The Face Genius Actor

Episode 142

We spent time late into the night drinking soju with samgyeopsal with Jean-Drulot Meyère.

Around 3 AM, the drunk Jean-Drulot Meyère repeated the same words several times:

“Si-hwan! Si-joon! You two are the best! Really the best!”

In the end, my brother and I had to join forces to move Jean-Drulot Meyère to his lodging.

Even during that, Jean-Drulot Meyère kept shouting the same words:

“You two are the best! Really the best…”

After putting Jean-Drulot Meyère to bed, we two went to our pre-booked lodging.

Fortunately, it wasn’t far from Jean-Drulot Meyère’s lodging.

And at 11:12 AM.

The phone rang.

Ring ring.

‘Was the lodging’s check-out time 11 AM?’

I answered the phone, assuming it would be the lodging owner calling.

But it was Jean-Drulot Meyère.

“Si-joon! Why aren’t you answering your phone!”

A voice filled with urgency.

I was startled and replied to Jean-Drulot Meyère’s words.

“Why? Did something happen?”

“Of course something happened. We drank yesterday, remember?”

“Yes, we did. Did we make a mistake at the bar?”

I tried to recall what happened yesterday.

But no matter how much I thought about it, there was no mistake.

My brother and I had controlled our drinking to just the right amount not to get drunk.

‘So if we made a mistake, I wouldn’t have missed it.’

Then what could it be?

Could there be a problem with what we filmed yesterday?

While I was thinking this, Jean-Drulot Meyère’s answer came back.

“A mistake? Did we make a mistake yesterday? I just called because we drank yesterday, so we should eat hangover soup…”

“Then don’t tell me… You called urgently because of that?”

“Yes, that’s right. I have to take a 3 PM flight to France. But when I opened my eyes, oh no! It was already past 11 AM!”

The time was certainly a bit tight.

We needed to hurry if we wanted to eat hangover soup.

After briefly misunderstanding, I sighed and opened my mouth.

“Alright. My brother and I will come to the front of your lodging.”

So I woke up my brother who was sleeping in another room, and we ate hangover soup with Jean-Drulot Meyère.

While eating Jeonju bean sprout soup, Jean-Drulot Meyère kept exclaiming in admiration and later even tried to order soju, but my brother and I stopped him.

If he drank here, it seemed like Jean-Drulot Meyère’s departure would be postponed to the next day.

Fortunately, we were able to stop Jean-Drulot Meyère, and my brother and I safely returned to Seoul.

After that, I immediately joined the editing work for “Toema Hwan Ya Dam”.

Luckily, we were able to finish editing up to Part 3 safely.

Now it was time to start filming Part 6 in earnest.

* * *

Part 6, Scene 2.

After defeating the magistrate who was the host of the Red-Bearded Ghost in a fierce battle, Yi-hyun is living in a drunken stupor.

Seo-hee looks like she can’t understand why Yi-hyun is acting this way.

Seo-hee also feels sorry for the people who fell victim to the magistrate’s greed.

But for Seo-hee, that’s not a reason to live in a drunken stupor.

At the same time, she thought it was better to focus on taking care of the victims’ families rather than being immersed in alcohol.

In fact, Seo-hee is in the middle of visiting the victims’ families every day, offering words of comfort and doing her best.

On the other hand, Yi-hyun is unable to come to his senses, as if he were a victim’s family member himself.

But I know why Yi-hyun is acting this way.

Because I knew at first glance that Yi-hyun’s status was not ordinary.

One who takes others’ pain as their own.

Yi-hyun is clearly a person of such status.

“I’d like a bowl of soup and a bowl of makgeolli here too, please.”

As I sit down in front and order like this, Yi-hyun, who was holding a bowl of makgeolli, pauses for a moment.

But that’s it, he moves his hand again and downs the makgeolli in one gulp.

I quietly watch this scene and open my mouth.

“Looks like you have quite a sour stomach. Was it so heartbreaking to watch many people die?”

“……”

“Or was it shocking that the government army, which should protect the people, harmed them instead?”

“……”

“Or did you feel powerless as a member of the royal bloodline, not knowing that such things were happening until now?”

The moment Yi-hyun raises his head,

The owner puts down the soup and makgeolli in front of me.

I nod as I take a spoonful of soup.

It’s the right taste.

“You knew my identity?”

I take another spoonful of soup and drink some makgeolli.

“I could tell at a glance that you were a high-ranking person. But I didn’t know you were of royal blood. Not until you started living in this drunken stupor.”

“How did that…”

“Become a clue? Usually, there are only two types of people who live in a drunken stupor after experiencing such an incident. One is an exorcist, and the other is of royal blood.”

“Ah…”

“I already knew you weren’t an exorcist, so it was obvious. By the way, it’s reassuring. That there’s still someone of royal blood who knows how to drown the sorrow of losing their people in alcohol.”

“…I don’t have the right to be sad.”

“Do you know that? Then why are you drinking so much?”

“……”

“If you’re done eating, get up. There’s a mountain of work to do.”

“I…”

“Have you heard of Jeoqui? It has appeared. Soon, the entire Joseon will be swept by an epidemic.”

Yi-hyun slams the table and stands up.

Then he asks.

“Is that true?”

I’m glad to see that the light has returned to Yi-hyun’s eyes.

But my mood doesn’t improve.

