Chapter 41: Military Officer Lee Gyeom
The man stared at Geonwoo for a moment after hearing the unexpected request.
“Right now? Here?”
“Yes. If possible.”
Yoon Jaehyuk looked back toward the theater entrance behind him.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll ask whether we can use the theater a little longer.”
He went back down the stairs.
Geonwoo waited in front of the entrance.
A short while later, Jaehyuk returned.
“They said thirty minutes should be fine. Would you like to come inside?”
“Yes.”
The two entered the theater together.
The audience seats were empty.
Only the props the actors had used remained onstage.
Most of the lights had been turned off, leaving only one light shining over the center.
Jaehyuk placed his bag on a seat in the front row.
Then he turned toward Geonwoo.
“I didn’t properly introduce myself earlier.”
He held out his hand.
“I’m Yoon Jaehyuk.”
Geonwoo shook it.
“I’m Baek Geonwoo.”
After exchanging greetings, Geonwoo placed his bag on a chair and opened the zipper.
He took out a screenplay.
Jaehyuk’s eyes stopped on the cover.
The Night the King Died.
Geonwoo held it out.
Jaehyuk didn’t immediately take it.
He looked at the cover once more.
“Is this your next project, Director?”
“Yes.”
“Has production already been confirmed?”
Geonwoo looked at him.
He had asked about whether the film would actually be made before asking about the story itself.
Geonwoo remembered what the casting company had told him.
A drama that had been canceled.
A movie he had already filmed, only for all his scenes to be cut.
A project where investment was delayed and the cast changed.
Geonwoo answered briefly.
“It passed investment review, and the contract has already been signed. It’ll be produced by a TS ENM-affiliated studio.”
Only then did Jaehyuk accept the script.
“Which role would I be auditioning for?”
“The military officer.”
Geonwoo opened the character-introduction page.
Jaehyuk’s gaze stopped on one name.
[Military Officer Lee Gyeom]
Geonwoo explained,
“He’s a military officer guarding the royal palace. He’s one of the four main characters.”
Jaehyuk looked up.
Then he tilted his head.
“Excuse me? A main character?”
His expression was openly confused.
“So you came here because you want me to audition for one of the main roles?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you come looking for me? I’m an unknown actor.”
“Because I kept thinking of your voice while I was writing the script.”
“My voice...?”
“Yes.”
Jaehyuk’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“Where did you hear it?”
“You’ve worked as a reading actor during casting sessions before, right?”
“Yes. Occasionally.”
“I happened to hear you then.”
Jaehyuk still looked as though he didn’t quite understand.
“You found me based only on my voice?”
“Yes. Actually, today is the first time I’ve seen your face.”
Jaehyuk remained silent for quite a while.
He looked between the screenplay in his hands and Geonwoo.
Then he released a short breath that sounded almost like a laugh.
“I’m sorry. I’m still having trouble understanding this.”
“I’ve never met you before today, and you didn’t even know what I looked like.”
“That’s right.”
“And because of one voice you heard, you came looking for me and now want me to audition for a lead role?”
“That’s exactly right.”
Jaehyuk looked down at the screenplay again.
It clearly wasn’t an easy story to accept.
Geonwoo continued,
“Every time I wrote Lee Gyeom’s lines, I kept hearing that voice in my head.”
“I wanted to find the person behind it.”
“So I went to the casting company. They told me you were performing here today, so I came to see you myself.”
A helpless smile appeared on Jaehyuk’s lips.
“You really searched for me because of one voice?”
“Yes.”
Jaehyuk looked at him.
“How was today’s performance?”
“It was good.”
Geonwoo answered without hesitation.
“Your appearance fits the Lee Gyeom I imagined, and you’re good with physical movement too.”
Jaehyuk’s eyes changed slightly.
“But the role you played onstage today wasn’t Lee Gyeom.”
Geonwoo pointed at the script in Jaehyuk’s hand.
“I want to see for myself whether you fit this role too.”
Only then did Jaehyuk nod slightly.
