The Face Genius Actor

Episode 037

‘No. It’s not that it’s lacking. It’s more like it feels a bit excessive, as if he was trying too hard to show something.’

It was surprising to see Park Jun give such an over-the-top performance.

It seemed certain that his pride had been hurt during the script reading.

However, that didn’t mean Park Jun’s acting skills were bad.

The fact that some staff members were giving him encouraging applause was proof of that.

It was an action to boost Park Jun’s confidence.

As a result, I couldn’t help but doubt whether I had seen it wrong.

‘Was my impression incorrect? Maybe Park Jun’s acting was better than I thought.’

As I turned my head while thinking this, I saw Director Kang Han-sung.

He looked like he was deep in thought.

Although he had given the OK sign, it didn’t feel like he was satisfied with the acting.

It felt like he was thinking the same thing as me.

But there was no guarantee that the acting would improve if we made him do it again.

I could understand why Director Kang Han-sung didn’t give the NG sign.

Park Jun’s acting had that much of an ambiguous aspect to it.

Overall it wasn’t bad, but there was something that felt off.

Yet it was hard to pinpoint exactly what that was.

Then I heard someone muttering.

“…Was it really okay?”

It was Lee Joo-yeon’s voice.

“What is?”

When I asked this, Lee Joo-yeon snapped back to reality and shook her head belatedly.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

It didn’t seem like nothing.

Lee Joo-yeon also clearly found Park Jun’s acting bothersome.

But the filming resumed, and the next scene was also Park Jun’s.

“Please standby for Part 1, Scene 4!”

Filming was usually structured this way.

Especially, it often proceeded centered around the main male and female leads.

This was to reduce waiting time for at least one person.

It would be nice if everyone, regardless of whether they were main or supporting cast, could finish filming quickly and go home, but that wasn’t the reality of a film set.

The main male and female leads inevitably received this kind of consideration.

And so, the filming continued, centered around Park Jun.

Perhaps because of this, the actors who had been interested in the first scene’s filming began to disperse one by one.

It seemed they didn’t want to exhaust themselves early, given they had to wait for a long time.

Yeo Kyung-chan, who had been watching the first scene’s filming with me, also spoke to me.

“Shall we go in?”

I looked at the staff busily preparing for the next shoot for a moment, then shook my head.

“Let’s watch one more scene to get a feel for the atmosphere on set.”

Yeo Kyung-chan nodded at my answer.

In fact, not all actors had left for the waiting area after seeing the first scene.

Some people wanted to watch one more scene since they had come out to observe.

Though their number had significantly decreased.

“Ready! Cue!”

After all preparations were complete, Park Jun started acting again.

Part 1, Scene 4 dealt with what happened after a commotion at a party venue.

* * *

In the quiet garden of the party venue.

Jang Hyuk-jun and Yoon Jung-hoon are having a conversation with champagne glasses in their hands.

Low music can be heard from the now-calmed party venue.

“Did you really have to do that?”

When Yoon Jung-hoon asks, Jang Hyuk-jun casually opens his mouth.

“There’s no one here. Speak comfortably.”

“I’m asking if you really had to do that.”

“What did I do wrong?”

“Hey. Still, all those people in there are the core of this company. The backbone, you know.”

“What backbone. They’re trash. Trash who know how to be scared but don’t know to be ashamed of their actions.”

“Sigh.”

“By the way, look into whether there are any decent people in other companies. Let’s take this chance to clean out all the trash and replace them with useful new items.”

“You think people will come just because we call them? You know how hard it is to find people these days.”

“They’ll move if we offer a lot of money. That’s why you joined our company too, right?”

“Hey. How can a kid talk like that? Are you saying I’m a materialist? Huh?”

Yoon Jung-hoon raises his voice as if flustered on purpose.

Finding it amusing, Jang Hyuk-jun smiles for the first time and asks back.

“Wasn’t it true?”

Then Yoon Jung-hoon answers as if he has no choice but to admit it.

“…It was.”

“See? That’s right. So look for people.”

“Alright.”

Just as the two are about to toast and bring their champagne glasses to their lips.

A vibration sound is heard from somewhere and Jang Hyuk-jun takes out his phone from his inside pocket.

Checking the phone screen, it’s a call from the Chairman of WW Group.

Jang Hyuk-jun looks at Yoon Jung-hoon.

“Did you talk to him?”

“When would I have had time for that? I’ve been here with you like this.”

“Ah. Those trash. They’ve already tattled. Yes, Chairman. I’ve answered the phone.”

-You bastard! What kind of trouble have you caused again! Huh!

The Chairman’s shout can be heard from Jang Hyuk-jun’s phone.

Jang Hyuk-jun quickly moves to take the call.

Behind him, Yoon Jung-hoon shakes his head and smiles mischievously.

“Hyuk-jun. I’m sorry. It’s too troublesome for me to go around looking for people.”

* * *

“Cut! Okay!”

This time too, the OK sign came relatively quickly.

There was one NG when the supporting male lead’s pronunciation got slightly tangled, but no one pointed out Park Jun’s acting.

With that, the staff began to move to prepare for the next shoot.

