Chapter 16: Quan Dai’s Paper Double
May 13th.
Inside the Apgujeong Recording Studio.
This was the seventh time Lin Yoon-ah was re-recording Edith’s exclamation upon seeing Geu-roo’s wig:
“Wow, Daddy is so handsome—”
“Cut!”
The director’s voice exploded through her earpiece:
“Make the ending two degrees sweeter, imagine you’re seeing the new Chanel bag!”
“Uh...”
Lin Yoon-ah’s fingers traced the script, but her eyes involuntarily flicked to the empty folding chair outside the monitoring window.
—Kang Jae-hoon’s script was still spread across the table, marked with strange symbols only they could understand.
“Did Kang Jae-hoon take a leave?”
Unable to hold back, she finally asked.
“Yeah.”
Assistant director Lee, straw dangling from his mouth, mumbled, “He’s at Chung-Ang University for a public performance of a play. The director gave special permission.”
“A public performance?”
“Yeah, ‘Macbeth.’”
At that moment, Lin Yoon-ah’s phone vibrated in her pocket.
She instantly hit the mute button.
After finally passing the tenth take of “Daddy is so handsome,” she pulled out her phone to check the message.
[Kim Ten-Years-Old’s Kindergarten Senior Class]
Kwon Yu-ri: @Taegu, is this the vocal monster you mentioned? He’s causing a scene at our school! [Picture]
Lin Yoon-ah’s thumb hovered over the screen for half a second before zooming in three times—
Under the stage spotlight, Kang Jae-hoon wore a Victorian petticoat.
The lace collar pressed against his Adam’s apple, mascara smudged into shadows beneath his eyes, yet the pose of his head thrown back in a scream gave off a strangely fragile, broken aura.
“Madam! Lord Macduff has abandoned us!”
On stage,
Hearing the servant’s report,
Kang Jae-hoon staggered back two steps, his patent leather heels slipping on the tilted stage floor.
“Bang!”
He finally sank to his knees on the stage.
The Victorian skirt spread out like the corpse of a black butterfly, disbelief etched onto his face.
“Macduff... you’re worse than a dog!”
The servant remained bent in report, the pearl-embellished collar tightening around Kang Jae-hoon’s throat with each rise and fall of his chest:
“A dog would at least bring back rotten meat for its pups, but you—”
His voice cracked in two, shifting from hoarse to piercing:
“—has even your marrow been drained dry by the witches’ curse?!”
In the audience,
Watching Kang Jae-hoon’s intensely charged performance, Kwon Yu-ri couldn’t help but imitate in a hoarse voice:
“Even~ the~ marrow~ has~ been~ drained~ dry~?”
Suddenly, Choi Soo-young raised her hand sharply:
“Professor nim! Kwon Yu-ri xi says she wants to join the drama club!”
“Ah, no!”
Kwon Yu-ri anxiously grabbed back her hand, stammering, “I’m studying Lady Macduff’s... uh...”
Noticing the professor in the front row turning to look, Kwon Yu-ri instantly adopted a composed expression:
“Studying vocal control techniques.”
The professor pushed up her glasses: “Like the vibrato imitation just now?”
Kwon Yu-ri dug her nails sharply into Choi Soo-young’s thigh:
“Uh... to research the emotional layers of the lines.”
“Next week, submit an 8,000-word analysis report.”
“...”
Choi Soo-young withdrew her hand teasingly, “I’ve already thought of your paper’s title—‘How to Perform Tragedy Using Dolphin Sounds’?”
“You’re dead meat... but...”
Kwon Yu-ri suddenly lowered her voice:
“Taeyeon unnie said his butt is even perkier than Senior Rain’s. Is that true?”
Choi Soo-young rolled her eyes:
“You can lift his skirt during the curtain call to check.”
“...”
Soon, the two-hour public performance ended.
All the actors took their bows.
Chung-Ang University’s Department of Theater is the only official partner school in the Asia-Pacific region of the International Theatre Institute.
They can participate directly in curating the Avignon Theatre Festival.
