Life, Once Again!

After Story 103

“Stand here and write ‘what is a scam’ on the whiteboard like this.”

Director Song wrote on the whiteboard, indicating where and how to write.

“And then you turn around and say ‘my brothers, scams, you see, aren’t things that anyone can do,’ like that.”

“Should I go with the tone you just used?” Maru asked as he received the board marker.

“If you have anything in mind, then you can go with that.”

“I’ll try to sound unnecessarily heavy.”

Maru slightly pushed his bangs aside and wrote on the whiteboard. He wrote neatly like he was doing calligraphy. After putting a period, he turned around.

“Scams aren't something anyone can do.”

He lowered his voice a little. He also put plenty of gaps between each word. It was a tone of speech he used to use when going around giving lectures while doing multi-level marketing.

Before he started, he started off with a big breath to draw attention, and he uttered each word with a machine-like pronunciation.

As for his hand, he just put them by his side, only opening and clenching his hand. He only used his hand proactively when the audience started to lose their focus.

“Now that I heard it, your voice is pretty good.”

“Thank you.”

“And you have a decent appearance. Can you talk more about scams? You can go with stereotypical things or practical things. It’s fine even if it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Shall I talk some more?”

“Go on, go on,” director Song said as he stepped back. The other actors also gathered by the director’s side to watch.

Maru thought back to the lecture he gave in Daejeon once. He had to promote multi-level marketing to office workers who were actually rather smart, so he had to prepare a lot.

“There are many types of scams. However, all scams are based on boasting. Think about it. A man wearing worn-out clothes tells you that he knows which stocks will rise and that you should definitely buy them. How many people would actually listen to him?”

Maru pointed at the director and the actors with the board marker in his hand.

“Of course they won’t buy it. Even the most wealthy people with money burning a hole through their pockets wouldn’t listen to such a man. That’s why you have to dress well. You have to look neat too. You have to look better than the target you’re trying to work on. That’s the basics. You see, people don’t listen to those worse off than them no matter what. There’s a saying that you can learn something from anyone, even a child, right? That’s a load of crap. We have to ‘look’ cooler than our targets, and we have to ‘look’ like we are better off than them.”

Maru closed his mouth and looked at director Song, asking silently if he should do more.

Director Song quickly nodded.

“That’s the logic behind scams. We aren’t trying to take the money of snot-nosed brats, are we? We are targeting the wallets of adults who have finished their mandatory education and have lived through the harsh lives of society. Speaking from common sense, scamming is a really difficult job. Lying through your teeth to someone who knows everything already and stealing their money? Does that even make sense? But the funny thing is that this country is full of scams. Every one of your neighbors, above, below, next house over, the house opposite you; they’re all scammers.”

He pointed up, down, left, and right with the marker once and then continued,

“I said stealing their money, right? Let me correct myself. We never steal anything. We need to think like that. We are simply borrowing. We are simply borrowing money so that we can give even bigger profits to idiots. Here, the concept of ‘borrowing’ is really important. Guarantees, loans, and credibility. Shall we go back to the beginning? I said scams are about boasting, right?”

“Yes.”

One of the actors responded like a good student.

Maru winked at that actor and continued,

“If you sneakily boast about yourself in front of a person who desires to dress well and earn a lot of money, you’re halfway successful. Is this really half of scamming, you ask? Yes, this is half of it. That’s why you need talent, even when it comes to scamming. You have to have charm as a person and sound logical. I kept emphasizing that you need to ‘look’ well since a while ago, right? This is really important. From A to Z, we need to show our idiots — that we ‘look’ like we’re having a luxurious life, that we ‘look’ like we’re leisurely, and that we ‘look’ like we have grabbed an opportunity. Just like actors.”

Just as he spoke up to there, director Song clicked his hand. Maru closed his mouth and looked at director Song.

“What a funny guy. Hey, what was your name again?”

“It’s Han Maru, sir.”

“Yes, Maru. Can you remember what you just said?”

“Yes.”

“Write everything down on a piece of paper. Let’s have it edited and add it. It feels really good, but there’s a need to conform it with the character.”

Director Song called for the youngest member of the production crew.

“Get some paper and pen, quickly.”

“As for you, write down what you just said.”

He sat down and wrote down the words he just said at a desk.

Watching director Song’s previous works was very helpful. Even in his previous works, there were always characters who talked very logically.

Maru added some spice, namely his own experiences, on top of that. The director’s response was better than he had expected.

While the director rehearsed with the other actors, he wrote down everything he said. He just gave a slight twist to the information he had attained while doing MLM, so it sounded more realistic than something purely made from scratch. Director Song must have recognized the vividness that his words contained.

“Here.”

He gave director Song the paper. The director read it on the spot.

“This is good. Hey, give me the storyboard.”

Director Song slowly flipped over the file in his hand. From how there were pictures in it, it seemed to be the storyboard.

“I really like ad-libs. That’s why I sometimes tell good actors to not look at the script at all. And you’re exactly like that. But… to use it or not to use it….”

Director Song tapped on his chin.

“Let’s get ready for now.”

“Five minutes until standby.”

The production staff got into position. The actors also moved to their locations.

Director Song stared at the lines Maru wrote until the end before speaking just before going over to the monitor,

“Hey, let’s roll with this for now. I can’t guarantee that this will make it to the final cut, but if it’s really good, I’ll use it, okay?”

