If I Don’t Earn 1 Trillion Won, My Regression Ends - Chapter 94

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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 94

The set immediately froze like ice.

“…Director, wait a moment. That’s going a bit too far-“

“How many takes did we go for just this scene?”

Haemun ignored Geum Ju-ran’s words, cutting her off as he turned his head to the side.

The script supervisor answered like a disciplined private.

“That was take 24 just now, and among them, takes 5 and 9 were okay candidates, with take 9 being technically the cleanest. Director.”

“Twenty-four… What the hell. So we wasted almost thirty million won? Thirty million just to open your mouth – I really hired an expensive actor.”

Haemun grumbled and looked up. He was about to say something more to me but hesitated. He looked around, clicked his tongue, and stood up.

“Everyone done gawking? What are you all staring at? 10-minute break! Seosing-a, you follow me.”

The courage I had desperately gathered had long since vanished without a trace.

I was dragged away, pale as a chicken about to be boiled in a pot…

“Why do you think I went twenty-four times?”

As soon as we entered the cabin, Haemun asked bluntly.

Haemun in director mode was truly scary, no joke. It wasn’t for nothing that I’d been intimidated by this scruffy 5-star old man all this time.

“Right. I didn’t say anything because I have a shitty personality – I was curious to see how far you’d go, so I watched. I admit I tormented you.”

‘You did torment me! I want to sue this person for child abuse, sob…!’

“But do you act alone? Are you properly watching what your scene partner is doing?”

“I am watch-“

“Then how did all twenty-four takes come out exactly the same? Shouldn’t a human being improve or change even a little? What are you, a machine? You’re an actor, Seosing-a! Where are you looking? Won’t you look at my eyes?”

“…”

Before my regression, I was a model student throughout my school years.

I’d never been called to the teacher’s office to be scolded.

After my parents had a fake divorce due to debt and Dad fled to the United States, Mom raised me alone for over 10 years.

Dad sent money regularly even while being chased by creditors, but it was pocket change earned by someone who couldn’t speak a word of English washing dishes at restaurants, and Mom gradually lost her laughter and words as days passed.

Back then, all I could do was study.

I wasn’t particularly smart, so the only thing I could rely on was the time I spent sitting at my desk, and I had never missed a single day of school before.

This habit became part of my life, and it was the same later when I went to college and got a job.

My diligence was truly an ordinary ability that no one recognized as special, but even after the miracle of regression, this was still the only ability I could claim.

So I practiced, cutting into my sleep time.

I am not a genius.

The ‘same acting’ that Haemun pointed out was the result of practicing every single day for two years since I received the 《Family History》 script.

I really am not a genius.

【Passive Skill】 Hall of Persona

– [Infinite Rehearsal] Accumulated count: 14,059 times

“Director… I really worked hard…!”

It’s unfair.

‘This is my best, so what more can I do here.’

Tears dripped onto the cabin floor.

My nose tip turned red and snot flowed. I thought I was crying very uglily.

After being tormented by Jeong Hyeon-hye and Choi Chamsol and repeating hundreds of times how to cry most prettily, I could cry more beautifully than anyone, but real tears don’t come out that way.

It was beyond my control.

Silence settled into the cabin.

Only the sound of me hiccupping and sobbing.

“…Haah.”

After a long while, Haemun sighed and spoke as if lamenting.

“…I can’t even get angry. I’m filming while serving a master. Hey, crybaby. Won’t you stop? Do you have to spread rumors about someone’s character being ruined?”

“You’re right, you’re right… *hic*, you’re right, *sob*…”

“Oh? Even while crying, you have to curse me out. Who said you didn’t work hard?”

His tone was noticeably gentler than before.

Haemun extended his sleeve as if to wipe away my tears.

But when I recoiled in horror because Haemun’s fishing jacket looked dirtier than my snot, he chuckled.

“I’m not saying you can’t do it. You do well. You do really well. You do incredibly well. Like someone who went into my head and came back out, the timing of your wavering gaze, the angle you turn your head – it’s exactly the Sel I imagined. Perfectly to the point of being creepy.”

Haemun leaned against the helm above the yacht cockpit and muttered in a passing tone.

“You’re so identical that it feels like you and I are filming while remaking an already completed movie.”

“…!”

I trembled my shoulders in utter shock. Only then did I realize what Haemun was trying to say!

I almost let out a scream.

‘Fi-Final Cut?!’

My skill was discovered? That’s impossible!

“Why do you stop when you’re doing great? Why do you decide the okay yourself? I tell you to act, but why are takes 1 through 24 all the same? Why do you look at me like ‘This is the best, it’s 100%, why aren’t you satisfied?’ when I, the actual director, am desperately begging you to try more?”

The young master looked at me with serious eyes. He asked slowly.

“Why are you setting the limits of this movie?”

“Director, that’s… I…”

“Come on. Tell me honestly. You have a picture in your head, don’t you.”

Gasp…!

‘Oh, mommy…!’

“Yeah. There are actors like that. The ones who end up holding the megaphone later. But you’re still my actor. Not the director.”

You’re still far from it, so just act for now. Don’t direct. Haemun wagged his index finger like a warning.

“In the end, what I want to say is this. ‘This much should be enough’ is forbidden. Bring out more.”

I got goosebumps and my teeth chattered.

I tensed my trembling body and stared blankly at Haemun, whose face was so serious it was unfamiliar.

Haemun’s sanpaku eyes, standing with the sunlight streaming into the cabin behind him, felt like a noose choking my breath.