Ranked 36th globally in Performing Arts by QS, top five in Asia.
They’re also the only Korean institution offering a UNESCO-recognized master’s program in theater heritage preservation.
Therefore, rather than a public performance, the SEM Drama Club’s visit to Chung-Ang University was more of an academic exchange.
As applause waned,
The dean of Chung-Ang University’s School of Theater took the stage, clasping Kim Mi-hye’s hand and shaking it for a full ten seconds:
“Your troupe’s modern deconstruction of ancient Greek tragedy is truly inspiring, reminiscent of Peter Brook’s concept of the ‘empty space.’”
Kim Mi-hye tactically stepped back half a pace:
“You flatter us; it’s all thanks to the kids.”
The dean then shook hands with the director, lead actors, and supporting cast in turn.
When it came to Kang Jae-hoon at the end, he adjusted his glasses three times:
“Very talented. Your method of using muscle memory instead of emotional memory in acting aligns well with Grotowski’s ‘Towards a Poor Theatre.’”
Kang Jae-hoon elegantly lifted his skirt and performed a noblewoman’s curtsy.
After all the exchanges,
The dean turned to the audience:
“At international theater forums, I’m often asked—what else does Korean theater have besides ‘Nanta’ and ‘Jump’?”
“But now I can answer—”
Suddenly gripping the microphone, the dean exclaimed:
“Korean theater is reconstructing the soul of Shakespeare through the narrative framework of pansori!”
The students in the audience were still processing the traditional musical term “pansori” when the dean pointed at Kang Jae-hoon:
“For example, this actor uses the breathing techniques of fan dance to handle monologues, embedding Eastern rhythmic nuances into the Western tragedy framework.”
Kang Jae-hoon’s hand holding the skirt froze midair.
—He was clearly studying the rhythm of Jung Woo-sung flicking a cigarette in ‘New World’...
“Next week, submit a comparative paper analyzing the conflicts between traditional Shakespearean plays and contemporary deconstructivist performance—”
“No, Dean nim!”
The groans from the audience almost shook the auditorium’s dome.
“Idiot.”
“Hm?”
Kwon Yu-ri, who was groaning along with the students, turned to look at Choi Soo-young.
Choi Soo-young cheekily held up two fingers:
“You have to write two.”
“Aaah!!!”
At noon, a hot topic appeared on the Chung-Ang University forum:
[Title] — “About that nobleman who doubled my final paper’s word count.”
Responses quickly surpassed a hundred:
17L: Suggest putting Kang Jae-hoon in a paper shredder!
18L: What did the shredder ever do wrong?
36L: The professor looks at him like he’s discovered a new world, while we’re just Columbus’s sailors crushed by the papers T_T
55L: Anyone understand? The requirement for ‘Adam’s apple vibrato analysis’—do I need to measure the stage video with calipers??
77L: When the dean said ‘pansori framework,’ I almost saw my Goryeo ancestors doing sit-ups on their coffin lids...
Kang Jae-hoon knew nothing of this.
After changing backstage, he hurried back to the Apgujeong recording studio.
In the afternoon, Lin Yoon-ah’s light nap was disturbed by the buzzing vibration of her phone.
She unlocked the screen.
[Kim Ten-Years-Old’s Kindergarten Senior Class]
Kwon Yu-ri: [58-second voice message]
Lin Yoon-ah tapped the voice clip.
Kwon Yu-ri’s roar mixed with the sound of tearing paper pierced the eardrum:
“I hate Shakespeare! I hate ‘Macbeth’! I hate Lady Macduff—”
Lin Yoon-ah’s finger jabbed at the pause button.
A supplementary message from Choi Soo-young popped up:
[Paper Topic: On the Impact of Kang Jae-hoon’s Adam’s Apple Vibrato on the Narrative Rhythm of Pansori (Including Dean’s Original Words)]
[The idiot has to write two papers.]
Kwon Yu-ri: [30-second voice message]
Lin Yoon-ah’s lips twitched in a faint smile, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught a figure flashing past outside the recording studio’s glass door.
The glass door of the studio was pushed open.