I Will Live As An Actor - Chapter 81
I Will Live as an Actor Episode 81
As the enlightenment period begins, rickshaw pullers called Kurumahiki (くるまひき) appear in large numbers on the streets of Gyeongseong. Unlike palanquins that require multiple people to move, they are cheap and there are no restrictions on status for riding them. Therefore, the most frequently used means of transportation by gisaeng was the rickshaw.
“Chunsam, did you see the woman waiting for the rickshaw over there?”
Baek Moo-yeol nods and points to a woman waiting for a rickshaw on a corner of Gyeongseong Street. Seeing this, Kano Chun-sam briefly nods his head.
“Looking at the way you’re dressed, I don’t think you’re Korean.”
“Now, I will tell you what you need to do from now on. Now go to where that woman is waiting and tell all the rickshaw pullers not to pick up that woman. It is the time when flowers are blooming in the wedding hall, so it won’t be difficult.”
“No, it’s not that difficult if you become Master Hamza in Gyeongseong. Are you really trying to lure that woman this time?”
“hurry.”
At Baek Mu-yeol’s urging, Chun-sam (Ji Dong-yeon) scratches her head and runs out. A woman wearing shoes is stamping her feet and looking around with anxious eyes as no rickshaw has arrived for a long time. I was told that I could take a rickshaw when I came here, but they said the rickshaws were either full or already reserved. It was then.
Hehehe.
A rickshaw stops in front of her. But there are already people riding the rickshaw. Just as she was feeling regretful, the man riding the rickshaw asked her.
“Where are you going?”
The woman flinched at the sight of the man suddenly speaking to her, but soon a smile bloomed on her lips as she heard the soft Japanese spoken.
“Are you Japanese?”
“No, I’m from Joseon. Considering the way you were dressed, I thought you might be Japanese, so I asked you in short Japanese. By the way, do you speak Korean?”
“I know how to do it. But why are you suddenly asking me?”
Baek Mu-yeol, the man in charge, smiles softly and explains in Korean.
“Looking at you, it looks like you are waiting for a rickshaw at this hour, so I spoke to you out of pity. I guess your wife and I don’t know, but right now is the time when the gisaengs are actively moving around, so there are no rickshaws left on the floor of Gyeongseong. If you don’t mind, let’s go to our destination. “I will take you there. There is enough space for two people anyway.”
“No, but that’s true. How can I meet someone I’ve never met before?”
“I understand, then I will yield.”
“How come?”
Baek Moo-yeol takes out a handkerchief from his pocket, lays it flat on the seat, and gets off the rickshaw. Although she was taken aback by the sudden favor, the woman’s heart pounded as she heard the following words.
“It doesn’t mean anything. I just want to help someone in trouble. Besides, if the other person is such a beautiful woman, there’s no reason to refuse.”
Baek Mu-yeol takes the woman by the hand and puts her in a rickshaw, takes off his fedora, and says: The sight of him taking off his fedora makes the woman’s heart pound once again. Baek Mu-yeol speaks with a faint smile, whether he knows what he is thinking or not.
“My name is Baek Mu-yeol.”
“My name is…”
“That’s it. Please tell me next time. If our fate connects again someday. Please take Aggie with you quickly.”
As Baek Mu-yeol picks up the rickshaw driver, the rickshaw moves through the streets of Gyeongseong. The woman riding the rickshaw turns her head briefly and looks at Baek Mu-yeol’s back as he walks away. Eventually, when the rickshaw is out of sight, Chun-sam appears.
“Master, who is that woman?”
“You can say that she is a lonely flower who lives in a cage and is part of Joseon’s infinitely sharp blade. I heard that she is a woman who always dreams of deviating. Sometimes, she secretly visits a literary room in Gyeongseong and reads a book. Just like now.”
“Could it be that you have been wandering around the streets of Gyeongseong Munhakbang, morning and night, for the past 15 days just to coincide with the appearance of that woman?”
“then?”
“No, master. Who on earth is that woman that you’re putting so much effort into?”
“If I had said this, you might have understood. That woman’s name is Misaki. She is fluent in Korean and is also interested in Korean literature.”
“But the direction the rickshaw is heading.”
