I Will Live As An Actor Chapter 66

I will live as an actor Episode 66

My heart is pounding.

This is my first time going on stage in a play since my last life. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. Moreover, isn’t it the stage of Hyeseong, the theater company that I worked with in my past life? As if between coincidence and inevitability, I am once again on stage in a play. Moreover, ‘Morning in the Western Sky’ was my theater debut in the past.

‘Is it a trick of fate?’

I couldn’t believe it. When I heard from the staff that they were looking for the role of supporting actor Do Jeong-soo, it seemed like the whole thing was a joke planned by God. It doesn’t matter if it’s a trick of God or if this is all a coincidence.

‘Let’s have some fun.’

As the intro begins, the stage lights shine and the audience fills the auditorium. At that moment, a man (England) appears on the theater stage with his face heavily painted in charcoal soot and one leg limping. The man limps with wooden crutches under his armpits. In the end, he throws away his crutches and says:

“Isn’t it a very difficult world?”

Act 1, Scene 1.

The theater stage is a marketplace. A man is sitting amidst merchants and people walking around. He shines shoes, but no one pays him any attention. Isn’t that right after the end of the Korean War? We live in an age where it is acceptable not to walk around barefoot, let alone wearing shoes. The boy mumbles to himself as if complaining. However, his natural vocal ability extends all the way to the audience.

“I was conscripted as a student soldier to catch North Korean gangsters coming down south of the Nakdong River. I didn’t know anything at the time, so I held a rifle in my small hand with the sole intention of saving the country. All of my brothers who went with me died and I, the youngest, survived. “With my legs sore like this. Hey, you guy passing by. Shine your shoes and go!”

Tsk.

“Look, in today’s world, it’s hard for a shoe shiner to make a living. In fact, it’s better to be a dung beggar. Even if you want to be a dung beggar, you can’t do it because there are so many beggars. I’ve already told the story. “Okay, I’ll have to tell you about my time in the trenches.”

Before you know it, people are gathering one by one in front of the shoe shine boy who is talking to himself. His vocalizations and facial expressions grab people’s attention like Jeon Jeon-su (storyteller) who used to visit Hanyang. He picks up the crutches lying on the ground and poses as if he were holding a rifle.

“A young guy must have ever touched a rifle. Bullets rained down outside the trench, grenades exploded, and blood, whether human or not, fell from above my head like rain, and I could only tremble. Then one day, the person sitting next to me It’s not like my brother was shot and collapsed. Blood was gushing out before I knew it. I thought this was a mess, so I stuck my head out the window and opened fire with my gun. But luckily, I hit the North Korean company commander, Daegalbak. Suddenly, I couldn’t even see the army. People who work for a place come and give me encouragement, give me rice and meat soup, and even raise my rank? I guess I should have run away then. If I had, my legs wouldn’t have gotten so bad. Are you curious about the next story?”

Meanwhile.

Actor Seo Jong-in is sitting in the center row of the audience and watching the stage. His eyes are always focused on Do Jeong-su (England) on the stage. The same goes for other audiences. Aren’t you being sucked into his voice, as if you were falling into a swamp? For sure.

‘I said I’ve never done a play.’

It made no sense.

Theater acting and movie acting are different.

Unlike movies, where the audience faces the audience through a screen, plays meet the audience on a proceum stage close to the audience seats. Therefore, the habits I developed while acting in movies are almost useless. Because we had to transform not only vocalization and tone of voice but also maximizing facial expressions that required emotional acting. Isn’t this why many movie stars swallowed bitter sorrow by trying out for plays? But.

‘Does this even make sense?’

The appearance of England on the stage of the play was as if she had become one with student soldier Do Jeong-su.

* * *

Playwright.

If you were to name the most famous playwright in Korea, Jeong Yong-dae would definitely come to mind. He wrote so many plays that it is no exaggeration to say that he was involved in the modern and contemporary history of Korean theater, and the most famous of them is ‘Ajeokgoyo (No Wind)’, which was selected for the Korean Literary Award in 1985.

