"May I start?"
At Tae-il's words CP Seong nodded, unenthused.
"Well, I'll read with you. Go ahead."
It was a bother, but this was the end of it either way, and CP Seong meant to feed him the lines himself.
Tae-il let out a long breath, gathered the feeling and met his eyes.
"Out of your mind. A bastard like you only comes to his senses when he's stamped down, like this, like this!"
"Hhh-hh......"
"Father gives you one word of praise and you thought everything here was yours?!"
Madness came up and glistened in his eyes, and Tae-il's voice cracked.
Where a moment ago he had been shrunken in on himself, this time he ground his voice down as he went and spat the words out rough.
CP Seong's eyes moved, and he read his lines in a flat tone.
"I'm sorry...... brother. I'm sorry, I......"
"Who's your brother?!"
"I'm sorry. I'm so......"
"Hahaha...... haha! Haa, haa......"
Eyes wide open, breathing out too hard, Tae-il pulled the corner of his mouth right up.
Looking from Tae-il to the monitor and back, all three of them narrowed their eyes.
'PD Choi. What do you think? Isn't Eun Tae-il slightly off there?'
'Y-you're right. To my eye it looks like......'
While PD Choi wavered under his superior's line, the look in Writer Shin's eyes had changed.
'It isn't off. He's holding it back on purpose.'
That could only come from understanding the whole work properly.
Writer Shin raised a hand and stopped Tae-il.
"Wait. Sorry to cut in. Do the last line of scene 17 for me."
Tae-il knew in his gut that this was the most important moment of today's audition.
Breathing deep, gathering the feeling, Tae-il faced Writer Shin with sunken eyes.
"Get out...... of my sight."
Biting down on his lip, he pushed the last line out.
"......"
A short silence ran.
Writer Shin said nothing, and neither did CP Seong or PD Choi.
Nor did Tae-il, with hatred still held in his eyes.
"Ahem, ahem......"
At CP Seong's cough Tae-il came out of the feeling he had sunk into.
Writer Shin seemed to come back to herself too, and slapped her own cheeks lightly.
"Tae-il. Let me ask you one thing."
"Please."
"Why did you show the anger so plain? I won't have written down how to be angry."
For scene 17, Do-hwan's anger was written as "gets angry," unlike the other scenes.
For Writer Shin, who wrote out a character's behaviour and psychology in detail, it was a rare thing.
"Do-hwan seemed to me a man who rarely shows what he feels."
"That's right."
"So I thought about how a man like that behaves toward someone he hates. It seemed to me he would show a cold, stabbing anger rather than letting the hatred burst out."
"Stabbing coldly......?"
He did not bother with any talk about the shape of the whole work.
Coming out of the Eun Tae-il of right now, it could be heard as impertinence.
Nodding mechanically beside Writer Shin, CP Seong spoke.
"Hoo, that was good to watch, Eun Tae-il. Thank you for your work."
"Thank you, CP."
"We'll let you know the result soon. Then......"
CP Seong was about to send Tae-il away when it happened.
Writer Shin kicked her chair back and stood.
"Eun Tae-il. Let's work together."
"Hold on, Writer Shin. The part of Do-hwan has already been given to a......"
"CP. I gave way earlier as well."
When Writer Shin brought up the Lee Hui-seong business, the corner of CP Seong's mouth twitched.
If he did not give way on this one too, there was no telling how Writer Shin would come out.
In the end CP Seong sighed and turned his eyes to Tae-il.
"Tae-il. We'll be counting on you. See you on read-through day."
"Thank you. I'll give it everything."
Walking out of the audition room, Tae-il gave a small cry of triumph.
***
-seriously...... I really hope Face Senior comes back......
-eun tae-il is an idiot at acting but a genius at exactly one face......
-Eun Tae-il isn't in this...... only Face Senior is.
-honestly Face Senior's casting is so good I have no idea who the male lead is lolololol
-f*ck just come back once Face Senior T_T
The viewers' board of "Families Are All Like This" was full of opinions about this week's broadcast.
Fiddling with his phone in the back of a taxi, Tae-il smiled bitterly.
'They know Eun Tae-il is alive now.'
If he had stayed on as Face Senior, breaking out of the limits of a visual actor would have been hard.
