Life, Once Again!

After Story 131

He grabbed the man by the neck and stabbed him. He stabbed from a slanted angle right through the ribs before pulling the knife out and stabbing once again.

He twisted his wrist, feeling the space between the ribs widening, before pulling out the knife.

A heavy breath escaped his slightly open mouth. The air that entered through his nose felt itchy.

The air passed through his airways and sank deep. It got stuck in various parts of his lungs as though it had viscosity.

He started running out of breath. The inhaling breath circulated around his throat before leaving.

He put down the knife and turned around. For a moment, he lost focus. His throat suddenly tightened up as though he had gotten a strong hit on the chest.

He bent down his waist and blocked his mouth with both of his hands and looked around. A corpse that didn’t contain a single sign of life was right in front of his eyes. This was now murder that contained clearly intent, not homicide resulting from a mistake.

If he got caught, he would spend a dozen years in prison at least and a life sentence at worst.

He thought back to what happened a long time ago. Back then, he killed a person due to a mistake. He spent many sleepless nights after that, having illusions about the police suddenly barging into his house and arresting him.

He also saw the dead guy appear in front of him and stare at him in a daze.

Every single day was hell, but he endured it all. He won against hell. He was a victor, and he would stay one.

His breathing became refreshed. His blurry vision became clearer as well. His thoughts became much more focused. He could think about what to do next.

The shaking of his hands and feet stopped. He even felt refreshed as though he just woke up from a good night of sleep.

He quickly cleaned the surroundings. He removed any traces from this space. He was going to erase any sort of evidence that there was a person here.

“You can do it. You just have to stay calm. This is an easy matter. It’s just like making instant noodles.” He consoled himself as he moved.

After finishing the act, Maru loosened his fingers gripping the corpse. The dead body, the blood, and the murder weapon all disappeared from his eyes.

What he saw was the corner of the room, as well as the two judges watching him from in front of him.

“That concludes my act.”

He saw director Lim Hwanggeun stroke his lips.

“Two days, was it?”

“Pardon?”

“The time you had to prepare. It was two days ago when I saw you at the restaurant and told you about it, right?”

“It was.”

“Yes, okay. Good work, and you may leave.”

“I have two free skits I’ve prepared.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t need to see it.”

Did his act work? Or was he getting rejected because he didn’t have the right image? He couldn’t tell for sure right now. Although he had the confidence, casting wasn’t based on acting skills alone.

He left the room with the assistant director. The gloomy air stuck around his body finally disappeared at that time. His act managed to produce the word ‘decent’ from his wife’s mouth. He did enough to satisfy himself, so the only thing left now was to wait.

“I really don’t say this to someone who just finished an audition, but I dare say that you’ll take the role, Mr. Han. At least in my eyes, you were the best out of everyone today,” the assistant director said those words after saying goodbye.

He didn’t seem to say that out of formality. The act he prepared his best for was complimented. There would be nothing more pleasing than this as an actor. He lightly lowered his head and left the building.

Would he get contacted? Or would he not make it?

He looked at the reflection of his short hair in front of a shop before starting to walk again.

Maybe he should’ve cut his hair after the audition.

* * *

“You’re home?”

Hwanggeun smiled after seeing his son at home. As his son had started living in his college dormitory, it wasn’t that often that he got to see him. Although their relationship wasn’t the best when his son was in high school, it had become a lot better after his son had finished his military service, seemingly having matured during it.

“What brings you here?”

“I’m here because it’s the weekend. I also had something to pick up at home since exams are coming up.”

“Have you had dinner?”

“I was waiting for you to arrive. You haven’t had dinner yet, have you?”

“It’s been a while, so should we eat outside?” Hwanggeun asked, taking only one arm out of his jacket.

“Let’s have a simple meal at home. How about some instant noodles and kimchi? I can also put some rice cakes in it.”

“Sounds good.”

His son started cooking instant noodles. Seeing the son stand in the kitchen, he found how fast the little baby grew up quite curious.

He went inside his bedroom and brought out his laptop. He connected the SD card to the card reader and then to the laptop. The video files for the audition appeared on the screen.

He checked each of the files and opened the videos. He first had a look at the actors that weren’t to his liking. He went through this process to recheck if there was a charm point that he could not find through the naked eye.

He skimmed through two people’s videos quickly. There weren’t any results there. He only saw terrible acting.

“Father, should we eat here?”

His son brought some food on a tray. There were some noodles in a pot, kimchi, and cooled rice.

In truth, he had already had dinner with the assistant director after the audition. Although he wasn’t that hungry, it had been a long time since he ate anything with his son. He smiled and picked up his chopsticks.

“Are you okay with just this?”

“It’s good enough. I’ll scoop the noodles for you.”

He scooped some noodles that his son poured for him with his chopsticks.

“It’s good.”

“I was the KP in the military.”

His son, who was just about to pick up his chopsticks, looked at the laptop and spoke,

“What’s that?”

“The audition I had today.”

“You’re starting a film soon?”

“Once I’m done selecting supporting characters, it’ll be the crank-in.”

This felt rather unfamiliar to him since he had never talked about his films with his son. Still, he was glad to see his son show interest in it.

“Can I look at it?”

“It’s not something suitable to watch over a meal, but you can.”

Hwanggeun pressed the spacebar as he said so. The paused video resumed again. The actor he decided to drop acted for about three minutes.

“Is that considered good?”

“How do you see it?”

