Song Ji-eun was extremely nervous.
A premonition that she would cause another NG dominated her mind.
In that tense state, she immersed herself in Han Seung-hye and uttered her first line.
“I found you.”
At the same time, she was startled.
Because the line had flowed from her mouth so comfortably.
An even more surprising thing unfolded after she spoke this line and faced Taeha.
The immersion, which usually shattered just by looking at Taeha’s face, was maintained this time.
And so, Han Seung-hye’s voice flowed from Song Ji-eun’s mouth once more.
“I said I found you.”
Only then did Kim Seong-wol, who had been doubting his own eyes wondering why Han Seung-hye was here, ask.
“…You found me? Why?”
That was it.
Currently, in Song Ji-eun’s eyes, Taeha didn’t appear as Taeha.
He looked perfectly like Kim Seong-wol.
That was the reason Song Ji-eun could currently maintain her immersion as Han Seung-hye.
Why had this suddenly become possible?
Until now, she had struggled because this part never worked.
This thought briefly surfaced but quickly scattered in her mind.
And then, in the form of Han Seung-hye, Song Ji-eun spoke again.
“I don’t really know. I just heard a rumor. It was just a rumor, but… a certain feeling arose and led me here. It made me run. It brought me before you.”
Han Seung-hye, barely composed, asked Kim Seong-wol.
“Do you know? What kind of feeling it is?”
Kim Seong-wol quietly gazed at this Han Seung-hye for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Yes. I know. Because I’ve looked at you with that feeling for a long time too. Because I wanted you.”
Almost as soon as the words ended, Han Seung-hye took a large step toward Kim Seong-wol.
She grabbed his arm and impulsively kissed Kim Seong-wol.
In truth, the thing Song Ji-eun had been most worried about in today’s filming was precisely this kiss scene.
She had thought it utterly impossible to perform this kiss scene as Han Seung-hye, not as Song Ji-eun.
But now, there was no longer any Song Ji-eun in Song Ji-eun’s heart.
It was filled solely with Han Seung-hye.
Han Seung-hye, whose feelings toward Kim Seong-wol were so fervent that she didn’t know what to do with that emotion.
Startled by Han Seung-hye’s sudden kiss, Kim Seong-wol closed his eyes.
Under the moonlight, the beautiful kiss between Kim Seong-wol and Han Seung-hye filled the night.
***
“Okay!”
Receiving the okay sign from Jo Joong-hoon in a single take, Taeha took a step back.
Simultaneously, multiple voices erupted from the set.
“Great work!”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
Amidst these voices, Taeha stepped out of the camera’s view.
Then, he looked at Song Ji-eun, who was wearing a completely dumbfounded expression.
Song Ji-eun looked quite shocked.
And Taeha knew the reason why Song Ji-eun was shocked.
It was clear she couldn’t understand why she hadn’t caused an NG this time.
That was only natural.
The reason Song Ji-eun hadn’t caused an NG this time was thanks to Taeha’s Immersion Ability.
‘Fortunately, it worked.’
Taeha had been using his Immersion Ability from the start.
The moment he decided to act as Kim Seong-wol, the Immersion Ability had automatically activated, so it was only natural.
And this activated Immersion Ability exerted an influence on the surroundings just by its existence.
But from what Taeha had observed so far, this influence was very relative.
People who were originally good at acting and immersing themselves in their roles were greatly affected by the Immersion Ability, but those who weren’t were only minimally affected.
In fact, in some cases, people weren’t affected by the Immersion Ability at all.
And when he checked later, it was mostly because their personal worries were too great to focus on acting or their roles at all.
This was the reason Taeha had judged that Song Ji-eun had worries and, because of this, had problems immersing herself as Han Seung-hye.
However, unlike others, Song Ji-eun’s problem wasn’t something that could be left alone.
Because the proportion Song Ji-eun occupied in Byeonghwa was no less than Taeha’s.
From Taeha’s perspective, he needed to prepare a solution before Song Ji-eun completely lost her confidence.
So, what he chose was the Immersion Ability.
He slightly changed the method of using the Immersion Ability to heighten Song Ji-eun’s concentration.
Thus, what Taeha had just performed in the filming wasn’t simply Kim Seong-wol.
It was ‘Kim Seong-wol, who, just by acting together, maximally elevates the immersion level of the counterpart’s role.’
And thanks to this method working, Song Ji-eun was able to perfectly immerse herself as Han Seung-hye and receive an okay in one take without any NGs.
For Taeha, who had been worried Song Ji-eun might completely lose her confidence, this was a relief.
‘From now on, I can use this method when acting with Song Ji-eun.’
Of course, there were side effects.
Perhaps because he was actively helping someone else’s immersion, it felt like his mental energy was being consumed twice as much as during normal acting.
It was fortunate that Song Ji-eun only caused NGs when acting with Taeha.
If he had to actively help Song Ji-eun with the Immersion Ability at other times as well, his body wouldn’t have held up.
But at other times, Song Ji-eun’s acting was flawless, without anything to fault.
‘Come to think of it, why did Song Ji-eun only cause NGs when acting with me? Am I a bit uncomfortable to be around?’
Taeha tilted his head.
For Taeha, that secret was destined to remain forever unsolved.
***
With even Song Ji-eun’s minor problem resolved, the filming of Byeonghwa gained even more momentum.
Episodes 7, 8, and 9 dealt with the early events of the Imjin War, which began with the invasion of the vanguard commander, Gonishi Yukinaga.
First, Episode 7 covered the story of how Kim Seong-wol and Han Seung-hye, having confirmed their feelings, would persuade their families.