It was a shame, and to show that Eun Tae-il could act as well, Face Senior had to be let go.
'And it carries nicely into the next production, as a regret.'
If he had an agency, the media play would have started naturally by now.
They would have pulled the regret over Face Senior into anticipation for the next production.
'No connections worth using either. How does a man this young make such a mess of a life?'
He went through the phone again and again, and there was not so much as an industry number in it.
Back when he ran an agency he had known the important people's numbers by heart, but......
'Eun Tae-il has nothing to give.'
The value of Eun Tae-il's name had to rise before the old connections could be reached again.
Down here a connection only means something when there is something to exchange.
'Love and friendship are only the excuse for the exchange. I make my own place.'
He had not the slightest intention of repeating the past.
Tae-il went onto social media and worked his fingers fast.
A photo updated more than a year ago, and under it the comments went past.
-what exactly are you good at?
-shouldn't he be out looking for a job instead of doing this?
-nobody's watching so why post this. not that it matters if I don't look
-ugh i'm the moron for clicking this lolololol just fade away quietly
The few comments there were cut like knives.
The account would have been left all but abandoned by his old agency as well.
Tae-il put the cursor over the delete button, and shook his head.
'Better to leave it.'
Better to use Eun Tae-il's traces than to wipe them out.
Instead he changed the profile picture to one of the photos taken the other day, and rewrote the bio.
-This is the actor Eun Tae-il.
So everyone could see that the Eun Tae-il before and the Eun Tae-il after were not the same.
'I need to put this up, but......'
Looking at the photo saved on his phone, Tae-il called TN Production's publicity team.
A staff member's voice came on, and a brief greeting went back and forth.
"I'd like to put a photo of myself reading this production's script on social media."
Without agreeing this kind of thing in advance it could turn into a problem.
An actor with power, or a strong agency, could smooth it over, and the Eun Tae-il of now was neither.
-Th-this is for publicity purposes, is it?
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
-N-no. I'll get back to you shortly.
The call ended, and about ten minutes later a call came in from a different number.
He answered, and a thicker man's voice came through.
-Hello, Eun Tae-il. This is PD Choi Ik-hwan.
PD Choi of "Welcome to Flower Boy House."
'The rookie PD who was beside CP Seong that day.'
Tae-il got a better grip on the phone.
"Hello, PD Choi. I called the publicity team and......"
-I was sitting next to them. And it's rare for an actor to call about publicity himself. I thought I'd take the chance to talk to you directly.
That reason plus several others seemed to be attached to it, and Tae-il did not let it show.
The much-talked-about Eun Tae-il had been cast, which meant that side was nervous too.
"I've seen that the leads are promoting on social media."
-Ah, have you seen Seong-jin's account?
"Yes. The other seniors have put practice shots up too. Which is why I wanted to ask whether I could post a photo."
PD Choi tilted his head.
'Is it because he's on his own? He's come in having heard about publicity.'
-To start with, absolutely no spoilers about the content.
"Spoilers about the role should be avoided as well, then."
-I'd be grateful if you would. More to the point, that......
PD Choi went on, carefully.
-Have you been drinking at all lately......
"Drink, while I'm looking after myself? I understand the concern, but please keep to the line."
The mistrust of Eun Tae-il was understandable, and asking an actor a thing like that was rude.
Flustered, a flustered voice came down the phone.
-I-I'm sorry.
"It's all right. I know I have to show you from here on."
-Th-then I'll see you on read-through day!
The call finished, and Tae-il uploaded a selfie of himself reading the script.
His first photo on social media.
'That's enough for a first push.'
After the upload, Tae-il put the phone down, picked up the script and leaned back in his chair.
For now this served better than a reporter or an interview.
Calling in reporters first and making a grand noise the way the old Eun Tae-il had would only make him a laughing stock.
"......I never had a brother like you."
Tae-il's furious voice spread through the room.
***
On read-through day, Tae-il went to TN Production forty minutes early.
He stepped into the meeting room, and the crew team leaders, CP Seong and Writer Shin were setting up for the reading.
"Good morning!"
Writer Shin answered Tae-il's greeting with a jerk of her chin, and CP Seong raised a hand evenly and came over.
