Chapter 235
However, the stunt actors playing Rosalyn’s bodyguards were utterly baffled by the sudden call for an action scene.
That was only natural.
Action acting typically requires a considerable amount of time to synchronize.
Otherwise, the scene could end up messy, and accidents could occur.
‘I was definitely a bit stronger than expected, which threw me off, but action acting is a different story. Someone like that girl…’
The actors assigned to guard Rosalyn were white actors brought in from Japan.
Naturally, they thought it was just a coincidence that little Seo-yeon had been knocked over, or perhaps attributed it to their own laxity.
“Actor Joo Seo-yeon should be able to shorten that time significantly.”
Of course, the Korean staff who had watched <Hyper Action Star> responded with understanding.
The Japanese crew, on the other hand, looked slightly puzzled.
While Seo-yeon had crawled during the variety show, she had never demonstrated anything in terms of action acting.
“And, Ji-yeon.”
After establishing a rough scene composition, Director Baek Min called for Ji-yeon.
“Improvisation is fine, but please stick to the script properly.”
“Ah, yes.”
“It’s not that I’m saying not to do it at all, but then what’s the point of the script?”
Director Baek Min’s words weren’t particularly sharp.
However, Lee Ji-yeon couldn’t help but bow her head in shame.
Because he was a hundred percent right.
At least this time, the tone of the acting had only slightly differed, and the lines were pretty much as per the script.
If this time she had entirely improvised her lines, she might have received a good scolding.
‘I’ll be careful.’
As she sighed and gazed in Stella’s direction, Ji-yeon thought, ‘But what could I do?’
At that moment, she had no choice but to accept Stella’s performance.
It felt as though she had experienced Seo-yeon’s acting properly.
When faced head-on, it causes one to freeze unintentionally.
Originally, Ji-yeon had not used this much improvisation in other dramas.
‘I need to find a way to digest the script properly…’
While Ji-yeon was deep in thought about acting, Stella spoke.
“We’re going to shoot a long take while moving through this corridor.”
Stella was the perfect fit for conveying Korean effectively, as she could speak both Japanese and English.
“They said they want to try practicing first. Hmm, I wonder if that’s really alright?”
The stunt actors felt worried at Stella’s light-hearted words.
“Could you please convey that if they act recklessly, they could get hurt?”
The white actor said politely, causing Stella to tilt her head in confusion, as if she had heard something strange.
“Oh, you must not watch YouTube, huh?”
“Excuse me?”
“Aha, it’s nothing. Well, maybe experiencing it firsthand is faster than just watching videos? But didn’t they throw Seo-yeon earlier?”
“It wasn’t thrown; she was simply pushed over strongly. Her legs got tangled up pretty badly.”
The white actor reacted strongly, as if his pride was somehow hurt.
Stella, knowing the traits of American men, realized he was quite embarrassed.
“Look at my physique. There’s no way I would be thrown by such a girl. It was certainly stronger than expected, but that’s all it was.”
From the looks of it, he seemed to have significant experience as a stunt actor.
He clearly thought it was absurd to be thrown by a small Asian girl.
Although it wasn’t explicitly stated, the look in his eyes and his expression conveyed that sentiment.
Stella could understand that sentiment better than anyone else, having seen it since she was young.
With a playful smile, Stella placed her finger to her lips.
‘This is real racism.’
She chuckled softly.
Well, if this macho actor says so…
“Seo-yeon.”
“Yes?”
“The action actor said it’s okay, so do your best.”
“Is that so?”
“Yup, so I hope you put in a lot of effort. She seems to have high expectations.”
Seo-yeon nodded at Stella’s kind translation.
Earlier, she had worried that her slight force might prompt the actors to refuse, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
‘Seems like she learned some martial arts.’
It wasn’t muscles built through weight lifting; it seemed she had practiced something like martial arts.
Seo-yeon couldn’t help but admire the impressive physique of the stunt actor.
Seeing those combat-ready muscles made Seo-yeon want to learn martial arts too.
She resolved to look into it later.
“First, if you come in like this, I’ll dodge… and…”
Seo-yeon worked with them to synchronize their actions lightly.
It was a rough outline of the action.
It was so vague that the stunt actors frowned.
At this rate, it couldn’t even be considered proper action.
Well, it was absurd to add an action scene when there wasn’t even an action director present.
“Basically, something like this? Let’s just give it a try.”
“?”
Seo-yeon said this when she couldn’t think of anything else to explain.
No, they had just decided on a rough movement path.
They hadn’t clarified how to dodge or counterattack.
