Housewarming (1)
Buzz—
The day after wrapping the commercial shoot, Yeon-woo was working out at home when his smartphone rang.
Director Hwang Min-gwon.
Yeon-woo checked the screen and answered.
"Yes, Director."
"Ah, Actor Ryu. Next week is the audition for our drama."
Come to think of it, they'd mentioned last time that the Jordan role audition would be coming up soon.
"Time's already flown by, hasn't it."
"Yes. So I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to come to the audition in person…"
Hearing Director Hwang Min-gwon through the receiver, Yeon-woo gave a small shake of his head.
"No. Please leave it to you and Director Jeong. You've been developing this story for so long—I'm sure you'll cast the perfect actors."
"Yes, sir! Understood."
Because their relationship had begun with Yeon-woo's choice from the very start, the production team tended to defer to him in all sorts of ways.
If they keep looking to me for cues and can't exercise their own directorial judgment, the results might suffer.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Likewise, when an actor's influence grew too strong, projects sometimes fell apart.
With Director Jeong Yo-han and Writer Kim Jin-ju by Director Hwang's side, it seemed best not to interfere with the direction going forward.
After hanging up with Director Hwang Min-gwon, Yeon-woo was about to resume his workout when the phone rang again.
"Hmm?"
Looking at the screen, this time it was Kim Jun-su.
"Hey, Jun-su."
"Dude! You moved, right? Why didn't you invite us over?"
At the grumbling that hit him the moment he answered, Yeon-woo scratched his head.
"…Ah, I've been so busy with shoots I completely forgot."
He'd meant to invite his friends over for at least a modest housewarming, but between the YouTube variety shoot at Plus Ten and the commercial back-to-back, it had completely slipped his mind.
"We're getting together for dinner tonight—mind if we come over?"
At Kim Jun-su's words, Yeon-woo nodded as he answered.
"Sure. Come on over. Since we're gathering anyway, I'll give Jin-uk hyung a call too. He might be busy and not make it, but he lives right next door, so evenings should be fine."
"Oh hell yeah! I'll bring Seong-sik and Ju-hyeong!"
After hanging up, Yeon-woo looked around the house.
He hadn't brought much stuff to begin with, so there was nothing to tidy.
If his family hadn't come last weekend and stocked the fridge with side dishes, it would still have been completely empty.
"Whether past life or this one, the way I live doesn't seem all that different…"
Maybe the difference this life was that he was immersing himself in acting.
Yeon-woo shook his head to clear the thoughts and tried calling Son Jin-uk, but he didn't pick up—probably busy.
Hmm, does he have a shoot today?
Just then the smartphone rang.
"What day is it today? Calls keep coming one after another."
Thinking it might be Son Jin-uk, he checked the screen, but it was Seo Ji-eun.
"Yeah. Ji-eun noona."
"Ah! Yeon-woo."
Seo Ji-eun's voice came through the phone.
"So, um. Well…"
"Hmm, why the hesitation? Did you get into some kind of trouble?"
"No way! What trouble would I get into."
"Then?"
After fidgeting, Seo Ji-eun continued.
"I filmed a variety show last time. And somehow I ended up talking about you a lot…"
"Ahh, giving me a heads-up? I'll watch it. When does it air?"
"Tonight at nine! KBC Channel 2."
Yeon-woo snorted a laugh as he rubbed his cheek.
Today of all days. She sure waited till the last minute to tell me.
Since his friends were coming over tonight anyway, they could order something and watch the variety show together.
"Got it. I'll definitely catch it live. You didn't trash-talk me, right?"
"What! Of course not. Thanks for saying you'll watch! Hehe."
"Was the variety shoot fun?"
"I'm totally a variety type!"
Hearing Seo Ji-eun's words, Yeon-woo found himself nodding.
With her naturally cheerful personality and easy way with people, he'd figured she'd be good at variety.
After exchanging various pleasantries and hanging up, Yeon-woo looked around.
"Ah, here it is."
He pulled a scenario from the drawer.
White Blood
Carrying the scenario, Yeon-woo headed upstairs.
Having an acting practice room at home is really nice.
He planned to go up to the practice room and study the supporting characters in his next project, White Blood.
