Chapter 58: An Old Bond
Nam Giheon followed Min Jaeha into the academy.
It was quieter than he had expected.
They walked down a hallway and entered a practice room with a mirror covering one wall.
Several students were sitting with scripts in their hands.
Jaeha put down his bag as though he were used to the place.
"Sit here."
Giheon sat in a chair toward the back.
A little later, the class began.
Today's lesson focused on acting in front of a camera.
The students went to the front one at a time.
They read short lines in front of the camera, and the instructor played the recordings back for them.
"Right now, you're trying too hard to show your emotions."
The instructor spoke after one student's performance.
"Try again, but this time, imagine you're actually talking to the other person."
The student nodded.
They performed the same lines again.
Giheon quietly watched.
It was completely different from the lessons he took at school.
Then it was Jaeha's turn.
"Next, Jaeha."
"Yes."
Jaeha stood.
The smile he'd been wearing while talking to the person beside him disappeared almost immediately.
Standing in front of the camera, Jaeha let out a short breath.
The instructor raised a hand.
"Begin."
Jaeha delivered his lines.
Without realizing it, Giheon leaned forward slightly.
His friend looked completely different from the person he knew.
Before long, Jaeha's performance ended.
The instructor immediately gave him feedback.
"The beginning was fine. But you don't need to show every emotion at the end."
"I'll try it again."
Jaeha immediately returned to his position.
His second performance began.
This time, he paused briefly before delivering the final line.
His voice was much quieter than before.
The instructor nodded.
"That's it. This version is better."
Jaeha smiled and returned to his seat.
Giheon spoke quietly.
"You're good."
Jaeha's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
The corners of Jaeha's mouth rose.
"Good thing I brought you."
The lesson continued.
And just before it ended, the instructor they had met outside approached Giheon.
"How was it?"
"It was more interesting than I expected."
"Really?"
The instructor held out a sheet of paper.
"Then why don't you give it a try too?"
Giheon looked down at it.
It was a short script.
"Me?"
"It's only a few lines."
"But I really don't know anything about acting."
"So what? Acting is ultimately about expressing the character written in the script. Just express what you feel when you read it."
Jaeha smiled beside him.
"Go on. Give it a try."
In the end, Giheon accepted the paper.
The dialogue wasn't long.
But once he stood in front of the camera, it was a completely different story.
He didn't even know where to look.
The instructor pointed to one side.
"Look over there, not at the camera."
"Okay."
"Imagine the person you're talking to is standing there."
Giheon nodded.
He read the first line.
It sounded stiff.
By the second line, even his gaze was wavering.
When he finished, Giheon gave an embarrassed laugh.
"This is difficult."
Jaeha struggled to hold back his laughter.
"I've never seen you this flustered before."
Meanwhile, the acting instructor was focused on the footage they had just recorded.
He played it again from the beginning.
"Giheon."
"Yes?"
"Your acting is still very awkward."
Giheon immediately nodded.
"I think so too."
The instructor chuckled.
"But you look good on camera."
"On camera?"
"Yeah. Let me show you."
The instructor replayed the recording.
"You caught my attention when I saw you outside, but you look even better on camera."
Jaeha moved closer to the screen before Giheon did.
After watching for a moment, he nodded.
"He's right. You look seriously handsome on camera."
Giheon stared at the screen too.
All he could see was how awkward he looked.
Then Jaeha spoke.
"Hey. You should learn acting with me."
"All of a sudden?"
"You said it was fun."
"I said watching it was fun."
"Actually doing it is fun too. Don't you think it'd be even more fun if we came together?"
Giheon considered the question for a moment.
Then he nodded.
It wasn't long before he enrolled in the acting academy.
At first, he was mostly just following Jaeha.
After school, the two headed to the academy together.
Jaeha sometimes taught him things he had already learned.
"You can't just memorize the lines."
"Then what am I supposed to memorize?"
"You have to understand the situation first."
Even after their classes ended, they practiced their dialogue together.
Eventually, the two boys who had started attending the same academy began going to auditions together.
They both failed their first auditions.
Their second attempts ended the same way.
As soon as Jaeha received the results, he searched for the next audition notice.
"Let's try this one too."
"Again?"
"Of course. We have to keep trying until we get in."
Before he knew it, Giheon was naturally sitting beside him and accepting another script.
Then an opportunity came to Giheon first.
It was a student role that appeared in only a few scenes.
