I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 307

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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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Chapter 307

* * *

Hanamura had only a few teeth left. It was the result of countless acts of violence. His entire body was mottled with bruises. Eventually, he was so broken that he could be considered a living corpse.

He had one task he absolutely had to perform: whenever fellow prisoners in his cell punched him in the face, he had to shout “Long live Korean independence.” He attempted suicide several times, but all attempts ended in failure. Since he wasn’t in solitary confinement, he wasn’t even allowed to die as he pleased.

The guards planned to move Hanamura to the same cell as organized crime members next month.

Taejin’s Father was confined to a psychiatric hospital. When he awoke from the anesthetic sleep, he had a seizure upon learning that he was trapped in a psychiatric hospital. Because he had a gag in his mouth, it wasn’t easy for him to say who he was, but he managed to open his mouth and begged to be released, promising compensation.

One doctor who was tempted by the proposal checked the ownership of the mansion he mentioned, but the name on the nameplate differed from the owner’s name. Just as suspected, he was definitely a mental patient.

No one believed him. By his bedside was written the name of his condition. Delusions of grandeur. Because he screamed every day, he had to keep wearing the gag.

Later, when he seemed to have calmed down and they removed the gag, he immediately claimed to be royalty. He wailed that he shouldn’t have to live like this.

The doctor rewrote his diagnosis. Severe delusions of grandeur.

He would never be discharged.

And that winter, one limping Japanese man who had come up from Jinhae and one nameless detective floated down the river as corpses, but they were discovered very late due to heavy snowfall.

Thus, the secret remained a secret forever.

It was left as something only Taeseok knew.

That winter brought record-breaking heavy snowfall. The snowflakes covered the world in pure white as if to devour it.

* * *

The spring day everyone had been waiting for arrived. It was a sweet season, just like the lyrics of the song Hong Diva sang.

Aid from the United States and UN continued. New flesh quickly grew over the scars and terror left by the war.

There was no one better than Taeseok for propaganda. A specimen of human triumph who had claimed the top with bare fists from rock bottom. The man everyone wanted to resemble, possess, and become. That was Gi Taeseok.

Chairman Gi. That’s what people called Taeseok. It was such a grand-sounding name.

What Taeseok actually wanted was a foolish title. Secretary Gi Tae. That one thing, despite everything else.

“Oh! CEO Gi! It’s been such a long time.”

“Oh my. CEO Gi has come?”

Now everyone bowed and scraped before him. Both exports and imports were all in CEO Gi’s grasp.

Hanamura’s, Yeonhuijae’s, Lee Taejin’s, and his father’s assets too. Everything became Gi Taeseok’s.

There were so many things Taeseok had to do to protect the overwhelming wealth.

Taeseok, positioned at the highest place, suffered from insomnia.

Even though he no longer drank coffee and instead drank pear blossom tea that she used to like, it was the same. Sleep simply wouldn’t come.

Every day he crumbled away bit by bit, dry and brittle.

Yeonhuijae was a woman he wanted to stake his life on. He wanted to devote his entire life to making her happy. Taeseok staked his life fiercely and failed spectacularly.

So then?

So what comes next?

How should Taeseok live the rest of his life?

No answer came at all. He had desperately tried to climb up for her sake, tried to at least maintain his position so he wouldn’t look pathetic.

Taeseok’s life became a single component.

To make the distillery run well, to ensure sugar imports went smoothly, to keep the sewing factory operating properly, to find the Koreans still on the unclear conscription list, to smile leisurely in front of people, to appear as a man gracefully enjoying success, to become an object of envy for everyone…

Huijae’s request became a dying wish that Taeseok had to keep.

That made sense, since those were her last words.

The unwanted wealth and honor were so heavy that Taeseok slowly sank downward.

People know nothing. They think Chairman Gi has everything, they say he lacks nothing.

But what he truly wanted was only one thing.

If he could throw away all this trivial stuff and gain Yeonhuijae alone, he could cast it all aside without hesitation.

Huijae. What was I to you?

The question he could never ask tormented Taeseok.

One day resenting, one day hating, one day still loving, one day giving up again.

When sleepless nights ended, he would dress up in fine suits again and live as Chairman Gi.

Sharp-creased shirts, gleaming tie pins, neatly combed hair, and a face that simply drew admiration.

Every day he stood before cameras with a smile. The sound of Taeseok being preserved beyond the lens rang out.

Click.

[Korea Chamber of Commerce Regular General Meeting]

Click.

[Textile Industry Association Inauguration Ceremony]

Click.

[Busan Trade Port Harbor Expansion Ceremony]

Click. Click. Click. Click.

When he returned home late at night like that, he would remove his jacket with neat movements, loosen his tie, unfasten his expensive watch, and pace by the window.

Because it seemed like you might come any moment… Because it seemed like you might ask if I’d been waiting long.

Even knowing you wouldn’t come, Taeseok gazed beyond the window.

Huijae. You should have said at least one word before leaving.

That you liked me, or missed me, or at the very least worried whether I was alive, or if not that… that you liked that person. That I was no longer in your heart. You should have said at least one thing like that.

Leaving behind only those words that you absolutely had to go, leaving behind only that promise to take good care of this place.

Why do you leave me behind?

Always, why do you leave me behind…

Immeasurable darkness settled over his broad shoulders. Taeseok, with his forehead leaning against the window frame, seemed ready to collapse at any moment.

Time beyond the window flowed steadily past Taeseok. Flowers bloomed on trees that had seemed dead.

They were pure white pear blossoms.

* * *

That day too, Taeseok sat at his study desk until late at night and quietly looked down beyond the window.

Before he knew it, the abundant pear blossoms were scattering in the wind. Sweet spring scents wafted through the open window crack.

