Chapter 188

An audition to test actor Lee Sang-soo’s skills.

Though called an audition, it was, in reality, a mere script reading session.

Even if Director Baek Min were to show a somewhat lackluster reaction, the investors would never let it slide.

That’s why, when Lee Sang-soo showed up, most of the staff were at ease, simply observing the unfolding events.

Seoyeon’s presence was merely to match their chemistry.

That was all they had thought—until.

“So, it was all a lie.”

A quiet vocalization.

The voice emanating as if expelling breath carried raw emotion.

“All of it, from start to finish.”

Seoyeon’s ability to convey emotions had always been exceptional.

But now, it seemed to have advanced even further.

Why?

While everyone wondered, Director Baek Min hazily understood the reason.

“Didn’t she recently participate in ‘Masked Singer’?”

Director Baek Min didn’t watch variety shows, so he had only heard about it without actually seeing the broadcast.

People who watched reportedly couldn’t help but become engrossed in the emotions conveyed through Seoyeon’s voice.

Actors use every possible means to express to move the audience.

But singing pulls at emotions solely through sound.

There’s a saying: a voice with resonating appeal.

Seoyeon was one of those cases.

Just as regular use makes the body adept, the same applied to the voice.

To win the competition in ‘[Masked Singer]’ and to hone her secret weapon—Seoyeon had trained herself extensively.

To make up for her lesser skills compared to others, she had poured her efforts into evoking empathy from the stage audience—so they could connect with her passion.

Her moving voice caused everyone present to momentarily forget that this was just an audition.

Forgetting they were casually observing a script reading, they unwittingly became immersed in this ‘scene.’

“I had a vague idea.”

It wasn’t Seoyeon.

Rather, the character Seoyeon played—’Kasugayama Yuina’—spoke.

“I knew you were plotting something with that foolish girl.”

Yuina’s gaze turned toward Isamu Goto.

Hatred blazed starkly in her eyes.

In the dark, her reddened eyes shimmered, making the air around her unsettling.

“But still, I believed. Naively, I thought everything you did was for me.”

She had no intention to blame him, because originally, she herself had planned to kill Amanabi Michiko and seize her wealth.

And, while at it, take that girl too.

“All of it turned out to be lies.”

She realized she’d been no more than a puppet.

That realization angered her the most.

And filled her with deep hatred toward Isamu Goto.

“Even the things you told me when you used to care for me as a child.”

Clutching her hand and stepping forward.

“About trampling others to ensure your happiness.”

Yuina clutched her chest with her left hand, as if tearing out her heart.

“So I trampled everything. I seized all the Kasugayama fortune until it was all mine.”

Subjugating everyone in the family, she had claimed everything as her own, asserting her authority as master.

“So, you’ve been waiting until I had it all, haven’t you?”

The final moment—this was the time when he would murder her and take it all.

The voice was like nails scratching a chalkboard, scraping the emotion raw.

Isamu Goto.

Watching Seoyeon’s performance, Lee Sang-soo realized something.

Ah, this was what actor Park Sun-woong had meant.

She’s a young actor.

Frankly, Lee Sang-soo had lived as an actor for over forty years.

Starting as a child actor.

He had never lived a day apart from acting.

Seoyeon was half his age.

“What was I doing at her age?”

Suddenly, that thought came to him.

Back then, it was a cruel world for young actors, discriminating harshly.

He had been hit frequently during his child actor days, when the environment wasn’t about protecting child actors.

Still, he worked hard.

But observing Seoyeon’s acting now, he felt that the younger self was quite insignificant in comparison.

Did he feel jealous about it?

No, it wasn’t jealousy, exactly.

It was simply observing.

What kind of acting had he truly wanted to do all along?

“I, too, was mistaken at first.”

Before the audition for this [Gyeongseong Yeong-nyeo], Lee Sang-soo sought out an actor with whom he had appeared in a drama during Seoyeon’s early years.