After receiving the acceptance message, Giheon stared at his phone for quite some time.
Jaeha, sitting beside him, noticed.
"What's wrong?"
Giheon showed him the screen.
Jaeha's eyes widened as he read the message.
"Hey! You got it!!"
His voice was even louder than Giheon's would have been.
Several people nearby turned to look.
Giheon grabbed his arm and pulled him closer.
"Keep your voice down."
"How am I supposed to be quiet? You passed the audition!"
Jaeha was as delighted as if he had gotten the role himself.
"People are looking."
"So what? Everyone's going to be looking at you from now on anyway. Aren't you happy? Why are you making that face?"
"Well... you didn't get the role."
Jaeha shrugged casually.
"So? I'll just get the next one."
He looked at Giheon's phone again and continued,
"Anyway, when does filming start?"
Jaeha asked one question after another as though it were his own project.
What kind of scenes would he be in?
Did he have any dialogue?
How many days would filming take?
It was the same when Giheon returned after finishing the shoot.
Jaeha caught him as soon as school ended.
"How was filming?"
Giheon told him everything that had happened on set.
Their friendship remained largely unchanged until they graduated from middle school.
Things began to change after they entered high school.
The size of the roles offered to Giheon grew rapidly.
After several shoots, he began receiving more offers for substantial roles rather than simply auditioning for small parts.
As his filming schedule became busier, there were days when he couldn't attend the academy.
He could no longer take classes with Jaeha every day as he had before.
Still, whenever his schedule allowed, he dropped by.
Before long, he began reaching auditions for leading roles.
Meanwhile, Jaeha continued going to the academy after school and attending auditions.
He often made it to the final round.
But in the end, he still couldn't secure a role.
Then, one day, Giheon received confirmation that he had been cast in his first leading role.
As soon as he read the message, he tried to call Jaeha.
He found his name in his contacts.
But his finger stopped above the call button.
He remembered something Jaeha had said just a few hours earlier.
I really thought I was going to get it this time...
Jaeha had been rejected in the final round again.
He'd been smiling when he said it, but unlike usual, he hadn't immediately started talking about his next audition.
Giheon stared at his phone.
In the end, he didn't press the call button.
It would probably be better to tell him tomorrow... right?
He thought waiting one day wouldn't make much difference.
The next day.
As soon as Giheon entered the academy, the instructor called him over.
"Giheon."
"Yes?"
"I heard you got a leading role. Congratulations."
Giheon instinctively glanced toward Jaeha.
Jaeha, who had been reading a script, raised his head too.
"Thank you."
Their eyes met.
"Congratulations."
"Thanks."
Giheon couldn't think of anything else to say.
They still walked home together that day.
But Giheon didn't bring up the shoot himself.
He thought seeing him celebrate might make things even harder for his friend.
Jaeha didn't ask about it either.
As Giheon began missing more days of school because of filming, Jaeha continued going back and forth between school, the academy, and auditions.
The days when they could walk home together became less frequent.
They met less often on weekends too.
They had never fought.
Neither had ever suggested that they should stop contacting each other.
And yet the things that had once seemed so natural gradually disappeared.
Being the first person to share audition results with.
Telling each other everything that happened on set after filming.
Meeting on weekends even when they had nothing particular to do.
Giheon tried to contact Jaeha first several times.
But every time, he thought twice.
What if I just end up making things harder for Jaeha?
Wouldn't it be better to give him a little more time?
And so, time passed.
"Hyung."
Giheon opened his eyes.
His manager was looking at him from the driver's seat.
"We're home."
Giheon looked out the window.
The car had already stopped in front of his house.
He paused while unfastening his seatbelt.
Then he took out his phone.
He scrolled through his contacts.
[Min Jaeha]
Giheon stared at the name for a moment.
His finger never moved toward the call button.
In the end, he turned off the screen.
"Thanks. Drive safely."
Giheon opened the car door.
Several weeks passed.
It was now mid-July.
Even after reaching third place globally, Before the Light Reaches remained in the Top 10 for several more weeks.
Its ranking was gradually falling, but overseas interviews and interest in the film continued.
Geonwoo also completed several more interviews according to his schedule.
However, most of his time was once again devoted to producing The Night the King Died.
The costume fittings had been completed.
The set materials submitted by the art department were becoming increasingly close to what would actually be used during filming.
And today, Geonwoo arrived at TS ENM a little earlier than usual.
