Chapter 20: 20

In the beginning, everybody could not hide their bitter feelings. It was true that they had felt as though they had sold themselves for money when they were casted in a movie they did not want to be in. But after the framework of the movie had been properly established, the actors immersed themselves in the acting and the negative ambience was reversed. Everyone started to feel a sense of accomplishment that stemmed from working on the movie. For the sake of the movie, Choi Yi-Geon firmly toughed it out and stayed focused, doing what needed to be done.

However, nobody could deny that Chae Woo-Jin was the one who had kickstarted everything. He used his amazing acting skills, which overwhelmed the main leads, to create beautiful scenes that fulfilled Choi Yi-Geon’s aesthetics standards. This ended up motivating the main leads to take their job seriously.

“Great job!”

As they looked at each other, exchanging words of consolation and gratitude, their gazes naturally shifted towards Choi Yi-Geon.

“Why are all of you looking at me?”

“Aren’t we going to have a get-together today?”

Now that they were done with the last shooting, and that they had come all the way to Busan, it would be such a waste if they went back to Seoul right away. It was time for them to enjoy their final party, spending the night in Busan. In general, that was what most people did.

“A get-together? Didn’t I say that there will not be any more get-togethers ever again in my life?!”

These get-togethers were not elegant. He hated how helpless he felt whenever he drank, losing control of his body, not being able to distinguish whether the world was spinning or if he was out of his mind.

“Oh, we won’t be having a get-together? I thought that I would get to eat hweh [1] and eel while looking at Gwangan Bridge in the evening when I came to Busan. Are we just going to go back to Seoul?”

Woo-Jin already had high expectations for gatherings. As it was his first time visiting Busan, he decided to look up famous restaurants and places of interest on the internet, which raised his expectations even further. They did not have a lot to shoot at Busan, but he thought that they would get to stay the night there, and had already kept all the places that were famous for their beautiful night views in mind.

“It ended up becoming futile huh…”

Seeing Woo-Jin’s sad, slightly disappointed smile, Choi Yi-Geon was immediately hit by a strange sense of guilt. He was clearly smiling, but it did not look like he was genuinely smiling. Over the past month, that was the look he had seen on Woo-Jin’s face the most when he acted as Cha Hyun-Seung. There was something about that expression that made one emotional; it was a crossover between the smiling face of someone who had given up, and a smiling face with hidden disappointment.

“What if you don’t drink…” said Song Jae-Hee.

Yeah, it wasn’t that Choi Yi-Geon did not like get-togethers, he just did not like the drinking culture that came hand in hand with them. Surprisingly, Song Jae-Hee was the first person to react to Choi Yi-Geon’s remarks. The lady, who still looked beautiful despite being dressed in cheap clothes and given a tacky-looking perm, took a credit card from her manager and yelled.

“Dinner and drinks are on me today!”

To be accurate, it was a corporate card given to her by her agency’s CEO, but perhaps, the headline of the article would be along the lines of ‘Song Jae-Hee generously buys her crew members food and drinks after shooting had ended!’.

With Song Jae-Hee taking a step forward like this, Choi Yi-Geon could no longer turn them down. In any case, the excessive money they were given for the production was more than enough to cover their accomodation fees for one night. It was the first time he did not have to worry about money at all when shooting a movie. It would be hard for him to enjoy this kind of welfare again, so he felt that it might not be a bad thing to enjoy it while he could.

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When Choi Yi-Geon nodded and gave the green light, allowing everyone to stay in Busan, everybody looked so happy that they seemed to be happier at this moment than a while ago when they had just completed the final scene.

On the other hand, Song Jae-Hee had only been waiting for today to come. Since Kwon Sung-Min and her had been keeping a distance from each other, in order to avoid situations where they had to be together, she had been avoiding him entirely. Kwon Sung-Min was always caught in one scandal or another, so even if her agency did not warn her, she would have still been uncomfortable being around him. Even if she wanted to hang out with the staff and the other actors, it was hard for her to do so only when Kwon Sung-Min was not around, because it would have been very obvious. However, it was the last day of shooting today, coupled with the fact that they were in Busan, she could use the geographical location and their meaningful final get-together as a reasonable excuse. Since she had become the main lead, she had been worried about not being able to buy them food and drinks at least once. Hence, she felt lucky to have had this opportunity to do so, even though it was at the very last minute.

