Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 77

Former Hero is a Ten Million Actor – Episode 77 (77/199)

The Butcher, Lee Cheon-in (3)

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The saga of ‘Butcher General’ begins with Lee Cheon-in’s childhood.

Losing his father at the tender age of ten, Lee Cheon-in barely survives by begging for food from merchants.

However, his father, Lee Mak-soe, is labeled as a ‘discontented Korean (不逞鮮人) [a Korean person who is not obedient to Japan during the Japanese colonial period],’ and no one shelters the young boy who suddenly becomes the son of a traitor.

“Get lost, you rascal! Why did your butcher father have to stir up trouble with the independence movement, huh?”

“If you don’t want to end up like your father, get out of Gyeongseong [old name for Seoul]! Thinking about Samsik’s father being dragged to the Jongno Police Station because of you guys… Ptui!”

“Those damned butchers, the world is going to ruin with all sorts of riffraff running wild.”

It is not the Japanese but the Koreans, the commoners who lived together in the marketplace until recently, who insult and oppress Lee Cheon-in.

Eventually, on a rainy night, Lee Cheon-in collapses on the street, unable to withstand the cold and hunger.

There, he fatefully encounters Jason Campbell, a foreign missionary with golden hair and blue eyes, who is about to return to his homeland.

“Boy, wake up! Don’t faint, open your eyes quickly!”

That night marks the last time Lee Mak-soe’s son, Lee Cheon-in, is seen in Gyeongseong.

Fifteen years later.

Gyeongseong had changed a lot.

Koreans wear geta [Japanese wooden clogs] instead of straw shoes, Japanese with swords strut around with their chests puffed out, and horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws roam the streets.

Bbang, bbaang—

As the streetcar’s horn echoes through the city, a black four-wheeled car stops in the alley where a butcher shop once stood.

“Wait until I call you.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

Park Geon, dressed in a modern suit, steps out of the car with his long legs and adjusts his fedora.

Director of Photography Do Jong-woo is already right next to him, pointing the camera. A nonchalant voice flows from his beautifully shaped lips.

“…My hometown.”

The car disappears in a cloud of smoke, and the man, looking around the modernized street, strides into the best hotel in the area.

“I’d like to rent a room.”

The hotel clerk blushes. The outfit Park Geon is wearing is an all-black tuxedo that reinterprets a modern suit in the style of the enlightenment period.

Even though he’s just a minor supporting actor, the chance to see him up close makes her acting, filled with personal interest, naturally improve.

“Perhaps your name… what should I write down for your name? If you need anything, please tell me…”

“Lee Cheon-in (異穿人) [uses different characters with the same pronunciation], different Yi (異) and pierce Cheon (穿).”

Lee Cheon-in, who speaks his original name though with different characters, gives a faint smile.

It has already been more than ten years since Lee Mak-soe died.

No one in the marketplace at that time would remember the name of a butcher’s son.

The hotel clerk, barely managing to calm her trembling heart, swallows hard and replies.

“Yes, I’ll write it down like that.”

“Ah… and one more thing.”

In Lee Cheon-in’s eyes, disguised as a lecher, a fleeting murderous intent flashes.

“Where are the most luxurious social gatherings held in Gyeongseong these days?”

If the night is the time of the butcher’s mask, the day is the time of Lee Cheon-in, a successful businessman.

*

‘Wow, he’s just eating it all up with his acting.’

C&J’s actress, Jo Hyeon-ah, is newly impressed.

She has seen Park Geon’s acting dozens of times, but every time she feels like she’s been hit in the back of the head. If she weren’t playing her role, she would want to watch him in awe.

And next to her, there is another person who is amazing in a different way.

Baek Ha-ni is watching her agency colleague’s acting with a sulky expression.

‘Why is she here again?’

Her cold face is still the same, but she has started to show up on set these days.

To be exact, it’s limited to scenes with Park Geon… but compared to the early days when she was holed up in her van, it’s a remarkable improvement.

‘Sis, I think our Park Geon hyung [older brother or male friend] has done something. Baek Ha-ni even practiced lines with me, you know? She even greeted me first!’

