Some time had passed since the first take on the Shanghai set, and that was the last day, the last afternoon, of the last week Mr. Bae and his team would be in that place. Sunset was now less than two hours away, a red sun over the maritime horizon while a cold breeze blew against the coast, raising the waves against the concrete of the port. The set itself, which simulated a false secret laboratory, had already been half dismantled for the recording of the last scene, so that the seashore was fully visible, only a few yards from the accusedly high shore; the wall blocking such view before now had been partially torn down.
On a mound of rubble, an actress was sitting while reading a script, wearing glasses and a gray cap. Now the breeze had a free way to blush Mari's face, tired look, bags underneath her eyes; she shrugged and covered her mouth with one hand to give a long yawn. Just as she resumed her review, a squeaking noise startled her.
Young-ho had stepped out of the food cart, carrying two vases of hot mochaccino in his hands. Not being too attentive, the actor almost tripped over a newly installed camera rail, although by luck or miracle he prevented the boiling liquid from spilling over his white jean pants. Despite not recording, he was equally stressed and tired, as throughout these last weeks, he had to make much heavy lifting for production, for his manager didn't want him to stay lazy. On the good side, he was helping out others, including her:
- Ready? – he said, handing her a coffee
- Huh... - she sighed, smiling - I wish this were the last part.
As she responded, Mari took a sip of the drink.
- Why would Mr. Bae want to record the scenes out of order anyway? That's weird... - he said.
The actor then leaned against the piece of wall still standing:
- Don't let them hear you - Mari replied - lest they take you out and complete my torment.
- Do you mean Jin Hee-hong? Wait... so if they took me out, you'd be sad? Would you miss me?
- Huh? What are you taking about? Don't get strange ideas. You're the best friend I have.
-What does "something strange" mean? I thought we had more trust in each other, you know? I should've brought mint ice cream, to see if your cold goes away...
- You idiot - she replied, looking away - that doesn't make any sense.
Mari could not avoid chuckling a little.
- I hate you, go away... - she added.
- You didn't say that last night...
Young-ho laughed, making Mari stand up suddenly; she picked up some minuscule pebbles, loosened from the rubble, and began to throw them at him, while hiding a smile on her face:
- Take this you fool...
- Hey, why do that? No, wait…! Hey… That almost went into my coffee!
She began to run at him, leaving her script forgotten on the ground, while the actor walked back, grabbing his own little gravel to throw:
- Come here, I'm not done with you...! - she exclaimed.
They both began to chase each other in circles al throughout the place laughing, dodging each other's attacks while the afternoon became warmer; Young-ho's last throw hit the target, right in the middle of Mari's forehead. The actress closed her eyes tightly as a reflex, accidentally dropping her drink, to which the actor stood still, fearing that he had really hurt her.
- Hey, Mari, are you okay? I...I'm sorry…
She was stunned, her face expressionless; in a moment's notice, she returned to the fight, throwing back her own pebbles all over him, one of them falling directly into of his half-empty coffee.
- Hey!
The chase resumed, while she replied back:
- And what about mine, huh? That's what you get for hitting me, you fool...
Now the actress was running in and sneaking around the set, one column at a time, then running through the middle and finally going outside again, getting around her van:
- Hey, come here, stop running, I'm tired - he said.
- You'd do more exercise then, bye - she responded.
Mari reached the door and got inside the vehicle, locking it. It was her dressing room, after all
- No no, wait for me...hey... - he said as he closed the hinges.
When Young-ho arrived, he wanted to hit the door with his raised fist, but he stopped, and rather let himself get to the floor, all the while along the rail one could already see the camera crew arriving to install the platform, as staff members began to take positions, technicians, makeup artists and others who went to their stations. Finally there came the actors, who returned in two separate groups after going to eat something, almost all of them just to sit and watch the filming; Hee-hong got back alone, going directly to where the actor was, so he stood up again, cleaning his coat and the back of his pants while the actress reached him with a grin from ear to ear:
- Young-ho, there you are...
