'PD Song, all right. He moves fast.'
The moment he saw the viewers' reaction, PD Song seemed to have gone straight for his phone.
But shouting "I'll do it" here with no conditions was what a beginner did.
Tae-il's voice dropped a shade lower.
"Thank you for the offer, PD Song. Only......"
-The call was sudden, I know. Get back to me later. I can't wait lo......
"PD Song. You said Face Senior. Does he have a name yet, by any......"
Whether a role has a name or not changes how much it matters.
Almost no writer gives a name to a bit part that drops a line or two and vanishes.
Now and then there is an oddball writer who names every single role.
-Not yet. Why? Going to turn it down if there's no name?
"I thought knowing the name might help me get hold of the character."
-Did somebody put honey on your mouth? It's very sweet all of a sudden.
Listening to the answer, Tae-il could tell.
Last time he had been an extra passing through. Now he was at least a bit part.
The viewers' response had been good, and that side was clearly paying attention.
'From here is what counts.'
Tae-il moved the phone to his other ear.
"PD Song. If it isn't rude of me, could I have Writer Lee's number?"
-Writer Lee's number? What do you want her number for?
PD Song's voice climbed a little.
It was the sign of a man whose mood was going bad, and Tae-il did not waver. He kept his words low and steady.
"If it isn't rude, I wondered whether I might hear about the character from Writer Lee herself."
-......Does Writer Lee look to you like a woman with enough free time to build out a bit part for you?
"I know perfectly well how busy she is."
Tae-il's voice grew more careful still.
"Writer Lee is a writer who cares about a bit part that only passes through. I didn't want to be a nuisance to her...... and now I've worried myself into being rude. I'm sorry."
There was no answer for a moment.
A short grunt came, and then PD Song's voice over the phone.
-I'm not sure you're the Eun Tae-il I know.
"Sorry?"
-Never mind. I'll put it to her. Wait for it.
"Thank you."
-I said I'd put it to her, that's all. No need to thank me yet.
The call ended, and Tae-il looked at the sculpted face reflected in the dark screen.
Celebrity disease, the lateness, the power-tripping: everything Eun Tae-il had built up stood in the way.
'A half-hearted bad reputation is harder to turn than one that went all the way.'
Do well ten times and badly once and you are a bad man; do badly ten times and well once and you are a good one.
Having an image at rock bottom was, if anything, the opening.
'Here it comes.'
Bzzzt— Bzzzt—
The phone rang again.
The number was unknown, and Tae-il felt he knew at once whose call it was.
-This is a novelty. Eun Tae-il, wanting to talk about a character in the middle of the night.
Writer Lee's voice, exactly as he had thought.
"I'm sorry to call so late, Writer Lee."
-Nothing to be sorry for. It was fresh. Give me your email.
A script arrived in Tae-il's inbox soon after.
A hot script, one PD Song and the rest had not received yet.
-That'll do, won't it?
"Writer Lee, about the Face Senior character......"
-I'll leave it to you. Do it comfortably, the way you showed me that day.
It was not hard to guess why she was taking this line.
'A character thrown together off the viewers' reaction, I suppose.'
Writer Lee could not have known that a plan to use Tae-il's looks would grow this far either.
Getting the script before anybody else was as far as he should push.
"Thank you. I'll prepare properly."
-Don't prepare hard, prepare well. I don't care for people who only work hard.
Click—
After the call, Tae-il printed the script out.
[Face Senior]
Unlike the last one, this time there was a name for him.
The intention was to run this episode and watch how the viewers took it.
Tae-il let out a rough laugh and stood in front of the mirror.
"So this time I'm shooting with the second daughter."
There was a scene shot with the second daughter and the youngest daughter together.
The second daughter, thinking her sister had been strong-armed into buying tickets, comes with her to have it out with Face Senior.
'It has to bring out the second daughter's toughness and the youngest one's innocence.'
The content was simple.
The second daughter drives Face Senior as a con man, and the youngest daughter tries to stop her.
The problem was that the lines for it were not written out in any detail.
Which meant they were to be filled in by the actors' ad-libs.
'The actress playing the second daughter was Han Jae-hui. Her tendencies are......'
Tae-il watched the monitor and went properly into rehearsing.
He practised until late into the small hours and did not feel tired at all.
***
A few days later.
Shooting day on the KVS drama "Families Are All Like This."
Before the sun was up, Tae-il headed for Yeouido Station, where the buses left from.
"Is that our Face Senior?"
"Good morning."
Several crew members greeted him warmly as he got on.
The air was a little different from last time.
