Support Visit
"Ready?"
"Whew, I'm a little nervous."
The car door opened, and Chrissy climbed into Yeon-woo's vehicle.
On the day Seo Ji-eun was filming, Yeon-woo had no scenes of his own, so he planned to use the opportunity to visit the set of the drama Prisoner, in which Son Jin-uk was appearing.
"Haven't you met countless Hollywood actors already?"
Yeon-woo asked as he started the car, and Chrissy smiled softly.
"I've met plenty while working on films. But somehow... K-dramas and movies feel more foreign to me, so they're more fascinating. Meeting the lead from Your Name—my husband and I watched it last year and loved it so much."
Yeon-woo nodded and followed the truck pulling out ahead of them.
"Jay, what's that truck for?"
"That's why we're heading to the set today."
When Yeon-woo gave her a brief explanation, Chrissy clapped her hands in admiration.
"Wow, what a unique culture. We don't really have that in America. The closest thing I've heard of is Hollywood couples sometimes gifting catering to their spouses."
"It's Korea's jeong culture."
"Jeong culture? Fascinating. Our film's 'Mr. Jeong' is also about jeong, right?"
Yeon-woo thought of Teacher Jeong Cheol-min, who was playing the role of Mr. Jeong, and let out a quiet chuckle.
"Mr. Jeong is quite full of jeong himself."
There were many people around him overflowing with that kind of warmth.
Son Jin-uk hadn't just sent a coffee truck last time—he'd come in person and even ended up doing a cameo on the spur of the moment.
Even if you approach someone with goodwill, if you don't receive as much as you give—and that piles up—you eventually end up disappointed.
This wasn't simply about maintaining relationships.
Of course he was doing this purely out of gratitude toward Son Jin-uk, but the relationships built this way would come back as great help later on.
In his previous life, his profession had required hiding so much, and he'd deliberately avoided forming connections for fear that anyone linked to him might later suffer harm.
In this life, so much had changed that he could feel himself transforming, and Yeon-woo smiled sheepishly at the thought.
Before long, they arrived at the set according to the schedule he'd learned in advance through Min-su.
Following the production staff who had been contacted ahead of time, they parked the snack truck outside the set and opened the wing top to install the banner and LED sign.
Since it was meant to be a surprise, Yeon-woo parked his own car in a less visible spot beside the set building.
"Wow, so that was a food truck?"
"That's right. Today I'm planning to help the owner run the business."
Chrissy laughed, saying it sounded fun.
"I've been cooped up in the hotel every day getting bored—this is so exciting. I'll help with the kitchen work too. I may not look it, but I've been a housewife for fifteen years."
In the meantime, the generator was set up and everything prepared for business. When the snack truck owner raised his hand high in a circle signal, Yeon-woo and Chrissy got out of the car and went around back.
Chrissy was beaming, clearly enjoying the unusual experience in a foreign country.
"Thank you for your hard work, sir."
"Oh my, don't mention it. But are you really sure you can assist? I've been to plenty of film sets, but never anything like this... As you requested, I left the other staff behind."
"Of course. I'm pretty decent with a knife."
Chrissy and Yeon-woo put on aprons and hygiene caps and finished preparing to greet customers.
Fortunately, it seemed to be break time on set—an FD's voice could be heard from afar, and staff began pouring out in droves.
"Whoa, what's this? Must be for Actor Son."
"Smells amazing. That's odeng broth."
"Who sent this?"
Normally when coffee trucks were sent, the sender's name would be written on the banner or LED, but this one only said, "We always support Actor Son Jin-uk. Sonmat Snack House."
Since Son Jin-uk's surname was Son, they had made the banner to evoke a snack house with "sonmat"—handcrafted flavor.
Staff swarmed in front of the snack truck, and actors who had heard the news began coming outside as well.
Son Jin-uk emerged through the door, lightly pushing the back of another actor dressed as a prison guard.
Wearing a prisoner's uniform for his role, Son Jin-uk walked toward the snack truck and spoke.
