I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 147

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 147

“Ugh, it’s particularly chilly today.”

p>The next morning.

Seon-woo was waiting at the cinema with Min-hee.

Why was he with Min-hee when he had suggested watching a movie with Do-won?

When Seo Ryeong heard that Seon-woo and Do-won were going to see [The Ladder of Eden], she suddenly asked if she and Min-hee could join them.

Since both of them happened to have free time in the morning for their call times, Do-won couldn’t refuse… So now the two youngest were at the cinema first, waiting for their seniors.

The two looked around the cinema.

Saturday morning at eight o’clock. Even considering it was the weekend, it was still early morning, but the cinema was already packed with people.

“I heard cinemas really have no people these days… but not today.”

“It’s probably thanks to [The Ladder of Eden]. Winning at Cannes is really a big event in Korea.”

“That’s true. Anyway, Do-young hyung is amazing too. I always thought he was an incredible person… but he was even more insane than I thought.”

“Do-young hyung is a cheat.”

“…But it feels a bit weird when you say that.”

“Why me?”

“You’re not ordinary either, you know? Do you know there are many kids who say they came to Cheongseong because of you?”

“I don’t think I’m at that level…”

“You are at that level. It’s just that Do-young hyung is too outstanding. You’re also quite a monster yourself.”

“That’s a compliment, right?”

“No, it’s an insult.”

“…That’s really too much.”

Seon-woo chuckled and adjusted his mask.

He had to do this because people recognized him too easily.

His SNS followers, which had started exploding since [Red Zone] began, had already surpassed 300,000.

This meant that most people now recognized him.

But even wearing a mask couldn’t help with people’s gazes being drawn to them. Due to their exceptional height and proportions, even with masks on, there were many people who looked at them wondering ‘Are they celebrities?’

“At this rate, if people recognize it’s us two, won’t there really be dating rumors?”

“…Come on, no way.”

“There were already people in the communities shipping us as a real couple.”

“I think that’s good. It means we acted with good chemistry.”

“That’s true.”

Min-hee nodded.

Watching her, something suddenly made him curious. Seon-woo looked at Min-hee.

“But sunbae, would you date if you had the chance?”

“Dating?”

“It’s usually one of two things. Either do it secretly or don’t do it at all. Public dating honestly won’t benefit you in most cases.”

“That’s true. Well, honestly I’m not thinking about it much right now. I gave up early on the idea of marrying young when I started acting… For now, I need to focus on work. What about you?”

“I…”

Seon-woo thought for a moment.

Actually, from an actor’s perspective, this wasn’t even worth considering. If he dated, his marketability would immediately crumble.

And if his marketability crumbled, his roles would decrease too.

It would become impossible to freely showcase the acting he wanted.

Of course, through Yoon-seo, he had felt that love was a much more beautiful emotion than he had thought.

Even so,

“I want to focus on work too.”

“…Really? That’s unexpected.”

“Unexpected? Isn’t it rather like me?”

“No, you’re quite faithful to your emotions. So I thought if you fell in love, you’d be faithful to those emotions too.”

Faithful to emotions.

When had he gained such an image? But it didn’t sound too bad.

For Seon-woo, who still worried about being too gray, it even sounded like a compliment.

“These days, my ambition as an actor is growing more and more.”

“So you’re an ambitious guy?”

“You could say that.”

Well, he didn’t exactly have a specific goal of what to achieve as an actor yet… but the desire to meet good works and do good acting was always with Seon-woo.

But Min-hee soon frowned.

“Still, you need to try dating at least once.”

“Why?”

“You’ve never had a relationship. You need to date to know love.”

“…I’m not someone who’s never dated.”

“Huh? You said you’ve never been in love.”

“I have dated before. I just broke up because no matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t feel like it was love.”

“…What, this guy was secretly a bad boy?”

Min-hee looked at Seon-woo as if seeing him anew.

But even this felt very much like Seon-woo. Normally, one might just go along with it if they felt reasonably good about someone, but because he was serious about relationships, he couldn’t carelessly continue them.

“And now I know love.”

“…Don’t tell me you’re going to say you know love because you loved So-hee?”

“That’s what I was going to say. Is that not okay?”

“Oh my…”

No matter what, it was a bit much to call that the same as real love.

How should she explain this? Just as Min-hee was lost in thought,

“Our youngest ones!”

Seo Ryeong suddenly approached and hugged them both. She was fully armed with a mask, sunglasses, and even a hat.

