I Will Live As An Actor

I will live as an actor Episode 117

Beast Man.

It is a new word that arose after the historical drama ‘King Yeonsan’s Secret’ aired. Ironically, why did a new word, which would only be brought to light a dozen years later, emerge so quickly? It was none other than the crown prince’s push-up scene.

He is gritting his teeth and immersing himself in the movement in preparation for the assassination of conspirators and assassins that may come at any moment. The split muscles seen through the rising dawn were enough to shake the hearts of many women.

“It’s so crazy, I’ve never seen a person’s back muscles split like that. I’m not even a bodybuilder, so how can that happen?”

“Don’t talk to me. When I played the butcher Lee Gyeol, the blood on my wrist with the ax came out. Wow, I like Lee Gyeol a lot more than Lee Yung. He has a rough, manly image. Instead of being like this, why don’t I get an autograph when I come to class later?”

“Hey! If push-ups are so captivating to you, I’d like you all to join the rugby club! I think it would be perfect if you two became managers. What do you think? There’s still time left for street recruitment, right?”

“Ah, you’re a senior!”

The classroom is already buzzing with stories about England. It would be no exaggeration to say that ‘The Secret of King Yeonsan’ created a historical drama boom in Korea. This was proof that fusion historical dramas, rather than ordinary traditional historical dramas, had captured the public’s picky tastes. Kim Dong-jin, a third-year law student, returns to his seat while complaining.

“No, why! Why do you hate the rugby team so much? These days, they talk about beast men and beast men. Really, all the beast men are on the rugby team! Isn’t that right, Jae-hee?”

“I don’t know, but why have you been on the rugby team all the time since first grade without joining any department clubs?”

“Even if I join a department club, all they do is talk about bar exams. It’s obvious that I’ll have to go to Sillim-dong and study hard anyway, so I need to find romance during my college years. Moreover, I don’t even dream of passing the bar exam as an undergraduate.”

“Are you going to go on active duty in the military?”

“Wow, you’re being so mean. You said you loved your classmates and your country, but they’re all dead. They’re all dead. Well, if you go into active duty, you’ll go in. If you graduate and study in Sillim-dong and it doesn’t work out, you’ll have to say it’s your fate. What can you do? Later, Jaehee, if you pass the bar exam and open a lawyer’s office, I’ll be hired. “Please order it for me. By the way, Jaehee, aren’t you interested in becoming the manager of the rugby team…?”

“No, no. I’m the president of the society. I’m busy with the student council, so I don’t have time to join the central club. Dongjin, do you even have a brain full of muscle?”

It is the season when cherry blossoms bloom in abundance. Street recruitment for clubs is already in full swing on Jungang-ro, Hankuk University. Like the atmosphere of a warm spring day, when college students talk about youth in spring, like blind dates or blind dates, the atmosphere in the law department is unusual.

This is probably because the announcement of passing the first round of the bar exam is coming soon. Shin Jae-hee also took the first round of the bar exam, so his mind is bound to be complicated. But the thing that confuses her mind the most is none other than one person.

“Oh, England is here!”

‘Oh my gosh.’

You may not know it, but if you had to choose the person in the department who is closest to Young-Kuk Jang, it would definitely be Dong-Jin Kim, a third-year student. If you just look at his appearance, isn’t he a body more suited to a physical education student rather than a law major? Kim Dong-jin approaches England and naturally puts his arm around his shoulder.

“Oh beast man. Your back muscles are no joke!”

“Ah, why are you like this again this morning?”

“England, why don’t you join the rugby club? No matter how you look at it, you have the size you need to play rugby. Just look at these strong thighs and you can see it. Originally, you had to take a test to join, but my brother told the club president well and he will put you in. Huh? ”

“I don’t like it and why do you keep dragging me on?”

“Man, you’re not some kind of outsider. How can you be motivated if you sit in the back and study on a random day? Don’t talk nonsense and follow me. From today onwards, sit with me.”

“I’m not trying to ask you a question you don’t know about, are you?”

“Hehe. A smart junior is also quick-witted!”

This is not an exaggeration, but Jang Young-guk’s legal knowledge was not inferior to that of other undergraduate students. Rather, wasn’t the legal perspective, which seemed to predict the future in detail, enough to be given a thumbs up by professors? At that moment, Shin Jae-hee is shocked and shocked to see Jang Young-guk sitting next to her. Don’t you turn your head to see if we can make eye contact? Kim Dong-jin spoke to me without notice.

