The Face Genius Actor

Episode 136

Go Eun-ji was a new prop staff member who recently joined Festa Entertainment.

Festa Entertainment had been steadily recruiting on-set staff like this lately.

As they had decided to expand their business into production, securing on-set staff was essential.

It would be ideal to compose the entire on-set staff with experienced workers, but due to the rapid increase in production companies, this wasn’t possible as desired.

For this reason, Festa Entertainment was composing their sets with a few experienced staff and many new recruits.

Other production companies chose similar methods, but Festa Entertainment emphasized job security by hiring full-time new staff.

The plan was to directly nurture new staff into experienced workers.

Go Eun-ji was an employee hired as part of this plan.

“What projects did everyone get assigned to?”

“I was told to report to ‘May and June’ starting tomorrow.”

“‘May and June’ isn’t bad. You originally liked melodramas, right?”

“That’s true… but somehow, I’m more drawn to other projects these days.”

“Don’t tell me… you’re talking about ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’?”

“Are you going to ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’?”

“No. I like that one too, but they told me to go to ‘Unhealthy Scandal’.”

“Ah. So none of us got to go to ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’.”

The two coworkers who were chatting sighed simultaneously.

Go Eun-ji, hearing this conversation, tilted her head and asked:

“What’s so good about going to ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’ that you’re sighing like that?”

The expressions of the two coworkers suddenly changed.

“Are you really asking because you don’t know? It’s obviously because of Lee Si-joon.”

“Exactly. I joined Festa Entertainment almost just to see Lee Si-joon, so why did I get ‘Unhealthy Scandal’ of all things?”

Go Eun-ji couldn’t understand their reactions at all.

It was true that Lee Si-joon was handsome.

Even though she had never seen him in person, she could realize this fact sufficiently just from TV.

Si-joon’s visuals were that overwhelming.

But just because Si-joon was handsome didn’t mean the intensity of work on set would be different.

This was a fact she had already realized while visiting various sets during her college years.

An actor being handsome and the shooting intensity being high were separate issues.

‘And yet they’re saying they want to go to ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’ because of Si-joon…’

She wondered if they were immature.

Or if they lacked on-set experience.

She couldn’t understand at all.

The two coworkers seemed to realize something from Go Eun-ji’s expression.

“Eun-ji… You…”

“Really? Did you really get assigned to ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’?”

Go Eun-ji shrugged her shoulders and answered as if it was no big deal.

“Well, that’s how it turned out.”

The two coworkers made a fuss saying it was great, but Go Eun-ji thought differently.

She still couldn’t feel the merit of working with Si-joon.

And this thought continued until the day she reported to the set.

“Eun-ji! Could you move this box to the makeup room?”

As expected, the shooting set of ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’ was even more intense than she had thought.

Perhaps because it was a fantasy historical drama, there were too many props.

It felt like no matter how much she moved, there was no end.

‘They should have really come here to work!’

Go Eun-ji thought this while moving props with her mouth tightly shut.

Certainly, the shooting set of ‘Toema Hwan Ya Dam’ felt busier, perhaps because it was the first day.

The fact that Director Kang Han-sung was moving busily here and there, directing the set, was proof of this.

While she was busily moving props like this,

She heard a commotion from somewhere.

Go Eun-ji reflexively turned her head towards the sound.

And at that moment, she felt as if her body had completely frozen.

This was because Si-joon was walking towards her, basking in the morning sunlight.

‘Really… Is that really a human’s appearance? He’s too handsome!’

Go Eun-ji was so stunned that she didn’t even notice props falling out of the box she was holding onto the floor.

Meanwhile, Si-joon was walking straight towards Go Eun-ji.

At first, she thought he would pass by her and go somewhere else, but he kept getting closer.

It was even more flustering because it was in the opposite direction of where Director Kang Han-sung was.

‘Uh… uh.’

While Go Eun-ji was flustered, unable to even open her mouth, Si-joon approached right in front of her.

Then he bent down and picked up the fallen prop.

“Hello. This was on the ground.”

Si-joon said this with a smile, and Go Eun-ji felt as if her breath had stopped for a moment.

She knew she should say something, but she couldn’t open her mouth at all.

Si-joon seemed to understand what state Go Eun-ji was in and personally put the prop back in the box.

“I’ll put it in here. Well then, keep up the good work.”

As Si-joon started to walk past her, Go Eun-ji finally came to her senses.

Belatedly, she greeted Si-joon’s back.

“Th-thank you!”

“It’s nothing.”

After barely calming her surprised heart,

Go Eun-ji could understand why her coworkers had made such a fuss.

Si-joon wasn’t simply handsome.

He was insanely handsome and even had a good personality.

After seeing him in person, she could acutely realize this fact.

‘To think that such a perfect person is this project’s actor, writer, and director…’

It felt like receiving a blessing.

Actually being able to see Si-joon up close every day was clearly a blessing.

“Hehehe.”

While Go Eun-ji was laughing half-dazed like this,

The set stirred once again, and Go Eun-ji could be certain.

That this was the best workplace.

Because the person who newly appeared was none other than Si-hwan.

Si-hwan also boasted an unrealistic visual appearance, just like Si-joon.

