“Why is that?”
“I feel like you glossed over our daughter last time too.”
Was he talking about the separate shots of the child actors from before?
“Or is it that our daughter can’t act?”
“Sir!”
“If my child had been the lead actor’s younger version, you wouldn’t have skipped over her like this.”
So that’s why he was so sensitive to the word ‘actor’ earlier. It seemed his acting career hadn’t been smooth sailing.
‘… But to say it so openly.’
It’ll only hurt the kid’s image.
Even as the staff gathered and whispered, he showed no signs of backing down. On the contrary, the child was trying to stop him, looking anxious.
“D-Dad.”
Should I back down? No.
“If not, then why can’t our child get a reshoot?”
Oh… he’s angry. Yeom Haejin’s face contorted into a grimace.
“Why do you think she can’t do it?”
“…She has talent.”
“I don’t think she can.”
…She’s angry, she’s angry. No one could stop her now that her eyes had rolled back.
“Why? It’s because of parents like you that kids can’t act.”
“…..”
“The reason we couldn’t do a reshoot before was because you kept interfering with my directing.”
“…..”
“And can’t you see Dayoung?”
All eyes turned to the child clutching his leg.
“Dayoung was crying.”
The father’s eyes trembled, as if he hadn’t known at all.
“There won’t be a reshoot, so keep that in mind.”
I thought the situation was over. But he took Han Dayoung and left. He’s not just going to not come back, is he?
If the shoot gets canceled, Han Dayoung will get a label. This industry is so small. Is he planning to give the child a label?
I had a feeling my shoot would be delayed, so I went to see Yeom Haejin.
“Haejin.”
“Oh, Bada. About your shoot. Is it okay if it’s delayed?”
“Well, as long as we can shoot it while the sun’s still up.”
It wasn’t a scene that could be shot at night. Ryu Byeol, who had been silent and deep in thought even when I arrived, finally spoke.
“…You shouldn’t treat your daughter like that.”
“Why?”
Yeom Haejin asked.
“That’s why I didn’t want to act.”
“You…”
Ryu Byeol, a famous child actress who had dominated an era, disappeared from TV as she got older. Everyone wondered. What happened to that child actress from the dramas?
That’s why I was intrigued when I met Ryu Byeol in the university theater club.
“Byeol, you had a story to tell?”
Yeom Haejin asked the question no one else dared to.
“Me? I have tons of stories. So many that if I made a book out of my autobiography, it would easily be 20 volumes.”
“Wow, I don’t think it would be 20 volumes.”
“Haejin, whose side are you on…?”
“Whose side would I be on? I’m not on anyone’s side?”
It was a typical answer from her.
“Still, she’s lucky. My parents were so obsessed because they knew how much money I was making.”
Are we even supposed to be hearing this…?
“That’s why I quit acting. I rebelled, I ran away. But.”
Ryu Byeol looked up at me.
“I was watching someone’s acting and I realized. Acting looked fun. Isn’t that weird?”
“…..”
“That’s why I started filming dramas. Because there was acting I wanted to do.”
It felt like I was sitting on a convenience store plastic chair with a bottle of soju listening to this conversation.
“It would be nice if that child actress knew that acting was fun too. If she keeps trying to get love from her parents like she is now, she’ll get tired quickly.”
“I agree.”
I thought about the acting Han Dayoung had shown earlier. It was like she was standing on the edge of immersion, holding back her emotions so she wouldn’t fall over. It seemed like she was watching her father, but I didn’t know why she was doing that.
“Th-That.”
Just then, the father who had left with the child returned, his face pale.
“Dayoung has disappeared. I’ve looked everywhere, but I can’t find her.”
“That sweet child suddenly disappeared? Weren’t you together?”
I said sharply, as if pointing it out.
“…We were talking, and the child ran off…”
“You weren’t nagging her, were you?”
“…Yes, I was.”
He rubbed his face hard with his hands and stared at Yeom Haejin.
“The drama won’t be canceled, will it…?”
“…It won’t be canceled if we find Dayoung.”
“Ah. Right, right…”
I frowned at the father’s attitude, worrying about the drama instead of his missing child.
Yeom Haejin asked a few staff members to look for the child.
“Haejin, I’ll look too.”
“Huh? Why you?”
“She’s my child actor.”
“…Do whatever you want. Just don’t get lost yourself.”
“Okay.”
The child wouldn’t have deliberately hidden herself. She didn’t seem like that kind of person.
I knew the Mungyeong filming location well because I had to come here every time I filmed as an extra in historical dramas in my previous life.
…Where would be a good place to hide?’
Just then, a sub-quest window popped up in front of me with a loud ding! I thought it was about finding the child.
[Sub-Quest Activated.]
[Sub-Quest: Act Opposite Han Dayoung]
‘Act opposite Han Dayoung?’
What was even more surprising was the bottom part.
[Points: 2]
A whopping 2 points.
I understood why it had flashed so brightly when I saw the points.
Well, let’s find the child first and think about it. If the shoot is delayed like this, the child will be the one getting the blame.
I searched around the Mungyeong filming location for a place where the child might be, but Han Dayoung was nowhere to be found. But she couldn’t have gone far.
If she were an adult, she would have taken a taxi home, but she wasn’t a child. Even if she ran away, she would only be in a place without staff….
“…She might be.”
As I got further away from the filming location, the staff disappeared. There were only extra actors passing by.
“Hello!”
I smiled brightly at the extras who were running towards me in a group.
“Hello. I’m Im Bada.”
A greeting that was stuck in my mouth.
‘…At times like this, I really feel like an actress.’
Anyway.
