Chapter 111

"Queen Moon-Jin was born into a prestigious family; until she became the queen, she was a young lady from a Yangban[1] family and had received the best education. The norms of these families are famous for being strict — from an early age, they would be caned right away if they were to raise their voices, even if it was just by a little. So while she was born with a cold personality, she entered the palace as a disciplined and restrained young lady because of her education and upbringing and went through many hardships."

Although she was put through rigorous education, she grew up as a lady of a wealthy and prestigious family and lacked nothing. However, upon entering the palace as the second wife of King Gyeong-Jo, she went through many hardships because of her insidious mother-in-law and inattentive husband, as well as high-spirited concubines that gave birth to sons. Even after giving birth to Prince Myeong-Hwan five years after tying the knot, Gyeong-Jo still disregarded her. He had neglected her even more and treated her with contempt. After going through such a hard time, her heart was filled with han[2]. Every word she uttered was cold. Nonetheless, the dignified woman had never once openly raised her voice or used a sharp tone whenever she spoke.

"Queen Moon-Jin was a very elegant and refined woman. Prince Myeong-Hwan described her as someone always dignified and difficult to deal with and that even though she had never showered him with a mother's love, she had never once abandoned her dignity as the queen of this country. Queen Moon-Jin's biological father had once written, 'A person's voice expresses their personality. A frivolous person speaks loudly, and people who get too agitated or excited cannot be trusted.' I believe we can guess how a man like that had brought up his daughter, especially when he had already made plans to send her into the palace from an early age." Queen Moon-Jin had prioritized her status as the queen over her identity as a mother. Im Ji-Young's acting did not match her way of speaking.

Seemingly shocked, Im Ji-Young's face paled upon hearing Woo-Jin's words. If someone else had said that instead, she might have refuted by saying that all the previous actresses that portrayed Queen Moon-Jin had acted in such a manner. However, Im Ji-Young knew Woo-Jin very well, so she couldn't dismiss his words. Moreover, as a person excelling academically talked about historical resources, it seemed the truth, so she believed him.

Im Ji-Young stared blankly at Director Yoon Seon, who was also the writer of the movie. He was equally bewildered. In truth, his focus was on Prince Myeong-Hwan, whom he had studied from a new angle, not Queen Moon Jin. Though he valued her past and flow of thoughts, he didn't pay much attention to her tone of voice. Queen Moon-Jin was famous for her spiteful nature, after all. Thus, even though the previous actresses had portrayed her in slightly different ways, they were fundamentally similar — all of them spoke harshly and venomously, just like how Jang Nok-Su[3] and Jang Hee-Bin were always portrayed the same way.

"That's just how I imagined Queen Moon-Jin to be, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt." Woo-Jin continued dispiritedly, saying that he seemed to have made a momentary mistake because her acting was different from the Queen Moon-Jin he had in mind after looking through historical resources and research materials.

Woo-Jin tried to read Director Yoon Seon and Im Ji-Young's thoughts and secretly took a step back. While Queen Moon-Jin he knew was such a person, there was no rule dictating that Queen Moon-Jin in Red Enemy had to be exactly like her. Woo-Jin felt that he had disrespected his senior because he failed to manage his facial expressions; thus, he decided to completely get his act together from now on.

"No, I think you're right." Im Ji-Young waved her hand and agreed with Woo-Jin's opinion. It was apparent that she was trying to break away from biases and try something new. She was also very greedy when it came to acting, so she was more than happy to portray a different version of Queen Moon-Jin than the previous ones.

Despite wanting to try something new, one must always exercise caution when shooting historical films and dramas. The slightest slipups could lead to criticisms and accusations of distortion of historical facts, so the changes should be done in moderation only after thorough research. Queen Moon-Jin's data was generally related to political strife, so people's assessments of her were poles apart depending on their perceptions. Nevertheless, both sides unanimously agreed on one thing that Queen Moon-Jin didn't hold herself back and was spiteful in her remarks.

"What you said earlier on is true, right?"

"Should I send you the materials after I find them?"

"Then I'll thank you in advance." There was still time before production began, so she wanted to do more research about her role again in the meantime.

"By the way, how... no, no! It's on me." Im Ji-Young was about to ask Director Yoon for his opinion on how she should portray a dignified and venomous woman, but she shook her head and mumbled to herself. If it didn't work out after she had given it a shot, it wouldn't be too late to ask Director Yoon for help then. So the table read session continued, except for her, as she became deep in thought while looking at the script.

After that, Woo-Jin didn't criticize any other actors when it came to portraying their characters. His feelings towards Im Ji-Young's portrayal of Queen Moon-Jin were exposed because he failed to manage his facial expressions after seeing how her portrayal had deviated a lot from the actual Queen Moon-Jin that he knew. He never intended to pick other actors' acting in the first place.

"Let's go together, Dong-Ho!" After the table read ended, the actors and production crew decided to have dinner and a get-together. As they were leaving the studio, Woo-Jin joked around with Lee Dan-Woo, his close friend and co-star in City of Shadows.

Lee Dan-Woo played Dong-Ho, a eunuch that served Prince Myeong-Hwan. He was a very important person to Prince Myeong-Hwan. Dong-Ho had been by Prince Myeong-Hwan's side ever since they were children, and he also tagged along when Prince Myeong-Hwan left the palace. They had been together up until the last moments of the prince's life. Even though Dong-Ho was not his close friend, he gave Prince Myeong-Hwan his full support and followed him till the very end. He was the only servant that served Prince Myeong-Hwan as his master with sincerity.

"I'm so glad you're the one playing Dong-Ho, hyung." Even though Director Yoon might not have cast them out of consideration for him, he was happy that Kwon Eun-Mi was playing Seol Ha and Lee Dan-Woo was playing Dong-Ho.

