Chapter 1294 – ##11_More Than Ginseng…(3)
##43
1.
Director Park, who didn’t know his place and flirted with the Witch of Fortune, was torn apart by the will of the world.
CEO Kim’s TunTun Productions, which tried to betray Director Moon and steal Cybele, was also dismantled by an unknown external pressure.
In a normal movie, it would have been scrapped at this point, but Director Moon quickly found a new production company and investors.
‘The Witch’s Tale,’ the first film ever to feature a witch as the lead actress, found a new production company and investors in less than a week and quickly completed casting.
Cybele was in culture shock at the sight of the pig’s head during the ritual, but otherwise, they were able to start filming without any major issues.
And so, at a set in Incheon.
“Lighting team, check the lighting settings one last time. And where’s the assistant director?”
“Check the mic positions, no noise?”
“Okay, everyone, extras, don’t be too nervous and just move naturally. Let’s do one more rehearsal.”
Dozens of people were moving busily on the set, which was set against the backdrop of Seoul, where the Korean War had swept through and even the pillars had been uprooted.
The first day of filming, the chaos of an unbalanced set, so to speak.
As it was an early morning shoot, the actors who had finished their makeup were dozing off in the vans or smoking to shake off their sleepiness, while two figures caught the attention of the busy set.
“Wow, they’re on a different level.”
“I’ve seen a lot of actors who are famous for their looks, but that’s just… unbelievable.”
“Do we even need to make a movie? Just filming a vlog and selling it would probably get ten million viewers.”
“The cameraman who filmed the commercial before was bragging about it, so I thought it was just okay. But he had a reason to brag.”
“So that’s what they mean by beauty that can’t be captured by a camera.”
The witch, sitting in a corner on a fishing chair as if she were just watching the set.
Her beauty, as if transcending the mortal world, became a kind of magic in itself, causing the surrounding people to burst into exclamations and admiration.
“By the way, who’s that kid?”
“The witch brought him as a child actor.”
“Is he her son…?”
“Would he be? She’s a witch.”
It wasn’t just her who was drawing attention.
The boy sitting on the witch’s lap, who was also starting his first shoot today, was also somehow unusual.
The fact that he was sitting on the lap of the powerful witch and receiving so much affection.
And even though he was wearing shabby rags and had makeup that intentionally emphasized his dirtiness to match the role of the war orphan ‘Shin Gi-woo’, his original appearance could not be hidden.
“Shouldn’t we call the makeup team again? He looks like a nobleman’s son, not a war orphan.”
“That’s the limit. We’ll fix it somehow in post-production.”
“Hing, I want to sit on the witch’s lap too….”
Basically, the staff members involved in the film industry are people who love movies.
That’s how they endure the terrible work-life balance with no day or night, unstable employment conditions, and meager pay that is sometimes even delayed.
The thought of capturing those two in one scene made their hearts race with enthusiasm.
But there was also someone who couldn’t think so simply.
It was Deputy Director Oh of Hyunmu Investment and Distribution, dressed in a stylish suit.
“You’re working hard from the crack of dawn.”
“Ah, Deputy Director Oh. What brings you here….”
“I have to see the set since filming has started. Do you think this will go well? To be honest, I have some concerns.”
“What concerns?”
“Well, there are two actors who are making their debut, aren’t there? It’s not that I doubt the director’s judgment, and I’ve talked to the casting director, but I’m still worried about their acting skills. The feeling is different between a script reading and a set with a full camera setup.”
Deputy Director Oh, being someone involved in the film industry, was making a very common-sense point.
The title of a movie starring a real witch was definitely a powerful card.
However, a movie doesn’t sell well just because the actors are pretty and handsome.
What if a movie that was released with a lot of hype and ambition turned out to be a modern art piece riddled with acting so bad that it was unbearable to watch?
It could become famous for being ridiculed on the internet, but the movie theaters would be empty, resulting in a flop.
“You don’t have to worry too much about that. It was quite good, even better than I expected.”
It was a point that Director Moon was also slightly concerned about.
After seeing Cybele and realizing what a true witch was, when he rewrote the script, he imagined Cybele’s face as the female lead from the beginning.
That’s why the role and the actor would be in sync.
In the script reading, Cybele and the parachute child actor she brought were not bad at acting.
But as Deputy Director Oh said, acting is something you only know after you see it.
With everyone’s hopes and anxieties mixed, the first shoot began.
2.
The winter in Seoul, swept away by the initial chaos, was like a white pile of ashes.
Collapsed buildings and bridges, and the Han River where the blood of soldiers had not yet subsided.
The common people lined up at the free distribution center selling gruel, the wounded soldiers thrown onto the streets with their arms and legs cut off, and the orphans begging in groups.
Snow fell from the gloomy sky, but no one who looked at the fluttering snowflakes could find a trace of hope.
That was the era.
An era when it was natural to freeze to death, starve to death, be beaten to death, and die of disease.
