Life, Once Again!

Chapter 965. Crank Up 7

Maru looked down at his phone. He made the call in order to probe the guy out, but he gained nothing. Although he said in front of director Park, that some board members pushed on with the contract in order to look good in front of the director, was it really true? Even if he really did not know what the important people did, Maru could not understand the reason why Giwoo decided to participate as an extra, not to mention so suddenly.

At Giwoo’s level, he would get to choose his own work. Unless it was a cameo appearance out of friendship, it was really strange that he came all the way down to Ulsan to play an extra, which wouldn’t even add a line to his career. Although Giwoo said that actors need to prove their skill and that their dream is to work with a good director, it was precisely because they were the correct words that he lacked credibility. Had it been any other actor, he would have applauded that kind of thinking, but for Kang Giwoo, it was a different story.

He rolled his phone in his hand before placing it on the bed. It would be great if all this was needless worry. Just as Kang Giwoo said, it was entirely possible that he came all the way down here simply to work with director Park. It was hard to exclude the possibility that he did not have any ulterior motives, and that this was all a product of coincidence. After all, even lunatics would find the right place to do crazy things. Even Kang Giwoo would not think about doing cruel crimes all the time.

No matter how much he thought about it, he could not discern the reason Kang Giwoo was here. To that guy, who knew that he broke up with Han Gaeul, ‘Han Maru’ must just be an eyesore of a man. It would be an overstatement to think that he came all the way here just to pick a fight. Kang Giwoo was not that free.

“Is there really nothing?” he said to himself as he lay down on the bed.

His thoughts also stopped working after trying out various hypotheses. He did feel that it was rather tragic to waste his precious break just because of a single Kang Giwoo.

Maru took out a bottle of water from the fridge. He opened the lid and put it in his mouth like he was refueling a car. Was Giwoo just a thief who snuck here without any specific purpose?

As he was looking at the water in the bottle decrease, he found himself choking. Maru took out the bottle from his mouth. There was one thing he pushed into the corner of his mind when he came up with his hypotheses because it was something he didn’t even want to imagine.

“Gaeul.”

-Oh, Maru.

Her voice was sunken. It seemed that she just woke up from a nap.

“Sorry for calling you when you’re sleeping.”

-No, I was about to get up anyway since the dogs are wanting to go on a stroll. Rather than that, how are you feeling? You were so tired in the morning that you fell asleep without telling me.

“I had a great sleep thanks to your humming. Uhm, Gaeul, I wanted to ask you something.”

-What is it?

“Have you met Kang Giwoo recently?”

-Kang Giwoo? No. He doesn’t even call me nowadays. He did call me when I was on Jeju island, but he gave up soon.

“Really?”

-What is this about?

“I just asked to check. I was wondering if he was staying put these days.”

-I’m not entirely sure, but it does look like he’s given up. I mean, he must have his pride too. I heard from Mijoo that he didn’t cause any trouble in any other shoots. He didn’t ask about me either.

“Really?”

-Why are you suddenly asking about Kang Giwoo? You’re making me suspicious.

“I’m just worried about you because I haven’t seen your face.”

-It hasn’t even been a week. Well, I guess I am so pretty that you must be worried about leaving me alone.

“Why am I the one feeling embarrassed?”

Listening to her confident voice, Maru looked outside the window. The world was still white other than the road where the snowplow had already passed by.

“It’s a White Christmas.”

-It would’ve been great if we stayed at home together. We could have taken out the dogs for a walk in the snow.

“Yeah.”

-You’re shooting outside, right?

“There’s a dog shed, that’s built from thin boards, but you can practically call it outside. In fact, it feels like it traps in the cold air once the sun sets. It’s like a large refrigerator.”

-Watch out for a cold. And look after your neck. I once hurt my throat during winter because I had to speak with some ice in my mouth, and it lasted a long time. You’re drinking warm water, right?

“That’s the one thing I keep doing, just as my wife told me.”

-'tis a relief, my husband.

She said she was going to hang up, saying that Woofie was urging her to take a walk. Maru told her to wear warm clothes before finishing the call. He did not tell her that Kang Giwoo came to the shoot. He didn’t want to make her worry.

Maybe because he was worried, but the air inside his room felt stifling. He opened the window. Although it only opened by about half a foot because of the safety mechanism, he could feel enough cold air rush in to cool his head. The thing he was worried about the most was Kang Giwoo seeing through their ‘act’ and taking action. If he realized that Han Maru and Kim Suyeon dating was just a show and that Maru and Gaeul were still dating, then he would definitely take action. He was definitely not the kind of guy who would take such a humiliation lying down.

