Chapter 157: Four pictures.
"[The script interpretation is... wrong?]
[When you first read the script, didn't it feel a little strange?]"
The team members exchanged glances, confusion written across their faces.
You? Well, not really... What about you?
Questions passed silently between them. In the end, unable to find an answer, every gaze turned toward Yu Myeong.
[I've felt something was off the whole time. I thought it might just be my imagination, so I didn't say anything. But I kept going back over the script, and today I finally realized it.]
[What felt off?]
[First of all, why don't any of the characters have names?]
Kai answered immediately.
[Because they're symbolic figures representing their respective social classes, aren't they? That's why they weren't given names.]
[Exactly. Symbolism. Then let me ask you this. The scene where all those symbolic figures gather together—is it a realistic scene, or a symbolic one?]
Face blinked.
[Come to think of it... the scene itself isn't very plausible, is it? The king, a representative of the nobility, a representative of the merchants, and a representative of the slaves all sitting together and debating. Could that actually happen?]
[Right? And it doesn't even seem to be taking place in a courtroom. The very fact that those four are gathered together in one place feels contradictory.]
Expressions slowly began to change around the room.
[Second, the king is far too calm. The crown prince has died. You'd expect anger, despair, some kind of emotional response. But every line the king has feels detached. He never even says "my son" once.]
Kai flinched.
[Now that you mention it...]
[As king, he listens to both the nobles and the merchants, but his attitude is incredibly detached. How did I not notice that sooner?]
[But he's supposed to be a puppet king. Couldn't that explain why he's removed from what's happening in the palace?]
[Politically, perhaps. But the king and the prince are still related by blood. Whether the dead prince was his son, his brother, or another close relative, shouldn't there be some emotional reaction? It's a murder that happened inside the very palace where he lives.]
At that moment, Kai spoke carefully.
[Um... I actually felt the same discomfort before. I even tried another interpretation once.]
[What interpretation?]
[I wondered if maybe... the king was the one behind the prince's death.]
[That's certainly creative. But there was a reason you didn't bring it up before us, wasn't there?]
[Yes... because there aren't any other clues in the script that support that conspiracy.]
[Right. That's what I think too. It's not impossible, but it feels too arbitrary. As actors, we're supposed to base our interpretations on evidence from the script.]
Yu Myeong smiled faintly at Kai before addressing everyone.
[There's one more thing that bothered me. The merchant's behavior.]
[Uh... what about the merchant?]
[In the Kingdom of Arizade, merchants probably possess influence comparable to the nobility. Yet he's far too... reckless, isn't he? Openly confronting the nobles, directly accusing Prince Roche—the most likely successor to the throne.]
Jeffrey, who played the merchant, nodded.
[That bothered me too. A merchant powerful enough to stand face to face with a king and nobles should be an exceptional strategist. Yet he accuses the leading heir to the throne without any evidence. It felt unbalanced.]
[Exactly. All these little things kept bothering me. Then this morning, while rereading the script, I found something we'd overlooked.]
[What was it?]
Everyone's curiosity had reached its peak.
Yu Myeong opened the first page of the script lying in front of them.
[This.]
—In the center of the grand hall of the royal palace, where four paintings hang, the First Prince, Kishin, is discovered dead.
The phrase Yu Myeong pointed to was:
"four paintings."
[Why is that...?]
[It's a completely unnecessary detail. We aren't told what kind of chandelier hangs in the hall or what carpets are on the floor. Yet the one specific detail we're given is that there are four paintings.]
Now that he mentioned it, it did seem strange.
[So what's your theory? You think the four paintings mean something?]
[...The king, the noble, the merchant, and the slave...]
Yu Myeong met the eyes of each actor in turn.
[What if they're the people in those paintings?]
Everyone's eyes widened.
Yu Myeong asked them all to close their eyes and picture what he described.
[The grand hall of the royal palace. In the middle of the night, after taking poison, the prince stumbles inside and collapses dead in the center of the hall.]
[......]