The boy Shin Gi-woo, who became an orphan in the war, was also like a still life decorating the corner of a landscape painting depicting the nightmare of the post-war period.
The boy, sitting on a half-collapsed iron bridge, looked down at the dark river flowing below his feet with eyes that had not a trace of innocence left.
“…….”
He didn’t think of anything, and he didn’t want to think of anything.
He just wanted to disappear like this.
He wanted to throw the screams of his sister, who was dragged away by a soldier in uniform, and the emaciated figure of his poor mother, who died of a fever on the evacuation route, into this river.
Count to three and jump.
It wasn’t that scary or frightening.
The reason why humans fear death is because it is unknown.
For a boy who had already seen the horrors of war, death was just a clearly defined phenomenon, though frightening.
“One. Two….”
“Are you going to jump?”
Just as the boy was about to plunge into the water.
The witch, leaning on the railing and smoking an American filter cigarette, asked.
“Yes.”
Since when had she been watching?
The slightly surprised boy answered.
“It’s going to be cold.”
“It’s okay. It’s already cold. How long have you been here?”
“Since a while ago.”
An extremely calm and ordinary conversation took place.
The witch, who had been watching the boy agonizing for quite some time, didn’t feel any particular pity for this dirty suicide wannabe.
The tragedies of the world she had witnessed over the long years had made her a skeptic or a nihilist.
Because no matter how precious something is, it disappears and changes over time.
There were many kids in this country who were in similar situations to the boy.
One tragedy evokes sympathy, but too many tragedies become a kind of landscape and lose their specialness.
Even the sole right to receive sympathy and compassion disappears.
She didn’t feel pity, and she didn’t think she had to take responsibility for it.
But the witch thought she could do a good deed of self-satisfaction within the limits of what she could see.
“Do you know chocolate?”
“Chocolate? Yes. The stuff the American soldiers carry around.”
“Have you ever eaten it?”
“Yes, I had a piece by chance. It was delicious.”
“Really? Do you want to play a game with me?”
“A game?”
“Do you see that part sticking out in the river?”
“Yes.”
“If you jump down there and survive, I’ll give you half a piece of chocolate. How about it?”
The witch took out a chocolate wrapped in thin plastic and shook it in front of the boy’s nose.
The boy looked dazed at the witch, who smiled and spoke in a cruelly absurd way.
“I guess you’re scared? If you’re scared, don’t do it.”
Her annoying smile scratched at his insides.
“A kid with a bright future ahead of him, what’s with the suicide? Here, I’ll give you this…. Hey!”
The witch, who had intended to comfort him and give him a gift before leaving, found the boy already falling below the bridge.
The witch quickly threw herself and barely managed to save the boy.
“You crazy! Are you an idiot?”
The boy, his face pale, was in the witch’s arms like a hyperventilating patient, holding onto her feet and sobbing.
His whole body was trembling as if it would break.
He wanted to die.
He didn’t want to live.
But even until the moment he jumped and death opened its jaws, he wasn’t afraid.
“I’ll give you this, so eat it. And don’t ever think about jumping again.”
Yet, the reason he was crying like this was because the witch’s embrace was so warm and comforting.
“…Cut.”
Director Moon’s sign, signaling the end of the take, flowed out.
The set, which had been quiet during filming, would usually become noisy after the cut sign.
Because Director Moon would give feedback to the actors or prepare the set again for the next take.
“…….”
But there was only silence.
Everyone was watching the two actors without even breathing properly.
In their eyes, they saw the ruined bridge model and the desolate landscape of Seoul behind the green screen.
The immersion and aura created by the two actors’ passionate performances were fiercely engulfing the surroundings.
It was as if they had been sucked into the past through time travel, not a fictional story.
“…Didn’t you say it was your first time acting?”
The magic was broken.
The staff, who had been swept into an imaginary world by the overwhelming acting, all started to speak at once.
“How can they do that?”
“Well, I thought the witch would be great because she has experience, but the child actor, the child actor is doing that well.”
“He’s handsome and pretty, and he’s good at acting? Aren’t we going to make something big here?”
Cybele smiled naturally as if it were obvious and accepted the praise.
It wasn’t that difficult.
The witch in the story was created based on Cybele.
It was enough to just show her usual self without having to act.
But decisively, Si-woo’s contribution was great.
To be honest, Cybele’s emotional line and immersion were half carried by Si-woo.
“You’re good at acting?”
“I’ve done it a lot.”
“Really? Have you ever filmed a movie?”
“No, not that.”
“What’s your secret?”
Cybele asked Si-woo, who was munching on a prop chocolate.
Si-woo was very worried, but when he actually did it, it wasn’t a big deal.
Rather, it was easier to immerse himself than during the script reading.
“It just worked when I did it?”
It is common to call an actor who is really good at acting a character actor.
In that sense, Si-woo was a survival actor who had been giving a desperate performance to survive.
