Chapter 11: Editing Hell
When Hyeonsu opened his eyes, it was completely dark outside.
The editing-room ceiling filled his vision.
The faint sound of external hard drives spun in his ears.
"Hyung..."
Geonwoo was still sitting in front of the monitor.
"You're awake?"
"How long did I sleep?"
"About three hours."
Hyeonsu froze.
"What? Three hours?"
"Yeah. You slept really well."
"You should've woken me up. I said I'd only sleep for ten minutes."
"You were snoring. How was I supposed to wake you?"
"I was snoring too? Sorry."
Geonwoo laughed.
"Why are you apologizing? It happens."
Hyeonsu scratched his head awkwardly and looked at the monitor.
The funeral-hall sequence had already been assembled into a long section.
After that came Seoyun walking through the alley with the camcorder, Seorin checking the camcorder in her room, and Minjae standing alone in an empty alley.
Hyeonsu's eyes widened.
"Hyung."
"What?"
"You've already done this much?"
"It went faster than expected because I could follow the storyboard."
That was true.
Before filming, Geonwoo had already determined most of the cut order and scene rhythm.
But it was still strange.
Even with excellent storyboards, finishing this much in three hours wasn't easy.
Hyeonsu looked at Geonwoo's face again.
Then froze once more.
"Hyung."
"What now?"
"Why do you look so fine?"
Geonwoo finally turned toward him.
"What do you mean?"
"After editing all night, you're supposed to look destroyed. But you actually look healthier than earlier."
Geonwoo's hand stopped for a fraction of a second.
"Are you still half asleep?"
"No. Seriously. Your skin looks better. Why do you look more handsome?"
"Maybe it's the chocolate."
"Chocolate makes you more handsome?"
"I don't know. Stop talking nonsense and help me clean this up."
Instead of answering further, Geonwoo checked the backup window.
Progress: 100%.
He briefly wrote down what he'd completed that day.
[Funeral-hall scene complete]
[Seoyun alley-recording sequence assembled]
[Part of Seorin room sequence connected]
[Minjae solo shots marked]
His wrists felt far lighter than before.
His eyes were clear.
His thoughts were strangely organized.
Editing Recovery is ridiculously effective.
With this ability, he could finish the film before the submission deadline.
From the next day onward, the editing-room lights remained on late almost every night.
Hyeonsu refused to go home even when Geonwoo told him to, so Geonwoo eventually brought a folded blanket and pillow and put them in the corner.
"Hyung. What's that?"
"So you don't sleep in the chair again."
"You brought that for me?"
"You won't leave first even if I tell you to, right?"
Hyeonsu was speechless for a moment.
Then he bowed dramatically.
"Thank you, Director."
"If you're thankful, sleep immediately when you get tired."
"I'll decide depending on the situation."
"You're stubborn again."
And so editing hell began once more.
Several nights later.
Geonwoo stopped while washing his hands in the bathroom and stared at his reflection.
Hyeonsu hadn't been completely joking.
The shadows under his eyes had faded.
His skin didn't look dry.
Rather than someone who had been trapped in an editing room all night, he looked like someone who'd had a full night's sleep.
"What exactly is this ability?"
He thought it only restored stamina.
But it seemed that as his physical fatigue disappeared, the exhaustion visible on his face faded too.
Geonwoo looked at himself again.
"If I ever have an interview, should I edit for a while before going?"
He shook the water from his hands and left the bathroom.
Then he heard footsteps approaching.
At first, he thought it was another student working late.
It wasn't.
The moment Geonwoo saw the man, his feet stopped.
The other man also recognized him and stopped walking.
Under the fluorescent light, his face became clear.
Director Moon Taeseok.
The man who had stolen Geonwoo's script in his previous life.
Moon Taeseok looked at him briefly.
"Geonwoo."
His low voice echoed through the quiet hallway.
Geonwoo answered half a beat late.
"Professor."
"You're editing this late?"
"Yes."
"I was wondering how your movie was going since you haven't contacted me recently. Looks like you've been working hard."
"I'm sorry I haven't contacted you."
"No. If you're busy, that's understandable."