It seemed he finally understood Geonwoo’s reasoning.
He looked at the character page again.
“Then may I read for a while first?”
“Of course.”
“Ten minutes should be enough.”
“Take your time.”
Jaehyuk carried the script onto the stage.
Geonwoo sat in the front row.
Jaehyuk began with the character introduction.
After skimming several more pages, he looked toward Geonwoo.
“Which scene are we using for the audition?”
Geonwoo stood.
He approached and flipped through several pages.
“Here.”
His finger stopped on one scene.
“This happens after Lee Gyeom catches the historian.”
“The historian?”
“He’s the man who escaped with the royal decree written shortly before the King died.”
Geonwoo pointed to the next page.
“At first, Lee Gyeom intends to arrest him.”
“Because he was ordered to?”
“Yes.”
Jaehyuk nodded.
His gaze returned to the script.
After reading several lines, his hand stopped.
“What is this report?”
“It was written by Lee Gyeom’s father ten years earlier.”
Jaehyuk remembered the character introduction he had just read.
“During the treason case?”
“Yes. His father wrote it while trying to expose that the case had been fabricated.”
“And this is the first time Lee Gyeom sees it?”
“Yes.”
Jaehyuk turned one page back, then returned.
“Did the King know about this?”
“He did.”
“But he didn’t reopen the investigation back then.”
“For ten years?”
“Yes.”
Jaehyuk stopped asking questions.
This time, he slowly read from the beginning of the scene.
The order to capture the historian.
The dead King.
The document pouch.
His father’s report inside.
His page-turning gradually slowed.
A little later, Jaehyuk muttered,
“You really can’t like the King after this.”
“That’s right.”
“But if Lee Gyeom lets the historian go anyway, it must be because of his father’s honor.”
Jaehyuk examined the script again.
Rather than trying to memorize the lines, he seemed to be checking what Lee Gyeom knew and exactly when his thoughts changed.
A short while later.
Jaehyuk walked to the center of the stage with the script.
“I’ll try it.”
Geonwoo stood.
“I’ll read the historian’s lines.”
“Okay.”
Geonwoo carried one prepared sheet of paper onto one side of the stage.
They stood several steps apart.
“When you’re ready, we’ll start.”
Jaehyuk looked down at the script one last time.
Then slowly raised his head.
“I’m ready.”
They faced each other.
Geonwoo spoke first.
“Let me pass.”
Jaehyuk looked down toward Geonwoo’s hand.
“You expect me to believe the word of a man who stole the King’s document and ran?”
“I didn’t steal it.”
Geonwoo pulled the paper closer to his chest.
“His Majesty entrusted it to me himself.”
Jaehyuk’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Where is His Majesty?”
Geonwoo paused.
“He has passed away.”
Jaehyuk didn’t immediately deliver the next line.
He drew in a short breath.
“What are you talking about?”
“He collapsed after drinking his medicine.”
Jaehyuk took one step closer.
“Put down the document first.”
“Before that, you need to see this.”
Geonwoo held out the paper.
Jaehyuk accepted it.
Just as written in the script, he read the first line.
His gaze stopped.
His grip on the paper tightened.
“This name...”
Geonwoo said,
“It’s the report your father left behind.”
Jaehyuk raised his head.
“Where did you get this?”
“His Majesty reopened the records from the old case.”
Jaehyuk looked down again.
“Only now?”
“There’s also an order in the royal decree to reopen that investigation.”
Jaehyuk released a short breath.
“Ten years have passed.”
His voice lowered.
“What changes because they investigate it now?”
The rest of the performance remained stable.
Jaehyuk wasn’t easily moved by the fact that the King had belatedly tried to correct his mistake.
He kept holding the report while listening to the historian.
He never raised his voice unnecessarily.
If anything, the more his father’s name was mentioned, the less he spoke.
The same was true at the final moment when he let the historian go.
It was very close to the Lee Gyeom Geonwoo had imagined.
More than anything else, Geonwoo liked how Jaehyuk received his scene partner’s lines.
