慈禧太后的秘密

Chapter 835. Sequence 11

She had a thought as she put her fingers inside the back of her heels: this isn’t a dream, right? She saw the cat on the desk raise her head before putting it down again. The t-shirt and the pajama pants she took off yesterday were flung on the sofa, and the empty convenience store lunch box was right underneath it. Her own living room, which she rarely cleaned, intersected with the hotel restaurant she was just in. Eunbin grabbed her phone. Only after seeing his number on her phone did she realize that the dinner they just had was indeed real. She had a talk with an actor she never contacted before over a nice dinner. He was a cool man just like the rumors said. She couldn’t be more excited when he said that they should meet again next time. It would be great if they could meet again.

“But this is probably where it ends.”

When she thought about Giwoo’s background, though, her romantic feelings all shriveled up. Although no one mentioned it, everyone in the industry knew that Giwoo was of the YM Group’s lineage. One time, there were rumors that he was given lucky opportunities because of his environment and rose to stardom too smoothly, but after some time, those words never appeared again. The skills that Giwoo showed must be part of the reason, but she also thought that there weren’t many people who had the audacity to actually go against the direct line of descent of the YM Group. She had heard that a few of the journalists who were trying to use that for a gossip article of sorts had all given up in the end.

“But mommy felt good, even for a brief moment. Though, it’s a pity that it’s a dream that can’t come true.”

After reporting to the cat about what happened over dinner, she sat down in front of her laptop. She was stuck on her writing before, but she was writing very smoothly now. The inspiration cells that were dying from all the overwork had all come back to life again after that blissful dinner. She wrote while also looking through the materials before asking the youngest writer for additional investigation. Although her drama was focused on the characters, since it was set in a hospital background, using genuine medical terms and having accurate information about diseases were important. She fixed her drama script according to the materials that the youngest writer sent her as well as her call with the neurosurgeon in charge of fact-checking her story. When she first wrote ‘Doctors’, she did it by herself without the support of the TV station, so she was stifled whenever she came across a point where she needed information, but ever since she was promised that her drama would be produced, she was given so much support that it was to the point that she could even live in front of a hospital. A drama where specialists appeared was not something a writer could write by themselves.

She was typing without stopping and eventually, she rotated her wrists and stood up from the spot. She had been working for two hours now. Usually, when she sat down for two hours, she would spend one of the two fidgeting around, but she actually ended up focusing for the whole two hours this time. Was this the Kang Giwoo effect? Although she could continue for more, she wanted to maintain her current condition. It was likely that she was going to stare at the screen like an idiot if she tried to squeeze herself, so it was time to get some rest.

She lay down on the sofa in comfort. She briefly thought about going to the sauna in front of her house, but she decided not to make any more leaves for today. As a professional shut-in, going outside three times a day was a difficult thing. She ripped open a bag of snacks and put it on the sofa before watching a foreign drama that was on air. It was a medical investigation drama that she had watched several times already, yet she became absorbed in watching it every single time she watched it. It was a drama that stimulated her desire to write her own.

After watching the drama for a while, Eunbin used her remote to go to the smart menu and then the rewatch section. She played back the first episode of Doctors that aired last week. Eunbin never rewatched her drama episodes after watching them for the first time because of the disappointment and regret that overwhelmed her after watching which would consequently ruin her day. As she had expected, the lines that the actors said picked her nerves from the start. She thought that it would have been better if she was wittier with the lines. It was especially regretful since producer Yoo Jayeon’s direction skills were flawless. Was the lack of views due to a problem with the writer after all? A guilty conscience perked its head inside her. Just then,

“So that’s him.”

She sat up and rested her chin on her hands before looking at the man on the screen. It was the actor that Giwoo had mentioned. She remembered his name on her way back to her house: Han Maru. This man was the reason that she was rewatching the drama. Despite the fact that the production was splendid and the actors were all well-known, her drama was losing to Doctor’s Office, so it was about time she changed up the story. She couldn’t change the overall topic or the general outline, but it was possible to insert episodes that might catch the viewers’ eyes. During the meeting with the producer, she was told that the results were satisfactory and that she could keep going like this, but she would have to seek change if she wanted to reverse this competition. After all, being ‘okay’ always contained a probability that it would go down from there. She did not want to ruin a piece that she had focused her efforts on.

Eunbin checked the acting of the lead actors and at the same time, had a closer look at the actor known as Han Maru. Just as Giwoo said, it was too much of a pity to just throw him away after using him once. According to the script, that character could be thrown away but now that she had a look at the final result, she felt like she could use him in another episode. It might be okay to use him within a scope that didn’t ruin the drama.

