"The first line is not good at all."

Kim Yoojin said this after quickly skimming through the script. She was so sure that she didn't like the first scene that she didn't even need to read any further.

"That's the only problem. These guys definitely gave us this script on purpose."

Cho Kwang-soo agreed from the side.

At that moment, Junwoo, who was alone quietly looking over the script, suddenly blurted out his first line.

He then tilted his head and said,

"The first scene isn't bad."

The team members stopped talking. What was that just now?

The words were just slightly rearranged, but the line felt completely different. Initially, they thought it was forced and unrealistic, but now it doesn't seem that way at all.

Junwoo flipped through the pages quickly.

"But the transition is a bit weak."

While the team members were loudly criticizing the program, Junwoo was calmly evaluating the script.

Only then did the team members glance at the script.

"...So, should we decide on the roles now?"

"Rather than choosing randomly, we should choose roles we can handle well, right?"

"Can I play the second character? My strength is crying scenes."

But that didn't last long.

Cho Kwang-soo seemed to have come up with a good idea and said to Kim Yoojin.

"Let's use this scene to our advantage. This student is pretty, so she could draw some attention. Why don't we post a picture of her with the handsome male student on SNS as a couple?"

"What? I'll get noticed for my acting, you know?"

The conversation was going off the rails again. Cho Kwang-soo and Kim Yoojin raised their voices and started arguing. Heo Soon-tae shook his hands nervously and waved them up and down as if to calm them down.

Junwoo frowned.

'...'

Junwoo flipped through the script without saying a word, as if trying to draw attention to the conversations happening before him.

Cho Kwang-soo began to assign roles, saying he had a good eye for them, considering his experience. He then subtly took the most important role. He asked Junwoo as a matter of courtesy.

"Is it okay for you?"

"Sure."

Only after Cho Kwang-soo said they would meet again after individual practice did Jun-woo grab the script and leave the place.

***

Yoo Sang-jun visited the participants' practice room.

He was there to film the practice scenes for the broadcast.

While holding a heavy camera and capturing the entire view of the practice room, Yoo Sang-jun stopped moving.

It was because Junwoo was caught on the camera screen.

Junwoo was sitting in a corner of the practice room, doing something.

'...?'

Yoo Sang-jun forgot his duty and started watching Junwoo without taking his eyes off the screen.

Each team was given a mini camcorder for monitoring.

Junwoo had thrown the script given to him by the production team aside and was doing something else with the camcorder.

Yoo Sang-jun tilted his head in confusion.

'What is he doing?'

Other participants were also using the camcorder to practice, but Jun-woo's actions were different.

It felt like he was the only one in this practice room, like being transported to another world.

Yoo Sang-jun remembered Park Jun-gil's words. He had been instructed to pay even more attention and keep an eye on him this time. But now that he was off duty, he couldn't help but be curious. He had felt that way since the team assignments had been made. What was he thinking about this program?

According to his and the production team's expectations, he should have been busy devising a plan to defeat Team 1, somehow trying to save his incompetent teammates.

9th Team... Where are the other team members?'

Yoo Sang-jun's head turned quickly.

The members of Team 9 were practicing individually in different parts of the practice room, their heads buried in their scripts. This only made him even more confused. He didn't even realize what expectations he was subconsciously having.

*Tack.*

He turned off the camera for a moment.

***

Jun-woo was fascinated by the camcorder he was holding for the first time.

'Oh...'

As he explored the camcorder, learning the basic operating procedures and functions, Junwoo soon recalled the things he had seen in the theory books when he was at the main theater.

The practice room looked like this.

The gestures of the participants as they passionately debated and assigned roles. The voices of those who tried on their lines and made corrections. The scene of the fight, those who checked their own acting in the mirror, the basic props scattered here and there, the sound equipment provided. And so on.

Junwoo was capturing those scenes moment by moment with his camcorder.

He repeatedly filmed a certain point and checked it. He suddenly took a picture of the ceiling.

Suddenly, he bent his wrist and flipped the camcorder upside down, or he covered the lens with his hand to create a shadow. These inexplicable actions continued.

It seemed like he didn't care about the competition at all. To Junwoo, the participants' breathtaking performances in the practice room were just objects on the screen.

