“This is RBS’s Seoul HQ.”

“It’s rather big.”

“It is. The office building in the center is 12 stories tall, and the broadcasting station next to it is 7 stories tall, so just going by area, it’s probably 1.5 times bigger than that of YBS, you know?”

Byungchan parked the car in RBS’s parking lot. It was prohibited to park in front of the front door.

“I have to get going.”

“Okay, be careful.”

“Call me once you’re done. I’ll give you a ride.”

“It’s fine. I can just take the bus and train when I go back. It’ll be fine just to get a ride if you’re going the same way.”

After sending Byungchan away, who told him to give him a call no matter what, Maru turned his head to look at the RBS building. The blue-tinted glass was reflecting the sunlight. Thinking about how numerous TV programs including dramas, entertainment programs, and news programs were being created inside, he felt rather curious.

He went around the parking lot and walked to the front door of the building. There were young children lined up outside. They seemed to have come to tour around since they just started their holidays. Next to the automatic door which was fixed in an open state, there was a rotary door which had the sign ‘no entry’ on it. It seemed that they blocked off that entrance for the safety of the children.

When he passed the air curtain, he was greeted by the lobby. The ceiling wasn’t there until the third floor, and the glass walls installed on both sides made the lobby look even bigger. On the right were numerous round sofas and people were drinking coffee. There were also quite a lot of people who were reading books they took out from the five-level shelves lined up outside the coffee shop.

Above the information desk, the corridors on the 2nd and 3rd floors could be seen, and people wearing jumpers were carrying around a lot of things. Some of them were even on their phones as they did so.

‘So this is a workplace as well.’

Maru smiled faintly and walked towards the information desk.

“I’m here for the audition.”

“Which audition is it?”

“It’s for a drama, a historical drama. But I heard that the title wasn’t decided yet.”

“What ‘s your name?”

“Han Maru.”

The lady typed on her keyboard for a while before giving him a pen and paper.

“Please write this down, and write down the purpose of your visit at the bottom. Also your phone number. You’ll have to return the temporary entrance card when you leave, and please be aware that you may receive restrictions if you do not return it. Please wear the card on you at all times, so that you don’t lose it.”

The lady gave him a card with a blue cord on it.

“You can enter through the entrance on the left of the lobby, and you’ll be able to enter if you put the card against the sensor. Think of it as the metro.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you.”

Leaving behind the lady who smiled at him, he walked towards the left of the lobby. The electric card readers were lined up, and next to it was a man that looked like a security guard holding a walkie-talkie. He put his card against the card reader. A blue LED flashed before the waist-height barrier opened up.

Maru hung the card around his neck and walked inside. In front of him were life-size cutouts of the two announcers of RBS. Above their heads was a sign that read ‘Honest South Korea’. Next to them was a noticeboard, and there was a big notice saying ‘RBS Special Historical Drama Audition’. The location was studio A on the 2nd floor. Maru turned left and tried to walk to the 2nd floor through the stairs, but the door to the staircase was locked. Did he have to go to the other side?

Just then, a girl and presumably her mother walked into the lobby.

“I heard it was studio A.”

“Then it’s this way.”

He followed the mother and daughter who walked boldly as though they were used to it. When they turned right, facing the corridor, there were elevators. Quite a lot of people were waiting for an elevator. Maru also joined the group and got on an elevator.

After getting off on the 2nd floor, Maru followed the mother and daughter duo again. It was always best to follow someone else who knew the way when not knowing the path. They crossed the corridor from which they could see the lobby from above. On the beige-colored walls were many education-related programs created by RBS.

Arriving at the end of the corridor, the mother and daughter walked through an open door. Maru raised his head a little. Studio A. It seemed that he had arrived at the right place. He slowly walked through the door that was soundproofed. He could see light fixtures on a dark ceiling. On one side were studio-grade cameras.

