NOVEL NEXT Ch 12
I crossed the living room following the instructions of the audition staff. The actor who had auditioned earlier had already returned to his seat and was talking to his manager. The actor waiting for Choi Hong-seo’s turn also showed no sign of being wary of ‘Yoon Hye-an.’
The staff knocked first in front of the study.
“Applicant Yoon Hye-an, please come in.”
The door opened and I followed the staff into the study. The study, with its soft, dark blue carpet, felt much cozier than the practice rooms or production company offices where auditions were usually held.
“Ms. Yoon Hye-an, please introduce yourself first.”
After taking a deep breath, I looked straight ahead with a polite attitude. However, the simple greeting I had prepared froze in my mouth for a moment.
A long table with four judges sitting side by side. Each and every one of them had a familiar face. When Choi Hong-seo was confirmed to be cast, I had already greeted the production company president, general producer, and director Kang Woo-hyun. And unexpectedly, between the production company president and director Kang, there was Lee Hae-seong.
All bodily activity ceased at once, and after a while all bodily activity began to malfunction. My breathing became ragged, my heart raced, and the script in my hand was crumpled haphazardly.
“Ms. Yoon Hye-an.”
“… … ”
“Ms. Yoon Hye-an?”
“Oh, yes.”
He flinched as if he had been possessed by something and then suddenly came to his senses, and answered the name that still did not seem to belong to him. The staff member was looking at him with an even more confused expression.
“Greetings and introductions.”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
Choi Hong-seo, who had already bowed, bowed even more deeply this time and greeted with a confident and firm voice as he had prepared.
“Hello. This is Yoon Hye-an. Please take care of me.”
Then, the event staff introduced the judges in a mechanical tone.
“From the left, the production company representative, the investment company representative, the director, and the general producer.”
Lee Hae-seong joined the judging panel with the title of investment company representative. He was wearing a white shirt with his jacket off, leaning loosely against the back of the chair, and was touching the documents on the desk with his long fingers. His eyes were rarely looking in this direction, but were instead resting on the documents.
So it was rather fortunate, because I could see him as much as I wanted while he was not looking this way.
Director Kang was the first to speak with a smile, perhaps thinking that Choi Hong-seo’s flustered attitude was due to a change in the judging panel.
“The faces of the people sitting here have changed a lot since the first and second rounds, right? I guess it’s because this is the final audition. You can think of them as the heads of each department at
It seemed like Director Kang was joking in his own way, so Choi Hong-seo smiled awkwardly.
“Don’t be so nervous, Hye-an. You’ve been acting well up until the third round, but since we’re on the subject, I faced a lot of opposition while I was helping Yoon Hye-an pass the third round.”
“yes…”
“Everyone tried to dissuade me because it would be difficult to work with Yoon Hye-an, whose reputation was so bad.”
Even when I was cast as Hwang Ji-woo as Choi Hong-seo and we worked together several times, Director Kang was still this straightforward person. Instead, he was someone who didn’t have any hidden intentions. He was still the same.
“But when I looked at it directly, it wasn’t a smoke machine.”
“Thank you. You worked hard.”
“Everyone tried to dissuade me, but my acting skills were good, and my image fit the role so well that I couldn’t give up. My image is also similar to that of Hong Seo, who was originally cast as Hwang Ji Woo.”
“… … ”
Hae-seong Lee, who had been looking down at his desk with a consistently expressionless face the whole time, suddenly raised his head. His disgruntled eyes glanced at the audition participant once, then quickly looked down at his desk again.
“Is that so?”
There was an awkward silence in the room for a moment as he quietly stood there, feeling as if he had stepped back. His tone seemed to subtly express antipathy, so it was even tense.
“It looks completely different to me, but I’m curious to know what parts you think are so similar.”
It wasn’t a tone of speech that ignored Director Kang’s words or seemed aggressive. Rather, it was closer to the feeling of dissatisfaction with ‘Yoon Hye-an’, who was said to be similar.
