The Casting Assembly Gathers Once More
Nam Hyunho's debut work had been Hot-Blooded Prosecutor Do Tae-soo.
It was also the debut work of Writer Min Woohee, who penned Genius Copywriter, Yoon Seoeun.
Seeing that Nam Hyunho had been the very first actor to shine in that bizarre audition through which I landed my own role made him, in a sense, my direct senior in the industry.
It was because of the brilliant output Nam Hyunho delivered that PD Yoo Myungwoo could never bring himself to abandon those strange private auditions, so in my eyes he was an actor tied to me by quite a deep thread of fate.
But here's the thing. This guy isn't Nam Hyunho. He's Namgung Hyunho.
The Sword King of the Namgung Clan had three sons, and the youngest was Namgung Hyunho—none other than the Jade-Faced Sword Fool.
In Murim, a "sword fool" was someone obsessed with the blade—a man so consumed by the sword that nothing else in the world mattered to him.
But reverse those characters, and a "fool of the sword" meant something else entirely—an idiot who happened to be holding a sword. And Namgung Hyunho was exactly that kind of man.
He was, after all, the rightful heir of the Namgung Clan, and yet when it came to martial arts, he was a complete bust.
In exchange, Jade-Faced Sword Fool Namgung Hyunho excelled at everything except martial arts.
He was handsome enough to earn the "jade-faced" in his epithet, and he was versed in poetry, calligraphy, painting, and music — right down to song and dance. Frankly, I wondered how one human being could even exist.
When I first heard all this, a single thought struck me.
This guy was born in the wrong era. If he'd been born in modern times, he'd be making something of himself for sure.
And sure enough, he was.
Modern-day Namgung Hyunho — Nam Hyunho — was a premium actor acknowledged by everyone.
How I came to know about Nam Hyunho was pure coincidence.
Even knowing about Namgung Seok-ho, there was no way a simple search would turn up a man who had changed his family name entirely for his career.
I found him by accident while digging up hot clips of other actors, curious about which performers fans truly recognized before I stepped into production myself.
His face was the face of Namgung Hyunho I knew.
Turns out he had absolutely carried the show in Hot-Blooded Prosecutor Do Tae-soo, despite playing a supporting role.
Thanks to that, related reaction GIFs still circulated on the internet to this day.
"Still, I never expected Nam Hyunho's name to come up for this project..."
Of course, since we worked in the same industry, I'd assumed we might cross paths on a production someday.
I just never imagined it would be this one.
Is Yang Yuri planning to turn this drama into a full-blown Murim Assemble?
It beat a Shin Cult Assemble, sure, but a Murim Assemble wasn't exactly a welcome prospect either.
"Nam Hyunho is an actor with no weaknesses whatsoever, but this is a supporting role."
"From what I remember, Hyunho isn't the type to fuss over something like that."
"Still, it's true the part is smaller than Nam Hyunho's caliber. We have to think about the production budget."
"It's not at a level where budget should be a concern. Why do you think I locked him in with an option contract?"
Once Yang Yuri tossed out the bombshell that was Nam Hyunho, the people around the table began weighing the possibility, layering on opinions of their own.
And honestly, watching it all, I had to admit Nam Hyunho would probably take the role.
The youngest son of Changcheon Group — would Namgung Hyunho ever act for money?
He acted because he wanted to, plain and simple.
An actor driven purely by interest would never brush off a script this well-crafted, even if the Joseon-plus-steampunk setting was a little unfamiliar.
Don't we have someone just like that at our company? Cheon Yua, for one.
She'd read this script and found it so intriguing that she'd actually considered the supporting role of Wolhee.
Nam Seokju's part had even more weight than Wolhee's, and the character had genuine appeal — the kind of role any actor who relished the craft would mull over at least once.
"But does this role really suit Nam Hyunho, though?..."
"Come to think of it, this character was a butcher, right?"
"Nam Hyunho is more pretty-boy than ruggedly handsome..."
The discussion was tilting too far toward Nam Hyunho, so I tossed in a mild counterpoint from the side.
The truth was, I couldn't stomach watching this casting process play out like a Murim Assemble.
At which point that cursed Yang Yuri went into a full spasm and immediately shot back.
"That's exactly why it has to be Nam Hyunho. He's got the face of a delicate pretty boy, but that body is solid as hell — total beast mode. That's the gap appeal right there. And I'll stake my reputation on this: the character Nam Seokju, played by Nam Hyunho? Double the impact. Guaranteed."
A delicate pretty boy who goes... beast mode?
And gap appeal? In what universe is any of that gap appeal?
Yang Yuri was spouting nothing but nonsense I couldn't parse, and yet everyone around the table nodded along as if it all made perfect sense.
"Well, Hyunho does enjoy working out in his spare time."
"His physique is definitely legit. Great for action, too. In his last project, the action scenes were..."
"Didn't he do all his own stunts without a double? That says something..."
And just like that, the mood swung decisively in Nam Hyunho's favor.
Everyone concluded that if Nam Hyunho accepted, this casting was the best possible outcome.
It still felt a bit awkward to me, but if the tide ran that way, I supposed I'd have to go along with it.
It seemed the true winner of this game was Yang Yuri, architect of the miraculous Murim Assemble of Heavenly Demon Divine Cult plus Namgung Clan.
"As for Bison Choi, we're thinking of Rion. Writer, your thoughts?"
"Rion of Nuclear? Works for me. What about his album promotions, though?"
"Ah, his label is launching a new girl group this cycle, so Nuclear's album got pushed back a full term."
"Oh-ho. That's going to be a bloodbath."
"Not quite to that point. If there were no promotions at all, sure, the fans would riot — but two of the members are dropping solo albums, and Rion's taking another breather to focus on acting. That's why he's looking for a role right now. Something teen-oriented or genre-based, the stuff young audiences watch."