"Still, the kids won't get here till after seven, so I've got roughly four or five hours."
Which actors would end up working with him through the casting auditions was still unknown, but if he analyzed the characters in detail beforehand, he could create good synergy right away no matter who came.
"First up, Ella."
Yeon-woo sank into the script.
The protagonist of White Blood, Jeong Do-jin, would journey with various allies to save his younger sibling, and the first to appear among them was a character named Ella.
The other roles matter too, but this one especially needs to be cast really well.
Because the character was depicted as around sixteen in the story, they would need a child actor.
Yeon-woo memorized the scene where he first clashed with Ella, then closed his eyes.
Recalling the scenario's contents once more and focusing, he opened the eyes he had closed.
Before he knew it, the acting practice room in the house had become a medieval village with red roofs everywhere and stones paving all around.
Most of this project's acting would be shot on chroma key sets, so he needed to practice immersing himself by overlaying imagination onto reality in advance.
He imagined a fountain installed in the center of the village square before his eyes.
"Mister! Over here! The iron horse you rode in on!"
Turning around, he saw Ella urgently gesturing.
When Do-jin changed direction toward Ella, she ran into the alley as if guiding him.
"It's in that stable!"
Entering the building Ella pointed to with her finger, there was the maglev bike he'd seized from the Level 3 White Blood soldiers who'd been chasing Do-jin around the time he passed through Fibula last year.
Hastily climbing on and trying to start it, Ella quickly hopped on behind him.
"What? Why are you following me?"
"Take me with you too!"
At Ella's demand out of nowhere to take her along, Do-jin furrowed his brow.
"I'm in a hurry. No dead weight."
"Hey! I fed you! I should get my meal's worth!"
Rumble.
The White Blood soldiers who'd already caught up smashed through the stable wall and entered, leaving no more time to delay.
With no choice, Do-jin started the maglev bike.
Buzz—
Just then the smartphone in his pants pocket vibrated, pulling him out of immersion.
Instead of a maglev bike, Yeon-woo was sitting on a practice room stool.
"Whew, acting like this has to pull immersion so high it seems twice as hard as regular acting."
Shaking his head, he pulled out the ringing smartphone.
"Yes, Jin-uk hyung."
"Yeah. You called?"
Earlier when he hadn't answered, Yeon-woo had figured he was busy and hadn't left a separate message.
"Are you busy? Seong-sik and Jun-su are coming over to the house for dinner tonight, so I was wondering if you could make it."
"Nah, I was taking a nap. So a housewarming?"
"Nothing as grand as a proper housewarming."
"Alright. I'll head over in a bit. Been a while since I saw the little ones' faces."
Hanging up, Yeon-woo stood from the chair.
"Hmm, still, guests are coming over, so better to treat them to a home-cooked meal than order delivery."
Going downstairs and opening the fridge, he found pork and the aged kimchi his mother had packed for him.
Maybe pork and aged kimchi jjim. The kids have been living up in Seoul, so it's been a while since they had home cooking.
Friends who filled every meal with cafeteria food or delivery would surely miss home-cooked meals.
That's also why I started cooking in my past life.
Dishes like aged kimchi jjim or braised mackerel were things you ate often when living with family, but you rarely ordered them for delivery.
Pulling the ingredients from the fridge, Yeon-woo rolled up his sleeves.
Prep the ingredients first. Come to think of it, I never even checked what spices they stocked.
Opening the cupboard, fortunately the basics were all there.
While cooking at a leisurely pace with plenty of time left before his friends arrived, the doorbell rang.
"They're here already?"
Tilting his head and checking outside on the security camera, Son Jin-uk stood waving.
Opening the front door and going to greet him, Son Jin-uk came in yawning.
"Yaaawn. Why am I so sleepy even during the day these days."
"Hyung. Why so early?"
"Bored."
Stepping into the living room, Son Jin-uk sniffed.
Probably because of the fresh kimchi he'd taken out.
"What's that smell. It's assaulting my taste buds without mercy."
"Ah, well, guests are coming, so I was prepping pork and aged kimchi jjim."
At Yeon-woo's words, Son Jin-uk's eyes sparkled brightly.
