“Come in,” Sora said as she walked inside.

Maru took his shoes off as he looked around the inside. This apartment complex, which was located around 20 minutes away from the school by bus, belonging to the more expensive real estate in Suwon, was Sora’s home. He did expect that she was well-off from how she bought the items necessary for the shoot with her own money, as well as paying for some of the snacks.

“It’s wide.”

“This looks good.”

The people from the film production club remarked.

“We’ll take a bit of a break before starting the shoot immediately. We don’t have much time, so we have to start shooting as quickly as possible.”

Sora took out some drinks from the fridge and put them on the table. Maru wanted to have a leisurely time drinking, but he drank it in one gulp when Sora looked at him as though to make him hurry. This little director loved labor, to the point that it was a little cruel.

“You done?”

The film production club told her to wait, but Sora took away the drinks.

“Looks like you’re done drinking. Let’s start the shoot immediately.”

“Right now?” Maru asked.

He wanted to rest for at least 10 minutes.

“You didn’t forget who was responsible for us running out of time, right?”

“Looks like I said the wrong thing. Well then, let’s get started.”

Due to the additional shoot for episode 13 of the drama, the film production club’s schedule was delayed a little. Although it was only an extracurricular activity at school, he was in the film as the main character, so he couldn’t make excuses. Since they were running out of time, he had no choice but to decrease the overall time by increasing the density. If they shoot without any NGs, they should be able to make it in time without worries.

“Which room are we using?”

“This one.”

They walked into a small room located between the kitchen and the living room. An empty room with minimal furniture greeted them.

“It was originally used as a storage room, but I cleaned it up a little. I had to visit around five to six furniture stores to get those pointy clothes hangers. I fell in love with them at first sight because they looked so dry.”

Sora put a set of school uniforms on the clothes hangers before stepping back. From the smile on her face, it seemed that she was satisfied with it.

“This is the alarm clock. It looked too new, so I rubbed it against the floor. Pretty good, huh?”

Maru picked up the crude-looking alarm clock. There were minor scratches and dents on the face of the black alarm clock. It looked used.

“Did you prepare these all by yourself?”

“Well, it is my house after all. I couldn’t really get any help from the seniors, so I had to do it by myself.”

Hearing her words, the people from the film production club praised her. Sora said that it was nothing, but she clearly looked pleased.

Maru looked at the electric heater mat on the floor as well as the waist-height drawers. The electric heater mat also looked quite old.

“I got that from the next house over since they were going to throw it out. Apparently, the lights turn on, but it doesn’t become warm. It looks pretty decent as a prop for a main character who’s not well-off, right?”

“If the director likes it, that’s that. What about these drawers?”

“I walked around the neighborhood and brought one from someone who was moving away. I got it for free when I said that I’ll put on the stickers and throw it out.”

“Terrific.”

Maru tried lying down. He thought that it might smell bad, but it actually smelled quite good. It seemed that it had been washed. He turned his head up. There were some stained newspapers on the ceiling.

“I tried to make it look moldy, so I stacked some newspapers and tried painting it. I quite liked it when I first put them up there,” Sora said as she lied down next to him.

Maru told the people from the film production club to try lying down.

“What do you think everyone? Looks like the director wants to shoot that,” Maru asked.

“Isn’t that a little too exaggerated?”

“The newspaper does make it look a little off.”

Ando spoke last,

“Let’s take them off.”

Maru looked at Sora who was next to him. She, who was looking at the ceiling while lying down, just sighed before sitting up.

“Alright. I’ll take them off.”

“If you really want to try expressing mold, buy a new sheet of wallpaper and try it on top of that. It doesn’t take that long if you just make a part of it and stick it on the wall. If it’s too hard by yourself, there are always others to help you,” Maru said.

“No. I’ll just paint directly. We’re going to shoot all the main character’s home scenes today, so I don’t have any time to decorate them right now. I want to focus on producing the film.”

Sora bit on her thumb before leaving the room. Maru looked at Ando. Ando just shrugged before saying “You know that she’s a reckless girl.“

“I think we should apply some of this and rub it.”

What Sora brought were some cosmetics. She brought a chair from the kitchen and climbed on top of it before opening the mascara.

“You’re going to do it directly?” Maru asked while narrowing his eyes.

Even if this room was used as storage, Sora’s parents probably would not want the wallpapers to get dirty.

“It’s fine. I won’t get scolded over something like this,” Sora said with confidence.

She probably meant that her usual actions were proper and that her parents would overlook this kind of thing, but to Maru, it sounded like she caused so much trouble that this wasn’t anything much.

“Sora’s parents must be having a hard time,” Ando said in a small voice.

Maru nodded.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, I didn’t say anything. Also, don’t paint it too thick. It will be obvious.”

“Okay. Ando-seonbae, how does it look?”

Sora used her fingers to apply the mascara. After turning off the lights, it looked like mold.

“That’s pretty good,” Ando said.

Sora climbed down from the chair before wiping her hands on some tissue. There was still some black stuff left, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“Then shall we start right away? Maru-seonbae. Are you okay with that?”

“What about the clothes?”

“I’ll give you a t-shirt and some pants. They should fit you just fine.”

He received the clothes from Sora before going to the bathroom to get changed. The grey t-shirt with its neck slightly stretched out, as well as some brown shoes that looked like they could have been bought for cheap at the marketplace. As for the size, they fit him perfectly. Sora was very awkward and everything she had was incomplete during the planning stage, but now that the shoot had started, she really knew her stuff. Without any help from the film production club, she managed to get the props and the background done. Her passion had to be acknowledged.