“Jaehee, our beast man, England, is here, so act like you know!”

Oh, those burns.

* * *

A man with broad shoulders is walking along the campus where cherry blossoms are falling. The cherry blossom petals on the cardigan look like embroidery created one by one by a craftsman. Even though he was wearing a hat, he drew enough attention from college students passing by to glance at him at least once. At that time, a young man waves his hand toward Cheongdam (pond) located in the center of the university.

“Jungseok hyung!”

It was a person we hadn’t seen in quite a while because we were caught up in each other’s schedules. This is Song Jeong-seok, whom I met in Busan a few years ago. Unlike then, now his face is reflected on both the cathode ray tube and the screen, but his behavior is not much different from the past. The baggy shirt, old jeans, and unkempt hair would be enough for strangers to think that he was a test taker, not a celebrity.

“Why does someone who makes good money dress like this?”

“It’s been a while, but are you nagging me as soon as I see you? That’s what they say these days. It’s difficult to say that they are all dressed up for method acting. My brother is preparing for his next work, Noryangjin Examination Student.”

“If I dress like this, people won’t recognize me?”

“Most people just thought in passing that he looked like Song Jeong-seok. By the way, England, you’ve become popular now, so why do you go around wearing a hat like this at school? If you cover up that handsome face, where will you be?”

Even though it’s been a while since I met Song Jeong-seok, I don’t feel awkward. After all, wasn’t he the only senior who gave him advice in his past life? We walked to the school cafeteria to have lunch together. Occasionally there were people who recognized the two, but since they were eating, most of them only glanced at them and did not approach them. Song Jeong-seok speaks while swallowing a mouthful of pork cutlet.

“No, it’s been a while since England said he would get some of the food you bought him, but it ended up being pork cutlet?”

“Why, even if you look at it like this, the best thing at our school is this king pork. If you come late, the meal tickets are sold out, so you can’t eat even if you want. If you don’t want to eat, give it to me and I’ll eat two.”

“That’s what you’re saying. Anyway, I didn’t know that I would be eating lunch at the Korean University cafeteria for the rest of my life. By the way, England, did you know that Ji Dong-yeon signed an exclusive contract with our agency?”

I raised my head at the name Ji Dong-yeon. Isn’t he a senior in the theater world that I met early on while preparing for the Korean Theater Festival?

“Senior Ji was praising you a lot. He said that you were the benefactor who made a turning point in his acting career. When I saw that senior praising you, Young-Kook, I shrugged my shoulders. It felt like I was looking at my past self. “It was so touching.”

He seemed to have been quite grateful to Ji Dong-yeon for telling him to come to his senses when she was struggling with debt. I never thought I would end up in the same agency as Song Jeong-seok, but I felt fortunate that things worked out well.

“Oh, England, do you know that you are Son Hwa-won?”

“Are you talking about movie star Son Hwa-won?”

“Yes, he is three years older than you and has no experience in dramas yet, but he has been a child actor in movies since he was young. He is quite famous in Chungmuro, so you probably know him.”

How could you not know? Although he is not famous now, he will later become the first Korean actor to win the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In my past life, when I was famous as an actor, there were many actors I was friends with. But didn’t the relationship end because he couldn’t endure his hysterical personality?

Among them, the first person to lose contact was none other than movie star Son Hwa-won. Of course, one side was unable to overcome their inferiority complex and unilaterally pushed them out. After all, one was the eternal lead and the other was the eternal supporting role.

“That friend said that England really wants to see you. I’m going to have to do a drama in the future, so I think I need someone of a similar age who I want to talk to openly. I know you’re busy because you’re filming, but that friend has been asking so much that I thought just in case. I’m asking.”

‘her.’

In my past life, the person I always got advice from was none other than myself. Didn’t you feel a sense of entitlement while watching his acting, just like Mozart and Salieri?

“I’ll see you.”

Katabuta, I didn’t even need to think about it anymore. Because I now know the kindness he showed me in the past. Song Jeong-seok smiles and takes a spoonful of white rice, as if he knew you would say that.

“Just looking at white rice reminds me of the rice your mother used to cook in England in the olden days. You probably didn’t know at the time. The advice you gave me became the foundation of my life as an actor.”

“Why are you acting so strangely all of a sudden?”

“It’s been a while since my older brother talked to me in a friendly manner, but this guy feels unfamiliar. Lately, he’s been calling me a beast and a beast, but even my younger brother doesn’t seem to know me anymore.”