“Let’s just try it since it’s practice,” Stella translated Seo-yeon’s words.
The white actor in front frowned at Seo-yeon’s seemingly dismissive approach to action.
“Okay, let’s do it then. It would be nice if action acting were that easy.”
Stella interpreted the white actor’s statement.
“Action acting is really easy, apparently.”
“Is that so?”
It’s certainly not easy.
While performing action, the character’s emotions must also be conveyed.
‘Did I fall short in explaining?’
That was indeed the case.
However, Seo-yeon had already properly learned action acting for a long time at Korea’s premier action academy, the Cheonghong Action School.
In other words, the notion of “roughly” understanding was spot on.
“Then I’ll go.”
After all, it was just practice.
But this practice wasn’t as leisurely as expected, so Seo-yeon decided to give it her all.
Taking a breath.
She stood at the entrance of the corridor, looking at the actors blocking the way to Yeon Seon-ye.
She slowly closed her eyes.
Seo-yeon had already deeply immersed herself in the role of ‘Kasugayama Yuina.’
That meant she had fully engaged in method acting this time.
With it, diving into the emotions of the character was very easy.
All she needed to do was reconnect the feelings that had been broken.
So she took her time.
“……”
Opening her eyes.
Her bright red pupils sparkled in the dimly lit end of the corridor.
“!!!”
The moment the stunt actors saw that, they felt their bodies freeze.
It was different from just a moment ago when Seo-yeon had burst through the door.
Then, there had been a sense of break in emotion, but now anyone could see she was Kasugayama Yuina.
‘Do I have to perform?’
Without realizing it, there was an actual feeling of truly becoming Rosalyn’s bodyguard.
Even just a performance that involves merely aligning movements made her hesitate whether she should still perform the character’s acting.
Surely that girl’s acting wasn’t ordinary.
Despite the long experience in Japan, they had never seen such a performance.
One step.
Then another.
Yuina walked toward them.
Actors, after all, were professionals.
Though they were surprised, they moved along the predefined trajectory.
What Seo-yeon had described was simple.
Just which direction to move in.
How to attack initially, then what to do next.
Each actor had merely agreed on such basics.
They had indicated how to dodge, but would it really go as smoothly as spoken?
Yet—
The first bodyguard’s hand reached out toward Yuina, slicing through the air.
Yuina simply evaded it lightly, tripping the bodyguard as she passed.
Next, another attacker swung a short sponge stick.
In other words, a dagger.
Yuina deflected it with her own sponge stick and executed a half-turn, hitting her opponent’s side with her elbow.
It was acting, of course, and though the force wasn’t there, it landed with a jarring impact that knocked them back.
The following bodyguards swung sponge sticks, reminiscent of Japanese swords.
Easily dodging it, as she moved, she realized she was literally flying through the air.
‘Huh?’
The actor who had fallen without a proper roll looked up at Seo-yeon blankly.
As Seo-yeon arrived at the door where Rosalyn was, her face bore a strangely dissatisfied expression.
“This isn’t right.”
Lying on the ground, the actors looked up at Seo-yeon.
Just moments ago, what Seo-yeon had shown in her actions.
Her movements strictly followed the set path.
No, beyond that, they felt immense pain throughout their bodies.
What seemed light on the surface ended up being quite different.
“Looks like we might have to do this a few more times.”
They didn’t understand Korean.
But they could roughly guess what she meant from Seo-yeon’s expression and face.
‘Does it seem like she’s going to keep going until she’s satisfied?’
“Oh, Jesus….”
Seeing the actor’s face filled with fear, Stella stifled a laugh.
‘Wait? Didn’t I end up getting slapped by Yuina at the end?’
She felt a chill run down her spine.
Like Seo-yeon, who excels in emotional acting, Stella knew the downside of such acting well.
When one becomes too immersed in the role, the emotions flow into the movements.
For example, when performing an action like slapping someone’s face.
For a brief moment, a punching machine crossed Stella’s mind.
“Hmm~, Director, if it’s alright, can we change the final scene?”
“That’s not possible.”
The firm response left Stella feeling tense for the first time in a long while.
***
“Thank you all for your hard work today!!”
Filming wrapped up quite late into the night.
Evidently, the considerable delay was due to matching the action.
It was quite surprising that they managed to shoot action scenes in just one day.
“I really want to see Seo-yeon perform proper action acting today.”
“Isn’t she going to showcase it properly in <Mine>?”
“Isn’t that set for release on OTT next year?”