The ones who still remembered Eun Tae-il the brat kept their distance, and the ones who were not thinking about it were friendly to him.
As the bus ran along the road, the camera director spoke to Tae-il in the back.
"Eun Tae-il! You know that reaction you got was down to me, right?"
"Of course I do. You put me in that frame beautifully, Director."
"This kid talks cute now, doesn't he?"
Tae-il's banter got a laugh out of the camera director and the rest of the crew too.
'Is that really Eun Tae-il? By the stories, shouldn't he have thrown a punch by now?'
'This is the man who fought with the camera director every day of his life......'
'Maybe it's one of those things? Like he's started his second run at life without telling anyone.'
The crew further off tilted their heads at the change in him.
Whatever they made of it, the crew bus ran hard through the dark.
Once the bus had cleared the edge of the city, the art team leader turned toward Tae-il.
"Eun Tae-il! What happened to the van? Are you going to keep riding the bus?"
"I thought I'd try the bus. Does it bother you, having me here?"
"Well...... isn't a van better, though?"
The team leader's tone climbed oddly, and a tension ran through the people nearby.
To him it was not believable that a man who had put everyone through hell had changed this much.
Whether or not he knew, Tae-il was unruffled.
"Not at all. Nothing of the kind. Team leader, look after me again today."
"Well...... I'm the one who should be asking."
At the sudden charm the team leader turned away, looking awkward.
'Is that really Eun Tae-il? Shouldn't he be going for the throat?'
'He'll keep it up for a few days. He has to stay on PD Song's good side.'
There was nobody who did not know the art team leader had picked at him on purpose.
There were some who were curious about how Tae-il would come out if today turned out to be the last of it.
Before long the bus reached the location.
The setup was done and breakfast had been dealt with out of lunchboxes, and a long time passed, and the shoot did not start.
"......She's very late. Still nothing?"
At PD Song's question the AD spoke.
"She says she's just got to the salon."
"I'll lose my mind. Haa...... We'll be finishing past dawn today."
The crew, left with nothing to do on location, let out their breath.
The mood came down with it.
Time was running out from under them when someone tapped Tae-il on the shoulder with a finger.
"Senior. Good morning."
"Ah, Kim Jeong-woo."
In front of Tae-il stood a man a little shorter than he was: Kim Jeong-woo.
There was no scene today that he and Tae-il shared, but he was an important part of the cast of "Families Are All Like This."
He was pushing his popularity up playing a will-they-won't-they with Han Jae-hui's second daughter.
Kim Jeong-woo smiled and lit a cigarette.
"Senior Eun Tae-il. I heard. In early again today."
"Look after me. I've got a lot to learn from......"
"But senior, why did you come in so early? I think I'm going to take a while today, so you'll be waiting a long time."
Something in the tone was oddly barbed, and the corner of Tae-il's eye shifted.
It did not put Kim Jeong-woo off in the slightest. If anything, his smile widened.
"I feel bad making you wait, senior. It'll be a good ten hours......"
"It doesn't matter. Waiting is an actor's job."
"Exactly. Senior, did you hear? They say there's an actor who couldn't stand one hour of waiting and went at a teacher-class actor."
Tae-il snorted.
The actor he meant was Eun Tae-il.
When Tae-il went quiet, Kim Jeong-woo looked up at him with more swagger still.
-A bit part, and you've got a problem? Don't push it.
The face was smiling, and Kim Jeong-woo's narrow eyes were saying that.
It was not hard to guess why he was doing this.
He meant to press down a washed-up Eun Tae-il and reign as the strong man of the set.
Draw attention and most people would take the side of Kim Jeong-woo the lead over Eun Tae-il the bit part.
'Eun Tae-il would have taken it. Bad luck.'
The corner of Tae-il's mouth twisted a little.
"Hey."
"Senior?"
Kim Jeong-woo's eyes curved into a bow.
Noise was better for Kim Jeong-woo anyway.
But as though he knew every part of the plan, Tae-il narrowed his eyes and brought his mouth slowly to the man's ear.
"Our Jeong-woo. Having a lot of fun at the clubs lately."
"......What?"
The mild smile on Kim Jeong-woo's face shook slightly.
Tae-il's voice, whatever it did, went lower still.
"What's the matter? Ah. Your girlfriend doesn't know yet."
"You bastard......! You go running your mouth on whatever you......"
The skin around Kim Jeong-woo's eyes twisted, and Tae-il put a hand on his shoulder and pressed down lightly.
"My mistake. Hard to call a lady who's been round the zodiac twice your girlfriend."