Do-won behind her was dressed the same way.

‘We must look really suspicious.’

Four people heavily armed with masks from morning, with exceptional height no less, coming to watch a movie?

It wasn’t a combination you’d commonly see.

In fact, people’s gazes were focused on them much more than before.

Do-won opened his mouth.

“Should we go in for now? We might get caught if we’re not careful.”

“Yes! Let’s go in, senior.”

Fortunately, there wasn’t much time left before the movie screening.

As they handed over their tickets and entered the theater, Seon-woo felt his heart pounding heavily.

‘…How much has Do-young hyung grown?’

The Do-young that Seon-woo remembered was already a complete actor.

But that Do-young wouldn’t have settled for staying there. He would have prepared new acting to match the new environment of movies.

What kind of acting it would be, honestly, he couldn’t even gauge right now.

It was also scary.

What if he saw acting that he couldn’t even dare to follow… or imitate?

The color of the Priest that Do-young had shown in [Confession], those brilliant golden waves, contained a sacredness that even the current Seon-woo would find difficult to imitate.

When would he be able to paint such colors? It was so distant that even gauging it seemed impossible.

But just because it was scary didn’t mean he could avoid it.

Seon-woo settled into his chair and slowly released his tension.

He had a vague premonition. Even though it wasn’t a work he appeared in, and he was merely watching someone else’s work… somehow he felt that this moment would be a very important turning point in his acting career.

And that thought wasn’t wrong.

—They say having an apartment in Seoul means a successful life.

The intro begins with a low voice.

A voice that seemed blunt yet not, kind yet not, as if light and darkness coexisted.

It was Do-young’s voice.

The voice of a heavenly actor that could instantly relax tension and draw in immersion just by resonating.

At the same time, what was captured on screen was Seoul’s landscape.

Between towering skyscrapers, a scene where the lights of buildings and cars flowed endlessly along the Han River.

—But to us as children, Seoul apartments meant more than just success.

What follows is a view of the shantytown.

Shacks densely connected between narrow alleys too small for even one car to pass through.

What was interesting was the scene that followed next.

Across a single road, the shacks neighbored what seemed to be recently built 90s-style apartments.

An apartment complex stretching out like a fortress.

The moment when the endless rows of apartment complexes with ‘Eden’ signs on their walls were illuminated along with the back view of a shantytown child,

—We called that place Eden.

The screen changes with Do-young’s voice.

The screen that had captured the towering apartment scenery now filled the frame with a jungle gym reaching high into the sky, maintaining the same composition.

And then, the next moment, the figure of a buzz cut child collapsing to the ground.

Simultaneously, a boy with bangs styled in a bridge cut frowns while looking at the buzz cut child.

—Ah, get lost! You don’t live in our apartment! Why are you playing in our playground!

—…

Buzz Cut doesn’t give any answer.

Instead, his face contorts with anger as he charges at Bridge Boy.

And the next moment, Buzz Cut was being scolded by his mother with his face covered in bruises.

Even in the midst of this, he still seemed angry, breathing heavily.

—Mom, why can’t I play in that Eden playground?

—…Well, because you’re not a resident there.

—Let’s move. I want to play in that playground too.

—No.

—Ah, Mom, please~.

—Do you want to live in Eden?

—Yes!

—Then Seung-ho just needs to study hard. If you study hard and become a prosecutor or judge, you can buy ten apartments like Eden, okay?

—Really?

By that point, Seon-woo could naturally understand what direction this movie [The Ladder of Eden] was flowing in.

Buzz Cut, no, Seung-ho studies.

The movie shows Seung-ho desperately studying to enter Eden and gradually growing through numerous montage sequences. It crams his studying, exercising, cheering for himself alone, and growing while slapping his own cheeks into just a few seconds.

And when the child actor who had been gradually growing and changing finally transformed into Do-young,

“…!”

Seon-woo felt it.

That everyone in the theater was feeling the same shock as him.

Before they knew it, on screen Do-young in a suit was looking at his phone screen with dissatisfied eyes.

It was a truly shocking visual.

His three-dimensional features seemed like they would pierce through the screen, making them wonder if what they were watching was really a 2D movie.

—Hey, our Prosecutor Jang. Why are you so angry from the morning?

—Senior. Don’t we need to reassess prosecutor salaries?

—Salary? Why. Don’t you like it?

