Chapter 634. Arriving (4)

“Even so, I cannot give up on you.”

After listening to that ‘passionate’ delivery from Liu Wei, Choi Yeon-Ha almost blurted out several choice words.

‘What the hell! Are you here to read a textbook?’

“...Cut!” The director suddenly shouted as if he agreed with Choi Yeon-H’'s assessment. “We will continue after a short break!”

“Really? I thought that was pretty good, though?” Liu Wei muttered in slight irritation. And that only turned up the anger level in Choi Yeon-Ha’s mind.

‘This as*hole! Maybe he’s too stupid to know what pretty good even means?’

The heavens were fair and never granted someone absolutely everything, which meant no one on this God’s green Earth was perfect. However, it seemed the heavens were a little crueler to Liu Wei. Well, what happened was that they didn’t grant the ability to act to someone who wished to become one!

At least people who understood their acting abilities were garbage had hope for their future. A potential to get better at their craft! However, Liu Wei here genuinely believed he was a pretty good actor!

Choi Yeon-Ha wordlessly massaged her forehead. Even the aspiring actors her agency was currently nurturing back home were a hundred times more talented than this fool. At least those kids knew how to convey emotion with their delivery, but this guy...!

Since the filming was halted, for the time being at least, Han Eun-Sol quickly rushed in with a parasol, followed by the makeup artists carrying ice water and portable fans. Choi Yeon-Ha accepted a cold towel and wiped her forehead while sighing grandly.

“Can’t I at least sit down or something!”

Subtle teeth-grinding noises escaped from her mouth next. She’d love to chop off the head of that director who refused to let her sit down for some bizarre reason of preventing the creasing of the back of her dress... Even though they weren’t going to film her from behind anyway! Besides, who cared about her costume’s state when the supposed male lead’s acting was utter crap?

Then again, Choi Yeon-Ha could see how openly disgusted and unhappy the director was, too.

To get enough funding for a large-scale production like this TV show, the opinions of all potential investors had to be respected regardless of what. And every investor demanded an up-and-coming star to be cast for either the male or female lead. That was why this slimy Liu Wei had been cast as the male lead. Without investors, this production would’ve never gotten off the ground, after all!

Unfortunately, this idiot’s acting ability was despair-inducing. Up until now, the production team managed to skirt this issue by significantly altering the script and turning the male lead into a stoic, silent type who mostly communicated with his eyes. By setting the backstory as someone who got emotionally wounded early on as a child, they managed to cover up Liu Wei’s dreadful acting chops.

However, that wasn’t going to work in this particular scene. In this scene, the male lead was supposed to explosively unleash his suppressed emotions. His outburst needed to be visceral enough for the viewers to question if he was even the same person they had been watching all this time. But this...!

“Hey. Is this line that difficult to recite properly?” The director could be heard complaining bitterly to his assistant director.

Even though she was arguably the one suffering the most from this development, Choi Yeon-Ha had to work hard to suppress her laughter.

‘That’s so satisfying.’

Despite feeling light-headed from standing under the unforgiving sun, and her entire body feeling like a sagging wet blanket, Choi Yeon-Ha still felt gratified in this moment.

However, Han Eun-Sol’s reaction was the opposite of his star’s. “That bastard! Seriously now...!”

This was already a taxing scene to shoot, so Liu Wei forcing several takes due to his sheer incompetence was getting on Han Eun-Sol’s nerves.

Choi Yeon-Ha quickly rebuked him. “Eun-Sol, keep your voice down.”

“...Of course.” Han Eun-Sol clamped his mouth shut.

Even if Liu Wei was at fault here, a manager raising his voice on a film set was still strictly forbidden. Besides, Liu Wei seemed to be one of those fragile types who only got worse after being criticized. That wouldn't be good for Choi Yeon-Ha.

“Noona. Try to hold on for a little while longer, okay?”

“Hey, now. Don’t forget that I’m Choi Yeon-Ha, okay?”

“Yes, yes. You’re the greatest actor in the entire universe.”

“Wanna die?”

Han Eun-Sol didn’t respond to that retort to his retort and simply handed over a bottle of ion supply drink to Choi Yeon-Ha. She also didn’t say anything and accepted the bottle before sucking in a large gulp of the cooled drink. As soon as she was done drinking, makeup artists quickly swarmed around her to fix her makeup.

“Uh-whew. I hope we can finish shooting this scene today...” One of the artists helplessly muttered.

Choi Yeon-Ha was even more desperate to finish this damn scene before the end of the day, though! However... Unfortunately for everyone involved, the dreadful acting ability of the male lead combined with the director’s perfectionist attitude to produce the worst-possible result.

They had been shooting the same scene over and over again... for the last twenty times already!

Unable to keep his annoyance in control any further, Liu Wei suddenly began kicking a nearby trash can. “Dammit!”

‘What a loser...!’

