This is due to the mask.
The most common disguise technique in the Martial Forest is the Reversible Disguise Technique, but I’ve always used a mask.
This is entirely because of the Sacheon Tangmen people. These guys will throw poisonous centipedes at you at the slightest hint of suspicion.
Unless you’re an otherworldly expert like the Heavenly Demon, getting hit by poisonous centipedes will inevitably disrupt your disguise slightly. So I wear a mask as a safety measure.
Ultimately, my acting starts with the premise of wearing a mask. However, no matter how finely crafted a mask is, it can never perfectly replicate a bare face.
Especially when delicately moving facial muscles, even minor changes can highlight the differences.
But since I acted as if I still wore the mask even after taking it off, my facial expressions inevitably became overly exaggerated.
“I need to practice this a bit.”
Now that I know the cause, I just need to overcome it through practice.
Though, since this habit has built up over a very long time, it seems it’ll take a while to adjust.
Viewing it this way, was choosing Elder Yoon as my first role a strike?
I didn’t choose this role after considering all these things, but it seems I was just lucky.
“And while it was fine now, there was a slightly awkward part during the drama filming, right? About the camera.”
“Yes, the lens kept staring at me, so it got a little conscious.”
Finally, the camera issue.
The truth is, I asked for acting lessons because of this problem.
It might be because my senses are too sharp, but I kept being aware of the movements of cameras circling around me.
This is a kind of occupational disease. In the Martial Forest, if someone obsessively observes you, it always means trouble.
I know it’s not that here, but habits ingrained in the body aren’t easily shaken off.
This practice only had one camera, and it was practically fixed, so it wasn’t really a problem, but this part also needed to be corrected.
“Let’s request the company to deploy multiple cameras. There’s nothing else but getting used to it.”
“That seems right.”
Since Heavenly Yuah’s suggestion was logical, the company would be requested for this part too.
Request to film me during practice with cameras similar to those used for broadcasting, several of them.
By repeating feedback after filming like today, we will surely gain something.
“Mr. Siwoo’s feedback is roughly to this extent, how about you?”
“What about what?”
“My acting. Is there anything you can give feedback on?”
“Ah… um. Excellent?”
“Hey, what does that mean?”
“Well, what can I say when you ask me that, but there’s nothing to say.”
Since the feedback on my acting was over, Heavenly Yuah asked to evaluate hers.
If there was something to point out, she wanted advice, but there was nothing to say.
Because from my perspective, her flawless acting showed no openings.
Heavenly Yuah is at the top not just because of her looks. It’s because her acting abilities were recognized first.
At a young age, she received Best Actress at Cannes, which is globally acknowledged.
Thinking about it, the Heavenly Demon was also exceptionally good at acting.
Being able to walk around the Central Plains for 30 years without being caught wasn’t solely because of my acting skills.
Perhaps even my last outing wasn’t caught by our side?
It was clear that it happened internally within the New Religion…
Well, it doesn’t matter now since it’s baseless speculation.
Regardless, both Heavenly Yuah and the Heavenly Demon excel in acting.
Moreover, their acting somehow gives off a subtly similar vibe.
What I started to identify differences in their acting led me to find another surprising commonality, which made me feel a bit disheartened.
After finishing the feedback, we performed the same script again while revising some parts.
I acted with particular attention to expressions and voice, and Heavenly Yuah pointed out the problematic parts right away.
After a few revisions, we managed to achieve a highly polished acting scene.
“Amazing.”
“What about what?”
“How do you adjust to feedback so quickly?”
“Well, I just do what I’m told.”
“That… um, okay. The quicker the adjustment, the better.”
“Just doing what I’m told, so what’s so amazing?”
She seems a little soft compared to what I thought.
And since she gives excellent feedback and explains point by point, she’s definitely different from the Heavenly Demon.
Our Heavenly Demon was such a genius she couldn’t bring herself to look at other people’s martial arts.
Eventually, she gave up because no one could understand no matter how much she explained in detail.
Isn’t this equivalent to earning 1 point?
No, this must count as a point.
Since I lost 1 point because of acting, I’m at 0 points now, so I need to add at least 1 point to keep my mental fortitude.
It has been about two weeks since Heavenly Yuah and I started acting lessons.
Through repetitive feedback, we quickly filled the gaps I had.
With such practice, I’ve lately reached a level where I rarely receive critiques through feedback.
We continue the acting lessons because both she and I enjoy this practice.
Turns out, the act of freely, without interference, or worry, portraying a specific character is surprisingly more fun than I thought.
“So, based on the script’s dialogue and lines, you build the character immediately? And then just fill in the gaps with imagination?”
“That’s right. It’s much more convenient when you complete the character and act.”
“Convenient, yes, but there are too many things missing to fully form the character.”
