The Face Genius Actor

Episode 116

A man in shabby attire, like a wandering ghost in this city.

Through him, I hear the child’s name and learn where the house is.

I head straight for the house while making a phone call to someone.

“Yes, Detective Kang.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m at the fishing spot for a moment. I came here hoping something might come to mind.”

“That’s near the community center, right? I’ll give you a name, see if you can find anything.”

“A name? Could it be…”

“Nothing’s certain yet. Just look into it and let me know.”

“Understood. I’ll get on it right away.”

So I ask my fellow detective to check on Yoon Se-rang’s information as I hurry along.

Finally, I discover Yoon Se-rang’s house.

A dilapidated house that looks like it could collapse at any moment stands tall among dead trees and grass.

‘What is this…’

I’m taken aback by the sight.

It’s because a house completely different from what I imagined has appeared.

After pondering for a moment, I move forward again.

Although it looks abandoned to anyone, there’s no telling what might be inside.

Just as I’m about to step forward, I receive a call from my fellow detective.

“Detective Kang. I looked up the name you gave me. Is it Yoon Se-rang?”

“Why?”

“The name Yoon Se-rang. There’s only one in this city, and it’s listed as missing.”

Missing?

I can hardly believe what my colleague is saying.

If so, what have I been chasing all this time?

“…Did they attend Myungsung High School?”

“Yes, that’s right. Until last year… Wait. Why didn’t anyone know about a child who went missing last year?”

Shocked, I lower my hand holding the phone.

All the puzzle pieces fit together in my head.

I wasn’t seeing a suspect, but the auditory and visual hallucinations of a child who had gone missing and been forgotten by everyone’s memory.

Then who is the culprit in this case?

I raise my head towards the house that looks like it could collapse at any moment.

And I slowly walk towards that house.

Convinced that something is hidden here.

But the camera no longer follows me and stays in place, showing new auditory and visual hallucinations.

From the image of a child sitting on a school bench reading a book to vigorously shouting someone’s name across the street.

The visions I saw come to mind.

However, these visions are mixed with images I didn’t see.

A younger sibling appearing brightly behind the child reading the book.

The scene of the man who told me the child’s name and house waving his hand across the street in a neat appearance.

All the reasons why the child looked so happy are revealed.

At the same time, the shabby house gradually regains its proper form and the colors brighten.

And I open the window from inside.

The image of me opening the window somehow gives the impression of a murderer.

I slowly raise a pipe wrench and strike something.

Every time I swing the pipe wrench, there’s a terrible crushing sound and blood splatters on my face.

After violently swinging the pipe wrench three times, I look out the window.

The screen closely shows my figure wearing the Myungsung High School uniform.

The screen, which was gradually getting closer to my eyes, suddenly turns black with intense music.

And the title of this movie appears over it.

I Am Not a Villain.

At that moment, the voice of a child shouting from the street is heard.

[Dad! I’m here!]

* * *

In the end, I couldn’t save Yoon Se-rang as Director Choi Seo-young wanted.

I thought that saving Yoon Se-rang wouldn’t give the audience the shock I intended.

Director Choi Seo-young also agreed with this, and so we found another way.

The reason for inserting Yoon Se-rang’s visions here and there was precisely for this reason.

However, I didn’t feel this was enough, so I modified the last scene.

First, the scene of Kang Tae-nam killing someone in Yoon Se-rang’s house.

This scene contained a critical consciousness towards those who had pointed to a child as a suspect due to poverty.

I wanted to convey the message that those who pointed to the child as a suspect were themselves a kind of ‘murderer’.

Kang Tae-nam wearing the Myungsung High School uniform and the movie title appearing after this scene were also part of this intention.

But the movie scene didn’t end there.

Yoon Se-rang’s last line, which flowed seamlessly with the vision.

This line contained hope that Yoon Se-rang might not be dead yet.

This was also why Kang Tae-nam had been hearing and seeing Yoon Se-rang’s auditory and visual hallucinations throughout the movie.

That’s how Director Choi Seo-young and I finished filming the last scene, leaving a small spark of hope.

And two days later, we immediately started editing.

Since we hadn’t set a definite release date yet, there was no rush for editing.

But we set our own deadline of two months, and we planned to finish editing within this period.

It was better not to exceed the two-month deadline if possible, even for future scheduling.

“Here, if we frame the shot like this and apply a blur effect… It helps focus the attention…”

As previously discussed with Director Choi Seo-young, I frequently visited the editing room to observe the editing process.

Despite being busy, Director Choi Seo-young sincerely explained whenever I had questions.

Thanks to this, I was able to gain practical experience in editing.

