Chapter 155: Meeting

Entertainment Around You - No Pop-ups
Story Setting Time: April 2007
Recommended Song: S.H.E - What to Do
Disclaimer: This work is purely fictional. Please do not project reality onto it. Any similarities are purely coincidental!

"Are all the drama actors finalized for today?" Jiang Yihan asked while flipping through the script.

"Yes. This is the cast list, and tomorrow we will have our first meet-and-greet meeting," Li Ran handed over the cast list. "After meeting tomorrow, we'll go over the general schedule. There are two main things: first, all the actors will meet, read through the script together, and have an on-site table read for the first episode tomorrow. You should read through it more today and try to get a feel for it; second, we will be shooting promotional posters and promotional videos, so tomorrow is expected to be quite busy. Try to think ahead about it as much as possible today."

"Oh..." Jiang Yihan didn't take much of it in; his attention was entirely focused on the cast list in his hand.

The first name was unmistakably his own character, the male lead Jiang Zhishu — Jiang Yihan. The second name brought a knowing smile to Jiang Yihan's face; it was someone he actually knew and was quite familiar with, the female lead Yuan Xiangqin — Jin Xiaoxi. He and Jin Xiaoxi had known each other since they first arrived in Korea, and by now it had been over two years. They frequently crossed paths in daily life, and they had even worked together on "Can I Love You?", although they didn't share any direct scenes, it was already enough of a familiarity to give Jiang Yihan a lot of peace of mind.

Most of the other actors had unfamiliar names, and he would only get to know them during tomorrow's meeting. Jiang Yihan carefully examined the list, beginning to picture the plot of the series in his mind and pondering how to act and immerse himself in the character in order to best portray the essence of the role.

The meeting the next day began at 9:00 AM. Jiang Yihan arrived early at the meeting room on the eighth floor of MBC. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw many senior actors along with some unfamiliar rookie faces. Jiang Yihan hurriedly began greeting everyone, and for a moment, the sound of greetings echoed back and forth across the meeting room.

"Oppba Yihan, long time no see," Jin Xiaoxi stood up and greeted him with a beaming smile.

"Ah, Xiaoxi," Jiang Yihan smiled and gave Jin Xiaoxi a hug. "It really has been a long time! When was the last time we met? Why do I have zero memory of it, haha."

"It must have been two or three months ago. When I went to visit Ziyi at the beginning of the year, I dropped by your place," Jin Xiaoxi knew what Jiang Yihan's memory was like, so she wasn't surprised at all.

"Right, right, it must have been around then. Wow, time flies," Jiang Yihan sighed as two or three months slipped by in the blink of an eye. "How have you been lately? Are your promotional activities going smoothly?"

"Heh, pretty good. I just wrapped up filming a movie earlier this year, and my career development has been going quite smoothly. It's all thanks to Oppa Yihan's good fortune, haha," Jin Xiaoxi was now considered one of the top-tier rookies in the Korean domestic film industry, and her popularity was quite impressive. "Taking on this drama is also my first time encountering television acting. I never expected to collaborate with Oppa Yihan again, haha, I'm so lucky."

"This just shows we are destined to be connected; both our first movie and our first drama happened to come together," Jiang Yihan clapped in marvel.

Jin Xiaoxi looked at Jiang Yihan's smile in a slight daze. The feelings of fondness she once held for Jiang Yihan were now routinely buried deep in her heart, unsaid. For two years, Jiang Yihan still held a place in her heart, but Jin Xiaoxi knew that Jiang Yihan only saw her as a younger sister, so the position of a younger sister suited her best. Watching Jiang Yihan talk and laugh happily, Jin Xiaoxi felt a quiet sense of satisfaction.

"Hello everyone, since everyone has arrived, let's start today's meeting," Xu Le stood at the very front of the table, looking somewhat nervous. "I am Xu Le, the director of this show. We will be spending a long time together in the future, so please take good care of me." After a brief self-introduction, Xu Le began introducing the production crew. "This is our screenwriter, Song Namin. Everyone's scripts will depend on her in the future, so please get along well with her, okay?" Xu Le's playful remark elicited laughter from everyone.

Indeed, getting along well with the screenwriter in a television drama is extremely important. The screenwriter basically holds absolute influence over an actor's screen time. If your relationship with the screenwriter is bad, she doesn't need to do much—just arranging one or two scenes of walking in the rain, tripping and falling, or getting beaten up would be enough to make you suffer. Therefore, even if actors don't try to butter up the screenwriter, they must never offend them; otherwise, the worst consequence is having your scenes directly deleted, appearing only when strictly necessary, which is a massive loss.