"Who sent this? I didn't get any notice."
"You've got plenty of people who'd send you things, Jin-uk. Right?"
"Come on, hyung. I hardly ever get stuff like this. I've gotten coffee a couple of times, but snacks? This is a first."
A prison guard and a prisoner walking together to the snack truck made for quite a comical sight.
"Looks so good. Boss, who sent this, though?"
Behind the owner taking orders and handing out snacks, Yeon-woo had been chopping sundae, liver, and green onions. When Son Jin-uk started ordering, he turned around.
"Jin-uk hyung, what crime did you commit to end up locked up in prison like this?"
"Whoa!"
Startled by Yeon-woo's sudden appearance mid-order, Son Jin-uk stumbled backward.
The first to react were the female staff members stuffing tteokbokki and odeng into their mouths.
"What? Who is that? Isn't that Ryu Yeon-woo?"
"Kyaa! No way!"
Not missing the moment, the camera filming the making-of footage approached as well.
"Hey! Yeon-woo. What's going on all of a sudden? Why are you in there?"
"It's a surprise."
Seeing Yeon-woo smile as he spoke, Son Jin-uk felt a wave of emotion.
"You didn't have to go this far..."
"It's nothing compared to what you did for me, hyung. I'll have it ready in a moment."
The other actor in the prison guard uniform smiled watching the two of them.
"Wow, you two are really close. Nice to meet you. Thanks to this, I get to try tteokbokki made by Yeon-woo."
"Hello, Jin-gwon sunbaenim. I'll make it delicious for you."
At Yeon-woo's words, the actor in the guard uniform's eyes lit up.
"Oh, you know me?"
"Of course. I was deeply moved by White Fish, where you played the lead."
Of course, he hadn't known until yesterday.
But since he was visiting Son Jin-uk's set, he'd figured it would be good to study up on the supporting actors' careers at least.
"Khh, I'm honored. Thanks to Jin-uk, I've got something to brag about to my daughters when I get home today."
Feeling somehow bashful that his junior had saved face for him, Son Jin-uk scratched the back of his head.
In the meantime, with quick hand movements, Yeon-woo finished chopping the liver and sundae, added fresh green onions, completed the snack set, and held out the plate.
"Here you go, customer."
"Oh my, thank you for the meal. Haha."
Son Jin-uk looked at Yeon-woo wearing the apron.
"You come down and eat with us too."
"There aren't many staff left, so I'll finish up and join you."
After a few more staff ordered and things quieted down, Yeon-woo took off his apron.
"Chrissy, thank you so much for helping. Let's go eat some snacks too. And see Jin-uk hyung."
"I'm so nervous right now."
Chrissy, who had been silently prepping ingredients and bringing out dishes from behind, set down her apron with a pounding heart.
"Jin-uk hyung, this is the music director who came from Hollywood for the film I'm shooting. She's a fan of yours."
"Oh my gosh. Hello. I'm Chrissy Monroe. Big fan."
Jin-uk, who had been wondering if the snack truck owners were an international couple, nodded upon hearing Chrissy's identity.
"Oh, thank you very much. But Yeon-woo, did you say her name is Chrissy Monroe?"
"Yes, that's right."
Then could she be the one from Random Dance?
Yeon-woo tilted his head, honestly unfamiliar with the film, but Chrissy Monroe looked surprised at Son Jin-uk's words and nodded.
"Yeah, Random Dance."
"Wow. Then I'm the fan here. I'm your big fan."
He'd heard she was a famous music director, but she seemed even more famous than expected.
Leaving the two of them already seated and chatting amicably, Yeon-woo went to the snack truck and brought back a plate of tteokbokki and fried snacks.
"Chrissy, try this too. You only helped cook and haven't tasted any yet. Tteokbokki and fried snacks."
"Tteokbokki!"
Chrissy laughed and took a bite.
"This is so delicious. I want to make it for my daughter when I go back home."