Wasn’t this a remake in a Western style that captured the hearts of not only the UK, which is called the mecca of theater, but also American theater artists? Some British people even praised the Asian playwright as the second Shakespeare.

However. He also had worries and was in

a slump.

It is like a fate that a writer cannot avoid. It’s not uncommon for writing that was going well to stop appearing overnight, as if fog had covered your eyes. Because of this, Jeong Yong-dae was suffering from such a severe slump that he was unable to write the first sentence of his play for nearly three years.

“It’s morning in the western sky…”

The place he visited while suffering from a slump was none other than Daehakro. This place, a place of youth and romance, was also the place where plays were most active in Korea. Everyone suffers from hunger and eats a bowl of ramen to fuel their passion for theater. Jeong Yong-dae decides to watch the Daehakro theater stage again to find his original intention.

The curtain rises on the stage of the play.

As time passed, it was not the lead role in the play that caught Jeong Yong-dae’s attention. As a play that tells the story of the horrors of the Korean War, there is no detail lacking in the structure of the interlude or scene changes. However, it is none other than the supporting actors that attract the most attention.

‘Do Jeong-su.’

A question arises in Jeong Yong-dae’s mind. Clearly, with that level of acting ability, he would have been able to secure the lead role. Movie stars and theater performers who move through the frame beyond the screen must show all their emotions on stage.

In that sense, it is no exaggeration to say that the blocking (movement) of the young actor playing the role of Do Jeong-su literally dominates the entire stage.

After the play is over, the only thing that comes to playwright Jeong Yong-dae’s mind is the face of the actor who played the role of Do Jeong-su. It definitely didn’t look ordinary. His tall stature and distinct features were not something that could be hidden by charcoal soot. I felt like I went straight to the waiting room after the play ended and found out who he was, but it was a deep feeling.

‘That’s not polite to juniors.’

I didn’t want to interrupt the time I had to relax after finishing the play. But the most important thing is that thanks to the actor who played the role of Do Jeong-su, the inspiration for writing, which had been blocked like a clogged sewer until now, began to flash in my head.

He returns to his studio and taps on his typewriter ceaselessly. Dusk fell thickly outside the window until dawn rose again. Even as the day goes by, his typewriter shows no signs of stopping. How much time has passed?

“Maybe I should have at least asked your name.”

Yongdae Jeong stands up, stretching his numb shoulders. The sofa he got up on swells again as if he lets out the breath he had been holding. Yongdae Jeong takes out a can of beer from the refrigerator in his studio, opens it, and quenches his thirst. And then I turn on the TV, which I have never turned on before. For the past three years, writing has been blocked and you have even stayed away from TV. It was then.

“Fuuuup!”

Beer spurts out of Jeong Yong-dae’s mouth. In his eyes, he sees the actor he met last evening on the Daehakro theater stage. Didn’t you film a TV commercial on a cathode ray tube? The theater actor, who clearly showed an aura that cannot be described in words, winks at Jeong Yong-dae in the TV.

-Handsome men like apples.

* * *

winter.

Filming is also now nearing its end. Haven’t you had a rough ride over the past three months? Nowadays, wearing priest uniforms feels as natural as wearing school uniforms. During his days off from filming, he sometimes visited the theater company Hyeseong in Daehakro.

‘There was chaos.’

Even though I only acted as a pinch hitter as a supporting actor once, I had to listen to the CEO who told me that there was even an article about where the rumor came from. They tell me not to go out alone without a manager, but these days, Bongchun always follows me around as if he were my babysitter.

“England, are you going to attend the SBC Drama Awards next week?”

“Is it already so late?”

“Of course. These days, my agency is getting several calls a day. They’re worried that you might not be able to attend the award ceremony because you’re busy filming a movie. Even though the CEO told me that you might not be able to go because the filming schedule is at the end, Producer Kim Jin said that England will receive the award. “I heard that he must appear. He asked what would happen if the main character leaves.”

In a way, it’s natural.

Isn’t the drama ‘Youth’ a work that solved a long-held dream that the SBC drama department had been unable to solve for several years? Moreover, even though it was a one-off for a teen drama, it broke an incredible record by exceeding 40% in viewership ratings. by the way.

