Chapter 35 – When in Jeju

The day after we arrived in Jeju, we began to film 'Leave No Trail'. My motto was: "No time should be wasted", but it did not seem to sit well with my co-director.

"Cut!" He called out for the 22nd time.

Yes, 22nd. It was only the first scene and we already had 22 takes. It was annoying me. I could not understand if he was just naturally meticulous or merely being ridiculous.

I scratched my head irritably and looked at him. "Can we just shoot this one with a green screen? It's taking our time and we're still on the first scene." I was trying not to raise my voice.

He stared at me as if I was an unusual specimen. "Don't be cheap. It's better to shoot this in an actual setting."

I sighed exasperatedly and massaged my temple. I was not in a good mood that morning because of another headache. It was dull, but still a pain. I was not able to visit a doctor before we went to Jeju, so I still had no idea why I was having constant headaches.

Daniel Kim was an American-Korean director. He had been flying back and forth to the US and Korea to shoot films, mostly independent, low budget ones. The moment I met him, I knew I would not like him. He was arrogant and thought highly of himself. He would not consider other people's suggestions, especially from people coming from the mainstream cinema.

"I'm not being cheap. I'm being practical. We're wasting time here." I argued, but of course, he would not listen.

"Don't be arrogant just because you've been to Cannes."

I could not believe he said that to me!

"I am more experienced than you, so you should listen to me. It's not my fault we're still stuck at the first scene. These actors are amateurs."

Okay. That finally ticked me off. I stood up harshly and loudly, which silenced the whole set. Everyone had been watching our argument.

"I'm not competing with you in terms of experience, Sir," I emphasized the last word. "I am trying to be considerate of the people here who have been up since dawn. We are already in our 22nd take for the FIRST SCENE alone. It's past lunchtime and yet, nothing still suffices you."

He stood up as well, trying to tower over me with his six-foot height. "You should not complain, girl. You should even be thankful that you are here despite the mess you did, dating instead of working!"

HAH! Fuck that old wheeze!

"I'm not complaining! I'm strategizing!" I barked back. My head was throbbing with pain, but I held myself. "If you've agreed about the green screen from the start, we would have finished with scene three already!"

I took my eyes from him, but saw a kid playing around the set. She was probably around seven years old and did not belong to the cast!

So before Kim could retaliate back at me, I shouted, "Get that kid out of the set! It's dangerous! Where the fuck is her parents?"

The production assistants came running towards the kid. I no longer saw where they brought her because my eyes shut on their own as another pain surged on the front part of my head. I steadied myself for a while, holding the table in front of me with my dear life.

My arrogant good-for-nothing co-director did not seem to notice because he kept on babbling nonsense.

When I felt the pain subside a bit, I decided to call for a break. I went directly to the tent meant for the staff.

"Are you okay, Direk?" It was Simon, an intern from Seoul University. He was also a Filipino, an exchange student from the University of the Philippines.

I sat on an empty chair and rested my head. "I'm not. Please bring me water."

He went out to get my request. I closed my eyes while I waited for him to return.

I heard someone, probably Simon, entered the tent, so I said without opening my eyes, "Just put it on the table. And no one should disturb me, please. I have to rest for a while."

"What are you feeling?"

Okay. That was not Simon.

Startled, I opened my eyes. "Brian?"

What was he doing there? Or was I hallucinating?

He walked towards me and I sat upright. It was indeed him.

"Are you sick?" He touched my forehead, but I knew I had no fever.

"What are you doing here?" I asked instead of answering him.

He pulled himself a chair and sat in front of me. "I wanted to surprise you actually. We are currently filming our variety show here in Jeju and we decided to drop by your filming location."

I was indeed surprised. "What time did you arrive here?"

He grinned sheepishly, "Since take 20?"

"Oh, my gosh." Then he saw me shouting my lungs out at the set.

He laughed at my reaction. "I finally saw what they were talking about. You're indeed scary, PD-nim."

I laughed softly. I was happy seeing him there. He just seemed to ease my headache.

Simon came back with bottled water in hand. He stopped on his tracks when he saw Young Hyun.

"Oh? Annyeong hasaeyo." He greeted.

My man greeted him back.

"Here's your water, Direk. I also asked for medicine. You've been massaging your forehead since dawn." It was thoughtful of him. I did not know he noticed it.

"Do you have a headache?" Young Hyun asked after I took the medicine. Simon left us there.

I nodded. There was no point in lying, anyway. "It's been days. Probably because of stress."

"Have you gone to the doctor?"

I sighed and shook my head. "I often forgot. Plus I've been busy."

He took my hands to his. It was comforting. "Ya. I told you not to overwork. Do you want to stay in a hospital again?"

"I'm fine. I can still manage." I tried convincing him and myself. "I just needed to chill, but I guess I can't with a co-director who is that arrogant."

"You're fighting well, Jjang." He messed with hair as if I was a child. "It was really a shock seeing you like that."

"Did I scare you?"

"Aniyo. I even wanted to shout, 'Ya! That's my girl!'"

I laughed at him. My headache was finally gone.

"Come on. We have to resume." I stood up. "I already figured out what to do."

"Are you feeling better?"

I nodded. "Yep. Thanks to you."

He was my medicine.

We resumed the shoot, but before that, I told Director Kim to let me do what I want (in other words, to back off). I taught the actors the strategy I came up with and with one take we finally got we want. Hah!

I wanted to laugh at Director Kim's face, but I stopped myself. The smiles of the staff and cast were enough to say I did a better job.

The filming ended at dusk and we finished three scenes. As soon as we wrapped up, I called Young Hyun.

"Sorry, I did not notice you leaving. It was hectic." I said.

"It's fine." It seemed he was outside. "You did well, by the way."

I smiled. "It's because you were there."

"Are you done? Where are you now?"

I hopped inside the vehicle. "We just finished. We're actually going back to the inn."

"Can we meet?" He did not even hesitate to ask. "I'm really dying to meet you."

I laughed at him, but actually, it made my heart skipped a beat. "You just saw me earlier."

"It seemed years ago."

I laughed again. My mood had been lifted.

"I'll go to where you are."

I told him the place the production team was staying and we were both surprised to learn that it was just next to the place their team was in!

"If you don't call it destiny, I don't know what is." He just took the words from my mouth.