I Will Live As An Actor - Chapter 72

I will live as an actor Episode 72

Heroine.

“Aaaah!”

Playwright Jeong Yong-dae cries out while holding his head. The play has been completed, but there is a problem with the composition of the actors. An outstanding actor has already been chosen to play the role of Baek Mu-yeol, who is said to be Joseon’s best Casanova. However, the role of the female protagonist, which can be said to be his counterpart, is still undecided.

“Kim Yeon-ji, Seo Young-hee, Ahn Ji-soo….”

Jeong Yong-dae lists the names of actresses currently acting in theater. These actresses are clearly flawless when it comes to theatrical acting. However, the plays he had written and his image did not suit them well enough to invite them. That’s because most of them are actresses who are quite different in age from their British counterparts.

‘I can’t help it.’

In a way, this is a natural phenomenon. Unlike dramas and movies, theater productions are a difficult environment for child actors to grow. Not only is it not commercially viable, but it is also difficult to raise awareness. Moreover, unlike a cathode ray tube or screen, you have to act directly from a close distance to the audience.

This means that you need acting skills that can understand and persuade the audience without editing right in front of your eyes. Many theater actors play small roles for quite a long time to perfect their acting in order to get the right role.

In that sense, actor Jang Young-guk is an area that cannot be explained in words. He said that he had never tried or learned theater acting, except for a short time on stage as a punk.

That’s why I couldn’t believe my eyes at first. How can he show off such acting skills at that age? Moreover, this is a play, not a movie or drama. Yes, you could say I was born with it.

but.

Jeong Yong-dae is a person who has lived his entire life as a playwright. He was so promising that he won the Korean Literary Award and had his works performed on numerous theater stages. That’s how I got to meet a lot of theater actors. I could confidently say that my sharp eyesight was better than that of most old actors.

In that sense, Jang Young-guk’s acting at Hyeseong Theater Company clearly resembled the earnest acting of someone who had been involved in theater for a long time.

‘I heard it’s mysterious.’

Suddenly.

Playwright Jeong Yong-dae habitually takes out a can of beer from the refrigerator and takes a refreshing sip. Thanks to the refreshing sensation that passes down my throat, I feel like my mind has become clearer. The reason Jeong Yong-dae was so concerned was simple.

‘Picture perfect.’

The heroine that Jeong Yong-dae thought of was not an ordinary woman. Baek Mu-yeol, who stole the hearts of countless women, was the only person he loved until the end. It refers to the woman who hears his final confession. He looks at the last line of the play he wrote.

A woman and a man look sadly at a man. The man calmly explains.

-If people like me pile up one by one and turn into dust, crumble, and mud, spring will someday come to this dry land of Joseon, using that nourishment. So, in the next life, let’s have a conversation over a cup of coffee with me. At that time, Joseon will also be filled with the scent of spring. I, Baek Mu-yeol, have only looked at you my whole life. So don’t be sad. I don’t want to leave you with only painful memories.

Jeong Yong-dae feels his heart becoming frustrated. Could one man’s confession be so simple and earnest? The stronger the wind, the more numerous clouds move. This is the story of Poong Woon-ah, who, like Casanova, made countless women suffer and passed by many lives like the wind. It’s about finding the female protagonist he had his eyes on until the end. How could it be so easy to decide?

“Whew.”

He lets out a deep sigh and turns on the TV. Just because you worry so much doesn’t mean an actress who fits the picture suddenly falls from the sky. I was just trying to cool my head by watching a comedy program.

“uh?”

Jeong Yong-dae sees a historical drama that is being re-aired. There, a young actress is giving a passionate performance. He looks young, but his vocalization and tone are unusual. Even the eyes. I don’t even know what it’s about, but Jeong Yong-dae can’t take his eyes off the young actress in the picture tube.

* * *

Sizzling.

Even the palace-like mansion is full of the flavor of the holidays. It was a side dish that England brought from South Port. Didn’t my mother prepare so many different kinds of pancakes, japchae, braised ribs, soup, seasonal fish, etc. in the icebox for me to eat with my uncle?

“Hey brother. It’s like a complete party today!”

My uncle cheers as he picks up a round rice cake and eats it. Even the housekeeper had gone on vacation for the holidays, so the large mansion was already empty. The once quiet mansion is becoming noisy again. My grandfather, who was in the countryside preparing for his next project, came back and everyone, including my uncle, gathered together.

“England, what are you doing now?”