Choi Yeon-Ha frowned at that scene. If only that slimeball could direct his temper into his acting chops!

Several aspects of Chinese culture remained a complete mystery to a Korean like Choi Yeon-Ha. Yes, Korea also had its fair share of hot-tempered as*holes in its entertainment industry, but none of them dared to act like that in front of a director. Behavior like that was seen as extremely rude and embarrassing from a Korean’s perspective.

But the director of this Chinese production didn’t criticize Liu Wei’s behavior or get angry about it. In a case like this, the affected director should feel their authority had been undermined, but that didn’t seem to be it either. This director’s idea of his authority being undermined was markedly different to his Korean counterparts.

‘...Whatever. I don’t care anymore, so act properly in front of the camera, okay!’

Choi Yeon-Ha’s dissatisfaction level was shooting through the roof.

“Alright! We’re rolling again!” The director shouted at everyone.

Liu Wei quickly fixed his costume and stepped back into the film set. He even bowed his head and apologized. “Sorry about that.”

Unsurprisingly, his apology sounded hollow and insincere. But it didn’t matter to Choi Yeon-Ha or to the director. They weren’t looking for Liu We’'s apologies, to begin with. It was too late to improve people’s impression of him at this late stage with a simple ‘I’m sorry’.

When the clapperboard loudly clacked to signal the start of the filming, Choi Yeon-Ha’s face instantly transformed into that of a tragic female lead. Energy quickly returned to the eyes of the director watching this change through the monitor.

‘Very impressive.’

The director was obviously not an idiot. He could easily see Choi Yeon-Ha’s contempt for Liu Wei through the camera lens. However, that contempt vanished instantly as soon as the cameras began rolling, and her expression would be filled with nothing but pure love for the other party.

As if she had a switch that allowed her to pour out whatever emotion she needed in a scene, Choi Yeon-Ha was putting on a first-class demonstration on what the perfectly nuanced emotional performance should look like.

She was perfectly expressing the subtle and complicated emotions of all the love and respect she had for her man, as well as untold sorrow at having to stay away from him for his own good. This stunning acting ability was precisely why the director defied the vociferous opposition from countless investors and cast Choi Yeon-Ha as his lead actress.

But all his hard work was being undone by...

“I, uh, I, with you...”

The director gritted his teeth when Liu Wei began stumbling over his line again.

‘That talentless bastard!’

A bloody elementary school kid might be better than Liu Wei at acting! How could someone claiming to be an actor fail so hard at uttering a single damn line of dialogue! Despite the director and writers changing and simplifying the dialogue several times, Liu Wei was still spectacularly failing at his job!

‘At this rate, we seriously might...’

That was when something weird suddenly happened.

“I cannot give up on you!” Liu Wei suddenly yelled, his expression growing heated for some reason.

This wasn’t what the director wanted, and the emotion on display was also not what was expected of the actor. In other words, the scene was not what the director had envisioned in his mind. Even then, the director couldn’t deny what’s unfolding now was the most natural performance he had filmed so far.

“Let him be!” The director urgently stopped the assistant director trying to get up. He rarely allowed actors to go off script and his vision, but now seemed like the good time to break that rule just a bit!

“You mustn’t do this,” said Choi Yeon-Ha in another note-perfect delivery of her dialogue. Such a believable display of sorrow!

That was when Liu Wei went off script even more by doing something that seemed entirely impulsive. He strode toward Choi Yeon-Ha and abruptly yanked her into his embrace. The crew members flinched, obviously flustered by this development, but the director still kept his mouth shut. As such, the cameras continued to roll.

As expected of Choi Yeon-Ha, she remained professional even in this unexpected situation. She stayed in character after realizing that the scene was still being filmed. Despite her co-star's improvisation, her performance still remained impeccable.

Choi Yeon-Ha sorrowfully muttered, “Sir, you can’t...”

“I said, I will not let you go like this!” Liu Wei cried out while powerfully embracing Choi Yeon-Ha. Almost at the same time, he began touching her face. While his hand was feeling up her cheek, his other hand was sneaking lower and lower. And then... his lips slowly closed in on Choi Yeon-Ha’s.

‘Oh? That’s not so bad?’

The director cocked his brow. Since dialogues were clearly not working, displaying the male lead’s explosive, visceral emotional state this way could be a viable alternative. In fact, this could be the best possible method to mask Liu Wei’s shocking lack of talent in acting.

Although this direction was far removed from the subtle and delicate storytelling the director usually went for, the resulting scene could potentially leave a more vivid and much-stronger impression on viewers watching the show on their TV sets.

‘In that case... Let’s just continue with this!’

In all honesty, the director was also tired. He had already come to a realization that, even if they shoot this scene hundreds of times, what he envisioned in his head would never be realized. In that case, shouldn’t they... might as well end the scene this way?

