Chapter 57: Emotional Contagion

“Is Muyoung here?”

“Hello, PD-nim.”

“What’s all this commotion about?”

The director, who had grown pale in the meantime, came over and asked.

Outdoor filming is a hardship not only for actors but also for the crew. There was an awkward exchange of glances between Unta and the assistant director. It was a minor but sensitive issue, and they hesitated about how to bring it up.

“It’s because of my hair.”

“Huh? Hair? Oh. Wax?”

At that, Muyoung quickly stepped in to change the mood. If it’s a difficult topic to bring up, it’s better not to.

“You said I was going for a nerdy image, but I wore a hat today. It got pressed down, so I had to push it back.”

“It suits you well, though.”

“Is it okay to keep it like this?”

“Hmm……”

The director pondered, rubbing his chin. Then he passed the question to Unta.

“What do you think? Is it okay? You’re ‘friends,’ after all.”

In the drama.

Moreover, it was a way of giving him a choice, asking if he would be okay when they were filmed in a two-shot. Unta nodded, seeming not to care.

“Of course. What’s the big deal about applying some wax?”

“Good. Let’s go with that. We don’t have much time anyway, since we’re about to start shooting. Did you finish everything I asked you to do earlier?”

“Yes, PD-nim.”

The AD seized the moment and hurriedly followed the PD. The way the two men looked at his retreating figure was quite strange—like they thought he was the most pathetic person in the world.

“……Let’s just go over the lines.”

“Oh. Yes.”

Unta swallowed a sigh and focused on memorizing his lines. Muyoung did the same. It was their first and last rehearsal before filming.

“Is there anything you expect from me?”

Muyoung, who had been quietly reciting his lines, looked up and asked. It was such an unexpected question that Unta didn’t understand its meaning at first.

“Expect? What do you mean?”

“I’m an extra, someone who supports you. If there’s anything you’d like me to do to back you up in the acting, let me know. I’ll do my best to help.”

Upon hearing that, Unta put down his script. It was the first time he’d heard such a thing in all his years of acting. Backing up and helping? Isn’t acting something you do alone? Is that even possible?

“Why do you ask?”

Muyoung blinked in confusion and asked again. He hadn’t said much, but he noticed that his gaze was very strange.

“No. Let’s just focus on the lines.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Oh dear. He must be in a bad mood, like someone who stepped on vomit and fell.

Muyoung awkwardly smiled and coordinated with him for about ten minutes. Still, there was only one line of dialogue.

“Ready—! Action!”

Thwack!

The slate was clapped in sync with the director’s signal. Then, Unta and the male lead intensely glared at each other on the street. Beside them, Friend 1 tried to stop Unta—

“Hey, hey. Don’t do it. Stop.”

“Let me go!”

Whoosh!

It’s Muyoung, of course.

Glasses, a tattered shirt, a school uniform. And hair slicked back with wax. Given the background, he looked like a delinquent teenager to anyone who saw him.

When Unta roughly shook off his hand, the director called cut.

“Okay. Let’s reshoot from a different angle.”

This was already the seventh take of the scene. There was even a thirty-minute gap between the third and fourth takes.

“Muyoung, would you like some water?”

“No, I’m fine. My lip color will get wiped off.”

“I have a straw.”

Ko Gyeongmin offered a water bottle like a parent tending to a sick child, but Muyoung was resolute. Since the lip gloss was borrowed, he couldn’t apply a different color. It would look different from the footage they’d already shot.

“It won’t even show, man.”

“Still. How would I know how it’ll get edited?”

They were shooting the cut from almost every angle at 360 degrees. Since he was sticking close to Unta, his face might get close-up and end up in the edit. If he were a lead actor, he would have been asked for his opinion on the edit points……

‘Being an extra is much harder than I thought.’

For a role like Friend 1, who has no name, you just have to keep your mouth shut and do as you’re told.

Muyoung suddenly thought of Uncle Unjeong-gil. How had he managed to survive for over ten years as an extra, not even a minor role?

“Let’s go again!”

“Yes!”

The filming continued on the street, which smelled heavily of alcohol. People who had gathered to watch left, and new people crowded in…… Under the brightly shining neon lights, bugs swarmed like flies.

“Eww, ptooey!”

Unta spat out a fly that had gotten into his mouth and grimaced. It wasn’t that he wasn’t tired anymore, but it wasn’t any less exhausting either. Unta pleaded with the director in a weary voice.

“Director-nim. Can’t we stop shooting now?”

“We’ve only done seven takes so far.”

That’s why pre-production is so hard! Since there’s plenty of time, they keep shooting and reshooting until the bones are stewed out! Still, it’s more stable than live filming.

“The sun’s about to rise. The next scene is a crying scene, so I’d like to get started early.”

It was a scene where the sub-male lead, who had been brutally rejected by the male lead, cried endlessly on the street. The director checked his wristwatch and replied.

“Hmm. Okay then. Let’s do that.”

The crew was also completely exhausted. One person was nodding off with their forehead against the camera stand.

While Unta entrusted his face to the stylist, Ko Gyeongmin and Muyoung sat down on the floor to rest.

“Scene 35 is done, so now we just need to shoot this and one last cut.”

“Wow. This is really hard. A friend told me that if I had nowhere to go, I should go to a drama shoot. Since there’s no time to go home, you don’t need a house.”

“That’s true. Very true.”

“Haha. But it makes sense. Even I, as an extra, feel this way. If you’re a lead actor, you must have no time to even breathe.”

That’s why actors generally prefer movies over dramas. It’s hard to focus on the work in such a chaotic environment, just like right now.