Song Namin was still a bit shy; after all, she was only a rookie screenwriter, and there were still many great seniors present. So she stood up, gave a shy greeting, and sat back down.

After the camera crew, makeup team, and other staff members were introduced in stages, Xu Le finally moved on to today's main event: the cast introduction. "The male lead of our drama, Jiang Yihan."

Jiang Yihan nodded modestly a few times, then stood up and said with a smile, "Hello everyone, I am Jiang Yihan, playing Jiang Zhishu in this drama. I am still a newcomer in this field, so please take care of me." Almost everyone present knew Jiang Yihan, and many were even his fans, so the applause they gave echoed throughout the entire meeting room.

"Hello everyone, I am Jin Xiaoxi, playing Yuan Xiangqin. This is my first time touching a television drama, so please give me a lot of guidance if there's anything I don't do well." Jin Xiaoxi also stood up and greeted everyone.

After everyone finished introducing themselves, Jiang Yihan finally matched the actors' faces with their respective roles one by one. The role of A Jin, Yuan Xiangqin's pursuer, was played by Jung Il-woo, who debuted through one of the most popular Korean daily sitcoms (airing Monday through Friday) from 2006 to 2007, *High Kick!*, as one of the main leads, Lee Yoon-ho. He was now also one of the most popular rookie male actors. Meanwhile, Pei Ziyu, Jiang Zhishu's pursuer, was played by Park Min-young, who was also a cast member of *High Kick!*, and her popularity was currently on the rise. As for the important characters of the two protagonists' parents, Yuan Xiangqin's father was played by Ahn Suk-hwan—his most famous roles included playing Lee Mong-ryong's father in *Delightful Girl Choon-hyang* starring Han Chae-young, and playing the driver in *My Girl* starring Lee Da-hae; he was a major veteran actor. Jiang Zhishu's parents were played by Kang Nam-gil and In Gyo-jin (Note: substituting as appropriate for natural flow / In Yejin), who had collaborated many times before, most notably playing the female lead Chae-kyung's parents in *Princess Hours* (Goong) starring Yoon Eun-hye. These main characters could all be said to be capable on their own, and the reason they gathered here was because they were optimistic about the drama's success. Aside from the script, the original work's already massive success, and the overwhelming popularity of remakes, the biggest factor for success was Jiang Yihan—the television debut of Korea's national young master. Just the attention alone was enough to be eye-catching.

"Well, now that everyone knows each other, let's proceed with the script reading first. After the reading, we will do a trial run of the first episode's script, okay?" Xu Le outlined the schedule.

Television dramas are different from movies; movie performances are often improvised on the spot. Although TV acting is also fine-tuned on set, television requires a rehearsal period before filming begins. The so-called table read or rehearsal involves all actors sitting around a large round table, holding scriptbooks, and directly reading through the lines. Aside from block positioning, it involves genuine acting. Through this kind of rehearsal, they grasp the trajectory of the characters, help the main actors become familiar with each other, and gauge each other's acting styles. Of course, it also allows the director and screenwriter to develop further ideas about the characters. Rehearsals are extremely important; sometimes, before official shooting begins, rehearsals can take nearly a month to refine. Of course, if it's short, a few days of blending is enough to enter actual combat, and specific chemistry can be gradually increased during actual shooting. Sometimes, if the rehearsal goes poorly, the chemistry is insufficient, or the dedication is lacking, replacing actors is entirely possible. Therefore, table reads are a crucial part of preparing for drama production, and naturally, everyone attached great importance to them, flipping through their scripts.

The first part of today's rehearsal was to let each actor perform individually to find the characteristics of each character. Acting is a very difficult craft; it's not something you can just do however you want. Instead, through exploration and integration with the character, you shape the role while carrying your own individuality. During the rehearsal, each actor would first perform according to their own ideas, and then through the rehearsal, discussions, and compromises among the actors, director, and screenwriter, the performance would be further deepened and refined, striving to find the best feel for playing this role based on each actor's unique traits.

The first to begin was Jiang Yihan, the absolute protagonist. Jiang Yihan felt the palms of his hands starting to sweat. The nervousness of a drama rehearsal was different from the nervousness of filming a movie or singing. Drama rehearsals made one's brain somewhat complicated; various lines flooded the mind, and different interpretations of the character continuously bounced back and forth in his head, producing various chemical reactions.