Geonwoo inhaled quietly.
"Why are you at the university this late, Professor?"
"I left some documents in my office. I have a preliminary meeting tomorrow related to judging at the Busan International Film Festival."
"Judging...?"
Geonwoo paused.
"Have you been invited as a judge for this year's Busan International Film Festival?"
Moon Taeseok smiled and nodded.
"Yes. I heard you're planning to submit your new film to Busan too. The Vision section, right?"
"Yes."
"Which section are you judging this year?"
Moon Taeseok looked at him.
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious."
Moon Taeseok studied Geonwoo for a moment.
Then answered slowly.
"This year, I'm judging the Vision section."
Geonwoo flinched.
The Vision section was where independent films were introduced.
It was also the exact section where Geonwoo planned to submit his movie.
Until a moment ago, he'd only been thinking about the submission deadline.
When editing would finish.
When sound mixing would be done.
How he would handle color correction.
But now there was one more thing to think about.
Moon Taeseok.
Geonwoo quietly inhaled.
"Then you'll be judging my film too."
Moon Taeseok chuckled.
"Wouldn't that only happen after you submit it and it's selected as an official screening title?"
He continued.
"Or are you already completely confident your film will be selected before you've even submitted it? That seems a little premature."
Geonwoo smiled faintly.
"You're right, Professor. I've learned something else from you."
"Yes. You still have a lot to learn."
"For now, I'll focus on raising the quality as much as possible so it can be selected."
"I hope your film becomes an official selection."
Moon Taeseok smiled.
"As your teacher, I'll give you one piece of advice."
"What is it?"
"Be careful when you edit."
Geonwoo tilted his head.
"What exactly should I be careful about?"
"Don't trust a scene just because it felt good on set."
Moon Taeseok's voice was calm.
"Beginner directors often forget that the audience wasn't there during filming. They assume the emotions they felt on set will naturally be understood by the audience too."
He looked at Geonwoo.
"In the end, trust only what remains on the screen."
Geonwoo nodded.
"I'll remember that."
"Good. Finish a good film."
Moon Taeseok was about to walk away.
Geonwoo spoke without realizing it.
"Professor."
Moon Taeseok stopped.
Geonwoo looked at him.
"If my film is officially selected for the Vision section, I'd like you to judge it only as a film."
Moon Taeseok slowly turned.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, don't watch it as your student's film."
Geonwoo's gaze remained steady.
"Watch it as the work of another director."
Moon Taeseok looked at him for a moment.
Then answered briefly.
"All right. I'll remember that too."
After Moon Taeseok left, Geonwoo remained standing in the hallway for a long time.
The Vision section.
Moon Taeseok would be judging the exact section Geonwoo intended to enter.
That fact felt heavier than expected.
Geonwoo returned to the editing room and quietly sat down.
Hyeonsu was still asleep beneath the blanket in the corner.
The timeline they had been editing remained on the monitor.
Then Moon Taeseok's words came back to him.
Don't trust a scene just because it felt good on set.
Beginner directors often forget that the audience wasn't there during filming.
In the end, trust only what remains on the screen.
Even though those words came from Moon Taeseok, they weren't wrong.
"So I need to stop remembering the set and look only at what's actually on screen."
Geonwoo replayed the funeral-hall sequence from the beginning.
He imagined himself as an ordinary viewer and watched it objectively.
The storyboard created with Optimal Scene hadn't been wrong.
During filming, he had already calculated exactly where Minjae's gaze, the mourners' reactions, and Seorin's question should appear.
Those moments were finding their places correctly on the timeline.
The moment Minjae avoided answering.
The moment the mourners looked away.
The moment Seorin realized something was strange.
The necessary emotions were already on screen.
Geonwoo removed his hand from the mouse.
"The storyboard is communicating everything properly."
There was no need to keep changing things for no reason.
He thought again about Moon Taeseok's advice.
It wasn't wrong.
But it wasn't new to Geonwoo either.
A moment that felt good on set wasn't always a moment that belonged in the movie.
That principle had guided him throughout the entire editing process.