“Hwang Ji-woo is a mysterious figure from the perspective of the residents of ‘Cream Mansion.’ His age, family history, and occupation are all unknown. That’s why I wanted the actor who plays him to have that kind of image. He’s like a boy, and a young man… He seems quite worldly, but at other times, he’s also innocent. But I feel that way from Yoon Hye-an right now. He’s neither a boy nor a young man, neither good nor evil, but rather, he’s on a precarious borderline.”
Director Kang was excited and talked for a long time, but there was still no change in Hae-seong Lee’s eyes and expression. It seemed like he didn’t agree at all. His eyes, which didn’t sparkle, sighed as if they were bored and moved his lips.
“Let’s look at the acting first.”
It was a dry voice with no highs or lows, but it took over our hearing like a scream or a shout.
While looking at him and listening to his voice, Choi Hong-seo’s body got goosebumps and shivers several times.
It was like the day I first met him.
A sense of deja vu, as if one has been captured in a scene from the past and is experiencing it again.
Even then, he spoke in a bored and pitiful voice.
【“Let’s turn off the music.”】
Even though it was a small voice that did not require much effort, everyone listened to him. His words acted as commands to the others present. Even when he did not speak in the imperative tone.
That day was even more unforgettable because it was the first and last time he looked at her with such a calm, searching gaze.
If only we could go back to that day and start over from the beginning… how great would that be?
“Then, I’ll look at the free acting first. The designated acting comes after that.”
Choi Hong-seo regained his senses at the director’s voice. He stood with his back to the judges for a moment, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.
I still remember the personal cell phone number he gave me personally, but now I can’t call him. I can’t even create a chat room for just the two of us. I knew where his house was, and before, when I went to see him when he wasn’t there, I could wait for him in the bedroom or living room. But now, I was no longer his VVIP.
So I had to get this role. It was the only way to see him up close.
One, two, three, four, five. I counted with my fingers folded one by one.
“When you’re ready, start. Don’t be impatient.”
I closed my eyes and nodded my head at Director Kang’s voice. I opened my eyes and turned my body when I was ready. I slowly approached the staff member who was prepared to be my counterpart and my lines began.
“Listen, Nikolai.”
It was a scene from Anton Chekhov’s work “Ivanov.”
“You may think that all this is wise and correct judgment, according to the rules of psychology. But to me, this is nothing but a scandal and a misfortune!”
It was just a scandal and a misfortune. Even though it wasn’t a scene that was intentionally prepared, it felt like it was his story and mine.
Even without looking at him, Choi Hong-seo could feel his gaze piercing her skin. The first day they met, the performance he had performed in front of her was also a work by Anton Chekhov.
“Nikolai, everything in the world is simple. The ceiling is white, the boots are black, and the sugar is sweet. You love Sasha, and Sasha loves you. If you love, stay, if you don’t love, leave. That’s it. It’s simple.”
Even when I was performing on stage, I felt a different kind of nervousness when I knew he would be there. It was even more so when he was there.
It was an anxiety, or rather, a thrilling excitement, that could not be alleviated no matter how many times one folded one’s fingers.
If what I felt when I looked at him was excitement, what he felt when he looked at me was a tingling, hot stimulation. That elation was now vividly reviving in the blood vessels of Yoon Hye-an, not Choi Hong-seo.
“What else do you need? Money? That’s nothing! Principles, Schopenhauer… It’s all nonsense…”
Choi Hong-seo swallowed dry saliva and lowered his voice.
“Nikolai, I have 10,000 rubles hidden in the bank.”
He rolled his eyes and looked around, as if someone might hear, and approached the stand-in. Secretly, with a sense of pity.
And he caressed the substitute’s cheek. As if he were brushing the cheek of a lover who was too precious to touch.
“No one in the family knows about this money… You two… take this and leave.”
Lebedev, played by Choi Hong-seo, was a friend of his counterpart Nikolai Ivanov. So his current performance, which seems to be sending off the person he loves with someone else, could have been interpreted with a different nuance from the original. However, it was a performance that left plenty of room for interpretation in both ways.
The performance continued for about a minute. After finishing his performance, Choi Hong-seo bowed his head to his co-star and the judges. The first to speak was the health director.
“That’s interesting. Did you interpret the scene yourself?”
“yes.”