Because…

“Yes. Jeoqui has appeared.”

An epidemic will really start spreading soon.

* * *

Part 6 of “Toema Hwan Ya Dam” dealt with an episode about an evil spirit commonly known as Jeoqui.

Jeoqui was a ghost that originated from a Chinese plague spirit and became localized.

It’s sometimes confused with Gigwi, which is famous for giving diseases to children out of jealousy for those loved by their mothers, but the two were slightly different. 

This was because Jeoqui was not the ghost of a dead child.

Rather, it was closer to a miscellaneous spirit that possesses ordinary people or settles in abandoned houses to commit evil deeds.

Like other evil spirits, I adapted Jeoqui in the style of “Toema Hwan Ya Dam”.

As a result, Jeoqui took on the form of a giant rat with large front teeth and became a subordinate of Ma-yeok-ryeong.

From Part 6 of “Toema Hwan Ya Dam”, clues about Ma-yeok-ryeong were set to appear in earnest.

For this reason, it’s no exaggeration to say that all the evil spirits appearing from here on were subordinates of Ma-yeok-ryeong.

Jeoqui was an evil spirit that secretly infiltrated granaries where grains were stored, ate half of them, and filled the empty spaces with its feces full of germs.

Fundamentally, to deal with this incident, it was necessary to take care of the patients to prevent the disease from spreading while also catching and disposing of Jeoqui.

If not, an epidemic could really spread throughout Joseon.

Because the situation was so urgent, Yi-hyun sent a letter saying he couldn’t return to the palace now.

He moved with Yeon, Wi-rang, and Seo-hee to where Jeoqui first appeared.

But unfortunately, the epidemic had already spread there, and no one had survived.

They hurriedly checked the surrounding villages, but the situation was no better.

While examining the remaining corpses, Seo-hee realized an unexpected fact and raised her voice.

“Wait a moment! These people… Did they really die from the epidemic?”

Surprised by Seo-hee’s words, Yi-hyun also examined the corpses and then fell to his knees on the spot.

“It’s not the epidemic… All the people in this village died by fire.”

They had burned the patients to prevent the epidemic from spreading to other villages.

As if he had experienced it himself, scenes from that day flashed through Yi-hyun’s mind, and unable to hold back, he drew his sword.

“I’ll kill them! The government army or whoever, I’ll kill them all with my own hands!”

When Yi-hyun burst out in anger, unable to suppress his rage.

Someone’s voice was heard.

“Stop it!”

Turning their heads, they saw a group of people dressed as doctors standing there.

This was the content up to the middle of Part 6.

* * *

“Have you arrived, actor?”

As I entered the editing room, Director Kang Han-sung greeted me.

“I brought coffee here. Please drink while we work.”

“Thank you.”

As we had become quite accustomed to filming, Director Kang Han-sung and I had agreed to increase the amount of editing from Part 6.

For this reason, I was going to the editing room almost every day.

On days with morning shoots, I would go to the editing room in the afternoon, and on days with afternoon shoots, I would go to the editing room in the morning.

There was no other way to match the filming schedule with the editing schedule as much as possible.

“How was today’s editing?”

I arrived at the editing room a bit late because I had a brief magazine interview schedule in the afternoon, so I asked about the progress.

Director Kang Han-sung answered.

“It was almost the same as usual. But there was one problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“I think we need to do some additional filming. There are a few CG shots missing.”

Even if we check in advance before filming, scenes that need CG work come up during editing.

As a result, we often had to do additional filming like this.

This was the reason why the overall filming was being slightly delayed.

“Then I’ll handle the additional filming. You’ve been working hard lately, Director.”

“Ah. You’ll do that for me?”

As the filming of Part 6 progressed, Yeon’s role had significantly increased, and naturally, Director Kang Han-sung had been taking the megaphone more often.

So, I was handling these kinds of additional filming separately by making time whenever possible.

“By the way, from Part 7, there will be more CG work, I’m worried if we can meet the deadline.”

Hearing my words, Director Kang Han-sung nodded.

“I’m certainly concerned about that part too. Especially Part 9, it’s almost half CG work…”

Parts 6 to 8 dealt with the Jeoqui episode.

The content was that while Seo-hee and Yi-hyun gather people and treat patients infected with the epidemic, Yeon and Wi-rang search for and dispose of Jeoqui.

In the process of disposing of Jeoqui, Yeon was supposed to realize that Ma-yeok-ryeong was behind Jeoqui.

At the same time, he would belatedly realize that Ma-yeok-ryeong had mobilized Jeoqui to attract attention, while he himself led an army of evil spirits towards Hanyang.

And this army of evil spirits was the problem.

This army of evil spirits all needed to be processed with CG.

As Director Kang Han-sung said, it’s no exaggeration to say that more than half of the latter part of “Toema Hwan Ya Dam” needed CG work.

“As you said, Director, at this rate, we won’t be able to finish the latter part work on time. I’ll have to contact the company and look for solutions.”

We could think of various methods, such as asking for additional personnel to be assigned to the current CG team or contracting additional outsourcing companies.

The problem was the cost aspect.

“There will be additional costs, I suppose.”

“Yes, it seems so.”

Director Kang Han-sung’s expression became pale, seeming burdened by the additional costs.

I thought for a moment and then opened my mouth towards Director Kang Han-sung.

“Actually, I have something I wanted to discuss regarding costs…”