5-star potential. A giant who will remain in history.

My maestro who carves even rotten wood and whips even dull horses!

A 5-star was a monster.

He wasn’t someone I could dare to show off petty tricks with a few skills.

“Explode more, show me everything you have. I don’t care if you can’t do it or if you’re lacking. That thing in your head, erase it. Forget it. I, the director, will decide what to show.”

“…”

“Trust me, Seosing-a.”

“…”

“Basic skills. Control. Delivery. Adaptability and so on – all fine. No problems at all. So what you need right now isn’t petty calculations but immersion. An actor’s ‘wildness.'”

The master’s directing pressed down strongly.

“Trust and throw yourself in. Forget everything and become my Seli.”

Knock knock.

– Director. Ten minutes have passed. Do you need more time?

Outside the cabin, the assistant director’s cautious voice could be heard.

The heavy atmosphere was broken by this.

Softening his previously serious face, Haemun spoke as if wheedling.

“I’ll send you to Cannes. That trophy with the palm branch drawn on it – I just need to put it in your hands, right~”

“…”

“Didn’t Coach Hiddink say recently, ‘I am still hungry.’ Me too. I don’t want to stay only in Korea. I want to be more successful than now. Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m sending out an SOS to you right now.”

“Please do well, praying and begging to save yourself. Whether it’s sports or movies, it’s the same in any field.”

“Let’s not just stop at doing well, but do so damn well that the whole world will be in an uproar. How about it?”

♧

That night.

【Cooldown Time: 0 days 00 hours 00 minutes】

【Dream Garden has been activated.】

【Grass Leaf Girl’s Simple Dream Garden】

【Level: Terrarium Lv.3】

【Environment Index: Clean】

【Residing Neighbors: 1/4】

July 15th.

It was a day I could enter Dream Garden.

The regular meeting promised with the garden’s neighbors was at 8 PM Pacific Standard Time.

Since it would be the morning of the 16th in local Italian time, today was impossible. I left a simple note outside the fence and headed straight to the atelier inside the house.

I couldn’t even think of stopping by the hot springs as usual.

There was only one thing on my mind.

Ever since the morning in the cabin.

[All-Nighter Potion]

[Recipe: 1 stalk of Stinging Thorn Vine, 3 Colorful Wildflowers, 4 Spicy Pepper Leaves, 1 handful of Sticky Moss, 3 drops of Dawn Dew]

[Mental +1, Focus +1, Vitality +1]

[Special Effect: Maintain Optimal Awakened State (4 hours)]

[Mental Correction Potion]

[Recipe: 1 Apple that Weathered Wind and Rain, 1 piece of Unbreakable Branch, 2 handfuls of Sticky Moss, 7 drops of Bitter Root Juice, 1 cup of Deep Well Water, 1 Stone of Enlightenment Bath]

[Mental +1, Will +1, Endurance +1, Persistence +1]

[Special Effect: Mental Power Decline Correction (2 hours)]

In the [Atelier], which I had felt was like a fairy tale alchemist’s room from the first time I saw it, I could craft special potions using the garden’s herbs and fruits.

It was a newly unlocked function as the terrarium’s level increased.

There were countless recipes that looked extraordinary at first glance, but now they were mostly decorative.

Due to level restrictions, the only recipes I could currently craft were auxiliary potions like the [All-Nighter Potion].

I gathered up all the potions I had been making bit by bit whenever I came to Dream Garden, then immediately exited the dream without delay.

And then.

“[Hall of Persona], open.”

The familiar red velvet curtain came into view.

‘Let’s admit it.’

Maybe I had always pursued only the safe path.

This wasn’t a small-scale independent film made with everyone cheering each other on, nor was it a low-budget video movie that just went through the motions with predictable formulas.

This film was a masterpiece with a total production budget of 6 billion won, where one of Korea’s top directors—and soon to be world-renowned—was taking direct aim at a clear target: Cannes… the Palme d’Or.

How many actors had wanted to get into my current position? Every single one of them was far superior to me.

I couldn’t just stop at the level of ‘doing well.’

Even if the sparrow’s short legs were to tear, I had to follow the stork’s, the master’s stride.

The reason Persona Hall has four skills is because they are ‘all’ necessary for me, not given without reason.

“So I shouldn’t be afraid. Seosing-a.”

I had been waiting only for the director’s direction all this time.

The director said.

Interpretation, design, and restraint are already sufficient.

Now completely devour the role and make it yours, surpassing the predetermined ‘correct answer.’

And to break through limits, something beyond ten thousand practices is needed.

For instance…

An actor’s wildness.

An actor’s hunger.

An actor’s madness.

In the Zone.

“Forget everything and become my Seli.”

“…[Character Synchronization], select. 《Family History》.”

[!] [Warning: You are in a state of overdose from mental-type potions.]

[Please be cautious of backlash after the effects end.]

“Role… protagonist ‘Munsul’. Begin synchronization.”

Whirr- whirr- clatter clatter…

Film reel, projector, the sounds of interlocking gears.

The moment when the book-shaped script transformed into text, text into images, and again into memories.

That’s how ‘Munsul’ came flooding into me without restraint.

♧

Italy location shoot, day 13.

“…”

“…”

“…Cut. Perfect.”

The director’s okay sign was given, but the set was so quiet that not even a breath could be heard.

Because everyone was overwhelmed.

Looking down at his sweat-soaked palms, Haemun uncharacteristically questioned himself.

‘Haemun, Haemun. What have you created…?’

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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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