There was a cut signal, and the woman in the sleeveless shirt turned around with a smile. She didn’t have an embarrassed expression nor an apologetic expression and just returned to her original position. This was the 2nd NG. She had been pointed out for the same mistake - don’t look at the camera.

“Sorry, it keeps catching my eye.”

Maru looked at her, who had a bright smile on her face. Her eyebrows were trimmed neatly and her makeup emphasized her facial features. She had the most decent appearance out of all the background actors. She followed the camera with her eyes even when the assistant director was telling her to be careful. Maru, who was right next to her, was able to observe that. She was scanning the camera as though she was admiring her own work with pride.

“I get that you’re concerned about the camera, but looking at it straight on like that makes the film look strange.”

“I’ll do it properly this time.”

“Please do that. Everyone’s having a hard time because of the weather, so let’s finish this in one shot and not drag things out.”

The assistant director put the walkie-talkie against his mouth and said that things were ready. The director gave the signal. Geunsoo approached Sungjae, who was sitting by the fountain. Sungjae, who had disheveled hair, played the role of a new detective, and Geunsoo, who was wearing a neat suit and a pair of nice shoes, was the corrupt detective. From the gist of things, this looked like one of the beginning scenes. Geunsoo, who handed some coffee to Sungjae with a friendly smile on his face, looked like a man who worked in the finance business rather than a detective. He had a refreshing laugh and his movements were clean cut. He smelled like a charming villain. The two naturally clicked together. Sungjae was acting with passion in order to not lose to Geunsoo, and Geunsoo was accepting all of that as he did his own acting. This felt like the birth of a splendid duo.

“Go.”

Maru took his eyes off them and started walking. Since the main characters showed such a smooth act, it was now the background actors’ turn to give a sense of reality to the world they lived in. Maru calmly walked along the movement line that the assistant director told him about. The camera moved on some rails. The background actors walked between the main cast and the camera, and just as the main characters were about to disappear into the crowd, Maru noticed that the steps of the sleeveless shirt woman next to him were slowing. She, who was supposed to be right next to him right now, was now 3 meters behind him. Her steps slowed down just as she was exiting the frame. Having left the camera frame, Maru had a look at the woman who was walking proudly. She was chasing the camera through the corner of her eyes, before looking at the director, who stood up after looking at the monitor.

“Cut!”

The director shouted and also left his monitoring seat before walking over to where the background actors were. The woman in the sleeveless shirt only then looked around in unease. Her actions until now were plenty intentional. Maru couldn’t understand what she was thinking when she decided to disrupt the shoot.

“Director, director!”

Before the director could reach the woman in the sleeveless shirt, someone jumped in midway. The director looked at the man before asking - what is it, leader?.

“Looks like she’s very nervous.”

“Is it someone you know, leader?”

“It is. Also, she’s pretty good at acting. She’s quite pretty too, and you won’t find someone as skilled as her so easily these days.”

“Leader.”

“I know, I know. I know what you’re trying to say, director Lee. Just let her go this once. We are close, aren’t we? Minae, Choi Minae. Come and say hello to the director.”

“Hello, director. My name is Choi Minae.”

The woman in the sleeveless shirt quickly went over and said hello. The director stroked down his face and told her to go.

“Don’t be like that, director. Give me a handshake.”

The woman in the sleeveless shirt only returned to her place after grabbing the director’s hand. This woman was rather proud-looking even when she was being warned. Then there was the leader who tried to resolve the situation with a smile, and then the director. Maru understood what was going on instantly. Maru looked at the director, who turned around with an expression that looked as though he had chewed on something bitter.

“Minae, do it properly.”

“Okay. I just wanted to get him to notice me. Thanks, ahjussi.”

The shoot only resumed after the two high-fived each other. The woman in the sleeveless shirt digested the scene in one go without causing an NG this time, unlike before. Actually, causing an NG in a scene like this was even harder.

“We’re moving over to the next location.”

The staff members picked up the equipment and started moving. The background actors were also guided to the commercial district. Maru approached the director.

“Thanks for your work, Maru.”

