NOVEL NEXT Ch 11
Auditions for
The final audition location was, unusually, a suite in a luxury hotel.
Choi Hong-seo had been to many auditions in the past, but this was his first time auditioning at a place like this. No famous director ever spent a huge amount of money on the audition venue for their work.
The applicants waited in the living room, and the audition was held in the inner study. Because the space was so large, the three applicants were able to focus on their audition preparations while staying far apart from each other. Choi Hong-seo was assigned to a space with a round table.
The autumn sun was warm and shining through the wide window overlooking the Han River and the city of Seoul beyond. Summer had completely passed.
Yongjae, who had accompanied him, stood by the window, exclaiming in admiration, while Choi Hongseo repeated the lines he had memorized to the point where they were already stuck in his mouth.
“It’s a movie that Lee Hae-seong invested in, so the scale is different. This is my first time in such a nice room.”
“… … ”
The name Lee Hae-seong, which suddenly came to his ears, was like a surprise attack to Choi Hong-seo. Even though he had done nothing wrong, his fingers tightened and the corners of the script crumpled.
“The CEO said that this room costs 20 million won per night. Do you think they really rented it for 20 million won just for the audition?”
“well…”
I couldn’t look straight at Yongjae, who was sitting in the chair across from me, and I just kept picking up and putting down the coffee cup in front of me.
“Oh, hyung, you have to prepare for the audition, but I talked too much, right? I’ll be quiet, so concentrate.”
The first applicant was in the middle of an audition, and Choi Hong-seo was next in line. While I was going through the third round, I was so focused on the idea that “no matter what happens, I have to do it,” but once I got to the final audition, I couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Choi Hong-seo, who had put down the script, quietly pushed the chair and stood up. Yong-jae’s gaze followed him.
“Where are you going?”
“It’s a bathroom.”
“Again? You came back 10 minutes ago.”
“I’ll go just one more time.”
“It’s your turn next, so go quickly.”
The guest bathroom was located next to the kitchenette, down a labyrinthine hallway, opposite the study where the auditions were being held.
I washed my hands thoroughly with soap, took a deep breath, and practiced my lines one more time while looking at the unfamiliar face in the mirror that I was still not used to.
“What about Yun Hye-an?”
It was then that a noise was heard outside the door.
“The fact that you’re here means you’ve reached the third stage. Is that possible with that smoke machine?”
“He came back from the dead and is a hot topic these days. Is that why he was given the name?”
“I don’t know about other people, but Director Kang? He’s talking nonsense. If he was the type of person to choose actors based on their popularity, his own work would have already been a hit.”
The two people’s voices, giggling mockingly, seemed joyful. They must have come to eat the snacks prepared in the makeshift kitchen by the production company, and their voices were mixed with the murmur of chewing food.
“Our actor Park is a traditional actor, so that’s why he’s like that, but then why is Director Shim going through all this trouble to cast his child in a director’s work that won’t even be a hit?”
“Even if you don’t do well at the box office, you do get a lot of awards overseas. Try winning an award at the Cannes or Berlin Film Festival. Your status will go up, and your value will definitely go up.”
They seemed to be company officials of the two actors who were auditioning together today.
One of them was an actor who was recognized for his acting skills even at a young age, and the other was a popular actor who had already reached the ranks of top stars. Perhaps because they were managers of successful actors, they didn’t seem nervous even though it was an important audition.
“Then why on earth did you bring Yoon Hye-an here? She can’t act, she’s trash, and there are rumors going around that she ruins the mood on set.”
“Just look at the guy who left the team right away because he thought he would be a good actor. Have you ever seen a guy with no loyalty who has lasted this long in this industry? Does he do all the work by himself? He only works when someone calls him. Now, all his fans have fallen away.”
“Surely it’s not like it’s really Yoon Hye-an?”
Behind the worried voice came a confident snort.
“If you really don’t want to ruin the movie, would you pick Yoon Hye-an?”
Instead of getting rid of the label of X-Gun, Choi Hong-seo was given a new label of ‘traitor who smokes and is a waste of time’ after abandoning the team and not doing well. He didn’t even feel wronged. It was more like he reaped what he sowed.
Choi Hong-seo left the bathroom with a bitter smile. As he was about to pass by the open kitchen door, a voice mixed with laughter called out to him.
“Huh? Hyean, were you there?”
He must have heard the whole story, but he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he looked like he was amused, hoping he had heard everything. The other person who was there was equally shameless.
“Audition is next, right? Let’s work hard together.”
