A random scene

Four months have passed, Mari eventually managed to perform the abandoned house scene with great neatness, and much faster than expected; some in the cast felt jealous, or at least surly towards her, while others she had a better relationship with or at least that it seemed. An example of this was the dude with whom she went to buy snacks on their free time, or the iconic actors Yi Moo Won and Maek Seo Rin which were very cordial, talking about how they both admired her talent, supporting her and giving her advice in some shared scenes. On this occasion she wouldn't work with them, but share a few scenes with Mr. Wong, an actor who would play the mad scientist, but also, as it could not be otherwise, she would be with her co-star, Jin Hee-hong, who was just a couple years younger than her.

The latter had had a solo role in the previous film instead of her, mainly due to Mari's scheduling issues and lack of will to be as involved; when they met in person, both began working as cordially as could be expected, but soon everything turned gray and then blacker than a new moon night. Hee-hong's indifferent attitude came as a suprise, followed by malicious hints and arguments, and the ineffable murmurings she made behind her back with other actors; Mari never understood why she ended up hating her, without at least one valid reason or justification, as she did nothing to deserve such treatment.

Now both would repeat their roles together, to their discomfort, for a good part of this shoot.

For Mari the worst thing of all was that Young-ho wouldn't be there to lighten the mood if needed, so she definitely wasn't going to have a good time while keeping a professional attitude in front of that sullen woman. She didn't notice it at first, but little by little, and with how badly they ended up getting along, couldn't help but see each and every one of Hee-hong's flaws, such as being distracted, badly tempered, and with a taciturn visage flashing with rage each time they crossed paths. She could only imbue herself with as much positivity and optimism as possible before arriving to set from her dressing room; she heard rumors, that even Hee-hong's makeup artists and manager kept fighting with her over every little issue, and once overheard the latter telling her how all she did was wrong, that she should just "follow his simple instructions".

And thinking of not precisely Rome, Hee-hong herself finally appeared turning the corner of the hallway to the chamber's center; Mari was already standing there, slowly turning around while reading her script again, recently consulting how she should do the "dodge and hit" choreography. It was the fourteenth time today, assisted by a double, that Mari practiced the elbow movements and boxing punches from the first part of fight sequence #1; meanwhile, Hee-hong walked to her with feigned shyness, stopping just a feet from her face and forcing Mari to turn to the co-star:

- Hello, Hee-hong, how you're doing? – she said, smiling and greeting.

- Kang Mar-ri... - Hee-hong responded - ...I see you're busy doing your nonsense of imitating half-hearted blows - he added, snorting.

She looked at Mari from head to toe, arms crossed and the gaze of contempt:

- You're doing it all wrong… - she added.

- I hope you didn't have any problems with your trip – she said, ignoring Hee-hong's words.

The latter looked the other way, avoiding Mari's eyes, twisting a lock of her hair around her finger:

- Just a minor mishap, nothing more than that. Anyone can get late sometimes.

- It's good you arrived anyway; Mr. Bae asked why you didn't go on the flight with us.

- That's personal - she retorted - But I'm here now and I already talked to him; no problem there.

- Ah good. And...you want to practice our lines? I see you got the script under your arm...

- Whatever. I'll show you how much I improved since last time.

At that moment, Mari told the double to go to the balcony, while immediately she and Hee-hong positioned themselves on place; the former tried to put the right distance between both by extending her arm, but the latter took it off with a hand slap:

- Let's see, then, I'm supposed to be standing...here, and you there; It's like we're running right from where you just came, we look up, and there is the mad doctor, who says his lines and mocks us...

On the next few hours, both went over that part, as it involved a rather complicated fight in which they would be attacked by the scarface femme-fatale, and combining their forces to destroy the enemy through raw power and wits. Calling in the double to play her imaginary foe, they first practiced the choreography of blows, feints, and displays of their powers; out of mere deference, the co-star would be the first to take a turn and play her routine alone with the stunt. The thing began as it should, with Mari pretending to be thrown back by a powerful invisible blow while Hee-hong caught the double's blows only with one hand, and then changing to the other, making a turn, to finally make as if she was covering herself with an invisible obstacle.

The double moves as if avoiding the object thrown at her, and then the moment arrived within the script for an open-handed blow from Hee-hong to the enemy's ear; that's when someone else called the stunt, and the two actresses were left alone. Now Mari would take the role of scarface, and start once again, but instead of receiving a gentle gesture, which she would block with her forearm, it was a painful smack, directed with malicious intent to the left side of her head. She stepped aside, complaining loudly while rubbing the tingling away, blinking hard, half-dizzy:

-Hey, what's wrong with you?!

- Did I get too far? Ow, I'm so sorry – said Hee-hong, smiling – Don't be mad at me, okay?

- Don't do it again. You should go softer next time – Mari replied, ignoring her taunt.

Soon they heard hurried footsteps going towards where they were:

- You shouldn't let her treat you that way! - a male voice suddenly exclaimed.

It was Young-ho, and with him there was Mr. Bae:

- Better be more careful, brat! - said the older man - That face is worth millions...

Not one, but two people had just arrived on set. The director looked at Hee-hong's behavior with disapproval, while the one who defended Mari was none other than his great friend and colleague; When the actress saw him she was happy, not expecting to see him there, pleasantly surprised:

- Young-ho? What are you...I mean…hi - said Mari happily - Good to see you here.

