WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Potter

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Why Do My Dramas Keep Becoming Hits!? ◈

Chapter 17: Are You Trying to Ruin the Drama? (3)

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"Ah, no... Urgent or not, you want to cast him as Han Tae-yoon? Seriously?"

A disbelieving laugh escaped Director Woo Young-taek.

The gathered staff were no different. They did not say it aloud, but their eyes were full of distrust and dissatisfaction as they looked at the unknown extra.

"He's a complete rookie whose acting experience hasn't even been verified! The secondary male lead in a tentpole drama isn't some joke!"

Woo Young-taek raised his voice in frustration.

But Ji Yeon-woo looked steadily between Woo Young-taek and the staff before speaking.

"He's not a rookie actor. He's a veteran with seven years of experience."

"What?"

"He's been around long enough to know roughly how a set works. Right, Jae-hyun?"

"Y-Yes! That's right!"

A veteran actor with seven years of experience?

Sighs erupted all around them.

'Fuck! That's even worse!'

Think about it.

Talented actors made a name for themselves within one or two years at the earliest, or within three to five years at the latest.

In other words, failing to shake off the unknown label after seven years practically meant he had some fatal flaw as an actor.

'A clean-slate rookie would be better!'

You could at least call a rookie an uncut gem. But that actor had already been proven to be a useless rock.

No amount of praying for rain while clutching a rock would turn it into a jewel.

"I'll work hard! Please give me a chance!"

While everyone was nursing their headaches, Do Jae-hyun, the culprit behind this whole mess, obliviously interrupted.

"If you don't like my acting, you can throw me out then! Please, just give me one chance!"

"You crazy bastard!"

Woo Young-taek, who had looked ready to clutch the back of his neck and collapse, sprang up and shouted.

"Hey, you idiot! Do you think this is some academy where you prove your acting skills? This is the real thing! The real thing! If filming gets wrecked because of you, are you going to take responsibility for all of it?!"

"B-But please, just once! I'll definitely do well!"

"You empty-headed fool...! Writer Ji! Are you really going to use this useless bastard? Out of everyone available, you picked him?"

Without a word, Ji Yeon-woo took out his phone and turned on the screen.

Then he held it in front of Woo Young-taek's face.

"Articles about Baek Kang-min's drunk-driving hit-and-run are already all over the main portal page."

"Th-That..."

"Even if we drag this out, our drama will only carry the label of 'a drama an actor left because of drunk driving' for longer. We can't handle that kind of risk before we've even started."

He was not wrong.

Even now, people were probably talking about the drama alongside Baek Kang-min's name.

In that situation, the best choice was to put forward a new face and erase Baek Kang-min's traces as quickly as possible.

"Ha, fuck... You're going to kill me."

Woo Young-taek roughly raked his fingers through his hair and turned away.

His gaze landed on the assistant director, who had been fidgeting with a tablet while reading the room.

"Hey, Assistant Director! There really isn't anyone? Tomorrow morning is fine! Don't you have anyone with an open schedule?"

"W-Well... I did contact some agencies..."

"And? Stop dragging it out and tell me!"

"...There are two actors available right away."

For a moment, hope flashed in Woo Young-taek's eyes.

But the assistant director did not look very hopeful. If anything, their voice grew quieter as they nervously continued.

"Um... Actor Park Si-hun and Actor Choi Min-woo said they could do it..."

"W-What? Park Si-hun? Choi Min-woo?"

Woo Young-taek's face went from pale to red, then blue, in real time.

"That bastard Park Si-hun made the front page last year for running an illegal gambling ring! And Choi Min-woo got a suspended indictment for beating someone up at a club!"

"Th-That's why their schedules are open right now."

"What the fuck are you doing?! We're cleaning up one drunk-driving hit-and-run, and you want to bring in a gambler and a thug?! Is this drama some kind of criminal rehabilitation center?! A community-service site?!"

"I-I'm sorry..."

As Woo Young-taek roared loudly enough to shake the set, the assistant director shrank their neck like a turtle.

The others watching the situation also lowered their heads in fear.

With things having reached this point, Woo Young-taek had no choice but to face reality.

It was only natural. This was the secondary male lead role in a tentpole drama approaching broadcast. Any decent actor with even minimally proven acting skills would normally have had their schedule packed months ago.