As Junwoo held the camcorder and panned from left to right,

suddenly, the eyes, nose, and mouth of Yoo Sang-jun appeared on the screen.

"Oh my God. You scared me."

Junwoo almost let out a swear word. He was so focused on his work that he scowled.

"Are you getting ready?"

Yoo Sang-jun smiled from the screen.

"Yes."

Junwoo continued to stare at the camcorder screen as he answered. In front of him, Yoo Sang-jun glanced at the 2nd mission script that had been tossed aside as if to gesture for him to move.

"What are you doing right now?"

"Just filming."

"Oh, so you're interested in filming too. Haha. I know a bit about cameras. Do you have any questions?"

"It's fine."

Junwoo held the camcorder up and closed one eye.

Yoo Sang-jun blinked.

"But why are you filming the ceiling?"

"I'm trying to change the color scheme."

"Color scheme...?"

"I'm not filming the ceiling; I'm filming the lighting. The direction of the light reflection."

"Oh?" A question mark appeared on Yoo Sang-jun's face. He closed the mouth that was about to ask more questions. He could tell that Junwoo was a bit annoyed. He was answering the question out of politeness, but he didn't seem interested in explaining it.

Yoo Sang-jun continued to stand next to him, not moving. Finally, Junwoo turned to look at him. He glanced at the camera in his hand and said,

"Aren't you busy?"

But Yoo Sang-jun, who was clueless, thought Junwoo might be interested in his camera.

Yoo Sang-jun pushed his ENG broadcast camera towards Junwoo to get his attention.

"This one is a bit heavy, but it's incomparable to that camcorder in terms of functionality. Would you like to see it?"

"..."

"You can handle a lot more techniques with it. It depends on the photographer's intention. Rolling, rack focus, high speed, etc. You can also get a longer focal length."

Finally, seeing that Junwoo was paying attention to him, Yoo Sang-jun began to talk about things that sounded impressive. Junwoo quickly checked the model of the camera that Yoo Sangjun handed him.

"It doesn't feel right with that. I'm fine."

"Feeling? What feeling?"

"This camcorder has a certain feeling that can only be captured with its quality and color scheme."

Yoo Sang-jun suddenly felt a strange feeling. It didn't seem like he was saying that because the complex functions and techniques were difficult. He had a face that already knew everything.

'Now that I think about it, that was it too... But why am I so nervous and showing off my knowledge to the participant?'

However, as he observed quietly from the side, he noticed that the things Junwoo was doing through the camcorder were similar to the techniques used by the director of photography during a movie shoot. Was he filming something like a movie? And he was so calm at that time?

"Ah."

Yoo Sang-jun realized it then.

'He's probably given up because he couldn't come up with a plan with such a poor team composition.'

Yoo Sangjun, who thought his plan had gone perfectly, asked Junwoo as if he was testing him.

"Why aren't you preparing for the second mission? Everyone is looking forward to Junwoo's acting again this time. With a winning prize of one billion won, I guess you're not ambitious. Even if the team members don't listen, why don't you try to calm them?"

He asked about his intentions with words he didn't even mean, but...

"I don't know. Is it really necessary to go that far?"

Yoo Sang-jun was taken aback. His attitude was that it was more important to do what he was doing now than to spend his energy on that.

"So are you just going to stand by and do nothing? You still have to do what you have to do as participants, right? Otherwise, you would be a burden to your teammates."

"I've already done what I had to do."

Junwoo handed over the script that was next to him.

If this continues, this child will be excluded from the review. Yoo Sang-jun, who couldn't help but smirk,

When he opened the script,

'What is this kid?'

It was already after the analysis. Not only for himself, but for all of his teammates' roles. It was difficult to understand what it was saying at a glance, but it seemed to have been modified. There was also a timeline that organized the time of the scenes and lines that occurred at the point of time according to the square. What is this...

"What is this graph...?"

"I changed it a bit. The grandfather's walking speed and the dialogue timing didn't match."

He knew exactly what part he was talking about. Yoo Sang-jun began to ask questions in a curious manner.

"The next scene, the dialogue with Kim Yoojin, and the second line of the text in scene 12..."

Yoo Sang-jun frantically flipped through the pages following Junwoo's words. He knew exactly where each line of dialogue and text was located as if he had already memorized the script.

