Become a Star

Prince Myeong-Hwan’s ready —people looking at Chae Woo-Jin had this written all over their faces, but Chae Woo-Jin himself was swamped and out of it because he had a lot of things to prepare for. First of all, he had to thoroughly read through Prince Myeong-Hwan’s data that Director Yoon Seon had sent him previously but wasn’t interested in looking at back then.

There was so much information about Prince Myeong-Hwan that Woo-Jin wondered if a lot of historical records still existed. As he read through them one by one, Woo-Jin realized this movie was the story of Prince Myeong-Hwan that was seen through other people’s eyes. The works and letters left behind by Prince Myeong-Hwan alone weren’t enough to make a movie. Eventually, they had no choice but to fill the void with information and data left behind by others.

The glamorization of Prince Myeong-Hwan in Red Enemy had also ultimately reflected the gaze which the people who lived back then used to look at him. Regardless of how well Woo-Jin knew Prince Myeong-Hwan, he couldn’t possibly have known how other people viewed him at that time. Thus, the materials used as the movie's foundation contained a lot of information and stories that Woo-Jin was unfamiliar with.

The truth unbeknownst to the prince himself, as well as the objective evaluations of him, felt like a completely different story. It piqued Woo-Jin’s interest, causing him to gather and look into the data of not only Prince Myeong-Hwan, but also the other individuals. Additionally, he practiced Prince Myeong-Hwan’s geonmu in his spare time. Fortunately, Director Yoon Seon had suggested that the dance would be based on the geonmu performed by Woo-Jin on The King of the Masked Singers. He had unintentionally picked a dance that was most historically accurate, just that he wanted to tweak the choreography to be more in line with the prince’s frightening and powerful dance.

The master of Korean traditional dance, Jang Ho-Seob, was in charge of the choreography. However, Jang Ho-Seob didn’t modify Woo-Jin’s geonmu as much as possible either. Instead, he would rather ask for Woo-Jin’s opinion and study the dance together before making revisions. Jang Ho-Seob had been focusing his efforts on increasing the awareness of Korean traditional dance via the media. He was pleased to meet Woo-Jin and also had a great deal of respect for him. He also tried probing by asking Woo-Jin where he learned to dance from. He seemed to have thought that Woo-Jin had learned the dance from an unknown dancer that hadn’t revealed their identity to the cultural community. Apart from the occasional difficulties of introducing people from the traditional culture community, he was a teacher that was easy to get along with.

“It’s been a while.” Woo-Jin happily greeted Kwon Eun-Mi. She was cast as Seol Ha in the movie and had been taking dance lessons from Jang Ho-Seob for a longer time than Woo-Jin.

Kwon Eun-Mi had only worked as a model when they had done the Biltman photoshoot. Having experienced the taste of acting after working with Woo-Jin on the set, she later studied acting and started her acting career by appearing in a couple of dramas and movies. Woo-Jin was in awe of how much she had grown in such a short period. Regardless of how hard one worked, innate talent still mattered to a certain extent. However, Kwon Eun-Mi had it all.

She had also proudly landed her role as Seol Ha by auditioning for the role with her own skills and nothing else. Even though she was tall, her dance moves looked very pretty because her slender limbs matched Seol Ha’s dignified and alluring image. Even to Woo-Jin, who knew Seol Ha in real life, Kwon Eun-Mi was the perfect person to portray Seol Ha. More importantly, it was better for someone he had worked with before, like Kwon Eun-Mi, to play the part of Prince Myeong-Hwan’s close friend than someone he barely knew.

“It’s my first time doing geonmu, so I’m nervous.” As soon as rumors about the production of Red Enemy started circulating last winter, Kwon Eun-Mi’s agency quickly signed her up for Korean traditional dance classes. Since she had been preparing for Seol Ha’s role right from the beginning for several months, she was able to do well in the audition. However, because they added the geonmu scene that wasn’t included in the original script, she was so nervous that she froze, like when she first learned how to dance.

“It looks like you’re better than me at dancing, though? Your movements are lively and full of energy. You truly dance as well as Seol Ha.”

Kwon Eun-Mi was a model, so she knew how to move her body. Furthermore, she had learned her basics well, so she could follow Jang Ho-Seob’s instructions well. Both of them had to dance equally well for the scene where Prince Myeong-Hwan and Seol Ha had to do the exact same geonmu together. They both had to set aside some time to practice over a long time to be in sync.