“Yes, I will do my best. Unlike other actors, I am really desperate and I hope to become a champion. Okay.”
He bowed his head and left the hallway.
“That shit is still the same.”
There was some gossip behind me, but it wasn’t hard to ignore it. It was just nonsense that didn’t even deserve a laugh. I guess I should think about the rascal who was gossiping so excitedly while saying all sorts of things.
I vaguely knew that Yoon Hye-an’s industry reputation was not good. Since she was a stranger and I had no close relationship with her, I didn’t try to find out more. However, it seemed that her reputation was worse than I thought.
Yoon Hye-an was one year younger than Choi Hong-seo, and one year her senior when she debuted. They both debuted as adults, making them the oldest members of the team.
Yoon Hye-an, who debuted as a member of the idol group ‘Titan’, had to spend several years in obscurity, just like ‘Layered’, which Choi Hong-seo was a member of. ‘Titan’ began to become known to the public when Yoon Hye-an began working as an actress. That was clear.
The controversy over his acting ability has been constant since then. However, since the work he participated in at the time was a sitcom that did not require much depth of acting, some fans came to view his awkward and stiff acting as cute. The immense popularity of the work itself also played a part.
How was Yoon Hye-an, who had no name recognition or acting experience, cast in a sitcom by a famous writer and PD? There were many rumors about this on the web at the time. Whatever the reason, it was definitely the sitcom that started the rise of ‘Titan’ thanks to Yoon Hye-an’s popularity.
However, after that, Yoon Hye-an suddenly lost interest in idol activities. For a while, ‘Titan’ was promoted as a five-member group without Yoon Hye-an, and shortly thereafter, a press conference was held to announce Yoon Hye-an’s withdrawal.
Choi Hong-seo honestly wasn’t interested in what kind of life Yoon Hye-an had lived. He didn’t have any intention of studying her life in detail and pretending to be Yoon Hye-an.
However, Yoon Hye-an was simply facing the reality that she had to take responsibility for the life she had lived up to now.
From the beginning, I didn’t know how long the state of discord between my inner and outer self would last.
For the past month, when I’ve been obsessed with auditions, I’ve thought about this every night as I close my eyes.
Will I be able to open my eyes as Choi Hong-seo again tomorrow morning?
Will he completely return to Yun Hye-an and the current Choi Hong-seo disappear, or will both Yun Hye-an’s body and Choi Hong-seo’s soul be destroyed?
Since something absurd happened once, there was no way it could happen again. Every day was a continuous cycle of anxiety, as it was an existence that might disappear.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but come here.
Even though Choi Hong-seo disappeared, Lee Hae-seong did not cancel his investment in this film. The film that had been on hiatus was stirring to be reborn. Like a heart that had stopped beating again and a breath that had stopped breathing again. Like a dead person coming back to life.
When I thought that I might disappear again at any moment, I had no time to hesitate or worry. Even the laughter and finger-pointing of others were nothing more than trivial trifles.
When I lived as Choi Hong-seo, those things seemed like my whole world… I felt like I was being strangled by even a single comment from someone I didn’t even know…
“Brother, why are you coming now? They said it’ll be our turn soon so wait.”
Yongjae, who was on his way to call Choi Hongseo out of anxiety, ran into him halfway. Thanks to their taunts earlier, the tension had disappeared and only venom remained, so he was grateful.
“I’m sorry. I was practicing in the mirror…”
“Honestly, hyung, your acting has improved to a really scary degree. I don’t know much about it, but it’s impossible to improve that much in just one month. I just didn’t know it until now, but hyung, you’re definitely a genius. You’ll pass.”
“Thank you. I’ll make sure you get cast.”
Yongjae smiled faintly at Choi Hongseo’s words.
“I told you, hyung, you’re really like a different person these days. Oh, in a good way!”
Even though she looked like Yoon Hye-an on the outside, everything else was Choi Hong-seo. Her memories, habits, tastes, and even the skills she had accumulated were all the same.
Since I had already been chosen by Kang Woo-hyun once for the role of Hwang Ji-woo, I was strangely confident about the audition from the beginning. Kang Woo-hyun was a person who had a consistent taste when it came to works, and no investor could break Kang Woo-hyun’s stubbornness.
No matter how many times I repeated the audition with a different appearance, I had a strong belief that Director Kang Woo-hyun would definitely choose Choi Hong-seo as the role of Hwang Ji-woo every time.
“Ms. Yoon Hye-an, please come in.”