Musical Deyandor (1)
"We've arrived."
"Good work. Everything's been arranged ahead of time, right?"
"Of course. I already spoke with the operations team. Jin Yu-han doesn't know, though."
At Min-su's answer, Yeon-woo stepped out of the car.
"Yeon-woo!"
"Ju-hyeong, you made it."
Thunk.
Min-su opened the trunk from the driver's seat, revealing a large number of lunchboxes packed into several bags. He climbed out and walked around to the rear, and Yeon-woo introduced Kim Ju-hyeong.
"Hyung Min-su, this is Kim Ju-hyeong, my college classmate."
"Ah, a pleasure. We spoke on the phone at the start of the semester, didn't we?"
"Yes, Manager-nim. Nice to meet you!"
Yeon-woo pulled the bags from the trunk and handed them out.
"Lend a hand today, Ju-hyeong. It would've been rough with just two of us, but with three we should be fine."
"Come on, this barely counts as work."
The three of them, bags in both hands, headed for the elevator.
"Which floor was it again?"
"Fifth floor."
"Wow. So this is where they rehearse."
From the outside it had looked like an ordinary building, and Kim Ju-hyeong had tilted his head in confusion. He'd vaguely assumed musicals were always rehearsed in theaters.
"Right? It's my first time seeing a troupe rehearse, too."
They chatted as the elevator doors opened, and a staff member from the troupe's operations team was waiting to greet them.
"Hello. Thank you so much for coming all the way out to a humble place like this."
"Not at all."
"This way, please. Everyone's probably expecting a food delivery now that rehearsal's over."
Yeon-woo and his companions followed the staff member down the corridor until they reached a high-ceilinged hall that served as the rehearsal room. The staff member opened the door, and Yeon-woo strode in first.
"Food delivery!"
Smiling, bags in hand, Yeon-woo stepped inside — and the cast members who had been scrambling to their feet, genuinely thinking a delivery had arrived, froze with their eyes gone round.
"Holy— what?"
"Is that Ryu Yeon-woo?"
"What is this, a hidden camera?"
The unexpected sight set the cast murmuring in shock. Midway through wiping sweat from his face with a towel, Jin Yu-han caught Yeon-woo's name in the buzz and snapped his head toward the entrance.
"Huh? Yeon-woo?"
When Ryu Yeon-woo actually walked in, Yu-han shot to his feet in astonishment and hurried over.
"It really is you! What are you doing here?"
"Came to cheer you on for the musical. Hello, everyone. I'm Ryu Yeon-woo, Yu-han's friend."
Waaaaah!
No way!
As Yeon-woo greeted the musical actors still frozen in surprise behind him, a cheer erupted.
"Yu-han, your arm's about to fall off."
He playfully held out a bag to the equally stunned Jin Yu-han, who hastily took it.
"Lunchboxes for today."
"You didn't have to go this far. I feel bad."
As Yu-han accepted the lunchboxes, Kim Ju-hyeong peeked out from behind Manager Min-su.
"Yu-han. I came too."
"Huh? Ju-hyeong!"
They were comrades who'd fought side by side — and recent travel companions — so Yu-han brightened and welcomed him with a warm smile.
"Everyone, come eat. We brought some simple lunchboxes."
"Wow, thank you!"
"You're so handsome!"
As the group set down the lunchboxes and Yeon-woo spoke, the musical actors clapped and crowded around.
"Holy crap. Beef sushi."
"The team leader said he was going out to order jjajangmyeon, and he comes back with Ryu Yeon-woo and sushi…"
After thanking Yeon-woo, the cast scattered and settled in comfortably to eat. Yeon-woo's group sat cross-legged on the stage with Jin Yu-han and opened their own lunchboxes.
"Yeon-woo, if you keep taking care of me like this, I'm going to feel so indebted I won't know what to do for you later."
"Hmm. Lobster should about cover it, don't you think?"
"Lobster. Okay."
"Yu-han, I'm kidding."