"You've picked up some rumor sheet somewhere and come in here......"
"Have I?"
"And if that rumor sheet is right and that person is behind me, then what? Something like you gets blown away in one shot."
"So she isn't a girlfriend, she's 'that person'?"
Kim Jeong-woo glared at him as if to kill him, and Tae-il bore down hard with the hand on his shoulder.
"Kh......!"
"True enough. 'That person' is right. The chairman of Hyeseong Group's......"
"Wh-wh-what nonsense are you......!"
His mouth denied it, and Kim Jeong-woo went ash-colored and hurried a hand up to cover Tae-il's.
The young wife of an industrialist with a name even in this country, and that sort of relationship.
They had said almost nobody in the business knew......
Tae-il sneered and pulled the hand roughly down.
"Our Jeong-woo. Straighten your face."
"Nng......!"
"Straighten the face. That mug, open it up. Execute."
Their positions had reversed.
Kim Jeong-woo forced a smile, shaking, and the shaking would not settle.
Tae-il took his hand slowly off his shoulder and stepped back, and Kim Jeong-woo could not move at all.
"Wh-wh-what do you...... w-want?"
"Could something like you give me what I want?"
"Y-you dog of a......!"
"Enough. Wave at Writer Lee over there, and smile. Execute."
"Nng......"
"Execute."
Kim Jeong-woo forced a smile in the direction of Writer Lee.
'Eun Tae-il hasn't lost his temper, then.'
'Even Kim Jeong-woo can't do anything against Eun Tae-il, I suppose.'
'You can't beat the class of the original.'
They could not hear the conversation, and the sight of the two of them was on display to every crew member there.
Tae-il slapped the back of the shaking, bowed-headed Kim Jeong-woo lightly.
"What are you standing around for?"
"Wh-what?!"
"Get lost. I'm practising."
Kim Jeong-woo vanished like a man fleeing, and Tae-il turned his eyes back to the script.
The trouble passed, and time went by again.
About the time everybody was wearing out, an SUV appeared at the location.
"Hello. Hello, everyone."
The car door opened, and Han Jae-hui, the actress playing the second daughter, emerged without a care in the world.
She was hours late for the shoot, and she waved leisurely at the crew and walked over to PD Song.
"Hey! What time is it! Because of you......"
"Aww, I'm sorry, PD Song. The chiefy at the salon today was just...... going on about how my hair had to have proper body in it, and just......"
Han Jae-hui twisted her body about, mixing charm and coquetry, and met PD Song's eyes.
PD Song crumpled his face and glared at her, and what was plain in her eyes was: so what.
In the end, as though he had given up, PD Song pressed at his temples.
"......Never mind. Just get ready."
"Yes! But PD Song, who was it? I heard on the way in, a bit part had a whole thing with our Jeong-woo oppa......"
"The actors' problems are for the actors. Get ready!"
"Yesss, yesss!"
Han Jae-hui caught that PD Song's lid had blown, and got out of there like a girl running away.
That day, the first take started at eleven in the morning.
Three full hours later than the scheduled time.
'Han Jae-hui gets a little famous and...... damn it.'
'We'll be dissolving into daylight today. Hell......'
The crew, sensing an all-nighter coming, wore thick irritation on their faces.
Behind the camera, Tae-il was watching Han Jae-hui.
'Is it because Han Jae-hui is what makes the ratings on Families Are All Like This? Look at PD Song pressing it all down.'
Playing the second daughter with everything she had, Han Jae-hui had brought out both the toughness and the innocence of a woman in love, and had become the centre of the show's popularity.
But sudden popularity brings its side effects.
The attention of a great many people had pushed her nose up fast.
"Oh! Jeong-woo oppa!"
"J-Jae-hui. What kept you so long?"
"I was late making myself pretty for my oppa. But oppa. You don't look well?"
Watching Kim Jeong-woo and Han Jae-hui chatter away outside the frame, the crew clicked their tongues.
'For f*ck's sake. Chatter while you rehearse, at least.'
'Late, and then the pair of them carry on like this.'
'Damn it. Eun Tae-il was an angel.'
Whether or not they knew what the crew were saying, the two of them were lost in a world of their own.
"......Starting the shoot!"
Even at the AD's call, Han Jae-hui did not move.
In the end it took PD Song coming over before she grumbled her way in front of the camera.
Tae-il saw PD Song's crumpled face and folded his arms.
'Han Jae-hui, just as they said. This is interesting.'
Behind the camera, Tae-il watched Han Jae-hui loosening her mouth.