Chapter 11 · 8 min
Chapter 11
Movie Filming
___________
“Hello!”
There is an angel at the Seoul Station filming set.
“Mina, you’re here?”
“Yes! Ah, would you like one of these?!”
“Oh, thanks. Mister will give you this too.”
“Wow! Thank you!”
Always bright and energetic, she gives everyone strength just by being around.
“Oh, Mr. Cinematographer! Would you like a cookie? Can I have just one too?!”
“Mina, ever since you called my wife and told her these were delicious, she’s been making piles of them every day. I’m sick to death of them.”
“Come on, it’s good that you get to eat lots of delicious things thanks to me, so why are you complaining~ And if there are any left over, give them to me!”
Mina’s unique cheekiness and sociability.
Especially, her cuteness and loveliness.
Thanks to those qualities, the filming set always has a warm and cheerful atmosphere.
“Mr. Sangcheol! We’re filming together today! Let’s do well!”
“Yeah, let’s do well.”
Actor Park Sangcheol, too, was becoming more and more smitten with Mina as the days passed.
‘Healing again today...’
She truly was the daughter of everyone’s dreams.
Affectionate, expressive, and fun.
Above all, cute.
However, perhaps even an angel like this needed a bit of humanity?
She had one flaw.
‘...She’s way too mischievous and curious.’
Was it last week?
‘Blech! It tastes awful!’
He had nearly had a heart attack when she said she was curious what the fake blood brought in as a filming prop tasted like, then immediately dipped her finger into it and put it in her mouth.
Thank goodness it was edible. If it had been bad for her health...
‘Ugh, I don’t even want to imagine it.’
Fortunately, after Miyoung scolded her, she didn’t do things like that anymore.
Perhaps as the price for suppressing that curiosity, Mina was showing off a new prank every day.
‘Yesterday was a bit of a headache too...’
She suddenly said she would show him a magic trick, brought over a snack, and put it in her mouth.
‘Ta-da, the disappearing magic trick.’
When she said that, he told her it was impressive.
But it turned out Jinho had bought it to eat later.
‘Ryu Mina! You can’t just take other people’s things without permission!’
So Miyoung had scolded her.
‘Huh? Mr. Jinho’s is over there.’
‘...When the hell did you put it there.’
‘No... I just put Mr. Jinho’s over there on purpose because I was worried someone might eat it... I won’t do it again...’
‘...You’re acting right now, aren’t you.’
‘Hehe.’
‘...’
He couldn’t even begin to describe Miyoung’s expression at that moment.
‘I feel bad for Miyoung, but honestly, it’s way too entertaining to watch from the sidelines.’
Whenever Mina was on set, every single day felt like watching an episode of a sitcom, so there was never a dull moment.
On the rare days when Mina wasn’t there, everyone felt her absence so strongly that the set seemed strangely empty.
On top of that, she only ever teased people enough to get under their skin while still staying within the limits of what she could handle afterward.
Watching her walk that line so precariously was practically an art form, enough to make him want to recommend becoming an acrobat instead of an actor.
‘I hope my daughter is like Mina, just with half the mischievousness... no, not half. Maybe 80% less.’
Sangcheol was married but still had no children, and lately, watching Mina had made him increasingly want a daughter.
‘They said other kids aren’t as mischievous as Mina, right?’
When he asked people around him who had children, they said even mischievous boys weren’t on Mina’s level.
And they also said Mina hadn’t hit puberty yet, so there was no telling what she would be like later.
‘I hope she stays the same even after puberty...’
She could be a headache sometimes, but even that was part of her individuality and charm.
If Mina later hit puberty and her personality changed, making her shy around people and timid...
‘Ah... Mr. Sangcheol... hello...’
...His heart felt like it would break.
Having suffered severe emotional damage from the mere thought of it, Sangcheol regretted imagining it.
Then he looked at Mina in front of him and healed his wounded heart.
“Huh? Mr. Sangcheol, why are you looking at me like that?”
“Mina, make sure you grow up exactly like this, okay?”
“...What does that even mean?”
Instead of answering, Sangcheol stroked Mina’s head, and Mina brushed it off without much thought.
_______________
A little while later.
“...Mister.”
“Kiddo, don’t worry. Mister will protect you.”
‘Wow, she’s even better than yesterday.’
Seojun couldn’t help but marvel at Mina, whose performance had gained even more detail compared to the previous day.
He had naturally known that Mina, with her limited experience, would get better and better as time went on.
‘But visibly improving after just one day is another matter entirely.’
On top of that, they would soon be filming Scene 48, the scene he had given as the audition assignment.
That made Mina’s growth extremely encouraging, since it meant she could show an even better performance than she had back then.
“M-My dad, not me...! Please help my dad!”
“Your dad...?”
To briefly explain what had happened before this.
