Become A Star

Chapter 111

“Queen Moon-Jin was born into a prestigious family; until she became the queen, she was a young lady from a Yangban[1] family and had received the best education. The norms of these families are famous for being strict — from an early age, they would be caned right away if they were to raise their voices, even if it was just by a little. So while she was born with a cold personality, she entered the palace as a disciplined and restrained young lady because of her education and upbringing and went through many hardships.”

Although she was put through rigorous education, she grew up as a lady of a wealthy and prestigious family and lacked nothing. However, upon entering the palace as the second wife of King Gyeong-Jo, she went through many hardships because of her insidious mother-in-law and inattentive husband, as well as high-spirited concubines that gave birth to sons. Even after giving birth to Prince Myeong-Hwan five years after tying the knot, Gyeong-Jo still disregarded her. He had neglected her even more and treated her with contempt. After going through such a hard time, her heart was filled with han[2]. Every word she uttered was cold. Nonetheless, the dignified woman had never once openly raised her voice or used a sharp tone whenever she spoke.

“Queen Moon-Jin was a very elegant and refined woman. Prince Myeong-Hwan described her as someone always dignified and difficult to deal with and that even though she had never showered him with a mother’s love, she had never once abandoned her dignity as the queen of this country. Queen Moon-Jin’s biological father had once written, ‘A person’s voice expresses their personality. A frivolous person speaks loudly, and people who get too agitated or excited cannot be trusted.’ I believe we can guess how a man like that had brought up his daughter, especially when he had already made plans to send her into the palace from an early age.” Queen Moon-Jin had prioritized her status as the queen over her identity as a mother. Im Ji-Young’s acting did not match her way of speaking.

Seemingly shocked, Im Ji-Young’s face paled upon hearing Woo-Jin’s words. If someone else had said that instead, she might have refuted by saying that all the previous actresses that portrayed Queen Moon-Jin had acted in such a manner. However, Im Ji-Young knew Woo-Jin very well, so she couldn’t dismiss his words. Moreover, as a person excelling academically talked about historical resources, it seemed the truth, so she believed him.

Im Ji-Young stared blankly at Director Yoon Seon, who was also the writer of the movie. He was equally bewildered. In truth, his focus was on Prince Myeong-Hwan, whom he had studied from a new angle, not Queen Moon Jin. Though he valued her past and flow of thoughts, he didn’t pay much attention to her tone of voice. Queen Moon-Jin was famous for her spiteful nature, after all. Thus, even though the previous actresses had portrayed her in slightly different ways, they were fundamentally similar — all of them spoke harshly and venomously, just like how Jang Nok-Su[3] and Jang Hee-Bin were always portrayed the same way.

“That’s just how I imagined Queen Moon-Jin to be, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt.” Woo-Jin continued dispiritedly, saying that he seemed to have made a momentary mistake because her acting was different from the Queen Moon-Jin he had in mind after looking through historical resources and research materials.

Woo-Jin tried to read Director Yoon Seon and Im Ji-Young’s thoughts and secretly took a step back. While Queen Moon-Jin he knew was such a person, there was no rule dictating that Queen Moon-Jin in Red Enemy had to be exactly like her. Woo-Jin felt that he had disrespected his senior because he failed to manage his facial expressions; thus, he decided to completely get his act together from now on.

“No, I think you’re right.” Im Ji-Young waved her hand and agreed with Woo-Jin’s opinion. It was apparent that she was trying to break away from biases and try something new. She was also very greedy when it came to acting, so she was more than happy to portray a different version of Queen Moon-Jin than the previous ones.