“I’ll try my best so that you will have to think about it until the very end in the editing room.”

“That’s a good attitude. I liked the way you pointed with the board marker too. You can exaggerate it a little more.”

“Yes.”

“And try talking a little faster. I think that’ll look better.”

“Okay.”

He committed the director’s instructions to memory. Minor actors had to focus on carrying out the director’s requests to the tee more than showing off their own characters if they wanted to make it into the final cut like director Song said.

“Ready, we’ll start when the car outside goes by.”

The engine noise outside the window disappeared.

“Everyone on standby!” the assistant director shouted.

“Ready.”

Director Song’s calm voice came out through the megaphone.

After the recording engineer’s signal came, the slate made a sound.

“Action.”

* * *

Song Daejin looked at Maru, who stepped forward with the board marker in hand. Just where did a kid like this pop out from? He did think that this guy was rather peculiar during the audition too, however, he didn’t know that he would be able to create on the spot a very persuasive and interesting-sounding skit.

He looked at the lines that Maru wrote again. Normally, making up words on the spot would usually sound inconsistent, boring, and not smooth, but this guy’s lines were the complete opposite.

He made up something like this on the spot? It was hard to believe.

Maybe he saw this from another work, or maybe he had practiced this beforehand.

“What is scamming?”

The Maru in the monitor started off with a neat smile. His wording had changed, but it didn’t matter since he was asking for an ad-lib anyway. Changing things up would sound nice if done in a moderate amount.

His walk, his posture, his gesture, his expression, eyes, and speech — everything looked good. He looked natural like someone who had researched the character of a scammer for a long time.

Daejin put his head closer to the monitor. It felt like getting a close-up just above his neck would look good as well. Maru’s expressions were too good to just skim over as a waist shot.

Maru was being totally shameless, but he didn’t look or sound cheap. He looked like he had been in this business for 30 years at least. His mouth uttered scammer philosophy like he was breathing, and Daejin felt like he had to take out some money and put it down in front of him.

Maru pointed at the actors with the marker. The way he used his body didn’t look awkward.

There was only one reason he didn’t ask minor actors to act. It was because they weren’t good. Once, he had been fuming because of a weird guy who couldn’t say his lines without fidgeting his left hand.

After that, he did not have any minor actors do more than necessary.

Tap, tap- Maru tapped on the whiteboard with the marker a couple times.

Daejin took his eyes off the monitor and looked at the expressions of the actors sitting in front of Maru. They were all looking at him like docile sheep. It was as if they were truly listening to a lecture and not appreciating an act.

“Cut, okay.”

There was no need to redo that. While he desired to change up the angle and shoot again, that was rather excessive considering the story. Maru was just the moodsetter.

Actors he didn’t even call over rushed over to the monitor. They all looked curious.

Daejin waved at Maru. This must be his first time letting a minor actor look at the monitor.

-What is scamming?

He routed the audio output to the speakers instead of the headphones.

Daejin crossed his arms and looked at the monitor. It looked good even though he was seeing it again. There were no wasted movements. Maru didn’t ruin the flow just because he got a role, nor did he freeze into a statue. He only took out the things that were necessary, just at the necessary times.

“Miso’s good alright. There’s no way she recommended a nobody.”

Daejin turned his head around to look at Maru. He felt it was such a pity. If only he could have used him as a supporting role or more….

“Ah, that’s right.” Ahn Baeho suddenly clapped.

“Han Maru, I thought I heard that name somewhere. Mr. Maru, you were at the Short Film Festival, weren’t you?”

The Short Film Festival? Daejin thought back to the event that happened last year.

“Yes. I participated in it.”

“I was right. I wasn’t there myself, but I did hear that someone with great acting got the grand prize. Han Maru, his name was rather peculiar so I remembered it.”

“Now that I think about it, I did hear that the Short Film Festival gave out its grand prize for the first time in years. I remember it now too. But there wasn’t anything listed in your career during the audition, was there? Or did I just miss it?” Daejin asked Maru. It was vague, but he couldn’t remember anything about the Short Film Festival in Maru’s profile.

“I handed in the profile a long time before that, so I wasn’t able to put it in there.”

“You should’ve appealed that during the audition. You’re good at acting, but you’re not that good at self-appealing, I see.”

“I was going to if things looked bad, but I just left because it looked like you took me in a good light, director.”

Daejin took out his phone. He was unable to participate in the Short Film Festival last year due to preparations for his new work, but he usually helped out every year.

He looked up Han Maru on the web portal. His profile was up there at the very top.[1]

“Wow, you even have a profile and a photo at the top, you know? Did you apply for this yourself? I heard it was really difficult for an individual to do it. I barely got mine there last year.”

“I didn’t apply for it. I think my agency did it for me.”

“Really? I guess people care about this stuff nowadays, huh.”

After saying that, he scrolled down slightly. This time, a news article caught his eye.

News article? About someone who just started off? It shouldn’t be someone else with the same name.

Daejin narrowed his eyes and looked at the article. After seeing the exclusive contract news and looking at Maru’s face again, he looked back at the article.

“Let’s take a break.”

Daejin stood up with his phone. He needed some time to confirm things with the owner of JA.

[1] Korean web search portal Naver lists the profiles of famous people (politicians, celebrities, actors, etc) at the top of search results if they’re in the database, which you can apply to Naver to list.