Chapter 205: Weird? Method Acting Bids Farewell To Method Acting
Just as Lin Xiuyuan was in the villa in ’25, playing the “you cook for her, I do XXOO with you” play game with Krystal.
In the small tavern on that summer noon in 2013, the indoor lighting was soft, and Sulli, who had arrived here early, was now nestling by the sofa, leisurely swinging her legs, waiting for that familiar figure.
With the light ring of the doorbell, Sulli immediately smiled and got up to greet, and upon opening the door, sure enough, it was her.
“You’re here, Soo Jung~”
“Yeah, there was a bit of traffic on the road.” Jung Soo Jung closed the door while shaking the bag in her hand, “Then I conveniently bought some snacks.”
After stepping into the tavern, her gaze instinctively scanned the interior, those eyes that usually carried a hint of distance now revealing a subtle tension.
Only after confirming that the room was empty did she quietly breathe a sigh of relief, her shoulders relaxing slightly.
Sulli, standing nearby, noticed that fleeting reaction of hers and couldn’t help teasing, “What, don’t like seeing oppa?”
Jung Soo Jung paused lightly and replied, “It’s not that I don’t want to see him, just feels a bit odd.”
Then she walked to the sofa area, placed the bag on the coffee table, and went straight to the bar counter, “Sulli, make me a drink, yeah?”
“Sure, if you drove here, I’ll mix you a honey black tea. It’s simple, but really tasty.”
Sulli nodded, then walked behind the bar counter.
While preparing the drink, she asked Jung Soo Jung why she had that thought from that sentence just now.
Jung Soo Jung didn’t answer immediately, but sat on the high stool at the bar counter, hands propping her chin, brow slightly furrowed, with an indescribable expression.
“……I can’t quite put it into words.”
Moments later, she slowly spoke, her voice a bit lower, “It’s just that the way Lin Xiuyuan looks at me……feels a bit strange.”
“Strange?” Sulli’s hand movements paused slightly, her eyebrow quietly raised.
“Yeah, not that lecherous or rudely offensive kind.”
Jung Soo Jung, with her hand propped on the bar counter, shook her head, furrowing her brow while trying to organize her words, “When he looks at me……it’s like he’s looking at someone very familiar.”
Inside the bar counter, Sulli, who was preparing the drink, continued stirring with her hands, but her eyes flashed, without responding.
“I don’t know what about me seems familiar to him, anyway, I didn’t have much impression of him before.”
Jung Soo Jung continued explaining, “But his gaze feels like it can pierce right through me, seeing all my thoughts, personality, subconscious little actions, even details I myself haven’t noticed, as if he already knew them all.”
“It’s a bit……” This time she also paused her tone, pursing her lips.
“A bit like standing naked in front of others. I know he’s not that kind of person, even his gaze isn’t that staring kind. But even just that occasional glance makes my back tingle a bit.”
Hearing this, Sulli finally couldn’t hold back a light laugh, her expression like she understood something, with a hint of “just as I thought.”
“What are you laughing at?” Jung Soo Jung looked at her somewhat depressedly.
“Nothing nothing……” Sulli waved her hands repeatedly, but the smile at the corner of her mouth was obviously hard to suppress.
At this point, she had roughly guessed where that “being seen through” feeling Soo Jung mentioned came from.
Jung Soo Jung obviously sensed something too, staring at her and asking, “You know, don’t you? Don’t beat around the bush with me.”
“Ah, I don’t know.”
Jung Soo Jung stared at her half-believingly, “Don’t keep me in suspense, you definitely know something.”
Sulli didn’t respond, but wiped the cup clean and handed over that honey black tea with fine foam, smiling as she said.
“Why don’t you think from another angle, Soo Jung? Maybe you’re just too sensitive? I feel like oppa’s gaze is pretty much the same on everyone.”
“That I’m not sure about.”
Jung Soo Jung took the drink, muttering softly, “But I really feel something’s off, it feels so weird……can’t quite say.”
Then she took a light sip of the black tea, the warmth brushing past her nose tip, and said with a slightly annoyed tone, “So when you called me to come here before, I actually hesitated a bit, didn’t really want to come for this reason.”
Sulli nodded after listening, without refuting, just giving her a meaningful look, having already sorted all this out clearly in her mind.
In the end, it was because Lin Xiuyuan, over there in 2025, had been too intimate with Krystal.
Too much repeated intimacy naturally brought that “old husband and wife” familiarity back to this side in 2013.
Plus Krystal herself liked to chatter in front of Lin Xiuyuan about little things from the past, so over time, even the sharp and stubborn Jung Soo Jung of ’13 seemed “familiar beyond familiarity” in Lin Xiuyuan’s eyes.
Finally, in the eyes of Lin Xiuyuan, Krystal’s pillow partner, all of Jung Soo Jung’s little actions and thoughts were things Krystal had already played with, so it naturally came with a “see-through” sense.
