Life, Once Again! Chapter 776. Sequence 5

Chapter 776. Sequence 5

“Hey, over there. Come here for a sec.”
Yoon Hyungseok pointed at himself and asked ‘me?’ The leader gestured for him to come without asking questions.
“Do you have something to do after this?”
“After this?”
“If you have some time, I was going to have you do some other character. I’ll pay you the wage.”
“What role is it? Does he have a line?”
The leader scanned him from top to bottom.
“Hey, are you interested in this area?”
“My dream is to become an actor. I came here to get some experience today so that I can see what it’s actually like at the scene.”
“Good. Come over when I call for you later. It’ll be a thug role, and you’ll have to undergo some makeup. There aren’t many lines, but you have to cringe a little.”
“If I can get on camera, I’ll do anything. Where should I wait?”
“Go sit over there. I’ll call you as soon as things are taken care of. Yoon Hyungseok, right? And your number is this?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
Hyungseok sat on a chair placed in the corner of the set.
“Aren’t you going?”
A man who played the role of a patient with him came over and asked.
“I was told to stay behind.”
“That’s great. The leader seems to like you before. Then do your best.”
The man said goodbye before leaving. Hyungseok took off the patient outfit. When he just arrived at the shooting set and received a patient outfit, he was excited because of the unfamiliar scenery, but when the shoot lasted for about five hours, it felt like nothing as though it was his own neighborhood. He did see famous actors from afar, but that only lasted a brief instant. The background actor part-timers couldn’t even get near the noble actors. The leader roared at them to not ask for autographs or photos without their permission.
“Damn, I should become as successful as possible.”
Ever since he received a shock after seeing Maru’s acting, Hyungseok had fixed his life plans. He stopped going to the acting school that he went to like he was receiving compulsory education and looked for jobs on the scene. He did this in order to learn what it’s like at the scene and what could not be learned from textbooks. The simplest method to get onto the scene was the background actor part-time job. As soon as he registered himself in the association, he got a call, and Hyungseok ended up going all over the country because he landed himself a job in a historical drama. Unlike his expectations of being able to watch the acting of the actors from up close, Hyungseok had to stand guard in front of the palace gates while wearing thick padded clothes. Although he had tried all sorts of harsh part-time jobs, this was the first time he felt like he was actually going to die. If he could watch the acting of the actors, he would at least have felt a little good about it.
After failing his first attempt, Hyungseok looked into part-time jobs excluding historical dramas. It wasn’t as though he was short on money, so he didn’t have a problem with choosing. After that, he had done a few more background actor jobs, but every single time, he was just a passerby 1. He couldn’t easily find an opportunity to watch the acting of the good actors for real.
It was around that time that he first got a job in a proper set. It looked like a warehouse from the outside, but inside was a splendid-looking hospital set. The role he played was also a patient, so he thought that he may be able to watch the actors playing the doctor. His expectations were betrayed without fail. The only thing he did for the past 5 hours was walking around the corridor with ringer solution attached to his body. Over there, come here, over there, go there, there, stop.
“You there, come over here.”
He followed the leader to the back of the set. He saw a sign that said ‘makeup room’. The scenery behind the door was nothing like what a ‘makeup room’ would look like. There were clothes strewn everywhere, piles of empty bowls, and even leftover food. This looked more like a living room than a makeup room.
“You have to get your makeup done here.”
“Yes.”
The leader picked up a call as he left the makeup room. Hyungseok followed the woman’s instructions to close his eyes.
“Change your top into this.”
“Right here?”
“Where else? Should I close your eyes for you then?”
She seemed annoyed and told him to do it fast. Hyungseok changed his clothes. It was a peculiar experience to change in front of a woman that looked at him like he was some object. As soon as he sat down on the chair, the makeup room opened again and another woman came in. One of them took care of his face and hair, while the other one got close to his flank. The perfectly fine shirt turned red. It was ripped with some scissors, rubbed, and even slightly burnt with a lighter.
“Don’t touch the makeup, and your clothes too for that matter.”
Hyungseok left the makeup room and took a photo of himself with his phone. The left part of his face was covered with blood. He was about to touch his hair caked in blood but stopped when he recalled the warning.
“Emergency patients, please gather round.”
The leader gestured at him to go over. The patients gathered in front of the counter. It seemed that a large-scaled accident had occurred within the drama. There was a patient that joined them a little later than other people, and he had a long wound on his thigh. It was the special makeup room. Hyungseok was put off by the fat and the bones.
Listening to the explanation of the assistant director, they each moved to their places. Hyungseok played the role of a patient who was being carried into the emergency room on a stretcher. Just as the leader said, he didn’t have any lines. The only thing the assistant director told him to do was groan.
