“Ha Eun is definitely the best.”
It was two days after the audition for the role of Yeom Wol.
In a spacious conference room at KBC’s drama department, a casting meeting for <The Moonlight Split by Clouds> was currently in progress.
The main topic of the meeting was, of course, the lead role of Yeom Wol.
There is no casting meeting more important than that of deciding the lead role.
Thus, in typical cases, the meeting tends to last quite a while, as discussions and debates must be held to find the actor best suited for the lead role.
However, this time was the exception.
The staff who were present at the audition for the role of Yeom Wol already knew who the rightful owner of the role was.
“To be honest, there were a few actors who were pretty close when it came to the mask…”
“But when it came to swordplay, there was not a single actor who came close. It was so realistic that it gave me chills.”
Every aspect—gaze, expression, gesture—was perfectly in line with Yeom Wol.
It was truly acting that could not be criticized.
However, there were additional points in favor of Ha Eun beyond the quality of her performance.
“I honestly didn’t know she attended an action school just for the audition.”
“That was from the moment we started looking for an actor for the role of Yeom Wol. It’s not common to see an actor display that level of enthusiasm.”
“Not just enthusiasm. Watching her personally greet the stunt performers, I thought she would definitely make it.”
Her demeanor was far from arrogance.
Considering that stars around Ha Eun’s age often get caught up in their own self-importance, her mature attitude at the audition could be a significant plus.
After that, no one opposed casting Ha Eun as Yeom Wol.
Thus, after Ha Eun was finally confirmed as the actor for Yeom Wol…
“What if we use our audition video as a promotional teaser?”
This suggestion came from one of the staff, proposing to utilize Ha Eun’s audition video, which had left everyone watching it in awe.
“Well, it would be a shame to just throw that video away.”
“I think even releasing an unedited clip of about two minutes would cause quite a stir.”
The video showed a performance where the genuine will to live and the intent to kill coexisted.
This was made possible by the excellent performance of Ha Eun, along with the efforts of the stunt performers who supported her acting.
However, there was one person sitting in the meeting room who felt differently.
Jin Kyu-seong, the director of <The Moonlight Split by Clouds>.
“…I’m having some doubts.”
He differed from the other staff members who were blinded by the promotional potential of the audition video.
“Let’s first try shooting the actual scene. If a similar scene gets picked, it wouldn’t be too late to decide then.”
The acting that Ha Eun presented at the audition was purely improvisational.
The distance of her strides, the direction of her gaze, and the order and types of swordplay were not predetermined.
The only things that were set were the lines and the atmosphere.
Of course, the swordplay scenes Ha Eun would shoot in the future would be based on the audition’s swordplay.
However, perfectly recreating the audition scene during the actual shoot seemed impossible.
That was because the sword Ha Eun had used during the audition was not…
“I-I’m sorry, Director. Actually, there were a few swords missing, so I had taken a few more from the props storage…”
It wasn’t the sword she had prepared in advance for the audition for Yeom Wol.
It also wasn’t the sword that had been prepared for the filming of <The Moonlight Split by Clouds>.
The swords were of a lighter material, selected in consideration of the female actors’ wrists.
This sword’s material and weight were entirely different.
While it wasn’t as sharp as a real sword, it had been worn down with considerable use, making it somewhat sharp.
It remains unclear why such an old sword was in the drama department’s props storage.
However, more than anything…
‘Wouldn’t they usually ask for a different sword if it were too heavy?’
The fact that the heavy sword was what Ha Eun used for her swordplay acting was the biggest issue.
The audition for the role of Yeom Wol was mainly driven by Jin Kyu-seong’s determination.
In other words, if anything unexpected occurred during the audition, that would ultimately fall under Jin Kyu-seong’s responsibility.
Among the worst outcomes was the actors suffering actual injuries.
In the first place, the light swords were prepared to consider the risk of injury to the actors.
However, it was not only that a sword heavy enough to strain Ha Eun’s wrist was in her hands; on several occasions, the sharp swordblade just barely missed the stunt actors.
Regardless of the outcome, where no one was injured, such occurrences were the kind of matters that could never be overlooked.
If by any chance an actual injury occurred, and an article related to that injury were published, the filming of this drama would have been completely overturned.
Thus, it was only natural for Jin Kyu-seong to take ‘appropriate measures.’
At the same time, he intended to exercise extreme caution to ensure that such incidents would not be repeated during the actual shoot.
Holding off on the suggestion to turn Ha Eun’s audition video into a promotional teaser was an extension of that thought.
“Well, I’m sure Ha Eun would still display great acting during the actual shoot. Let’s set aside the teaser video for now.”
With that, the matter regarding the promotional teaser was put on hold for later discussion.
Then, another casting meeting began for the role of “Queen Yoon,” which had yet to be decided.