Another key supporting role surfaced, this time a name I actually knew.
Rion, my co-star from my very first project.
But if this new girl group was from Rion's label, didn't that mean she was one of my little sister's rivals?
If the group's debut had caused his album to be postponed, the Nuclear fandom certainly wouldn't sit still about it.
Looked like Mom's Daughter Moron was in for an uphill battle from the very start.
"Given the circumstances... he'll take it, won't he?"
But it was precisely because of that situation that the odds of Rion accepting had grown even higher.
The label wouldn't want the Nuclear fandom tearing into a newly launched idol, after all.
Which meant Rion or the other members would have to deliver a genuinely stellar performance.
Only then would the company have a leg to stand on.
A fresh steampunk setting, a mega-production with a budget in the hundreds of millions, and Cheon Yua on top of it all.
At this point, Rion could plausibly sell the story that he'd seized a golden opportunity and simply pushed his album back one cycle.
The fans wouldn't swallow it at face value, of course — but if the drama succeeded, the excuse would become true retroactively anyway.
"But if that happens..."
The pressure would tilt squarely onto me, the lead actor carrying this drama.
This was the same Nuclear fandom that raised hell over a romance storyline with some girl group member — they were hardly going to look kindly on an unknown rookie rookie snatching the lead.
I wasn't the type to lose sleep over other people's opinions, but a drama suffering from backlash was another matter entirely.
"I suppose I'll have to work on getting chummy with Rion. He does show up on my socials now and then."
Though that senior of mine had been conspicuously dodging me lately. Would I even get the chance?
Worst case, I'd have to cash in the Cheon Yua card and grit my teeth through some aggressive friendliness.
"Good. Next up is..."
"Aha, so that's why..."
"Yes, how about this one?"
"Hmm, I like it. Let's make him first choice, then."
Starting with Nam Hyunho and Rion, the first-choice casting list for the major roles was taking shape.
Some of the actors were complete strangers to me; others I vaguely recognized.
Since nothing in particular came to mind for me, I simply sat back and listened.
Nam Hyunho had been a special case — for me, quietly listening like this was the norm.
That said, it was a little surprising that Wolhee's casting hadn't come up even now.
Shouldn't she have been next in line after Bison Choi and Nam Seokju?
"Wolhee's side is settled, then — the writer said she'd personally follow up on it..."
"Yes, trust me on this. They were clearly interested. If this one lands, it's a jackpot — I absolutely cannot concede it."
"Then we'll wait until we hear back from the first-choice actors."
"If I still have no answer by then, I'll have to look elsewhere."
Judging by the atmosphere, a casting offer for Wolhee had already gone out.
But something about it felt oddly tense, didn't it?
I had the strangest sense I'd lived through something like this before.
Back when I first met Team Leader Seo, perhaps?
I'd asked him whether I was Flame's first signed actor, and he'd told me a jaw-dropping recruitment was already in progress.
At the time, I'd dismissed it without a second thought — probably some famous actor being courted, I figured. What emerged from that recruitment, of course, was the Heavenly Demon herself.
For me, it went beyond surprise and straight into getting flattened where I stood.
Wrapped in the fidgety premonition that something similar was about to happen again, I watched Director Bang — silent until now, offering no opinions whatsoever — finally open his mouth.
And what came out was a proposal so compelling that even I — who had been racking my brain over how to sniff out whoever had been cast as Wolhee — felt my ears prick straight up.
"Since we're on the subject of Wolhee, I'd like to add a few more scenes for her."
"Sorry — what kind of scenes?"
"Flashbacks. I want to add material showing Wolhee being trained and conditioned by the organization as a child. As brutal as we can get away with. Ideally, sprinkle in a healthy dose of gaslighting."
"Ah — I see what you mean. Adding plausibility. Why Wolhee can never bring herself to defy the organization's orders."
"And if we do that, Wolhee's ending will shine all the brighter."
"A love for Myeong strong enough to overcome all of that... Yes. I like it."
Wolhee comes to love Myeong with everything she has — and yet, in the end, she cannot refuse the organization's command and keeps betraying him.
By quietly reporting his every move back to her handlers.
For viewers, that was the kind of thing that could curdle into pure frustration.
For a writer who wanted Wolhee remembered at her most beautiful, it was hardly ideal either.
Hence Director Bang's argument: give the audience a reason Wolhee couldn't betray the organization.
If the story conveyed that she'd endured horrific treatment from a tender age and still hadn't escaped that trauma, viewers would extend her at least some understanding.
This, it seemed, was the blind spot Yang Yuri had missed.
"For flashbacks like that, wouldn't we need a child actor? Everyone says the younger, the more effective."
"True."
"A child actor, though. Is that even feasible? Knowing Wolhee's character, the training she received as a child would've been song and dance — or assassination. And we're handing that to a child? A young one, at that?"
Come to think of it, he had a point.
It was a scene too complex to hand to a kid — a scene that, if handled clumsily, would be worse than no scene at all.
No wonder Director Bang's tone had been so unusually careful. He'd clearly grasped from the start how difficult this would be.
"...It should be doable. Just give me some time first. The script needs revisions, and there's someone I want to look into."
"Then let's table it until first-round casting. We'll look into it seriously on our end as well."
"Yes, that works."
I thought this one would be a hard pass too, but Yang Yuri had asked for time instead.
Which meant she had something in mind.
A child actor capable of pulling off acting this layered.
A rookie writer, knowing a child actor like that? Not a chance...
"Wait. Don't tell me — that kid..."
Was she planning to summon that little brat from the Shin Cult brawls(?)?
Though honestly, if it was that brat, I had a feeling she could handle just about anything thrown at her.
Somehow, I had the distinct feeling yet another incident was about to detonate.