Jiang Yihan brewed his emotions, made his smile disappear, turned his face cold, and kept his voice at a relatively low pitch: "Please don't tell anyone we live together." Then he rolled his eyes and continued, "Don't talk to me at school." After a brief pause, he added, "And do not appear within a two-kilometer radius of me."

As soon as Jiang Yihan finished reading these lines, Xu Le and Song Namin fell into thought, feeling that something was missing. Jiang Yihan also felt that this character lacked charm and was thinking deeply when Xu Le suddenly slapped his thigh, "I know. Yihan, your character isn't just cold; it's the kind of aloofness that pushes people away—it should be coldness mixed with a bit of mischief. The smile shouldn't vanish entirely; it should carry a touch of playfulness amidst a deadpan expression. Your gaze is also wrong; it should make people feel that you are pushing them away, yet deep down you hope someone understands your thoughts. It needs to be clear yet somewhat complex."

As soon as Xu Le finished speaking, Jiang Yihan was stunned. It really was complex! Xu Le also realized that after putting emotional terms into words, it sounded a bit distorted, so he continued to explain: "The Jiang Zhishu you are playing is the smartest genius in all of Korea. Since childhood, there has been nothing he couldn't do, so he feels everything is easy. He is also extremely handsome, the Prince Charming of all girls, and excels in sports. You could say he is a perfect person. Because of this, he carries internal pressure, and because everything is too simple, he takes things too lightly and develops a repulsion toward girls, because in his eyes, everyone is the same. He is a person with very complex emotions. You can say he is naive, you can say he is perfect, you can even say he is melancholic, or even playful—he is an extraordinary character. Therefore, Yihan, when you grasp him, you must feel that you are him: a genius who is extremely smart, handsome, good at sports, and capable of everything. It's very hard to grasp the inner state of someone who has grown up like this. You should think about it more."

After listening to Xu Le's explanation, Jiang Yihan finally understood where his own shortcoming lay. Earlier, he had merely displayed coldness while his other emotions were too muted, failing to express the complex emotional world of such a character, and failing to portray him as a perfectionist. Such a character was practically flawless, making him very difficult to portray. Jiang Yihan nodded and sank into deep thought.

Earlier when considering his acting for movies, Jiang Yihan had already experienced this feeling: to play a character well, one must have a sense of immersion, experiencing what the character has experienced. While others were reading their lines, Jiang Yihan closed his eyes and carefully contemplated Jiang Zhishu's life.

A genius since childhood, with no obstacle that could stump him, making almost everything feel like a piece of cake. No matter how difficult something was, it was never a real challenge in his hands, so he had never encountered true adversity. Life felt dull, repeating the same routine every day, and everything was resolved effortlessly, which bred a sense of loss, bewilderment, and very complex emotions in him. As for his parents, though they wanted to care for this genius son, they couldn't quite reach him and always felt they were inferior to their son, which also prevented Jiang Zhishu from feeling the emotion of caring and being cared for. His handsome appearance, agile reflexes, and perfect intellect made him extremely popular among girls, leading to an endless stream of unwanted romantic attention in daily life that made him somewhat resentful of girls, feeling they weren't worth expending energy on. But all of this changed after Yuan Xiangqin appeared. His originally placid life suddenly surged with towering waves, making Jiang Zhishu feel somewhat frightened, causing him to instinctively resist and push back—until he gradually discovered that changes in life weren't actually so bad after all.

When Jiang Yihan first immersed himself, he couldn't quite find the feeling, but gradually, that complex emotional layer became clear. For a few moments, Jiang Yihan drifted into a daze, almost believing he actually was Jiang Zhishu. Yet, in actual performance, it still required continuous refinement to truly master it.

During Jiang Yihan's contemplation, the rehearsal had surprisingly concluded; several hours had already passed. Jiang Yihan had preliminarily found the feel. If he went back and pondered it more carefully, he would likely gain a deeper understanding.

The rehearsal was over, but today's schedule wasn't finished yet. The most important task for today was character costume fitting. To properly grasp the characteristics of a character, clothing is a very crucial link, so the entire makeup department of the crew was bound to be busy today. When the rehearsal ended, everyone prepared to go eat. To make the costume fitting efficient, some people went to eat first while others did their fittings first, rotating in turn to maximize efficiency.

Jiang Yihan had plenty of expectations for Jiang Zhishu's styling. However, since Jiang Zhishu was still a student, the main outfits were expected to be school uniforms, meaning the school uniform portions would be worn by the student leads together. Jiang Yihan sat at the dining table, but his mind was still replaying Jiang Zhishu's life.

Acting really is a troublesome business!