—No, apartment prices are rising vertically every year, but prosecutor salaries are practically staying in place.

—Well, civil servant salaries are what they are.

—At this rate, when will I ever buy a house and when will I get married?

—The answer? Want me to tell you?

—Yes.

The senior smirks.

—I can’t do either.

Quite satisfied with his own joke, the senior chuckles as he leaves the room, while Seung-ho’s gaze turns toward the TV positioned in one corner of the prosecutor’s office.

On the news, along with scenes of an apartment complex being demolished, a familiar name was displayed as subtitles.

‘Eden Apartment, Reconstruction Confirmed! Pre-sales to Begin Next Year’

By now, anyone would have no choice but to know what kind of movie [The Ladder of Eden] was.

This was ultimately a story about Seung-ho’s struggle to enter Eden Apartment.

Seung-ho’s struggle intensifies even more after he wins the apartment lottery.

To secure the down payment and interim payment for the lottery contract, he eventually succumbs to bribes that he wouldn’t have bothered accepting before.

The irony of committing sins to reach Eden, paradise.

Naturally, Seung-ho’s corruption begins to leave traces that get discovered.

Unfortunately, he gets targeted by a prosecutor from the Special Investigations Unit famous for being a relentless pursuer. Rather than protecting Seung-ho, his superiors try to cut him loose, and in a situation where he’s lost everything… the prosecutor from the Special Investigations Unit looks at Seung-ho and says this.

—You should have lived within your means.

—…What?

—Why did you get greedy? If you had just stayed in your given position and done your assigned work, you wouldn’t have ruined your life like this.

And that finally flips Seung-ho’s switch.

—Where is my position?

—Huh?

—The dirty shantytown? The basement where I have to wake up every morning smelling mold? There?

—Wait… mmph…!

Seung-ho grabs the prosecutor by the throat.

—I hated cockroaches terribly. I hated the dampness of the basement, and I hated having to climb so many stairs every time I went home. I wanted to play in the playground.

—Guh…

His eyes are already rolled back.

—Who are you… who are you to decide my position? Huh? Huh?

Chilling madness.

The problem was that this madness wasn’t unfamiliar. A simple desire that any ordinary person would have—the wish to live a better life.

But when that desire keeps swelling endlessly, what form does it take?

“…”

At some point, Seon-woo found himself crying along with Seung-ho.

He knows. Actually, this isn’t really a scene worth crying over as a viewer. But as an actor, Seon-woo couldn’t help but cry.

Right now, at this moment, before Seon-woo’s eyes… a landscape he had never even imagined in his lifetime was unfolding.

Darkness.

An emotion that could only be called darkness, like pitch-black ink, overflows and spills from Seung-ho.

It fills the screen completely, and even the audience seats… no, even the audience themselves seem to be stained by that darkness.

And if there’s anything that sparkles alone in that darkness, it would be Seung-ho’s eyes.

Eyes that hold a light so pure and innocent, unsuited to this situation.

The name of that light would surely be… Eden.

In this moment, Seon-woo felt a pleasure that made all the hair on his body stand on end.

It’s a horrific scene.

But that’s exactly why it’s ecstatic.

He could feel that all the characters and narratives built up until now were for the sake of capturing that look in Do-young’s eyes at this very moment.

That light which is nothing to some,

But everything to others.

In this moment, Seon-woo understood Do-won.

Why exactly he had chased after Yoo Chan-woo, wanting to appear in his movies.

If one could act in such a scene, if one could become part of such a movie, could there be any greater happiness for an actor?

His heart pounds as if it might burst.

It was unbearable that he wasn’t inside that screen.

He had never felt such emotion toward Do-young before… but at this moment, he felt jealous to the point of anger.

‘As expected, senior is amazing.’

With emotions that seemed both frustrated and joyful, emotions he couldn’t understand himself, Seon-woo clenched his fist tightly.

He knows. Right now, even if he were brought to that set immediately, he couldn’t deliver such acting.

It was acting that made him realize his own shortcomings once again.

And because of that, Seon-woo made a resolution.

Someday, Seon-woo too would be in such a work, performing such acting, creating such an incredible picture.

He would definitely shine just like him.

…But Seon-woo probably didn’t know.

How his eyes were sparkling at this moment as he made that resolution.

A light exactly like Do-young’s in the screen was dwelling in those eyes.

If someone were to see his eyes right now, they would surely say this.

The name of that light is…

Surely it would be ‘dream’.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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