Chapter 105: Survival Audition (1)
Just one day.
Only a single day had passed, but the expressions on people’s faces had changed significantly.
‘Most of them probably stayed up all night if they had to perform starting tomorrow morning.’
This round of acting would eliminate a full half of the participants.
That made the competition for the lead roles even more intense, but there was something they didn’t know.
“Alright… Everyone, please gather around. We’re starting the first round now. Group 1, please come up to the stage.”
The script was for a web drama, but what they had to perform now was closer to a stage play.
“You can start acting right after your self-introductions.”
“Yes!”
At Kim Si-woo’s words, the person who appeared to be the group leader grabbed the microphone.
“Hello. I’m Kim Min-ji, leader of Group 1. I’ll be playing the female lead.”
After a brief introduction, she passed the microphone to the next person, and everyone finished their self-introductions in turn.
Once the introductions were done, their faces overflowed with confidence.
As expected from students attending an arts high school.
They must all be known at school for being good at acting.
Group 1.
They were the ones who had formed their group the fastest here.
“Then, we’ll begin the performance.”
Kim Min-ji handed the microphone to a staff member and immediately started getting into character.
The script's story was about giving a harsh lesson to a man who was two-timing.
It began with a scene of a man and woman enjoying cherry blossoms together.
“Wow~ This is so nice, honey.”
In an instant, her expression changed, and the acting began.
“Yeah. Let’s come again next year.”
The couple chatted as they went on their date.
Bzzz.
As the two were walking down the street and about to kiss, the man’s smartphone vibrated.
But the man didn’t answer it; he just checked it and put it back in his pocket.
“What was that call? Why not pick it up? Just answer it.”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“It’s fine. Go ahead and take it.”
“No, I don’t need to.”
“Okay, got it.”
The man broke out in a cold sweat and ultimately didn’t answer the call, while the woman felt something suspicious.
After the date ended, the man called someone from home.
“I told you not to call me during the day because I’m busy, didn’t I?”
On the other end, his secret girlfriend answered immediately.
“What? What are you so busy doing? Are you cheating on me or something?”
“Cheating? Are you suspecting me right now?”
In truth, the man was cheating, and the woman he’d gone cherry-blossom viewing with was actually his second girlfriend.
“Then how am I supposed to not suspect you? That ‘little sister you know’ you’re talking about—is it her?”
“If you’re going to keep suspecting me like this, let’s just break up.”
“What?”
“I said let’s break up! I’m sick of being suspected all the time.”
Click.
The man angrily hung up, and his first girlfriend, tears streaming down her face, vowed revenge.
A few days later, as the man was on a date drinking beverages at a café with his second girlfriend, a cold coffee was poured over his head.
“So this is her? The girlfriend you’ve been hiding?”
“Kyaaa! What are you doing right now!”
“I’m saving you, that’s what. This jerk cheated on me with you.”
“What are you talking about?”
As the second girlfriend panicked, the man hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
“Honey, don’t listen to her. It’s a misunderstanding. I don’t know that woman.”
“Misunderstanding? You don’t know who I am?”
The first girlfriend showed the second girlfriend photos of her and the man looking affectionate.
“We’ve been dating for two years. How long have you two been together?”
“Huh? I… we’ve been together for three months…”
“As expected. You found out he’s trash now, so break up with him quickly. That’s what I came here to say.”
“Uh… How could you cheat…?”
The second girlfriend, seemingly in shock, hung her head without saying a word, while beside them, the man and the first girlfriend started arguing.
“You know it’s disgusting how you’re acting all pathetic like this after we broke up?”
“No, cheating like you did is way more disgusting, you piece of trash!!!”
The fight eventually ended when the second girlfriend stood up.
Slap.
At the sound of the slap, the man clutched his cheek and collapsed.
“H-Honey…”
“Honey? Sorry, but the moment I found out you were cheating, we were over. So don’t ever show your face in front of me again. Don’t contact me either. If you do, I’ll make sure to become a stumbling block in your life—from your company, your family, your friends, to any new girlfriend you get.”
“…”
The story concluded with both the first and second girlfriends storming out of the café, fuming.
As the short performance ended, the audience applauded, and Kim Si-woo also clapped while picking up the microphone.
“Good work, everyone. As expected from arts high school students, your acting skills are outstanding. Now, let’s move on to Group 2’s performance.”
Group 2… Group 3… up through Group 7 to Group 10—all their prepared performances finished.
Everyone used the same script, but the feeling was completely different each time.
The way each person expressed their role—tone of voice, gestures—everything varied.
“We will announce the passers and failures after all groups have performed. Group 11, please come forward.”
It took a long time for all the performances to wrap up.
By the time the 50th group—the halfway mark—finished, it was lunchtime, and when the 100th group ended, it was almost dinnertime.
“Thank you all for your hard work. We will announce the results after dinner.”
Everyone moved to the cafeteria for their meal.
The participants had noticed something since yesterday: the food was exceptionally delicious.
Both last night’s dinner and today’s lunch were of a quality that felt like eating at a high-end restaurant.
After the 1-hour-30-minute meal time passed, all the participants gathered back in the auditorium.
Now, half of them would have to go home.
“We will now announce the successful candidates. Those whose names are not called have failed.”
Kim Si-woo took the microphone and began calling out the passers.