The person in charge of cooking in the kitchen is none other than England. That’s because my uncle and grandfather’s cooking skills are only enough to make one ramen. On the other hand, in the UK, how many years does it take to live alone? It’s so old that you can’t count it on ten fingers, and since it was born and raised on the beach, it’s safe to say that it can cook just about any fish dish.

“I’m going to eat spicy spicy stew and simmered octopus.”

It is a spicy stew made with large slices of radish and seasoned with Cheongyang pepper and various seasonings. Because they are freshly caught from a fishing boat, their freshness is superior to that of any raw fish restaurant in Seoul. Moreover, the octopus is so plump that if you boil it thoroughly and spread vinegar on it, you won’t be able to eat it without a thief.

“England, you can become a chef instead of working as an actor. No. In the mean time, let’s start a business with your uncle. How about a British restaurant?”

“I have a problem with doing business with my uncle.”

“Why don’t you trust your uncle?”

Can you believe it?

Although he is a legendary figure who is called Korea’s national actor, actor Ahn Jung-hyun was famous for his lack of business acumen. In the future, it was easy for actors to receive exorbitant amounts of money as appearance fees, but this was not the case in the past. Most actors with irregular incomes had side jobs, so would Ahn Jung-hyun be any different?

‘Is that why you focused more on your life as an actor?’

In any case, actor Ahn Joong-hyun may have been able to become a national actor thanks to the fact that he only had to go to Seoul. If I had been successful in business, I might have neglected my acting career.

The grandfather elaborates as he watches the two people bickering.

“Mom gave me a lot of money. Younguk, next time, let’s go down to South Port with Haebi. I guess I should at least say thank you to my mom.”

“Really? If I go down with my grandfather, the ladies in Namhang will probably go crazy.”

“Not Junghyun, but me?”

“Grandpa is also very popular with the ladies.”

These are not empty words. Director Baek Jang-hoon was a film director, but he was quite popular from a young age, perhaps because of his dark, masculine facial features. After all, since he is the representative film director of Korea, who wouldn’t like him?

A traditional Korean meal filled with the scent of the holiday and the sea is set on the table. While playing with his chopsticks, Ahn Jung-hyun secretly looks at England and asks:

“England, by the way, when will Confessions of a Priest be released?”

“There are still a few months left to edit the second half.”

“But since it’s a movie not for teenagers, you can’t see it in theaters, right?”

“Probably so.”

“This is it. In my lifetime, I have come to see many cases where actors cannot see their work in theaters. This time, I wonder what nickname England will give you. Last time, you were the nation’s first love.”

“Uncle, you’re trying to tell a strange joke again.”

“Did you catch me? By the way, when is your next work scheduled to be released? I heard that playwright Jeong Yong-dae went to great lengths to meet you.”

The UK has yet to say anything about its next project.

England’s eyes widen and he looks at his uncle. Meeting playwright Jeong Yong-dae was something that not only my uncle but even my grandfather knew about. Of course, my grandfather must have been busy preparing for the movie shoot. As proof, the grandfather is also making an expression that I have never seen before.

“How did you know? I was planning on telling you today.”

“Man, even if your uncle is like this, he’s a big hit. Regardless of whether it’s a drama, a movie, or a play, he’s precious to you and has a lot of eyes on him. But isn’t it amazing that your next work is a play? How strict are most playwrights? That playwright named Jeong Yong-dae is also great. If you listen to the stories of the stage directors who worked with you, it’s no joke. So, you may have won the Korean Literature Award, but I had no idea that England would try to cast you as the lead role. You’ve never acted in a play, right?”

The same thing is surprising in the UK. I could never have imagined that a new actor who said he had never properly studied theater acting would be selected as the lead in his play. At that time, my uncle takes a spoonful of spicy fish stew and asks.

“But what role is it this time? If you look at the works written by playwright Jeong Yong-dae, they are all full of humanism.”

There is a huffing sound at the end of the conversation.

“Joseon’s best Casanova.”

* * *

New semester.

Yeonsu cannot shake off her excitement. As proof, if you look at your reflection in the mirror, doesn’t it look like you’re infinitely happy? Even the dark blue school uniform feels new. Yeonsu elaborates while adjusting her Sehwa High School uniform.

“at las!”

The goal was achieved. From the time he started high school in Seoul, didn’t he make a deep promise to himself that one day he would enroll in the same school? This is the day when it comes to fruition.

‘Why are there so many eyes looking at me like this?’

As soon as I go to school, my seniors and classmates gather to watch the training. In any case, Yeonsu was a child actor as famous as in England, and with her pretty looks, it was enough to shake the hearts of many male students. The good news was that as soon as the bell rang, it disappeared without a trace, just like the tide went out.

