Thank you for the comments. I have not forgotten about all of your contributions (lines and phrases) and have a few ready for the upcoming chapters. Meanwhile, new and old prompts 1) Assassin 2) Betrayal 3) Red Crescent Moon 4) Eun Soo is a big fan. See what you can come up with, again, not a story plot, but a line or two or a phrase. It does not have to be necessarily a dialogue, by the way.
The ride to the filming site lasted a little longer than an hour. Hee Jun, who made sure to seat close to his idol, dosed off, his head dropping on Choi Young's shoulder. He, of course, pushed it off immediately, but it dropped right back on and the man smiled in his sleep, making Choi Young feel pity for the poor thing. He sighed and decided to let it slide for now, even putting a jacket over the man to keep him comfy.
He closed eyes himself, immediately falling asleep and woke up when he felt something heavy dropped on his knees. Hee Jun now deeply asleep, slid down and put his head on Choi Young's lap, placing his hands under the cheek for comfort, and stretching his legs across the seat. The coat dropped on the floor and he was obviously cold. Choi Young pushed him off immediately, absolutely outraged by this nonsense, but when Hee Jun sighed sadly and tried to curl into a ball, still cold, the general felt sorry for him again and placed the jacket over. The man constantly reminded him of a puppy who always tried to get affection and look good in the eyes of his master.
The car came to a stop, the doors opened, and dragging sleepy Hee Jun with him, the general exited the van. Surprised at what he saw, he let go of the man's body, and with a loud thud, Hee Jun flattened on the pavement, waking up and looking around trying to get his bearings.
Having been finding his way around modern Seoul, Choi Young's eye slowly started to get used to tall concrete and glass buildings, wide roads and highways with cars zipping by. This has become his reality and the images of not so distant past were but a memory.
What he encountered behind the walls, hiding a whole city, was very surreal. Choi Young has stepped back in time. The movie set resembled the places he was used to his whole life, the life he'd left back in Goryeo. He entered through the gates, and the modern world stayed behind; surrounded by the buildings and alleys of his youth, he was suddenly thrown back hundreds of years ago, almost as instantly as if he went through the portal of Hwata's gate. Everything here was tangible, he could reach out and touch the walls of wooden structures, admire the pale tile of slanted rooftops and even climb on top and jump from them, if he wanted to…
It all looked completely real, yet it was not. He could see his home come to life, a whole town, but not feel it. There were no noisy children playing Gonggi; there was no smell of toasted nuts or the Suribang's famous soup; no sounds of the bustling marketplace. Nostalgia set in his heart as Choi Young wanted to suddenly try the warm soup and suck on the sweet popsicles of the candy the street vendors sold. Choi Young hated to admit it, but he even missed the way the wind was cleaner, carrying the scent of wild grasses and harvest.
He was shaken from his memories as somebody bumped into him, apologizing for spilling hot coffee on his shoes. Choi Young looked down at a young girl who had her hands full with so many paper coffee cups, it was a miracle she could hold them at all, and just smiled, letting her hurry to her destination. He watched people dressed in period clothes underneath warm puff jackets, talking on the handphones, carrying filming equipment, walking along the narrow streets, and disappearing into the alleyways.
"Daejang!" Called a familiar voice, making him turn to see the young actor approaching him. "Daejang, I've been looking everywhere for you. Come with me, the boys are ready."
"The boys?" And he followed to the plaza center of the large city set. Choi Young was amazed at the huge market place, at the entrance to the palace and the way they seemed to enter a modern gym while styled from the exterior like in Goryeo. "This will be our practice room while we are filming here, in the days we are out of the filming site, we'll be training at the agency. It's ready with everything we need. Do you like it, Daejang?"
Before Choi Young could say anything the door opened, and he saw several men entering the room, looking around. When the apparent leader spotted his trainee, he smirked and moved towards the boy. "I have been looking for you everywhere, we need to discuss with you the plans for the next few scenes."
"But didn't we discuss those scenes already? I thought the stunt crew would be taking care of everything… Where is the director?" He looked around a bit surprised, since each sequence should be approved by the director.
"Actually, the director gave me the green light. You will be included in a fight, since you have some rudimentary training, you will have a short sequence and the rest will be done by your stunt double. There will be some moves you need to learn."
"Ah, ok… then…"
They both turned to the crew and remained quiet.
