Park So-yul had just finished her first class on script theory for freshmen. But she couldn't even enter the teachers' office and was just standing there in the hallway. Her gaze was fixed on one student's quiz answer sheet.
'I got all the answers right...'
A densely packed quiz. There were no sloppy answers to simple questions about scenario terminology or even questions asking for ideas. This could have been it. Because you can use theory classes as pre-study.
Park So-yul walked down the hallway again, gathering her thoughts. Her gaze was still on Han Do-jae's answer sheet.
'The idea is a bit brilliant, but... how can I understand it if I say I'm a fan of this director?'
Honestly, she was a little hesitant about this part. But there was one thing that stood out the most.
"I...died 13 years later...?"
The problem presented as a sentence: [I died at 000.] Usually, the reason or place of death would be given, such as being hit by a car or being hungry. But 13 years later? It was a past event where someone died. Even if I were to recall time in a peculiar way, I would write about a past point in time, but why a future point in time?
'I wonder, I can't anymore.'
This sentence will later be used as an important assignment in the first semester. As the teacher in charge, I shouldn't have gotten involved for no reason. Because it might end up giving hints to only one student.
'The monologue at that time was like that too... and the script that Teacher Jo Won-ho was staring at was like that too...'
It was at a moment when my curiosity about Han Do-jae was growing.
"If you walk like that, you'll hit your head against the wall and pass out."
"Whoa!"
Jo Won-ho, who appeared out of nowhere and spoke to me, was nowhere to be seen.
"Why are you so surprised again... I'm sorry." Jo Won-ho laughed and lowered his head slightly at Park So-yul's more intense reaction than expected.
"Ugh, really."
"What are you looking at like that?" Park So-yul silently handed Han Do-jae's answer sheet to Jo Won-ho. Jo Won-ho stood there and quickly scanned the answers. His eyes were also drawn to the peculiar answer, 'I died 13 years later.'
"He's a funny guy." Jo Won-ho said with a strange smile. "Isn't this guy more interested in scenarios? Scenario terms, directorial intentions... He wrote it as if he had made a few movies?"
Park So-yul nodded vigorously and looked at Jo Won-ho with shining eyes. A brilliant idea and a fair amount of knowledge about MacGuffins. If you aren't interested in directing, you wouldn't know this much. It seemed clear that he was interested in directing.
"Hmm. Well."
"No, really. I hate to say this, but... I think his visuals are closer to directing than acting..."
"Haha. I should tell that to my directing professors."
"No, no. That's not what I meant...!" Jo Won-ho handed the answer sheet back to Park So-yul. "I think you misunderstood. Han Do-jae is definitely a guy who wants to act."
"How can you be sure of that?"
"Well." Jo Won-ho, whose words trailed off meaningfully, shrugged his shoulders and walked ahead toward the teachers' office. Park So-yul followed him, persistently asking what was there. Jo Won-ho was moving forward quickly with wide strides.
It was usually a weekend where I would be out of school, but today I stayed at school.
'I want to learn acting from you, teacher.' At the end of the lunch hour on Friday, the person who came to the teachers' office was none other than Han Do-jae. 'I told you to come to me whenever you want to learn acting...'
It was unexpected. I never thought Han Do-jae would come looking for me. Although Jo Won-ho's appearance was so large that he sometimes seemed scary, he was an open person to his students. He told me that if I wanted to learn acting, I could come to him anytime, regardless of my major or anything else. The reason he entered the Heavenly Presbytery and became a teacher was ultimately because of this.
Jo Won-ho scratched his hair, which was held in place with wax. I didn't expect a response this quickly. That too, on the first weekend of the new school year.
Jo Won-ho stood tall in front of room 307. I looked through the small window on the practice room door and saw that there was already someone inside. I opened the door without hesitation.
"Oh, teacher. You're here?" Han Do-jae was already practicing alone.
"Are you already practicing?"
"I haven't been here long. I was just practicing walking."
"Walking practice?"
"Yes." Jo Won-ho looked at Han Do-jae with interest as he answered cheerfully, then asked while caressing his lower jaw. "What is the most important thing when practicing walking?"
"Purpose." Jo Won-ho nodded and looked around the practice room. Then he raised his finger and pointed to the left corner. "Consider that the kitchen is over there; go there and come back."
"Yes." Han Do-jae went and came back as he was told.
"You must have had a purpose even now, right?"
"Yes."
"What was it?"
"To quench my thirst." Jo Won-ho chuckled at Han Do-jae's blunt answer. "Well, I guess you still understand what I mean."
Purpose. The typical answer for going to the kitchen was to go drink water. But that wasn't strictly speaking the character's purpose. The real purpose is to quench your thirst. Drinking water was just a means to an end. If you know the real purpose, why you go to drink water, and how you walk, you can properly act like you're walking. Because the acting of going to drink water and the acting of quenching a burning thirst are different.
"Should I do more walking training?"
"No, my body is completely relaxed."
"Okay. Then let's start with the basics like you wanted."
"Yes." Han Do-jae answered, pushing up his glasses once. His face was still not visible because of his bangs that were still tangled. Jo Won-ho stared at Han Do-jae and then started practicing.
"Well, it may be lacking, but when you came to me, was there anything in particular that you wanted to point out?"
