Rebirth: King to Superstar

"Kim Joon-won?" Han Ju called out to him as soon as he walked out of the railway station. She instantly recognized his face from all the dramas he has seen because of Hea-Jung acting as a hype man for him. 

Joon-won noticed her and walked towards her. Han Ju went for a handshake when he came near and introduced herself. "Hello, Joon-won. I am Hea-Jung's assistant. I take care of everything for her like managing stuff and other things. She asked me to pick you up." Joon-won responded while thanking her. 

"Thank you, Miss. Han." 

"Alright then, throw your bag on the backseat and get in. I'll give you a basic rundown on the movie, your script, and the role you will be playing while we drive towards the hotel so you could get ready." while pointing at the car in the back. They both made their way and Joon-won did as Han Ju said by throwing the bag and taking the passenger seat. 

"Well, first of all, welcome to Jade town. The shooting is mostly taking place in this town entirely as the movie is medium budget and most of the scenes in the movie are inside a police station. We had to make a complete police station from scratch here, after finding an appropriate place." 

"But why come this far? I mean, there are many movie sets of the police stations on the outskirts of Arios City itself, right? That would be cheaper for the production crew too." He thought it was dumb to waste all the money when there were many companies in Arios which have prepared movie sets like hospitals or police stations. Renting was a cheaper option.

Han Ju simply shrugged and said, "I don't know. I heard the producers tried to explain to the directors about this option but he was adamant about making one here as most of the scenes in the movie also happen to need mountains. You know this movie is a crime/thriller right?" making him nod. He heard about it from Do Hwan as Hea-Jung wanted to keep it as a 'surprise' for him. 

"Great, that girl didn't want to keep the movie itself a surprise, at least. If you want your role script, it's in the glove box. As your role is small, you won't get the full script of the movie, so I will tell you the main overview of the story so you can do better," while pointing at the glove box. Joon-won took out a 2-page script as she continued. 

"Alright the movie is simple, it's about a murder case and the hero is a detective on the case while the heroine is a forensic scientist. Right, Hea-Jung is also a detective. So the whole story is about solving this one murder which has many other problems attached to it and your role is the solution to the murder."

"I'm the witness?" He asked out loud as he looked at the script. 

"Yes, you are the witness. You saw the abduction which led to the murder happening but was too scared to come forward and during the 2nd half of the film is when the detectives find you." 

"A simple scene. So, is Hea-Jung at the hotel?" 

"You can't meet her now. She woke up early for the shoot and is still there. She asked me to get you there and will be there to have lunch with you, too. That girl has been very busy the last few days as her scenes got jam-packed." She said while sighing.

"It's alright for her to get busy. She was complaining at the start that the director was dumb to not making her work and that she was very bored on sets. This will set her up properly." He ruthlessly shot at Hea-Jung. He was still a bit pissed at her for everything that happened in the last 12 hours and what he said was also true as she was very bored to death on the phone calls and text messages. 

Han Ju nodded hearing him but at the same time, she was also taken back at how straightforward the guy was. She heard a few stories about him from Hea-Jung about how ruthless he was with her but it was the first time seeing it. She thought the guy would be a little different because Hea-Jung brought him a golden egg to kick start his career. At that moment, she instantly took a note to talk with Hea-Jung a little and if possible, have a talk with Joon-won himself about showing respect. 

If he knew her thoughts, Joon-won would ask her to stop the car and go right back to the train station and wait for the next train back to Arios. 

The car eventually came to a stop in front of a small hotel. Both of them got down after parking the car and got in. Joon-won noticed it was a 2- star hotel, a pretty small one at that, and seeing this he only hoped for a nice bed to sleep on. 

"Do the other actors also live in this hotel?" 

Han Ju glanced at him and replied, "Of Course not. The main leads and other important characters of the movie live in the only 4-star hotel of the film while other actors live in various 3 and 2-star hotels. Anyway, this is your room. You can call me if you need anything and I'll call you for lunch." She opened the door of his room and went in. She didn't forget to give her card while walking out of the room, too. 

Joon-won looked at his small room and knew he couldn't expect any better from a 2-star hotel. There was a small, probably a decade-old television, a phone to call, and a bed. He also noticed a night lamp on the table side of the bed. Keeping the bag on the bed, he checked if it was good enough and sighed in relief after he felt a little satisfied. He checked the bathroom and took out his essential pouch. 

After washing his face and everything, he finally got to the script. He was told he only had till night to get the first scene down so that they could start the shoot. So he slowly went through the script once again. 

He had a total of 3 scenes in the movie. The first scene which he was supposed to shoot tonight was going to be between him and Hea-Jung. He, the shopkeeper, was at his job, sitting behind the desk on his phone. Then Hea-Jung, aka Detective Lan, her character, would come up to him and ask him if she could have some of his time after showing her batch. 

Then both of them go to the side, somewhere private, and have a talk. Detective Lan starts to question him about the night of the abduction. But this was where the tricky part came in. His character shows signs of anxiousness, which Detective Lan fails to notice and goes away after he lies.

That was the first scene in his first-ever movie. It was pretty simple, and it was easy for him to be anxious, but to be right, Joon-won took out his phone and searched for body language that depicts anxiousness. His character needed to be subtly anxious, such that the detective doesn't find it. His anxiety is found when the hero hears the recording of the questioning and finds out that he sounded anxious. Then he asks Hea-Jung if he saw any signs and she remembers she did before they call him into the station for questioning.

Joon-won closed his eyes and imagined the scene with the props and everything. It started with him behind the counter, so he positioned himself at the edge of the bed with his phone in his hands. He continued to play games until he heard a knock and looked up. 

The scene continued as he continued to practice a couple of times until he felt he got the anxiety signs down. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and felt they were a little heavy. After washing his face, he felt fine and finally noticed the time on his phone. 

It was already 12. He spent 2 hours practicing so hard that he didn't even know the time. He then finally got the call he was waiting for. It was from Han Ju.

"Joon-won, we will be there in 10 minutes, be ready." He gave a simple ok and cut the call. 

He changed his clothes and walked down the hotel into the lobby to wait for them. After a few minutes, a car rolled by and he looked outside to see Han Ju waving at him from behind the wheel. 

As he went outside and was about to get into the passenger seat, he heard Hea-Jun's tired voice, "Joon-won come to the back seat. I have so much to talk to you and give advice as your senior." he looked inside and saw her stupid grin.