"Eun Tae-il, Eun Tae-il...... it's all exactly the same."
Looking at Writer Shin's empty chair, Lee Hui-seong grumbled on and on.
She drove every other actor's performance like a whip, and when Eun Tae-il acted she coddled him to an excessive degree.
However he looked at it, there were better actors than Eun Tae-il lying around in heaps.
"Let it go. You know the writer is king at a read-through."
Chief Jeong patted Lee Hui-seong's shoulder and smiled.
But his head was somewhere else entirely.
'Writer Shin isn't the sort to play favourites...... Come on. She'll have done it on purpose to provoke Kang Seong-jin.'
However he turned it over, he could not make himself believe she had genuinely liked Eun Tae-il's acting.
Unless she had done it to provoke Kang Seong-jin, who was acting opposite him.
Looking at Kang Seong-jin, who had fled the place the moment the break started, that seemed certain.
"Forget Eun Tae-il and do the reading properly today. All right?"
"......Yes."
Chief Jeong was just getting up when the door opened and Writer Shin came in.
Back in her seat, Writer Shin looked over the empty chairs and tilted her head.
"Seong-jin isn't back yet. Eun Tae-il too?"
"We're here."
Behind her, the door opened and Tae-il and Kang Seong-jin came in.
Watching the two of them come in together, Writer Shin narrowed her eyes playfully.
"What's this, you two. Why are you coming in together?"
"We were talking about the production."
"Ohh? Should I be expecting something later?"
Writer Shin's eyes moved, and Kang Seong-jin flinched.
Tae-il nudged him lightly with an arm.
'Don't flinch. Just go the way we practised.'
'Ah...... yes.'
Kang Seong-jin nodded small and went back to his seat.
CP Seong watched the chairs fill up one by one and brought his mouth to the microphone.
"Let's carry on. From scene 14."
The reading went on.
Watching Tae-il carry his lines, Kang Seong-jin's voice shook thinly.
'I-I can't make a mistake this time.'
Tap, tap, tap—
Seeing Writer Shin's fingers still drumming on the desk, Kang Seong-jin's mouth went dry.
His chest shrank in on itself, and the lines would not come easily.
'Kang Seong-jin.'
Just then, he felt eyes on him.
It was Tae-il, sitting not far away.
'......Ah.'
'Don't flinch. Follow me.'
Kang Seong-jin's gaze moved from Writer Shin's fingers over to Tae-il.
At the same moment, Tae-il's eyes settled into something cold.
"......Get out."
At Tae-il's cold delivery, Kang Seong-jin breathed deep.
'The parts that aren't written down.'
He still half believed and half doubted what Tae-il had said.
But letting it go would only repeat the same thing over again.
"Brother......? What are you talking about, all of a sudden? That person?"
If he was going to be cut anyway, he might as well go all in.
Watching the commas scattered through the lines, Kang Seong-jin carried the reading on.
"Enough. Get out."
"B-brother?!"
"There's no place for you in this house anymore."
Tae-il and Kang Seong-jin, or rather Do-hwan and Ju-hwan, went on with the conversation.
Writer Shin had worried him at first, and following Tae-il's lead he began, little by little, to sink into the lines.
'Do-hwan was good, so leave that. Ju-hwan......'
The fingers drumming on the desk were slowing down a little at a time.
Matching his breathing to Tae-il's, Kang Seong-jin's delivery had gone subtly different from a moment ago.
In the small tremble, a fear of the older brother was coming through.
It was the delivery Writer Shin had been thinking of for Ju-hwan.
'Kang Seong-jin isn't an actor who's all stubbornness.'
Tae-il checked Kang Seong-jin's changed reading and smiled a little.
It was a method that worked because Kang Seong-jin had a decent career behind him and flexibility with it.
With another actor, he would have taken another route.
"There's no place for you in this house anymore."
"Okay. Seong-jin?"
The first reading finished, and Writer Shin glared at Kang Seong-jin.
'What. What now?'
Her slowed fingers picked up speed again, and Kang Seong-jin tensed hard and shut his eyes.
Writer Shin let out a long breath and smiled.
"What happened? The feel of it is completely different, isn't it?"
"Sorry......?"
"This is what I wanted. Seong-jin, you've finally got it. Let's keep going exactly like that, yes?"
It was the second compliment to come out of Writer Shin.
The eyes of a Kang Seong-jin wound tight came loose like an idiot's.
'What? That was actually right?'
Kang Seong-jin looked at Tae-il with bewildered eyes.
He had wondered, and Eun Tae-il had actually been right.
"Th-thank you."