“It’s the Japanese Government-General of Korea. Why is that strange?”
“Isn’t it obvious that there are several women heading to the Japanese Government-General of Korea at this hour?”
“No wonder, she is that woman.”
Chun-sam’s eyes widen as he hears the next words.
I am the only daughter of Terauchi Arasuke, the Resident-General of the Japanese Government-General of Korea.”
* * *
Yeon-su is looking at the British stage from behind the stage. Although we have done countless run-throughs, I was not as nervous as the actual performance. The gaze of the numerous audience members The pressure was so great that it was completely different from the pressure she felt on the set of the drama.
“Whoa.”
Yeonsu catches her breath and glances at the stage. England, who announced the start of the performance, leisurely walked like a modern boy who roamed the streets of Gyeongseong in the past. He’s walking and saying his lines. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t surprised when I saw that.
‘Don’t you know that you’re nervous?’
He clearly knows that this is his first stage performance, but England acts naturally as if he has swallowed the word nervous. Not only that, even his blocking is perfect. From the run-through, he seems to dominate the stage even more smoothly, as if he had just gotten used to it.
“It’s really amazing . Right?”
At that time, director Lee Chang-hoon appears and nods, pointing to England, who is performing a play on stage.
“It’s natural to feel dispirited in front of your seniors, but on the contrary, you’re dominating the stage. I definitely haven’t shown my best when I’ve been practicing for the past month. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to start off so smoothly.”
These two people have not yet gone on stage because their act has not yet begun.
“It’s not strange to be nervous. Most theater actors are nervous on stage. It doesn’t matter if your career is short or old.”
“Are you nervous too, director?”
“I may not be as nervous as I felt when I first went on stage, but it’s not easy to act in a play in front of such a large audience. Moreover, both I and the rest of the actors are returning to the theater stage after a long time. Look at Ji Dong-yeon, who is playing the role of Chun-sam. He is a veteran who has been on stage for more than ten years, but now he has sweat on his forehead. “You wouldn’t know it because it’s not visible to the audience.”
Director Lee Chang-hoon and Yeon-soo look at the stage at the same time. Even actor Ji Dong-yeon was acting with such excitement that sweat beaded on his forehead, but in contrast, England’s face was pale and sweaty. “ I can’t see any drops.
” But the person who endures all that and sublimates the tension into joy is a true theater actor. In that sense, that guy.”
It’s like a Parakho roaming the streets of Gyeongseong as if it were my own home.
“It’s something he was born with.”
* * *
The stage has suddenly been transformed into a mansion.
Misaki (Park Sang-ah) is his servant. I’m thinking about the man named Baek Mu-yeol, who I told you about.
– He was born and raised in a wealthy family and is a talented person who studied abroad in Kyoto when he was young, but he is so famous that there is no one on the streets of Gyeongseong who doesn’t know him. Despite the fact that he already has a fiancée, there are rumors. It is said that he spreads rumors of affairs with numerous women. Many of his partners are Japanese, so even Koreans despise him as a Japanese dog.
Even when he showed favor to him, he did not seem like that kind of person. Moreover, he took off his fedora and smiled faintly. When he smiled, it reminded him of the male protagonist of his favorite literary novel, ‘Yeolhwa (熱花)’, so on the other hand, he wanted to see that smile again. Misaki looked at Baek Mu-yeol’s handkerchief that he laid out on the seat when he was riding a rickshaw. I was stroking it. It was then.
Suddenly.
The window opened at an angle along with the sound of a knock on the window. Misaki’s round eyes widened even more at the sight of a figure popping out from beyond.
“Muyeol?”
“Can you lend me a hand for a moment? Then, here. I think it would be easy to overcome.”
“No, how do you know this place and who I am?”
Baek Mu-yeol, who came in through the window, adjusts his clothes and elaborates.
“Are you trying to tell me that you are the only daughter of Terauchi Arasuge, Resident-General of the Japanese Government-General of Korea? . “I came to see a woman named Misaki.”
“How did you know my name?”
“It didn’t take long to recognize the name of a beautiful woman like you. It is not common to see women wearing shoes and Western-style clothing on the streets of Gyeongseong. Do you really not know why I came here today?”