‘Have you ever received an award like this in your past life?’

As expected, the dramas he appeared in in his past life were mainly minor and supporting roles. Moreover, even before the acting came into effect, he did not receive any decent awards. When I was a rookie, I lived a life that was very far from the word mourning.

“But why doesn’t Actor Seo come today?”

Bongchun looks suspiciously at the closed waiting room door. After attending Daehakro Theater Company Hyesung together, I became very close with actor Seo Jong-in and we hung out together almost every movie shooting day. But today he won’t come.

“Today’s scene is emotionally important.”

When I picked up the script again and showed it to him, Bongchun carefully left the waiting room without making a sound. So, is today’s photo shoot important? You can tell just by looking at the fact that actor Seo Jong-in, who is famous for being talkative and good-natured, never shows his face in the waiting room. Anyway, it was a scene that was difficult to control my emotions. for example.

“You get hit in the foot by an ax you trusted.”

I face the waiting room mirror and smile.

* * *

“Scene No. 101 The truth is revealed!”

The sight of detective Seo Do-gwang (actor Seo Jong-in) leaving the autopsy room is urgent. On his face, there is only nervousness and urgency that I have never seen before. As expected, a fifth victim was discovered.

The wound that damaged the heart and the cross scar drawn on the chest indicate that they are the same criminal. But the truly scary thing doesn’t end there.

“shit!”

Seo Do-gwang, holding the steering wheel, shouts harshly. This is because of the clues given by the autopsy doctor. Didn’t the killer, who had never left even the usual fingerprints or hair or blood, cut the victim’s chest with a cross and put something inside?

-It’s a cross statue. I don’t think it’s for sale on the market, and it looks like someone made it separately. The weapon, which matched the existing scars, also matched a sharpened wood carving knife.

When the autopsy doctor showed him the cross statue found on the victim’s body, Seo Do-gwang’s eyes widened as if they were torn. As he looks at the steering wheel, he sees a wooden cross sculpture on the dashboard.

-Would you like to give one to your brother too?

Wasn’t it something that a young priest who was an assistant priest gave it to him when he visited the diocese a few days ago? A cross statue identical to that was found on the victim’s body. We still don’t know whether the young priest is a murderer or not. The killer may have done it deliberately to frame him. However.

Detective Seo Do-gwang’s intuition speaks for itself. The young priest is the suspect. He immediately calls the parish and confirms the young priest’s location. I heard that you attended a mother ship fundraising event held at an orphanage. He immediately turns the car around and heads to the orphanage where the mother ship fund event is being held.

“Where is Father Matthew?”

Seo Do-gwang, who has a scary appearance, grabs the orphanage teacher and chases her. The teacher unconsciously hesitates at the grim appearance of Seo Do-gwang, who suddenly asks for the bride’s location. However, when Seo Do-gwang takes out his police official ID card from inside his leather jacket and shows it to him, he begins to stutter.

“I’m currently having a conversation with Rep. Kim Min-cheol.”

“What! Where is it!”

“You are in the director’s office on the third floor.”

Detective Seo Do-gwang bites his lip and runs up the stairs. The cinematographer follows behind using a hand kelly. Blood is already seeping thickly under the door of the director’s office on the third floor. When Seo Do-gwang kicks down the door, the orphanage director looks terrified and trembles, hiding under the table. And Seo Do-gwang faces it.

“…!”

The sight of an elderly member of the National Assembly dying cruelly. Sure enough, his heart was stabbed with a sharp woodworking knife. Like other victims, there is a long cross pattern drawn on his chest, visible through his unbuttoned shirt. and.

Trudging.

A young priest dressed in black robes stands. It is full of blood stains, as if red water droplets were sprinkled on black drawing paper, and the white collar of the Roman collar is also stained bright red. But that wasn’t what surprised Detective Seo Do-gwang (actor Seo Jong-in). The eerie look under his neatly combed hair said he was a murderer, but the voice that followed contained the piety of a priest.

“Brother, are you here?”

The corners of the young priest’s mouth go up like a crazy woman.