“I just woke up, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do I just go with my current hair?”

“No, I already have that ready.”

Sora brought some hair wax and a hairdryer.

“Maru-seonbae. How do you sleep usually?”

Maru did not reply and just lied down. He used the pillow to support his neck and laid upright.

“Aren’t you sleeping a little too much like a log?”

“This posture is good for the waist.”

“The waist?”

“Let’s not mind the minor details. Anyway, if you don’t like the posture, just say it. Should I curl up on my side?”

“I think that’ll be better to express the main character’s introverted personality. Try curling up like a pill bug.”

Maru did as Sora said. Sora, who was staring at him from above him, said that he was okay now.

“I think I should touch up this side and this side. Press this side and ruffle that side.”

Whiiiiii - the hairdryer spat out hot air. Ando came up to him and pressed down on the left side of his head. Meanwhile, Sora used the wax to ruthlessly roughen up the hair on his right.

“I think that should do.”

Maru looked in the mirror to check his hair. Even if he did a headspin in his sleep, his hair would look better than this.

“It’ll die down a little once you lie down, so it doesn’t matter. Let’s start the shoot. As for the lights, I’ll use this flashlight instead. Let’s try shooting for now, and I’ll adjust the lights if there’s too much shadow. As for the camera, it will open the door, enter the room and scan the whole room from the ceiling to the floor before looking at you. Maru-seonbae, just move a little while you’re asleep. That is one cut, and in the next cut, we’ll place the camera on the floor and have a close-up of Maru-seonbae’s sleeping face.”

Sora clapped before shouting standby.

* * *

He held up the camera with his left hand and covered the body with his right. He put his left arm right against his side and positioned his elbow like he was putting it between his ribs. His left arm started aching immediately, but the shaking of the camera should stop with this. When he first got into this position, he couldn’t last for five minutes, but now, he was able to maintain this posture for a pretty long time.

Ando walked into the room upon Sora’s gesture. Sora was not standing in front of the monitor but was right next to him. A girl’s breath could be felt on his cheeks, but his heart did not race at all. He had gotten used to this reckless girl’s actions. He reminded himself of Sora’s instructions and quietly scanned the ceiling. During the past few days, when Maru was busy shooting the drama, Sora just showed up at the club before heading straight home. He thought that she would be resting at home, but it turned out that she had gotten everything ready to shoot at her house. Had she told the club about it, everyone else would’ve been willing to help out. Ando felt a mix of disappointment and pride as he slowly moved the camera angle down.

Maru, who was lying down like it was his own house, was on the screen. The club members had tried shooting this scene to play around while looking at the scenario. They thought that they should be able to get a pretty good picture since lying down didn’t really require any technique, but the video they saw after they shot it was incredibly shabby and awkward. It was then that they realized that even lying down required acting skills.

‘He’s an actor alright.’

He didn’t show up on TV for nothing. Maru rolled over naturally. He did not mutter to himself or frown exaggeratedly. Those were things that naturally came to the mind when thinking about ‘acting sleeping’, but Maru did not do any of them. Just sleep - he seemed to be focusing his whole attention on that.

“Cut,” Sora said in a small voice.

“I didn’t look at the monitor because of the movement line, but I don’t think we need to take another shot for  this.”

Ando looked at the monitor placed in front of the door with Sora. The video started with some white noise, and like what Sora said, was very clean. The video that Ando shot and the recorded footage on the laptop did not have many differences.

“Looks like I was right to get things ready beforehand. If we prepared it after Maru-seonbae’s shoot, we might have lost some time.”

“True. If it’s Maru’s acting, we’ll be able to procure good footage quickly and edit it.”

Maru asked if they were doing it again. Sora replied that they were going to the next scene.

“One cut to turn off the alarm. After that is the long take. That one lasts until Maru-seonbae stands up and comes to the kitchen and eats breakfast.”

They shot the alarm clock scene right away. Only Maru’s hand and the alarm clock showed up on the screen. They shot it around three times, and that was because of Sora’s pickiness in hand acting. Ando felt like there were no differences though.

“This is the most important scene among the starting scenes. Well, then. Maru-seonbae will stand up and head to the kitchen. He’ll sit at this table and start eating. Ando-seonbae, don’t shoot the fridge. That one’s an expensive model which doesn’t suit the picture.”

“Alright.”

Sora looked at Maru again.

“I want to see a glimpse of the main character not wanting to go to school while doing everything, from the walking to the eating.”

“Tell me if you want me to do anything specific.”

“Try doing it your way for now. I really like most of your acting. If there’s anything I want to see after I look at it, I’ll tell you then.”

“Okay then.”

“Well, then. Go back to sleep. Ando-seonbae! We’re continuing.”

Ando massaged his left arm before picking up the camera again. It really was quite agonizing to maintain a single posture for a long time. He put the camera on his hand before getting into posture again when he felt a hand massaging his left arm. Ando looked at Sora.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“Not that much.”

“I’ll give you some medical patches later. Please hold out until then.”

“Today’s not the first day I’m having a hard time because of you. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

Ando took a short breath before sitting in front of Maru. The camera director - it wasn’t a position filled with glory or any authority, but Ando actually liked his job. He liked how he got to shoot Maru, who was actually an actor, and he felt proud whenever the film production club was happy as they watched the video that he shot. He could endure an aching arm like it was nothing.

A better picture than before - he had gotten ambitious, and Ando wanted to stay true to that desire.

“Well then. Let’s start.”

The member with the slate stood in front of the camera.

“Scene 2-dash-3-dash-1.”

Clack - Ando looked at the world beyond the lens as though he was going to capture everything in it.