LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 40
“Joo Seo-yeon, and Pyo Ji-woo.”
Jo Do-yul called out Seo-yeon and Ji-woo.
“I’d like to see both of your acting one more time. Is it possible to do Act 4 Scene 3?”
Act 4 Scene 3. This scene doesn’t involve the male lead ‘Baesung-hak’, but rather poses a threat to the female lead, Song Min-seo. It reveals Hong Jeong-hee’s underlying violence entwined with ominousness.
‘Of course, I’ve memorized the script.’
Seo-yeon pondered how to respond. However, unlike her practice for Act 3 for the audition, she had never performed Act 4 Scene 3 even though she had memorized all the lines.
“…Can I have a moment to practice before I perform?”
“You may.”
He checked the watch on his wrist and replied. There was still time left, as the other actors’ questions had ended quickly.
“Well then.”
Just as Seo-yeon was about to say she would take only 10 minutes of practice time…
“I’m good.”
The stiff voice of Ji-woo cut in. Seo-yeon’s gaze shifted, and her eyes met Ji-woo’s.
“Whenever’s fine.”
Pyo Ji-woo smiled at Seo-yeon, who stared back expressionlessly, as if teasing her.
‘So, what’s your move?’
Clearly, she was a prideful girl. Just from the fact that she returned a little sneer, it was evident.
A genius child actor? Well, sure. That could be true. But so what?
Ji-woo was serious. As he had just told Jo Do-yul, she didn’t care about any scene of ‘Hong Jeong-hee’. She had memorized every scene of Hong Jeong-hee in the script and had performed it over and over again.
‘Hong Jeong-hee is me.’
She could empathize with her emotions more than anyone else.
Method acting. That’s what you could call it. Her obsession.
It took her a year from being just an audience in the play to standing here for one person.
‘You can practice.’
Ji-woo looked at Seo-yeon as if to say that. She said she was a high school student. A teenage girl would definitely fall easily for such provocation.
‘Then, your chance of winning will completely disappear.’
Ji-woo didn’t dismiss Seo-yeon. The performance he had just seen was really good. It was quite reflective of Hong Jeong-hee.
If a practice time was given, something like today could happen again. He might even unluckily lose.
That was something Ji-woo absolutely couldn’t tolerate.
“…I’ll just do it.”
Seo-yeon replied flatly. It was a face and voice that made it hard to read emotions. However, the clear competitive spirit in her eyes made Ji-woo smirk.
‘Alright.’
No matter how talented she was, you can’t excel at something you’ve never done before. Of course, he was confident he’d win even if they practiced, but this was a decision by Seo-yeon to surrender unilaterally.
“Really?”
Jo Do-yul also looked puzzled.
‘She’s still a high school student, huh?’ Couldn’t believe she was so easily provoked by Ji-woo.
‘She must not get too emotional.’
While Jo Do-yul was adjusting his evaluation of Seo-yeon, she cut in.
“Instead.”
Seo-yeon squeezed in her words.
“Is it okay if I go after Pyo Ji-woo this time?”
“After Pyo Ji-woo?”
“Yes. I went first last time.”
Jo Do-yul glanced at the other judges, who mostly nodded in agreement, indicating they didn’t mind.
“Hmm, understood. Then, for this performance, Pyo Ji-woo will go first. You okay with that, Pyo Ji-woo?”
“…Yes.”
What was she thinking? Ji-woo looked at Seo-yeon with a puzzled smirk. It was hard to read her expression even by looking at her face. She looked almost like a doll. Her emotional expression was faint, and her face was stunningly beautiful.
“Act 4 Scene 3. The scene where Hong Jeong-hee appears before Song Min-seo to threaten her.”
With Jo Do-yul’s words, Pyo Ji-woo stepped forward. And her performance began.
“Do you really think you’re special?”
With a trembling voice, Hong Jeong-hee fiercely raged, driving Song Min-seo against the wall. Thud, the wall shook as if she hit it hard.
Because Hong Jeong-hee had a bent back, her gaze was fixed straight ahead. Perfectly considering Song Min-seo’s height.
Looking at the frightened Song Min-seo, she stammered, “You’re just feeling pity. My brother is so kind that he can’t bear to look at a deaf, useless girl!”
Her eyes trembled as if expressing heightened emotion. The audience in the theater couldn’t witness that emotion, but Ji-woo’s gaze was fixed on the judges.
At the same time, Ji-woo’s hand moved.
Swish.
Like smashing an invisible wall, she struck the air.
Her body shook as if her arm really collided with a wall. It was a sign of Hong Jeong-hee’s intense emotions and violence. Simultaneously, her body shook with fear.
That aggression stemmed from the excessive backlash of timid and introverted Hong Jeong-hee’s defenses.
Ji-woo vented it out, pouring into her actions passionately.
‘Whoa.’
Jo Do-yul was left speechless at the sight.
The other judges were the same, swallowing hard.
‘She’s practically Hong Jeong-hee herself.’
Ji-woo recited Hong Jeong-hee’s lines verbatim. The inferiority, the fear, the violence born from that.
‘This… even Joo Seo-yeon…’
The first Act 3 Scene 6 performance was similar. It expressed two different shades of Hong Jeong-hee. Either one was worthy of casting, that’s how he felt.
‘There really is a suitable actor for every role.’
Ji-woo thought Pyo Ji-woo suited the role too well. The expression of those emotions, and her movements.
It felt as if this role existed solely for her.
‘This can’t go on.’
It was regrettable for Seo-yeon, but this role belonged to Ji-woo.