In summary: Jung Soo Jung basically has no secrets in front of Lin Xiuyuan.
But this wasn’t intentional by Lin Xiuyuan; on the contrary, it was mainly too natural, he didn’t even realize he was “seeing through” Jung Soo Jung.
“But don’t overthink it,” Sulli smiled softly, her tone softening, “oppa really isn’t the type to stare and ponder over others.”
“I know.” Jung Soo Jung slightly raised her eyes, sighing lightly, “That’s why it feels even weirder. He clearly didn’t do anything, but I just feel……off.”
After saying that, she lowered her head and took another sip of black tea, the warmth at her lips not dispelling that slight chill in her heart.
“Alright, don’t think about this anymore, let’s go eat something first.”
Seeing Jung Soo Jung a bit distracted, Sulli smiled and pulled her back to the sofa, changing the topic, “By the way, when you called me earlier, didn’t you say you wanted to ask about the script? What do you want to ask?”
After that, the two sat on the sofa, eating snacks while softly discussing some character settings for the female lead in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo.
Jung Soo Jung also took out a character bio she wrote from her handbag, pulling Sulli to look at it together.
Flipping through while asking, her tone full of seriousness and confusion.
Sulli had read the original work long ago and even done script deconstruction for a while, so she answered fluently, resolving all her doubts in one go.
When Jung Soo Jung finally satisfiedly put the character bio back into the bag, she fell silent for a moment, then raised her eyes, somewhat hesitantly looking at Sulli.
“Sulli, I’m actually a bit worried I can’t act this role well, feels not quite my style.”
“This…it’s like the arrow is on the string and must be released, you have to overcome it yourself, Soo Jung. And I think personal style is just a label others put on. If you can act every role well, then there’s no such thing as style, that’s the Thousand Faces Film Empress, isn’t that what you’ve always liked?”
“Thousand Faces Film Empress……” Facing Sulli’s words, Jung Soo Jung repeated softly, then gave a bitter smile, “But I don’t have that confidence.”
Then, not knowing what she thought of, she muttered, “I don’t know how Yoona unnie does it, lately it’s like she suddenly got enlightened, her acting skills exploded. Lots of people at the company are talking, saying she’s precipitated enough, but when I compare, I just feel like…”
“Yoona unnie’s situation, I know, Soo Jung.” Sulli interrupted her.
Jung Soo Jung was stunned and immediately looked at her, “You know?”
“Yeah.”
Sulli nodded, her tone somewhat vague, “It’s just……the method she used has some side effects. I’m not sure if you can accept it.”
“Sulli, don’t keep me hanging again,” seeing Sulli say half and stop again, Jung Soo Jung immediately got a bit anxious, “Just tell me straight, I can at least judge if it’s feasible.”
After giving Jung Soo Jung a deep look, Sulli said lowly, “Yoona unnie’s is because she took the method acting path, that’s why her acting skills advanced by leaps and bounds.”
“Method acting?”
Jung Soo Jung furrowed her brow slightly; she knew this performance method but still pressed, “You mean Yoona unnie has now immersed herself into the female lead of that script, falling in love with a ‘male lead’?”
“Pretty much.” Sulli nodded, her tone vague but not denying.
“……Then how do I experience this role? Go practice weightlifting?” Jung Soo Jung blurted out, not figuring it out for the moment.
This made Sulli laugh out loud, “Soo Jung, you’re silly. Though this drama looks like a sports genre, its core is still a youth romance idol drama, okay? You need to find a ‘male lead’ to experience that bickering sweethearts romance.”
“Romance?”
Hearing this word, Jung Soo Jung immediately shook her head, full of resistance, “I have zero thoughts of romance right now, I just want to work well, the stage is so great, why romance?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she didn’t notice Sulli’s expression pause slightly.
Because Sulli thought of the future she saw in ’25, where because of her own ‘rebelliousness’ and Jessica’s ‘leaving the group’, the group and Jung Soo Jung started having no work or stage, leading to that later ‘romance announcement’.
Thinking of this, a trace of indescribable heartache rose in Sulli’s heart, looking at the still passionate and stubborn maknae before her, she said softly.
“Not to really date, but find someone to experience that romantic atmosphere and emotions together, like rehearsal, to evoke that emotional state. This is a method many method actors use when they lack talent. Those with talent can just act it out directly, no need for such detours.”
Jung Soo Jung caught on, staring at her, “Then who did Yoona unnie ‘experience’ with back then?”
“Don’t know.” Sulli smiled, “Up to you, who you want to act opposite with. But let me warn you in advance, the risk of method acting is that if you invest too deeply, it’s easy to get stuck and unable to extricate yourself.”
Sulli suddenly felt that with Little Deer unnie’s example, guiding Jung Soo Jung on acting issues like this by following her situation was really much easier.
It’s just that this “copying experience” method, if known by Lin Xiuyuan, Yoona and others, would probably make them laugh until their heads hurt.
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