‘How did you continue your school life like this?’

The middle school where the training took place was an arts school, so there were quite a few children preparing to become singers or actors, so it was rare for them to receive this much attention. That’s why I haven’t yet gotten used to the way people look at me as if I’m visiting a zoo.

“Yeonsu, do you know a senior named Jang Young-guk?”

Yeonsu nodded briefly in response to the question asked by her friend sitting next to her.

“Yumin, are you also a fan of your British oppa?”

“Brother? Of course, I wasn’t really interested at first, but I found out about him because of my father. He was someone who usually didn’t let me watch TV so I could study, but at some point, he started watching dramas at home. So we watched them together, and that was youth.”

Yeonsu looks at her friend sitting next to her, Kim Yumin. Although she is not as good as herself, she is quite a pretty girl. Yeonsu asks with a humble smile.

“Is that really why you entered Sehwa High School?”

“Huh? Why are you talking like that? I’m just a fan. I was originally planning on enrolling in Kukje High School, but my father suddenly told me to enroll in Sehwa High School. I hated it at first, but after enrolling and finding out that there were British seniors, I started liking it. ”

“Do you think there are a lot of British oppa’s fans at school?”

“Don’t you know? They say he’s so famous that there’s even a fan club for British seniors at Sehwa High School. When he plays soccer or basketball on the playground, all the girls go out during lunch to watch him. Plus, he has good manners, so once you get into them, you can’t get out of them.”

Fuck having good manners.

Although Yeonsu didn’t show it on her face, she couldn’t calm her boiling inside. England must also know that he entered Sehwa High School, but he doesn’t show his face once. Wasn’t our last meeting at the end-of-year awards ceremony last year? Even more so.

‘Why are there so many competitors!’

She was the one who licked her dry lips whenever actresses talked about England at the filming site. However, it is a pitiful reality that even at school, one cannot relax one’s mind. Stories about England are often heard from the mouths of new students who have been in school for less than a week, so how much more will there be in the future.

Before we knew it, it was lunch time.

“Yeonsu, aren’t you eating lunch?”

Kim Yu-min, a friend sitting next to her, asked, but Yeon-soo skipped lunch with the excuse of feeling sick. And as if she had been waiting, she walked to the floor where the third graders were.

* * *

The harsh winter has passed and spring is sprouting on campus. The excitement on the faces of students as they welcome the new semester is evident. The class changed and another change in environment came. On the other hand, there are some friends who are engrossed in studying as a way to end their high school years. However, England is lying on the rooftop during lunch time and looking at the sky.

‘I’m already nineteen.’

I’ve already turned nineteen. Although I am still quite young compared to the time I lived until I was middle-aged, it felt like a really long time had passed, perhaps because the direction of my life had changed. If my past life, my memories of my school days, were filled with only bad memories, my current life.

‘happy.’

I am thankful not only for living a life as an actor, but also for meeting my mother again. The warm spring sunlight soaks my shoulders. England listens to the play given by author Jeong. As I look at it while lying down, the play blocking the sun comes into view more clearly.

“Baek Mu-yeol.”

The play ‘Spring of Joseon’ written by playwright Jeong Yong-dae is a truly difficult work. If you look at it from the outside, it may seem like a biography of Parakho, who was rumored to have had affairs with numerous women, but if you look inside, it contains deeper joys and sorrows than any other work. That made me worry even more.

‘He’s a more complicated person than I thought.’

It’s a role I feel like I’ve never had before in my life. As the story contains the joys and sorrows of life, the main character, Baek Mu-yeol, is both cheerful and sad. It is the actor’s job to present all of these dualities to the audience on stage. On the other hand, England was also curious about the person who became Baek Moo-yeol’s first and last love.

‘Who will take charge?’

It is a position that requires acting skills as delicate as that of the main character, Baek Mu-yeol. However, it is difficult to think of a theater actor with outstanding acting skills due to the age difference between him and himself. Since the audience’s two eyes are like cameras, they cannot help but be intuitive, so it was clear that if there was a large age difference, immersion would be broken.

England recites the last line of the play.

“If people like me pile up one by one, turn into dust, crumble, and turn into mud, spring will someday come to this dry land of Joseon using that nourishment. So, in the next life, let’s have a conversation over a cup of nosebleed with me. Then. “This Joseon will be filled with the scent of spring. I, Baek Mu-yeol, have only looked at you all my life. So don’t be sad. I don’t want to leave you with only painful memories.”

It was sad yet simple. It was that time.

The rooftop door opens wide, as if a crack appears in the space that was once their own world.

“brother!”