NOVEL NEXT Chapter 40
I woke up to the loud alarm sound.
When I picked up my phone to check the time, it was 5 AM.
Ha-ah, I’m so tired I could die.
After getting out of bed, I washed up in the bathroom and came back to my room to change out of my pajamas.
‘Hmm, is wearing sweatpants a bad idea?’
They said to dress comfortably since I would change into my costume when I arrive on set, but I feel like wearing sweatpants might come off as a bit cocky.
I should just wear denim shorts and a t-shirt.
After getting dressed, I went to the kitchen and took some milk out of the fridge.
As I was eating my cereal, my mom came out of the bedroom, probably awoken by the noise I made.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes and said to me,
“Daughter, aren’t you tired?”
“Oh, I’m okay. I’m a little tired, but I can sleep in the car on the way to the shoot.”
“Is that so? By the way, are you good with cereal? Do you want me to make you rice? I can whip it up quickly.”
“No thanks. I have to leave soon anyway.”
After finishing my cereal, I stepped out of the house and said,
“I’ll be back~”
“Okay, work hard on the shoot.”
“Yep.”
I took the elevator down to the first-floor entrance.
Standing at the entrance for about five minutes, Manager So-young’s car pulled up in front of me.
I got in the car and greeted my manager.
“Good morning~”
“Do-hee, you’re out early, huh?”
“I just came out. Unni, aren’t you tired?”
“Nope, I went to bed early yesterday, so I’m fine. What about you? You practiced late at the office yesterday, right?”
“I’m a bit tired, but I’m okay. If I get too tired, I’ll just drink some energy drink.”
“First, get some sleep on the way.”
“Got it.”
I plugged in my earphones and listened to the song we were shooting the music video for today.
While thinking about how to act on set, fatigue wrapped around my eyelids.
“Do-hee, we’ve arrived, so wake up~”
At my manager’s calling voice, I opened my eyes to find we had arrived at a high school on the outskirts of Seoul.
They rented the school for the weekend to shoot the music video since there were no students around.
Inside the high school, it was bustling with staff and vehicles that had come for the shoot.
I asked So-young Unni,
“It looks like the staff is already here, but we aren’t late, are we?”
“Nope, in fact, we arrived an hour early, so you don’t need to worry. Let’s greet the director first.”
“Okay.”
I got out of the car and went to greet the director.
“Hello, Director!”
“You made it? You read through the script and practiced, right?”
“Yes, of course!”
“Great. We still have a while before everything is ready, so go get your makeup done and wait.”
“Sure.”
After greeting the director and finishing up with my greetings to all the staff, I went into the large mobile makeup truck with So-young Unni.
Inside the makeup truck, there were three staff members sitting.
Normally, there would be more makeup staff than this, but since it’s just me shooting this music video, I guess it’s fewer this time.
It seems like it might be less since I’m the only one doing this music video shoot on site this time, but there will probably be more.
I think the three of them are a stylist, a makeup artist, and a hair designer.
I bowed and greeted the staff.
“Hello, I’m Do-hee Lee. Nice to meet you!”
The oldest-looking woman among the makeup staff stood up, pulled out a chair in front of the mirror, and said, “Oh my, you came early? Please sit here.”
“Yes.”
I sat in the chair in front of the vanity.
After I sat down, another staff member handed me a drink.
“Oh, thank you.”
“This is a cooling drink, so enjoy it comfortably.”
“Yes.”
The staff member looked at my face and said, “So, you’re completely bare-faced right now?”
“Oh, yes. I only put on lotion and sunscreen this morning.”
“Oh wow, even without makeup, you look so pretty. How old are you?”
“I’m 14 years old.”
“Young is definitely the best. Your skin is so clean.”
“Haha, thank you.”
“Then shall we start with the hair?”
“Yes.”
Since the concept for this music video shoot is a first love schoolgirl, we decided to style my hair in a natural way to match a pure image.
The hair designer started applying products to my hair.
“Brr, that’s cold.”
As I shivered, the hair designer said, “It’s cold, right?”
“Yes, it’s my first time experiencing this.”
“Haha, I’m putting this scalp essence on so the styling looks nice. You’ll adapt soon.”
“Yes.”
After applying the essence, the designer parted my hair in a 6-to-4 manner for a casual look to create a student vibe.
Then, using a curling iron, she straightened my hair, pinned the top, added volume with a dryer, and spritzed it with spray. Even though it was a simple styling, it took over 30 minutes.
Once the hair styling was finished, a staff member who looked like a makeup artist said, “Alright, now let’s do your makeup~”
“Okay!”
The makeup artist started applying cushion foundation to my face.
I said to her, “Teacher, it’s my first time with makeup, so I don’t really know what’s what. If it’s not too much trouble, could you tell me what you’re doing?”
The makeup artist looked surprised and said, “You really have never worn makeup before?”
“No, it’s my first time.”
“Well, at 14, that makes sense.”
The teacher held up the cushion and said, “First, we’re going to make a base with foundation.”
She proceeded with the makeup while explaining what each step was.
After going through the complicated process of foundation, shadow, curling, eyeliner, eyebrow, blush, nose shading, and tint, I looked in the mirror.