However, unlike the role of Yeom Wol, which had been narrowed down to just Ha Eun, the role of Queen Yoon had several actors in the running.
“Well, Ji Woo has the most experience in period dramas…”
“But Yoon Hee has a better voice…”
The staff struggled to come to a consensus.
The meeting to cast Queen Yoon continued for quite some time.
Ten minutes later, a name of an actor that Jin Kyu-seong personally had in mind was brought up.
“Out of everyone, I think Da-yeon did the best job of acting suited for Ha Eun. What do the others think?”
Min Da-yeon.
An actress whose name had been widely recognized since her child actor days.
Having set the standard for child acting in the past, her acting skills were certainly on par with other actors.
Her appearance also looked quite respectable for an actress.
However, because she had appeared in so many works since childhood, there was a tendency for audiences to regard her simply as Min Da-yeon, the actor, rather than the roles she played.
It seemed as if any role that Da-yeon acted in turned into another role, and that role then blended into yet another.
She was, in essence, an actress who had exhausted her ‘image consumption’.
Yet, the acting of Da-yeon that Jin Kyu-seong had encountered during the audition for Queen Yoon was…
‘…It was certainly stronger than what was written in the script.’
It felt very much like acting in consideration of Ha Eun playing Yeom Wol.
Unlike the other actors who performed based on the elevated status of being the queen, leveraging the gap in social standing that Yeom Wol could never hope to reach, Da-yeon was different.
It was as if she already knew that the gap in status could not suppress Ha Eun’s Yeom Wol.
“If another actor had been cast in the role of Yeom Wol instead of Ha Eun, I would have thought more about this.”
“Are you saying that Da-yeon delivered acting that was perfectly suited for Ha Eun?”
“Well, at least that’s how I felt.”
Her gaze was sharper and colder.
Instead of the ease derived from the social status gap, her tone bore a serious sense of vigilance.
Crucially, it seemed as if she had the strong conviction to confront Ha Eun directly.
“Honestly, I think the other actors would completely be overshadowed by Ha Eun.”
This made Jin Kyu-seong see Da-yeon as the only fitting actress for the role of Queen Yoon.
More accurately, as the only Queen Yoon who could compete with Ha Eun’s Yeom Wol.
“Certainly, if considering acting that could confront Ha Eun…”
Thus, Da-yeon’s presence began to grow.
After watching the recorded audition video for the role of Queen Yoon together on the conference room monitor…
“…I think we’ve made a decision.”
There was no one to be found who opposed casting Da-yeon.
As Jin Kyu-seong said, the only performance that could stand up to Ha Eun’s was Da-yeon’s.
*
“Is the shoot starting at 3 PM?”
“Yes. So I think I’ll need to leave early during the fifth period break.”
In the teacher’s office of Narae Art High School.
In fact, it was a small meeting room inside the teacher’s office.
Currently, Ha Eun was discussing her changed schedule with her homeroom teacher.
The reason being that she had just received word that she was officially cast as Yeom Wol the day before.
“Okay, I’ll let the other teachers know, so Ha Eun, just leave as soon as you can.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you, teacher.”
Since Narae Art High School already had a policy of consideration towards the attendance of student actors, there had been no significant issues this time either.
Still, what troubled Ha Eun about leaving early was…
‘Um, teacher. Since the shoot starts at 3 PM…’
That her classmate Da-yeon, sitting right next to her, had also said the exact same thing to her homeroom teacher.
However, not only did she merely say the same thing, but she also engaged in conversation with Ha Eun’s homeroom teacher.
‘Please keep it a secret from Lee Ha-eun. I would appreciate it.’
Da-yeon had asked that Ha Eun’s homeroom teacher keep it secret that Da-yeon was also leaving early at the same time as Ha Eun.
Given that Ha Eun’s homeroom teacher was already aware that Ha Eun and Da-yeon had long been close, this was rather puzzling.
Well, either way.
There was a certain degree of certainty that the two actors attending Narae Art High School would be appearing in the same production.
“Even if I asked exactly what project it is, they wouldn’t tell me, right?”
“Mr. Park, with social media these days, rumors spread in an instant. It wouldn’t be too late to ask later when the articles come out.”
She was both curious and excited about Ha Eun and Da-yeon’s first collaborative project.
No matter how you looked at it, they were the most famous and talented actors at Narae Art High School.
‘Could it be that they’re playing friendly roles?’
While Ha Eun’s homeroom teacher was positively speculating about the relationship between the two roles that Ha Eun and Da-yeon would portray respectively, the two of them were…
“Um, Lee Ha-eun.”
“?”
“Erm, um, if I slap you, are you going to get mad?”
They were having a conversation that was somewhat distant from a discussion typical of friendly people.