A relationship that had lasted through countless performances.

Their connection might as well have been almost as long as his career in acting.

“Indeed, I assumed she was abused.”

Actor Jeong Eun-seon.

He somewhat awkwardly made that statement.

“The emotions she showed were not what a child should express. But it wasn’t genuine acting either.”

Genuine acting, yet the intensity of the emotions baffled Lee Sang-soon.

If it hadn’t been genuinely performed but still conveyed such emotions, it was certainly mysterious.

“It was beyond my understanding. It was, literally, an incredibly learned emotion. A child couldn’t do that alone, so I concluded it was forced. It was my stubbornness back then.”

Jeong Eun-seon had planned to confront her parents back then.

Sua, Seoyeon’s mother, was also present on set.

“But when I met her, she had no idea. Still, I’m stubborn by nature, and I insisted the child should stop acting so intensely. Surely, it would affect her emotionally.”

Contrary to his criticism, Seoyeon confronted him directly.

An emotion that had once been mere imitation transformed into something genuine right before his eyes.

Mimesis.

A term originally used in drawing.

When using this term, it referred to the imitation of something.

Seoyeon’s emotional acting was similar.

With great detail and a multitude of shades, she had replicated emotions she had observed until they were near-perfect.

But what Director Jeong Eun-seon saw at the end was not a simulation—it was authentic.

After witnessing Sooyeon Joo’s genuine acting, there was no other choice but to acknowledge it.

“Rather amusingly,”

Jeong Eun-seon chuckled lightly in slight embarrassment.

“I learned a lot. Had I not worked with her back then, I might have quit acting. I was becoming an outdated actor, obstinately clinging to old ways.”

Lee Sang-soo found this hard to believe since she had been one of the most active actresses over the past decade.

She had even worked with Jo Seohui, who revered her as a mentor, multiple times.

“You understand why I am contemplating now. So, you will surely discover something.”

Passion is like a spark.

Easily extinguished, true, but it can also flare up instantly with the right catalyst.

Jeong Eun-seon had done exactly that.

“There’s something about this child that can stimulate other actors.”

So, Lee Sang-soo would definitely feel it too.

The current look in his eyes while observing her showed that longing.

“Speak on, Isamu,”

The current Yuina says.

“Go on, speak more, Isamu. Are you going to kill me?”

She stepped closer, one after another.

“I’m not dying.”

A bitter smile on her lips, her eyes brimming with deep hatred.

“You taught me this. Trample, kill. That’s the work not for you but for me.”

The key Isamu gripped.

It was his parents’ memento.

The key to open a safe containing the symbol of the Kasugayama patriarch.

Surely, it had been stolen by that girl and handed over.

What a wretch.

He didn’t have the heart to curse her.

After all, he had planned to use her and kill her first.

And, somehow, hatred didn’t form.

The exact reason was unclear.

“What’s amusing…”

Goto Isamu finally spoke to that Yuina.

“Your words are truly funny, Yuina. They’re the same words I spoke in the past.”

Isamu’s calm demeanor suddenly twisted.

Yuina’s advancing step faltered as he lashed out with hatred.

“I was the one who swore never to die. How amusing, girl. In the end, what you’re doing is nothing more than mimicking me.”

Isamu’s eyes widened.

They sparkled with madness, resembling some grotesque specter lingering from the past.

“Kasugayama belonged to me originally. If your father had not stolen everything, it would have all been mine!!”

At the sound slicing through the air, Yuina shuddered.

Not just Yuina.

Everyone here in the filming set,

The atmosphere changed.

That was the only feeling they could have.

Until just moments ago, they had been witnessing the usual, predictable acting of Lee Sang-soo.

Consistent and reliable, the acting expected from actor Lee Sang-soo.

But now, something was different.

As if the cord that restrained him had snapped suddenly, like an unbridled horse bounding free.

“I was the one destined to die. To disappear. I lost my name, my face. In this hideous state, I somehow survived.”

