WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Potter
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Genius Writer Who Will Never Fall Again ◈
Chapter 11: Script Reading (1)
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The audition wrapped up without a hitch.
It had been put together in a hurry, but it hadn't gone badly.
No, when all was said and done, we had managed to find some quite good actors.
Five days after the audition, most of the roles had been cast.
There had been plenty of internal evaluations, meetings, and exchanges of opinion along the way.
An actor who had applied for the villain Magwipyeong had a look that was too polished, so they were reassigned to Jang Bung-ik, and vice versa. Still, we had filled the cast in the end, so it was fine.
The advertising agencies and the network had also tried to slip in their own casting choices, but those were neatly placed only in roles where they would not cause major problems.
Most importantly, there was the role of Yeongho, the male lead.
"All right, I've got good news for Writer Han. About three people made it through the internal CP meeting, and actor Na Jin-geon got the final approval. It was the department head's decision."
"Thank you."
"Heh heh. What are you thanking me for? The department head made the choice."
"Still, you took my opinion into account."
"...Writer Han, don't make me any more touched than this. It'll be a problem."
It would also be a problem if I got used to that soulful gorilla face.
Anyway.
"So, now we have to move on to the most important part."
I was more nervous than I expected.
"This is the moment that decides who gets to play our Hyang-dan."
The female lead was every bit as important as the male lead in a drama.
Since this was a historical noir, her role might have seemed smaller. But whether as a narrative device or by current television trends, a Wednesday-Thursday miniseries that was just an endless parade of men showing up and guffawing was a risky prospect.
In a way, she was one of the faces of the production.
This was the day we had to decide, and there were two finalists.
Ryu Cheong-a.
And Heo Yu-jin, an actress with a fairly solid career.
"All right, let's begin the meeting."
There was weight in Go Young-chan's voice.
Naturally, it was not an easy decision.
"Hmm, things are getting a little heated. Shall we take a short break?"
"Yes. I'll go get some coffee."
"Huh? No, Writer Han, you don't need to buy..."
"It's nothing. I should at least be useful in this way."
"Writer Han...!"
I quickly bowed my head and left the conference room.
A vague fear had suddenly risen in me that if I stayed any longer, those rebar-like arms would squeeze the life out of me.
* * *
The female lead casting meeting ran particularly long.
Opinions were sharply divided over which of the two to choose.
The people favoring Heo Yu-jin were the safe-choice camp.
Her filmography was already quite respectable, and there were no rough edges to her acting. Her experience playing poor but spirited young women entering society in romantic comedies was thought to align well with Hyang-dan's tenacity.
The people favoring Ryu Cheong-a, on the other hand, were the high-upside camp.
Go Young-chan, Min Byeong-gi, and several planners who had firsthand knowledge of Ryu Cheong-a's audition performance and its impact belonged to that side. Even the safe-choice camp could not dispute Ryu Cheong-a's acting ability, which told you just how good she was.
Still, even with every CP involved, the meeting could not help but drag on because each candidate's weakness was so clear.
Heo Yu-jin could lead the drama competently, but she could not make it explode.
Ryu Cheong-a clearly had the seeds of that explosive power, but she was an unproven newcomer.
Right. Ridiculously enough, every problem came down to whether someone had been proven.
But it was only natural.
This was not a neighborhood amateur soccer club. It was a major media project with billions, even tens of billions, of won invested in it. In an industry whose greatest rises and falls had always been caused by people, they pursued stability even at the cost of ignoring potential.
And Heo Yu-jin truly was a good choice.
'She'll remain reliably solid to the end. A decent filmography, an agreeable personality, stable versatility in her acting.'
By the time I died, she had moved beyond romantic comedies and into film, appearing regularly on the big screen.
If anything, Ryu Cheong-a was the incredible one.
She had crossed that wall with nothing but her presence, despite being a newcomer with nothing to her name.
Anyway, my position in the meeting was...
...embarrassingly, silence.
"Writer Han, what do you think?"
"I think both are good options. ...I argued strongly for actor Na Jin-geon, so I would like to defer to your opinions here."
"Hmm. Is there no one you're drawn to?"
"...I don't think my judgment is always right."