- What do you want now? I'm busy.
- Oh, really? With what? – She said, mockingly
- It's none of your business - he replied, wiping his sleeves once again.
- That reminds me... I saw a dirty, flea-ridden dog sleeping at the door of a house.
- Yeah, and what? – he asked, knowing he was being alluded to.
- It seemed to me his owner neglects him a lot. It almost reminds me of someone I know, but can't quite remember the name, got it on the tip of my tongue. It was quite sad.
- Yeah, yeah, whatever, go away.
- I'll come later, friend. Don't get too careless, okay? – she said.
She patted him on the shoulder, then went away to her own room and be prepared for yet another scene she would share with Mari, much to her own personal chagrin:
- I'm not your friend, get lost – he responded meanwhile.
Inside the van, Mari had just changed clothes and felt radiant as she'd heard what was said outside, feeling more satisfied than ever as his friend defended her; in all due reality, today had been especially difficult to deal with, and she herself didn't want to continue putting up with it for now. She was already wearing the half-torn clothes for that scene, the end of the sisters' fight against scarface woman and the arrival of the secret agents against whom they would have a short struggle before going back home, exploding things in their path. After washing her face she began to put on a new makeup base, but then the stylists knocked on her door and she quickly let them in.
- Min Guk, Ji Na, please come in…
- Thank you Miss Kim, please sit down, let's start...help me with the practical effects, Ji Na
- Yes, of course… - Ji Na said.
Next, they would put on the makeup, applying powder, fake blood and dirt effects to complete her look with relative haste, just more than 20 minutes. They were really good at this, and Mari had come to really appreciate them for their proffesional touch, adding that they even had an excellent hand in treating, cutting and styling her hair, especially Min Guk, who had her own salom in Itaewon.
For their part, a couple of burly assistants had already took Young-ho for him to help them with some rods needed to be moved to a truck; he definitely hadn't followed his career path to be doing this, but he knew deep down she was worth being there for. He went behind them, and they told him to hold the rods at the rear end, which he did, carrying them on his shoulder at the same time as the other two. He walked down the hallway, and while reaching the entrance he began to notice something was off with his sight, which was getting blurry.
- Hey, is it me or is the air shaking?
- What the hell are you talking about? That's nons... - said one of them
- Hey, wait, it's true – said the other - What the hell's going on?
The air in their entire field of vision had become mirage-like, and not just where they were, for as they hurried to the parking lot and climbed the ramp to the container leaving the tubes there, the distortion could be seen wherever they went, even when they returned inside. Once the actor left his load he left while the two others stood astonished, looking around in amazement and disbelief at this phenomenon.
The makeup artists had recently gone out to see what was happening and thus Mari prepared to leave the van too, walking slowly due to the dizziness and nervousness caused by seeing the air all around her tremble.
- Why they don't come back? What's this?
The actress half opened the door, but didn't find anyone else, not even the staff that was getting ready just a while ago as she walked across the trembling landscape. It would be counterintuitive if it were a gas leak, as there were no gas lines at the facility, and they didn't know there could be a source big enough to cause such a mirage everywhere, especially taking into account that there was no smell in the air to begin with.
It was then that the distortion of the air suddenly increased, more and more with each passing second, causing her to lose her balance and fall on the floor; she tried to stand up, but felt nauseous and so decided to stay still, closing her eyes. After a few moments, she saw a light behind her eyelids; she opened them again, and before her an irregular halo of blue light had arisen in the sky, covering the entire area of the set and its surroundings, scaring her to the core as she did not understand what was happening.
- But wha...? - she uttered.
It was then that both Mari and Young-ho heard that sound, one that, they did not yet know, would drive them to the most unlikely misfortune they would ever suffer. It was a detonation, or so it seemed, causing her to cover herself with her arms. She got up quickly after realizing that no explosion occurred, and no tremor was felt on the ground:
"That was loud. I hope no one got hurt…" Mari thought.