“Have you seen a 10-year-old child who’s about waist-high?”
Someone said they saw her near the bathroom. I thanked them and quickly walked to the place they told me about.
It was quite deep. There was no one around, and it was inappropriate for a young child to be alone.
“Dayoung!”
I called out the child’s name loudly.
“Dayoung! Han Dayoung!”
I took a deep breath to call out one more time.
“…Sister?”
With a rustling sound, the child appeared from the bushes. Her eyes were swollen like sausages from crying so much.
“Dayoung. I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Why are you here?”
“…Because I hate Dad.”
“Dad?”
“I definitely acted the way Dad told me to…”
The child continued, trying to hold back her tears.
“Dad blamed me. He said that the reason we needed a reshoot was because of the way I acted.”
I felt bad just listening to it. How much worse must the child feel?
“…Are you here to scold me too?”
“No? I came to run away with Dayoung.”
“No! Dad said I can’t do that.”
“Then? Dayoung has to come with me too. Why would I go alone? It’s a scene that Dayoung and I are filming.”
I didn’t particularly try to coax or comfort the child. I knew she wasn’t the type to be persuaded that way.
“…I, I don’t want to go.”
“Why don’t you want to go?”
“Because I think Dad will scold me again. And…”
“And?”
“I don’t want to see Dad disappointed.”
I couldn’t help but make a blank expression at the child’s words.
‘Why is she…’
Saying the same things as Ryu Byeol? She said that she hated acting because of her drunken rants, that she didn’t want to do it, but she couldn’t give up acting because she thought her dad would be disappointed if she didn’t.
I could see her face in Han Dayoung’s face. Maybe that’s why I kept being drawn to this child.
I told Han Dayoung the words I had told Ryu Byeol back then.
“Maybe it’s because Dayoung hasn’t found acting fun yet.”
“…What do you mean?”
“You told me earlier. That you’re doing it because your parents are making you.”
The child’s expression became serious.
“What would it be like if you did it because you liked acting?”
“…I don’t know.”
The child seemed confused, as if it was the first time she had heard such a question.
“You don’t know?”
“I’ve never come here because I liked acting.”
“…Hmm. Then how about this?”
I smiled and looked down at Han Dayoung. Not as someone’s child, but as a complete individual who was acting with me, she faced me.
“Shall we film without your father?”
“……Huh? Is that okay?”
“Of course. But!”
There was a promise.
“Don’t act the way your father told you to.”
Regardless of whether the child actor was good or bad, there was acting she could do.
It was the pure, untainted acting that she could do at this age.
“…Then what should I do?”
“What did you do before?”
“I did everything Dad told me to, every single direction in the script. But!”
Curiosity filled Han Dayoung’s eyes, which had been confused.
“It sounds fun.”
“Really?”
“Yes! I feel like I’ve become an adventurer.”
It was a childlike idea, so it was cute. I got up from the chair and held out my hand.
“Shall we go now?”
Han Dayoung grabbed my hand without a moment’s hesitation and nodded her head hard.
“Yes!”
★★★
When we returned to the filming location, Han Dayoung apologized loudly.
“I’m sorry for causing trouble!”
As the child bowed her head, the staff who had been waiting told her not to do it again, creating a forgiving atmosphere.
“…Dayoung.”
“Dad!”
The father who had left to find the child returned. His face was covered in sweat from searching.
“Dad. I’m sorry.”
“…No, no. I’m just glad you’re back.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“You just have to do what Dad told you to do yesterday…. This time too.”
“No, I’m going to try it on my own this time.”
The child shook her head and said firmly.
“Huh? Dayoung? What did you say?”
“I’m not going to do what Dad taught me. I want to try acting on my own.”
“I told you. The acting Dayoung showed was still lacking. That’s why I told you to do what Dad told you to do, right?”
It wouldn’t work even if he did that. Didn’t I say that the child’s ego was strong? The child had found her own path, breaking free from the fence called parents.
“I don’t want to.”
“…Dayoung, Dayoung?”
“I want to try. I want to do it. Father.”
Even young children use ‘father’ at times like this.
“Dad, go far away.”
“Huh? Dad go?”
“Yeah, move far away if you don’t want to see my acting.”
Han Dayoung’s father stood frozen in place as if the world had collapsed. Regardless, the child’s expression looked much better, perhaps because she had expressed the emotions she had been holding back.
“Dayoung…”
Yeom Haejin approached me, who had created this situation.
“How did you do it?”
“You just have to mess with them with your mouth.”
“Your mouth has never been good.”
“…That’s what you think.”
It was getting late, so I went into the inner courtyard of the traditional Korean house and took a pose for filming. But I felt strange when I entered the inner courtyard.
‘… Is it because I’ve always played the role of a servant?’
Finally, the hair team came in and checked my hair. They tucked the slightly protruding side hair in, making it neat.
‘Ah, painkillers.’
I put the headache medicine and painkillers that manager Min Seo-eun had given me into my mouth. After swallowing the medicine with water, I looked at the script and built up my emotions.
“We’ll start filming soon.”
This shoot was about the sadness of losing a beloved friend, but also the joy of being able to love Crown Prince Lee Young to my heart’s content since childhood.
The child actor would play the role of Heosang, an existence that expressed emotions that went in both directions.
“…Wow, wow.”
Han Dayoung kept drinking water, as if she was nervous.
“Dayoung. It’s okay.”
“…..”
“You don’t have to do well.”
It was okay if she really didn’t do well. After all, only the back of the child’s head would be visible in the scene.
“Pour out the acting you want to do to me.”
“……”
“And Dayoung, accept my acting too.”