The scene Kang Sujeong mentioned was one with just me and Nam Yeonsu.
On top of that, it was the scene where Kang Wooju and Ji Haeseong clash.
Because the fight happens when their parents are not around, the parents only learn later that the two had a conflict.
“Because sometimes not knowing is a blessing. Since you are the lead, it is good to grasp the whole script.”
I could tell Kang Sujeong especially wanted to understand the entire script.
As the lead, that was not a bad attitude.
However, for this scene, fully grasping it beforehand could not be the correct answer.
“This scene number is 33, and in the very next scene 34 Han Jihye has to act without knowing her two sons fought, right? For scene 34 to come out more vividly… I think it would be better if you go into shooting without knowing why Wooju and Haeseong fought or how they fought.”
Because of today’s location issues, Kang Sujeong would shoot scene 34 right now.
Then I would probably shoot scene 33 with Nam Yeonsu after that.
I was saying that not only in the story but in reality too, it would be good if she approached scene 34 without knowing about our fight.
After my explanation, Kang Sujeong wore a faint smile and nodded readily.
“Good. If we do as you say, Siwoo, then later when I watch your fight scene it will also be easier to fix my emotions.”
“Exactly. Please finish your shot first, then in a bit come watch me and Yeonsu hyung act it.”
Fortunately, Kang Sujeong was quick on the uptake, which made it easy to talk to her.
… She just talks a bit too much.
“It really is fun to talk with you.”
I failed to catch the small mutter from Kang Sujeong.
Leaning back comfortably in the chair, I raised my body slightly and asked again.
“Pardon?”
“Nothing.”
What was that?
As I furrowed my brow in puzzlement, the assistant director waved from afar and called for her.
“Ms. Kang Sujeong. Please stand by.”
“Ah. They are calling me. I will go shoot then.”
“See you later.”
At last, Kang Sujeong left.
With a light heart, I waved at her back as she headed to the set.
Scene 34 featured other supporting actors and Kang Sujeong, so the rest of us leads, including me, were still waiting.
“Um, Siwoo.”
“Oh, Yeonsu hyung.”
Now that the ever-hovering Kang Sujeong had disappeared, Nam Yeonsu approached this time.
Maybe because we bonded over eating raw fish together, he was still shy but spoke to me with a certain warmth.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Mm.”
I slept very well.
Even though it was just Uncle and me, they booked us a spacious annex, so I could rest comfortably.
To be honest, even last night I went over to play with Moon Heeseong in the next annex and then came back piggyback on Uncle.
“This is our first time shooting together. I am looking forward to it.”
“Right. Me too.”
Since we play brothers, we would probably be stuck together to the point of boredom from now on.
Today was my first scene with Nam Yeonsu.
Even though he had not taken part in RUN, Nam Yeonsu was a child actor famous enough to remain in Jessica’s memory.
It was a chance to check his skills firsthand.
“It is almost our turn. Are you ready?”
Hearing Cha Ilnam’s lively “okay” in the distance, I murmured.
At my words, Nam Yeonsu gripped the script in his hands even tighter and answered.
“Yeah. A first-rate actor must always be ready.”
Nam Yeonsu often brought up the phrase “first-rate actor.”
A first-rate actor must eat well, a first-rate actor must always keep dignity.
By the way, perhaps since dinner yesterday.
I had not seen the script leave his hands.
He kept staring into it… he must have memorized everything by now, so why clutch it so tightly.
In any case, today I would be able to confirm it.
The identity of this kid named Nam Yeonsu, who had felt off to me since the very first greetings at the script reading.
And his acting.
“Yeonsu, Siwoo. Let us stand by.”
The assistant director, who had run over after finishing the previous shot, gave the stand-by cue.
Shall we begin?
“Cut.”
Huff, huff.
Spitting out the fight lines in a rapid tempo left me a bit out of breath.
At Cha Ilnam’s cut, I relaxed the scowl from my face.
