Chapter 201
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 201
Chapter Title: The Secret's Out
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"Ready, action!"
Groooan.
The first floor of the hospital.
Zombies swarmed beneath the flickering lights. While the zombie extras, the supporting actors, moved along their practiced routes and acted diligently, it was the child actors who shone brightest. Some extras learned by watching the children's performances, while others had already given up early on.
They each continued their zombie acting in their own way.
'How much longer do we have to wander around?'
There was no sign of Lee Seojun, who was supposed to be hiding behind the wall over there. There should have been some movement or sound, but all that could be seen were the camera and the cinematographer, who needed to capture both Seojun and the zombies in a single frame.
'To find his friends, Seojun has to look this way, right?'
To do that, he would have to peek his head out from behind the wall, so it was impossible for the acting zombies not to catch a glimpse of the top of his head.
'I wanted to see Seojun act...!'
The child actors were this good; how much better would Lee Seojun be!
Everyone watched the corner intently, filled with curiosity. Of course, they had planned routes and movements, so they couldn't just stare at one spot. Though they turned their heads, they kept their eyes angled toward the corner as much as possible.
Just as everyone was diligently playing their zombie roles while pondering the mystery of Seojun's continued absence,
"Cut! OK!"
...What?
At Director Choi Daeman's words, the diligently wandering zombies froze mid-motion as if they had malfunctioned.
What did we even do? Cut? OK?
While the child actors and even the zombies were bewildered with confusion, Lee Seojun and the filming crew emerged from the narrow corner, proving they hadn't misheard.
The bright faces of Director Choi Daeman and Lee Seojun confirmed that the OK sign had indeed been given.
As everyone blinked with eyes full of questions, Director Choi Daeman and Seojun settled in front of the monitor to review the take. Seojun’s friends, the child actors, also headed toward the monitor.
The large monitor prepared by CEO Lee Hansol allowed even the supporting actors standing behind them to see a little.
On the screen.
Go Joowon discovered his friends, now turned into zombies, among the horde. With eyes full of sorrow, of utter disbelief, he looked at his zombified friends again and again.
It was a wonder they hadn't seen Seojun's face; Go Joowon had been peeking his head out so far to watch his friends.
Juhee, who had been staring at the smooth back of his head sticking out from behind the wall, blinked a couple of times and then spoke.
"But why didn't we see you?"
The other children nodded in agreement. Seojun shrugged and answered.
"I dodged."
"...What?"
"I can't get caught by the zombies, right? So I dodged all of them."
At Seojun's reply, people tilted their heads. Jaehan asked.
"How?"
"You can roughly tell their field of vision by the direction their face is pointing."
"...Huh?"
"Since their paths and movements were set, it was easier than you'd think."
Unlike Seojun, who spoke lightly as if it were genuinely easy, the children, the supporting actors, and the staff listening beside them were at a loss for words.
'So you're saying, you dodged all of them by watching their faces?'
Watching Seojun smile, satisfied with his performance, Jiho suddenly recalled a certain scene and nodded as if he understood.
"Ah, it's that."
"That?"
"You know, Walking Man."
Walking Man?
After blinking a few times to jog their memories, exclamation points appeared above the heads of the children and adults.
Ah!
Everyone simultaneously recalled the time Seojun had solved a mission by reading the camera lens angles. It seemed that impressive skill had developed even further since then.
* * *
As scenes featuring both Seojun and the zombies increased, so did the number of people who knew of his appearance. The actors were shocked, and he was reminded to keep it a secret multiple times.
"Great work, everyone!"
After filming wrapped up, Director Choi Daeman scratched his head. Assistant Director Park Jaemin and CEO Lee Hansol also wore peculiar expressions as they watched the bustling staff, the special effects makeup team, the actors, and the guardians of the child actors.
"...Honestly, I didn't expect them to keep the secret this well."