However, Lee Dan-Woo replied to him soullessly with a disheartened look on his face.

"You should try being a eunuch too." While Lee Dan-Woo was glad to be cast in the movie and had no complaints about the role itself, he was sad because he was just a eunuch.

"Dong-Ho was a great eunuch. How many eunuchs have made a name for themselves in history?" That was not all. Making a name for himself wasn't enough — he was also a eunuch that had earned the honor of being a loyal subject.

"That's not comforting at all."

"To be honest, if I were you, I don't think I'd feel very comforted either." Lee Dan-Woo glared at Woo-jin as the latter coldly talked about reality. Then, all of a sudden, he looked around. Most of the actors had already left the studio, and before they knew it, they were the only ones left behind. They were lagging behind because Lee Dan-Woo was taking his own time packing his bag.

"Oh Ha-Na didn't show up in the end, huh. Where on earth could she be that the road was still congested after three hours?"

"She might have gone to the countryside. Fortunately, she wasn't in an accident."

"As the female lead, she should have been present for the first table read! Is she even self-aware or not!"

"Isn't Seol Ha the female lead?" Woo-Jin wasn't particularly unhappy with Oh Ha-Na, but the more he read the script, the less he felt that Queen Yoon was the female lead. While there was romance between Queen Yoon and Prince Myeong-Hwan, based on the number of scenes and the scenes with Prince Myeong-Hwan, Seol Ha had a bigger role. Moreover, all the scenes that he considered important involved Seol Ha. Thus, from a certain point onwards, Woo-Jin started to think of Seol Ha as the female lead.

"Isn't Queen Yoon the female lead?"

Queen Yoon would be the female lead if one were to judge based on the romance alone. However, she was at the center of conflict in Red Enemy; she was never the female lead at the forefront of the movie.

"Well, that might be the case because Queen Yoon was always the female lead in all the dramas and movies where Prince Myeong-Hwan was the male lead." In truth, Woo-Jin replied flatly because he wondered why it even mattered who the female lead was in the first place. Regardless, Woo-Jin personally didn't like Queen Yoon. Thus, if he could have his way, he would want Red Enemy to be a story about friendship without any romance.

"...?"

Woo-Jin was talking while looking at Lee Dan-Woo when the latter flinched for a second, so he shifted his gaze to the front because it seemed like Lee Dan-Woo was startled to see someone. And Oh Ha-Na was standing in front of them, staring at Woo-Jin. Woo-Jin quickly recalled what he had just said. If she believed herself to be the female lead, his words would have been offensive enough. But that didn't mean that Woo-Jin was arguing against Queen Yoon being the female lead, so he acted dignified.

"You're Oh Ha-Na, right? I'm Chae Woo-Jin." Even though Woo-Jin felt embarrassed because they met each other for the first time in such a manner, he greeted her first. Although Oh Ha-Na was aware that Lee Dan-Woo was standing next to Woo-Jin, she continued staring at Woo-Jin with her mouth shut. The dark energy emanating from her continued to bloom, so much so that it made Lee Dan-Woo sneak away to the side. It didn't seem like it would be easily resolved, so Woo-Jin decided to apologize to her first.

"If what I said earlier upset you...." Even though Oh Ha-Na was younger than Woo-Jin, she was his senior in this field, so he spoke cautiously to her, but looking at her face, he was startled and shut his mouth. That was because tears suddenly fell from her eyes filled with anger. She was still glaring at him with the same intensity, and on top of that, tears kept falling from her big eyes.

"Wahhhhhhh~!" Soon, she started crying out loud, like a young child throwing a tantrum and shedding large teardrops whenever they were upset. It was Woo-Jin's first time seeing an adult cry like that, so he became flustered and didn't know what to do. To put it bluntly, even Woo-Hee had never cried like that ever since she was in sixth grade.

Woo-Jin tried to communicate with Lee Dan-Woo with his eyes as if to ask if what he said was that harsh. Lee Dan-Woo shrugged with a puzzled look on his face as well and shook his head. Oh Ha-Na didn't stop crying right away. One of the people who was startled by her loud cry was Oh Ha-Na's manager. Without asking or saying anything, her manager tried comforting her, but to no avail. Because Oh Ha-Na cried like that for a full hour, Woo-Jin felt helpless. All he could do was walk on eggshells. Today, he failed to control his facial expressions, so he made a mistake, and then this debacle. Thus, it had been a difficult day for him in various ways.

A few days later, Woo-Jin managed to get some information about Oh Ha-Na from Kang Ho-Soo. There was a particular reason accounting for why she couldn't attend the table read, as well as why she cried profusely after hearing what he said.

"According to my hard-earned information, Oh Ha-Na bawled her eyes out that day after finding out they had added one more scene for Seol Ha."

They released a new script because of the additional new scene, where Prince Myeong-Hwan went to Seol Ha for advice about the geonmu and danced together. Director Yoon Seon sent each actor a new script the day before the table read, and Oh Ha-Na confirmed it belatedly. As a result, it was said that she had cried so much that her eyes became swollen. Thus, she couldn't attend the table read.

After she managed to calm down somehow and had reduced the swelling with an ice pack, she rushed over to greet the rest of the cast. Things were fine until she met and greeted the actors and production crew leaving the studio after the table read. Even though she was late, most of them were easygoing enough to look past that and appreciated the fact that she had made it. However, the problem was that she went into the studio to greet Woo-Jin after finding out he was still inside and ended up overhearing his words.

1. The Yangban was the highest social class during the Joseon dynasty. ☜

2. Closest meaning in English is resentment and hatred. ☜

3. Consort Jang Nok-Su was the consort of Yeonsangun of Joseon. ☜