If I Don’t Earn 1 Trillion Won, My Regression Ends - Chapter 22

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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 22

The prop room was quiet.

Ham Gyeong-seok gazed intently at Seosing-a.

Although the guardians and staff had all left, the environment was utterly dismal. The private meeting between the director and the young model who could barely be called an actor took place in this shabby prop room.

I’ll make you a star.

The child was bewildered by words that sounded like the typical line of a business card-peddling scammer.

Better than when she was forcing herself to act mature. Thinking this, Ham Gyeong-seok removed his horn-rimmed glasses and rubbed his brow.

“You’re not pretending to cry anymore.”

“…Ah, that.”

“What.”

“Did you… notice…?”

“Just because I’m filming commercials doesn’t change the fact that I’m a film director. How many actors do you think I’ve seen crying in front of me?”

“…Too many to count, I suppose.”

“That’s right.”

Ham Gyeong-seok, having affirmed this, thought for a moment before speaking.

“Still, it was watchable. Your crying face has an overly strong melodramatic feel that would divide opinions, but that kind of thing works well on television. Especially when you’re young.”

“Director, I’m not going to be an entertainer…”

“Well. That remains to be seen.”

The director’s meaningful tone carried a sense of helplessness that even he wasn’t aware of.

Life doesn’t go according to plan.

Even one’s own fate was like that. Ham Gyeong-seok was an adult who understood this well.

“…”

Seosing-a was about to argue but gave up.

A slightly resigned expression. Not childlike.

Ham Gyeong-seok liked exactly this aspect of Seosing-a.

After all, actors must possess narrative. It had to naturally permeate their face and eyes without being spoken.

“You asked me before. Whether your talent was that amazing, whether I saw something special.”

“Yes?”

“On audition day. Your mother asked, but that was ultimately what you wanted to ask, wasn’t it.”

Seosing-a was gradually catching on by now.

This director with green horn-rimmed glasses wasn’t someone easy to fool. He was the most formidable person she’d met since her regression.

“What did I answer then?”

「I saw it, I did. Definitely.」

“That day, I didn’t see exceptional acting talent or the potential to become a beauty of the century in you. You know better than I do what you looked like that day.”

That day’s audition was on the miserable side.

The child who got drenched was pitiful, terrified, and her competitors regarded her like a ridiculous clown.

It could be called the absolute worst audition the director had ever seen.

‘But…’

Ham Gyeong-seok slowly examined Seosing-a as he spoke.

“But that day, I saw star quality.”

The child cried.

She kept glancing toward Yun Yirae as if she knew her, and those eyes were both innocent and cunning.

The sensitive and sharp Ham Gyeong-seok quickly noticed that this little kid was calculating something even while crying.

But the tears, at least, were sincere and pure.

It was very contradictory.

Outwardly an immature child, yet inside seemed to contain a mature adult.

Ham Gyeong-seok didn’t know this fact, but ultimately someone who had grown young through the miracle of regression couldn’t give the same feeling as ordinary children.

“Actually, an actor’s talent is predetermined. Excellent observation skills, emotional sensitivity and empathy to create feelings, imagination, flexibility to use the body like an instrument, and so on.”

“…”

“But those things aren’t the most important.”

What the public wants and what directors want is much simpler.

A face with narrative.

And eyes that seem to speak.

Actors must speak with their eyes even without words, and stars must go one step further to know how to captivate people with their eyes.

And if their eyes can do such things…

A director’s eyes possess a kind of viewfinder.

While checking the subject that entered the actual camera lens, Ham Gyeong-seok was once again convinced that his eyes weren’t wrong.

Therefore, all other problems were merely trivial noise.

“Star quality isn’t something you refine and train.”

“…”

“It’s just there, in you. You possess it.”

An innate realm.

It was the weapon of a very few, chosen ones.

It didn’t matter if she didn’t realize it right away.

Even if wielding the weapon was up to the actor themselves, capturing and discovering them was the director’s role.

Looking at Seosing-a who was frozen and couldn’t even speak, Ham Gyeong-seok calmly announced.