Liu Wei’s lips gradually closed in on Choi Yeon-Ha’s. Once he forced his lips on her, and she resisted meekly before accepting his embrace... This scene would be complete! Although that wasn’t what the director had envisioned, he believed a professional like Choi Yeon-Ha could still pull off a perfect performance and save this scene!

Unfortunately, the director’s belief hadn’t taken into consideration one minor thing.

“Where the f*ck are you touching, you creepy as*hole!”

Pow!

That minor thing was Choi Yeon-Ha herself. The weather was humid and hot, while the incompetency of her co-star had forced the same scene to be shot over and over again... a couple dozen times! Then, the incompetent yet slimy bastard suddenly went off-script and demanded the unwelcome skinship, too! No wonder Choi Yeon-Ha’s temper got the better of her and blew up in everyone’s faces.

“Aaaaahk?!” Liu Wei fell to the ground and began screaming while desperately clutching at his mercilessly-kicked shin.

The director shot up to his feet at this completely unexpected development. “W-what the hell?!”

That was when Choi Yeon-Ha ripped the tiara off her head, threw it on the ground, then yelled in pure rage. “You slimeball pervert! Where the f*ck do you think you were groping?! Listen here, you piece of sh*t! You think I exercised like crazy just for some loser creep like you to feel my ass up?!”

“You insane b*tch?!” Liu Wei jumped back up to his feet as if the raging blood had rushed to his head, helping him forget the pain. “Who the hell do you think you are! Ah?! Who! How dare a random b*tch treat me this way!”

“Don’t f*cking make me laugh! Who cares about what I am! The problem is with you! Who are you, and why should I be scared of you?! When you’re a nobody!”

“What?! What do I lack, ah?! Am I talentless? Or am I too ugly for you?! You should be thanking the stars when a man as good as me is being so nice to you!”

“Hah...” Choi Yeon-Ha groaned loudly while pulling the hairpin out of her hair. Her long hair tumbled loose from the bun and cascaded down to her back. “What’s the point of wasting my breath on a loser like you? Listen here, creep. Tell that schoolboy nonsense to people with no brain cells left, okay? I’m Choi Yeon-Ha, you hear me? I can still do whatever I want without a loser like you trying to act like a breadwinner, okay?! So, please. Please know your damn place. I still wouldn’t want anything to do with you even if a truckload of you were given away for free! Eun-Sol!”

“Yes, noona!” Han Eun-Sol rushed toward Choi Yeon-Ha.

“Get everyone ready to leave. We’re done filming for today!”

“Yes, noona!” Han Eun-Sol resolutely nodded. He normally would’ve tried to stop Choi Yeon-Ha, but not this time. He was even angrier than her right now. “Seriously, this creepy son of a b*tch...!”

Just like everyone here, Han Eun-Sol also witnessed Liu Wei running his hand on Choi Yeon-Ha’s buttocks and coping a feel. Even if this was China, and even if they were in the middle of filming, no manager worth their salt would sit back and be quiet while their actresses were being sexually harassed. Only a useless moron would do that!

“Okay, wrap it up!” Han Eun-Sol loudly shouted and tried to stop the filming altogether.

That prompted the director to confront Choi Yeon-Ha, his expression as stiff as it could get. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Choi Yeon-Ha coldly replied, “We are done filming for today.”

“On whose authority?”

That was when Choi Yeon-Ha shot a bone-chilling glare at the man standing before her eyes. “Director.”

“...”

“Not filming for only today is the best compromise I can make with you, you see? I’m doing my hardest to hold myself back, so I advise you to stop provoking me. Even if I was a moron, I’d never let sexual harassment go unpunished, okay?”

“You do understand this is a breach of contract, don’t you?”

“Really? I’m pretty sure the contract also stipulates no physical touches? Doesn’t that mean your side broke the contract first?”

“...That wasn’t my intention.”

Choi Yeon-Ha groaned at length, then addressed the director. “Whether it was intentional or not, I don’t care. At least for today, I need to take a break. I’m not mentally strong enough to keep acting after experiencing that nonsense. Besides, what was that again? A breach of contract?”

Choi Yeon-Ha elegantly slicked the strands of her hair back, then sharply declared to the director.

“Sue me, then. Go ahead. I’ll fully reimburse you if you do. I was wondering where to spend all the money I’ve earned until now, you know? Might as well go totally wild once and dump that money on you. So, sue me, okay! Do it!”

“...M-Miss Choi, please calm down.”

Choi Yeon-Ha silently glared at the director before a bright smile suddenly bloomed on her face. “That is why I’d like to take the rest of the day off, director. Okay?”

“S-sure thing. Why not...”

“Thank you. Well, then.” Choi Yeon-Ha smiled exceptionally smoothly and curtsied briefly, then swiftly exited the set.

‘...Maybe she is crazy, after all?’

The speechless director and Liu Wei, who was holding his aching shin, stood there in stupefaction, still not fully comprehending what kind of storm had blown past them.