“As soon as the male lead delivers his line, make sure the tears start flowing.”

This was the situation Unta was in right now. It was truly the worst of the worst. The crowd watching him like he was a monkey in a zoo, the sleeplessness, the fatigue, the heat, the bugs—everything was hindering his acting.

“……I’ll try my best.”

There was no way he could capture the emotion. The crew efficiently cleared the area and moved out of the camera’s angle. The director gave the signal while looking at the screen.

“Ready—! Action!”

Then, off-camera, the male lead, holding a microphone, acted only with his voice.

“Get your head straight. What she feels for you isn’t love, it’s pity. She sees you as lost and misguided, so she just wants to fix you. Don’t mistake it for love, for some great destiny.”

Unta’s face gradually contorted, as if he were suffering from a reality he didn’t want to face. But the tears wouldn’t come.

“NG!”

In the end, it was another NG. He wanted to scratch his face raw, but that wasn’t possible because of the makeup. He just clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry. Let’s go again.”

He couldn’t even use eye drops.

He needed to cry, not just shed a tear or two. Unta closed his eyes and tried to summon his emotions, but the more he did, the clearer the surrounding noise became.

“Whoa. Was that an NG just now?”

“He can’t cry, I guess.”

“What do we do? Tsk tsk. What kind of scene is this, anyway?”

Murmur murmur. The onlookers’ chatter stirred up distractions. Unta clenched his fists, at a loss in this awkward situation. His condition was already poor, and now even his mental state seemed to be crumbling.

‘Damn it…… I can’t tell them to shut up……’

Even if the crew tried to stop them, how could they control dozens of people? Besides, they were quiet when the shoot started, so there was nothing he could say.

“Unta-ssi.”

Then, Muyoung, who was sitting in front of him, quietly called out.

“Can’t you cry?”

“Can’t you tell by looking?”

His tone was irritable. Unta was surprised at himself, but Muyoung didn’t seem to care.

“Then I’ll cry in front of you.”

“What?”

It’s commonly called emotional contagion or affective contagion. A prime example is when one newborn cries, and all the babies around them start crying too.

Humans are generally empathetic creatures, capable of internalizing and spreading specific emotions.

Of course, Muyoung didn’t know all these scientific details—

“You know, when you see someone crying, it makes you sad.”

It was just a simple idea he came up with to help Unta…… but theoretically, it was quite effective.

“Unta! Are you ready?”

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

“Let’s get it right this time, okay?”

Unta, flustered, ended up saying he understood.

The lights were pulled forward, and all the camera lenses focused on Unta. The male lead began reciting his lines again.

‘……What?’

And at the same time, Muyoung’s tears began to flow. To avoid making any noise, he kept his mouth shut and let the tears pour out. How could they flow so easily, like a faucet had been turned on?

‘It’s okay.’

Muyoung comforted him with his eyes. He looked like a friend who was heartbroken over his friend’s failed love. Looking at his face, Unta truly felt defeated.

A sense of failure that, in love and life, he couldn’t surpass the male lead in anything.

“Waaaah……”

All of reality disappeared, and he was in that place within the story. The flying bugs, the surrounding noise—everything became part of that street in the story.

“Damn……”

His focus wasn’t scattered like before.

Unta thought only of one woman. His mind was filled with the image of Daryeong.

His eyes turned red, and a man’s tears flowed endlessly, without cease.

“Okay! Cut!”

“Good job.”

The director’s satisfied voice and the male lead’s relieved laughter. They seemed glad to have captured such a difficult scene in just two takes.

As soon as the cut was called, Muyoung wiped his tears with his sleeve.

“Gulp. Oh dear. My makeup’s all ruined.”

A fan did it for me, and now I can’t redo it!

Muyoung carefully dabbed at the moisture with a tissue. He looked up at Unta and smiled.

“It worked well, right?”

“……That was seriously amazing.”

Not only was it effective, but how does someone cry like a machine, with tears flowing the moment a button is pressed?

Unta glanced at him while getting his makeup touched up.

“Don’t you have a coordinator?”

“As you can see. I’m just an extra.”

“……Sister. Fix this guy and me too.”

Unta quietly asked his own stylist. Muyoung’s eyes widened in surprise.

“If you go into the shoot like that, viewers will be really shocked. They’ll ask why his eyes are smudged when it was me who was crying. Just get your makeup done. My sister’s good at it.”

“Oh…… Thank you.”

Muyoung quickly placed a fishing chair next to Unta and sat down quietly. He looked quite peculiar, sitting there grinning blankly. What kind of person is he, anyway?

“You said you’re friends with Enbin-hyung, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I think I understand a little now. Why Enbin-hyung is friends with this person. Unta pondered and thanked him in his own way.

“Then I’ll call you hyung too. There aren’t many scenes left, so do your best. Hyung. Feel free to speak casually.”

Instead of answering, Muyoung just rolled his eyes in distress. Actually……

‘We’re the same age. I checked the portal, and your birthday comes first.’

The family tree seemed strangely tangled, but Muyoung somehow couldn’t bring himself to say it.

He could see the determination in his eyes—once he called someone hyung, he’d stick with it until the end.

“……Uh, okay.”

Muyoung replied like that and quickly closed his eyes. His first drama shoot as an extra ended only after the sun rose, and the unexpected reaction came quickly.

A post titled “I’m exposing the actor appearance comparisons and filming accidents that happened at M Company’s miniseries outdoor shoot” was uploaded on an anonymous bulletin board.

It even included neatly attached photos and videos.