"That time I gave you was worth it. I don't know what the secret was. Let's move on to scene 15."
Did he notice that Writer Shin and everybody else were puzzled?
Kang Seong-jin turned his eyes to Tae-il and spoke, carefully.
"Actually...... I got a lot of help from Senior Eun Tae-il."
"Ah, from Tae-il......?"
In that instant, every pair of eyes but Writer Shin's went to Eun Tae-il.
'Eun Tae-il helped with acting?'
'What is that supposed to mean?'
'Eun Tae-il gave Kang Seong-jin acting advice?'
Everyone muttered and glanced at Tae-il.
'Senior Eun Tae-il, to Seong-jin oppa?'
Among them was Yu Hye-in, the other lead.
When the muttering died down, Writer Shin shrugged.
"Does the means matter in acting? Do it well and it's done. How did it look to you, CP?"
At Writer Shin's words CP Seong unfolded his arms and nodded.
"Feels good. I think the picture will come out well when the two of them are on together, too. Ah, Eun Tae-il."
"Yes, CP."
"When we roll, just put a touch more weight on the lines."
"Understood."
Writer Shin's manner softened a good deal after that.
Thanks to it, the actors, who had been tight with nerves, could settle into the reading.
'Eun Tae-il again? Haa......'
Lee Hui-seong felt hives coming up on his skin.
What on earth did Writer Shin see in Eun Tae-il, to coddle him like that......
Thanks to it, his plan to needle Eun Tae-il quietly and ease him out of the group never even got started.
'Once we're on set it runs around the CP and the PD anyway. Just hold on until then.'
Chief Jeong had to sweat the whole way through, calming a Lee Hui-seong who looked ready to let it show at any second.
Each of them carrying their own circumstances, the time went by.
"......Let's stop here."
Close to midnight, the reading wrapped with CP Seong's declaration.
"Thank you, everyone."
Everyone was getting up one by one, worn out, when PD Choi took the microphone.
"The making-of video goes up on NooTube soon. Give it a like, each of you."
"Thank you, everyone!"
People who had been wearing death masks all evening came alive like fish in water and drained out of the room.
Tae-il had gathered his script and was rising when he felt someone behind him.
He turned. Yu Hye-in.
After the usual thank-yous, she shuffled her feet and got to the point.
"Senior. I'm sorry, we've hardly...... met, but could I ask you a difficult favour?"
"A difficult favour?"
"Um...... if it's all right, I wondered whether we could practise together."
Tae-il tilted his head.
Not because they had exchanged only a few words so far.
In the scripts released to date there was no scene where Do-hwan (Tae-il) and Yu-na (Yu Hye-in) shot together.
"We don't have a scene together. Wouldn't the efficiency be poor?"
"I know that, but...... honestly it's because of Writer Shin......"
In a voice that sank as it went, Yu Hye-in barely got it out.
"You're asking me for help."
At Tae-il's straight ball, Yu Hye-in dropped her head, embarrassed.
She was hidden behind Kang Seong-jin, but Yu Hye-in had taken plenty of notes too.
"Hye-in. There are plenty of other seniors at your company. I'm not good enough to be helping anyone."
"Senior. Don't you need a practice room? I can help with that."
At Yu Hye-in's urgent cry, Tae-il stopped short.
'Yu Hye-in was signed to Wine Ent, wasn't she?'
Thinking of Wine Entertainment brought a bitter smile to Tae-il's mouth.
"Senior......?"
"Did the building work finish all right? I heard the construction was rough going."
"It wasn't...... easy. But we got through it. It's small, but the practice room is genuinely good."
Watching Yu Hye-in puff her chest out proudly, memories of that man came back one after another.
-You've got a good eye and you still play the sucker? Is that a character you're doing? Retire.
-Hey. You've grown the company enough. Retire.
-Come to our ribbon-cutting first, and then retire, yes?
Remembering a man who told him to retire the way other people say hello, Tae-il snorted softly.
'Is the old man doing all right?'
His heart moved a little, but saying yes felt like a weight.
'It could make gossip for nothing.'
Interest in him was thin at the moment, but Eun Tae-il and an actress alone in a practice room.
There was no telling what people who like to make stories would make of it.
Tae-il was thinking it over when a voice came from beside him.
"Hyung. Good work today."
He turned. Kang Seong-jin.
"Seong-jin. Well done."
"Hyung. I told you to speak comfortably to me."
After the reading, the look in Kang Seong-jin's eyes toward Tae-il had turned quite solid.
'If Seong-jin is there......?'
The cover of practice becomes a good deal clearer.