Shortly after, the crew that had packed up the film set moved to a street that was lined with restaurants that specialized in sliced hweh near Gwangalli Beach.

“Oh, there’s a cat!” exclaimed Woo-Jin.

Woo-Jin paused in front of the entrance of a Korean hweh restaurant when he noticed a stray cat rummaging through a pile of trash bags under a utility pole.

“Oh? It’s a cheese cat.” [2]

“Cheese cat?” asked Woo-Jin.

“We usually call those pale yellow ochre cats cheese cats. Judging from her body, it looks like she has just given birth.”

A staff member who called himself a butler went up to Woo-Jin, who likes cats, and explained it to him in detail. [3]

“You must know a lot about cats,” replied Woo-Jin.

“I have a few cats at home. You seem to like cats too,” replied the staff.

“A long time ago, when I was little, I had a cat for about two years. Due to the circumstances at that time, I couldn’t keep him anymore. He was also a pale yellow ochre cat like that one. He would be about 14 years old right now, so he’s probably still alive, right?”

Before Woo-Jin’s parents had gotten a divorce, his family had adopted a newborn cat. He had it for about two years or so. However, his father’s daughter from the affair was very fond of the cat. He remembered that when he left the house with his mother and Woo-Hee, they knew that their life from then on would be unstable, and on top of that, his father’s daughter from the affair stubbornly said that she wanted to keep the cat, so he left her behind.

“The average lifespan of a domestic cat is 15 years, but my cat is now 18 years old. If you take good care of your cat, and make sure it stays stress-free, they can live a long life,” answered the staff.

“In that case, Woo-Sa is probably still alive now. The child who is taking care of him really loved him a lot.”

The staff was able to guess from what Woo-Jin said that the child who was raising the cat instead was still young at that time. How can you trust the whims of a young child? However, he was not foolish enough to say that outright.

“That’s probably true. His name is Woo-Sa, huh? Was the name a play on the word ‘wooja’?

The staff changed the topic and lightly pushed Woo-Jin from the back, entering the restaurant. Upon entering, Song Jae-Hee, who was sitting at the same table as Choi Yi-Geon, waved at Woo-Jin and pointed to the seat next to her.

“Woo-Jin, did you by any chance get a call from our agency?”

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After the initial boisterous atmosphere had subsided, and everyone had settled down and began socializing with people at their own table, Song Jae-Hee asked Woo-Jin that question in a soft voice, as she was afraid other people might hear her. She was sure that the agency would contact Woo-Jin, but things had been too silent.

“I haven’t received any calls from them. Were you actually serious about recommending me to your agency back then?” asked Woo-Jin.

“I was, but since they have not contacted you yet, I feel embarrassed,” responded Jae-Hee.

“No, it’s okay! I’m already grateful that you think highly enough of me to recommend me. Thank you so much.”

Even though it would have been nice to get a call from them, there was a reason why people had coined the term ‘DS exam’. Even though Song Jae-Hee had mentioned it previously, Woo-Jin had not expected anything, and hence, he had already forgotten about it. Hence, there was nothing to be disappointed about. Instead, he was worried about whether or not Song Jae-Hee was being unreasonable by recommending him.

“Wait, what? You recommended Woo-Jin to your agency?” asked Choi Yi-Geon.

“Ack! You always stay silent and eavesdrop on everyone else’s conversation,” said Jae-Hee.

“Of course I’m going to listen to your conversation. Wouldn’t it be even weirder if I had just sat here and didn't say anything, while you people talk about things you’re not supposed to say, hoping that I didn’t hear it?” grumbled Choi Yi-Geon, as he dipped the raw sliced fish he was holding on into soy sauce that had been mixed with wasabi.

