Chapter 155: The Arizade Kingdom Murder Case.
The Kingdom of Arizade was a nation built upon commerce, its society divided into four classes: king, nobles, merchants, and slaves.
Then one morning, in the vast hall of the royal palace where four paintings hung, the First Prince, Kishin, was discovered dead.
Cause of death: poisoning.
Two suspects stood accused.
The Second Prince, Roche, who was competing for the succession to the throne.
And the nobleman Narva, who had stepped forward and confessed to being the culprit.
The script assigned to Yu Myeong's team centered on representatives of each social class gathering to debate the identity of the murderer.
After casting their roles, they began the first reading.
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Noble: Your Majesty. Narva has already confessed to everything. Did he not personally submit both the poison used in the murder and records of its purchase? We of the Noble Council deeply regret the monstrous actions of the traitor Narva and kneel before Your Majesty to offer our apologies.
King: No. This is not something for you to apologize for. Narva's crime belongs to Narva alone. It seems, however, that the Merchant Alliance holds a different opinion.
Merchant: Your Majesty, we beg that you exercise your wisdom. A prince of the kingdom has been murdered. Regardless of whatever grievances Narva may have held against Prince Kishin, such an act could never have been committed independently.
King: You claim someone stands behind him. Who?
Merchant: Surely the person who stands to gain the most from Prince Kishin's death.
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The script ran roughly ten minutes.
From the opening through the middle, the structure repeated itself.
With the king refusing to take a clear position, the noble insisted that Narva was the murderer, while the merchant argued that Prince Roche was the true mastermind behind the crime.
The slave did not speak until midway through the play, when the conflict between them reached its peak.
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Slave: ...May this lowly one be permitted to speak?
Merchant: How dare you...!
Noble: Insolent dog!
King: Silence. Lowest of men, I grant you permission as the ruler of Arizade. Speak freely.
Slave: I... believe the prince's death... was suicide.
Merchant: What?!
Noble: What nonsense is this?!
King: Explain yourself.
Slave: I always attended the prince near his feet. That night, I saw him take a small cloth pouch from inside his robes. He poured its contents into his mouth and then left his chambers.
Noble: Is that so? Then why would Narva tell such a lie...
Merchant: Lies! Lies! Who sent you?
King: Did the prince leave behind any final words?
Slave: As he left his room... he said something strange.
"I refuse to live as a scarecrow."
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The noble, who had begun to accept the slave's testimony, and the merchant, who had rejected it, both froze at those final words.
The merchant drew a dagger from inside his robes and stabbed the slave.
Bleeding heavily, the slave died.
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After finishing the reading, the team began discussing the script.
Faith spoke first in response to Yu Myeong's question.
[I think someone poisoned the First Prince on the orders of the Second Prince. That person could be Narva, or it could be someone else. From the script, it seems like the Merchant Alliance supported the deceased First Prince while the Noble Council supports the Second Prince, right? Maybe the nobles are sacrificing one of their own—Narva—to protect Prince Roche.]
Jeffrey immediately challenged her.
[Just a scapegoat? This isn't an ordinary crime. It's the murder of a prince. Narva's entire family line would be destroyed. Would he really volunteer for that?]
[Maybe some kind of deal was made. Or maybe Narva is simply that loyal to the Second Prince. The script doesn't tell us enough to know.]
[Then what about the slave's testimony?]
[Who knows? Maybe someone put him up to it. A third faction, perhaps. Not that anyone would believe a slave's testimony without evidence.]
Faith argued that Prince Roche was behind the murder.
Jeffrey argued that Narva acted alone.
Amusingly, both were advocating positions opposite to those of the characters they had been cast to play.
[Kai?]
Kai hesitated.
[Well... I feel like the slave's final statement means something. But that section is so short that I can't really figure it out. If the slave is telling the truth, Narva's confession stops making sense. What do you think, Hyung?]
[I think the prince really did commit suicide.]
Faith and Jeffrey immediately looked interested.
Yu Myeong continued.
[The strongest candidate for the throne has died. From the Noble Council's perspective, this should be the perfect opportunity to place Prince Roche on the throne.]
He folded his arms.
[But that also makes Roche the most obvious suspect.]
[So the nobles want to close the case as quickly as possible, even if they have to sacrifice one of their own. Meanwhile, the Merchant Alliance doesn't understand the full picture and genuinely believes Prince Roche was behind Narva's actions.]
[So Narva has nothing to do with the prince's death?]
[Would Narva really sacrifice himself so easily?]
[That depends entirely on what he's being offered in return. Suppose Narva belonged to a declining noble family. If someone promised to make his son the heir to one of the kingdom's greatest houses, wouldn't that be enough? There are countless possibilities.]
The teammate who had questioned him slowly tilted his head.
Yu Myeong elaborated.
[That's why the noble reacted positively to the slave's testimony. If the Second Prince can ascend the throne without sacrificing Narva, isn't that even better?]
[But Narva already confessed.]
[Then they can simply claim it was excessive loyalty. Say Narva falsely confessed out of devotion to Prince Roche. That's a far lighter offense than regicide.]
At last Jeffrey nodded.
[All right. I can follow that logic. But why do both the noble and the merchant react so strongly to the slave's final words? And why does the merchant kill him?]
[The clue is in the prince's last statement.]
[His final words...?]
"I refuse to live as a scarecrow."
[Exactly.]
Yu Myeong leaned back slightly.
[I think this script is only a fragment of a larger story. We'd need the sections before and after to know for certain. But based on what we have...]
The team unconsciously held their breath.
