Rain was falling on the screen.
The same alley as in the opening scene of Episode 1, the same sheets of rain.
Park Song-min buried his face in a cushion.
‘……This is making me cringe.’
Watching his own acting with his own eyes made him want to writhe from head to toe.
Live reaction posts were open on his phone.
He refreshed the page faster and faster.
-It's finally starting.
-Is it seriously the final episode already? How did time go so fast?
-The dopamine in my life is gone…….
-Chills. We're back in that rainy alley.
-If you cry tonight, you lose.
-Already lost.
The drama moved quickly.
The real culprit was caught, the organization collapsed, and the detective played by Yoo Yeon-jae handed in a resignation.
As the running time passed fifty minutes, Park Song-min swallowed hard.
‘……It should be soon.’
The image changed.
A corridor with a fluorescent light hanging crookedly.
A sign above an iron door.
[Interrogation Room]
‘……Whew. Here we go.’
Embarrassing as it was, he had to review his performance as an actor.
‘……An actor? Me?’
Park Song-min flinched at the thought that had come to him without warning.
The door opened.
Yoo Yeon-jae came in carrying a file and pulled out a chair.
The camera caught the back of the man opposite the detective.
His lowered head, the veins standing out on his wrists above the handcuffs.
Then he raised his head.
[……I waited for you.]
-????
-Hold on.
-Who's sitting there right now?
-Park Song-hu?
-Holy shit, it's Park Song-hu.
-Why is Park Song-hu suddenly here???
-Wow, that face. Seriously.
-No, but the way he just said that…….
Park Song-min had only his eyes peeking over the cushion.
‘……Is that me?’
He had not known on set.
All he remembered was how cold the metal chair had been, how his heart had quivered, how intimidated he had felt in front of Yoo Yeon-jae, and how Kang Yoon-ho had flooded into him in the middle of it all.
And yet…… the man sitting on the screen now was not trembling at all.
‘……Could I actually have a talent for acting?’
The scene continued.
Yoo Yeon-jae kept pressing him, and the line Seo Ha-yeong had added on set came up.
The handcuffs touched the metal table with a CLINK.
Then came the final line.
[……Because that was the only way I could survive.]
The words came out in a choked, cracking voice.
The camera lingered on his face.
-F*ck.
-That was insane.
-What the hell was that twist?
-Chills.
-Is that really Park Song-hu? His acting never used to be like this.
-I'm the one who made clips compiling Park Song-hu's terrible acting. I'm closing my account today.
└Hahahahahaha.
└May it rest in peace.
-No, seriously, what is going on with his eyes?
-He isn't crying or shouting, so why am I crying?
-The delivery of that last line was fucking incredible.
Park Song-hu's fan club, Songhuru, was in an uproar too.
For the record, Songhuru was a play on tanghulu.
……Because he was so sweet that merely looking at his face could rot your teeth.
-Song-hu😭😭😭😭
└Look at our boy. Please look at him one more time.
-I liked him even when he couldn't act. What am I supposed to do now that he can……?
-Did you see his chin tremble at the end? Did you?
-He just endured all that time without saying a word. Somehow it felt like Song-hu's own situation, so I got completely caught up in it.
└Me too. I think that's why it hit me even harder 😭😭😭😭
-His agency needs to do its job. Why doesn't he have another project? Are they going to leave acting like this unused?
-But why is our Song-hu so thin? Is he eating properly?
└It's makeup. Calm down.
-My teeth are rotting. Today I lost my molars too.
└Let's all rot together, like true Songhuru fans.
“…….”
Park Song-hu was watching the screen.
It was his own face.
The angle of the cheekbones, the jawline, even the shadows under the eyes were his.
But he was not inside it.
‘……I've tried that delivery a hundred times.’
The character Park Song-min played on the screen was alive.
Once again, he had no choice but to acknowledge his younger brother's talent for acting.
‘That's just the character sitting there.’
Even with Yoo Yeon-jae, whose acting skill was widely acclaimed, pushing hard, the scene's center of gravity lay with his brother.
By the next day, articles began sprouting everywhere.
[<Hwain> Ends on a High Note with 24.9% Ratings… The Name That Took the Final Five Minutes]
[A Cameo Devoured the Ending: Park Song-hu's Interrogation Scene Peaks at 29.4% Minute-by-Minute Ratings]
[Writer Seo Ha-yeong: “Why I Added Lines on Set That Day”]
-I stopped paying attention to Park Song-hu after that scandal about his character last year. But when I watched his acting yesterday, it didn't even cross my mind. I didn't know he could act so well.
