Entertainment Life With A Camera

Chapter 173

Z―Day (8)

The shooting of ‘Z―Day’ was nearing its end.

After a slight friction in the bathroom, Eom Ji-hwan kept quiet. He didn’t talk much even when he was alone with Ian, and they ignored each other whenever they had a chance.

‘Eom Ji-hwan is quiet.’

[He’s trying to become more famous than you, right?]

‘Really?’

Ian arrived at the shooting site and greeted the staff as usual.

‘How is he going to become famous? His skills are the same.’

[He’s probably spreading a lot of rumors. He’s also going to be in another drama. His agency is like that.]

Well, it’s not all about skills in the entertainment industry. It was better to use everything he could.

Ian chuckled. He wasn’t too worried about Eom Ji-hwan grinding his teeth.

‘Did he get a sponsor before?’

[Not from Cheonghwa, but from another side. He spread a lot of rumors around this time. He shone for a moment and then disappeared.]

‘Did he?’

Ian frowned. He felt like he remembered something.

[He might go into another drama after this. He got into ‘Coincidence’ with a push, but… I don’t know now.]

‘Wait, what role did he get in that?’

[I don’t remember well, but… he was a male supporting actor? Or a sub male lead?]

‘Crazy…’

‘Coincidence’. It was a drama he couldn’t forget. In his previous life, Kim Yong-min, Ian’s former self, had made it to the final audition, but suddenly he was told not to come. They didn’t give him a proper answer, and he had to prepare for another audition with regret.

Later, when ‘Coincidence’ became popular and had good ratings and exports, he felt so empty.

‘So it was because of Eom Ji-hwan…’

Ian liked to approach the actors who were in the same drama as him first. It was a kind of routine for him.

He could act more comfortably when the actors got along well.

He even took care of the extras, but Eom Ji-hwan was the only one he didn’t like among the actors of ‘Z―Day’. So he unconsciously kept his distance by calling him Ji-hwan, Ji-hwan.

‘No wonder…’

It was a past thing and Ian was no longer Kim Yong-min, but he didn’t feel good when he found out that he had lost his role. The loss he felt at that time was indescribable.

[Kim Yong-min again?]

Jin laughed as he read Ian’s expression.

When Ian finished his makeup and headed to the shooting site, Kim Min-jae quietly came to his side and walked along the corridor with him.

“Hello, hyung.”

“Hi, are you okay?”

“I’m used to it now, as soon as the bruises disappear, new ones appear.”

Ian and Kim Min-jae, who enjoyed action acting, were excited by the director and the action director, who became bolder after seeing Ian’s performance.

Ian was happy to shoot on the spot because he looked good on camera, but he felt the pain in the van on his way back to the dormitory and regretted it later.

“Aren’t you working too hard? I’m embarrassed to use a stunt.”

“We’re supposed to use stunts, our bodies are our assets.”

“Right, what if you get hurt? Just do enough.”

“I got greedy… I’m already feeling the manager’s eyes, so I’m not going to do it all by myself next time.”

“So you’re going to do it all in this work?”

Ian didn’t answer and just smiled. Kim Min-jae looked at him with an annoyed expression.

‘But thanks to him, I’m motivated.’

He felt a new passion when he saw Ian working hard on the shooting. Kim Min-jae thought that the people in the industry were not wrong to praise Ian.

‘He’s a friend with a lot to learn from.’

They passed the long corridor and arrived at the shooting site. They watched the staff busy setting up the scene.

“Where is Ji-hwan?”

“Where else, he’s in the van.”

Kim Min-jae shrugged. It was Eom Ji-hwan’s van in the distance.

He used to come to the site often in the beginning, but he gradually stopped coming and only came out to act when he had his own shooting. He stayed in the van most of the time. He even ate separately in the van.

The staff were the ones who suffered. They had to run to the van and tell him to get ready for the shooting.

“It’s not good for a young guy to act like that…”

“Hyung, you’ll be called an old man if you say that.”

“Why, I’m right. The people who work on the same work should have a grasp of the whole picture of the site, not just their own acting…”

The director and the veteran actors who had worked with him on many works looked at Eom Ji-hwan’s van and murmured. They smiled warmly when they saw Ian and Kim Min-jae watching the site.

They felt their eyes and approached them. They bowed their upper bodies.

“Hello, seniors. Did you go back well yesterday?”

“Look at our Ian and Min-jae, how diligent they are.”

“Ha ha, thank you.”

Ian and Kim Min-jae smiled awkwardly as they received compliments from the veteran actors.

“You and Ji-hwan don’t seem to get along well these days.”

“We were never close, you know.”

Kim Min-jae whispered to Ian, who was standing next to the senior actors and getting used to the atmosphere of the filming set. Ian shrugged his shoulders.

“Actually, I heard everything in the bathroom.”

“Really?”

It didn’t matter who heard it. This kind of quarrel was common in the entertainment industry. There were scenes of staff being abused, and actors fighting and grabbing each other’s collars, which he had witnessed more than once. Ian and Eom Ji-hwan were rather playful.

“Don’t worry too much.”

He didn’t care enough, but he was grateful for the concern and nodded silently.