According to Lee Dong-soo’s intel, Park Geon borrowed an umbrella for props from the filming team a few days ago and went to Baek Ha-ni’s van.

She doesn’t know what he said there, but he seems to have won over his agency senior.

‘Well… I think I would listen and watch too.’

She also acknowledges that. Park Geon, Park Geon, she heard so much about him, but after working with him, she understands.

That monster has already surpassed the level of a promising star. In acting, and in everything else.

Lee Dong-soo, a junior who became friends with Oh Min-woo on set, said that he has been getting a lot of calls from other actresses.

…Urging and begging him to pass on her contact information if they are filming together.

‘Stop it, guys. You see Jin Ji-yoo and Baek Ha-ni every day, would you even catch his eye?’

Jo Hyeon-ah, shaking her head pitifully, turned her gaze back to Baek Ha-ni.

What’s unexpected is this side. She heard that she’s a crazy bitch who confronts officials and seniors if they rub her the wrong way, but in reality, she’s just a professional actress who lacks some social skills.

‘Was the rumor exaggerated, or is Roman managing her well? There haven’t been any articles about her causing trouble since last year…’

From her perspective, who has seen countless truly awful and trashy, much more vulgar and crazy actresses, she’s normal enough.

You can know a person’s inner thoughts, but you can’t know the inner thoughts of a celebrity, so you’ll only know after watching until the end of filming.

In that sense, there was an event that everyone on set, not just Jo Hyeon-ah, was waiting for these days.

Over there, on the opposite side of the set, Lee Dong-soo, who doesn’t have filming today, is sitting in the front row.

Behind him, even veteran actors such as Nam Joong-ik, who plays the Jongno Police Chief, and Go Cheol-joon, who plays the Director-General of the Korean Governor-General’s Office, are waiting with satisfied expressions.

‘Everyone’s gathered. It’s going to be worth watching today.’

Jo Hyeon-ah, smiling slyly, took out today’s script and opened it.

The next scene is the intense love and political strife of young people in the glamorous night of Gyeongseong, at a ballroom where the upper class gathers.

*

S#.12 Gyeongseong Street (Day) and Ballroom (Night)

“Who is Lee Cheon-in?”

“I don’t know, they say he’s incredibly rich. He made a lot of money doing artillery business in the West.”

“That’s right! They said Gyeongseong is his hometown. So he bought that mansion right across from the Jongno Police Station.”

“No, they say he’s staying at a hotel in front of the bank. He paid for a year’s worth of accommodation at once.”

The actors of C&J Entertainment and the theater actors cast by Lee Jang-mi’s recommendation perform the roles of lively peddlers.

In fact, none of the Japanese policemen strolling through Gyeongseong would have noticed that there were shills planted by Lee Cheon-in among those passersby.

Lee Cheon-in grasps the political situation in Gyeongseong during the day and makes his mark by attending upper-class balls where young influential people gather at night.

Today’s scene, where he faces off against Song Yi-seol, played by Baek Ha-ni, the precious granddaughter of the pro-Japanese traitor Song Byeol-hak, is the highlight of the soon-to-be-aired second episode.

Inside the ballroom with soft lighting, the scions of the most prominent families in Gyeongseong stroll through the hall with glasses in hand.

Among them, there is a particularly eye-catching handsome man.

With a straight nose and a dashing figure, he is a rising aristocrat who has taken over the social gathering at once with his demeanor like a nobleman.

“Oh my, who is that gentleman?”

“Don’t you know yet? That artillery merchant from the West, Lee Cheon-in, who is staying at the ‘Gyeongseong Hotel’.”

“They say that friend has so much money? I heard he spends lavishly on the lower people at the hotel… I wonder what business he’s planning to do in Joseon [historical name for Korea] after returning.”

In front of the dark horse who appeared like a comet, the wives of high-ranking officials and the daughters of great families equally clutch their chests and blush.

Gazes mixed with curiosity, greed, flirtation, and jealousy stick to him thickly, but Lee Cheon-in heads somewhere with a light smile.

