This drama might be the most important work for me.
It’s both my practical debut and my first leading role.
If that’s the case, then I might as well bet everything on it.
However, due to the complications surrounding Moon Suyeon, I wasn’t able to fully concentrate on filming.
“Something like candy shouldn’t be so overwhelming that it just passes unnoticed.”
Honestly, how did it end up so messy?
Anyway, now that I’ve sorted out matters on this side, it’s time to focus solely on the filming.
“The emotions are good, and the scenes are unfolding well.”
“You’re absolutely right. It was perfect. Especially Lee Myung’s deep gaze at Wolhee—it might stir some hearts.”
“Thankfully. I was a bit worried.”
Fortunately, thanks to the adjusted shooting schedule, Moon Suyeon’s scenes were concentrated in the early parts, and most of my scenes were also with her.
Moon Suyeon, Wolyeon, and Wolhee.
There are quite a few similarities among these three characters, so while playing the part with Moon Suyeon, I was still able to convey the right emotions.
The feelings even got more genuine when I combined them with my memories from Martial Forest.
Even Yang Yuli and Director Bang nodded in approval, saying that the scenes turned out fine, so there’s no point in clinging to the bits where my focus wasn’t as sharp before.
“There’s no need to hold on to the past. Just try to do better going forward.”
Now that all the troublesome issues are resolved, I’m confident that I can deliver even better performances than before.
*
This drama will unfold in four phases.
The ‘Departure’ phase where Violet, who came over from America, teams up with Lee Myung, a collateral member of the Joseon Royal Family, and crosses over to Pyongyang.
The ‘Formation’ phase where they establish a band to exterminate the gold mine bandits in Pyongyang.
The ‘Extermination’ phase, in which the newly formed extermination band cleans up the Unsan gold mine area and develops the mine.
Finally, the ‘Defense’ phase where they defend against the forces of Qing China and Imperial Japan attacking the gold mine.
The date scene with Wolhee that I filmed belongs to the ‘Formation’ phase, and Wolhee’s death is somewhere between ‘Extermination’ and ‘Defense,’ so it seems the filming was done in a rather disorganized fashion.
While dramas are usually shot out of chronological order, filming centered around Moon Suyeon really mixed up the scenes more than expected.
Even though all her scenes were pushed to the front, there were still some left.
The core scenes of ‘Extermination’ and ‘Defense’ haven’t been filmed yet because the Taebaek set hasn’t been completed.
Also, there’s a scene where Wolhee comes to see Lee Myung to spy on the Unsan gold mine once it gets fully underway, so we still need to film her later parts.
Of course, since we’re also considering her comeback schedule, these are among the last scenes that will be filmed, so there’s still quite a bit of time until the actual shooting begins.
“Let’s do our best today too.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Please pay attention to your movements, and don’t overdo it. If either Siwoo or Hyun-ho were to get hurt, it’d be a major disaster.”
“It’ll be fine as long as we stick to the planned movement.”
Today’s filming scene is part of the ‘Formation’ phase.
Lee Myung, who was searching around Pyongyang to uncover the exact situation of the Unsan gold mine, which had almost been taken over by monsters, visits and recruits Nam Seok-ho (Nam Hyun-ho), who is said to have experience mining there.
In a scene that fits today’s trends, the protagonist ends up threatening the reluctant target with a sword.
“Alright, let’s get started!”
At a thatched cottage on the outskirts of Pyongyang, while Nam Seok-ho was sharpening an axe blade, he noticed someone approaching his blind spot, so he quickly hid and watched.
When a well-dressed man approached the yard, Seok-ho frowned and muttered a complaint.
“…Damn.”
Feeling an ominous presence, Nam Seok-ho tried to sneak away over the fence.
“Hold it.”
“…Damn, really?”
But Lee Myung, who had sensed Nam Seok-ho’s movement all along, was already waiting on the other side of the fence.
Nam Seok-ho had no choice but to reluctantly receive Lee Myung.
“…What?”
“Nam Seok-ho, is that right?”
“And who might you be?”
“I’ve come from the Royal Palace. Assist in our official duties.”
“Hah! The Royal Palace? What are you talking about? That all fell apart ages ago.”
Lee Myung frowned at Nam Seok-ho’s insolent attitude and cautiously stroked the handle of his sword.
“…Are you here to mock the Royal Palace?”
“Hmm, alright. I admit my loose tongue. So, you seem like an important gentleman. Why have you come looking for someone like me, a lowly butcher?”
Lee Myung didn’t want to argue unnecessarily.
As Seok-ho had said, it was a widely acknowledged fact that the Joseon Royal House was in decline. Unless one openly insulted the Royal Family in his presence, it wasn’t something Lee Myung needed to dwell on.