“I didn’t do anything. Rather than that, the shoot must be hard for you.”

The director made a bitter smile.

“That’s just how working with people goes. You’ll feel it when you grow up. Why does everyone call themselves ‘hyung-nim’ in front of me, I wonder….”

“There’s no one more awkward to deal with than someone who uses connections to join.”

“My words exactly.”

“But looks like she won’t do anything more since you dealt the first blow. I found her rather peculiar when I was watching her from the side. She suddenly changed her walking pace and then looked at the camera as though she was getting her eyes checked.”

“I guess she’s confident that she’ll rise if she shows her face to the camera. When you work in this area, you’ll come across a lot of people who you can’t measure with common means.”

The director gave a few orders through the walkie-talkie. The assistant director’s voice returned through it. The assistant director was asking him if he could come over.

“Maru, are you going to go now?”

“If you would allow me, I’d like to keep watching from the side. May I?”

“Of course you can. We’re going to eat soon, so you can join us there before you go. You did your work, so you should at least get your compensation.”

“Okay, I’ll do that then.”

After replying, Maru looked at his phone. No missed calls, no text messages. It seemed that Gaeul was practicing without any regard for her phone today. Seeing his wife’s face was even harder than seeing a celebrity’s face. Thinking about it like that caused a sad laugh to leave his mouth.

“Go talk to everyone else.”

The director pointed at Geunsoo and Sungjae before walking over to the assistant director. As he was walking over to the two men, who were having their make-up fixed, someone jumped in front. It was the woman in the sleeveless shirt.

“Hey, are you close to the director?”

She didn’t have any etiquette even though this was their first time talking. Maru tilted his head slightly and quietly stared at the woman. Either she was acting bold because she had the leader backing her, or she was born with that kind of personality. Maru wondered which one it was.

“Hey, kid. Can you not hear me?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you two looked close. I saw that the director was trying to put you into the film. You must be close to the director, right?”

“Well, who knows? Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.”

“What kind of an answer is that? Tell me properly.”

“So what if I am close?”

The woman pouted.

“Hey, you’re pretty rude.”

“I’m sorry if you heard it that way. But I thought the word ‘rude’ was supposed to be used to refer to people who cause two unnecessary NGs, am I wrong? Oh, wait, is ‘brain dead’ the right description to use here? As you can see, I’m kinda stupid.”

“What are you saying?”

The woman in the sleeveless shirt glared at him. What was he saying? Did he have to explain in kind that he was mocking her? He didn’t mind using personal connections to join something since that happened pretty often. The problem was that she made the entire shoot stop twice because of her deeds. If she wanted to promote herself, she had to use another means, not disturb the rolling of the film.

It’s not like you to get angry like that - The moment Maru tried to say a word or two more to the woman in the sleeveless shirt, the guy that resided inside him spoke out. Maru heaved a deep breath as soon as he heard those words. While he was unaware, anger had gotten to the top of his head. ‘Not like you’ - the guy was entirely right. This kind of method wasn’t like Han Maru.

“Sorry about that. I’m having a really bad day today so I must have blurted out something rude without realizing. I must have become strange because of all the heat on top of the anger.”

He smiled awkwardly. The woman did not remove her suspicion, but it seemed that she put down the arrow of words that she was about to attack with.

“I’m not that close to the director. I’m only close enough to say hello.”

“Also, I saw you talking with Sungjae-oppa too.”

“Sungjae-hyung only recognized me because we shot something together before. He’s not a star for no reason. He really takes good care of the people around him.”

“Really? You aren’t close or anything like that?”

Maru just replied with a shrug. The woman in the sleeveless shirt narrowed her eyes at him before sighing.

“And here I thought you were close. I was planning to get you to introduce me to them, but I guess that’s not happening. But hey, I didn’t see you in the morning.”

“The director asked me to fill in the head count.”

“Really? You must be living a pathetic life too then. You know, let me give you some advice, don’t work in this field unless you have a backer. This noona is telling you this after experiencing more life than you. A rude boy like you will have a hard time even with a backer. No offense, but that’s just how the world is.”

“I see.”