“I don’t know much about acting, but it looks rather awkward.”

“He is awkward. Whether it’s you or me, our standards of discerning acting skills are about the same. That’s why acting is so difficult. An act that everyone thinks is good is definitely not easy.”

His son put some kimchi in his mouth.

“But the story is quite cruel, huh.”

“It’s not like the movies I shot until now, is it?”

His son smiled without replying.

“Since we’re on the topic, let me ask. Have you seen my movies?”

“I did. It aired in Chuseok last year.”

“Really? How was it?”

“It wasn’t really my cup of tea. But I did enjoy it.”

His son saying that he enjoyed it made him more excited than any form of acknowledgment from the people around him. Holding back the smile creeping onto his face, Hwanggeun coughed as though he wasn’t fazed at all.

“Who are you going to pick? Is there an actor you like?”

“There is.”

Hwanggeun scrolled to the top and looked at the two files up there.

Ha Gyungsoo A, Han Maru A, Yoo Mansung A. These three were the actors he had noted based on the vibe he felt at the audition.

As for acting skills, they were roughly similar. Yoo Mansung was lacking compared to the other two, but it wasn’t on the level of a flaw. Moreover, as these were distinct cuts and not continuous scenes, there weren’t many points to assess.

Predicting the whole through fragments. This was a difficulty he experienced every time he held an audition. It was also the reason why many people used actors who had already proven their skills rather than holding auditions.

“Give me your opinion on who’s best.”

“What do I know about this though?”

“Do you think everyone who watches movies is in the industry? People like you, who have nothing to do with the industry, make up the audience.”

“That’s true, I guess.”

“Watch it seriously. One of these three people will end up getting the role.”

He first played Ha Gyungsoo’s video. His son’s eyes were glued to the screen. He also looked at the acting of the actor in detail.

Gomchi was a very important role that set up the atmosphere of the movie as a whole. Although there was an actor he wanted to use, he decided to use a new actor as that proposal was refused, thinking that if not for that actor, it would be the same regardless.

“He’s definitely good. Miles better than the one I saw before.”

“He has built his career playing various supporting characters.”

“Now that you mention it, I think I saw him somewhere. I don’t know his name though.”

Following that, he played Han Maru’s video. After watching for a while, his son commented,

“This person’s good too. I don’t know how to put this, but he makes me unable to think about anything else. That actor before made me focus as well, but I think this person is better. Above all….”

His son trailed off. It seemed that he was putting off his opinion for later.

Hwanggeun then played the last video. It was actor Yoo Mansung.

Based on appearances alone, actor Yoo was the best among the three. He looked gentle at a glance but had viciousness in his eyes. He had the best appearance to express the changes in Gomchi throughout the story.

The one thing that was lacking about him was his acting didn’t have the immersive power that the previous two showed.

“This person gives me the chills. Especially at this point, his eyes are really scary.”

Perhaps because they shared blood, their standards seemed to be similar. After showing all the videos, Hwanggeun asked his son who was the best and who suited the character the most.

“The person that caught my eyes the first time was the third person.”

“Really? How was the acting?”

“It was good, just like the others. I don’t know what the character is supposed to be exactly, but based on stabbing and killing people alone, the third person looks like the best man for the job.”

His son put the empty plates on the tray. He asked as he stood up with the tray in his hands,

“Who do you like the most, father?”

“I’m thinking about it. All three of them have their pros and cons.”

Based on the details of acting alone, the first two people should be better than the third one. However, his son prioritized the overall image. The audience should be the same.

Rather than detailed acting that could only be discerned through careful rumination, an eye-catching, intense image was definitely….

His son’s voice from the kitchen stopped him in his tracks.

“But how should I put this, off-putting? No, sickening? The one who made me frown while watching was the second person. He looked like someone who became a murderer even though he was someone who had totally none of that before.”

Hwanggeun looked at his son washing the dishes before looking at the screen again. His head became refreshed as though he had heard a clear answer.

“But I don’t think my opinions are helpful. The movie’s shot by you, so you’re the one who should decide.”

“No, I think you helped me out on this one.”

There was no right answer in casting, nor was there a sure-fire strategy that led to success. He had to choose the ones that looked like they would become gems from dozens of ores. He could refer to a few successful cases and make his judgment based on them, but ultimately, intuition was the most important.

Hwanggeun decided to trust his son’s intuition for this one. To be precise, he grabbed onto his own intuition that reacted to his son’s words — to let the fellow who managed to form the atmosphere of the character in two short days play Gomchi.

“Sickening is more than enough.”

He closed the lid of the laptop. He was someone who didn’t go back on his decisions.

* * *

“Yes, okay.”

Maru opened his laptop as soon as he hung up. He had gotten an email from an unfamiliar address. He clicked on it and downloaded the attachment.

The scenario for ‘Depths of Evil.’

The cat came over and sat on his lap. He tickled the cat’s head and slowly scrolled down. By the time the cat went away and the residual heat from the cat disappeared, he let out a short breath and took his hands off his mouse.

He pressed between his eyebrows and smiled.

“Gomchi.”

He liked the scenario, and he liked the character even more.

He remembered the words that the director told him just now: the casting was done, the crank-in was in July, and he should start preparing.

He decided not to think about his payment for a moment. It didn’t matter even if he got little. This was something he didn’t want to miss.

He then immediately messaged his manager, telling him to contact him tomorrow since there was a contract to proceed with.