“But don’t make the sound too big. You have all seen what patients look like in dramas right? You just have to cringe and act like you’re hurt. You’ll be lying down most of the time, so it’ll be quite comfortable. Since you’re comfortable, please do your best.”
The assistant director ran over to another team of patients. Hyungseok greeted the background actors who played the role of the 119 agents.
“I’m a little heavy.”
“It’s fine. We can lift palanquins, this is nothing.”
The assistant director, who was explaining the line of movement while pushing the portable bed, returned to them.
“The stretcher should turn left at the entrance and come here. This is a scene where all the patients are coming in at once, so watch out to not get into an accident. As long as you do this scene well, you’ll be lying down for most of the time just like I said before, so you’ll have to suffer just a little.”
The assistant director was the busiest on the shooting set. When the rowdy atmosphere died down a little, the director and the actors appeared. Hyungseok lifted his head a little. Here came the lead actors who he couldn’t see a wink of for the past 5 hours. The actors and the director were right in front of him. Wearing white gowns and surgery uniforms, the actors definitely looked different from the rest. Their appearances alone screamed ‘I’m an actor’.
The first person he saw was Kang Giwoo, who was talking to the director seriously. When the media portrayed him as a sculpture-like handsome man, Hyungseok just scoffed, but now that he actually met him in person, he felt like that description didn’t do enough justice. Hyungseok could understand what it meant for a person’s face to shine. Even though they were the same age, one was a top star, while the other one was a background actor. He thought to himself that he must not waste any time.
“Okay, director. I’ll do that for now.”
Even his voice was cool. There were rumors that he was the grandson of a chaebol, and if that was true, it seemed that God had made a mistake. A person must at least have one flaw, no? Behind him, a background actress playing the role of a nurse was staring at Kang Giwoo. Her eyes looked loose, and it looked like she had fallen for him at first sight. Well, it wasn’t surprising with his face and his popularity.
“Gaeul, you’ll take over the stretcher from here. Also, patient, when Gaeul says something, just say ‘yes’ and act like you’re in pain, okay?”
Han Gaeul nodded at the director’s explanation. Hyungseok recalled Maru as soon as he saw her face. From the way he was smiling in satisfaction while looking at the screen, it was clear that he was a big fan of hers. Maybe he would kowtow to him if he got an autograph from her.
“Patient, okay?”
“Yes, got it.”
“It’ll be troublesome if you daze out during the real shoot.”
The rehearsal began. The emergency responders started walking towards the entrance of the set while carrying the stretcher. Hyungseok tried to balance himself on the shaking stretcher. As they weren’t professionals, the two people carrying the stretcher weren’t in sync, so he felt like he would be flipped over if he just stayed still. As soon as he passed the entrance of the hospital, the camera followed him.
“Interns! What are you doing, staying still like that!”
A middle-aged actor shouted as though it was the real shoot. At the same time, Han Gaeul rushed over to the stretcher. From the conversation that was occurring, Hyungseok found out that he was a patient found in a capsized bus.
“His blood pressure and heart rate are normal, but he’s having a hard time breathing because of the pressure applied to his chest.”
The emergency responder said his line proficiently. It seemed that his experience with this part-time job was above the others. Han Gaeul approached and spoke to him,
“Sir, is the pain here?”
“Yes.”
He groaned and replied in a daze just like he was instructed to.
“Doctor Choi! I think we need to take a chest shot of this patient!”
After Han Gaeul went away, another actor in a doctor’s gown approached him. The actors moved around like they were dancing even in this cramped space. Hyungseok watched all that happen from the bed. He could feel pressure from just the rehearsal. The mood of the chaotic emergency unit immediately turned into a quiet shooting set with a clap from the director.
“We’ll do the shoot right away. Remember your movement lines, and make it look urgent.”
Having returned to the entrance, Hyungseok sat up a little. He looked at the actors who were saying their lines while looking at each other. The actors became doctors as though a magic spell was cast after the director’s cue and they moved around the corridor. Even though they knew that a bunch of emergency patients would be arriving at the unit, they were laughing and joking around. They felt like true pros. Details that couldn’t be seen from just the screen were hidden throughout the scene. Even in places where the camera didn’t reach, their acting did not miss a beat. Hyungseok captured everything with his eyes. This was the kind of scene he wanted to see by coming to the scene like this. Though, the only problem was that he wasn’t able to listen to their voices since he was so far away.
“Doctor! We’ve got incoming patients! It’s from a capsized bus.”
Hyungseok lay down and calmed his breath. It was time for him to play his part.