In Han Seung-hye’s case, persuasion wasn’t difficult.
Because from her family’s perspective, Kim Seong-wol’s family was an extremely good match, one that could reduce the gap in their social status.
The key was whether it was possible to persuade Kim Seong-wol’s family.
But surprisingly, Kim Seong-wol’s father readily permits their courtship.
He thinks it’s better than him declaring he won’t marry at all.
Thus, with an agreement between the families, Kim Seong-wol and Han Seung-hye formally receive a promise of their future and no longer hide their feelings for each other.
…Of course, Han Seung-hye is very clumsy at love.
But in Kim Seong-wol’s eyes, even this Han Seung-hye seems lovely.
The two gradually nurture their feelings.
Finally, they receive an auspicious date and even set a wedding day, when news arrives at the royal court.
News that the Japanese invasion has begun.
Episode 8 starkly depicted the Joseon court’s response upon receiving news of the war’s outbreak.
Upon first hearing the war news, the court thinks of this war as merely a disturbance by Japanese pirates, similar to the Sampo Waeran.
So, they decide to send down Yi Il, one of the era’s greatest generals, to handle the matter.
However, Yi Il is defeated by Gonishi Yukinaga at Sangju, abandoning not only his armor but even his official robes and fleeing.
Startled by this news, the flustered court orders Shin Rip, renowned in the north, to take eight thousand elite cavalry from the capital army and eight thousand elite soldiers from the Chungcheong province to handle the situation, but he is defeated after forming a defensive stance at the Tangeumdae.
As the war situation becomes urgent, even Kim Seong-wol and Han Seung-hye, who hadn’t been overly worried when they first heard the news of the war’s start, are swept into chaos.
Especially when they receive news that Shin Rip was defeated at Tangeumdae and committed suicide, the chaos reaches its peak.
It wasn’t just Kim Seong-wol and Han Seung-hye.
The entire capital of Hanyang was engulfed in chaos, and here, King Seonjo makes an unbelievable choice.
Fleeing the capital.
At this unimaginable decision, the people, who had considered the king their parent, fall into great shock.
Kim Seong-wol, who had gone out to learn more about the war situation and belatedly received the news, runs to where Han Seung-hye is.
Having decided to flee, he resolves to escape with Han Seung-hye.
But the streets are congested with angry citizens, weeping scholars, elite soldiers attempting desertion only to be beheaded, and slaves determined to set the palace on fire to wash their household registers clean as the royal procession departs.
Because of them, Kim Seong-wol cannot reach Han Seung-hye as quickly as he thought.
Meanwhile, Han Seung-hye, waiting for Kim Seong-wol, moves on her own when he doesn’t appear for a long time.
Thus, Kim Seong-wol and Han Seung-hye ultimately miss each other, and finally, the palace from which the royal procession has departed begins to burn.
And Kim Seong-wol is forcibly taken away on a refugee journey, held by his mother’s hand.
Episode 9 shows Kim Seong-wol, who has followed the royal procession and arrived in Gaeseong.
Whenever news arrives from various parts of the country, Kim Seong-wol asks about Han Seung-hye’s whereabouts.
But naturally, no one knows.
Kim Seong-wol, disheartened, resolves to go south himself to find Han Seung-hye, but his mother stops him.
Finally, Kim Seong-wol decides to secretly break away from the family’s refugee procession.
But the attempt ends in failure.
His mother, fearing Kim Seong-wol would secretly leave, had people assigned to stop him.
Thus, Kim Seong-wol is knocked unconscious by the escort warriors and taken as a refugee all the way to Pyeongyang.
Enraged, Kim Seong-wol goes to his mother to protest and declares he will no longer flee.
Left alone in Pyeongyang Fortress, Kim Seong-wol, not long after, among the corpses said to have been moved from Hanyang…
“Oh, no.”
He finds it.
The charred corpse of Han Seung-hye.
“Uwaaaaah!”
Embracing the burned corpse, Kim Seong-wol weeps bitterly and makes a vow.
To take revenge on Japan.
***
And so, as the war in Byeonghwa escalated in earnest, the scale of the filming grew even larger.
Now, it was impossible to remember the names of all the supporting actors and staff participating in the filming.
It also became increasingly difficult for Taeha to appear at every filming location.
Because to produce realistic war scenes, multiple scenes were being filmed from all directions.
Just the fact that the filming teams, which were unusually divided into only A and B teams, now had a C team, showed the scale of Byeonghwa’s schedule.
Accordingly, it was inevitable that various problems, big and small, arose naturally on set.
No matter how much experience Jo Joong-hoon had directing historical dramas, he couldn’t control every single location.
It was safe to say that control of the B and C teams had almost slipped from Jo Joong-hoon’s hands.
For this reason, conflicts between actors and staff due to excessively long waiting times had now become routine.
There were incidents where well-kept equipment suddenly disappeared, and actors secretly gathering to smoke almost ended up burning down an entire hillside.
Fortunately, thanks to good handling, major accidents were somehow avoided, but preventing all accidents was impossible.
And among the accidents that occurred, the headache today was confusion in the schedule adjustment, causing the meal truck to not arrive even by eight in the evening.
The filming location was so remote that there weren’t even any restaurants nearby.
The numerous actors and staff appearing in Byeonghwa were all starving, and among them was Taeha.
“No! Is it right to hire people and then starve them for both lunch and dinner? Is it!”
Taeha watched some actors protesting with faces full of dissatisfaction and thought.
What should I do about this?