An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 266

266. #48 – What I Chose (3)

The work I was planning to present in Korea after a long time was a black comedy.

It would show the problems of humans and society to the public in a way that wasn’t too dark, but incisive and lighthearted.

Usually, the representative themes of black comedy often involve political satire.

But the work I chose had no political undertones at all.

Team Leader Kim looked at me and asked.

“Hee-sung, about the work you wanted to do while renewing your contract… We’ve written down all the details to do it on the broadcast you want… Are you sure this work is okay?”

At his words, I shrugged and replied.

“What do you mean?”

Team Leader Kim tapped the script and cautiously opened his mouth.

“This is a black comedy. The reality of this industry is that this genre has a very low chance of success.”

I nodded in agreement with his words.

Black comedy.

This genre, mixed with satire, definitely has strong likes and dislikes.

In other words, the chances of success are extremely divided.

I, too, was well aware of that fact.

However, whether it would be a hit or not was no longer a major factor in choosing a work for me.

If I were desperate for success, I would have chosen only works that would be commercially successful, not works that appealed to me.

“I know. But I want to do this.”

Team Leader Kim seemed to know well that he couldn’t change my mind because of the time we had spent together.

“Yeah, since you want to do it, we’ll do this work. But I’m curious why you suddenly chose this kind of work.”

“Just… there’s no reason. I just want to do it. That’s all.”

He made a ‘tss’ sound and nodded his head.

“Simple.”

“Yeah, there was no special reason. I can do this work, right?”

There was really no reason why I wanted to do this work.

Once I let go of the pressure of having to have a hit, I wasn’t trying to pick a non-mainstream work.

Philosophy, filmography, etc.

I didn’t have any goals like gaining a certain image I wanted through this work.

The reason I chose it was very simple.

Just because it seemed fun, that was all.

Team Leader Kim looked at my face and raised the corners of his mouth.

“Yeah, who can stop you? It’s in the contract now.”

He snapped his fingers and said to me.

“Oh, did you hear that a new Managing Director is coming this time?”

“Yeah, I heard when I came to stamp the contract a few days ago.”

“I heard he’s coming to Korea soon.”

At his words, I tilted my head and asked.

“Oh, is he someone who was in another country?”

“Yeah, he worked at the Japan branch.”

At Team Leader Kim’s words, I nodded with my mouth closed.

I wasn’t very interested in the higher-ups of the company.

Nevertheless, I had to know what kind of people were in the upper echelons, who was newly coming, and who was changing.

Because I didn’t go to work at the company every day.

I had to be aware of these things through my manager.

“If he went all the way to Japan, he must be good at his job.”

Suddenly, Team Leader Kim leaned his body close to me.

It was just one practice room with no one else, but Team Leader Kim glanced around and lowered his voice.

“He did well… but not a huge success. I heard it was a little more disappointing than the company expected.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but it’s certain that he’s capable.”

Having grasped the overall story, I nodded and shifted my gaze back to the script.

Team Leader Kim looked at the air and recited, recalling his memory.

“What was his name, Choi Joong… Yeah, Managing Director Choi Joong-hyun!”

As soon as he confirmed that I was focusing on the script, not the new Managing Director, he immediately shifted his gaze to the script.

“I should go say hello when he comes next time. Then I’ll practice the script again.”

* * *

Maybe it was because I had been resting for a few months, but practicing acting after a long time made me excited.

I practiced for several hours sitting in the practice room alone.

Nevertheless, there was no sign of exhaustion.

In fact, I didn’t feel tired at all from practicing.

Rather, it felt like I was gaining strength from practicing acting.

The practice room door opened, and Team Leader Kim approached me with a coffee in his hand.

“Hee-sung, take a break.”

“No. I’m not even tired.”

He handed me the coffee and clicked his tongue.

“You look better after practicing for the first time in a while?”

I took a sip of the coffee in front of me and replied.

“Really?”