“Shall we watch one more scene before we go, actor?”

Yeo Kyung-chan asked this beside me, and I shook my head.

“No, it’s alright. Let’s go to where we parked.”

The next scene was also Park Jun’s, but I felt like nothing would change even if we watched more.

The same problem had appeared twice already.

This time too, Park Jun showed acting that felt a bit exaggerated.

There’s a saying that if you make the same mistake twice, it’s your skill level.

It seemed I had to accept that this was Park Jun’s skill level.

‘Still, it’s better than before the regression…’

I thought this while hiding my disappointment.

But my steps felt somehow heavier as I walked to the parking lot.

It was because I had confirmed that the supporting male lead’s acting was subtly better than Park Jun’s in the second filming scene.

My regret doubled.

‘Sigh. What can we do? Even the director is letting it slide.’

I resolved once again not to worry about it as I moved to the vehicle.

The quality of “I Will Cast Love” would drop due to Park Jun’s slightly exaggerated acting, but what mattered was my acting.

Rather, because of this situation, I needed to focus even more on my acting.

For “I Will Cast Love” to achieve its original good results, I would have to do my part.

So I took out the script I had memorized entirely and started reading it to gather my thoughts.

Honestly, re-reading the script wasn’t very meaningful since I had repeated the same acting hundreds of times through the Method Mask.

But nothing helped calm my mind as much as reading the script.

‘I feel… a bit more stable.’

So I frantically looked over the script.

As I feel every time, I really enjoyed reading the script.

Even though I had read it so many times, once I held it, I got lost in the enjoyment and found it hard to pull myself away.

I was in the middle of reminding myself of the points to be careful about in today’s filming when:

“Actor, I think it’s time we go for filming now.”

“Already?”

“What do you mean ‘already’? It’s been 2 hours since we started waiting.”

“Ah…”

I realized anew how much I had concentrated on the script.

“I didn’t realize so much time had passed. Could I get some makeup, please?”

“Yes, actor. Just a moment. I’ll touch you up here.”

Song Jin-ah lightly fixed my style, and I moved to the set with Yeo Kyung-chan.

My first filming scene was one where I exchange witty banter with Jung Se-hee.

This scene was also Jung Se-hee’s first filming scene.

Perhaps because of this, many people had gathered to watch the filming, just like with the main male lead.

Park Jun was also watching Jung Se-hee’s acting, as she would be performing with him continuously from now on.

I felt a bit nervous because there were so many eyes watching.

I felt even more so because of Park Jun’s gaze that seemed to be glaring at me.

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

But I couldn’t dwell on these thoughts for long.

Director Kang Han-sung’s start signal was heard, and I immediately immersed myself in acting.

* * *

Park Jun was secretly satisfied with the acting he had shown today.

During the first script reading among the lead actors, he couldn’t perform properly because he hadn’t completely escaped from his previous role.

It was natural since his character analysis wasn’t perfect from the start.

But after meeting writer Kim Hee-soo and director Kang Han-sung several times, he got a sense of the character Jang Hyuk-jun.

He even received praise from writer Kim Hee-soo before the filming.

So Park Jun wanted to show people once again today how great an actor he was.

He felt this way even more because his confidence, which had risen so high with his previous work, had fallen a lot while preparing for “I Will Cast Love”.

Especially to those who had watched his poor acting during the script reading, he wanted to prove his skills without fail.

The filming of the first scene proceeded like that, and Park Jun was very satisfied.

He felt his emotions were expressed more than 200% compared to the script reading.

He noticed that some actors couldn’t easily leave their seats even after the first scene’s filming ended, showing how good his acting was.

Especially Lee Si-joon, who played the third male lead, was standing there with a serious expression watching him, even though he didn’t have any close-up scenes.

‘What? Is he impressed?’

After finishing all his morning scenes, Park Jun stayed to watch Jung Se-hee’s first scene filming.

He didn’t have any scenes with Jung Se-hee in the morning.

That’s why he was curious about what kind of acting she would show on set.

He had already guessed her skill level from doing the script reading together, but…

Many cases showed that even those who excelled in practice couldn’t perform to their full ability on set.

‘Or she might show even better acting like me. As Jung Se-hee from “Escort”, it’s probably the latter?’

While he was lost in thought…

The rookie actor named Lee Si-joon appeared.

An insanely handsome face.

Seeing that face again made Park Jun curious about Lee Si-joon’s acting.

‘It hurts my pride, but I have to admit that face… Will he act well?’

He recalled his manager mentioning in passing that he was cast this time because he showed good acting in “Arrest”.

But Park Jun didn’t believe those words.

‘No way an actor that handsome is good at acting too? Impossible. If that were the case, he would have been the main male lead.’

A moment later…

At Director Kang Han-sung’s signal, the acting of Jung Se-hee and the actor named Lee Si-joon began.

At the same time, the smile that had been faintly spreading on Park Jun’s lips froze.

It was an inevitable situation.

The acting of Lee Si-joon, whom he thought wouldn’t be much, far exceeded his imagination.

As a fellow actor, he couldn’t help but recognize that fact at a glance.

It was that overwhelming of an acting ability.