The place where his steps stop is in front of Song Yi-seol, who is secretly supporting the Gyeongseong Independence Army, away from Song Byeol-hak, and who is attending the gathering after several months.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Cheon-in.”

Song Yi-seol, who had been investigating the suspicious man who appeared in Gyeongseong, feels her heart sink.

But it could be an informant from the Governor-General’s Office or a spy from the Jongno Police Station. She engages in the conversation without revealing her true feelings.

“I don’t think I’ve met you before, where might you have seen me?”

Lee Cheon-in, Park Geon, replies nonchalantly.

“You must be the daughter of some great family. Perhaps the granddaughter of that house with the high roof over there.”

Suddenly, Song Yi-seol’s brow narrows. The words of the man she is meeting for the first time give her a familiar sense of déjà vu.

Where did I hear that story… After a moment, Song Yi-seol suddenly raises her head. A sleeping memory is revived and casts a faint light.

—You must be the daughter of some rich family. Perhaps the granddaughter of that Song family over there.

Song Yi-seol’s big eyes grow even bigger.

.

.

.

Inside the shocked Song Yi-seol, Baek Ha-ni thinks.

‘…It’s kind of amazing.’

Her acting ability comes from a mental defense mechanism close to multiple personalities.

Separating acting and thinking, mind and body, is something she has been doing since before she came to her senses.

—How… how did you know that….

While acting as Song Yi-seol with all her body, her cold mind evaluates the actor Park Geon, the partner in this work and a new colleague at the agency.

‘Not method acting. He can freely emit and condense. Typically, he’s the type to absorb the other actor and draw out their potential…’

So terrifyingly selfish, yet rather altruistic.

That would be accurate. It’s amazing that he ‘cares’ for the actors he works with with such overwhelming acting ability, but what’s even more amazing is Park Geon himself.

‘How can there be no intention? He doesn’t get angry, but he’s not overly kind either. …It’s like he’s reading my mind.’

She has seen many actors with sculpted bodies, handsome faces, good proportions, and outstanding acting skills.

Before becoming an actress… even after debuting in the entertainment industry, almost all the people who approached her were of that kind.

However, Park Geon is different.

He surpasses all of them, but he doesn’t want anything from her.

A long time ago, around the time Park Geon’s ‘Dog of Seoul’ became a hit. When she ran into Jin Ji-yoo in front of the CEO’s office, she suddenly remembered what that sassy girl said.

‘Unnie [older sister], I’m sorry, but I don’t have any other intentions? I wanted to do a special appearance. Unnie, who has only seen people like us, wouldn’t know.’

‘Say something believable. Riding on a rising rookie, restoring your image, and suppressing Baek Ha-ni…’

‘Oh, and Unnie too.’

Jin Ji-yoo, who cut off her words, smiled bitterly. It was the first time she saw her smile with pity after getting to know her.

‘That’s why I can’t get close to you. Both of us are too dirty.’

“······.”

Suddenly, Baek Ha-ni came to her senses. She missed the timing of her line because she was lost in reminiscence.

But it’s okay. Since Song Yi-seol in the play is also flustered, she can naturally take a breath and move on to the next beat with this much gap.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Knowing history is remembering what is worth remembering.”

At that moment, Park Geon, who took a step closer, whispers softly, cutting off her line.

She knows better than anyone that Director Jeon In-woo won’t stop him, even though it’s an ad-lib not in the script.

The moment Song Yi-seol—Baek Ha-ni’s pupils shake, an unfamiliar fragrance rushes in.

“I remember you.”

*

The scene is over.

Moon Seong-hoon runs over and puts a coat over Baek Ha-ni’s shoulders, and a sigh of admiration mixed with sighs flows from the actors who were watching with bated breath.

“Baek Ha-ni.”

Baek Ha-ni, who was leaving the set without a word, heard a voice calling from behind.

When she turned around, Park Geon was standing there.

“The premiere is next week, let’s watch it together at the company. The PR staff will love it.”

“I’m busy that day.”

“Then I’ll visit your van once a day.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

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