"So there is someone. All right. Still, think about it some more and let us know. Writer Han is the one writing it in the end, so your opinion matters when we consider how well the character can be realized."
I should choose Heo Yu-jin.
I knew that was an extremely rational decision.
And yet, I could not readily reach out toward Heo Yu-jin.
'Why?'
There was no need to ask myself.
I already knew the answer.
'...Because I want it to be the best.'
Geomgyeilgun had been the best of all my works that had reached broadcast.
And there was no denying that Ryu Cheong-a had made it the best.
It was not because she herself was special.
The problem was the character Hyang-dan.
Of course.
"Hyang-dan won't need anyone to do more for her sake."
At some point during the writing, that woman had become mixed into Hyang-dan.
"I can tell. That's why I liked Hyang-dan from the first time I saw her."
Sometimes I wondered whether it would have been better if I had never heard it.
"Isn't a relationship where you find a reason because you're together better than one where you have to have a reason to be together?"
Ryu Cheong-a understood Hyang-dan.
She knew how to shape the real desires a fictional being like Hyang-dan would have.
She poured a light called humanity into the empty vessel of the character and made her impossible not to love.
That was why Ryu Cheong-a had to be Hyang-dan.
That was why, even knowing she was a woman like a ticking time bomb, it was hard to cast her aside so easily.
'She could at least have been trash like Director Jo.'
Sexual favors, tax evasion, school violence.
If she had been capable of even one of those things, I would not have had any lingering attachment.
"...I'm sorry, Writer."
Was that why she had said something like that before leaving, dropping a burden onto my heart?
I clicked my tongue and bought the coffee.
That was when someone appeared.
It was Min Byeong-gi.
"Writer! Let me carry those! Ha ha! How could I let my partner carry such a heavy load alone?"
"Ah, Director."
"Goodness, you bought a lot. This came out of your own pocket, right? I'll transfer you half later!"
What had gotten into Min Byeong-gi, acting so warmly?
'Ah. Min Byeong-gi must have been uncomfortable being a useless extra.'
Min Byeong-gi was the director on this project, but among the people in that meeting, he was the junior one. Those people sitting in CP seats were all his workplace superiors, so taking a break with them probably had not felt like much of a break.
"The meeting is taking forever, isn't it? Still, this is tame compared to usual. This is a secret, but our drama department meetings are basically a conclave..."
Min Byeong-gi kept spilling nonsense, and I was almost grateful for it.
It saved me from having to think myself into another headache.
Then it happened.
"Writer, you think it should be Ryu Cheong-a too, right?"
I flinched.
"You saw that acting too, didn't you? She's an absolute monster of a talent. Her looks are incredible, and she has that distinctly East Asian feel that suits historical dramas..."
Ah. Min Byeong-gi was subtly pushing for Ryu Cheong-a because he liked her.
"I'm not sure."
"Y-Yes?"
"Her ability is certainly worth recognizing, but I think the more unproven people there are in a cast, the more variables there will be."
"That's a strange thing to say after pushing for actor Na Jin-geon... No, never mind."
After saying everything he wanted to say, what was that supposed to mean?
'And why are your eyes looking so suspicious?'
Still, I could see why it looked that way to him.
At this point, Na Jin-geon had only played a few supporting roles. If I advocated for him so strongly but rejected Ryu Cheong-a, it would be an overly biased standard.
I could not even make a firm decision myself, so I had nothing to say.
The complete rejection of uncertainty.
Yet there was still that high upside I could not look away from.
My head remained complicated. And since Min Byeong-gi happened to be beside me, I suddenly found myself curious about even Min Byeong-gi's opinion.
"Director, may I ask you something?"
"Ah, yes! Go ahead!"
"Do you like games?"
"Games? Ha! I love them. Do you like games too, Writer? I've been a hardcore MMORPG player for ages, and I was even in a ranked WarU guild for a while..."
"No, we don't need to go that far."
"Ah..."
"It's just an example. So..."
Yes. That would work.
"...Let's say there is an item with insanely good starting stats."
"Pardon?"
"It's a weapon that lets you meet the cutoff for any boss. Without unnecessary grinding or investment, simply holding it makes the game much easier."
"Wouldn't that be a balance-breaking item?"