Rustle.

It was then that letters piled high on the desk fell. They were things that came daily addressed to Chairman Gi.

Taeseok sighed and bent down to pick up the letter envelopes that had fallen to the floor.

“….”

Among them was one letter covered with stamps. Written on it was the name of the woman he loved.

Sender

Yeonhuijae.

Taeseok immediately tore it open, forgetting even to breathe. He took out the white letter paper and held it in his hands.

The fact that you are reading this letter

must mean I arrived safely in Manchuria.

Ah, he could hear Huijae’s longed-for voice in his ears.

I am doing well. There are so many stars in the night sky here. It’s as if they might pour down. Though I often face inconveniences because the language doesn’t work, even this will get better with time.

Come to think of it, I can speak three different languages from different countries.

What’s one more? Of course. As many as you like.

Still the same. That cheerful girl who laughed well and loved to chatter. Yeonhuijae, you’re just as you were then.

The corners of Taeseok’s mouth turned up as he read the letter. The young man smiled with a face that wanted to cry. His eyes reading the letter sparkled with moisture.

Actually, I don’t know where I was born.

Since no one ever asked and no one ever told me

I lived my whole life like a displaced person.

But it’s a strange thing.

Though I had no place to long for, I was always longing for somewhere.

On that distant journey that pierced through sea water

I finally met a place to keep in my heart for life.

So this is what they call a hometown…

Joseon, which I saw for the first time, was a strange place where everything from how to place chopsticks to how people spoke was completely different, but I heard the words “eat plenty” for the first time then.

From that moment, that place became my hometown.

Because it was a place where there were people who asked whether I slept well and ate well.

My hometown even had a boy who promised to show me flowers. How wonderful it was. How much I looked forward to tomorrow.

After that, I went around telling lies.

When people asked where I was from, I would answer Jinhae.

Please don’t laugh too much.

After all, I’ve received many compliments saying my Korean skills are quite excellent.

Taeseok’s hand holding the letter trembled slightly.

I always wanted to tell you this someday.

I’m glad I could say it this way at least.

Thank you for giving me a hometown.

For creating a place I can think of when life becomes too difficult,

for teaching a wanderer what a hometown means,

I am truly grateful.

Now I have come to give other Koreans

the answer to where my hometown is,

to gift them a compass to carry forever in their hearts.

And later, much later….

Huijae’s promise could be heard.

I too will once again follow the compass in my heart and take my steps.

Though I don’t know when that will be.

Please don’t blame me for being too heartless.

Until then, I will send letters like this from time to time.

Please stay healthy until we meet again.

Yeon Hui Jae

He couldn’t dare crumple the letter sent by his first love. Taeseok quietly read and reread the neat handwriting.

The foolishly crooked penmanship had been refined so much.

You really have become an adult now.

Yes. You told me to live healthily and cheerfully, so I must do so. Who would dare go against such words?

A man who sees better in the dark.

Ji Haebeom had a face that suited that name. Under the dim lighting, he blinked slowly with boyish eyes.

The viewers witnessed the moment when a man who had collapsed because of love stood up again because of love.

His empty eyes slowly filled with light. It was vivid anticipation. The appearance of a young man ready to throw his entire life away willingly, again and again, without getting tired.

The heart that had given up thinking everything was over burned hot.

Taeseok opened the top drawer of his desk. Inside was a familiar necklace.

Taeseok picked it up with careful hands.

Click. When he opened the necklace, the girl the young man still loved was smiling with the same face.

Not faded or torn, not wrinkled or damaged.

Taeseok fingered the necklace containing Huijae’s photograph.

In this moment, everyone recalled the first time they met Huijae. The one called Josenjing, who smiled brightly not even knowing that word was bad, who waited for me on tiptoes beyond the wall, who was overjoyed to receive a single old book as a gift, who wrote her name on my palm, who asked me to teach her Korean, who looked at me lovingly, whose hands were white and soft and cold, who looked good in a pink sweater, who hugged my waist from behind while I rode a bicycle, who remained cheerful even in the rain, who encouraged me saying things would surely work out, who believed in me,

that kind of girl.

How could I forget you? How could I hate you?

Our eternal first love.

Taeseok gazed like that for a long time. As if this was enough.

As if he was sufficiently happy with just one promise without a set date.

Like a world that had completely collapsed and become desolate being rebuilt, the young man’s life was beginning anew.

The sun rose beyond the window.

The next day. An announcement circulated in the city. They said schools would be built in two places. Chairman Gi’s words that skilled carpenters would be welcomed with extra pay brought people flocking like clouds.

The destinations were Jinhae,

and a distant land. Manchuria.

* * *

3 years later.

Finally, a proper school was built in Jinhae too. The building was divided into two parts – one side was a girls’ school, the other a boys’ school. It was a school that conducted classes divided between day and night sessions. It was deliberately built near the factory so that young workers could attend as well.

Recently, even that wasn’t enough, so they built another building and established a library, and everyone was moved by Chairman Gi’s charity.

To honor the name of the man who breathed new vitality into Jinhae, a metal plaque with the school motto and Taeseok’s name was hung at the main gate.

“Oh my, you! Stop polishing!”

“Chairman Gi’s great name needs to sparkle bright for the completion ceremony to shine even more!”

The carpenters laughed cheerfully. They polished Taeseok’s name with the towels hanging around their necks. One carpenter who was squinting at the metal plaque on the opposite side of the gate, standing a bit apart, asked.

“I can’t see it well… What does that say?”

“Let me see… Ah, Baehwa !”

The school motto resembling pear blossoms sparkled in the sunlight. Like the children of this land who would bloom magnificently.

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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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