“Right. Thankfully, it’s not a film. GH Group must be sharpening their knives on that one.”
“Hey, our film doesn’t lag behind others now either. Isn’t Stella making a cameo?”
“That’s true. That expensive actor… *ahem*. She really put in a lot of effort today.”
Stella must have been slapped at least five times today.
Fortunately, Seo-yeon perceives ‘getting hit’ well enough to control her strength.
Thus, Stella managed to stay safe without her head spinning off like a baseball hit by a bat.
Of course, she had still been slapped.
“…… Hmm, could it be that I did that NG on purpose?”
“That wasn’t the case, but… sorry.”
For the record, it was Lee Ji-yeon who apologized.
The one to cause the NG in that scene was neither Seo-yeon nor Stella but Ji-yeon.
Still, the scene itself turned out well in the end.
Stella had a cold ice pack resting on her cheek, which was mysteriously swollen.
What a mess after just one cameo.
“Well, it didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted. I wanted to do it just like you.”
Stella had initially intended to poke fun at Seo-yeon like in the drama, but it felt like a failure.
It was still somewhat enjoyable.
This was the first time she had ‘acted’ of getting slapped.
“So are we heading back now?”
Seo-yeon asked Stella.
She was indeed worried because she had slapped her quite a lot.
After all, wasn’t she the fairy of the century?
“Yep, of course. Are you disappointed or something?”
“Nope.”
“Aha, oh come on, that’s harsh.”
Stella laughed and briefly glanced at Jo Seo-hee.
Seo-hee had been looking like she had something to say for a while now.
“I’m looking forward to when today’s scene comes out in the movie. But it was quite enjoyable.”
“That’s… I feel the same. I learned a lot.”
“Really? That’s great.”
Stella said that and turned to look at Seo-yeon for a moment.
Indeed, the more she looked, the more she felt she resembled her.
Simultaneously, there was a sense of something different.
However, at this very moment, Seo-yeon was all that was clear.
While there were hints of distinguishing others after acting together, it clearly wasn’t sharp.
“Since we got closer from today’s shoot… I had a lot more to ask, but I guess I’ll save it for later.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh, no. Rather, then I’ll get going. My dad’s waiting. Oh, of course, I’ll just have a chat with you since it seems you have something to say.”
That was when Seo-yeon noticed Jo Seo-hee, who was looking at Stella.
What was Seo-hee looking at Stella with that face for?
“It’s nothing major, just a few questions.”
As Seo-hee said this, she waved her hand lightly, disappearing along with Stella.
What in the world did she want to ask?
Lee Ji-yeon seemed curious about that too.
“Seo-yeon, did you hear anything from Seo-hee?”
“Not at all.”
“I had a feeling from the middle of today’s shoot.”
“Seo-hee was indeed quiet during this shoot.”
“…I can’t get used to you talking to Seo-hee informally.”
“I still use polite speech. I just call her by her name comfortably.”
The two continued their conversation, watching Stella and Seo-hee depart in the distance.
After all, it seemed like there was something subtly significant there.
“Oh, Seo-yeon.”
As they were talking, Director Baek Min approached them.
Both of them quickly bowed.
“No, it’s alright. Ji-yeon, you really did well today. While improvisation is certainly your strength, please keep in mind that prioritizing the script is more important.”
“Yes, of course!”
“And… Seo-yeon, you’ve practically completed your filming today.”
“Oh, really?”
“The last remaining element is a blood fight scene with Lee Sang-soo.”
At that remark, Lee Sang-soo, who had been slightly separated, flinched.
After seeing today’s shoot, worries had started piling up.
“Thus, during the remaining filming period in Japan, it will mainly revolve around Ji-yeon and Seo-hee. Seo-yeon, you can take a break, but… I doubt they’ll let you be at ease.”
The reason for the location shoot in Japan was to capture a landscape blanketed in snow.
And it was precisely because the ‘Mansion of Michiko’ fitted ideally into Japan.
In other words, everything happening at Michiko’s Mansion was scheduled to be filmed in Japan.
Seo-yeon’s role of ‘Yuina’ would not enter Michiko’s Mansion, so there wasn’t anything to shoot, to begin with.
“First of all, Ji-yeon, you need to get properly ready now. It’s an important scene.”
“Important scene?”
Seo-yeon asked that while skimming through the script in her head.
She had to think about what the coming scene with Ji-yeon and Seo-hee would entail.
“It’s a kissing scene.”
At that, a multitude of universes unfolded behind Seo-yeon.
In an instant, her consciousness seemed to get sucked into a black hole.