“As soon as the set is cleared, the staff will leave with only the minimum crew remaining. A 16mm film camera will shoot you in one take. I’ll hold it and film directly.”

Being afraid of people was fine, but…

“Don’t be afraid of the camera.”

Ham Gyeong-seok wasn’t unaware.

The fact that the child had been terrified throughout today’s shoot.

Her actions were cunning yet foolish in some ways, but her innate nature was shy and easily nervous.

During the preparation period, the assistant director had reluctantly mentioned that the child was afraid of water.

There wasn’t time to replace the model, so the adults played dumb and ended up informing her on the day of shooting, but…

The child, despite being afraid of water, had diligently learned to swim every single day for weeks without missing once, and spent the entire day in water without complaining even once.

Watching the young actor struggle in the water, the director had to admit he was quite moved.

Wasn’t such an actor worth discovering?

“Remember just this one thing, Seosing-a.”

“Yes, Director.”

Seosing-a looked up at Ham Gyeong-seok with trembling eyes.

A young face and tearful gaze.

So lovely that the stoic director couldn’t help but break into a rare smile.

“I’m going to send you up to the stars.”

♧

“Since film is expensive, we’ll only do three rehearsals focusing on blocking. After that, the actor and I will figure it out ourselves.”

The German-made 16mm film camera weighs about 8kg, but with underwater equipment attached, the weight doubles or triples.

Truly a massive chunk of metal.

But the director who shouldered that chunk of metal on his shoulder brooked no opposition.

Someone raised a weak voice of protest.

But when the person sitting in a corner of the set, heavily armed with a trench coat, sunglasses, and mask, stepped forward, the scene fell quiet.

I stood dazedly in the middle of that chaos and thought.

‘He’s crazy…’

I should have realized it when the staff were whispering about Ham Gyeong-seok being eccentric…!

He really was eccentric.

‘What kind of person is like that?’

I had been in the humanities my entire life, living within set boundaries.

Under parents who struggled with debt yet did their best for their child’s education, all I could do was study.

I did night study sessions, took the college entrance exam, barely got into a decent university, barely graduated, and then barely, barely, barely got a job at a small company.

On blind dates when someone asked “What are your hobbies?” I’d answer “Watching movies,” and when they asked “What kind of movies do you like?” I’d answer “La La Land” – I was that ordinary of a person.

Dreams?

I liked to imagine things, so I did fantasize sometimes.

When I was young I wanted to be an astronaut, and when I grew up I wanted to be a teacher, but at some point all I wished for was to own my own home.

I was ordinary and unremarkable, with absolutely nothing special about me.

So this really is a first.

Meeting someone who seriously does ‘art’ this closely.

“Remember just this one thing, Seosing-a. I’m going to make you a star.”

The cramped prop room.

In that place where dust floated instead of sunlight, I couldn’t breathe.

Only after frantically escaping from there and being held in Mother’s arms did I realize my heart was pounding like it would burst.

It wasn’t from joy or excitement, but from fear.

A very absurd fear, a kind of fear I’d never encountered before.

‘This is ridiculous.’

The only reason I came to shoot this CF was for seed money!

Right. It was the desperate struggle of someone trying not to return to a brain-dead state.

I know Seosing-a well.

I’m not the kind of person Ham Gyeong-seok is talking about.

“Seosing-a. Are you ready?”

The crazy green horn-rimmed glasses approached and asked.

I’d heard rumors that he fell from grace because actors avoided him after he abused them, and it must be true. This person really is crazy.

Star quality?

Star quality?

“Seosing-a.”

Ham Gyeong-seok calls my name once more.

“…”

I looked up at the dice window floating above the crazy eccentric director’s head, the one that had been there the entire time Ham Gyeong-seok was speaking in the prop room, and answered like someone possessed.

【Relationship – Ham Gyeong-seok, born 1969】

【Category: Culture·Arts (Film Director)】

【Potential: ★★★★☆】

“…Yes. Director. I’m ready.”

I’m not that kind of person.

But just once.

I wanted to try succeeding just this once.

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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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