It had already been three weeks since filming began. The three of them, who had expected word of Lee Seojun to spread like wildfire within a week of starting, let out hollow laughs at how quiet Korea remained even after three weeks.
Those who knew about the promotional plan had been checking the internet several times a day, anticipating when it would explode and how much of a stir it would cause.
Would it be a search engine first, or a movie forum, or an online community? Maybe a fan cafe? They surfed the web with glee, like someone waiting for a package to arrive.
By the time a week had passed and it was nearing three, the staff of *Escape* came to a realization.
Maybe... this secret won't break at all.
CEO Lee Hansol, one of the staff, sighed.
"It seems we were a bit naive."
Director Choi Daeman agreed.
"The subject is a Hollywood actor, and the investment company is big enough to bring in a Hollywood special effects team. They probably thought they'd be in big trouble if they spoke out of turn."
Still, they hadn't expected it not to spread even as a baseless rumor. The smoothly progressing promotional plan had come to a temporary halt.
"But we can't just let it stay quiet. At this rate, it'll be silent until the premiere."
Agreeing with Lee Hansol, Director Choi Daeman gathered the people.
* * *
A bustling pork belly restaurant.
Kim Soohan and his four friends were gathered together. Listening to his friends' daily stories, Kim Soohan, who was on military leave, let out an "Oho" of admiration.
"You filmed a movie?"
"Yeah. Just as an extra, though."
Since Kim Soohan had ended up choosing a career in the film industry, his four friends had become accustomed to this line of work, having helped the penniless and connectionless Kim Soohan shoot his independent films.
While attending university, they sometimes worked as film staff or extras as a side job, and two of the four had decided to be extras again this time.
A movie?
The topic, slightly removed from ordinary daily life, made people at the next table unknowingly prick up their ears.
Unaware of this, Kim Soohan asked.
"A zombie movie, you said? *Escape*?"
"That's right. I was a zombie."
At the mention of *Escape*, the voices of the people sitting near the table dropped a notch. Some even took out their phones to search for the movie.
"A zombie movie, how interesting. Director Park Joongwoo said there's a rumor they even brought in a Hollywood special effects team. The production budget must be bigger than I thought."
His friends laughed at Kim Soohan, who was well-versed in film industry news despite being in the army. The high school version of Kim Soohan would never have dreamed he'd discover his path in a theater he'd visited without much thought.
Hollywood?!
Searching to see if it was true, they found that such a rumor did exist. Not just the adjacent table, but the tables next to that one also began to fall silent. People's eyes were on their phones, but their ears were turned toward Kim Soohan's table.
"When I first saw the casting call for extras, I thought it was just some run-of-the-mill movie."
"They didn't do much promotion for it. I thought it would just get buried, but then they cast actor Kim Jongho and actress Lee Dajin..."
"Those two are a solid choice."
The eavesdropping customers all nodded in agreement.
"Did the shoot go well? As a zombie, will anyone even be able to recognize your face?"
"It's a group scene, so it'll be hard to recognize me."
"That's a bit of a shame. Oh, so is the story about the Hollywood special effects team true? You might have seen them during the zombie makeup."
At Kim Soohan's casual question, the two friends who had been diligently filming as zombie extras made eye contact. The voice of Director Choi Daeman, who had asked them to spread the rumor about Lee Seojun's appearance, echoed in their minds.
"This is a secret, but..."
A secret!
The restaurant owner lowered the volume of the television with the remote. The pork belly that had just been placed on the grill, sizzling away, was lifted back up.
The people who had been chatting, the office workers who had been clinking their glasses with a sharp clang, and even the part-time staff rushing around all quieted down.
The silent restaurant seemed completely cut off from the noisy world outside.
Kim Soohan and his other two friends were surprised by the situation, but the two actors paid it no mind and continued speaking. In fact, they welcomed this kind of situation.
As if they were acting, they delivered the lines they had prepared together. There were no cameras, but it was fun.
"The story about the Hollywood special effects team is true."