It was the same for Nam Yeonsu, who had been facing me.
“Okay. Good work. You both did well.”
“Wow, thank you for your hard work.”
Maybe because of the relief at having finished the acting safely.
Smiling brightly, Nam Yeonsu greeted the people around us.
“Thank you.”
I also bowed and stepped away from the set.
Although the fight scene was fairly long and I had expected the shoot to take a while, it ended sooner than I thought.
Even though we did multiple takes, it was thanks to me and Nam Yeonsu acting without a single line mistake.
Nam Yeonsu’s acting was not much different from the script reading.
His delivery of lines was stable, and there was certainly no awkwardness in his movements.
By the book, no more and no less, he expressed the script as written.
Certainly, handling it this well at his age was impressive.
That did not mean there was no emotion inside it.
Only… it felt like there was no soul.
And there was one more thing that nagged at me.
When I shot the scene of clashing emotionally with Kang Sujeong, I could feel her emotion jolt mine.
The tremor of feeling that someone who is sincere about acting can show in a moment of immersion.
By contrast, there was less of that from Nam Yeonsu.
Since it was a scene of a fierce fight between the two, I thought I would feel some of that.
Does he perhaps not like acting as much as I thought?
From how he lived day to day, he did not seem to dislike acting though.
I had thought I would be able to confirm something today, but I did not.
If there was any takeaway, it was that Nam Yeonsu acts even better than I expected.
The rumors were not a lie, it seems.
“Uncle. Come quick. It is starting, starting.”
I yelled loudly at Uncle, who was dawdling.
“Ah, ah. Okay.”
Uncle hurried over with a cold can of beer and handed it to Dad.
Today was a historic day.
Saturday, July 21, 10 o’clock.
The first broadcast day of The Cactus Flower Has Bloomed.
As it neared ten, our drama’s logo appeared in the corner of the ad.
For today at least, Dad fried three whole chickens and came home early.
With the chicken laid out in front of us, our family waited devoutly for the drama to begin.
The logo of The Cactus Flower Has Bloomed came up and we gathered, yet the commercials felt unusually long today.
The four of us held our breath and waited quietly.
“Gasp, it is starting now.”
Along with the drama logo in the center of the screen, my photo and name came up.
After the signal music, the words Episode 1 appeared and the drama began.
At last, at last I was appearing on TV.
With a moved face, I looked anew at the screen I stared at every day.
Just then, the screen showed me and Kang Sujeong holding hands and heading somewhere.
“Siwoo, you are on. You are on.”
Dad almost cried out as he raised his phone and snapped a photo of the screen with me on it.
His hands were shaking so badly that the photos were all blurry, but Dad did not care.
“Good grief, you are making a fuss. Be quiet for a minute. I cannot hear Siwoo’s lines.”
Mom swatted Dad lightly on the back and told him to calm down.
For today, Uncle quietly sipped beer and focused on the screen like a man possessed.
Even though we had seen it all on set, it felt like he was someone watching it for the first time.
As the female lead, the weight on Kang Sujeong in Episode 1 was overwhelming.
Along with that, my weight as her son was also considerable.
Not as much as hers, but I was the only child actor scheduled to appear in Episode 1 according to the script.
That is because only by going down to the countryside do Ji Hyunwoo (Choi Taewoo) and Han Jihye (Kang Sujeong) meet.
There was still a little time before Kang Wooju I played would meet Ji Haeseong (Nam Yeonsu).
Oh, that shot was from our third filming day.
Seeing it edited and finished, it was placed quite early.
I had known it already, but it was still amazing to see how the things we shot mixed out of order were edited according to the script into this.
Because of that, how my acting was, how Kang Sujeong’s acting was, those did not really enter my eyes.
That was where we shot, and that scene was shot around when those thoughts surged through me in wonder, and before I knew it, Episode 1 ended.
“Wow… it is fun. I am not saying that just because my son is in it. It is really fun.”
Only then did we start picking up chicken to eat.