After that, June disappeared into editing.
Because the storyboards were so detailed, the direction of the edit had already been established.
Combined with Editing Recovery, their progress was faster than expected.
Hyeonsu organized files, checked backups, and marked any audio-sync problems.
Geonwoo assembled the cuts, adjusted their lengths, and checked the rhythm of each scene.
When dialogue came in slightly too early, they corrected the sync.
When a shot was too dark, they adjusted the color.
When music rushed ahead of the emotion, Geonwoo removed it entirely.
Every few days, Hyeonsu said,
"Hyung, at this speed, we might finish earlier than expected."
Without looking away from the monitor, Geonwoo answered,
"Finishing early would be nice."
The editing-room lights remained on late nearly every night.
Chocolate wrappers piled up.
New coffee cups appeared every day.
Whenever Hyeonsu became sleepy, he collapsed onto the blanket in the corner.
While he slept, Geonwoo activated Editing Recovery and accelerated the work.
Early July.
"Whoa! We're finally done!"
Hyeonsu's shout shook the editing room.
He jumped from his chair and threw both arms into the air.
For someone who had been trapped in an editing room for weeks, his voice was surprisingly powerful.
Geonwoo kept looking at the monitor.
The end credits slowly rolled after the final shot.
[Before the Light Reaches]
The title appeared against a black screen.
Then the names of everyone who had participated followed beneath it.
Geonwoo watched his own name pass.
He had finished it.
Hyeonsu still couldn't calm down.
"Hyung, this is really done, right? We actually made a feature film?"
"It's finished."
Hyeonsu dropped back into his chair.
The excited expression disappeared from his face and became blank.
It was as though his body had finally realized just how tired it had been for the past few weeks.
"I feel weird. I'm incredibly happy, but I have no strength."
"That's natural. You've worked hard."
"But why do you still look completely fine?"
Why?
Because Editing Recovery had restored Geonwoo's stamina only moments earlier.
Instead of answering, Geonwoo changed the subject.
"We still have a little time."
He looked at Hyeonsu.
"Let's hold an internal screening."
"An internal screening...?"
"Not a public one. Just a final review before submission."
Geonwoo explained.
"We'll invite the actors, a few professors, and the cinematographer. Besides, don't you want to see what it feels like on a theater screen?"
Hyeonsu stared at him blankly for a moment.
Until now, he'd been intoxicated by the fact that they were done.
But Geonwoo's words slowly brought him back to reality.
"Right. We've never watched it on a big screen."
"Exactly. An editing monitor and a theater screen aren't the same."
"The sound will be different too. We need to check subtitle placement."
Hyeonsu immediately picked up his phone.
"I'll check the screening room first. If it's booked, none of this matters."
He contacted the staff member in charge of university facilities.
Since it was summer break, the screening room was available, but several supplementary classes and department events were already scheduled.
After the call, Hyeonsu checked the calendar.
"The earliest slot is three days from now in the evening."
"Three days?"
"Yeah. Seven p.m."
"Good. Let's do it then."
Geonwoo called Professor Kim Dohyeon.
After hearing the situation, the professor thought briefly and answered.
"It's not a public screening, right?"
"No. Internal review before submission."
"All right. I'll invite a few other professors and come with them."
"Thank you, Professor."
As soon as Geonwoo ended the call, Hyeonsu posted in the group chat.
[Internal review screening scheduled before submission. Three days from now, 7 p.m., university screening room. Please let us know if you can attend.]
Yura answered first.
[I can attend.]
Taejun's message came next.
[I'll be there. Finally getting to see the finished version.]
A reply came from the contact saved as Dogyeom's mother.
[Dogyeom and I will attend.]
Myeongho's reply arrived a little later.
[Going.]
Hyeonsu chuckled.
"Cinematographer-nim's replies are really short."
"He's coming. That's enough."
Hyeonsu leaned back.
"I wish three days would hurry up."
"Because you're curious about everyone's reactions?"
Hyeonsu nodded.
"Yeah. Aren't you? What are they going to say after seeing the movie?"
Geonwoo smiled.
"Yeah. I'm curious too."