The only named actors who could be summoned tomorrow were criminals lying low after causing scandals.

'Fuck! Are they telling me to choose between shit and piss?!'

An unknown extra with no criminal record who had spent seven years in the industry.

Criminals who could act but had made the social-news pages.

The choice was already made. No matter what, they could not kick out a drunk-driving actor only to replace him with a gambler or a violent thug.

Besides.

Bzzzz.

The phone in Woo Young-taek's palm vibrated as if having a seizure.

Once again, it was CP Ha Do-woon's name on the screen. The message he read with shaking hands was practically a death sentence.

[Department Head Ha: The lead investor just called. They said they'll suspend all production funding if an article confirming the replacement actor doesn't go up today. The publicity team is at its limit too. Take photos of the new face and send them over by the end of today, no matter what!]

Withdrawal of investment.

There was no phrase more terrifying to a director.

"Haah... Aaargh!"

Woo Young-taek screamed toward the sky, then scratched at his head irritably and glared at Do Jae-hyun.

His eyes were fierce enough to devour someone.

"...Director?"

Writer Ji Yeon-woo had already made up his mind.

That meant Woo Young-taek was the only decision-maker left here.

Every staff member watched his mouth.

"...."

A heavy silence in which no one dared speak first.

Within it, Woo Young-taek stared intently at Do Jae-hyun with bloodshot eyes.

A guy with nothing but a decent build. An unknown actor with seven years of experience, infamous in this industry for being useless.

No matter how he looked at it, it was a gamble destined to ruin him.

But as Ji Yeon-woo had said, they needed a drastic firefighting measure to put out the public uproar and placate the investors. And the only person they could use immediately was that guy.

Finally, Woo Young-taek let out a deep sigh and spoke with the resignation of a man who had given up.

"For now... let's do it. We'll go with Writer Ji's suggestion."

"D-Director!"

"But!"

Woo Young-taek issued a threat as if this much was nonnegotiable.

"Let's start with a test shoot. If I look at it and decide he isn't up to it, I'll throw him out without hesitation."

At that, Ji Yeon-woo gave a faint smile and nodded.

"Sounds good."

#

"Costume team! Get him into something that roughly fits, quickly!"

"Lighting, standby! Adjust the reflector position!"

At the temporary test set prepared in one corner of the studio, staff rushed busily about.

Do Jae-hyun emerged from the makeshift changing room after hurriedly changing clothes, rigid as stone.

'This is my last chance. If I lose this chance, it really is over...'

Seven years.

This was the miraculous opportunity that had never come once during those long, unknown years.

If I slipped up here, a moment like this would never come to my life again.

I had to do it perfectly. I had to show them.

He repeated those words to himself thousands of times, but it did not help.

The position of a leading actor, where he had never stood before. Dozens of piercing stares probing him.

The pressure they created was rapidly eating away at Do Jae-hyun's reason.

"Whew...! I can't make a mistake. I have to do well..."

His heart pounded as if it would burst through his ribs, and both hands shook like aspen leaves.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he thought he could even hear ringing in his ears.

Every other sound seemed to have been muted.

"Mr. Jae-hyun."

Do Jae-hyun was trapped in extreme anxiety, involuntarily imagining a dreadful future.

What if I stumbled over a line here?

"Mr. Do Jae-hyun."

Was that really the line I remembered? What if I memorized it wrong?

What would happen to me if I did?

His mind went blank, and even the lines he had learned before would not come to him.

If he stood before the camera like this, he would obviously freeze up like an idiot.

"Mr. Jae-hyun!"

Just as he was beginning to sink into a deep swamp, someone firmly gripped his shoulder.

Only then did Do Jae-hyun snap back to his senses and look around.

"Gasp...! Y-Yes!"

He flinched and turned his head.

Writer Ji Yeon-woo stood there, looking down at him with an indifferent gaze.

"Pull yourself together."

"...."

Calm, but weighty.

That one sentence clearly cut through the tangled noise in Jae-hyun's ears.

"You don't need to burden yourself by thinking you have to do well or cannot make mistakes. Throw that away right now."

"N-No. I'll definitely do well."

"No, you don't need to push yourself. Of course, everyone here is waiting and watching only you. But do you know what's funny? Do you know what they're all saying?"

"Y-Yes?"