"Mirror. They're top-tier in Hollywood. The Jenna Tryde team."
It's true?!
The customers, in unison, gasped and picked up their phones. A search for 'Jenna Tryde' and 'Mirror team' brought up the Hollywood films Jenna Tryde had worked on and the awards she had received for special effects makeup. The long list of her accomplishments was jaw-dropping.
As an aspiring film director, Kim Soohan knew of Jenna Tryde and the Mirror team and was impressed.
"Wow. They must have spent a lot of money."
"But that's not the important part."
The bodies of everyone in the restaurant leaned toward Kim Soohan's table. A Hollywood special effects team, and a top-tier one at that, working on a Korean film wasn't the important part? Entranced by the intriguing story, everyone held their breath and their eyes gleamed.
Though they weren't looking directly, the friend who could feel everyone's attention on him, with acting skills honed over several years as an extra, smiled naturally and dropped the bombshell.
"We saw Lee Seojun there."
"...What!?"
If it weren't for Kim Soohan jumping to his feet at the mention of Lee Seojun, the other customers might have screamed. Customers, the owner, and part-time staff alike stared at Kim Soohan's table with dumbfounded expressions.
'Why is Lee Seojun's name coming up here?'
What? What did he say? Lee Seojun? Did he say Lee Seojun?
Some searched for Lee Seojun's whereabouts on their phones, while others suspected they might be lying.
The appearance of such an unexpected actor sent the restaurant into an uproar. The name was so powerful that they momentarily forgot they had been eavesdropping.
What brought the bustling restaurant back to silence was Kim Soohan, who was thoroughly excited by the appearance of his favorite actor.
"Why was Seojun there? What was he doing?!"
Faced with Kim Soohan's intensity, which seemed ready to leap over the hot grill, his friend smiled and said,
"Lee Seojun, it looked like he was filming for the movie."
Filming for the movie!
Those four words made the restaurant silently explode.
No, not just the restaurant—stories like this began to spread from all over.
* * *
<Zombie Movie Forum>
[(Notice) Let's gather information about Escape. (Rumors OK)]
A Korean-style zombie movie is coming out... but we have so little information about *Escape* that I have to write a notice like this.
Everyone, please post anything and everything you know! (_ _)bows
-The setting seems to be a hospital.
=thx thx!
-They recruited child actors. Judging by the comment above, it seems they need patients of various ages.
=Thanks!
-What about the Hollywood special effects team?
=Plus+ Korea invested, so they might have hired them.
-A resident living near the filming location (my grandma lol) said she saw Lee Seojun!
-Heard one of the child actors is a freshman at Yeoul Arts Middle School.
=To the two comments above, maybe he was just visiting a friend?
=Seconded. Seems likely.
-Sighting of Lee Seojun at an archery range.
=I don't know why everyone keeps linking *Escape* and Lee Seojun, but he's always learning all sorts of things.
=Seconded. There are many good archers, so please come to our soccer team!
=Thirded! Please come to our baseball team!
-Someone said they saw Lee Seojun?
=Why does everyone keep trying to connect Lee Seojun and *Escape*?! I wish he was in it too, but there's no way!!
=Seconded. Seojun's probably busy with the Blue Dragon Film Awards tomorrow.
=NONONO it keeps popping up!!!
=omgomgomg. For real!!!
=There are a ton of sightings popping up!?!?
=What is happening!?!
[I'm a part-time extra and I saw Lee Seojun!]
[Heard from an acquaintance who works on a zombie movie! They said Lee Seojun is in it!]
[Heard it from someone in the industry at a BBQ restaurant. They said Lee Seojun is filming.]
[My friend works on a food truck and said they saw Lee Seojun on the movie set!]
[Someone I know works at a film production company and saw Lee Seojun at the office!]
The day before the Blue Dragon Film Awards.
The internet was flooded with sightings of Lee Seojun, pouring down like a torrential rain.
#