“Oh…”
I’m going crazy.
This is why they say makeup is a girl’s best friend.
The makeup artist teacher was staring at my face in the mirror, gasping.
“Wow… you look so pretty!”
Agreed.
But I humbly replied.
“Ah, hehehe, it’s all thanks to you, teacher, for doing such a great job with my makeup.”
“No way. Your face does all the work, really. Your skin is so clear, the makeup just sits perfectly. You have such a great base.”
“Ah, hehehe.”
After finishing my makeup, I got up from the chair and took the school uniform handed to me by the stylist teacher. I changed into the uniform in the dressing room inside the vehicle.
Then, after switching to the socks and shoes given by the stylist teacher and having my outfit adjusted, the styling was complete.
I went to the vanity mirror to see my reflection.
Wow… I’m stunning?
It’s like the touch of professionals makes a world of difference.
This is definitely a keeper.
I took out my phone and snapped a selfie.
Looking at the photo, this is a perfect KakaoTalk profile pic.
Although I had been getting random KakaoTalk messages from boys lately and had changed my profile pic to the default screen, I couldn’t resist this one.
Ah, but of course, I’ll have to change it after the music video release.
As I kept taking selfies, So-young manager unni, who was sitting in the dressing room laughing at me, said,
“Do-hee, let me take a photo with the back camera, let’s go outside.”
“Eek, yes!”
After stepping outside and taking full-body shots with the back camera, it was already an hour later as I was deciding with manager unni which ones looked cute.
A staff member came up to me and said.
“Actress, it’s time for your shoot now.”
“Okay~ Got it~”
I followed the staff to the first shooting location, which was the classroom.
This song was a rock band song reminiscing about first love.
I heard it would be edited together with the X1 seniors.
The director said.
“Alright, we’ll start with the first scene.”
“Yep!”
I sat in the back row of the dim classroom, by the window where the sunlight came in, with a notebook and workbook on the desk.
“Okay, let’s roll. Cue!”
The music started playing, and I began pretending to study with a blank expression.
After pretending to study for about 10 seconds, I stretched my arms up.
Then I turned my head as if I caught the camera’s gaze and gave a playful smile.
“Okay, let’s try that again.”
“Sure!”
After repeating it two more times.
“This time, don’t smile brightly, let’s go for a subtle smile.”
“Understood~”
“Okay, let’s go. Cue!”
After repeating this several times, the first scene shoot was done, and I moved on to the next scene.
This time, I had to sit by the classroom window looking outside to capture my side profile.
Once all the classroom shooting was complete, I headed to the music room for the next shoot.
After all the filming in the classroom was done, I headed to the music room for the next shoot.
Once all the filming staff moved the equipment to the music room and the setup was complete, I went and sat in front of the piano.
Originally, the shoot was supposed to show a cute scene with castanets and a triangle, but on the company’s suggestion, I decided to play the piano as well.
The director said,
“Just play any song comfortably.”
“Yes, I got it~”
Since it’s early summer in June, I thought I should play something refreshing like Joe Hisaishi’s “Kikujiro’s Summer.”
“I’m going to start. Cue!”
I began to play the piano.
“Kikujiro’s Summer” isn’t a particularly difficult piece to showcase my skills, but it certainly brightened up the atmosphere of the filming set.
“Oh, you play the piano well.”
“There’s a reason why Topist recommended you.”
The piano scene received some pretty good reviews from the staff, and the director shouted “Okay!” in one take.
“Okay. Let’s go straight to the castanets…”
“Yes~”
I got up from the piano and, at the director’s request, grabbed the castanets in both hands, shaking a tambourine like I was dancing at a karaoke while playing the castanets.
The on-site staff burst into laughter watching my impromptu dance.
“Why is she so cute? Hahaha!”
“Even her random dance is oddly cute. Hehehe.”
The director, also laughing at my wild moves, gave the okay sign and said,
“Hahaha, good good! Let’s do it once more!”
“Sure!”
.
.
.
After all the filming in the music room, including the triangle, the director said,
“Okay. Before moving on to the next shoot, let’s have lunch.”
Looks like it’s already lunchtime.
I had given my phone to Manager So-young during the shoot, so I had no idea of the time, and I asked her,
“What time is it now?”
“It’s exactly 1 o’clock. Let’s hurry out and eat.”
“Okay.”
I followed So-young out to the playground.
Near the tent in the playground, a food truck had arrived.
I looked at the food truck and said to So-young,
“Oh, that’s my first time seeing that food truck. Is it good?”
“I haven’t had it much either, but so far it’s all been good.”
“Oh…”
The staff were still busy packing up the filming equipment, so the line at the food truck was short.
It should be fine to eat first, right?
I approached the food truck and picked up a plate in front of the line.
The food in front of the truck included galbi jjim, bulgogi, and japchae, among others.
There’s no way those dishes could taste bad.
Seeing the food made me feel hungry.
Now that I think about it, the only thing I’ve eaten today was cereal for breakfast.
The line got shorter, and finally, it was my turn to get food.
I was about to scoop some when Manager So-young said from the side,
“Do-hee, you know the next scene is running in the playground, right? If you eat a lot, it’ll be hard to run, so eat just a little, okay?”
Ah.