At those words, Misaki says in a voice mixed with confusion and anxiety.
“If you come in here carelessly, you won’t end up paying the respect.”
“It’s a bigger pain than not being able to meet you. What could there be? Don’t worry. Moreover, the Resident-General was also out today. Just in case, I bribed the police officers who were patrolling the security, and if that wasn’t enough, I already prepared someone to watch over me. But you seem to be in trouble today, so I’ll just head back.”
“Wait a minute.”
Misaki rolls up the hem of Baek Mu-yeol’s clothes with a restless expression on his face.
“I heard a rumor about you. I heard you have a fiancee. Is this true? They say he also spread rumors of affairs with many other women.”
Baek Mu-yeol takes off his fedora and shows a deep longing in his gaze hidden under the fedora. He elaborates in a lonely voice.
“There was a time when I got engaged because I couldn’t overcome my father’s strength. I’ve done it before. I was a child of a small house. My mother, who was known to the world, was unable to have children, so my father brought a young girl from the neighborhood and had her give birth to a child. That’s me and others. But I had a sister who was born as a twin with me. I heard that the father abandoned the newborn child in the mountains for fear of becoming a blemish in the future. It is true that I wandered due to feelings of repulsion toward my father and guilt toward my sister. But my feelings for you are sincere. The moment I met you, I felt my deviation turning into love.”
Meanwhile, Chun-sam, who was supporting his back under the wall, mutters to himself to the audience.
“No, what does that mean? I saw with my own eyes that our master was born with a full stomach. You’re lying again. Not Joseon’s greatest Parakho, but a novelist. Novelist.”
* * *
As soon as Chun-sam finished speaking, boisterous laughter erupted from the audience. Director Shin Seong-hyun, in one corner of the audience, was also looking at the stage as an audience member.
‘It’s amazing.’
It’s quite different from the way he felt on a movie set. Director Shin Seong-hyun thought England was an actor specialized in movie shooting. Didn’t he know how to use vocalization and movement in movie shooting? But on the theater stage. The appearance is comparable to that of an established theater actor.
‘Is it possible for a person to change like this?’
The transformation from the young priest seen in the movie Confessions of a Priest to the best Parakho of Joseon has a great sense of righteousness. Not only his vocalizations and tone, but also his intonation and facial expressions make you feel like you are looking at a different person. .
Not only the acting of the actors on stage, but also the directing was excellent. I heard that the stage manager said that he was a very well-known giraffe in the theater. As if to prove that, the streets of Gyeongseong were perfectly recreated. The people in white clothes during the Joseon Dynasty. The red sunset is even depicted with soft lighting, as if to express the gradual invasion of Japanese color into the Joseon Dynasty.
“Director, if you keep going like this, won’t England get hotter even before our movie is released?”
said the assistant director who came to watch the play together. Kim Seok-cheol speaks in a low voice. Director Shin Seong-hyun smiles silently.
In fact, when I first visited the theater stage, it is true that I doubted whether England would be a good match for the theater stage. That is because movies and plays are different places. However, it is safe to say that the image of a young priest was erased from the sly appearance of Parakho on stage as if it were a lie.
‘A great actor has been born.’
Director Shin Seong-hyun had a hunch after seeing England. I can assure you that once Confessions of a Priest is released in the near future, Korea will be in an uproar. The finished video was even better than his script. However, when the Korean Theater Festival ends, England will surprise Korea before Confession of a Priest. Not as a movie actor, but as a theater actor. Look, how could that look be a novice theater actor?
In addition to his sly vocalizations and demeanor as if to show off the perfect Parakho, the jokes and ad-libs he throws out to the audience from time to time are so skillful that it’s confusing to the point of confusion as to whether he’s planning them in advance or using his wits. Just like now.
-But why are you trying to lure away a Japanese woman named Misaki?
-Why did it look dangerous?
-Amyo If you are the only daughter of the Governor-General of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, it is not only dangerous. If something goes wrong, sparks could fly even to the captain.
At that time, Baek Moo-yeol on stage looks at the audience and elaborates.
-The more dangerous it is, the more attractive it is. Just like the roses spread out over there.
The female fans filling the audience screamed loudly at England’s ad-lib.