Dad kept muttering that it was fun and looked at me as if proud.
“Heehee, really?”
“Of course. Our son’s acting was amazing. Who did you take after to act so well.”
I am sorry, Dad.
I did not take after anyone.
I just do it well because in my previous life I was Noah Battenberg.
“I am going to be on even more.”
“You were on a lot today already, and more than that.”
Dad was surprised, asking if child actors usually have this much weight.
“Brother-in-law. Siwoo is practically lead level. This drama is a family drama and he is the protagonist’s son.”
“I really will have to watch it live.”
Dad, the owner of the chicken shop where business is better on weekends, spoke with great resolve.
It looked like the weekend part-timers were going to have a rough time.
“Oh. It is the troupe leader.”
“Pick it up, Siwoo.”
While tearing into chicken and offering condolences to the part-timer hyungs in my head, my phone buzzed.
Caller: Kim Sangcheol.
I slipped off the plastic glove and picked up.
“Troupe leader. Mm, you saw it. Yes, it is fun, right.”
“Good job, Siwoo. You acted well. Are you sure this is your first time doing broadcast acting?”
“Whew, everyone on set was surprised too.”
I had heard with my own ears the staff who first saw my acting on set lavish praise on Cha Ilnam.
“Ha ha. I need to see that for myself too. I will drop by the set one of these days.”
“Really? Bring ice cream when you come. Melon flavor.”
“I will. It is summer, so I will bring ice cream to share and cool everyone down.”
“Mm. Thank you.”
After hanging up with Kim Sangcheol, calls came in one after another from Kang Yonghwi and Moon Heeseong.
Praise is always pleasant to hear.
After receiving good reviews from both of them too, I was about to cry at the phone ringing yet again.
“I… cannot eat my chicken…”
At this rate, I would not be able to eat even a single piece before bed.
In the end, Uncle answered the phone for me.
While Uncle did a solid job as manager, I diligently tore into the chicken.
“Ah, yes, yes. Yes. Tomorrow morning? Yes, got it. I will check with Siwoo. Yes, thank you.”
After hanging up with the assistant director of the Cactus team, Uncle turned his shining eyes toward me.
“Siwoo, it comes out tomorrow morning.”
“Mm? What does.”
“The ratings.”
Gasp. I put down the chicken I had been devouring and checked the clock.
The time now was 11:32 p.m.
In seven hours, the ratings for this drama would come out.
“Uncle.”
“Huh?”
“Set an alarm for me.”
Now what I needed to check was the ratings.
Flash.
I opened my eyes before the alarm even rang and scurried out to the living room.
Because my eyes were not fully open, I rubbed them with both hands and looked for Uncle.
“Uncle… where are you?”
“Oh, Siwoo. Let us check now.”
With messy bedhead and wearing animal pajamas, I crawled up onto the sofa.
Uncle, also wearing a devout expression, was setting up the laptop on the living room table.
“Siwoo, you are up.”
“Ugh, I am too nervous to look.”
Mom and Dad also gathered at the table.
Dad held Mom’s hand tightly as she trembled, saying she was so nervous.
“W-we are going in.”
Uncle opened the internet with hands shaking more than when we watched the first episode yesterday, as if he was even more nervous now.
Right as he loaded the page, the top spot on the trending searches was The Cactus Flower Has Bloomed.
“Wow. Amazing. It goes straight to number one on the trending searches.”
Already impressed, Uncle clicked the title in the rankings.
At once, yesterday’s ratings came up on the screen.
Episode 1 ratings: 21.6 percent
“Gasp…”
“Wow. It is over twenty.”
Mom, Dad, and I blinked and stared vacantly at each other after seeing the ratings.
Then,
“Wait.”
Uncle, who was still glued to the monitor, shouted.
What now? We all directed our eyes to the screen.
The words where the mouse cursor Uncle controlled was pointing.
[ Real-time trending search number 2: Kang Sujeong’s son ]
That is me.
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