Go Eun-ji changed her mind and remained immersed in happiness until the middle and later parts of Part 1 filming.

This was the same for other staff members as well.

In a warm and friendly atmosphere, Director Kang Han-sung gave the signal to start filming.

“Standby! Cue!”

* * *

Upon arriving at Ma-jae village, Seo-hee intuitively realizes from the frightened expressions of the people that something is wrong in this village.

Sure enough, she hears an important story from a child.

“Mom said that tigers keep taking people away.”

Seo-hee grits her teeth, thinking she’s been deceived by the merchant.

It’s dangerous to stay in the village like this.

Having made up her mind, Seo-hee tries to leave before it’s too late.

But she can’t.

“But sister, why hasn’t our mom come back for five nights after going to the forest? I’m so scared every night.”

Looking at the child’s eyes saying this, she simply can’t leave.

It wasn’t hard to realize that the child’s mother had been taken by a tiger.

‘Can I catch a tiger with this bow?’

She’s not very confident.

But she can’t just walk away from this situation either.

‘Oh well. I don’t know. Let’s stay with the child for just one day. One day should be fine.’

Deciding to stay for just one night, Seo-hee asks the child:

“Hey, where’s your home?”

“Will you stay with me?”

“If you’re okay with it.”

“Our house is this way!”

“Okay.”

As Seo-hee follows the child, the child chatters excitedly.

“You know what, sister? They say if you hide in the house, the changui won’t come! The adults said so!”

At these words, Seo-hee stops in her tracks.

“What?”

Meanwhile, Yi-hyun, who has also arrived at Ma-jae village, hears about the tiger attacks.

This is because there were quite a few people in the village who had once been involved in righteous army activities with Yi-hyun.

“Don’t even mention it. The village atmosphere is in chaos because of the tiger attacks.”

“Are there many people who have been harmed by the tiger attacks?”

“There have been five victims in this village alone. Recently, a widowed mother with a child met with misfortune.”

“…The situation is serious. How many villages exist in this mountain?”

“There are three large villages and five small villages.”

“This is not good…”

As Yi-hyun mutters this, another person who had been waiting for an opportunity speaks up.

“A friend who recently visited a small village told me that it’s completely devastated. They were so scared because a changui appeared…”

“Hey! Why are you bringing up that exaggerated story in front of His Highness the Crown Prince?”

While others are scolding the person who brought up the story,

Yi-hyun quietly pronounces the word “changui.”

He has a very bad feeling about this.

* * *

“Cut! Okay!”

Before they knew it, the filming of Part 1 was nearing its end.

There were about two important scenes left to cover.

One was the scene where Yeon arrives at a cave with Wi-rang, following traces of the changui, and the other was the scene where Yeon, Wi-rang, Seo-hee, and Yi-hyun battle with a tiger.

There were other minor scenes to shoot, but they were all in support of these two key scenes.

Especially the battle scene in the latter part could be considered the core of Part 1.

As it was the scene that used the most CGI, it required a lot of effort.

“Did the CG team send the work they did on the early scenes yesterday?”

“Yes, I’ve seen it all.”

“How was it?”

Receiving Director Kang Han-sung’s question, I recalled the CG-processed scenes.

Honestly, I wasn’t completely satisfied.

Some parts were too different from what I had imagined.

Even though I didn’t say anything, Director Kang Han-sung nodded as if he understood what I was feeling.

“You think it’s not good, right? I felt the same way. It feels like the overall color is too bright, doesn’t it?”

“I felt that too. I’m not sure if this can be fixed with editing alone.”

“It will be difficult with just editing. There are both bright and dark parts coexisting in one scene.”

“We should carefully organize which parts are not good and how, and request additional work.”

“I think we should do that.”

The good thing was that Director Kang Han-sung and I were in agreement.

If so, although it would take some time, there was room for improvement.

‘By the way, it’s not easy to shoot a work with a lot of CGI. The blue screen shooting we did recently was difficult too.’

Acting in a place with nothing wasn’t as easy as I thought.

Even though I practiced enough, there were several NGs in the beginning.

It was natural since I had practiced with the Method Mask in a state where CGI was applied.

Still, I had practiced enough to be able to perform the movements even with my eyes closed, so I adapted quickly.

In the latter part of the blue screen shooting, I hardly made any NGs.

Director Kang Han-sung was amazed at this.

“Wow… I thought you’d struggle for at least a day, but you’ve adapted in just a few hours.”

Director Kang Han-sung added that it was a shame he couldn’t see my human side anymore.

Certainly, from Director Kang Han-sung’s perspective, it might seem like I adapted quickly to CGI shooting.

‘It’s not really like that…’

Anyway, the work on Part 1 of seemed like it would take a bit longer due to the CGI.

While I was worrying about this part,

Yeo Kyung-chan, who had been watching the shooting scene from a distance, cautiously approached me.

“Um… actor.”

“Yes, manager.”

“I think you should see this internet article now.”

I tilted my head and took out my phone.

And I checked the internet article link that Yeo Kyung-chan had sent in advance.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

[‘Escape’ ranks #1 in global viewing hours for non-English language films on Netflix in the first week of September!]