"Eun Tae-il. I saw the photo you put up. Still quite a figure."
Tae-il smiled without speaking, and CP Seong smiled too.
"On the visual alone you're lead material...... no regrets?"
"None. I'm grateful just to be put in front of a camera."
"Save the gratitude for after you've stood in front of one."
CP Seong was laughing as though at a joke.
"CP. I think you're putting too much on Tae-il."
Writer Shin scolded him playfully, and CP Seong wrinkled the bridge of his nose and burst out laughing.
"It's a joke, a joke. Tae-il. Look after us today."
CP Seong went off toward the crew, and Writer Shin turned to Tae-il with a sigh.
"Tae-il. You can see roughly how it is?"
Tae-il nodded.
'I was cast because of Writer Shin.'
He knew CP Seong was not exactly pleased about his casting.
He had only been dragged into it by Writer Shin's word.
Today they might well find some pretext for putting him out.
"It's hard for me to take your side one-sidedly just because I picked you. The CP has his reasons too. So......"
"Because of the picture, I imagine. There's no need to worry. I'll do my persuading with the acting."
"......You're fairly reassuring, aren't you? You've prepared well, have you?"
Tae-il nodded evenly, and Writer Shin said nothing, patted his back and went back to her seat.
Time passed, and the seats filled one by one.
"Good morning, senior!"
Tae-il handed out the coffee he had brought with him and greeted the actors.
'Hm? Isn't that Eun Tae-il?'
'Did he always greet people like that?'
'Look at the comeback he's had. Of course he doesn't want to be fired.'
The actors took the coffee half by accident and tilted their heads more than once.
There was even a small farce of someone checking whether anything had been put in it.
Time went on, and the quiet meeting room filled up with actors and crew.
"Good morning."
The last to come in was Kang Seong-jin, the actor playing the lead, Ju-hwan.
As with the other actors, Tae-il held out a coffee to him with a smile.
"Hello, Seong-jin."
"......I don't drink coffee."
Unlike with the other actors' greetings, Kang Seong-jin's face was not good.
'What's this? What's wrong with Kang Seong-jin?'
'Did Kang Seong-jin hate Eun Tae-il? Was there something between them?'
People muttered and the air went cold.
Writer Shin nearby, and even CP Seong, looked taken aback, and Tae-il himself was unbothered.
"Look after me, Seong-jin."
"......"
Whatever the reaction around him, Tae-il went back to his seat.
'Is he tense because of me? He's come in with everything turned right up.'
Kang Seong-jin's unusually milky skin was the trace of hard, careful maintenance.
On top of that, makeup and hair to set the milky skin off.
That meant he was conscious of somebody.
'CP Seong is especially fond of Kang Seong-jin. He won't like an Eun Tae-il who shakes his boy.'
CLAP—
Writer Shin, who had been looking around, stood and clapped her hands.
"CP. Everyone seems to be here, so let's begin."
The chattering crew went quickly back to their seats, and CP Seong took the microphone.
"I'm glad to be working with you all. I'm Seong Yun-jae, executive producer on the drama Welcome to Flower Boy House."
"I'm Shin Se-ri, who wrote Welcome to Flower Boy House."
Applause broke out for the core production team.
Actors and crew alike were busy observing one another.
"I'm PD Choi Ik-hwan."
The PD who would be running the set with them took his baseball cap off and bowed his head.
Then came the introductions of the lead actors.
"I'm Kang Seong-jin, playing the lead, Ju-hwan."
In keeping with a work called Flower Boy House, warm, good-looking male actors had been brought in.
Watching them bend at the waist, Writer Shin smiled.
"Good morning. I'm Eun Tae-il, playing Ju-hwan's brother, Do-hwan."
While the room applauded, PD Choi glanced across at Kang Seong-jin.
Kang Seong-jin was hiding an uncomfortable face with effort and putting his hands together lightly.
'It's exactly as you said. Seong-jin's reaction is bad.'
'So it is. Well, he's going to be compared on looks the whole way.'
'What do we do? Worst case, going by what you said, we may have to clear one of them out......'
Even while the other actors introduced themselves, the conversation between the two of them went on.
'That will be them talking about clearing me out.'
As though he knew it all already, Tae-il's eyes were shining.