"Ooh. That's my favorite food?"
"Is it?"
"Make a lot. I don't have a next project lined up yet, so I've been binge-eating lately."
"Haha. Got it."
He was already preparing a generous amount since dinner tonight would be five guys.
Returning to the kitchen and dissolving a major brand's bone broth into a pot, then adding the aged kimchi and pork neck, Son Jin-uk came in.
"Anything I can help with?"
"Just rest."
"Use me as an assistant."
Seeing Son Jin-uk asking for something to do out of boredom, Yeon-woo reluctantly gave instructions.
"Then could you make the seasoning sauce?"
"Seasoning sauce?"
"Minced garlic, soy sauce, chili powder, gochujang, cooking wine, and the ratio is…"
"…Umm, I'll just look around the house a bit!"
Easily shooing Son Jin-uk out of the kitchen and returning to cooking, the doorbell rang at just the right timing as it was nearly done.
"Yeon-woo. Your friends are here—I opened the security gate. Want me to open the front door too?"
"Yes. I'll finish up the cooking."
While Yeon-woo set the dinner on the table, Son Jin-uk went to the entrance.
When Son Jin-uk opened the front door, Kim Ju-hyeong, who of course assumed the person opening it was Yeon-woo and was about to walk in, froze solid.
"Huuuh. S-Son Jin-uk…?"
With Kim Ju-hyeong still frozen in the middle, Woo Seong-sik and Kim Jun-su bowed in greeting.
"Hyung-nim! Long time no see!"
"Jin-uk hyung, hello! I forgot to tell Ju-hyeong."
"You punks. You're starting to look like proper college students. It's not my house, but come on in."
His friends draped their arms around the still-dazed Kim Ju-hyeong's shoulders and dragged him into the house.
"Whoa, what is that smell?"
Having finished setting dinner on the table, Yeon-woo walked toward the entrance.
"You're here?"
Looking at Yeon-woo, his friends glanced around the house.
"Yeon-woo. This place is killer."
"It's the same complex as Jin-uk hyung-nim's, but the layout's totally different?"
At his friends' reactions, Yeon-woo asked with a smile.
"You haven't eaten yet, right?"
"Yeah. But what is this smell. I'm drooling."
"I made pork and aged kimchi jjim. Bathroom's that way. Wash your hands so we can eat."
Hearing Yeon-woo's words, his friends headed to the bathroom then trooped into the kitchen.
"Krrr, the visuals are insane."
The pork soaked deliciously in red seasoning and the fully stewed aged kimchi were sprinkled with green onion and sesame seeds.
Finally, a swirl of sesame oil on top maximized the aroma until the saliva pooling in their mouths seemed ready to drip any second.
"Let's eat. You too, Jin-uk hyung."
At Yeon-woo's words, everyone sat down and started with the meal.
"Ohhh, the meat melts in your mouth."
"Dude. Try the aged kimchi. Feels like I went back home."
Watching his friends frantically working their chopsticks as if competing, Yeon-woo snorted a laugh and took a bite himself.
I made it on the fly based on what was in the fridge, but I think I chose the right dish.
During the meal, Kim Ju-hyeong fidgeted before opening his mouth.
"Um, Actor Son Jin-uk, I'm a huge fan!"
"Oh yeah? What's with the 'Actor.' Call me hyung."
At Son Jin-uk's reply, Kim Ju-hyeong's eyes sparkled.
Being such a film buff, just sitting at the same table eating with Son Jin-uk was hard to believe.
It made sense—he'd been surprised seeing Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han too, of course, but those two were young actors just starting to rise.
But Son Jin-uk was a famous actor Ju-hyeong had always seen on TV and in movie theaters since he was a little kid, so the impact hit differently.
"Ugh, when the front door opened I thought my heart was going to jump out."
At Kim Ju-hyeong's words, Son Jin-uk snorted a laugh.
"If you saw actresses like Han So-hyun or Seo Ji-eun instead of me, you'd pass out, huh?"
Hearing Seo Ji-eun mentioned, Yeon-woo clapped as if remembering something.
"Ah, come to think of it, Ji-eun noona called saying she's appearing on a variety show tonight and I promised I'd watch."