It was the day of the first full cast script reading for The Night the King Died.
A long table had been set up in the meeting room.
Scripts and nameplates had been placed at every seat.
For the first time, the actors Geonwoo had met individually would all gather in one place.
As the scheduled time approached, the meeting room quickly filled.
The actors exchanged brief greetings before taking their seats.
Min Jaeha arrived first.
When Nam Giheon entered a little later, their eyes met briefly.
"You're here?"
"Yeah."
That was all.
When the scheduled time arrived, Geonwoo opened his script.
"Then let's begin."
At Geonwoo's words, Hyunsoo, now a member of the directing team, looked around the meeting room before beginning to read the narration and scene descriptions.
More than ten years ago.
A terrible famine swept across the country.
The Crown Prince investigated the relief grain.
A fabricated treason case followed.
A report was ignored.
An official died in prison, and the Crown Prince was deposed.
The actors, who had already read the script several times, waited for their respective turns.
The story moved to the present.
The king began reinvestigating the incident from long ago.
He placed the royal seal on his final edict.
And that night.
The king collapsed.
Hyunsoo turned to the next page.
Jaeha, who had been quietly following the script until then, straightened his posture.
The historian's first line followed.
He had to escape the palace with the edict the king had been preparing until just before his collapse.
Jaeha delivered his lines at a brisk pace.
There was no trace of the awkward man who had exchanged a brief greeting with Giheon earlier.
Geonwoo watched Jaeha for a moment before lowering his gaze to the script.
Soon, it was Yoon Jaehyuk's turn.
The military officer, Lee Gyeom, blocked the fleeing historian's path.
Jaehyuk didn't raise his voice.
Only after listening to everything the historian had to say did he deliver his own lines.
Geonwoo silently turned the page.
It was much more natural than during the audition.
Next came Princess Yeonhwi.
Han Eunchae began delivering her lines.
Even after confirming the king's death, she didn't hesitate for long.
She had to leave the palace to bring back the deposed Crown Prince.
When Eunchae finished her lines, Giheon began speaking.
He was the deposed Crown Prince who had lived at his private residence for more than ten years.
Giheon didn't rush his dialogue.
Whenever Eunchae finished speaking, he paused briefly before answering.
They exchanged several lines.
Geonwoo watched them and slowly nodded.
It was different from seeing each actor individually.
Once all four began reading the same script, the scenes connected naturally.
The reading continued.
The royal edict the historian was determined to protect.
The records from the past that Lee Gyeom wanted to find.
Princess Yeonhwi, who was trying to bring the deposed Crown Prince back to the palace.
And the deposed Crown Prince, who returned to the palace while concealing his identity.
The characters, who had been moving through different places, gradually converged on the palace.
Next came the scene where the historian and the deposed Crown Prince met for the first time.
Jaeha raised his eyes from the script.
"His Majesty has passed away."
Giheon didn't answer immediately.
Only the finger holding down his page stopped moving.
Jaeha didn't rush his next line either.
Giheon slowly raised his eyes.
"The royal edict."
"I have it here."
Jaeha made a motion as though taking a document from inside his clothes.
"His Majesty personally affixed the royal seal before he passed away."
Giheon's gaze returned to the script.
As he read several lines, Jaeha waited quietly.
"There's no mention of restoring me as Crown Prince."
"His Majesty ordered a reinvestigation of the incident from more than ten years ago."
"The question of succession is to be discussed after the investigation is complete."
Giheon let out a short breath.
"Even at the moment of his death, he couldn't bring himself to trust me."
Jaeha already knew his next line.
But he didn't speak until Giheon's final syllable had completely faded.
"What would you have us do with the edict?"
Once again, Giheon didn't answer immediately.
The finger pressing down on the edge of his script slowly lifted.
"Send it outside the palace first."
"All the palace gates have already been closed."
Giheon raised his eyes from the script.
"Then we'll have to find a way to open them."
Jaeha met his gaze without looking away.
It was almost too natural for two actors reading together for the first time.
It had been the same during the costume fitting.
In their private lives, they seemed to struggle to exchange even a few words.
But once they began acting, everything changed.
The scene ended.
Hyunsoo turned the page to read the next scene description.
Jaeha and Giheon also turned their pages almost simultaneously.
At that moment, their eyes met briefly.
The corners of Jaeha's mouth rose ever so slightly.
Giheon lowered his gaze to the script and smiled faintly too.