[The next morning, his body is discovered, and the palace is thrown into chaos. Even after the corpse is removed, countless people pass through that spot. Investigators hurrying back and forth. Curious nobles lingering outside the hall. The queen mother and princesses breaking down in tears where the prince died. Narva's confession that he killed the prince may even have taken place in this very hall.]
His low voice guided their imaginations.
Back to the palace hall that had buzzed with commotion for days.
[Then night falls. Hanging in the royal hall are four paintings depicting the four social classes that make up the Kingdom of Arizade. The king. The noble. The merchant. The slave.]
Three shoulders twitched.
[Whether they're portraits of real individuals or symbolic representations of each social class, we can't know. Either way, once every trace of human activity disappears, they quietly stretch themselves inside their frames and begin arguing their respective positions.]
As always in this kingdom, the loudest voices belong to the nobles and the merchants.
Drawing upon rumors they overheard throughout the day, they each begin advancing arguments that benefit themselves.
The king, little more than a puppet, sways back and forth between them.
Then, when the slave finally offers the truthful testimony, the noble and the merchant join forces to silence him.
[The scene they create is a miniature reflection of the state of the Kingdom of Arizade.
But all of it happens only within the paintings. Once dawn arrives, they return to their frames as though nothing ever happened.]
When Yu Myeong finished speaking, the others silently grabbed their scripts and began reading with renewed intensity.
Every so often, someone nodded.
Jeffrey was the first to close his script.
[That... actually sounds right. Then what was the purpose of this scene within the larger play?]
[Hard to say. Maybe it's a world like Harry Potter, where portraits genuinely come alive. Or maybe it's simply a symbolic device meant to foreshadow or reinforce the story's themes. We'd need the surrounding material to know.]
While reading the final pages, Kai suddenly exclaimed.
[Hyung! Here, in the slave's testimony. The line, "I always watched over His Highness from his feet." Could there have been a painting of a slave in the prince's room too?]
Yu Myeong nodded.
[I think so. Perhaps it was meant as a lesson for a future king—remember those beneath you. That's why the slave can describe witnessing the prince taking the poison himself.]
[Then the slave's testimony... never happened in reality?]
[Right. In reality, it's highly likely the death was buried according to the wishes of the nobles and merchants.]
As if every piece of the puzzle had fallen into place, everyone wore expressions that were both relieved and troubled.
[Which means... we have a decision to make.]
[Haah...]
[At first I was shocked, but after thinking it through, I don't think we need to force ourselves. We only received part of the script. If we simply perform what's on the page well, we'll still get a strong evaluation.]
[...Why would someone build all those layers into it?]
[Hmm... like a hidden picture puzzle? Honestly, it feels a little... malicious. Like the writer was thinking, "Nobody will ever figure this out—and even if they do, they'll never be able to perform it properly."]
The comment made Face's cheeks redden slightly.
[That kind of pisses me off...]
[Well, we almost missed it entirely ourselves. No one's going to lose points for failing to notice it, so there's no need to push too hard.]
[Which means that if we do notice it, there might be bonus points, right?]
[If we can perform it properly.]
Two days remained.
[I... think we should try it. Yu Myeong, you already have a directing concept in mind, don't you?]
[...I do. But if we go that route, we probably won't sleep. Incorporating the qualities of still life into the performance won't be easy.]
[I'm voting for the gamble too. We've worked incredibly hard already, but there are outstanding people in the other teams as well. If we want the highest evaluation out of fifty teams, we need something that truly sets us apart.]
[Hyung... me too. I don't care if we don't sleep at all for the next two days.]
Their eyes were completely different from two weeks ago.
Filled with passion and trust, they willingly embraced hardship.
Seeing those expressions, Yu Myeong smiled brightly.
[All right. Let's do it. If we pull it off, I think we'll create something far more interesting than what we have now.]
They entered a training camp for the remaining two days.
The first episode of Casting Boat, complete with Korean subtitles, began spreading across the internet just one day after broadcast.
The speed was worthy of a country famous for its internet infrastructure.
Then the articles began pouring out.
[Shin Yu Myeong's acting, praised endlessly in Korea, fails to reach Hollywood standards. Barely survives the first round.]
[Casting Boat First Preliminary Round: Shin Yu Myeong chooses The Truman Show. Little impact.]
