“You’re about to push him away, but you are shocked when you see the shoes Han Myung-hoe is wearing. You walk backwards in surprise and fall down. Han Myung-hoe will stare at the 2nd beggar who fell down and then follow Gaeguk. Keep that in mind and keep the flow.”

After explaining things to the people standing in front of him, he walked back to the monitor.

“I thought it would take a long time, but it looks like things will end unexpectedly early,” Jinhyuk spoke as he looked at his watch.

“We might be able to eat lunch before 1 at this rate. Who’s coming today?”

“Foodmom.”

“That place is decent. One of the ones I had before was horrible. Heck, I would do better than them.”

“I recently heard that that place went out of business. One of my friends work for YBS, and apparently, they had long since dropped all deals with them due to bad rumors.”

“That it tastes horrible?”

“That’s one of them, but…,” saying that, Jinhyuk lowered his voice.

“The one running the food company is the little brother of someone who ran with the funds for a movie production.”

“I think I saw that on the news before. A twelve billion-won movie being stopped.”

“It’s probably that same one. I heard that there were a lot of individual investors. Man, they all got screwed.”

Jinhyuk clicked his tongue.

“That just makes me think that saving up money in your bank is the way to earn money. If you end up investing in things like stocks, you won’t even get your money back,” Changsung spoke as he remembered his salary bank account.

He once turned away a good friend of his, who tried to persuade him to invest in something with him, but not long after that, he heard that that friend went out of contact. He just ran after the place he invested into went out of business. Ever since then, he despised any form of investment.

“Ooh, senior. It looks like you saved up some money, huh?”

“Why do you ask?”

“To have you treat me to a meal. I heard that there’s a beef BBQ restaurant nearby.”

“Hell no.”

Changsung stopped the conversation and looked at the monitor. Despite being young, the actors all looked very serious. They looked like soldiers prior to a battle.

“Relax, you’re doing good.”

Hearing Changsung’s voice, the child actors all eased their expressions. It seemed that the conversation he had with Jihyuk was giving them misunderstandings.

“I think that one is talented. I never saw him nervous. It shouldn’t be that he’s used to it, right?”

Jinhyuk pointed at one of the kids on the monitor. The 2nd beggar. Changsung nodded.

Unlike the others, he showed leisure. Even the child actors for the lead roles were showing signs of nervousness, yet that boy was easing up others by talking to them.

“Thanks to him, I think we can finish early.”

The viewers did not forgive awkward acting just because the actor was young. The moment someone entered the camera frame, they had to show a complete act regardless of age.

However, no matter how good a child actor was, they were bound to lack compared to the adult actors who had widened their scope with years of experience. It wasn’t an easy feat for the young actors to fill that gap.

This was why suitable direction was needed in order to lessen that disparity. Child actors would usually shoot with other child actors, and the scenes they had to shoot with adult actors were shortened in length as much as possible.

Despite all that effort, the shooting time would stretch out endlessly when working with a child actor who had a shallow understanding of acting. Fortunately, the child actors this time were all doing well, which made Changsung relieved. It was especially good that there were no mistakes while shooting the minor actors since it meant that he could solely focus on the lead actors.

Changsung gave a cue signal. The 2nd beggar who ran to the opening from the street blocked Giwoo. He was following the instructions Changsung gave him during the rehearsal very accurately.

“Who are you to cause a ruckus?”

His tone was very memorable. He was quite calm and composed during their conversation, so it seemed that he had done a lot of research. The 2nd beggar and the other beggars who were about to corner Giwoo, flinched when they looked at the shoes he was wearing. They scanned him from top to bottom in a suspicious manner before realizing what they did. The second beggar walked a few steps back before falling on his butt.

At that moment, Changsung subconsciously spoke ‘whoa’ in a small voice. That was because it looked as though he actually fell over and not intentionally. Only after the 2nd beggar paled and hid behind Uljin did he realize that it was part of an act. He thought that the boy would just sit down after taking a few steps back, but it even looked painful to those watching. He clearly looked flustered for having touched the son of a noble, and Changsung was able to shout cut in a joyous manner.

“Hey, 2nd beggar! Is your ass okay?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

He returned to a composed boy from a rather lacking beggar that followed Gaeguk. He was dusting off his butt, and the minor actors around him seemed worried about him. Giwoo, who stood opposite to him, seemed quite surprised as his eyes were widened. If the camera shot Giwoo, they would’ve gotten an NG.

Changsung stood up and walked towards the child actors.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes. I fell over moderately, so I’m not hurt.”

“That’s good, then. But still, don’t try too hard. It’ll be on us if an accident occurs on set. Safety is always first. Understand?”

“Yes. I will bear that in mind.”

“But rather than that. Do you do some sports or something?”

“I’m learning action acting.”

“Oh, really now?”

Changsung stroked his chin. This guy was becoming more and more decent the more he looked into him.

“Hey, you came here through the audition right? The general audition.”

“Yes.”

“I think you are fit for this job, so try aiming to be an actor. If you show your face here and there, you’ll attract some attention. Well, it’s hard to enter an agency these days, but those that will, will do so sooner or later.”

The 2nd beggar replied after some time. There was an awkward smile on his face. Was he embarrassed because he was complimented? It seemed that he was still a kid after all.

“We still need to get a few more cuts, so let’s keep going.”

After returning to his spot, Changsung signalled the sound engineer and the camera director.

* * *

“Wow.”

Someone exclaimed from the side.

“It looks good,” Maru spoke as he picked up a plate.

When he heard that it was time for lunch, he thought that he would receive a lunch box, but there was a buffet waiting for him instead. There were skewers, which were a hassle to make, to meat dishes, sandwiches, and even bibimbap.

