After the production preview screening ended.
The production staff all stared blankly at the screen where the screening had finished.
“The color grading is perfect too, so there’s nothing to touch.”
“It’s a revolution. A revolution…”
The sounds coming from around.
Kim Seunghun just stared blankly at the screen, as if he could not even hear those words.
Andrew beside him was the same.
While Andrew and Kim Seunghun sat there in a daze, Gyeong Chanhyeon came over from afar carrying two boxes.
“It’s okay, right? Seunghun hyung. Andrew.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s words, Kim Seunghun was still sitting there blankly with his mouth open.
“Th-that was me? Did you even mess with my acting in the edit?”
“Hyung, you were a completely different person this time. I kept saying this on set too. You didn’t believe me.”
As Gyeong Chanhyeon said it with a smile, Andrew also nodded, if only slightly.
“And those CGs, what are they? It got way better than what I saw before. Is this even a level that editing can do?”
“We also adjusted the sound effects a lot. Haha. We did touch it quite a bit in editing.”
Andrew looked at the wrapped boxes in Gyeong Chanhyeon’s arms and said,
“But what is that?”
“Ah, this?”
Gyeong Chanhyeon handed the boxes to Kim Seunghun and Andrew one by one.
“Open them yourself. Haha.”
Like he had gotten a Christmas present or something.
Andrew, with a curious expression, carefully tore off the wrapping.
And inside was “Nix Road.”
“Haha!”
Nix Road’s expression looked like it was taken straight from the film, vicious and strong.
“Oh, then this too?”
Kim Seunghun opened his wrapping, and a figure shaped like himself appeared.
Then he looked back and forth between Nix Road’s figure and his own, and said to Gyeong Chanhyeon,
“Ah… I think Andrew hyung came out better.”
“Come on, hyung, yours came out pretty too. What do you mean?”
“Yeah. At least yours is your face. I’m an alien.”
At Andrew’s words, Kim Seunghun and Gyeong Chanhyeon laughed brightly.
Around when that laughter died down, Andrew said to Gyeong Chanhyeon,
“Thank you. I like it.”
“Ah, yes. Haha. But I do have another favor to ask.”
“Hm? A favor?”
Kim Seunghun stared at Gyeong Chanhyeon and asked.
“Yes. For the audience preview, I think we need to pull a fun picture.”
Gyeong Chanhyeon looked back and forth between Kim Seunghun and Andrew with eyes that seemed expectant.
“Among the audience who came to the preview, I’m thinking of doing a special figure gift event for a few people.”
Andrew nodded, looking at Kim Seunghun.
“Yeah. That sounds fine. A Ryu Seongmin figure given by Kim Seunghun.”
“And we should give them from Andrew too.”
“Hm?”
“Andrew is Nix Road.”
At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s words, Andrew shook his head.
“My face on the screen and my face right now are different. Would they even like it if I give it…?”
“They’ll like it. Andrew is Nix Road himself.”
“Would they…?”
Andrew was an actor the audience had never liked.
Maybe because of that, there was a bit of anxiety too.
If he handed out a gift and they still did not like it, there would be nothing as humiliating as that.
“Hyung. You’re worrying weirdly again, right?”
Kim Seunghun, seeing Andrew’s expression right away, said with a snort of laughter.
“What?”
“You were thinking, what if I hand it to them and the audience gets uncomfortable, something like that, right?”
Andrew flinched at Kim Seunghun’s words, but he shook his head, pretending it was not true.
“No. Just do what Director Gyeong says, right. Isn’t that it?”
“Yes. Please take care of it. Nix Road, Ryu Seongmin, the Eagles ship, Kor 2138, three each, so a total of twelve people.”
At the words Eagles and Kor 2138, Kim Seunghun’s eyes widened.
“What!? You made those too?”
“Yes. Not full mass production yet. They’re pre-production items.”
“Wh-when do they come out? I want to buy them too.”
“Haha. In a few weeks they’ll be fully released. We decided to release them in time with the theatrical release.”
Kim Seunghun said with a fluttering expression.
“I should buy some too. Hyung, hyung, you should bring them to your daughter too.”
“Hm, hm. Should I…?”
On the day of the preview.
Andrew dressed in the neat clothes Kim Seunghun bought him yesterday.
A black suit.
For him, who always went around in shabby clothes, it was uncomfortable.
“Hyung, you should dress like that in everyday life too.”
“Hm?”
“They say clothes are wings. When you dress like that, you actually look like a person.”
“Are you saying I don’t look like a person normally?”
Kim Seunghun answered with a smile.
“No comment. Let’s go. We’ll be late.”