After visiting the editing room daily for over a week…

“Instead of just doing this, how about you try editing a few scenes yourself?”

“Would that be alright?”

“Of course.”

Director Choi Seo-young suggested a good opportunity, and so I was able to actively participate in editing “I Am Not a Villain.”

At first, I struggled a bit as the screen didn’t come out as I wanted, but I quickly got used to it.

About a month after starting editing, I received praise from Director Choi Seo-young.

“Wow! Is there anything you can’t do? You’re even this good at editing?”

“Is it okay?”

“It’s not just okay, it’s really excellent! I love it!”

Director Choi Seo-young was known to receive high praise from critics for her outstanding mise-en-scène in the future.

And her current skills were not at all inferior to her future abilities.

For this reason, I couldn’t help but be pleased to hear Director Choi’s praise.

However, not every process was smooth sailing.

Editing became increasingly difficult as we progressed towards the latter part.

This was because editing wasn’t just about beautifying scenes and maximizing meaning.

The core of editing was constantly contemplating and deciding how a single small scene would appear to the audience within the flow of the movie.

It wasn’t for nothing that directors held the final say in editing and took responsibility.

So we worked hard to produce better results by newly dividing and changing cuts even for the same scene.

In this process, I was naturally able to learn how to make final editing decisions.

This was also a skill that couldn’t be learned outside the editing room.

A month and a week after starting editing.

We were able to finish most of the editing a little faster than expected.

“Thanks to you, the editing finished earlier than I thought!”

“That’s good.”

“I think we need to set a screening date for the movie soon. Has there been any word from Festa Entertainment?”

I nodded and replied.

“I was actually going to talk about that today. We’re planning to screen ‘I Am Not a Villain’ in France for submission to international film festivals.”

That’s right.

We were planning to submit “I Am Not a Villain” to international film festivals.

And this was something we had planned from the first time we discussed the movie with Festa Entertainment.

If we were going to produce a movie with high artistic value, it was good to aim for an invitation to international film festivals.

It didn’t matter if we didn’t necessarily win an award at an international film festival.

Even just an invitation could leave a meaningful mark on our record.

And screening the movie in France could be considered a stepping stone for this.

This was because the “Cannes Film Festival,” the most prestigious of the world’s top three film festivals, only accepted submissions for movies that had been screened at least once throughout France.

For this reason, we planned to fulfill this condition first.

After that, Festa Entertainment’s plan was to meet the conditions of other international film festivals one by one to prove the value of the movie as much as possible.

“Screening in France… Festa Entertainment really operates on a different scale. Do you think it will go well according to our plan?”

“Well… Thanks to you, Director, the movie seems to have turned out very well… But we’ll have to wait and see for the results, right?”

“What happens if we don’t get invited to any international film festival?”

“We’ll return to prepare for domestic film festivals or go straight into theater screenings. After that, we’ll make the movie available on OTT platforms.”

Director Choi Seo-young seemed relieved to confirm that there was a plan even for the worst-case scenario.

Certainly, submitting to international film festivals would be a risky move without such plans in place.

It was that difficult for a work by a novice director and a novice screenwriter to be invited to an international film festival with even a bit of recognition.

I also wouldn’t have taken such a risk if CEO Jung Yoon-seok hadn’t strongly insisted on submitting to international film festivals.

“Anyway, we’ve completed the movie work well and just need to wait for the results.”

“Yes, I think that’s what we’ll do.”

“I Am Not a Villain” was expected to finish editing within two weeks at the longest.

After that, a not-so-short wait would be necessary.

This was because getting invited to international film festivals wasn’t as easy as flipping your palm.

Meeting the conditions for each film festival, submitting the work, and waiting for an invitation.

This process might not see results before the end of this year.

‘We might have to wait quite a while…’

Fortunately, I had something prepared to keep the wait from being boring.

This time, it wasn’t related to the work.

It could be said to be even more important than appearing in a single work.

What I was preparing was a fan meeting.

* * *

A week later.

Finally, all editing work for “I Am Not a Villain” was completed.

Although we had a long deliberation about whether to include a certain cut in the process of editing the final scene.

Since the editing itself finished early, we were able to wrap up the work after a few days of consideration.

Also, in the meantime, Festa Entertainment set the first screening date for “I Am Not a Villain” at a cinema located in Saint-Étienne, France.

It was scheduled to screen the movie 14 times over a week, three weeks from now.

Thus, various plans for “I Am Not a Villain” were steadily progressing.

And a new notice was posted on Festa Entertainment’s official homepage and Syrup’s official fan cafe.

[Actor Lee Si-joon, Participation Guide for ‘1st Offline Fan Meeting’]