"Exactly. So it has a risk."
Min Byeong-gi asked with interest.
"What is it?"
"After a certain period of ownership, it will definitely explode. When it does, it gives your character a permanent debuff."
"Ugh."
"If there were a weapon like that, would you use it?"
I thought it was an appropriate analogy.
When I considered what Ryu Cheong-a meant to me, I could not think of a better one.
A certain reward.
And an even more certain risk.
Min Byeong-gi furrowed his brow.
As expected, it was not an easy answer even for Min Byeong-gi...
"I'd use it."
"Pardon?"
"There's no reason not to."
I stopped walking.
Min Byeong-gi tilted his head, then stopped as well and looked at me.
"Isn't this an easy question?"
"You think this is easy?"
"Yes, it is."
The answer Min Byeong-gi gave was strangely from a place I had never considered.
"You just use it and throw it away. It sounds like you even know roughly when it will explode."
"...?"
"You said it was a weapon that didn't need any resource investment. So earn resources with it, then switch to another weapon."
For a moment, I felt as though my mind had gone blank.
"This isn't a game where you're forced to use only one weapon, right? That's why I'm saying this."
"...Probably not."
"Then there you go. You just throw it away and switch. That's how games are, you know. In the end, these stats..."
Why had I never thought of that?
When I thought about it, it was an incredibly simple logic.
Right. Unlike everyone else, Ryu Cheong-a was a cause of failure I knew particularly well.
We had shared so many conversations during the time we were together, and afterward, I had even wasted an entire year trying to uncover the truth of her death.
So why?
How had I failed to extend my thoughts in that direction?
Only when Min Byeong-gi's chatter gradually faded into a distant hum did I realize that an emotion in one corner of my heart had been the curtain.
It spread wide, yet it was thin as a filter, too faint to notice easily.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
'...Ha.'
Because I hated her.
Of all the people who had ruined me, I hated Ryu Cheong-a's betrayal especially.
That feeling had pierced me especially deeply, and it had only made me feel that even getting close to her would be a burden.
It was purely a matter of the heart.
Once I faced it, something became crystal clear.
"...Writer?"
"That's a good answer."
"Pardon? Ah, i-is it? But what kind of game story..."
"Still, Director, I think that's a little harsh."
"What?"
"Yes, it is rather harsh."
"W-Wait! We were talking about games! About a weapon! Why are you making me out to be a bad person...!"
My steps felt lighter than before.
I could see what I had to do.
"We're about to resume the meeting. Do you still have no opinion, Writer Han?"
"Let's go with Ryu Cheong-a."
"Huh?"
"I think Ryu Cheong-a has the higher upside."
There was something I had resolved when I realized time had returned.
Being swayed by people was not the path I had chosen in this life.
The miracle I had been given was experience and information from the future.
If I still hesitated because of my feelings while holding something like that, then that would truly mean I was being swayed by people from my past.
So instead.
"For this work alone, I think she is the better choice."
Let me choose the best move that only I, who had been granted this miracle, could make.
Let me not become a coward who invoked emotions as the reason for a choice.
Go Young-chan's eyes widened.
Then Go Young-chan grinned.
"I knew Writer Han had a good eye!"
In the end, that one choice was the problem.
All the pieces were in place.
* * *
After the casting was finalized, a few small news articles came out.
There was not even a mid-tier actor in the cast yet, much less a major star, but it was billed as WBS's ambitious production with a substantial in-house budget.
A work the world did not yet know.
A work whose name the world would find unfamiliar, let alone anticipate.
This was where it began.
Within the limited time we had, we needed to make this work into excellent entertainment and show it to the world.
This was the first step.
"All right, let's do our best today! It's everyone's first meeting!"
It was the day of the script reading.
I set my mind.
I would interfere only as much as this production needed, then cut ties with Ryu Cheong-a.
Considering what would happen in the future, that would be best for both of us.
I had no intention of speaking with her beyond business matters.
But then.
'...Why is she staring at me like that?'
I could feel Ryu Cheong-a's gaze on me.
It felt like she was about to bore a hole through my face.
Footnotes:
WarU is a playful stand-in for the MMORPG World of Warcraft.
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