Riding in the car with Kim Seunghun on the way to the preview theater, Andrew’s hand started trembling a little.
Back at the <The Lord of the Rings> preview, the production side told him not to come out.
That no one cared about someone like Gollum, and realistically, it was not any different from Andrew not being in the movie at all.
Andrew had thought that was just how it was supposed to be.
But <Space Vagabond> was different.
They even made figures, and took care of him more than enough, and Andrew always felt grateful for that.
“You look nervous?”
At Kim Seunghun’s question, Andrew tucked his hands under his thigh and said,
“The air conditioner is too strong. Turn it down.”
“I didn’t even turn on the air conditioner. You can’t see the window is open right now? Haha. You’re completely out of it.”
“…”
Andrew gave an awkward laugh and did not say anything.
“Wait here a second. I’m going to buy something.”
“Hm?”
Kim Seunghun parked the car and went into a pharmacy.
Maybe because Kim Seunghun showed up, a sound close to a scream came from inside the pharmacy.
“Hm.”
People definitely liked Kim Seunghun. But Andrew had never felt that kind of affection from an audience.
A machine that acts.
A consumable.
Those kinds of labels fit better, if anything.
While Andrew closed his eyes for a moment with those thoughts, Kim Seunghun, back before he knew it, handed him water and a round pill.
“Here. Take this.”
A drink in a bottle.
Andrew frowned and asked,
“What is this?”
“Uh… what do I call this in English… just, it’s good to take when you’re nervous.”
The words written on the box he took the round pill from were Uhwang Cheongsimhwan.
But not knowing how to explain it, Kim Seunghun just kept telling him to chew it well.
At his words, Andrew nodded, squeezed his eyes shut, and chewed the Uhwang Cheongsimhwan, frowning.
“Bleh. What is this?”
“If you take that, your nerves loosen up. Just take it. Here, water.”
Andrew gulped down the water Kim Seunghun handed him, but he still frowned at the bitter scent lingering in his mouth.
“Ugh…”
“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry so much.”
“Got it. Let’s go. We’ll be late.”
The preview theater they arrived at soon after.
“Th-that’s Kim Seunghun!”
“Wh-where!”
Some audience members who had finished watching the film pointed at Kim Seunghun and shouted in surprise.
At that, Kim Seunghun wore a relaxed smile and enjoyed their reaction.
“Did you enjoy the movie?”
“It was insane. Seriously. Totally! Oppa, your acting really leveled up!”
“And the movie is seriously insane too. I’m telling you, it was to the point I was doubting if this was really made in Korea!”
While they talked, Andrew watched Kim Seunghun without saying anything.
What would it feel like to have fans who welcomed you like that.
Just when he felt both envy and a sense that it must be hard too.
The audience members talking with Kim Seunghun shouted toward Andrew.
“Andrew!”
When his name was called so suddenly, Andrew asked Kim Seunghun, flustered.
“What did you say?”
“That you’re someone who helped me a lot. And you played Nix Road in the film…”
“Tsk, doing pointless things…”
“Go say hello. Hyung, you can speak a little Korean now, at least.”
Kim Seunghun lightly pushed Andrew toward the people.
“Fine. Stop pushing.”
Even while grumbling, Andrew walked toward the people shouting his name.
“You’re Nix Road? That’s insane!”
“Insane! It was seriously totally insane!”
Maybe because the aftereffects of <Space Vagabond> were still there.
People’s faces looked full of excitement.
“Haha… kamsahamnida.”
“Oh. You can speak Korean?”
“Only a little?”
Andrew smiled brightly and spoke in awkward Korean.
Because he had filmed in Korea for months, he could handle simple conversation at least.
“Could you take one photo with us? Photo. Photo. Please.”
“Sure.”
For the first time in his acting career, taking a photo with the audience.
At that new experience, Andrew wore an awkward smile.
“Hyung, let’s go now. We’ll be late. See you next time!”
After taking photos with the fans, when Andrew came back, Kim Seunghun asked him,
“It’s nice, right?”
“It is nice…”
They went in behind the preview hall. Gyeong Chanhyeon was waiting there.
With a bright smile, as if he had no nerves at all, he welcomed Andrew and Kim Seunghun.
“You’re here?”
“Yeah. You’ve been well?”
When Andrew asked awkwardly, Gyeong Chanhyeon smiled.
“Were you nervous, Andrew?”
“Ne-nervous, my ass.”
“Don’t even talk about it. His hands were shaking, so I even made him take Uhwang Cheongsimhwan.”
“You have years of theater experience, and you get scared over something like this?”
Kim Seunghun and Gyeong Chanhyeon teased Andrew in good harmony, but Andrew, as if it did not even reach his ears, only kept breathing deeply.