Eunbin returned to her desk. The times when writers faced the wall when writing was long gone. They had to learn to see the desires of the audience and reflect them in real-time. Since Doctor’s Office decided to go with a breathless political story, she had to go with a sweet mellow story in order to grab the viewers who had changed their channels away. She tensed her fingers on her keyboard. She just thought of a good story.

* * *

“Nice house. But oh, what’s this?”

Joongjin looked at the mirror ball on the ceiling with curiosity. Maru smiled awkwardly. When he explained that he put it up there because he liked it, Joongjin said that it was rather unexpected.

“I didn’t know you had preferences like that. Or is it that I am not following the young people’s trend these days?”

“It’s not a trend; it’s just due to my weird character. Would you like something to drink?”

“Do you have black coffee? I would like it cold if possible.”

“Please wait a moment.”

He brewed some coffee and gave it to Joongjin. Joongjin had the dog by his side as though he quite liked her.

“What a cute dog. I usually don’t like dogs that much, but this one’s pretty friendly. But the dog seems to have an injured leg?”

“I was told that she has had a bad leg since birth. She probably became used to it as she runs around quite well.”

Joongjin picked up a fake bone from the floor before asking if he could throw it. Maru pointed at the kitchen. When the bone drew an arc in the air, Woofie rushed to it like mad. It seemed that Joongjin wanted the dog to come back with it, but the dog wasn’t smart enough to return with what was in her mouth. Seeing her chew on the bone under the table, Joongjin smiled as though it was a pity.

“I could have told you about it in the café, but I wanted to have a look at where you live, Mr. Maru. There’s nothing more helpful than the house they live in when it comes to learning more about them.”

“If that was the case, I should have decorated my house a little. Change the curtains to a colorful one and even put out a carpet.”

As he lived minimalistically, there was nothing to look at. Joongjin picked up his mug and looked around the room. He asked if he could take a look around the bedroom, so Maru opened the door for him without hesitation.

“There seems to be a lady who lives with you?”

“She’s someone I will live with, not in the far future. But how did you know?”

“I saw that in the bathroom.”

There were two boxes of sanitary pads in front of the case for towels. Below that was a bottle of shampoo and bottles of hair treatment for women as well. Maru scratched his eyebrows and put the sanitary pads inside the case. Gaeul said that she was going to put them away, but it seemed that she had forgotten. Meanwhile, Joongjin looked around the dressing room before coming back to the living room.

“As I thought, you live quite a simple life.”

“I don’t like complex things. It’s much easier to live with just what you need.”

“Other than that sparkly thing on the ceiling, that is.”

“Let’s make that an exception.”

Joongjin sat on the sofa.

“It was like this before as well; you are still quite interesting, Mr. Maru. You seem old-fashioned, yet you sometimes have something unexpected about you. Do you remember the day we went to a restaurant together for the first time?”

“If you’re talking about the day you talked about how geniuses are useless, then I do.”

“That was six years ago already. Oh, how time flies. I’ve met several actors while working in this area. Among them, I liked them to the point that I wanted to work with them, but when I actually went to find them, they were long gone. This industry is hard to survive in even if you have the talent. In that case, you, Mr. Maru, have the skills but also have the luck to back it up.”

“I think so too. I mean, I’m still holding out when I kicked away the opportunity that came right to me.”

Maru sat down next to Joongjin and drank coffee. Joongjin did not say anything until he finished drinking. He just kept looking at the floor, the ceiling, and the veranda.

“If you want to work with me, there is something important I must tell you.”

“Please tell me. I’m good at matching other people’s requests.”

“Then for this time alone, you must abandon that tendency to do so. As you probably know from working with me, when I work with other people’s money on a movie, I start drawing a picture first. I put a picture inside my head and work towards it so that not a single thing is off the mark. Whether it’s the actors or the props, they all have to be in the place they have to be. Individual character and momentary sparks of inspiration are all unnecessary. I just have to fit everything else to the picture I have in my head. At times like that, I use anyone as an actor. I mean, literally anyone. The truth is that directing style and production skills can cover up most things as long as they have a little bit of acting skills. With someone like Mrs. Yang Miso, I can even use an ordinary person.”

“But it’s different when you work on your own piece?”

“It’s very different. The films I use my own money to shoot are for my own enjoyment. I start off by drawing a picture just like before, but when I actually work on it, I do it in a way that something completely different comes out at the end. For that, I need a person to smash my imaginations and my completed picture into pieces. I need an actor who would show me a more charming path than the path I created for myself.”

“You suddenly made me lose confidence.”

“It’s okay. You won’t betray my expectations.”

Maru responded with a smile.

“If it’s already set that I will not betray you, then it seems like my job is to break your image to pieces. So do I need to do a terrible job at acting?”

“That doesn’t sound bad either, but if you want an award, then I suggest you do your best.”

Joongjin smiled and put down his coffee.