“All of Group 1 pass. From Group 2: Kim Su-min, Lee Ji-ho…”
As he called out all 250 successful participants, the atmosphere in the auditorium became one of extremes.
Those who passed screamed with joy and hugged each other.
In contrast, those who failed either hung their heads with gloomy expressions, slumped to the floor, or—in cases where they couldn’t accept it—got angry.
“Excuse me, writer-nim! I object. I did better than those people—why did I fail?”
“Sigh… Do I really have to explain this too…?”
At Kim Si-woo’s sigh, everyone’s attention focused on him.
“You’re Park Hee-do from Group 78, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You’re asking why you failed? Because you didn’t properly handle the lead role, while others did handle their supporting roles well. Taking on the lead means you need that much more responsibility and skill.”
“What does that…”
“Being the lead means you’ll stand out more to the audience, but it also comes with risks.”
After Kim Si-woo’s words, no one else raised an objection.
They all knew that the acting skills of the participants who had passed while playing leads were superior to their own.
“Those who failed, please pack your belongings and board the buses waiting outside.”
At Kim Si-woo’s dismissal, the eliminated participants grumbled as they started walking away.
“I already unpacked everything… Who knew I’d be going home after just one day.”
“Tell me about it…”
“Why do those guys even come all the way here for an audition? They should just join an agency…”
Everyone else heard their complaints, but it didn’t matter.
After all, they were the failures.
The rest were the passers, so those words only sounded like the excuses of losers.
Once all the eliminated participants had left, Kim Si-woo brought the microphone to his mouth again.
“Alright, heartfelt congratulations to the 250 of you who passed. Please get plenty of rest tonight, and gather here again at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.”
With the thought that they could finally sleep without any worries tonight, the participants returned to their accommodations with light steps, leaving only Kim Si-woo, the staff, and the cameramen in the auditorium.
“Good work, everyone. Is there anything making you uncomfortable?”
“No, sir. It’s very comfortable.”
“Nothing’s uncomfortable. The food is delicious, the beds are soft—everything’s great.”
The freelance cameramen and assistant staff hired this time wore very satisfied expressions.
And for good reason—their job was simply to sit in front of the cameras and film.
There was no directive to focus on specific people, and Siwoo Film had imposed no particular conditions.
All they were told was to film however they saw fit.
No one nagged them, and the pay was generous.
Where else could you find a job this easy…?
At this point, they even started envying the people who worked full-time at Siwoo Film.
‘Seeing how they recruit actors, it looks like they hire staff too… Maybe I should quit freelancing and apply while I’m at it?’
From veteran cameramen to many others, the same thought crossed their minds.
“Then let’s keep up the good work tomorrow as well. Everyone, let’s make the best survival program ever!”
“Fighting!”
The next day, 10 a.m.
The 250 remaining participants gathered once again in the auditorium.
“Did everyone sleep well?”
“Yes.”
At Kim Si-woo’s greeting, some smiled while others pulled gloomy faces.
Yesterday they had celebrated passing, but today someone would fall again.
This was the true beginning of the survival.
“Today, we don’t know how many will pass… or how many will fail. It all depends entirely on your skills.”
The participants tilted their heads at Kim Si-woo’s cryptic words, and he continued.
“Today’s challenge is one-on-one acting with actors currently signed to Siwoo Film. Pass or fail will be decided by those Siwoo Film actors.”
“…”
“First, I’ll show you an example. Two actors, please come forward.”
At Kim Si-woo’s request, two actors belonging to Siwoo Film stepped up.
“Have you chosen your script?”
“Yes.”
“Then start whenever you’re ready.”
A moment later, the two actors began their performance.
The scene they performed was a part from Don’t Forget.
“How can a person do this…? If you’re even human for four years… if you have any feelings at all, you shouldn’t have done this.”
“What are you saying? Does this ajumma want to die like her daughter?”
“…”
“What’s this? Has this ajumma gone crazy too? Her daughter was like this at the end…”
“Die!!!”
The actor’s voice, almost a scream of despair, echoed through the auditorium.
In an instant, the air seemed to freeze.
The performance ended on a perfectly tense note, and amid the applause from the audition participants, the actors scratched their heads sheepishly, as if wondering when they had ever acted so fiercely.
“Alright… That’s how you do it.”
The scripts placed in front were all excerpts written by Kim Si-woo himself. The participants had to choose one from a total of five works: Revenger, Don’t Forget, Our Teacher, Gangster Detective, and Idol.
“The lines aren’t long, so I’ll give you 20 minutes to prepare. Please each select a script.”
Following the group round came the individual round.
People rushed forward to grab their scripts.
Most of the men flocked to Revenger and Gangster Detective, while the women gathered around Don’t Forget and Idol.
Older participants naturally headed toward Our Teacher.
“There’s definitely a big difference…”
Don’t Forget, which demanded particularly high acting skill, had noticeably fewer takers—Kim Si-woo thought that was inevitable.
It was a role Into which Shim Ji-young had poured her heart and soul.
The current participants were simply too far from matching her level.
That didn’t mean the other actors’ performances were lacking, but Shim Ji-young in Don’t Forget was on a completely different plane.
Soon, all the participants had taken their scripts, and Kim Si-woo shouted loudly.
“Alright… Then let the third round of the Siwoo Film audition begin!”