"Um... I'm breathing."
"Breathing."
"Even when I walk, I feel like I still have a lot of breathing problems."
"Do you know what the life of breathing is?"
"It's physical strength."
"Right." Jo Won-ho liked the fact that Han Do-jae brought up breathing first, rather than anything else. Breathing is also important when an actor expresses emotions. Because one breath can completely change the texture of your emotions. And this breathing is difficult to train without physical strength as the foundation.
"I think idols are better at breathing than most actors."
'Idol?' I thought it was a random remark, but I listened to Jo Won-ho's words anyway.
"It's the same for ballad singers, but it's also the same for idols. The song has a rise and fall. And they express it in a breathtaking way without getting tired. They dance throughout the song."
"Yes."
"The most important thing is not to get tired during those five minutes. That's the point. Maintaining the pace without wavering. At the end, gasping for breath for the ending performance. It's not because it's hard. It's intentional breathing. It's literally a performance." Jo Won-ho continued talking while walking around Han Do-jae. "The breathing that an actor must have is no different. When it's time to be calm, you must be calm, and when it's time to be rough, you must be rough. In order to do that, you need the ability to control it. That's stamina. Stamina!" The powerful voice pouring out from the unique sound box filled the practice room. "An actor's life is stamina. Your stamina will determine your life as an actor."
"Yes. I will keep that in mind."
"Then let's begin." Jo Won-ho handed over the script he had prepared. As soon as he received the script, Han Do-jae tried to open it.
"Don't open it yet." As if his mind had been read, he looked at Jo Won-ho with a prickly look.
"Run."
'Run?' Despite the words whose intentions were unclear, Handojae started running without saying a word. I continued running like that for 5 minutes. My breathing became increasingly difficult. As expected, Han Do-jae's body, which was almost at the bottom of its stamina, soon became exhausted.
"Read it now." Han Do-jae read the script out of breath at Jo Won-ho's signal.
"This... gasp. This time... this much... gasp. I can't get over it..." Rather than giving his speech, Han Do-jae was busy panting for breath. I've only been running for 5 minutes and I'm already tired.
"Don't stop and keep reading. Feel the limits of your physical strength with your whole body. When you're out of breath, spit out the lines with that emotion. Until you get the emotion you want. You have one minute!"
The two repeated this process several times. Doing the same training three times in a row, which was tiring even after just one, was killing me. After finishing the 3rd one, Han Do-jae collapsed on the floor. A line from running at full speed and barely holding one's breath for a minute. I just fell out after three tries. I just couldn't get up.
'Wow. My stamina is at rock bottom.' It wasn't an easy training to begin with. But it was clear that the training was even more difficult for Han Do-jae's body now. I was lying on the practice room floor, gasping for breath, looking up at the ceiling when Jo Won-ho's face suddenly popped up.
"Are you going to die?"
"...Not yet." Han Do-jae took a deep breath, wiped the sweat off his body, and stood up on shaky legs. There was no time to do this. Jo Won-ho laughed heartily at Han Do-jae's answer. After a few more runs like that, the practice was over.
"You can also lose body fat and kill two birds with one stone, right?"
"Is there any more body fat to lose...?" Han Do-jae looked down at his thin stomach with bitterness. I felt like I would starve if I fell any further.
"But if you keep doing this consistently, you'll improve quickly. As long as you don't get lazy." Han Do-jae barely managed to sit up. After doing it a few more times, I couldn't even stand properly with this body.
"I'm sorry... I just can't stand."
"Let's build up our stamina. This is a promise."
"Yes." Han Do-jae's answer, whose determination is clearly felt. Jo Won-ho sat cross-legged in front of Han Do-jae and said. "There are acting exercises you can do on your own in the dorm."
At those words, Han Do-jae's eyes sparkled and he said, "Oh." But it wasn't visible to Jo Won-ho. It was impossible to see because it was hidden by the hair.
"Um... Have you seen 'For My Father', by any chance?"
"Yes." Since it was a pretty old movie, I figured he probably hadn't seen it, but I was taken aback by the unexpected answer.
"Then... 'War of the Dogs'."
"I saw it."
"...'Jan'?"
"I saw it." Jo Won-ho started talking about movies one after another, but as soon as he started talking, there wasn't a single movie that Han Do-jae hadn't seen. Han Do-jae loved movies. Even though I was from the future, I saw movies that hadn't even been released yet. Before returning, I watched a lot of movies to see other people's acting. Even during my high school days when I didn't have many friends, even during the days when I was a star who couldn't go out freely, and even during the days after the accident when I didn't want to leave the house. I thought it would be the easiest training to do since I can't go outside as I please.
"Hmm. Then have you seen 'Boys Are Always Curious'?"
"Oh, of course. Of course I've seen it. I think I've seen it more than five times."
"That's right. This is truly a masterpiece... isn't it...?" Jo Won-ho nodded with satisfaction, then frowned and looked at Han Do-jae. I was wondering why he was suddenly acting like that, and then I realized, "Oh no."
"This is... a paid movie? It's a bit racy."
'Right. The water level is a bit high.' Han Do-jae began to control his expression while sweating profusely inside. To respond calmly and without panicking as much as possible.
"...The teacher just said it was a masterpiece." The practice room became quiet in an instant.