"Really? It's not too spicy?"
"No. It's so good."
Leaving Chrissy focused on eating the tteokbokki, Yeon-woo looked at Son Jin-uk beside him.
"I happened to hear she was a fan of yours, so I brought her along while I was at it."
"I'm the fan here. Watching a film she made years ago lit a fire in me and I did a musical."
"Jin-uk hyung, you did musicals too?"
"Ages ago. Five years back, so when you were in middle school."
For Yeon-woo, five years ago wasn't middle school—it was the age of a parent with middle-school kids, but...
"Then you must be good at singing?"
"It's a bit awkward to say myself, but I'm decent enough...?"
"Yu-han does musicals too."
"Jin Yu-han? Yeah, I heard. Saw the article."
Everyone was good at singing...
For some reason, Yeon-woo felt a twinge of injustice today.
"Yeon-woo, you should try a musical someday too. There's a special flavor to acting while communicating directly with the audience on stage."
"...I'm a serious tone-deaf case."
"Huh? You're doing a film with Music Director Chrissy Monroe. Isn't it a music film?"
"I only play instruments."
At Yeon-woo's words, Son Jin-uk chuckled.
"So you do have a flaw after all. Then try theater sometime later."
Theater was one of the hobbies Yeon-woo had loved since his previous life.
Of course, watching it rather than performing it.
After spending a bit more time and helping with the snack truck's full withdrawal, they returned to the practice room with Chrissy.
"Good. Violin comes in here."
"Then guitar next."
As Yeon-woo played various instruments in short performances, the harmony gradually built up.
He played the violin, strummed the guitar, and even tapped the body of it.
He was practicing how to handle a loop station under Chrissy's guidance for a scene that would be inserted in the middle, when before long the door opened and Seo Ji-eun came in.
"Ta-da. Entrance."
Seeing Seo Ji-eun enter with a bright smile, Yeon-woo smiled.
"How was it? You filmed with the director for the first time today."
Today and tomorrow were scheduled to focus on scenes featuring Seo Ji-eun alone.
Thanks to that, Yeon-woo had been able to schedule support visits—today to Son Jin-uk, tomorrow to Jin Yu-han.
At Yeon-woo's question, Seo Ji-eun let out a deep sigh that seemed to sink into the ground.
"Haa. It's so hard. He tells me to do 'acting that sparks and crackles on set,' but I have no idea what that even means."
Hearing Seo Ji-eun's words, Yeon-woo recalled when he'd been deep in filming Master Plan.
"I struggled a lot with that too. Senior Maseok Do said the director just dumps it on the actors."
Seo Ji-eun smiled, seeming to relate a little to Yeon-woo's words. Looking at her, Yeon-woo continued.
"But once you do it, you can feel yourself improving."
"I think I get what you mean, Yeon-woo. I've always acted looking at the script, but filming completely without a script today felt unfamiliar yet fun."
Smiling softly, Seo Ji-eun clapped and spoke again.
"Ah, right! You said you're going to cheer on Yu-han at the musical troupe's practice tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I told them I'd visit at lunch with lunchbox sets. It's a surprise for Yu-han."
"Sounds so fun. I'm jealous you have friends the same age."
Hearing Seo Ji-eun, Yeon-woo thought of his other friends.
Hmm, I wonder if any of the kids want to come along.
Besides, there were a lot of troupe members, so the lunchbox sets would be too much for just Yeon-woo and Kim Min-su to carry.
He picked up his smartphone and asked the friends who'd gone on the pool villa trip with him, and replies came flying back immediately.
Hmm, the pension part-timer and Acting Ace combo.
Kim Ju-hyeong and Jin Yu-han had been the combo that coordinated to take down enemies at the survival game arena.
And since Kim Ju-hyeong was such a movie and drama otaku, he must be interested in musicals too.
And so Kim Ju-hyeong, with no idea that tomorrow would be the day that would shake his destiny, simply got excited at the thought of seeing actors.