As the number of zombies continued to multiply, half of the train had already become a zombie den.
And unfortunately, the connecting door in the car where Seo Woojin and Seo Hayoung were had broken due to the zombies’ attacks.
In that situation, Seo Woojin sent his daughter Seo Hayoung away so that at least she could escape safely.
Then he held the door shut with the other passengers to keep it from opening.
Seo Hayoung ran around looking for someone who could help her father and eventually met Yoon Hoyoung.
Meanwhile, on Seo Woojin’s side, most of the other passengers had fled, and he barely managed to keep the door shut with the one remaining passenger before escaping into another car.
Sadly, that passenger had already been infected.
“D-Dad...!”
And Seo Hayoung, returning with Yoon Hoyoung to the place where she had separated from Seo Woojin.
Saw her father barely holding a zombie’s mouth shut with a baseball bat.
Whamㅡ!
Fortunately, Yoon Hoyoung quickly took control of the situation, landing a clean right hook squarely on the zombie’s head and knocking it unconscious.
Ah, for the record, there wasn’t actually any sound effect.
Watching it just naturally made Seojun think they should add that kind of sound effect later.
‘I should look for sound effects after filming today.’
“...What happened?”
“Huff... huff... W-We were all holding the door... m-most of them ran away... t-two of us kept holding it... a-and that person got infectedㅡ”
“Ah, enough. Stop talking and catch your breath first. Breathe.”
Having roughly figured out what had happened from Seo Woojin’s words, Yoon Hoyoung calmed Seo Woojin, who was panting heavily.
“Dad...!”
Once Seo Woojin finally caught his breath, Seo Hayoung immediately ran over and hugged him.
“D-Dad...”
“Hayoung...”
“A-Are you okay...?”
Seo Hayoung barely held back emotions that seemed ready to burst into tears at the slightest touch.
And asked after her father, Seo Woojin.
“Why...! Why the hell did you come back...!”
But the answer she heard from her father was far different from what she had expected.
“At least you should survive!”
“...N-No. Dad, I-I just...”
Seo Hayoung escaped from the angry Seo Woojin’s arms as though fleeing, her face looking even closer to tears than before.
“Hey, come on. Why are you treating your daughter like that? You survived thanks to her.”
Yoon Hoyoung picked up Seo Hayoung, who was trembling with her head hanging low.
“You okay, kiddo?”
“...Yes. I-I’m okay.”
Anyone could tell that Seo Hayoung was absolutely not okay despite saying so.
“...Sorry, Hayoung. Dad got worked up.”
“N-No, it’s okay... I-It was my fault.”
After confirming that even this subtle emotional current came across through the camera, Seojun shouted happily.
“Cut!”
The moment Mina heard Seojun’s cut signal, it was as though her tearful appearance from moments ago had been a lie.
She immediately returned to her usual expression and climbed down from Sangcheol’s arms.
“Boo! Mr. Kim Jinho! That was so mean!”
“...Hey, that wasn’t me. That was Seo Woojin.”
“You’re Seo Woojin.”
“I-It’s a role.”
“Either way, you’re Seo Woojin.”
“I-I just followed the script?!”
“Huh? Are you blaming the writer now?”
“...I’m going to the bathroom. I really need to go.”
Perhaps he couldn’t think of any way to refute Mina.
Jinho escaped the scene using the excuse that he urgently needed the bathroom.
“Wow, Mr. Jaewon. Why are you so good at acting like a zombie?”
“Haha, thanks for saying that, at least.”
Once Jinho left.
In the blink of an eye, Mina approached Shim Jaewon, who had just played the zombie Sangcheol hit, and started buttering him up.
“Huh? I’m serious. I could feel the soul in it!”
“Really?”
“Yes! Ah, by any chance, did you ever have rabies before?”
“Uh...? No?”
“No, I thought maybe you had, and that was how you could act like that!”
Watching Mina, a question suddenly crossed Seojun’s mind.
‘...When exactly does Actress Ryu Mina get tired?’
Seojun had never once seen Mina stay still for even a moment while she was on set.
‘Being young really is nice...’
Then again, when he thought back to the past, he too had spent all day running around at that age.
Even after playing outside all day, he would come home and play some more.
Truly limitless stamina.
“Ah, my blood sugar’s dropping.”
“Mina, want some chocolate?”
“Wow! Thank you!”
‘...Still, I wasn’t that bad.’
In the blink of an eye, Seojun found Mina had already moved somewhere else again.
“Blegh! This was dark chocolate?!”
“Yeah. Isn’t it good?”
“...I’ll respect your taste.”
“Oh dear... Our Mina is still too young to understand this flavor...”
“Ah, yes. Enjoy as much as you want.”
“...Isn’t your attitude completely different from a second ago?”
“Pfft!”
Watching the scene, Seojun couldn’t help but laugh.