara.
Oh, come on.
A bolt from the blue. She was in the middle of eating meat and drinking — what kind of ambush was this?
The intense stares of the crew and cast pressed in on her. Eyes that seemed to expect something special.
But Ara had nothing special to give them.
"Thank you. I learned a lot."
She had never been good with words anyway, so she kept it simple and clean.
"Then, everyone — cheers!!"
Cheers!!!
Ara's first drama was over.
A little over two weeks had passed.
Christmas was long gone.
Articles poured out in a flood.
And over in the drama communities, one matchup had become the topic of the hour.
Amid the fierce debate, the new year dawned.
Ara greeted her gaming friend, then logged off.
"Let's see here~"
Then came the internet search.
Channel Baekoya.
A talk channel hosted by PD Na Yeong-dol, who had successfully run a string of popular programs in the past. Today, the cast of Forest of Crime was scheduled to appear live.
"Ah. Ah. Can you all hear me?"
……
……
"Okay. Stream's up and running. Then."
PD Na Yeong-dol had started the YouTube live broadcast.
"Alright! Today's guests are none other than — the cast of MBS's Forest of Crime! Lee Min-hyeok! Lee Seo-jun! Yu Ha-yeong!"
The actors entered in the order they were introduced.
Leaving the chaotic live chat behind them, the actors began their greetings.
"Hello. I'm Lee Min-hyeok, playing Squad Leader Choi Jin-cheol in the drama Forest of Crime. Nice to meet you."
Lee Seo-jun and Yu Ha-yeong finished their greetings in turn.
"Yes. Good to see you. It's been a while, hasn't it? I can't help but hear about you all the time. You've been well? Seo-jun and Ha-yeong have grown so much too."
A brief exchange of pleasantries followed.
"Alright, I'll ask a few questions that viewers are curious about — and that I'm curious about myself."
Then the real Q&A began.
"First question. What's the rough plot of the drama? What kind of show is it?"
"Just a straightforward story about cops catching criminals."
Lee Min-hyeok answered simply.
"Then was there really a need to make it 19+?"
"There's so much extreme content. If you half-heartedly lower the age rating, you end up with a show that's neither here nor there."
"Hmm. I see. Understood."
Na Yeong-dol moved on to his prepared questions.
"Between the production presentation beforehand and everything that's come out in the articles, the production team and cast are stacked. You could call it a dream team without exaggeration. You agree, right?"
"Well… I'm not sure about that."
"Yes. We'll take that as a yes."
"Hmm……."
"Then let me ask this. Does Forest of Crime not have a making film? If it does, when will it go up? Viewers are definitely looking forward to one. I'm asking because for a highly anticipated project, it's been awfully quiet."
Lee Seo-jun answered.
"Mm. To cut to the chase — there isn't one."
"Sorry?"
The viewers were speaking Na Yeong-dol's mind for him.
"There's no making film. Or more precisely, there are no plans to release one."
"I see……. Understood."
He moved on to the next question.
"When is the premiere screening? The broadcast is coming up soon, and as far as I know there's still been no word."
Yu Ha-yeong took this one.
"We've already held an internal screening separately, but there's no premiere screening planned for the general audience. You'll be able to meet us right on the main broadcast."
"Ah……."
Na Yeong-dol was briefly at a loss for words.
"Understood."
Na Yeong-dol asked more questions after that, but nothing that actually yielded useful information about the drama.
"Alright, let's move on to the games!"
.
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.
.
.
"Director, is this really okay?"
Lee Min-hyeok spoke to Ha Il-gwon with a worried look.
"It's fine. We held our own internal screening, didn't we? How was it? From your perspective."
"It was good. Really entertaining."
Everything they'd done so far had been thoroughly intentional.
"Right. Even I can tell this one turned out exceptionally well."
Even Ha Il-gwon, who had spent long years turning out hit after hit, found Forest of Crime's quality and sheer entertainment value on another level.
Which was exactly why the plan was to deliberately lower expectations — so the shock that hit people would feel completely fresh.
"We start the real promotion once the main broadcast begins and Episode 4 wraps."
"Yes. Well. Honestly, I think it'll be fun. Hahaha."
"Shall we just sit back and enjoy people's reactions?"
"Yes."