“That’s where imagination comes in.”
“Imagination… you have plenty of that, huh.”
“Am I overstepping?”
“The character built from the cue cards is already solid, so I can’t even interfere.”
Nowadays, instead of learning from Heavenly Yuah, it’s more about exchanging acting philosophies and methodologies with each other.
It’s fine, though.
That means my acting has become perfect.
Still, it’s unclear why she agreed to observe my acting practice.
After all, this training started because she wanted it, right?
There must be a reason, but I don’t know, so it’s a bit frustrating.
“Senior, are you going to a project?”
“A project? Why do you ask?”
“The hair. You dyed it black, right?”
Around a few days after starting the acting training,
I casually asked Heavenly Yuah.
Since I could think of no other reason for her to watch my acting, this was the only one.
A new project Heavenly Yuah was entering selected me as a potential co-star.
And she was checking if I was up to the task by having me act directly.
It wasn’t unusual at her level to propose a co-star, and it was a good thing for the company, so I thought this acting training made sense.
And the evidence lies in the black-dyed hair of Heavenly Yuah.
Though her blonde hair was undoubtedly beautiful, it wasn’t ideal for acting in Korea.
She also dyed it black for her debut, and in her last role, she acted with black hair.
From that perspective, Yun Seo-eun’s acting as a blonde and with light eyes was an exception.
If it weren’t a foreign role, even for a cameo, she would’ve had to dye it black and take on the role.
“But it was no. I dyed my hair black just because I liked it. A change of mood. Unless a good role comes, I don’t plan on anything for a while.”
However, Heavenly Yuah’s answer was No.
Which made me wonder.
“So why are you watching my acting?”
“The acting practice? Hmm… Just for fun? Is it not fun for Siwoo?”
“Fun, yes, but…”
Out of frustration, I just asked directly, but she casually replied she’s doing it for fun.
Fun? Is this girl obsessed with acting?
They say there are actors who enjoy the act of acting itself, and she seems to be one of them.
She clearly enjoyed every bit of it during the practice, so it doesn’t seem like a lie, but it’s an odd situation for me.
After all, she’s watching the performance of a rookie she barely knows, just for fun.
Although this acting practice is useful to me, it is clear that this woman is not an ordinary person.
While the acting practice continues smoothly, my mood wasn’t great.
Because my plan to observe her and find differences from the Heavenly Demon wasn’t going as smoothly as planned.
Embarrassingly, outside of the 1 point I arbitrarily assigned during the first acting session, I have nothing to show for it.
Does this even make sense? She’s clearly a different person, so how could this happen?
Since starting the acting lessons, my time with her has increased.
Both Heavenly Yuah and I were staying here, and our schedules even overlapped with the early morning exercises, a natural flow for building familiarity.
Morning exercise, breakfast, lunch, dinner, acting practice.
To this extent, the overlapping schedules between me and Heavenly Yuah.
It’s a situation where anyone not suffering from personality disruption or social anxiety disorder would naturally develop a rapport.
The more opportunities I had to interact with her, the more chances I had to observe her.
So, I believed it would be easy to find her differences from the Heavenly Demon.
However, the result was disappointing.
No matter what the reason, all I could see were their similarities.
For example, this one.
The Heavenly Demon had certain habits even she wasn’t fully aware of.
Like twitching her left eyebrow three or four times when really upset, or her nostrils fluttering slightly when she was pleased but trying not to show it.
Very subtle movements that were hard to notice unless you observed closely, so this was a secret only I knew as a childhood friend.
Even the leadership of the New Religion rarely had the chance to observe the Heavenly Demon’s face directly, so they didn’t know either.
Interestingly, Heavenly Yuah occasionally exhibited similar subtle changes.
As a result, the anti-Chaemon (anti-Heavenly Demon) point score of Heavenly Yuah plummeted from -1.
Moreover, the score continued to drop as our interactions repeated.
Yeah, even today, for instance.
During the evening, Heavenly Yuah and I went to a restaurant, and surprisingly, Chef Mom treated Heavenly Yuah with a special dish.
At first glance, the dish looked like bird legs.
Let’s skip over why Chef Mom treated Heavenly Yuah with this special surprise.
What I cared about was what Heavenly Yuah genuinely liked about this dish, given her enthusiastic welcome.
With a slight sense of unease, I inquired about the dish from Heavenly Yuah.
“This is called confit. One of my favorite dishes.”
“Ah, confit? If it’s confit… Is it duck?”
“Yes, it’s duck legs.”
It’s called confit in French cuisine.
A dish made with goose or duck. This one was made with duck legs.
While explaining, she beamed with a wide smile.
Unfortunately, this woman’s tastes in food were also similar to the Heavenly Demon.
*