Yeon-woo had answered the apologetic Yu-han as a joke — then watched him quietly mutter and nod in agreement, and hurriedly waved him off.
"Wow. I've never seen a musical rehearsal before. So this is how they do it. Amazing."
Kim Ju-hyeong kept swiveling his head around as he popped sushi into his mouth. Watching him, Yu-han smiled and spoke up.
"If you've got time after we eat, want to stick around and watch us rehearse? Having an audience always gives us more energy."
"For real? I'm totally down…"
Nodding vigorously, Ju-hyeong looked at Yeon-woo.
"Yeah, I'm free. No shoot today. It's my day off."
"Yes!"
Yeon-woo snorted a laugh at Ju-hyeong's childlike delight.
Just then, the musical's publicity team leader approached Jin Yu-han and whispered something in his ear. Yu-han's face grew troubled.
"Uh, Yeon-woo — would you maybe try matching a scene with me during rehearsal? It'd be fun, but… it's probably too much to ask, right?"
The operations office's scheme was transparent: film Ryu Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han together for a making-of video and use it as noise marketing on YouTube. But Yu-han, who genuinely wanted to share even a brief moment of stage chemistry with his friend, couldn't bring himself to refuse, and passed the publicity lead's request along. A few musical actors sitting nearby, ears pricked while they ate sushi, chimed in at once.
"No way — I want to see Ryu Yeon-woo act too!"
"Whoa, so we'd actually get to see the Jin Yu-han–Ryu Yeon-woo combo from Star Beyond the River live?"
Sweat beaded on Yeon-woo's brow under the flood of expectation. It was his favorite musical, and he wanted nothing more than to do it — but…
"It's a musical. I'd love to stand on that stage, but I'm tone-deaf. I can't sing at all…"
"Hmm. Right, you did say that."
As Yu-han stroked his chin in thought, another actor seated behind him spoke up.
"Then what about number sixteen?"
Yu-han clapped his hands. "Ah!"
"Scene sixteen is where Ezel appears — and there's no singing. You memorize scripts in a blink anyway. And the senior playing Ezel couldn't make it today for personal reasons."
Yeon-woo listened and rubbed his chin. Without singing, thirty minutes with the script would be enough. Deyandor was his favorite musical; he could recite the lines in every language the original had been performed in. All he needed was the Korean adaptation.
If it's Ezel's entrance, that would be the confrontation between the factory workers and the Detroit gang…
After a brief pause, Yeon-woo nodded.
"All right. Let's do it. I've always wanted to perform this piece on stage at least once."
Yu-han smiled at the answer, and the nearby actors erupted in cheers. The publicity team leader, already filming making-of footage for YouTube, quickly raised his camcorder and trained it on Yeon-woo.
Yes! That's a few million views secured right there.
Behind them, another actor who'd been eating his lunchbox stared at Yu-han and the publicity lead with open disbelief.
"Come on. Glancing at a script and walking onstage? This isn't kids' playtime."
The publicity lead hurried over and whispered something. Judging by his expression and lip movements, he was saying that even if the performance on the practice stage fell flat, a rough edit would still work perfectly fine for noise marketing.
"Hah, for crying out loud. Back in my day, rookies wouldn't even dream of stepping onto a practice stage — and now Jin Yu-han pops up out of nowhere, snags the lead, and his friend gets up there too. Do whatever you want."
He'd meant to keep it quiet enough that neither Ryu Yeon-woo nor Jin Yu-han would hear — but Yeon-woo, who had been watching the exchange intently, caught every word. He'd heard that musical and theater circles sometimes looked down on straight-drama actors from TV and film who crossed over, or treated them with territorial hostility. Apparently not every member of the troupe viewed Jin Yu-han kindly.
But while a few actors cast unfriendly glances, the administrative side was grinning ear to ear. Both Ryu Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han were celebrities whose sheer buzz was second to none. The idea that Yeon-woo — who generated headlines with every project and every move — would drop by his equally popular friend Jin Yu-han's rehearsal room and improvise a scene together already had the operations team giddy over how to use the material.
