After the first shoot in Sokcho ended, we all went out to eat dinner together.
At Cha Ilnam’s lead, saying this is what you have to try when you come to Sokcho, the table was filled with squid sundae and mulhoe (spice raw fish soup).
“Waaah.”
I gulped at the sight of food I had never seen before in my life.
Squid sundae, a plump squid stuffed full of delicious-looking filling and steamed.
Maybe because it had just come out of the steamer, steam was wafting up and it looked incredibly tasty.
“Siwoo, do you want to try this?”
“Mm!”
Isn’t that obvious!
I waited politely while Uncle cut the squid sundae with scissors.
“By the way, wasn’t Siwoo’s ad-lib today really no joke?”
At the table where they insisted drinks could not be left out and had started drinking, praise for me popped up.
I stared at Uncle’s scissor work and pricked up my ears in that direction.
“Director, you were surprised too, right.”
With his mouth full of mulhoe, Cha Ilnam could not speak and just gave a thumbs up.
Heh, as expected, Cha Ilnam has an eye for it.
“Writer Han, are you okay with it? Siwoo changed the lines on his own.”
“I liked the lines Siwoo changed even more. I was moved watching it.”
“Oh, oh, he even persuaded the writer. Is this the arrival of a genius child actor.”
Ah, that is it.
This is the joy of ad-libbing.
At the staff’s cheers, I giggled.
“Aren’t you going to eat mulhoe? I saw you eating raw fish well yesterday.”
“Mm? I am going to eat it. After I eat that first.”
Just then, Kang Sujeong slid into the seat in front of me and spoke.
She had never done that before, so it was a really surprising development.
When did she see me eating raw fish yesterday?
I answered quickly, and right then Uncle cut the squid sundae on my small plate into bite-sized pieces and set it before me.
I took a big chomp of it…
It was so good.
I trembled, moved.
Seeing that, Kang Sujeong and Uncle laughed as if they found it cute.
“Is it that good?”
“Mm. More goo…”
I answered with my mouth full of squid sundae.
“There is still some on your plate, Siwoo. Eat all that and I will give you more.”
“Is this your first time eating squid sundae?”
“Yes. You should eat some too, sunbaenim.”
I busily picked up the squid sundae on my plate and ate while I spoke.
Despite my words, Kang Sujeong barely moved her chopsticks and looked at me with curious eyes.
She had asked me a lot of things while we were shooting today, and it looked like she still had more left.
I do not know how someone this talkative lived holding it in until now.
“Huh? Gasp, Siwoo. You have a call from Jessica.”
Then Uncle, who also had my cell phone with him, called me in a fluster.
What brings Jessica?
“I will take it.”
“Ah, ah, of course. Here.”
I swallowed the squid sundae in my mouth and answered the phone.
“Hello? Jessica! How’s it going?”
I picked up right away and answered fluently in English.
Maybe I spoke a little loud because I was so happy to hear from her.
I felt the Cactus team people in the restaurant look at me with startled eyes for a moment.
“What? D-did Siwoo just say that?”
“Is he a native speaker or what?”
“Jessica? If it is Jessica… Jessica Brown, the Broadway director?”
The staff murmured in surprise as they looked at me.
“Wow…”
Sitting across from me, Kang Sujeong also parted her lips in surprise.
Then she looked at me with eyes even more intrigued than before.
“H-ha ha… my nephew speaks some English. He watched way too many foreign movies from a young age. Ha ha ha.”
Uncle must have felt embarrassed by the attention focused on me, so he made a defense that was not really a defense.
I paid it no mind, turned slightly away, and continued my phone call with Jessica.
Of course, in English.
“What is this number?”
On the other end I heard the lively voices of Jessica and Jo I-su.
It sounded like the two of them were together again this time.
“We are in Japan right now. We are getting ready to put RUN on in Japan.”
“Jessica, were you not going back to America?”
I asked in surprise at the word Japan.
No wonder, the international number was one I had never seen before.
“It turned out that way. The Korean localization went so well that the head office changed to a positive stance on exporting the license overseas.”
“That is great.”
It meant that the head office was acknowledging Jessica’s success.
I sincerely congratulated her on her move into Japan.
“Siwoo. I heard you are going into a drama in Korea. So it is finally your TV debut. Congratulations. I am definitely going to watch it. I am really looking forward to it.”
“Thank you.”
I guess she could follow my news even in Japan.
I figured this was why Jessica had called, and answered with a smile.
“I-su has been diligently translating your articles every day.”
“Oh no, really? The assistant director is having a hard time. Thank you, both of you.”
“I cannot possibly sit still because I am curious. More than that, the child actor you are appearing with this time is very famous, right. Yeonsu? It is Yeonsu, right? What do you think of that actor?”
“Huh? Um…”
At Jessica’s question, I glanced at Nam Yeonsu at the next table.
Even though we had come to eat dinner, maybe because there were so many scenes to shoot tomorrow, Yeonsu was reading with the script spread open on his lap.
“Well, he is good.”
“Good? That is it? That is so like Han Siwoo.”
“What did I do?”
“Sigh, Siwoo. I miss you so much these days. In Japan there are way more candidates than in Korea, but there is no one like you. It feels like my standards got higher in Korea.”