[The Kingdom of Arizade is probably a kingdom in name only. The king himself is the scarecrow.]
[...!]
[Nobles and merchants have become rival factions, each desperately trying to install their preferred prince as the next puppet ruler. The king, meanwhile, is fooled by their flattery and believes himself to be the supreme authority.]
Kai, who had been cast as the king, visibly flinched.
[According to the slave, the prince took the poison in his own room. Yet he deliberately walked all the way to the hall before dying.]
Yu Myeong tapped the script.
[Perhaps he wanted his death to become public. Perhaps he hoped the king would finally wake up and do something.]
An interpretation built entirely from a fragment.
A graceful explanation that made it feel as though both the beginning and ending of the story were suddenly visible.
And everyone found themselves accepting it.
Then Kai asked:
[Then what does the slave's death represent?]
[The death of an ordinary citizen who speaks the truth.]
[......]
[Whether a slave truly counts as an ordinary citizen is debatable. But nobles and merchants clearly belong to the ruling class of Arizade. Compared to them, the slave belongs to the powerless.]
Yu Myeong's voice remained calm.
[Before the king can understand the meaning of the slave's words, the noble and merchant silence him forever.]
[...Wow.]
[Political factions that spend every day fighting each other suddenly join hands when faced with a threat and bury the truth. Isn't that exactly what this scene is trying to show?]
In the end, everyone nodded.
[Yeah.]
Yu Myeong smiled.
[The smallest role, but the one who raises the most meaningful question and dies for it. If it's played well, it might leave the strongest impression.]
[Then does that mean the slave is actually the best role?]
[Not necessarily.]
He shook his head.
[It's appealing, but it still has very little stage time. If your goal is to make the strongest impression as an actor, the nobleman or merchant roles are still the better choices. If I were approaching this as an audition contestant instead of someone thinking about the overall production, I would've chosen one of those.]
As they left rehearsal, Kai stuck close to him, continuing to ask questions.
Yu Myeong explained why he had chosen the slave.
[Then why did you choose the king?]
He asked the question that had been bothering him.
To Yu Myeong, the king was easily the weakest role in the script.
The nobleman and merchant possessed strong contrasting personalities and extensive stage time.
The slave delivered the story's most important message and was tied to its most dramatic event.
But the king sat awkwardly in the middle.
A puppet ruler who swayed toward whichever side happened to be speaking.
[Um... because he's the most different from me.]
Kai scratched his cheek awkwardly.
[Is that a bad reason?]
Yu Myeong laughed.
He hadn't chosen the role most likely to stand out.
He hadn't chosen the role he thought he could perform best.
He had chosen the role farthest from himself.
The most difficult role.
As an audition contestant, it was naïve.
As a fellow actor, it was admirable.
Once again, Yu Myeong felt he had been right to recommend Kai to Yu Seok.
He found himself wanting to help him even more.
[What makes him so different from you?]
[He's a king.]
Kai laughed awkwardly.
[A refined, dignified person like that is the complete opposite of how I grew up. I thought maybe I'd become a better actor if I could pull off a role like that.]
The hesitant answer tugged unexpectedly at Yu Myeong's heart.
What kind of childhood had Kai Nunan experienced?
Yu Myeong had never cared much about Hollywood gossip.
He didn't know.
But from Kai's clothes, speech, and mannerisms, it was obvious he hadn't grown up in privilege.
So how could someone like that convincingly become a king?
[Kai, the foundation of acting is deception.]
[Right.]
[For however long the audience watches, you have to convince them you're truly a king. But if I imagine a dignified king and nobody else sees dignity, what's the point?]
[Exactly!]
[Then first you need to understand what people generally expect a dignified king to look like. How would you do that?]
[Movies and dramas? Historical records of actual kings?]
[Correct. You observe different sources and identify the common traits. That's step one. What's step two?]
[Adding something uniquely my own?]
A smile tugged at Yu Myeong's lips.
[Correct again. You have the qualities of a king.]
Kai immediately beamed.
[And research helps, but observing a real person can be even more useful.]
[Like watching real doctors when you're preparing to play a doctor?]
[Exactly.]
[But kings don't exist anymore.]
[Actually, I know someone who's surprisingly close. Want to meet him?]
Kai's confused expression made Yu Myeong chuckle.
Of everyone Yu Myeong knew, Yu Seok possessed the most impeccable bearing.
Even though much of his life had been spent under pressure, he had received rigorous chaebol etiquette training from childhood.
And his character itself carried something inherently regal.
Having attended university in America, he even spoke with the polished English of the upper class.
"Who would've thought all the things I was forced to learn would someday be used to lure actors into signing contracts?"
Yu Myeong laughed.
"It's a win-win. Could you also record some of the king's lines? The accent and pronunciation will be useful references."
"Of course. Use them however you want."
After that, Yu Myeong brought Kai back to his accommodations and coached him separately.
Compared to Faith and Jeffrey, Kai's fundamentals were still weak.
But spending too much rehearsal time focusing on him in front of everyone else would have caused problems.
When Hyo Jun saw Yu Myeong bringing Kai back to practice privately, he looked distinctly displeased.
Yu Myeong ignored it.
And then—
Kai's acting, already blessed with extraordinary natural talent, began improving at a breathtaking pace as he absorbed Yu Myeong's guidance.
"I, ruler of Arizade, grant permission. Speak all that you wish to say."
Seventh day of rehearsal.
The king spoke with the arrogant dignity of someone born to stand above all others.
Faith and Jeffrey stared at him in disbelief.
And Yu Myeong thought:
Now this was finally becoming a game worth playing.