Call My Name by the Stars

CHAPTER 9- One day, Two strangers

Blue and yellow fluorescent lights flashed an underwhelming spotlight onto the podium, lights flickering on, the studio appearing effervescent as people worked busily after the dark shot.

"How lucky we're both shooting in the same location, Senior Hyojin. Thurzday were the models, you know them right? The idol group. They're not only handsome, they also pose really well, very naturally," her colleague from the lighting department of the filmmaking company she works at raved about as Hyojin kept silent, helping her disassemble the parts of her equipment.

    Hyojin stared in awe at the monitor in her sight, the projection of tall crooked trees standing far apart of each other in the woods, layers of their leaves canopying the setting, and a heavily coated soldier in a horse galloping on a short path, coming slow motioned out of the page. The scene tilted as a burst of cyan-gray shades spread in between the trees, a sharp ray of light waving into forms across the layout.

"Wow, historical films' cinematography sure hits different," she unconsciously said out loud, causing her head crew to lift her head momentarily towards Hyojin after having been too deeply focused on the monitor. She ignored Hyojin and continued on concentrating and giving the editor her side remarks about the color and lighting of each scene.

Her department head, the Director of Photography, Cinematographer Shin Nakyung, was just like her, modish and sharp. Hyojin had been working under Nakyung for 2 years, starting out as a production assistant, then for a short while as a camera trainee, to the second camera assistant. They often had the same ideas and understood each other's thoughts well that working alongside each other was convenient and comfortable, despite their 10 year difference in seniority, as they both never showed it.

She had the mature face of a senior from her short wavy light-chestnut hair, to her pale warm tone, and from her large lidded frosty puppy jewel-eyes to her small straight coral lips. She wore one of the most classy and chic yet comfortable outfits from the women Hyojin knew around her age group. She had the most uncanny similarities to the image of the person who Hyojin wishes to be in that age.

Nakyung placed a folder of files in front of Hyojin just as she's still reading for a cooking appliance photoshoot plan, "I'll be briefing on this later, go and get a head start studying it first. It's a recruitment offer. You know Director Gong Seungwon don't you? He's doing it."

Hyojin placed her hands on the file as she gently flipped open the pages of paper, centering her focus on the cover page where the bolded title intrigued her, "The Nights before Summer". She skimmed another page, a sketched storyboard of traditional buildings, old steam trains, sniper guns, and vintage clothing, a nationalism film set in the 1920s, "Another historical," Hyojin grinned.

"It'll be Riversky Picture's first collaboration film, so we have to do a good job," Nakyung commented while she scrolled through her PC.

Hyojin turned her sight to the bottom of the page before closing the file in reflex, then flipped it urgently again, "Riversky Pictures. In collaboration with KK Studios."

Her chest pounded abruptly imagining the small small possible chances that-

"What's wrong? Do you not like it?," Nakyung asked bluntly.

Hyojin didn't take her eyes off the writings on the rest of the pages as she quickly flipped through the sheets, replying without thinking, "Hm? No, not- It's just...," her words stopped as she got to the cast list. Holding in the tension, she glanced down the page to the main actor. She was right. "Lim Yeonsoo. Yoo Chunyoung."

Her fingers stopped, sliding amongst the pages as she read them over and over again, fixing her eyes on the alphabets, "It's not a big deal," she reassured herself.