Tae-il turned his eyes to Kang Seong-jin.
"I'll do that, then."
"Hye-in. Are you in the middle of something important with hyung?"
"Oppa. Talk Senior Tae-il into it for me. I really don't want the writer hating me."
Yu Hye-in smiled with her eyes and tugged lightly at Kang Seong-jin's arm.
Kang Seong-jin scratched his neck, at a loss.
"Hyung. I'm sorry. Because of me......"
Kang Seong-jin was awkward about it, embarrassed.
Just then, Tae-il's eyes lit.
"It's all right. Then...... since we're here, shall the three of us practise together?"
"Practise?"
Kang Seong-jin stopped short, and Yu Hye-in, seizing the moment, pulled at his arm.
"Yes, oppa. Let's do it together! That's perfect! It's good for monitoring each other, too."
Kang Seong-jin looked at Tae-il with a troubled face and then nodded easily.
Yu Hye-in ran to her manager, delighted.
And so, a few days later, Tae-il headed for Wine Entertainment.
"Going on and on about building it big, and look how much he cut it down."
In front of a small five-storey building, Tae-il smiled bitterly.
He collected a temporary pass and stepped into the practice room, where Yu Hye-in and Kang Seong-jin had arrived first.
Yu Hye-in gave him a deep smile when she saw him.
"Senior! You came?"
"Well then, shall we start?"
Tae-il opened the script to the first page.
The first page had the descriptions of Ju-hwan and Yu-na, the characters the two of them were playing.
Tae-il pointed at the ellipses in Yu-na's lines.
"Look at Yu-na's lines. There are a lot of ellipses in them."
"Ah, yes."
"Writer Shin wants the feeling to come out on your face while the words are being cut short."
"Wow...... that's hard."
At Tae-il's explanation Yu Hye-in's eyes shone.
"A little practice and you'll manage it easily enough. Your own image is close to the character, Hye-in."
"Ah......"
"Writer Shin will have thought so too, which is why she cast you."
Yu Hye-in nodded again and again, as though under a spell.
Kang Seong-jin, on the other hand, pushed his mouth out and tilted his head.
"So what about me?"
"Your character and your actual personality are a long way apart."
"Well, that's true, but......"
Kang Seong-jin sagged, and Tae-il shrugged.
"That's Writer Shin's standard when she casts. Whether the actor's real personality and image fit the character. You became the exception by going out and walking it yourself."
"Ah......"
"That's why you've been hearing so much about a change of image this time."
Kang Seong-jin's eyes shone.
He had only ever been given heavy roles, and this Ju-hwan was a chance to change his image.
Watching Yu Hye-in's mouth slowly come open, Tae-il's eyes lit.
"Senior Tae-il. How do you know all of this? It's so different from the stories......"
"You never know a person until you've met them."
"Exactly. Um...... senior. Can I call you oppa? We're going to keep meeting on set."
Tae-il nodded.
"All right. Then let's keep practising."
While the two of them digested what they had just picked up, Tae-il stepped outside for a moment.
The Wine Ent building was small but clean.
'He wanted to build it big. Tsk......'
Looking around, Tae-il took the stairs to the roof.
He started naturally toward the railing and stopped short.
Because of the fall, he was afraid to look down.
Sitting on the bench in the middle, Tae-il looked blankly up at the sky.
"He said he'd put up twenty floors and it's five...... the bleeding must have been bad."
"That's right, Eun Tae-il."
The thick voice came from behind him, and below.
He turned to look, and a man was quietly putting his head out from under the bench at the back.
'Yeon Se-jun? What are you doing coming out of there?'
Tae-il's eyes went round, and then he bowed his head.
Because he was the CEO of Wine Ent, the man who had taught his past self, Seung-chan, the management business.
As though answering the disbelief on Tae-il's face, CEO Yeon lifted the spanner he was holding onto his shoulder.
"People these days are rough with their things."
"Do you still...... no. Do you do this sort of thing yourself?"
"Now, now, this sort of thing. Save and you'll live well. Anyway......"
Mischief came into CEO Yeon's eyes.
"You were saying something about bleeding just now. Shall I give you a quiz? Why did this place only go up five floors?"
"Is there a prize if I get it right?"
"Depends on the answer, doesn't it?"
Even at Tae-il's cheek, CEO Yeon let out a great laugh.
"Glom Entertainment."
"That much won't earn a prize. More precisely."
"Because your top actors were taken by Glom one after another and the growth engine snapped."
"Hoo......"
At the exact answer, the corner of CEO Yeon's eye moved thinly.