From how he no longer called as often and didn’t say anything even after seeing Mijoo, it was possible that he was fed up with her. After all, it must be quite a challenge to keep waiting under a tree where fruit wouldn’t fall down.

After excluding all of the hypotheses, there was only one left. It was that Kang Giwoo participated in this shoot purely as an actor. It was unreliable, but he could not think of anything else.

-Actors are to be on standby at three.

He checked the text message and then the time. There was an hour left until the shoot. As the majority of the actors were staying in the hotel, an hour was more than enough preparation time. He got up from the bed and was about to start his character analysis out of habit before stopping after thinking about what director Park said. Ever since the last cut they shot at the end of dawn, Maru could vaguely understand what it was that the director wanted from him.

Ultimately, it came down to the ratio. How much of Han Maru was he going to add to the character? Naturally, he became more concerned about something else other than the character: what kind of human was he? It was a rather sudden philosophical question. It might be a problem with a simple answer, but to Maru, it was a tricky question that he could not answer so easily.

Even a person who lived one life would not easily be able to write an autobiography. Even at the age of twilight, there would be no end once they started to think about who or what they truly were. For Maru, he had lived not one, but several repeated lives. What could he define as ‘Han Maru’ in that repeated process? According to the masked man’s words, all the various different Han Marus were given different endings. There was only one person who was given the name Han Maru, but the results were very different, so it was hard to define what he was exactly. Just what could he call himself? He couldn’t point out the things that made him, so what he had to imbue into the character was vague. As for abstract feelings, they were everywhere. Among those, what was it that he had to objectify and add to the character?

As his personality was like a vine, which relied on each other to grow up, it was not easy to pull out just one of them. Yet, despite that, if he was asked to pick just one trait that could be considered the centerpiece, it was probably the tendency to avoid danger as much as possible.

‘Gukji’ was a character that was easily swayed by his surroundings. He did not respond sensitively to change and was always swept under those changes. Even when his family collapsed and he was abandoned, even when he worked as a boy who sold gums, even when he was swept up in all kinds of unjust matters, he did not even show any resistance and just kept on living. It might be something he had no choice about in order to survive, but it did not change the fact that he was an extremely passive person. Towards the end of the film, he would change into a more active person, but even that change was brought about by external factors, and he was just dragged by those elements. Wouldn’t it hurt the character Gukji if he was bestowed a tendency to avoid danger; wouldn’t that hurt the subjectivity of the character? It wouldn’t influence the character a lot since the character would ultimately follow the script, but it would surely change the overall atmosphere if all the minute changes piled up. Did director Park mean to say that he was going to allow and accept an attempt that might change the film?

It was impossible to change the direction of a train running on rails, but it was possible to change the speed. That was the role, as well as the rights of an actor. Director Park gave him the right to reform Gukji.

Maru got his jumper. It was about time to get to the scene after getting some makeup. He opened the door and came out. Gyungjin was walking on the other side.

“It’s begun again.”

“Yeah.”

“Right, have you seen Kang Giwoo?”

“Yes. I’ve seen him in the lobby.”

“I tried to see him too, but he’s apparently not leaving his room. I was going to say hi with Yoojung.”

“Maybe he’s tired.”

“Director Park Joongjin sure is something, huh? His name made a famous actor voluntarily play an extra and come all the way down here. From what I heard, he came here even though he doesn’t have any shoot today, just to watch. It looks like he’s a studious fellow just like the rumors. That must be why he managed to gain so much fame at his age, along with his skills.”

“True. I also wish I was popular.”

“Me too. Why is it so goddamn hard to leave a semi-basement house? I’m on the better side too, since I get paid by my theater troupe. If I didn’t, I would’ve quit ages ago.”

“Let us both do our best, hoping that this piece will give us wings.”

“I would have no other wish if that happened.”

Yoojung came out of her room just then and they went down to the first floor together. As not many people participated in the production of the film, there weren’t that many cars. Inside the vehicle that was used as a makeshift makeup room on set, the stylist manager had finished her preparations and was waiting.

“Your face is riddled with fatigue. Come on up. I’ll make you look pretty,” head manager Byun said with a smile, and then pointed at the entrance of the hotel.

“He’s a good-looking guy even from a distance, huh?”

Kang Giwoo was coming out.