“If you’re here for the audition, please come this way,” a man wearing a baseball cap backwards said as he waved around a rolled up paper. Maru watched out for the cables running across the ground as he walked.

“What’s your name?”

“Han Maru.”

“Han Maru, Han Maru. Ah, there it is. The waiting room is to the left. You need to wait there.”

After nodding towards the man, Maru walked to the back of the studio. There was an entrance hidden behind some fiberboard and when he walked through that, he saw a room with a paper saying ‘audition waiting room’ plastered on the door. He could hear some voices inside.

“Didn’t know I’d see you here, Yejin’s mom[1].”

“Me neither, Sorae’s mom. How have you been?”

“I’ve been doing fine. How about you?”

“I’ve been doing well too. Other than that I gained a little weight.”

“You still look skinny though.”

There were four moms and their children. Some of the children talked to each other while some looked very awkward.

When Maru went in, their gazes were gathered on him for a moment, but they soon returned to their conversations. There were quite a lot of young kids here. Though, the production team were looking for child actors.

From elementary to high school - there were people of various ages. While some of them were shaking their legs in nervousness, there were some who were leaning against the wall yawning despite being so young.

“We’re going to start, so please be ready.”

“Yes.”

The moms all cheerfully replied.

‘Would it be free acting? No, I guess it will be script acting.’

The elder gave him a hint along with the opportunity for the audition. It was the fact that Maru was going to be a beggar. Although the lead and supporting actors were notified of the roles beforehand so that they could prepare, minor actors were mostly decided on the spot according to the act they did during the audition. The casting director, the producer, or the writer would quickly pick out people suitable for various roles.

Of course, the minor actors that were picked this way were those that didn’t have a lot of significance. The difference between minor actors and background actors was that minor actors appeared a lot more than background actors since there were certain scenes that required them. If the main character was a lead role, the main character’s friend would be a supporting role, the ‘talkative kid in the group’ would be a minor actor with significance, and the rest of that group would be minor actors with less significance. After that came the background actors who didn’t belong to any group, like ‘passerby A’.

“We’ll begin with the child actresses. Han Solmi, Lee Jin-ah, Kang Soojin, An Seol, Cho Yoogyung, Kim Haejin, Kim Bitna. The seven of you please come to the studio. Also, take off any accessories you are wearing, like hairpins for example.”

When the production team called out, the moms all stood up. They grabbed the hands of their children and left the waiting room. The waiting room had become a bit quieter. Maru found an empty chair to sit on and closed his eyes after leaning his head against the wall.

* * *

“Me too?”

“Yes, you too.”

“Senior. Do you see these bags under my eyes? I’m about to be exhausted to death.”

“Junior. Staying one night in the editing room is compulsory, and two nights is basic. Do you know what three nights is? I’ll give it to you if I feel pissed. Follow me obediently before I drag your ass.”

“I was just joking, senior.”

“Hey, do you think you’re qualified to joke with me? Was I too soft on you?”

When Changsung rolled his eyes, Jinhyuk flinched and looked down on the floor with his hands clasped. Changsung watched him for a while before chuckling and tapped on his shoulder.

“Hey, you scared of me?”

When he said that, Jinhyuk raised his head with a grin.

“There’s no way I’d be scared with just that, right?”

“I knew it.”

“But would I be any useful over there? I honestly can’t differentiate between those who are good and bad at acting.”

Jinhyuk locked his hands and put them behind his head. Changsung agreed with him.

“Me too. But what can we do about it? We need to pick the useful ones we find among them.”

“Then what should we focus on?”

“First, those that don’t cry.”

“Those that don’t cry?”

“Yes. These days, the kids’ moms are with them at the set, and they’re a pain to deal with. Aren’t elementary school kids all grown up? But they’re all so adamant on coming. Two years ago, when I was shooting a historical drama, one of the kids fell over on a haystack, and the kid’s mom created a huge ruckus.”

“Because she wasn’t happy with the way her kid was treated?”