-He must have studied acting really hard while lying low😭😭😭
-I always knew he was handsome, but this is the first time I've seen him look so unpretty.
-What's scary is that he didn't rely on his looks at all…….
-So what's Park Song-hu's next project?
└Apparently there isn't one yet.
└Somebody cast him already.
A still photograph went up on Yoo Yeon-jae's social media account.
The two of them sat on either side of the interrogation room's metal table.
[Thank you, Kang Yoon-ho.]
The comments passed five thousand in no time.
That night, the name spoken more than any other in the country was Park Song-hu.
The clip's view count, the articles, and the comments beneath Yoo Yeon-jae's photograph all testified to it.
And yet the bastard who had actually made it happen was currently…….
“Hey, it's about time you got up.”
“……Mmmnyeh.”
Sprawled out asleep even at two in the afternoon.
‘……Shouldn't I feel wronged?’
Park Song-hu searched inside himself.
There was no resentment where he thought there should be.
Instead…… for some reason, a swell of pride came over him.
‘This is ridiculous.’
***
Hapjeong-dong, the third floor of a production studio.
The waiting room door opened, and an assistant director entered.
The assistant director held A4 sheets in hand.
“The director's instructions. This is what we're doing for today's audition.”
The sheets passed from hand to hand.
The assistant director went straight back out, and the door closed.
Oh Jeong-han, an actor, took the sheet and scanned it.
Scene 27. Inside a container.
Tae-sik chews a piece of expired bread.
That was it.
Three lines.
No dialogue.
“…….”
The waiting room fell silent, then quickly filled with murmurs.
“Is this all?”
“Isn't there a second page?”
“There isn't.”
Oh Jeong-han looked down at the bag.
The script inside was covered in thick highlighter marks, all of which had just become useless.
‘This person really is just like the rumors. A complete tyrant.’
Cha Min-seok, sitting across the room, sighed.
“At the audition for the previous project, apparently the director gave them an apple instead of a script.”
“……Why?”
“Told them to eat it. Just eat it.”
“……So couldn't they just eat it?”
“Yeah. All twelve of them did, and every one of them failed.”
An uneasy laugh went around the waiting room.
“But why bread, of all things?”
“It's in the script. Scene 27.”
“I know that, but why this one out of all those scenes?”
“Because there's the least to see.”
“…….”
“No excuse to cry, no excuse to get angry, and no dialogue. There's nowhere for an actor to hide in this scene.”
“…….”
“That's why the director picked it.”
The temperature in the waiting room seemed to drop.
Oh Jeong-han placed the sheet on a knee and tapped it with a finger.
‘Chews the bread.’
That alone had to sustain several minutes in front of five judges.
The role had gone unfilled for three years, and everyone had come desperate to win it as it was.
“……But.”
A newcomer in the corner spoke up.
“I saw Park Song-hu's name on today's list.”
“Yeah, he's on it.”
“Is he really coming?”
“He must be, if he's on the list.”
“By the way, when is Song-hu getting here?”
“There's still some time.”
“Another senior actor hasn't arrived yet either. I should call to see when they'll be here.”
As though it had suddenly occurred to them, one actor said,
“Did everyone watch <Hwain>?”
“Of course. Who hasn't? It was all anyone talked about.”
“……Honestly, it surprised me. He acted really well.”
“I swear I'm not exaggerating: I thought they'd used a double.”
“Ha, how could they use a double for that face? It's a one-of-a-kind national treasure.”
“But I heard that scene was done in one take.”
“……?”
“I heard it from a crew member who was there. Writer Seo Ha-yeong saw it and added more lines.”
“……!”
Oh Jeong-han's eyes widened.
Seo Ha-yeong changing a script on set was unheard of.
“……But why Tae-sik, of all roles? You know what Park Song-hu looks like. A day laborer from a tiny-room slum with that face?”
“True, that is a bit…….”
“A face like some noble young master, hauling bricks? That might break the immersion…….”
“And it's strange that Park Song-hu is auditioning at all.”
“I know. Someone at his level must have gotten offers elsewhere…….”
Cha Min-seok folded the script and put it in a pocket.