As I touched my face, Team Leader Kim raised one corner of his mouth and said to me in a playful tone.

“Is your face blooming because you’re dating, not because of acting?”

At Team Leader Kim’s words, I coughed, nearly spitting out the coffee I was drinking.

He burst into laughter at my flustered appearance and handed me a tissue.

“Don’t be surprised. The whole world knows you’re dating, why are you so embarrassed?”

I wiped my mouth with a tissue and turned my gaze away.

“I know. Even though it’s a public relationship that the world knows, I still feel shy when I talk to you, *hyung* [older brother or close male friend].”

Team Leader Kim chuckled and playfully nudged my shoulder.

I muttered with an awkward face.

“It feels like my family caught me dating.”

Then Team Leader Kim nodded as if he agreed.

“Um… now that you say that, I know what you mean.”

He immediately took a seat across from me and stared at me intently before asking.

“So, how is it to be in a public relationship?”

Dating Song Yu-na.

I had never had a serious conversation with Team Leader Kim about this story.

Moreover, I didn’t tell him about the relationship first.

Team Leader Kim found out about my relationship with the viewers on the Q-Tube live broadcast.

Of course, he didn’t feel disappointed about that fact or scold me.

Rather, he just cheered me on and supported me.

“I don’t think much has changed. It’s just that I’ve become a little more careful in my actions….”

At my words, Team Leader Kim nodded and said.

“That’s right. Since it’s a public relationship, I don’t know why I keep feeling happy just because you’re dating, Hee-sung.”

I burst into laughter at his words.

“*Hyung*, you always told me to date.”

“Hey, it’s not like I was nagging you.”

Team Leader Kim wanted me to realize the happiness he felt as he dated and even got married.

From one day on, he started telling me to date as if he was recommending it.

“Yes, you kept saying it even before I went to Hollywood.”

At my words, Team Leader Kim erased the smile from his face and replied to me.

“That’s because you looked too busy and tired at that time.”

I tilted my head at his words.

“You said I was tired and busy, but you told me to date on top of that?”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I just thought you needed some breathing room, Hee-sung. You were always just working, going home, working, going home.”

At Team Leader Kim’s words, I nodded without saying anything.

“You were so focused on work that it wouldn’t have been strange if you had suddenly collapsed one day. So I wanted you to create at least one space to breathe through dating.”

His tone and eyes were filled with sincere concern.

I bit my lip at Team Leader Kim’s words.

It wasn’t just that he was happy and recommended it to me.

It was because he noticed that I looked tired.

It was always like that.

Team Leader Kim treated me as more than just the celebrity he was in charge of.

When the celebrity in charge has a dating scandal, there’s bound to be damage.

Rather, they’re busy taking care of them so they can’t date.

In addition, when I insisted on doing only the work I wanted while living as a celebrity.

Team Leader Kim was always the one who understood me and stood by my side, taking all the harsh words from the company.

I realized my feelings for him anew.

I replied to Team Leader Kim in a playfully joking voice.

“*Hyung* wanted me to date so much. That’s why I caused a dating scandal. Haha.”

At my words, he laughed heartily and said.

“Yeah, thank you very much for granting my wish. Of course, what I said was just dating. I didn’t mean to have a public relationship.”

I scratched my head in embarrassment.

Team Leader Kim showed me his cell phone and continued.

“Is Yu-na deliberately posting this on SNS [Social Networking Service]?”

At his words, I raised my eyebrows and asked.

“What is it?”

I took his cell phone into my hand to see the screen that Team Leader Kim was showing me.

Posts were being uploaded to Song Yu-na’s SNS every day.

As I looked at the posts one by one, my mouth dropped open.

Team Leader Kim immediately opened his mouth when he saw my expression.

“The post was uploaded a little while ago.”

The post he was talking about.

Fluffy clouds floating in the clear sky.

A line of text written with that photo.

-Heart cloud♡♥.

I looked at the photo again after reading the text written by Song Yu-na.