As they met with each other frequently, they often discussed their roles in their spare time. Woo-Jin furtively told Kwon Eun-Mi about Seol Ha’s personality and habits in the form of suggestions. Naturally, whenever he gave an appropriate explanation based on the various materials he had studied, she would accept his opinions and reflect them in her acting.

All the characters of the movie gathered together for the table read; it was also the day where they got to officially greet each other and become more well-acquainted.

“Son~! Come sit next to mom.” As soon as Im Ji-Young, the actress portraying Queen Moon-Jin, saw Woo-Jin, she called out to him warmly and patted the seat next to her.

“This seat belongs to my son, so no one else can sit here.”

None of the characters that Woo-Jin had played so far had parents, so he wasn’t sure how to react in this situation. Even Woo-Jin’s biological mother had never called him ‘son~!’ in such a warm and affectionate manner. Thus, he instantly turned around to see who the person behind him was.

“Hoo~!” Upon seeing Woo-Jin’s reaction, Im Ji-Young called out Prince Myeong-Hwan’s name, ‘Hoo,’ loudly to make fun of him. Only then did Woo-Jin realize she was calling him and went over to sit next to her, greeting her with a bow.

“Hello. Nice to meet you. I’m Chae Woo-Jin.”

“Mm, I know! I’m Im Ji-Young, and I’ll be playing Queen Moon-Jin. If things had worked out with my first love, I’d have a son as old as you.” Im Ji-Young was in her mid-forties; she was currently a mother of two elementary school children. She looked at Woo-Jin and wondered, ‘When will my children grow up?’ Chae Woo-Jin often received love and affection from adults; Im Ji-Young was no exception.

“Did you get a shock earlier because I called you ‘son’?”

“Ah, yes! That’s because none of my previous characters had any parents.”

“Now that you mention it, I guess I’m your first parent then!” It seemed as though Im Ji-Young had watched Woo-Jin’s previous movies and dramas. She was delighted and smiled widely.

“Usually, when I play the role of a parent, I often casually call the actors playing the role of my children by their names even when the cameras aren’t rolling. So from now on, you call me ‘mother’ as well. Hm, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be that easy.” Judging from Woo-Jin’s attitude and reactions, Im Ji-Young made a rough guess about his personality — he didn’t seem the type who could affectionately call others ‘mother’ on the spot.

“Don’t overthink it. It often happens naturally as we shoot the movie.”

It was her first time having a ‘son’ as old as Woo-Jin as she had only worked with child actors. The disparity was a little awkward for her as well, so she tended to be intentionally affectionate with him.

“He’s my son!” Im Ji-Young patted Woo-Jin on the back as she bragged to Kwak Eun-Hyuk sitting across from her. He was the actor playing the role of Inyoung-Gun, Prince Myeong-Hwan’s older brother. He had been deposed because he tried to stage a coup.

He replied with a wicked smile, “You must be happy, mother.”

“Ack! Did you just call me ‘mother’?”

“Why are you reacting this way? Even though she’s a stepmother, Queen Moon-Jin is still Inyoung-Gun’s mother.” Kwak Eun-Hyuk alluded to what Im Ji-Young said to Woo-Jin a while ago and made fun of her a little.

“We’re both in our forties; do you have to do this!”

“I’m still in my thirties!”

Both parties had worked with each other in the past. So there wasn’t any awkwardness between them even though they were dissing and making fun of each other.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Chae Woo-Jin.”

“I’m Kwak Eun-Hyuk. My name is a little difficult to pronounce, right? You’re really handsome…and more importantly, you’re young!”

Kwak Eun-Hyuk had already been cast as Inyoung-Gun three years ago when he was in his thirties. While the production was delayed for three years, he entered his forties[1]

“Woo-Jin, why did you debut so late? We’re finally going to shoot this movie, but I’m already in my forties.” Kwak Eun-Hyuk remarked that at least if the movie had been shot last year, he would have been able to leave behind the beauty of his thirties. He pulled out a mirror and looked at his face from different angles.

“If I had known this was going to happen, I would have gotten acupuncture here.[2]” The actual age difference between Prince Myeong-Hwan and Inyoung-Gun was 14 years, and Woo-Jin and Kwak Eun-Hyuk were 17 years apart, so the latter was conscious about the wrinkles under his eyes.