At that, I suddenly heard Jo I-su’s Korean on the line.
“Siwoo, say something to Jessica. Tell her to lower her standards and hurry up and compromise. How are we going to find someone like you in Japan? I am dying here these days. Save me.”
At his words, which came out in rapid-fire Korean, so urgent was he, I snickered.
It sounded like, as in Korea, Jessica was giving Jo I-su a hard time over casting issues.
“Jessica, there is no one like me, so give up and lower your standards a bit.”
“What? What did I-su say, Siwoo?”
“You heard me, Jessica, right? Let us compromise now.”
At my words the two of them laughed and chatted as if they were amused.
They argued back and forth about whether they could give up or not, then remembered they were on the phone with me and Jessica came back.
“This will not do, Siwoo. I need to hurry back and do a show with you again. I am so frustrated I cannot do it anywhere else now.”
“Anytime. Then talk to you later, Jessica.”
I ended the short call with Jessica and turned back around with a smile.
Then, right in front of me was Kang Sujeong, her eyes shining as if she was even more curious.
…I need to eat.
“Siwoo, so what do you think about this line?”
“As for that…”
I was feeling a bit of regret.
Honestly, I did not know it would turn out like this either.
This was the set the morning after a night’s sleep.
Today’s shoot was scheduled to take place on an open seaside.
While the staff were busily preparing for filming, the actors sat in a row under the shade of trees on the beach and waited.
And just like yesterday, Kang Sujeong unfolded a chair right next to me and took her seat.
Since yesterday, I had been feeling a bit tired thanks to Kang Sujeong sticking right by my side and bombarding me with questions without a break.
Other actors, like Choi Taewoo and Moon Heeseong, tended to take care of me in various ways because they treated me like a child.
By contrast, Kang Sujeong still did not treat me like a child, just as when she was quiet, so she was all the more unreserved.
It felt like she spent more time talking with me than talking with Cha Ilnam about the script.
She had disliked being called noona or Mom, and now she said we needed to strengthen the mother-son relationship and asked me all kinds of things.
“Oh, and here. This line. What is Wooju thinking at this point? What do you think he wants from me? If I know that, I think I need to adjust my tone a little.”
“He has a lot of expectations for Mom, but he tries not to show it. Because he does not want to burden Mom. Since he is young, he might not string this together logically, but instinctively I think he would think that way.”
Because I had already memorized the script, even a quick glance made the interpretations I had thought through flow out smoothly.
Maybe because I was answering well.
Even more excited, Kang Sujeong asked about the next page, then the scene after that.
“Here the stage directions are not written in detail, right. I had vaguely thought it was just the two of us facing each other… but since the sea is the background, how about both of us looking far off or looking somewhere else. I think the scene would be seen from more angles.”
“Mm, that is good too.”
Too, too talkative.
Could it be that until now she had been having this many thoughts alone while looking at the script by herself.
If that was the case, then I could accept why she focused on the script without paying attention to others.
“…Even today.”
“From that day, right? The day you acted with an ad-lib.”
“Yeah, from that day actor Kang Sujeong has been following Siwoo around.”
“They even eat together, hey.”
“Good grief, what is going on. Is that really the Kang Sujeong who never said a word on set.”
It seemed the staff could not adjust to the drastically changed Kang Sujeong.
Even while preparing for the shoot, they glanced this way with faces that said it was strange.
“Hey, you two got really close, huh? What are you talking about that is so fun?”
“…We are talking about the shoot.”
Then Choi Taewoo, who was also on site, came over to us and spoke.
At Choi Taewoo’s sudden appearance, Kang Sujeong cleared her throat and, like she usually did, answered somewhat coolly.
Embarrassed by that reaction, Choi Taewoo scratched his head and turned his gaze to me.
“Ah, ha ha. Yeah? Siwoo, it must be nice to get close with Mom.”
“Yes… it is really nice.”
Uh oh.
A bit tired, I ended up answering a little feebly without realizing it.
I cautiously checked Kang Sujeong’s reaction.
Maybe she did not notice, as she pointlessly tucked her hair behind her ear and looked down at the script.
What is with her?
Is it still awkward for her to talk with Choi Taewoo.
Well, it is practically like she has suddenly changed as a person, so it will take some time for her to adjust as well.
“Okay, then see you at the shoot in a bit.”
“Yes.”
“Mm, okay. Dad.”
I tended to call Choi Taewoo Dad without reserve.
At least on set, he was really my dad.
I felt Kang Sujeong glance at me at that form of address.
Why, what…?
I pressed my lips together and stared back at her.
About to say something, she closed her mouth again.
Then she pointed to one part of the script and asked.
“Here, the scene where Wooju and Hae-seong fight. How would Han Ji-hye think about this.”
Is it starting again.
As soon as Choi Taewoo moved away, Kang Sujeong was in position to fire off questions again.
No matter how I thought about it, the change was too much even for a changed person.
Hmm. By the way…
The scene she was pointing to now…
I tilted my head and spoke rather firmly.
“Sunbaenim. Let us talk about that scene later, after you finish shooting today.”
“Huh, huh? Why?”
“Because sometimes not knowing is a blessing.”
I shrugged and answered casually.
At my words, Kang Sujeong’s expression became strange, as if she had no idea what I meant.
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