"Did…someone accidentally use TNT effects?" - the actor thought.
More explosions were heard, this time in succession, in bursts, pausing briefly before continuing and this time they were not alone. The running footsteps, the curses, the shrieks and screams of many people could be heard and Mari couldn't believe it, it couldn't be possible,
- Those are not effects... – muttered Young-ho
The actor ran away after hearing shots near him.
" Is it an assault? Here?" he thought.
For a moment the actress tried to tell herself that, perhaps, someone was watching a movie at full volume by connecting a loudspeaker. But what she heard didn't seem like post-production effects or anything like that. Her hearing was trained to distinguish such noises, so her self-imposed illusion quickly shattered.
- I must go back – she whispered.
With that, she trotted clumsily to the van as she felt a true fear which motivated her body to take the instinctive initiative of blocking the door with the dresser, which fell with a crash, shattering the mirror. After falling on her buttocks due to the effort, Mari hid in a huge aluminum trunk inside the wardrobe just in time to hear more shots, more screams, more distant lamentations, remaining stuck there, hugging her legs, trembling, breathing quickly while her heart felt like it was coming out of her mouth. What would she do now? What did those people want? Why were they doing this? And, above all, what happened to the others...what had happened to Young-ho? She shed a tear thinking about what could be happening outside, about her gloomy response to her internal questions, so she put her head between her knees to stop thinking.
Outside, the sun had just set, and the twisted halo in the skies was now a deep vermillion. When fleeing, Mari hadn't managed to notice that the half-destroyed wall was back upright as if nothing had happened, and that, once again, when she closed the door, her eyes would've seen in passing how that same wall had collapsed back to normal. Amidst the darkness inside the trunk, the mirage in the air did not go away, and was now so intense she felt that at any moment her head was going to explode or that he was going to faint:
- Sorry - she sobbed - forgive me for leaving you alone...
But in a second, a new idea came to mind; In the midst of her shock, she gathered strength, checked her clothing, and voila! There she found it luckily, her old but reliable flip phone.
- No, I can't stay here doing nothing. Young-ho and the others…they need me…please…please work…
She dialed 119 without being sure, and waited. In a matter of seconds, an answering machine spoke to her in Mandarin, which frustrated her and made her anxious. She scanned the app screen, finding the language setting for Korean and pressed the number to speak to an operator, a young man with a gentlemanly voice who spoke her language:
- Good evening, this is 119, what's your emergency?
- Sir, sir, please come help us...
- Stay calm, and tell me what's happening. Where is he right now?
- I hid in a closet. They're attacking people outside, please send someone...
- Miss, you must tell me where you are so that we can go to your location.
- Find my phone then - she screamed, but then got calmer - Ok, look, my name is Kang Ma-ri, I'm an actress, we were filming on a set here in Shanghai, I don't know the address..
- Alright, calm down, keep talking to me, we will try to send agents to your location as quickly as possible. Please allow me to access your geolocation data.
- Yes, yes, I'll do it, I'll do it now...
Outside, bursting gunshots could be heard again; whoever these people were, they seemed quite willing to cause as much fear as possible.
- Oh no! – She exclaimed, screaming, sobbing.
Mari's legs were shaking violently again, and he could no longer continue talking, immediately dropping the phone when she heard footsteps outside the van slowly surrounding the vehicle, making the gravel crunch. Sudden shots rang out on the steel frame, making echoes like on a western or a 1980's action movie; the spent ammunition fell harmlessly, and luckily it didn't go through the trunk, only being grazed by a few but causing the actress to scream and both hands to her ears nevertheless.
After hearing all that was happening on the other side, the 119 operator asked again, with greater urgency:
- Miss Kim, do you hear me? Miss Kim, respond, please! Hello?! Can you hear me?!
He said then:
- If you're still there Miss Kim, please do not move from where you are. A public security unit is moving towards the area right now; I ask you to please wait a little longer.
After thinking about it he added, out of his supposed character:
– I wish you luck…