The Face Genius Actor

Episode 135

The first episode of was about catching a changui (a type of ghost).

In folk tradition, changui generally referred to two types of ghosts:

The soul of a person killed by a tiger, and the soul of someone who drowned.

There was also a saying that if a cat was near the corpse of a child who starved to death, it would become a changui, but this wasn’t a common story.

So, I created ’s own changui by combining various stories.

In , the changui was set as the ghost of a person killed by a tiger.

For the soul of a drowned person, there was a more popular term “water ghost,” so I decided to go in this direction.

And I drew the image of the changui to look like a mixture of a cat and a crow.

It had the form of a cat with crow’s feathers.

Since the changui was an evil spirit aimed at creating another victim of tiger attack, I tried to make its image as bizarre as possible.

That’s how the changui was born, and Part 1 of developed the story up to the point where it faces off against the changui.

Originally, I wanted to include capturing the changui in Part 1, but it wasn’t possible due to the volume of content.

Usually, the first part of a drama had to introduce all the characters.

This was why we included a scene in the first shoot where Seo-hee receives a mission about the changui from a merchant.

Also, Yeon and Wi-rang were expected to arrive in Ma-jae village besides Seo-hee.

Yeon and Wi-rang were supposed to discover a corpse killed by a tiger while pursuing and dealing with another evil spirit.

They would then follow the clues to Ma-jae village.

Meanwhile, another protagonist, Yi-hyun, was being punished with restricted outings after the king discovered his secret excursion.

Yi-hyun was quite popular among the people for staying in Hanyang to take care of them until the end during the Japanese invasion.

So the king, who had fled to Euiju abandoning the people, was jealous of Yi-hyun’s popularity and constantly found fault with him.

Eventually, Yi-hyun was sentenced to a month’s confinement in the East Palace, but he decided to use this opportunity to go on a longer secret journey.

He felt as if he could hear the voices of suffering people from far away.

That’s how all the lead characters of would gather in Ma-jae village.

The overall content of Part 1 was that each of them succeeds in catching the tail of the changui.

* * *

“Cut! Okay!”

“Good work!”

“Great job, everyone!”

I spent two weeks shooting Part 1 with Director Kang Han-sung.

During that time, all the scenes we shot did not include me.

This schedule was intentionally arranged so that I could first get used to the role of director.

“If we arrange the schedule like this so that you get used to the director’s role first, you’ll be able to lead the set without much difficulty,” Director Kang Han-sung said as we were organizing the schedule before the main shooting of Part 1 began.

“You think so?”

“Yes. You already perfectly understand what the roles of an actor and writer are. So there won’t be any problems.”

“It would indeed be difficult to arrange the schedule like this if it wasn’t the early part of shooting Part 1. I’ll learn a lot this time.”

Shooting centered on Seo-hee and Yi-hyun without Yeon’s appearance was possible because the characters were filming in different locations until they gathered in Ma-jae village.

If the filming locations were the same, we would have had to shoot other scenes together to save production costs and time.

It was unavoidable.

But fortunately, there were no such scenes until Ma-jae village, so we were able to shoot smoothly focusing on Seo-hee and Yi-hyun.

In the process, I became quite accustomed to the role of director.

There were still many areas where I was lacking, but it seemed I wouldn’t have any more difficulties on a smooth set.

Especially in terms of acting direction, I was able to show a decent performance to the extent that Director Kang Han-sung acknowledged it several times.

Every time I gave acting directions, the actors’ performances improved slightly.

Certainly, I thought I had strengths in this area.

‘I’ve been practicing acting for a long time, treating myself like a third person.’

Other people didn’t need to do that.

They could probably perform the acting they wanted as soon as they thought about it.

Sometimes, they might think, “Oh, this is how it’s done,” while directly imitating a scene.

Originally, people could naturally match their thoughts to actions or vice versa.

But I, being terribly uncoordinated, couldn’t do that.

So I always had to practice by thoroughly analyzing the work first and then slowly embodying it.

If I didn’t do that, I couldn’t move forward even a step.

‘This is still the case even after getting the Method Mask.’

The Method Mask had a function to help me practice by possessing the character I wanted, but it wasn’t omnipotent.

Thorough analysis of the work was essential to properly activate its functions.

Expressions, tone, and emotions could change greatly depending on my analysis.

For this reason, I needed to put in more effort than others to increase my overall understanding of the work.

It was especially important to understand what kind of person the other characters interacting with my character were.

As a result, I had to analyze all the characters in the work as if I was acting them myself.

And this effort was proving to be an advantage in giving directions to other actors.

It was natural since I knew about each role as well as the actor in charge.

‘If I make good use of this strength, can become a good work.’

Of course, it was important to develop other skills as a director.

But after all, a director with strengths in acting direction was bound to be welcomed by actors.