“Isn’t it strange? They haven’t found this hideout yet…”

“…”

“They found out too quickly that I have a special immunity.”

“…”

“Was it you?”

Na-woo-shin felt betrayed when he realized that Kim Jun-hee, who didn’t say anything, was the one who leaked his information.

“It was you.”

Na-woo-shin kicked the place and ran out.

He stopped in a deserted alley after escaping the hideout and muttered.

“I can’t trust anyone.”

He had lost his job and became a fugitive overnight because of Kim Jun-hee. He couldn’t trust the zombies or the government.

“What should I do now?”

The situation began to change rapidly. Kim Kang-hyuk showed signs of betrayal after being persuaded by the soldiers, and Na-woo-shin became more suspicious of Kim Jun-hee.

“K is not trustworthy. Come with me to the government side.”

“Do you think they will guarantee our safety if we go to the government side? This is betrayal.”

“This is not betrayal, this is finding the right place.”

Kim Kang-hyuk tried to persuade Na-woo-shin.

Kim Jun-hee, who knew everything, made up his mind to do the final terror.

When Na-woo-shin’s mind leaned toward Kim Kang-hyuk, Na-woo-shin noticed something strange about Kim Jun-hee.

‘That guy is…’

He had never taken the vaccine that he had to take regularly, and he had never eaten a human corpse.

“You…”

He said there was one more person like me. Could it be.

Kim Jun-hee smiled when he read his thoughts from Na-woo-shin’s expression.

“I said there was only one, right? That’s me.”

“What?”

“I’m a little different from the perfect Mr. Woo-shin. They call it a mutant.”

“But why…”

“They must have found me unsuitable for making the vaccine they wanted, since they haven’t found it yet.”

The wanted poster of K, which was ‘capture alive on sight’, changed to ‘kill on sight’ after Na-woo-shin became a second-class fugitive. They didn’t need K anymore, since they had a substitute called Na-woo-shin.

“Kim Kang-hyuk told you to go to the government side, right?”

“How… how did you know…”

“Do you still want to entrust yourself to the government after seeing this?”

Kim Jun-hee threw a blood-stained file to Na-woo-shin. He caught it in surprise and looked at the data in the file. There were records of some experiments, and pictures of Kim Jun-hee being tied up and drained of blood in the lab.

“This is…”

“This is your future.”

Kim Jun-hee recalled his past.

He was a zombie who wandered outside the barrier, who had survived the apocalypse together. He had been outside for a long time, and he had regained his emotions and desire for life after being captured by humans.

“They won’t treat you as a human. They will see you as a useful livestock at best.”

And scenes of him being experimented on and drained of blood by humans were shown one by one.

‘He is not suitable for making the vaccine we want.’

‘Dispose of him.’

He heard the whispers about his fate, and Kim Jun-hee, who thought he would die if he stayed here, escaped the lab with the other zombies, and the lab was engulfed in flames.

“Your DNA should be suitable for the vaccine.”

Kim Jun-hee had been researching the vaccine with his own blood until Na-woo-shin appeared. He handed over the USB containing the data to Na-woo-shin.

“Mr. Woo-shin, don’t trust anyone.”

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“I don’t know… I’m not sure.”

Maybe it was because of the sympathy for the same disease. He also had a wish that he had an ally when he was in that situation.

He was living a life bound by duty, without any freedom. He had to act as the leader of the zombies, terrorize people intermittently, and raid the laboratories of Hwaun Pharmaceuticals scattered around the world, looking for clues to the vaccine. He only found himself in this situation.

“Do what’s best for you to survive, Woo-shin.”

He said goodbye to Na-woo-shin.

K, or Kim Jun-hee, was exhausted now.

“Cut! Good job!”

Ian and Kim Min-jae relaxed their expressions as they faced each other. They checked the shooting monitor with the director and did another retake. Then they took a break while the staff prepared for the next scene.

‘This is the first time I’ve seen so many extras.’

[That’s the advantage of having a lot of capital.]

The extras dressed as zombies were gathered in a corner of the set. Ian had been to many sets in his previous and current life, but this was the largest number of people he had ever seen.

“Hello.”

“Hello… Oh!”

Ian approached the group of extras and bowed his upper body to greet them. The extras who were waiting were startled and screamed.

“Crazy!”

“Are you a fan?”

As people crowded around Ian, Park Dong-soo stuck to Ian’s side with a nervous expression.

“Do you want me to take a picture with you? We still have some time before the shooting starts.”

“Really?”

“You must be bored waiting. I am too.”

The extras had to wait for a long time until their turn came. They had to spend time in boredom without knowing exactly when the shooting time was, and they had to keep waiting in the bus.

[Do you really need to do this?]

‘Why not? They all like it.’

If it was Kim Yong-min, he wouldn’t have attracted so many people. Ian decided to enjoy doing fan service.

“Ian…”

“Sorry, hyung.”

Ian smiled awkwardly as he saw Park Dong-soo sighing.

‘He’s just pretending.’

Eom Ji-hwan, who was watching the situation from inside the van, snorted as he looked at Ian.

‘Does he think anyone will appreciate him for managing his image like that?’