At first glance, you couldn’t see the heart shape at all.

You had to think of it as a heart shape to see it plausibly.

Team Leader Kim smiled and said to me.

“Yu-na, anyone can see that she’s in love.”

As I listened to his words, I checked the comments section, and everyone had the same reaction.

-lol Unnie [term of endearment for older sister or female friend], is this a lovestagram?

-That’s a heart-shaped cloud. You have to try hard and look again and again to barely see the heart shape lol

-Cute lol My *unnie* whose world is pink.

-Even if this *unnie* didn’t appear on Q-Tube, she would have been caught dating because of SNS? lol

-Heart… shaped cloud? It’s just a cloud to me lol

-Ah lol Song Yu-na was originally this cute character!

-What, why does this Instagram smell so sweet? lol

-*Unnie*, how did you endure the lovestagram all this time….

The comments were heartwarming, seeing the changed SNS of Song Yu-na after the dating rumors broke out.

In addition to this, Song Yu-na was posting photos of meals she had with me.

Photos of travel destinations she had gone to with me.

Photos of the days she met me every day.

Of course, there was no trace of me in those photos.

My hands didn’t come out, and there were no photos taken together.

However, the fact that there were two spoons at the meal.

The fact that there were two chairs at the travel destination she went to together showed that she was with her ‘boyfriend’ to anyone who saw it.

I burst into laughter as I looked at Song Yu-na’s SNS.

“That’s right. She was completely showing it off.”

At my words, Team Leader Kim smiled contentedly and nodded his head.

“Until then, only filming site photos were uploaded to Yu-na’s SNS, and she didn’t upload them well. So the fans are even more excited.”

“There must have been articles about it?”

“Yeah, but Yu-na is revealing it too much, so the reaction is rather cute.”

I handed the cell phone back to Team Leader Kim and muttered softly.

“How did she endure not dating all this time….”

As Song Yu-na’s image came to my mind, the corners of my mouth rose without me knowing.

* * *

“Let’s finish that advertisement like that. Next….”

CEO Park and Head Manager Han, who are in the CEO’s office of WG Entertainment.

At CEO Park’s words, Head Manager Han immediately opened his mouth as if he had been waiting.

“Yes, next is Jin Hee-sung’s next work that I mentioned last time.”

“Yeah, Hee-sung is still going to do the black comedy, that work?”

At his words, Head Manager Han nodded and replied.

“Yes, he said he would definitely do that work. We can’t stop him because of the new clause we added when we renewed the contract this time.”

Managing Director Choi Joong-hyun, who participated in the meeting for the first time, asked him.

“Newly added clause?”

“Yes, it’s a clause that the CEO also knows about. Hee-sung wants to do the work he wants, what he wants to do….”

Managing Director Choi tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

“No, the company says no, but he’s going to do that work?”

At his words, CEO Park, who had been leaning back, got up.

“Just leave Hee-sung alone. I had no choice to keep his contract.”

“Ah… so you put that clause in the contract like that?”

“Yeah, the company has to respect him. He’s been working without rest and he’s been through a lot in America. Let’s let him do the work he wants this time.”

Head Manager Han nodded at CEO Park’s words.

Nevertheless, he sighed as if he didn’t like that Hee-sung had chosen a black comedy.

“Haa… I don’t know if that work will be successful. But if it doesn’t fail greatly, it’ll be okay.”

At his words, Managing Director Choi scanned the black comedy work that Hee-sung would appear in.

Then he stroked his chin and said.

“This black comedy. Shouldn’t we make it a hit?”

At Managing Director Choi’s words, Head Manager Han raised his eyebrows and asked.

“How do you mean?”

Then Managing Director Choi sinisterly raised the corners of his mouth and muttered.

“A Hee-sung-class actor is going, shouldn’t we use some power in our company?”

Managing Director Choi looked at CEO Park with a confident face and said.

“CEO, I’ll make it a success. Leave it to me.”