"They don't trust you, Mr. Jae-hyun. No one expects you to do well. They're already convinced you'll make mistakes and ruin everything."

"...."

Do Jae-hyun was about to lower his head with a devastated expression at that brutally blunt truth.

Then Ji Yeon-woo gave a short, incredulous laugh and lightly tapped his shoulder.

"But I find that pretty damn irritating."

"...What?"

An idiotic answer slipped from Do Jae-hyun at the unexpected words.

Ji Yeon-woo tightened his grip on the shoulder he held and continued.

"Think about it. Seven years. You're an actor with nearly ten thousand hours under your belt. Yet those people are certain you'll freeze like an idiot in front of the camera. No, they actually want you to."

"Th-That's..."

"I find that absurd, and irritating. Don't you?"

"...."

Do Jae-hyun could not offer an answer. He only blinked like an idiot.

Ji Yeon-woo gave him a very clear motive in an unwavering voice.

"So let's show them. Who was wrong, and who was right."

"Ah..."

The unsteady pupils in his eyes stopped shaking.

A tiny but distinct spark ignited in the place that had been full of fear and pressure.

Ji Yeon-woo did not miss that subtle emotional change and drove the point home.

"You don't have to struggle desperately to do well. Instead, burn this one thing into your mind."

"...."

"I'm going to make those bastards eat their words."

Why was it?

At those words, his heart, which had been pounding as if it would explode, settled down as though it had all been a lie.

The lines that had vanished from his mind began to come back clearly as well.

'...Right.'

Failure and frustration?

They had been as ordinary as meals for the last seven years.

He was used to being mocked and thrown out by now. It was not as though he had anything left to lose.

But.

"...Writer Ji."

Do Jae-hyun's gaze settled on Ji Yeon-woo.

When everyone else had treated him like he did not exist and turned away, this was the only person who believed in him.

The only person who recognized the sincerity of an extra rolling around in the streets and held out a hand to him.

He never wanted to disappoint this person.

"Thank you, Writer Ji. Truly..."

"For what? Shall we go, then?"

"Yes."

There was no longer any trembling in Do Jae-hyun's voice as he answered.

Having regained his composure in an instant, he finished preparing to immerse himself wholly in the role he had been given.

"We're starting the camera test! Stand by!"

The slate held by the most junior member of the directing department shot up.

Under the sharp stares of dozens of people, Do Jae-hyun silently walked toward the lights.

#

Behind the camera, Director Woo Young-taek sat before the monitor with his arms folded, scrutinizing Do Jae-hyun with sharp eyes.

'He's a strange one.'

The fool who had been trembling while watching the staff's reactions just moments ago was nowhere to be found.

His back was straight, and only a pleasant tension lingered in his shoulders.

More than anything, there was that look in his eyes as he faced the lens. The anxious gaze that had wandered as if he suffered from camera jitters had now settled into something almost frighteningly calm.

Still, it was too early to change his mind over that one change.

'Tch. Acting tough in front of the camera just because he calls himself an actor.'

Woo Young-taek scoffed inwardly.

It was fortunate that he had not lost his nerve, but acting was not something you did by striking a pose.

Seven years. Failing to shed the unknown label over that long period meant this industry had already judged him to have no talent.

His acting would be obvious.

For starters, he would stumble over his lines, then deliver some stiff, overstrained performance.

Just as Woo Young-taek was timing when to shout "Cut"...

"What have I been doing..."

Do Jae-hyun's first line flowed through the speakers.

At the same time, the atmosphere on set changed in an instant.

"What have I done until now...? What was I doing all that time?"

It was one short line written in the script.

It took only three seconds to say.

But countless elements filled those fleeting three seconds.

His breath broke into fine fragments. His eyes collapsed in sorrow. Even the occasional trembling of his hands.

Without a single excessive movement, he seized the entire space in an instant through nothing but the temperature of his gaze and the depth of his breathing.

"...Can I ask you one thing? Is it fun, playing with someone however you want and turning them into a complete wreck?"

Only thirty seconds after filming began, a dumbfounded gasp escaped Woo Young-taek.

'...What?'

He was not the only one shocked.

The staff members who had stood there with folded arms, cockily thinking, Let's see what you've got, had all become silent as though they had made a promise.

And among them, the most flustered person was none other than...

'What the hell? Why is he so good?'

Ji Yeon-woo.

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