“You’re a high school student, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Just go back home and start studying. Don’t poke your head around here just because you want to become a celebrity. Okay? If you work part time jobs like this one from a young age and neglect your studies you will fail life. Only those with both talent and backing like me can succeed in this field. Consider yourself lucky today. Other people don’t tell you stuff like this, do they? I’m a good person, so I’m telling you as a special bonus, okay? Don’t have weird dreams and just go back home and study. You don’t have good looks either, so you don’t fit in this world.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Now we’re talking. Don’t be so disappointed. Now that I look at you, you don’t look like you’re good at studying, but you do look quite athletic. Am I right?”

“Yes. I do have decent motor nerves.”

“There you have it, go to that side. Don’t poke your head around here and make your parents worried. You’re really lucky today, you know? You won’t hear philosophical talk like this from anyone else.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The leader shouted to gather up from afar. The woman in the sleeveless shirt, Choi Minae, turned around and walked away.

“Someone you know?” Geunsoo approached him and asked.

“No.”

“It looked like she was preaching to you.”

“I did hear some life lessons.”

“What’d she say?”

“She said my face isn’t good enough to make a living in this field, so I should get back to studying. Oh, wait, she told me to choose an athletic field, because I look like I’m terrible at studying.”

Geunsoo tapped on his shoulder and laughed.

“What an absurd woman. Do you know her name?”

“Choi Minae, apparently.”

“Looks like I should keep that in mind.”

“Why?”

“Because if you want to avoid shit, you have to know shit. But you’re pretty amazing yourself. You listened to all that with a smile on your face?”

“Well, you never know when I’ll come across her again. They say you shouldn’t make enemies if possible.”

Then the fact that you still got angry at her is proof that you have come to like acting just as much - the masked man’s voice resounded within him again. The guy was kinda distasteful seeing as how he didn’t reply when Maru called out to him, but he still said everything he wanted to before disappearing. To borrow Choi Minae’s words, he was rude.

“Since you’re here, you should eat before you go. Our almighty Lord Sungjae apparently booked a good restaurant.”

“That was the plan. I don’t have anything to do, and I don’t have anyone to meet either.”

“You’re still young, why do you sound so miserable?”

“You tell me. Oh, Geunsoo hyung-nim, how is it going with Suyeon-noona lately?”

“That was abrupt. That’s not how you hold conversations, boy. You’re making my head hurt.”

“Don’t tell me you’re dating?”

“If the Earth explodes tomorrow, then I guess dating her is not a bad idea.”

“Suyeon-noona would love to hear that.”

“Don’t even start. I’ve never seen someone as sticky as her in my life. She might be an even bigger lunatic than Yang Ganghwan and Yang Miso.”

“That’s taking things too far.”

“Hey, you have a rather positive opinion about her. Are you on her side or something?”

“If I bridge the two of you together, I’ll get a full suit as a gift. A good one at that.”

“I’ll buy you two, so what do you think about separating us?”

“That sounds tempting. I’ll think about it.”

Maru said that he should go before walking over to the background actors. He met eyes with Minae midway, but neither of them said anything.

“It’s a hard job, isn’t it?”

He talked to a man in his 40s, who was sitting next to him. At first, the man looked at him in puzzlement, but they soon got along and talked to each other. Maru talked to other people as well. Perhaps it was because he had done this background actor job for a long time, but he had a strange sense of kinship with the people who did this job. He wanted to do more things for them if possible. The scattered people eventually gathered around him. The woman in the sleeveless shirt did not join them. She kept staring at Sungjae and the director, looking for an opportunity to approach them.

“This fella is good with words.”

“Staying still while waiting is pretty boring after all. We should talk like this and get to know each other. That way, we’ll be able to greet each other the next time we meet in a different place too. Hyung-nims, noonims, don’t ignore me when I say hello later, okay?”

“Of course.”

Time went by in a flash when people talked about their circumstances. The stiff air disappeared and they gathered like people who had come on a picnic together. As a man in his thirties talked about how he had just become a father, the assistant director gave the standby sign.

“Hyung-nims, noonims. Let’s get to work.”

Maru clapped before standing up.