“Oh, stop calling me that nickname. I’m going to get neurotic. I’m such an animal.”

“I understand, Beast Man. How is your mother? I contacted you during the last New Year’s Day and couldn’t give you a separate message.”

Suddenly, my mother at Namhang Market came to mind. You must be busy greeting the influx of guests right now.

“I’m planning to take her to Seoul soon. We should at least find a house and live together.”

“Did you tell your mother?”

“I told you this before, but she said she didn’t like it. But now, I don’t want my mother to have to do any more dirty work. I contacted her a few days ago, but she kept saying she didn’t like it, so I’m worried. I’m afraid the store work would be too much for her to do alone.”

“Don’t make a decision too hastily. If your mother doesn’t want to come, there’s a reason. Maybe she met a really nice guy there and they’re dating?”

“Oh, what nonsense.”

“Look at this, look at this. England says that even if you seem like an adult at some point, the next time you look at it, you’re still young. Isn’t a mother a woman?”

After finishing the conversation, Song Jeong-seok pushes the pork cutlet into his mouth. As I look at him with the pork cutlet sauce on his mouth, I wonder if he doesn’t know. I really wonder if the reason my mother wants to stay in Namhang Market is not because of the affection of the merchants, but because she has something else.

* * *

Flounder is in season. Its chewy and springy texture, enough to be called the representative raw fish of spring, whets the appetite of many tourists visiting Namhang. After the customers who had flocked in like a rising tide quickly left, it was time to take a break. The merchants’ calves are heavy as if they have fallen into a tidal flat, but their mouths are always full of happiness.

“It’s already lunchtime.”

Lunch is a bit later than others, but no one is complaining. Because all of this was the scene of their lives and their way of living. How can you not laugh when you see all the flounder chests you got from going to the market sold out even while you were sleeping?

“By the way, I’m going to the parents’ meeting today.”

I stopped walking towards the store next door. Come to think of it, didn’t Ms. Yang say she was going to her daughter Myeong-ja’s parents’ meeting today? I want to have lunch with other merchants, but I can’t help it because everyone’s store opening times and meal times are different.

‘My little boy eats well and hangs out.’

Like any other day at sea, it is hard on a woman’s body, but she still thinks only of her son. As if thinking of such a mother, England contacted me not long ago. After hesitating for a while, he asked me to come up to Seoul and live with him. But the mother just shook her head at her son over the phone.

‘It’s easier to pay if you’re in South Port.’

City life was so complicated that it was difficult to put my mind at ease. What’s more, isn’t it easier now that store work is done by hand? Thinking back to the first time I set up a fish stall, I realized that a lot of time had passed. Her once white and fair palms were already full of calluses, and her face was scorched by the sea breeze, creating a line or two of wrinkles that showed the depth of time.

“Is this what Kook told you to put on your face?”

I apply the nutritional cream my son sent me to the area around my eyes. The wrinkles won’t go away anytime soon, but my mother’s face is more beautiful than anyone else’s. It’s already been a long time since I haven’t put on makeup, so even applying nourishing cream can’t help but feel awkward. However, even if the beauty of the past does not go anywhere, the beautiful beauty remains the same.

“Look at my true spirit.”

After staring at the mirror for a long time, he swallows his embarrassed expression and jumps up from his seat. Come to think of it, I guess I didn’t put the stew on the burner. The lid of the pot rises and falls as the heat builds up, as if the impatient kimchi stew is urging its mother.

“The soup bowl should be here.”

I reach out my hand to take out the soup bowl from the cupboard. But somehow I don’t think about reaching it. I stood on tiptoe and stretched out my fingertips as hard as I could, but as soon as I could reach them, the soup bowl went deeper into the cupboard. It was then.

Sook.

Suddenly, a shadow appears from behind. His long forearm sticks out and takes out the bowl of soup that was curled up in the corner of the cupboard. The mother calms her startled mind and looks back. There, Mr. Kim, the side dish shop owner with an awkward look on his face, stands blankly holding out a bowl of soup.

“Oh, it looked like it was difficult to take it out…”

Only then did the mother calm down her surprise. For some reason, why does it make me laugh whenever I look at Mr. Kim? The mother takes the bowl of soup and asks kindly.

“Did you come to buy cockles? These days, it’s out of season and I’m feeling pathetic.”

“Oh no.”

“Okay.”

“It’s nothing else…”

Mr. Kim scratches his head.

“Would you like to have lunch together?”