A voice that had been almost a shout diminished into a murmuring chant.

Yet his words struck clearly.

Just now, the audience who had empathized with Seoyeon’s emotional delivery turned their attention to Lee Sang-soo.

He lacked the sudden brilliance of a prodigy.

But he had decades of experience.

He had lived the life of an actor.

Regardless of his failure in Hollywood,

He was still one of South Korea’s representative actors.

True, at some point, his passion had faded,

And his failure in Hollywood had made him feel the fire had been extinguished.

“What have you achieved, Kasugayama Yuina?”

But perhaps not. Fires burn easily like this.

“You’re merely a puppet resembling me. A fake imitation, nothing more.”

Gazing at Yuina, Isamu placed the key he held in his pocket and grabbed something else.

“It’s time now.”

It was a knife.

“To cut the strings of a useless doll.”

Isamu laughed.

A twisted smile, his eyes wide open.

The moment he took a step forward,

“Cut.”

Director Baek Min raised his hand.

What started simply ended with “Cut.”

That signaled the finale of this scene in the director’s eyes, and no one dared to contest.

Rather, they were speechless, stunned by the entire drama.

In one scene, everyone was left without words to express what they had witnessed.

“Actor Lee Sang-soo,”

In the quiet stillness, Director Baek Min smiled gently.

“Remarkable.”

A mere six characters, but a glowing praise.

With that praise, Lee Sang-soo smiled wryly.

“…I didn’t want to lose to a young colleague. To the point where I almost forgot my age.”

Lee Sang-soo looked at Seoyeon.

Seoyeon was staring at him with astonishment.

“Director Baek Min,”

Observing her, Lee Sang-soo spoke.

“This old actor has a request. I want to perform alongside actress Sooyeon Ju in this project.”

Had Director Baek Min disliked actor Lee Sang-soo’s portrayal, he would likely have rejected it.

Although investor pressure might have changed the outcome later, ultimately an actor falling short of the director’s expectations seldom receives favorable treatment.

No, Lee Sang-soo hadn’t even wanted such a situation.

But after witnessing Seoyeon’s performance today, his feelings changed.

He genuinely wanted to act together.

He remembered when Jeong Eun-seon wanted to perform alongside Jo Seohui, he hadn’t understood why.

Yet now, he fully empathized.

His attitude surprised the surrounding staff.

“Actor Lee Sang-soo’s willingness is overwhelming, isn’t it?”

At his statement, Director Baek Min replied with a smile.

The subtle undertone caused everyone to tense up, for this director whose personality might reject with a smile.

“Seeing such an act… If I were to turn down someone like you, I might consider stepping down as director.”

Director Baek Min, having watched the scene, closed his notebook with a decisive ‘Tak.’

There was no need to watch further.

Certainly, Lee Sang-soo’s portrayal differed from the Goto Isamu Director Baek envisioned.

Baek’s Goto was to be more despicable and villainous,

Someone who subtly torments rather than directly provoke as done in the current scene.

But, so what?

If this felt better, wasn’t that all that mattered?

“And, Seoyeon.”

“Uh?”

Staring at her with wide eyes, Baek Min burst into laughter.

She too seemed astounded by Lee Sang-soo’s performance.

“In the main filming, I look forward to the same from you. It was amazing.”

“Yes? Ah, yes!”

Seoyeon bowed deeply in response.

But Seoyeon didn’t know.

Director Baek Min was infamously sparing with compliments.

“And concerning actor Lee Sang-soo, let’s keep it under wraps till at least the trailers.”

“Ah, that sounds good. It feels like a secret weapon.”

“Secret weapon?”

At the staff’s suggestion, Baek Min thought it over before nodding.

“Yes, it’s a good idea. Secret weapon.”

The celebrated actor Lee Sang-soo, representing South Korea,

Undoubtedly, he would be the secret weapon for this [Gyeongseong Yeong-nyeo].

Director Baek Min was sure.

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