He also added that it was not polite to talk among themselves while sitting at the same table.

“So, you still don’t know the outcome?” asked Choi Yi-Geon.

“If I don’t get a call, it means that I’ve failed,” answered Woo-Jin.

Judging from the fact that he had not heard anything about a closed-door audition, Woo-Jin took it as he had already failed the screening process.

“You’ll never know. Maybe they did not want to disturb you while you were in the midst of shooting a movie out of consideration,” said Choi Yi-Geon.

“That’s true! I hadn’t thought of that,” exclaimed Song Jae-Hee.

Usually, Song Jae-Hee and Choi Yi-Geon would bicker with one another. But at times like this, they were in perfect harmony. On the other hand, with negative thoughts, Woo-Jin shook his head. DS was not a small agency, so it did not seem like that they would hold a closed-door audition at the recommendation from one of their artistes. Most importantly, why would they contact him first? Even if they did, they would only consider Song Jae-Hee’s recommendation after they had explored the possibilities to some extent after the movie had been released. In a bid to divert the attention of the two people, who were discussing when DS would contact him, Woo-Jin decided to ask Choi Yi-Geon something he had been curious about for a long time.

“There is something I’ve always been curious about. Don’t you feel uncomfortable wearing a suit throughout the shooting?”

Throughout the shooting over the past month, Choi Yi-Geon had always worn a suit as he directed. Admittedly, he was more elegant and fashionable than other actors, but it did not look comfortable.

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“It’s uncomfortable for sure. But still, the set is my workplace. Have you ever seen an office worker wear casual clothes to work? When people get too comfortable, they tend to become sloppy and are bound to make mistakes. The workplace is like a battlefield. It’s only natural for soldiers to go to war in military uniforms.”

“Aren’t you only wearing them because you have too many suits and nowhere to wear them to?” asked Song Jae-Hee.

Upon hearing Song Jae-Hee’s remark, Choi Yi-Geon gave her an unamused gaze. In order to avoid his gaze, she deliberately whipped out her phone.

“Let’s take a photo to commemorate our final day of shooting in Busan! Woo-Jin and Choi Yi-Geon, please come closer!”

“I like taking pictures, but I don’t like to have my pictures taken. Besides, you’re going to post that on your social media,” said Choi Yi-Geon as he shook his head at the idea of having his picture taken.

Song Jae-Hee responded coyly, “In that case, do I take a photo with only Woo-Jin? What are we going to do if it creates a scandal? You need to be in the picture so people won’t make up stories. I am famous, and I have an agency, so I can deal with scandals, but Woo-Jin is a rookie. It’ll be bad if there are rumors about him.”

“In that case, don’t take a picture.”

“We have to take a picture and upload it so that news about the movie will spread, and we can also gradually reveal Woo-Jin’s face to the world!”

In truth, a scandal would most likely not occur because of that, but Choi Yi-Geon had already had a few drinks and could not think straight.

“Is that so?” questioned Choi Yi-Geon.

Ultimately, he ended up taking a picture with them, with Song Jae-Hee in the middle.

“I think that Choi Yi-Geon is the type of person who finds it hard to say no,” commented Woo-Jin with a smile, as he looked at Choi Yi-Geon who sat down right after the picture was taken with an expressionless face.

“What nonsense! I’m an iron-blooded person who is not that soft!”

Exactly two hours after he said that, Choi Yi-Geon was drunk and knocked out. That was the result of not being able to say no to drinks offered by the actors and staff. On top of that, he had also accepted their proposal to have a wrap-up party after they had gone back to Seoul. Of course, everything was clearly documented and solid evidence could be found in the video recordings from that night. For better or worse, the videos would remain in history forever as evidence of what happened. It was fair to everyone.

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1. a Korean variant of sashimi, to be precise. It’s cut differently, giving it a more chewy texture than regular sashimi. Also, the dipping sauce is gochujang mixed with vinegar. <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">

2. A term cat lovers in Korea use to call yellow cats. <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">

3. Cat owners in Korea call themselves butlers. <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">

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