As he looked at Seo-yeon, Jo Do-yul felt a chill run down his spine.
Seo-yeon’s eyes were fixed on Ji-woo.
She didn’t blink even once.
With a poker face, it seemed she was forgetting even to breathe as she stared at Ji-woo.
Her red eyes.
In the dark, those eyes felt strangely red.
‘Surely.’
In Jo Do-yul’s gaze, Seo-yeon thought.
‘Pyo Ji-woo represents Hong Jeong-hee.’
From the moment Ji-woo began her second performance, Seo-yeon acknowledged that fact.
Yeah, indeed this role belongs to you.
To be honest, if told to step back, she would have willingly conceded.
There would always be other films, dramas. Or she could find another play.
With a little time passed, there would be many opportunities.
But now that she was in this situation, those thoughts didn’t arise.
‘Absolutely not.’
She couldn’t yield.
Competitive spirit.
Seo-yeon felt a strong new emotion.
She realized a new side of herself.
‘I hate losing.’
“Think carefully, Song Min-seo. Is there really someone who’ll genuinely like a deaf person like you?”
Embodying Ji-woo, and the Hong Jeong-hee that she presented.
She engraved the emotions, actions, and movements Ji-woo portrayed into her mind.
Forgetting to blink, she mindlessly took in all the information Ji-woo was expressing.
One by one, piece by piece.
“Don’t mess with me, I warned you not to mess with me!!”
This was, indeed, habitual practice.
Also, the only art her past self could have expressed.
Emotions are like replicating a canvas.
“I liked you way before.”
How many visual media did she engage with to express someone’s emotions?
How many books did she read to articulate that abstract something into reality?
“Yet suddenly, you barged in.”
For the first time in a long time, Seo-yeon revived that memory.
She picked up the brush.
Now, she replicated the emotions of Hong Jeong-hee that Ji-woo expressed.
Carefully moving her brush, not missing a single stroke in Ji-woo’s canvas.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect.
Her emotional replication was infinitely close to genuine, but it didn’t reach Ji-woo, who was like method acting.
Then,
There was only one answer left.
“Song Min-seo!!”
Bang, just as Hong Jeong-hee gripped Song Min-seo’s hair and was about to slam her head against the wall, her hand suddenly froze.
Because it transitioned into the scene where Baesung-hak appeared and seized Hong Jeong-hee’s arm.
“…It’s over.”
At those calm words, the judges blankly burst into applause.
It was indeed a flawless performance of Hong Jeong-hee.
One would wonder if any performance could surpass this.
‘Who played Hong Jeong-hee before?’
This “Eyes Closed” was a play that had its premiere three years ago on Daehangno.
This was simply a revival.
Yet when seeing Ji-woo, he couldn’t recall who played Hong Jeong-hee before.
“Next up, Joo Seo-yeon.”
Jo Do-yul called out Seo-yeon calmly, examining her face.
If Seo-yeon was still a high school student, she couldn’t help but feel great pressure from this performance.
However, at the same time, he recalled Seo-yeon’s eyes from earlier.
‘Surprisingly.’
‘Calm, huh?’
‘She’s got a strong mental fortitude~.’
The judges whispered in soft voices.
That last performance was enough to put significant pressure on anyone.
It would have been better to perform first, he thought.
“Then, I look forward to your Act 4 Scene 3.”
“Yes.”
A calm response.
Seo-yeon stepped forward.
Right to the spot where Ji-woo had just stood.
As Seo-yeon stood there, Ji-woo slightly narrowed her eyes.
‘What a peculiar girl.’
Even now, not a single change in expression, she was such a dull person.
‘Heh, heh heh.’
Regardless, Ji-woo found it hard not to let out a laugh.
The performance she just put on was better than anything Ji-woo had rehearsed alone up to that point.
She understood the reason.
‘It’s because there’s Min Se-ho among the judges.’
Secretly, Ji-woo glanced at Min Se-ho.
Then, she saw his body tremble slightly, looking around nervously.
Indeed, Hong Jeong-hee was herself.
How much effort did she put into practicing to approach him and perform this play alongside him?
Since the moment a year ago when his participation in this play was confirmed.
“Then, I’ll begin.”
With Seo-yeon’s calm words,
Act 4 Scene 3.
Seo-yeon’s performance as Hong Jeong-hee began.
‘…Huh?’
The first to sense the strangeness was Ji-woo herself.
Seo-yeon’s footsteps shifted, her moving gestures.
The emotions displayed on her face.
The moving eyes and breath that was almost suffocating in its urgency.
‘This girl!’
She moved, her body acting and blocking as if mirroring someone.
Someone.
Needless to say, it was Ji-woo, herself.
“Do you really think you’re special?”
She moved as if she were the emotions Ji-woo had presented.
‘She mimicked me! Yes, imitated me…?’
With dialogue flowing, riding on the emotion line.
Surely it resembled Ji-woo’s expressed emotions.
‘What the heck?’
Yet, something was different.
‘Just understanding the information and mimicking it isn’t enough.’
It was fine back when she was a child actor, but now the standards were different.
Ultimately, just replicating wouldn’t allow her to surpass Ji-woo.
Thus, Seo-yeon’s emotional replication was merely for understanding the role.
Ji-woo anticipated her victory because she understood Hong Jeong-hee’s feelings more than anyone.
Seo-yeon’s lack of emotional line was ultimately due to her failure to fully grasp the character of Hong Jeong-hee.
If Ji-woo had managed to embody Hong Jeong-hee’s emotions and understand them,
Then the preparation was complete.
She was ready to dive fully into the role.