"Thank you for the meal."
"Thank you, Actor Ryu Yeon-woo."
"Not at all. I'm the one who should thank you for allowing the visit."
Once the meal was finished and greetings exchanged with the cast, Jin Yu-han came over and handed Yeon-woo a script.
"Yeon-woo, it starts from this part. We've still got the earlier scenes to rehearse, so you'll have about an hour. Think you can manage?"
"Yeah. I already know the musical, so it should be fine."
"It's just for fun, so don't put pressure on yourself. But this is actually going to be really fun."
The thought of matching stage work with Ryu Yeon-woo — not on a screen or a TV set, but live — had Jin Yu-han buzzing with excitement.
"Honestly. No wonder they call him the acting genius."
Ju-hyeong, for his part, was every bit as thrilled and made no effort to hide it.
"Ugh, this is insane."
This went beyond A-grade seats — this was SS-class territory. The idea of a front-row private viewing had Kim Ju-hyeong practically vibrating with anticipation.
Yeon-woo skimmed the script while half his attention stayed locked on the stage. He had a natural gift for memorization, and having watched the original countless times, absorbing lines from a first-look script was hardly difficult. What he focused on instead was the actors' breathing, how much more exaggerated their expressions were compared to straight drama, the spacing between projection and dialogue.
At last the stage began.
It was the musical team's first time performing for anyone outside the troupe, and a hint of tension showed on their faces. First, Jin Yu-han — playing Shane Dillinger, boss of the Detroit gang — walked out in time with the sound of footsteps from the speakers.
"Let there be light!"
With his words, a single spotlight dropped.
"Jane. Do you know why light exists?"
As if answering Yu-han's question, another actor stepped out behind him.
"Because the sun rises, that's why there's light. Oppa, you always say the weirdest things."
"No, Jane. Light exists so that gold and diamonds can shine beautifully."
Yu-han took two more steps forward. A cold, mocking smile curved his lips as he swept the house with a frost-edged gaze.
"This land of Detroit is crawling with pigs stuffed full of greed. But their greed is extremely important. Without greed, there's no hatred — and without hatred, Detroit mafia business doesn't run. Ironic, isn't it? Hatred is what gives us happiness."
It was a delivery utterly different from straight drama — projection that hammered key words, a technique that carved the character into sharp relief. He'd spoken barely three lines, and already Shane Dillinger was branded into the mind. He lifted the jewel-studded gold bracelets dangling heavily from his arms and smiled a smile that raised gooseflesh.
"Look at this. Happiness catching the light, glittering away."
The spotlight shifted to the actress playing his younger sister, Jane Dillinger, standing behind him.
"Oppa, you always look like someone being hunted."
"Me? There's no one in this land who can hunt me. I'm the wolf of this jungle."
"But you always look so uneasy."
Then Shane Dillinger's famous solo — the musical's opening number, The Wolf of Detroit — began to play. A clean voice, solid projection. It matched Jin Yu-han's usual acting style and looks perfectly.
Yeon-woo memorized the script at speed while dissecting every performance in detail.
The light's coming from that side, so he angles his face on a diagonal.
Pushing the projection even harder than standard musical delivery — because there are so many characters onstage, he needs to seize the eye.
Of course, when he'd studied under Jeong Cheol-min, the academy had run its own small theater company, so stage acting had been part of the curriculum. But learning something and actually performing it were different matters, and fine adjustments always had to be made for the material, the space, and the scene partner.
"I can't just stand by and watch any longer. Darkness is only tolerated when it stays in dark places. The moment those rat-like creatures keep crawling out into the light and start manufacturing things that kill people — that's when society starts to rot."
Yeon-woo, who had always watched from abroad in foreign languages, felt a fresh wave of emotion hearing his favorite musical, Deyandor, right in front of him — and in his friend's voice, no less.
I always wanted to do this someday. Of course, since I can't sing, I figured it would never happen…
He had watched and analyzed it so many times that, once he locked down the Korean translation of the lines, he was confident he could handle any role.