“The film is finished. Director, actors, you’ll go in now!”
At the staff member’s signal, Gyeong Chanhyeon, Kim Seunghun, then Andrew slowly entered the theater.
Thanks to the bright lights, the audience’s expressions came vividly into Andrew’s eyes.
The audience’s eyes full of exhilaration.
And their cheers, hitting his ears without mercy.
Until he sat in the chairs prepared on the podium in front, the cheers were so loud they felt like they would burst his ears, and Andrew’s heart thrashed.
“Hoo…”
Even when a play ended, there was never a reaction this fervent.
When his mind went numb from that reaction, Kim Seunghun walking in front seemed to notice and asked Andrew,
“Are you okay?”
“Uh, uh… haha… it feels completely different from theater.”
Seeing Andrew’s pale face, Kim Seunghun snorted a laugh.
“If I didn’t make you take Cheongsimhwan, it would’ve been a disaster.”
When Andrew sat down, Kim Seunghun whispered beside him.
“Smile a little. Someone might think you came here to fight.”
“Got it. Haha…”
As Andrew looked at the cheering audience with an awkward smile, Gyeong Chanhyeon took the microphone a moment later.
“So… did you all enjoy the movie?”
It was the signal to properly begin the prepared event, but the audience’s reaction grew even fiercer.
“What on earth did you make! This is insane!”
A man’s shout that cut straight through the murmuring.
At that shout, the audience around burst into laughter, and Andrew, hearing the interpretation, laughed a beat late.
“Haha. Nobody gave that person a microphone separately, right?”
When Gyeong Chanhyeon said it with a smile, the audience laughed even louder. And when the laughter died down a bit.
“Also, please give a big round of applause to Kim Seunghun, who played Ryu Seongmin, and Andrew, who played Nix Road.”
Cheering and applause poured out again. At that sound, Andrew felt dizzy enough for his mind to go blank.
“Hoo…”
And when the sound died down, Gyeong Chanhyeon slowly began talking about the film.
The audience’s participation with questions was also intense.
As if they were still completely immersed in <Space Vagabond>, they threw questions with blissful expressions.
After the previous question ended, a little kid held the microphone and asked.
— Mister Andrew. Are you Nix Road?
At the interpreter’s words, Andrew snorted a laugh and looked at the little kid.
Then, speaking like Nix Road, he said to the kid,
“Hi. I, Nix Road!”
Awkward Korean pronunciation.
Even so, the audience laughed loudly at his appearance, and the atmosphere grew even more warm.
And after the conversation continued a bit more.
Gyeong Chanhyeon held the microphone and said,
“We have a gift prepared separately.”
A few audience members who were called came down, and in order of arrival, received the gift they wanted.
People taking gifts from Kim Seunghun two times in a row.
Only one Ryu Seongmin figure was left, and nobody chose the rest.
Andrew, thinking maybe he really had no popularity, was only wearing an awkward smile, when.
The little kid who had asked Andrew the question earlier came up to the podium with his mom, as if called.
Then the kid asked Andrew,
“Mister Nix Road!”
“Uh…?”
“I want Nix Road!”
“….”
Andrew met eyes for a moment with the kid, who was looking at him with big, expectant eyes.
Then he lifted the Nix Road figure in one hand and shook it slightly.
“This one?”
“Yes! That one!”
“Here you go. Haha.”
The kid, as if it was so exciting, jumped up and down while holding the Nix Road figure, overjoyed.
At that sight, a smile naturally spread at the corner of Andrew’s mouth.
A feeling like he had become a real actor, not a consumable anymore.
An actor with fans who welcomed him, not a single part.
At the thought that in <Space Vagabond> he had become the kind of actor he had dreamed of, he was overcome with emotion.
“Mister?”
“…”
The kid who received the figure stared at Andrew with wide eyes.
“Y-yeah?”
“Don’t cry! Nix Road doesn’t cry!”
The kid shouted while looking at Andrew’s eyes, now moist.
Andrew quickly wiped his eyes once with his sleeve and smiled awkwardly.
“Haha…”
The kid hugged Andrew tightly. Andrew was startled for a moment at the kid pressed into his arms, but soon he smiled brightly and hugged the kid tightly back.
“Thank you. Thank you…”
T/N: Stop cutting onions please.
- Uhwang Cheongsimhwan (우황청심환) is a traditional Korean herbal medicine, also known as “clear-mind pill,” used for over 600 years to calm the mind, relieve stress, reduce anxiety, and improve focus. It is often taken before stressful events like exams or interviews and is used to treat cardiovascular issues, numbness, and, in traditional medicine, symptoms of stroke.
Leave a Reply