“You’ve aged well, so don’t worry, Your Majesty!” Director Yoon Seon was listening to the conversation among the actors; he rolled up the script and playfully hit Kwak Eun-Hyuk on the head with it.

“Besides, I wouldn’t have cast Chae Woo-Jin two years ago. He would have been too young!” Director Yoon Seon made it clear that the actor playing Prince Myeong-Hwan must not be too young. After hearing that, Kwak Eun-Hyuk corrected his stance and thanked Woo-Jin for accepting the role. He was technically still 39, so he was protecting the last bastion of his thirties.

“By the way, why isn’t your wife, Queen Yoon, here yet?

Perhaps, the skit wasn’t over yet. Director Yoon scanned the actors and looked for Oh Ha-Na.

“I think she ran away because I’m old.” Kwak Eun-Hyuk shrugged and touched the wrinkles he was still conscious about.

Even though it was time for the table read, Oh Ha-Na, the actress playing Queen Yoon, wasn’t present. Though she was only 21 years old, she already had ten years of experience under her belt as a child actress. She didn’t say anything beforehand, and neither was she a rookie who didn’t know how important the first table read was for the actors and production crew. They had only gotten a call from the assistant director belatedly saying that her manager was stuck in a traffic jam.

“I’m not sure I believe that. He didn’t say where the traffic jam was, right?” The assistant director laughed awkwardly in response to Kwak Eun-Hyuk and dodged the question. He hadn’t heard anything else from the manager other than the road being congested, so he couldn’t give an answer.

Director Yoon Seon looked at the time and ultimately decided to start the table read without Oh Ha-Na.

“Prince! How can you be so soft! Does it not make you angry to see a person of lowly birth ascend the ranks and disrespect your mother?”

“Cutting down money allocated to the Daebijeon[3] is reasonable. Is this year also not a year of poor harvest like last year?” Prince Myeong-Hwan calmly explained the situation, as opposed to his angry mother.

“The heavens are also angry because a lowly man ascended the throne.”

“Mother, my older brother, His Majesty, is the eldest son of our father. He is the head of this country. If he is lowly, then so am I.” Prince Myeong-Hwan replied sarcastically to Queen Moon-Jin’s venomous remarks. Even though it was empty talk, he disagreed with his mother’s sentiments and talked back to her the entire time.

“I guess there’s something you aren’t happy about?” Im Ji-Young looked at Woo-Jin and asked after they finished reading their lines. That was when Woo-Jin realized he had been subconsciously furrowing his brows, so he quickly relaxed his face.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s nothing. You might not know this, but every time I read out a line, your face would contort a little.”Im Ji-Young tapped Woo-Jin’s forehead with her finger.

“Me?”

“Yeah! You look like you have many thoughts in your mind. That’s why I’m starting to become curious. What are you thinking about?”

“Um…” Unlike Im Ji-Young’s casual question, Woo-Jin couldn’t speak his mind easily. Even though it was nothing, it was something that bothered him — Im Ji-Young’s version of Queen Moon-Jin was very different from the real Queen Moon-Jin. The problem was that Woo-Jin knew the truth. Even though he tried reminding himself that it was just a movie adaptation, he couldn’t help but draw comparisons repeatedly.

“It’s time for us to share our opinions now, so it’s okay to speak with conviction.” Director Yoon Seon knew that Woo-Jin had been looking at and studying the historical resources as much as he did, so he gave him a chance to speak.

Woo-Jin started off by telling Im Ji-Young that her acting was good.

“However, according to the literature, Queen Moon-Jin is said to be someone who speaks very coldly.”

“Hmm, that’s why I purposely expressed it in a sharp and venomous way, no?”

But that was the issue. To express it that way, Im Ji-Young started raising her voice at a certain point. However, the real Queen Moon-Jin had never raised her voice at any moment.

1. He’s probably still 39; hence he argued he was still in his thirties, but that would make his Korean age 40. At the time of birth, Koreans regard newborn babies as 1 year old. People get older every Jan 1st instead of their birthday. ☜

2. Cosmetic acupuncture can possibly remove fine lines and diminish wrinkles. ☜

3. The Queen dowager's quarter. ☜