“Have a good meal.”

A man wearing a white bandana handed out some drinks. He had heard before, that historical dramas had a lot of production budget, and it turned out that even the food was different. He stuffed his plate full of food before sitting on a mat laid out on the ground.

“I’m definitely going for seconds after this.”

“I’m definitely getting more than I’m getting paid from this.”

The minor actors, who had stayed together for half a day, had become close. Bitna, the youngest, went to meet her mom during break times before joining them. She was at an age where she would be more at ease with her mother rather than strangers, so he felt somewhat proud and worried that she decided to join them.

“Eat a lot, Bitna.”

“Yes.”

She replied very courteously as well. Bitna had become a small star that was doted on by the minor actors and the staff. No one could hate her since she politely greeted everyone she came across. Even producer Changsung, who walked by, told Bitna to have a good meal.

“Hyung. Did you learn acting?”

A boy that was a year younger than him asked. Apparently, his dream was to become an actor.

“A little bit.”

“At an academy?”

“That too, and I learn at school as well. You know, club activities.”

“My school doesn’t have an acting club.”

“That’s too bad. It’s good to try it out. There might be local cultural centers running public acting teams, so try looking into that. Standing on stage always helps.”

“Ooh. Okay, I’ll try looking into that.”

“You really should.”

The three people next to him said that they decided to participate after finding an audition notice at their respective academies. It seemed that everyone here was preparing themselves to achieve the goal that was to become an actor.

Seeing them, Maru thought that there were quite a lot of students that aspired to become actors. On one hand, he was envious of their challenging youthful mindset, and on the other hand, he pitied them since most of them would fail to become one and regret it later on in their lives. Of these people, how many of them would he continue to see in TV stations, or at shoots?

‘...I’m just a moth as well. Who am I worrying about?’

Moths were bound to be attracted to lights shining down on the streets late in the night. They fly to the lights to admire the light, but most of them would circle around it for a while, then fall down and die. The ones that dance with the light and return to their habitats were few and far in between.

Even if they endure in order to survive, they would die once they were swept away by strong winds or the rain. The thing called environment sometimes makes effort look tragic.

However, there were definitely those that rose despite the interference from their environment. The ones that flapped their wings harder than others. There were those that did not get swept by the wind or the rain and strove towards the light.

“Let’s practice a lot so that we don’t get left behind. It’s such a pity to fail due to the wrong reasons.”

The other child actors, who were all younger than him, nodded their heads and raised their spoons. That was right. Food was stamina.

Scooping a big mouthful, Maru looked at the parasol that stood afar. The main actors and the main staff members were there. Although people said that the era had changed and there was no more hierarchy, those who lived long enough all knew - that the height where their spoons lay was different.

A stable income or a big one-time income. Those that picked up their spoons at that height would be able to achieve one of the two.

Minor and lead actors.

Although the difference was only one word, the gap between them was vast.

After emptying his plate, he went for seconds and came back with his plate full again. The others looked at him in a weird light.

“You should eat now. You’ll be hungry if you keep waiting.”

Hearing the word ‘waiting’, the others stood up as well and went to get more. It seemed that they were aware of what ‘waiting’ entailed.

After eating their fill, the minor actors had to wait for a while since the main actors started shooting. They ran out of topics to talk about so all of them just watched the set without saying a word.

After they waited until it was around 1 hour away from sunset, a staff member approached them, who were desperate to hear the words ‘let’s get to work’.

“Change your clothes and join them.”

At the place the staff member pointed to were people wearing merchant outfits. It seemed that they were going to shoot a crowd scene now.

Maru took off the beggar clothing and wore a clean dopo. His role was to eat some candy in front of the candy store.

‘Man, they’re juicing us.’

Apparently, his next role was that of a corpse. He had heard about borrowing money to pay another debt, but in this case, he was hired for several different roles. Maru just shrugged and started eating the square-shaped pumpkin candy.

It was very sweet.

He chewed on the candy while looking at the sun that was slowly starting to set.

* * *

“You’re here.”

Changsung greeted Yoon Moonjoong, who got out of the car with a kind smile.

“It’s been a long time since I came here. Oh, take this.”

“Oh, thank you for all this.”

He shared the drinks that Moonjoong gave him with the staff. Moonjoong always had the habit of handing out food during his shoots. It was to the point that some actors said that they would gain weight when working with him.

“Is the shoot going well?”

“Yes. Everything’s going extremely well.”

“That’s good to hear. I was a little worried since it’s the first shoot.”

“The actors were very cooperative. Oh, please come here. All the actors are together right now.”

While he walked across the set with Moonjoong, the staff members that recognized Moonjoong quickly got up and greeted him. The great senior of the industry replied to each one of them as he walked. Before he arrived at the parasol where the actors were waiting, Moonjoong stopped for a bit. His gaze was headed to the minor actors and the background actors, who were in a group of their own.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, I was just wondering if he was doing well.”

“He?”

“There’s a kid I know.”

“Who?”

“Over there, him.”

Moonjoong moved his chin to indicate someone, but there were too many people in the group for Changsung to figure out who Moonjoong was referring to.

“Let’s go.”

“Ah, yes.”

He followed Moonjoong and looked at the group of people again, but he still couldn’t figure out who Moonjoong was indicating. He wondered for a while before shaking his head and forgetting about it. If he was supposed to pay attention to that person, Moonjoong would have told him to do so already. From how he just walked past without making a big deal about it, perhaps that person wasn’t that important to Moonjoong either.

‘If something happens, he’ll tell me.’

Changsung led Moonjoong to the other actors.