“No, she beat up the crying kid, telling the kid not to cry. ‘Isn’t your dream to become an actor? Your mom’s doing her best to help you out and you can’t even do that?’ The mom said such a thing and started beating up her kid, and man, I had to step in to stop her, because the kid was too pitiful.”

“Moms are scary.”

“I get that they’re having a hard time taking care of their kids, but if they are going to do that they might as well not have their kids do acting. It felt like they were venting their stress on their kids. Anyway, I get that a parent might accompany a young child, but they should do it moderately. Anyway, if the kid is stiff or if the parent is interrupting too much, they’ll fail that instant. Also, it’s no good if the kid looks like they’ll cry during the shoot. As for acting skills, we can make that up by shooting five or six fucking times.”

“Senior, don’t swear.”

“Oh, fuck it. Fuck, fuck, FUCK!”

“There you go again. Please calm down, you’ll just stress yourself out even more.”

Changsung sighed. The schedule for the first shoot was already set in stone. His second historical drama had started. When he thought about what happened two years ago, he had a headache. He couldn’t go home, he shot outside as often as he ate a meal, and for some reason, he had shots scheduled away from the city. This damned Seoul leveled all the mountains and forests, so they had to go to the countryside unless they wanted to rent a studio to do it. If a problem occurred while they were renting a historical site, all of their schedules would be delayed, causing an endless streak of headaches. If there was an accident during crowd scenes, especially with horses he would get an earful from the president. The moment those ‘honorable lord horses’ sprain their ankle or something, he would get scolded more than when a person was hurt since horses cost more than his yearly salary. The rental fee for horses was 10 times more than the cost to hire people after all.

“Damn, I wonder why I didn’t go to the culture department. Morning programs, how good does that sound? They laugh all the time, make some food, and get to shoot kind neighborhood elders.”

“Don’t escape from reality and just get going. The schedule is already set. Hell is upon us.”

“Jinhyuk. Don’t start a drama and go to the entertainment section. The future is entertainment. Go there and raise your worth.”

“Senior, let’s do this!”

Jinhyuk pushed his back. Changsung sighed as he watched studio A closing in on him.

“It looks like they’re waiting already.”

When he went into the studio, the child actresses were lined up already. When he left the drama department office, he had told the staff here to get things ready in five minutes, but it seemed that five minutes had passed already. Looking at the moms standing on one side, he walked to the center of the studio.

“Hello!”

The children greeted him as though they were waiting for him. It was quite fascinating. He hadn’t told anyone that he was the producer, yet they recognized him anyway. Of course, their moms were the ones that gave them signals. This was why housewives were scary.

“Yes, hello. I am producer Han Changsung who will be going over your acting today, little friends. Next to me is producer Kim Jinhyuk. What we’re going to do today is simple. You just need to show me an act that I’m asking for. It’s easy, isn’t it?”

“Yes!”

The children replied vigorously. This was looking good. There wasn’t anyone that was crying right off the bat. He sighed in relief before sitting down. The screen in front of him showed the footage from the camera that was set up beforehand. Since he was looking for minor actors without much significance, he just needed to pick those that had patience and didn’t stand out too much.

“Okay, let’s begin right away. Han Solmi.”

“Yes!”

A girl wearing a t-shirt with a character on it raised her hand above her head and stepped out.

“You aren’t crossing the road, so you don’t need to raise your hand.”

“Yes!”

“And please lower your voice a little.”

“Yes.”

“You aren’t here to play around, right?”

“Yes. I am here to do acting.”

“Good. Then try doing what I say, okay? Okay, smile.”

He rested his chin on his hand as he spoke. The child panicked and looked around before looking at her mother. The mother quickly urged her to start acting, and the child just looked ahead of her and hesitated. Changsung smiled and inwardly sighed. The boring audition had just begun.

[1] In Korea, parents have a habit of calling fellow parents “yyy’s mom”, “zzz’s dad”.