- Are you alright?

- It's okay, I'm fine.

- No, of course not.

The actor looked at Hee-hong:

- What is it with you?! Stop acting like a child. Apologize. Now.

She responded, mocking him in a haughty tone:

- But she said it was fine. Come on, don't be so melodramatic.

- You're a…!

- That's enough, you three - said the Mr. Bae

He was stopping Young-ho with his arm and giving them all a defiant gaze:

- We must start recording, so I hope you're both ready in five, especially you, Jin. And seriously, if my star's eardrum bursts because of your little joke, be sure, I'll deduct that from your check.

Director Bae just shook his head and left, looking for his stool and the intern with the clapperboard while thinking:

"They're just too old for this nonsense, holy cow…"

At those words, Hee-hong remained silent, lowering her head and moving away to go get some touch-ups done; Young-ho watched her leave suspiciously, then checking Mari's cheek and face to see if she wasn't hurt or had any bruises. In response, the girl immediately flinched, smiling foolishly; she weakly tried to remove his hand from her face, but she felt ticklish, which prevented her from concentrating properly to achieve her goal:

- Hey...! Stop doing that - she chuckled.

- But I thought these things weren't funny to you now. That you told me last time, didn't you?

- Stop it, I'm blushing... ouch! don't press my ear like that.

- Huh, that idiot... - he mumbles - she did hurt you, aye? You want me to buy some balm? I can go to the pharmacy and…

- No, just leave it like that. I'll just put on some ice.

Young-ho huffed. He scratched his head and turned around slowly, in frustration:

- What a problem. Didn't know Mandarin anyway.

Mari only thanked him and began to walk away, smiling, waving her goodbye:

- Well then. I'll be right back.

- Yes. Yes, of course, good luck... - he replied, then mumbling to himself - wait a moment... Good luck? To put on makeup? But what am I saying? 

He went on to sit nearby, taking one script copy from a small table to read it while waiting for the action to start; he felt kind of silly, as he certainly couldn't have just left and go by himself on foot to a pharmacy, the nearest of which was like half a mile away, according to Maps. His manager knew the language, but he wasn't going to allow him to look for a miserable balm who knows where, as it had already been difficult to convince him to take a flight to Shanghai, all with the excuse of "keeping up" with the filming for him to have the tools and make a more convincing performance. Incredibly, that ridiculous reason had worked, and obviously that wasn't even remotely the goal he had in mind for coming to China his motivation being more personal; Young-ho knew perfectly well that, if it weren't for him being part of the cast, he would never have been allowed there, especially if he told them that he wanted to just come see Mari.

He was aware of what happened during the filming of the prequel, and knowing that a person like Hee-hong would be around her, he couldn't help but come lend his aid, keeping an eye out so that no one would overstep the best friend he had; that was the reasoning he repeated to himself. All things considered, he'd been right in his hunch, just seeing that strange, unstable girl doing her thing; so, he best prevented Hee-hong from doing way worse to herself or the rest of the cast, especially if the shady persona behind her "social clumsiness" was not only a muttered secret.

"I wonder if it's true, does Jin Hee-hong really have something so ugly to hide? She's still an idiot."

As time passed, he found a good place to watch the recording in as much detail as possible, especially since his manager came to stand nearby, stuck to his curved-screen smartphone; the director, a supervisor and the staff, gaffers, cameras and sound engineers arrived, all taking posts. After a while, Mari and Hee-hong emerged back to the set, having memorized all, supposedly; in a second both stood steady, their clothes stained with fake blood and dirt as if their characters had had a rather hectic day on their journey to reach that point. Mr. Bae stood up from his stool with the cone in hand, and the intern with the clapperboard ran as if possessed to his side, still with a large piece of sandwich in his mouth.

Meanwhile the actors interpreting scarface woman and scientist stood out of sight, the first at the bottom, and the second behind a door run by pulleys on the upper railing. Yi Moo Won and Maek Seo Rin, on the other hand, went to sit on a couple chairs near Young-ho, after a whole day filming at the outskirts of the whole precint: 

- Young-ho, my good friend – said Moo Won - You're here. Had a good trip?

- I was fine, thanks for asking, Mr. Yi - he replied, bowing.

- We didn't have time to come say hello, sorry for that - said Seo Rin, faking modesty.

- No problem. I didn't want to bother you either - he responded.

- I appreciate it, and don't worry, it's always a pleasure - she said, already leaning in her seat.

Finally, some members of the staff were preparing the harnesses for the subsequent takes, making sure they were securely attached to the pulleys above, all while others went from one side to the other, anxious for the arrangements on that moment to be perfect. It was the last day of work on that week, and no one wanted to repeat too many times the complicated parts cause of some technical issue. If such did happen, the rest of filmmaking could be delayed, and the budget margin was not as wide as in the first film, even if greater than that of the second, fortunately.

Once everyone was in place, there was silence:

- Lights... -

Mari relaxed her shoulders a little, while Hee-hong relaxed her legs.

- Camera… -

Hee-hong sighed nervously while Mari gulped. 

- Action! –

The clapperboard sounded, and the recording began.

The camera went from bottom to top, behind the two actresses, who took a couple of hasty steps, as if they were running from the left. A voice was heard, it was that of the scientist, who exclaimed his lines with the deranged amusement that his role demanded; then he came out to the scaffold, facing the two actresses from above with a macabre grin...