“Well, we'll have our answer when we see him act today.”
Whether that was confidence or recklessness.
***
The first actor sat in the chair.
The actor tore open the bread wrapper.
After taking a bite and chewing, the actor's shoulders began to shake.
Tears fell before the bread in the actor's mouth could be swallowed, and at last the bread was set on a knee while the actor pressed the back of a hand to the eyes.
Jung Jae-seung rested a chin on a hand and smacked their lips.
“Next.”
The second actor.
This one struck the wall while chewing the bread.
THUD. The sound echoed off the studio wall.
‘Anger this time.’
At the world, at the actor's own life, at the expired bread in hand.
“Next.”
The third treated the bread as something precious.
The wrapper was opened carefully, and the actor cupped the bread as though even a single crumb was too precious to lose.
Then the actor took a bite and smiled sadly.
“Ha. Next.”
The fourth laughed while chewing, then cried.
The fifth sat holding the wrapper without eating, then crumpled it at the end.
When the sixth left and the door closed behind them…….
CLACK―
Jung Jae-seung threw a pen onto the desk.
The casting director beside them turned with a start.
“Director.”
“…….”
“Shall we take a break?”
Jung Jae-seung leaned back in the chair.
“They are all acting out poverty. None of them has lived it.”
The production company head cautiously interjected.
“Director, they are all skilled actors, though…….”
“I did not invite anyone without skill in the first place.”
Jung Jae-seung tapped the desk with a finger.
“Listen. Eating that bread does not make Kim Tae-sik sad. He is simply hungry. If he still has the strength to feel sad, he is not Tae-sik.”
The casting director turned a page of the list and asked carefully,
“Director, it has already been three years of performances like this.”
“What of three years? If I call the wrong choice the right one, ten years will go to waste.”
The production company head swallowed a sigh.
In the end, the news that the investors were waiting for today's result went unsaid.
Meanwhile, the air in the waiting room had grown heavy too.
“……The director is disappointed right now, isn't that so?”
“That's beyond disappointment.”
Oh Jeong-han watched the screen with arms folded.
The actor's turn was drawing closer, and there was a feeling that the director would still be sitting there with that expression when it came.
And that was exactly what happened.
Oh Jeong-han tore the wrapper open and bit into the bread.
Jung Jae-seung was not even looking over.
Their gaze was lowered to the papers, a pen turning between their fingers.
‘……Am I even being judged?’
The moment that thought arose, the actor's concentration broke.
Jung Jae-seung did not miss it.
“Next.”
Once outside the closed door, Oh Jeong-han felt as if their soul had been shaken out of them.
‘……So that was it.’
Only now did the actor realize that inside that room, it had not been a question of acting well or badly.
The question had been: Have you lived it, or have you not?
In other words, how deeply could an actor inhabit a character, and how completely could an actor become that character?
Oh Jeong-han gulped down cold water at the dispenser.
Only then did the crumbs lodged in the actor's throat go down.
The tenth.
The eleventh.
Before long, the clock pointed to five in the afternoon. The lights had been on so long that the studio air had grown stale.
The script supervisor stifled a yawn, and the cinematographer's eyelids drooped as an arm rested on the tripod.
The casting director checked the last line of the list.
“Director, there is only one person left.”
“…….”
“Park Song-hu from JH Entertainment.”
Jung Jae-seung, who had been looking at the papers, rolled their neck in a broad circle.
“Ah, that handsome actor. I auditioned him once before.”
“Yes.”
The production company head smiled from the side.
“He has more buzz than anyone right now, Director.”
“What does that matter? Do you think I left the role uncast because every actor I saw had buzz?”
“Of course, but…….”
“And I am not sure someone that handsome fits the image I had in mind for Kim Tae-sik.”
Just then, the assistant director called toward the corridor.
“Actor Park Song-hu, please come in.”
The door opened, and the moment the actor came into view…….
“……?”
“……!”
The judges all flinched at once.
Even Jung Jae-seung, who had been indifferent all along, raised their eyebrows.
‘Th-that outfit…….’
A hoodie with a stretched neck slipping off the left shoulder.
The white print on the chest had cracked, leaving only half of it.
[ORTH TA]
“…….”
The acting had not even begun, but Jung Jae-seung had to take back what they had just said.
‘That air about him…… has erased his good looks.’
……Kim Tae-sik stood there.