So I decided to make efforts to further strengthen this aspect.

That’s how the early shooting ended as planned by me and Director Kang Han-sung.

My brother, who had just finished shooting the scene of escaping from the East Palace, approached me and spoke.

“I guess we’ll be able to see your acting soon. When do you start?”

“Since we need to move the location to the forest, it’ll take at least an hour to set up. Want to stay and watch?”

“Of course. I need to see Yeon’s appearance in person to make practice easier.”

After all, all the characters in had many points of contact with Yeon.

So actors playing other roles couldn’t help but be curious about what Yeon would look like beyond the script.

Even for roles that didn’t have much interaction with the protagonist, it was important to check Yeon’s actual appearance to understand the overall atmosphere of the drama.

After all, the atmosphere of a drama was bound to be formed around the protagonist.

For this reason, quite a few actors had gathered on set to check my acting.

Even Im Seung-hee, who had already finished today’s shooting in the morning, was still on set to watch my acting.

It could be a burdensome situation in many ways.

But I didn’t feel much tension.

I had already experienced similar situations several times before.

‘I guess I’ve grown quite a bit too…’

As I was thinking this, I could feel my brother staring at me intently.

“Why? Do you think people who’ve been to Cannes are really different?”

When I jokingly asked, my brother scratched his cheek and replied.

“I do think it’s impressive…”

Why is he being like this?

Giving compliments and all.

Anyway, since I had done well in the director’s role so far, it was now time to fulfill my duty as an actor.

A little later.

We moved to a new location and finally, the first shoot began.

“Standby! Cue!”

* * *

A forest deep in the night.

A woman is wandering through the forest with her eyes closed, like a sleepwalker.

For some reason, not even the sound of insects can be heard in the forest.

Only the rustling sound of tall grass brushing against the woman’s jeogori (traditional Korean jacket) can be heard.

After walking for a while, the woman suddenly stops and slowly turns her head to the side.

At the same time, she opens her mouth wide and opens her eyes grotesquely.

“Kuaaaaah!”

It’s a situation where anyone would be startled and step back.

However, I don’t panic and leap up from where I am, swinging my sword towards the woman.

Swoosh!

A sword that cuts evil spirits.

The Gwichamdo.

But just before the sword cuts the woman,

Black energy quickly separates from the woman’s body.

And it quickly runs away into the depths of the forest.

Feeling urgent, I raise my voice.

“Wi-rang!”

As soon as I shout this, Wi-rang’s expressionless face contorts fiercely.

Ah- wooooo!

Then, with a long howl, he transforms into a blue wolf and chases after the evil spirit.

The evil spirit doesn’t get far before Wi-rang catches it by the scruff of its neck.

Seeming angry, the evil spirit also transforms into a black wolf and engages in a fierce battle with Wi-rang.

Grrrr!

Arrrgh!

An intense battle of biting and tearing at each other.

I hurry over and swing the Gwichamdo at the evil spirit once more.

Since it was in the midst of battling Wi-rang, this time the evil spirit can’t avoid the sword.

Slash!

The evil spirit starts to dissipate into smoke.

I ask the evil spirit:

“Where is Ma-yeok-ryeong?”

At my question, the dissipating body of the evil spirit glows black for a moment, but that’s all.

Tss tss tss tss tss.

The evil spirit disappears, leaving behind a sound like mockery.

I watch this and then sheath the Gwichamdo.

“Did we lose him again this time…?”

As I mutter this, Wi-rang pushes his head under my palm as if to comfort me.

I stroke Wi-rang’s head and speak.

“Alright. Let’s go back. We just need to take that person home.”

Wi-rang nods once and then transforms back into human form.

I walk with Wi-rang towards the woman lying unconscious on the ground.

Although I cut her with the sword, the woman’s body is unharmed.

The Gwichamdo was a sword that only cut evil spirits, after all.

As we’re walking, I suddenly smell a stench from behind a large rock.

It’s a foul odor that stings the nose.

“What’s this smell?”

Wi-rang also seems to sense something amiss and turns his head towards the rock.

I immediately walk towards it without hesitation.

And what I discover there is…

“A corpse?”

It’s clearly the body of a person killed by an animal.

I pick up a branch from the ground and use a spell to light it.

Whoosh.

Clear teeth marks can be seen on the corpse.

“But…”

It’s puzzling why only teeth marks were left and the corpse wasn’t disturbed further.

“Is this the work of a tiger that’s developed a taste for killing humans?”

I move the torch with its blue flames towards the ground.

This time, footprints that seem to be from a tiger are visible.

And at that moment, an ominous energy briefly emanates from the footprints and then disappears.

“It’s not just one tiger. There’s another one.”

I turn my head towards the nearest village from this forest.

It’s where Ma-jae village is located.

“Wi-rang… We might have caught Ma-yeok-ryeong’s tail once again.”