[Was Shin Yu Myeong's acting overrated? Struggles in an audition requiring spontaneity and quick thinking.]
Yet almost as much attention as Yu Myeong's lack of spotlight was the emergence of a new face:
Do Hyo Jun.
[Unknown Korean actor Do Hyo Jun steals the ending of Casting Boat Episode 1.]
[The arrival of a true acting genius? Receives overwhelming praise for boldly playing the "Jesus" card during the audition.]
[A fallen star and a rising unknown. Is Do Hyo Jun overtaking Shin Yu Myeong?]
Some viewers were baffled.
—I thought Shin Yu Myeong was amazing.
—Maybe Korean and American tastes are just different?
—Wasn't Natalie Kassen visibly moved?
—Did he somehow get on the production team's bad side...? Why would a performance like that get so little focus?
But the power of editing was tremendous.
Viewers see what the camera shows them.
Viewers believe what the camera wants them to believe.
Reality competition programs had proven that truth countless times through both villain edits and favorable edits.
In reality, Yu Myeong had passed the first round.
Yet because the reactions of shocked bystanders and Natalie Kassen's praise were omitted, his result felt underwhelming.
And because Do Hyo Jun had been presented with such dazzling emphasis, that sense of disappointment only deepened.
Just as much as they enjoyed raising a star,
the public enjoyed tearing down a star who had already risen.
And so, delighted by the opportunity, public opinion enthusiastically tore Yu Myeong's achievement to pieces.
Even so, the members of God Named remained unmoved.
They quietly left replies challenging the excessive criticism, clipped Yu Myeong's scenes and uploaded them to overseas fan sites, continuing their lonely battle.
Inside an apartment in Suwon, a man and a woman began watching the first episode of Casting Boat.
"Thanks. I'm hopeless with this stuff, so I waited until you got home."
"What would've happened if I wasn't here?"
"Good question."
Shortly before Yu Myeong departed, they had held a small wedding attended only by close acquaintances, and Seon Ha had moved into Han Seong's home.
After spending several days away on a regional location shoot for her latest project, Seon Ha returned home and immediately downloaded the episode at Han Seong's urging.
The two began watching together.
When Yu Myeong's segment ended, Han Seong shook his head.
"Wow... this guy just keeps getting more ridiculous."
"Seriously. How did Casting Boat not spotlight something like that?"
"Even if tastes differ by country, there's no way they failed to recognize what he did. They've got some kind of agenda. But still... how are people not seeing it?"
"Yeah. It'll be fun watching the reversal later."
"Now I kind of want to watch The Truman Show again. Want to?"
They began searching the movie channels.
"Man, seriously... how do you pull off a performance like that in such a chaotic environment?"
"He's so annoyingly good."
After purchasing the VOD, they started the film.
Neither looked worried in the slightest.
[We're done! Great work, everyone!]
[Yu Myeong worked the hardest.]
[Aaagh, everyone worked so hard.]
February 10th, 7:00 a.m.
The actors, their faces visibly more haggard than before, cheered.
After a brutal schedule that had consisted of nothing but practice aside from eight total hours of sleep over two nights and three days, they had finally achieved the result they wanted.
[Seriously... you people are terrifying.]
Susan, who had arrived thirty minutes earlier, clicked through the recorded footage and shook her head.
The observation cameras had captured everything: rehearsing until two in the morning, sleeping until six, then conducting one final rehearsal before dawn.
[You sure you'll be okay performing this exhausted?]
[We'll be watching other teams while filming the main competition assignment over the next two days anyway. We'll just sleep then.]
[So your sleepy faces can be broadcast nationwide and preserved forever as blackmail material?]
Joking with them, Susan began dismantling the cameras.
[At least you're all going home to change clothes first, right?]
[Of course.]
[Let's stop by our places and meet at the set by ten.]
[Don't lie down on your beds "just for a minute" and accidentally fall asleep.]
Exhausted but satisfied, they went their separate ways.
Today was the first day of filming for the Casting Boat main competition.
Two hundred contestants who had survived the preliminary rounds from across the country would gather together and begin their fierce battle.