Working in Water

The second day of shooting arrived.

Yeo Ri was driven to an indoor pool where the final part of the commercial would take place.

According to the storyboard, the shoot would not take as much time as the previous day. All they needed to do was record several seconds of facial expressions as the three cast members dive into the water.

Since the second shooting would not take long, Yeo Ri hoped that she would be able to make it before Gun's last class of the day, thinking to surprise him at school. She felt bad for sneaking a surprise visit to Hyuk last time, so she planned to surprise Gun as well to 'make it even'.

Yeo Ri and the rest sat by the edge of the pool, awaiting their turn to dive underwater.

They had decided to reverse the turns, so the first one up was Jae Ha. She was brought to the center of the pool on a floating platform. A cameraman wearing a wetsuit joined her, carrying a waterproof camera with him.

Yeo Ri watched as Jae Ha stood up, slightly wobbling, before jumping into the water on the director's prompting. The older girl held her breath underwater for several seconds before resurfacing.

However, as the director looked at the footage, he displayed a somewhat dissatisfied look. "NG," he shook his head. With the director's verdict, Jae Ha was forced to repeat the take several more times. Finally, after four takes, Jae Ha was released from the torture and went straight to the dressing room to warm up.

Yeo Ri felt a trickle of fear as she looked at the older girl who was trembling from the cold. She thought that it would be easy since they were only going to shoot a short scene, but reality was harsh.

To add to her fears, Yeo Ri actually did not know how to swim.

She didn't live close to a large body of water, and she had never been to the public pool. There was no opportunity for her to learn when her living situation didn't allow it.

Luckily, they had a lifeguard with them at the pool, so she was given a short lesson before her turn. In any case, even if she drowned, she wouldn't die.

While Yeo Ri was learning how to keep her eyes open underwater, Min Joon was energetically and bravely jumping into the water, somersaulting in the air once before bellyflopping against the surface of the pool. He only had to do one take since the director was satisfied with his performance.

Yeo Ri watched his undaunted actions enviously. It was clear that the boy had some experience with swimming. "You're so cool, Min Joon-ah," she praised him from the sidelines.

He flashed a grin towards her, looking proud. He swept his wet hair backwards, thinking to look cool in front of the girl as he climbed out of the pool.

Yeo Ri laughed at him. Instead of looking cool, he looked more like a drowned rat with his water-ladened clothes dragging him down.

Min Joon did not feel offended at all. Rather, he felt pleased after making the cute girl laugh.

"Yeo Ri-ah, fighting!" He cheered her on. It was her turn next, and he hoped that the girl wouldn't have to suffer like Jae Ha.

"Thank you," Yeo Ri bobbed her head politely to the boy. With the help of a staff member, she climbed onto the floating platform and tried to keep her balance as she stood up.

"Are you ready?" The director called out from his comfortable, cushioned seat.

"Yes."

"Action!"

Yeo Ri took a deep breath before leaping into the water. She was not used to keeping her eyes open yet so her face was scrunched when she faced the underwater camera.

After a few seconds, she came back up to the surface of the water, clinging onto the platform for dear life. Her legs were kicking around furiously, showing her internal panic.

"Yeo Ri-ah, are you okay?"

The staff member waiting on the platform pulled her up, letting her take a breather. Her heart was thumping wildly.

Yeo Ri didn't know that the pool was so deep. She had been practicing at one edge of the pool, which was shallow enough for her to touch the floor. She had thought that the depth of the pool was consistent with the place she practiced on, but in actuality, the pool was slanted, so the depth of each ends were different.

"Yeo Ri-ah, I know it's scary, but you're going to have to go again. This take is NG," the director dished out unsympathetically. He felt bad for the girl, but he wanted this commercial to be perfect.

After calming herself down, Yeo Ri stood up again. "Okay, I'm ready."

"I need consistency. You were smiling yesterday, right? So you have to be smiling now too, okay?"

"Yes!"

Yeo Ri heeded his words. She took another deep breath before breaking into a wide smile. She courageously jumped into the water again, this time keeping her expression in mind.

'It's okay; I can do this! Unnie did this four times; I can do it!' She mentally hyped herself.

However, the second take was also not good enough. She had a perfect smile, but it did not seem natural, and she was also still flailing about.

Once she got back on the platform again, she did not wait for the director to tell her. It was clear that she was aware of her shortcomings. "One more time! I'll do better this time!" She shouted through her huffing and puffing.

"Okay," the director gave his consent after seeing the determined gaze of the girl.

Yeo Ri relaxed her limbs and shook herself out of her daze, pulling all the concentration she had. Putting on another perfect smile, she dove straight into the water again.

And again. And again. And again.

It was only on the sixth take that she felt satisfied with her performance.

The director was also satisfied. He kept staring at the monitor, looking at the footage. In his mind, he was already formulating and editing the footage he had accumulated.

"Good work!" He said. "You did very well, Yeo Ri-ah!"

"Thank you for your hard work," Yeo Ri courteously bowed to the staff. She was tired, but she still had to thank them since they had to waste their time because she did not do well enough. She even selfishly made them work longer than necessary all because she wanted to strive for perfection.

Although it was barely noon, Yeo Ri already felt as if she had gone through a long day.