"One moment, please," said Choi Young, stepping between the actor and the man, looking at him. "Right now he is not ready for any of the fights you are mentioning he is still in the beginning stage of training. We will be practicing sword handling for today and tomorrow so he won't be able to join your crew yet. If you could be patient…"
"And you are…"
"This is my new trainer," the actor introduced him and addressed Choi Young, "Daejang, these are the guys from the stunt unit. I guess you will be working closely with them."
"I wasn't informed of this," said Choi Young, as Hee Jun appeared from the side door, panting.
"Wait! Heung! Sorry I've been running through this maze of a set to tell you; they changed the plans, we just got the call…"
The stunt manager looked over CY with mistrust and continued, "I'm in charge of the scenes. Don't worry. I have worked with him before and he does well."
"Then what is my role?"
"You can watch."
"All right, but he is not ready to handle the sword."
"Don't worry, he won't have to kill anybody," and the group laughed, but the grins quickly subsided under the glare from Choi Young.
"Daejang, he is good, he did my other drama, and it was very successful. You saw it."
"He did that?"
"He staged it. I did have a stunt double, but I performed most of the fighting scenes myself."
"Well, I'm glad we can work together," said Choi Young coming up to a man, but not offering his hand, still forgetful of the modern etiquette. The stunt coordinator, not aware of Daejang's unusual habits, took it personally and offended, decided not to offer him a hand either. So while Choi Young openly smiled, the man only gave a dry smirk and the tension was noticed by the rest of the crew.
"I don't think we will be needing your help with today's scenes," he announced and stared Choi Young down.
"I thought you need my skill for swordsmanship."
"Yes, but this scene does not require you to draw the sword. You have to pass through the line of defense of a few dozen men without harming any of them with the sword. It is a very complicated sequence." The man sounded very pompous and that rubbed Choi Young the wrong way immediately.
"This not the most efficient approach."
"Oh, yes? And what do you know? How many movies did you work at?"
"So I don't have to kill anybody?"
"You are a funny guy."
"Should I try it then and see which way works the best?" he challenged the stunt coordinator, who had to maintain his seniority status in front of his men.
"Fine, if you want to waste our time to show off…"
"Daejang is amazing, sir, he has great ideas," chimed in the actor, but shut up as soon as the stuntman glared at him.
The set up was simple. A wide path between the two stone walls, taller than a man's height, was blocked by the rows of soldiers, all of whom had armor, shields to protect them and swords drawn. It took a moment for the general to assess the situation. "I'm ready", he said confidently. He heard somebody call "Roll" and watched the camera lights blink, with the crew, directing lights toward him. Despite being bothered by these distractions, he focused and started.
Choi Young used the wall as a spring board to propel himself on top of it, moving with light steps on the ledge, and instead of running through the soldiers standing in his path, he practically flew over their heads and landed behind the group, which was confused and stumbled by the trick. He smiled and stated, "This is more efficient."
The actor clapped, and the rest of the crew as well, making the stunt coordinator turn red and swallow his anger before he spoke. "Although it is an interesting approach, for the visual impact of the scene, the character needs to engage the enemy, while passing through them unharmed and coolly."
"Sure, I can do that." And Choi Young walked back to his initial position, mumbling, "Just not practical."
The cue was given again and keeping his sword in scabbard, he lifted his arm and lunging forward, ran toward the group of the "enemy soldiers" who huddled together like in American football defensive formation, while he charged to break their line, only… taking a lunge sideways, with the flat of the scabbard he swiftly incapacitated a man at the left flank, easily jumping over him and deflected potential hits from the neighboring soldiers, without looking back, moving onto the next line, he pushed himself off the wall, lifting his long legs over them and hitting the three soldiers in a row from the top with his feet, landing in front of the last row of defense, he stood and facing the men, wielded the sword, still unsheathed, able to place powerful blows to all eight of the men, coming through untouched. He stopped, turning and asked loudly, "Is it what you were looking for?"
Another loud round of applause echoed around him, and the actor ran up, screaming, "Daejang, you are so cool! Can you teach me the moves? I liked the jump off the wall and also the flank attack."
"Sure", Choi Young smirked, satisfied that he made a point. "I would love to see what you had in mind," he addressed the stunt coordinator, who was sweating and huffing angrily. Before the man could rebuff, the director, who apparently was standing behind the front row of the crew, stepped forward and announced, "I like this fresh idea. We have not seen this before and it will be great to modernize the style of the drama a bit."
"Modernize," Choi Young laughed under his breath, "He has no idea that the modern idea came from 700 years ago."