'What is this kid? He just met the team members today, didn't he? How can he already pick up on their characteristics?'

Junwoo suddenly stopped talking, as if he was tired of talking.

"But can't we do this later? I'm doing something important right now."

"Just a moment. I'm sorry. Just a few more."

He wondered if he was no longer interested because he thought the script was bad. Yoo Sang-jun didn't think so.

"I heard you have some complaints about the production team's script. Is there any part of the overall composition you want to change?"

"..."

Junwoo looked troubled. It wasn't a problem to just make some changes.

"This was produced by our station's top writers, who we had a hard time recruiting for this program. But it seems like Junwoo doesn't like it, so please tell us what's wrong."

Yoo Sang-jun was curious. He had reviewed the script several times before filming and didn't see any major problems. It wasn't originally made by a beginner, so there couldn't be any major problems. What did he find?

"To be honest, it's all crap."

"...All of it? You're saying the script is terrible right now?"

"It's not the script. They said they made it for the team, but they didn't take the team members into account at all."

Yoo Sang-jun was speechless. He was also curious.

"Then what do you plan to do? There must be a good way, so why did you do this?"

*Gulp.*

Yoo Sangjun swallowed his saliva.

He waited for an answer. At the same time, he felt uneasy. Could this kid really mess up the script this time? No way. If that happens, Park Jun-gil will really flip out. All sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

At that moment, Junwoo, who was staring at him, suddenly looked like he was about to say something.

But instead of answering, he suddenly thrust a camcorder in front of him.

"Can you show me that expression from just now again?"

***

Meanwhile, Kim Yoojin, who was practicing her lines that weren't going well, suddenly felt a sense of reality.

"What's the point of all this? No matter how well I act, I can't bring out the theme."

It is a situational drama that should draw people's attention.

Kim Yoojin couldn't come up with an answer. With this script, she wouldn't be able to compete with the first group, let alone any other group.

Meanwhile, Cho Kwang-soo and Heo Soon-tae, who were also practicing, were feeling the same sense of reality.

Their minds were already filled with unsolvable anxiety.

Kim Yoojin felt like this wouldn't work, so she went to find Cho Kwang-soo, who was practicing on the side. After another heated argument over role allocation, Kim Yoojin suddenly remembered something.

"What is Han Junwoo doing?"

She remembered what happened at the preliminary screening.

Kim Yoojin suddenly started walking somewhere, leaving Cho Kwang-soo, who was talking with spit flying in front of her.

She picked up Junwoo's script. Junwoo was nowhere to be seen, and the script was just lying there in a corner of the practice room.

Kim Yoojin opened it up. She couldn't help but be momentarily surprised by the scribbles full of questions that were incomparable to the previous ones. Then, Kim Yoojin found something strange.

"What is this? There are only four of us in our team..."

In between the team members' names, there were additional character names added in Junwoo's handwriting.

Citizen 1, Citizen 2...

The overall story that the production team had set up had not changed. However, for some reason, the scenes were slightly modified due to the added roles. It seemed that those roles were also having an impact on the existing characters that had no presence.

Kim Yoojin had an instinctive hunch. This guy has something in mind.

"We'll all fail if we keep this up. Let's all listen to him."

Cho Kwang-soo and Heo Soon-tae, who had received the script from Kim Yoojin, felt the same way. They also felt something similar to Kim Yoojin, although they were also feeling confused.

A few minutes later, Junwoo returned,

"...?"

He looked at his team members, lined up in front of him, with a bewildered expression.

"...You have some kind of plan, don't you? You wouldn't have done this for no reason, like last time."

Kim Yoojin asked carefully.

"Are you serious, kid?"

"I know this is a lot to ask, but please."

Junwoo was in a bind. He hadn't expected his team members to react this way, so he hadn't really planned anything. He had just changed the parts he didn't like to his liking.

But at the same time, the team members' faces, looking at him, were filled with eagerness. Now, I feel like I can do it properly.

Junwoo checked the camcorder in his hand. The screen still contained the footage he had just taken in the hallway. Junwoo made a sucking sound.

'Almost done, but...'

After a moment of hesitation, Junwoo folded the camcorder with a thud.

"So, can you all do what I say?"