As a member of the collateral line of the Royal Family, he felt embarrassed about the situation.
The Royal Palace hadn’t given proper attention to the lives of the common folk for many years.
That’s why this gold mine development was so important.
By developing gold mines to increase resources and re-establishing the state’s principles, it was the only way for the Joseon Royal House and Joseon itself to survive.
And for that, the skills of this butcher in front of him were essential.
“The Unsan gold mine. Do you know about it?”
“…I do know…”
“We need a guide to take us to the Unsan gold mine.”
“…Are you insane?”
“Is there any problem?”
“That place is hell. You’d have to be crazy to go back there.”
“So, it’s true that you are the sole survivor of the Unsan disaster.”
“…Damn it.”
Unsan had always been a place where illegal mining thrived, and quite a number of miners secretly gathered to dig for gold there.
While the mines hadn’t been formally opened, the miners collected and melted nearby stones to make a significant profit, making it quite popular.
However, disaster struck last year.
Monsters suddenly poured down toward the mines, and the miners as well as the nearby farmers were wiped out in a catastrophic incident.
Nam Seok-ho was the only survivor from the mining group.
For him, going back there was like a death sentence, whereas dispatching this overbearing nobleman and hiding away quietly felt like a better option.
Though grimacing, Nam Seok-ho suddenly swung the axe in his hand.
“Clang!”
“Damn…”
“Assaulting royalty merits immediate execution.”
“…Damn, such a high-ranking official! Who cares how high you are…”
“Clang, Clang!”
“Getting hit by the axe means heading to the underworld the same!”
While blocking the wildly swinging axe with his sword, Lee Myung realized the strength of his opponent was greater than expected.
Thinking he might be a pretty good guide, Lee Myung decided to capture Nam Seok-ho and invite him to join his extermination band.
As they were short on manpower but had plenty to do, even a worker like him was valued.
“When you swing a weapon, relax your shoulders.”
“Shut up!”
“While you use your upper body to swing, it’s the lower body’s stability that’s more important. Your stance needs to be firmer.”
“…Damn it.”
“Yes, your force improved this time. Good job.”
“…Fuck.”
Nam Seok-ho sighed at Lee Myung treating him like a toy, then hurled the axe.
“F…uck! What has this country done for me? Now they want me to sacrifice my life? What nonsense!”
Listening quietly to Nam Seok-ho’s rant, Lee Myung replied calmly.
“…I apologize for that. You’ve probably experienced some injustice too. The chaos in our nation creates more victims like you. I intend to rectify the situation to stop more victims like you from emerging. Developing the gold mine is just the beginning.”
“How can I trust that? Even if it’s true, it won’t be something you can just do as you please.”
“Fair point. However, I can promise you one thing. I will die before you.”
“…Hah, really. What on earth…”
“Okay!”
In this scene, the sword and axe battle lasted quite a while, making both the action director, Jang Soo-hong, and Director Bang anxious about the progress.
Director Bang had this bad habit of always opting for long takes during action scenes, and since action scenes increased the actor’s burden when they got longer, everyone was in high alert.
Still, as Director Bang consistently pulled off amazing shots, there wasn’t much to complain about.
“Just what is this called action?”
On my side, though, I was rather dissatisfied with sticking strictly to the choreographed movements.
It felt less thrilling than expected.
Both Nana and Nam Hyun-ho are skilled actors with great ability, and there were no signs of forced synchronization. Yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling of stiffness and lack of momentum.
Isn’t the sort of action scene I’m envisioning a bit different?
Wouldn’t it come out more clean and realistic if we just basically set the key moves and let the actors figure the rest out, like practicing sparring in Martial Forest?
In fact, I had already asked Nam Hyun-ho about this.
Given the talent I’ve seen, he was the only one who seemed to be up for such coordination.
But his reaction was …
“So, you’re asking about ad-libbing the action?”
“Yes, wouldn’t that be possible? You have good instincts, right? I don’t think anyone will get hurt if we just have the basic movement paths.”
“…You crazy bastard, do you think that’s possible?”
From ‘insane’ to ‘madman’, the upgrade happened rather quickly.
“No, this can’t be wrong. We’re not using advanced techniques like killing stances or anything. It’s not like we’re using those flashy techniques for promotional ads or anything.”
I couldn’t simply accept that.
If Nam Hyun-ho can’t do it, then the other actors won’t be able to either.
After all, there’s no one else with such good physical coordination.
Given his attitude, it seemed that to make it possible, someone would need both the physical ability of a Martial Forest expert and compatibility for practice duels…
“Without memories of Martial Forest, it ultimately doesn’t work.”
If things stay this way, it seems I’ll have to keep feeling stifled during future action scenes.
