An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 334

334 #60 – The Whirlwind (7)

Several months had already passed, alternating between the accommodation and the filming set.

The filming was now nearing its end.

Park, my manager, seemed to have grown accustomed to this routine, greeting me in front of the accommodation with two cups of coffee.

“Hee-sung, here!”

“Oh, hi, hyung [older brother/male friend]. You’re early?”

At my words, Park shook the coffee leisurely.

“Yeah. A nice cafe opened near our accommodation recently. I stopped by in the morning to get us some morning coffee. Let’s go quickly.”

“Thanks.”

I took a cup of coffee from him and got into the car.

Park started driving, one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the console box.

Watching him, I spoke to Park.

“Hyung, you’ve completely adapted to LA life now. You could live here, couldn’t you?”

At my words, he smiled contentedly and looked at me through the rearview mirror.

“Right? When I first came to LA, it was so awkward, but now I like it here.”

“We’re going to New York soon for the musical after filming ends. Will you be okay?”

He exclaimed and gave a thumbs up.

“Oh, I’m happy. I’ve never been to New York, so I really want to go.”

“You have the highest job satisfaction.”

“Yeah. I’m so happy these days being Hee-sung’s manager. Haha.”

As I talked with him, we soon arrived at the filming location.

“Hyung, I’ll get the clothes and organize things here. Will you be at the set?”

“Yeah, take your time.”

I took the script and notes from the car and got out.

Then, someone ran towards me as if they had been waiting for me.

It was Cali, not Robert.

I could see him coming towards me with a bright smile and gestures that didn’t match his large frame.

“Hee-sung!”

He stretched his long arms, befitting his tall height, high into the sky and waved.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

“Cali, you’re here?”

“Yeah, I arrived a little while ago. How’s your condition today?”

“I’m fine.”

A few months ago.

When the incident with Cali happened.

We almost grew further apart due to the gunshot, but rather, we started to get closer rapidly because of that incident.

I couldn’t say it was exactly because of that incident, but the timing was like that.

After apologizing to me that day, Cali approached me every break.

He came to talk to me every time I went to and from work.

Those conversations didn’t have much meaning.

How was the filming today, were there any difficulties?

How is the Korean filming set, what do you do on your days off, and so on – private conversations followed one after another.

And I could also sense Cali’s feelings through those conversations.

His desire to get closer to me.

After knowing that, I didn’t have the intention to push Cali away.

Of course, that didn’t mean I wanted to have trivial conversations with him like Cali did.

I just didn’t intend to reject Cali who was approaching me.

Perhaps that’s why Cali was getting closer and closer to me.

Cali came next to me and headed to the set together, opening his mouth.

“Do we have a lot to film today?”

“Um… no, there aren’t many scenes today. What about you, Cali?”

At my question, he smiled bashfully and pointed at me.

“I have two scenes today, and they’re all with Hee-sung.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

He playfully nudged my shoulder and said.

“Let’s do well since we’re doing the scenes together. Us!”

Although I had the most filming with Cali, Cali had never used the word ‘us’ to me.

Even if we became close, he would only use the terms ‘you’ and ‘I’.

But the term ‘us’ was used between him and me, and he didn’t stop there and tried to continue the conversation with me.

“Hee-sung, you have a day off tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Oh, we both have a day off. We’re in sync after all.”

I tilted my head at Cali’s words.

“…Isn’t everyone off tomorrow?”

Cali kept bringing up topics that overlapped with me as if to form a sense of camaraderie.

It was clear that Cali was trying to get closer to me.

But rather than being grateful for his feelings… somehow, we still felt a step apart.

This feeling wasn’t Cali’s problem.

It was just a matter of my feelings towards him.

At that time.

“Oh, what are you two doing without me?”

Someone cut between me and Cali and put their hand on our shoulders.

It was Robert.

He glared at me and Cali alternately with jealous eyes.

“I’m going with you too.”

That’s how the three of us headed to the filming set side by side.

***

“Thank you for your hard work!”

Clap clap-

“Wow, thank you so much for your hard work.”

“Thank you all for your hard work during that time.”

The filming set ended with more overwhelming cheers and applause than ever before.

After months of filming, the movie finally wrapped up.

At the end of this filming, there were no actors shedding tears of regret.

It was a set with many male actors, and the movie was being made into a musical.

Perhaps it was because there would be many more opportunities to meet again in musical practice and musical performances?

Most people didn’t attach much meaning to it being the end.

After taking a group photo to mark the end of filming.

Naturally, Cali, Robert, and I gathered in one place.

Without anyone saying anything first, Robert pulled on my and Cali’s wrists and shouted.

“Let’s have a drink together today.”

At his words, Cali tilted his head.

“Aren’t we having a company dinner today?”

“Oh. Didn’t you hear? The director has something to do, so the company dinner has been changed to another day.”

“Really?”

“Let’s have our own get-together, bro!”

At Robert’s words, Cali nodded his head right away.

“Sounds good. Hee-sung, are you available too?”

They looked at me with sparkling eyes and blinked.

I couldn’t bring myself to refuse those eyes.

“…Let’s do that.”

A few hours later.

A quiet bar near the accommodation.

We clinked glasses and celebrated the end of filming together.

Clink-

“Everyone worked hard.”

“Everyone worked hard.”

Before we knew it, Robert, Cali, and I had become quite close.

It was a relationship I couldn’t have imagined when we first started filming.

As if he was thinking the same thing, Cali began to talk about our first impressions.

“I can’t believe the three of us, Hee-sung and Robert, are having a final filming drink like this.”

At his words, I chuckled and replied.

“I know. I didn’t think the three of us would get this close.”

At my words, Robert looked at me and said.

“It’s because of you, Hee-sung. I was a fan of you, Hee-sung, and I wanted to get closer, but you were always cold to us.”

“It couldn’t be helped. Hee-sung was immersed in his role.”

I nodded my head at their conversation.

“Yeah, I think I was particularly immersed in this movie. I was in a sensitive state that I could feel myself.”

At my words, Cali carefully asked me.

“So, are you okay now?”

“Yeah. Actually, I was worried about whether I could get out of this emotion, but now I have to gradually get out of the immersion.”

This was also a problem I had always worried about.

It was a movie that was particularly difficult due to the immersion in the killer and the victim, and I had many times when I was embarrassed by the situation I was experiencing for the first time.

I almost lost my mind and hurt people because I was immersed in the killer.

But from around the end of filming, the degree of immersion gradually weakened.

I was getting better to the point where I could only immerse myself in front of the camera.

But headaches still came to me intermittently.

Robert exclaimed and gave me a thumbs up.

“Hee-sung is really amazing. Even while filming the movie, you really seemed like a killer.”

As if agreeing with his words, Cali also opened his mouth.

“Yeah, but when you filmed as a victim, it was really impressive how you immersed yourself and acted like that person. You’re a really great actor.”

“What… you guys are all great actors too.”

I lifted my glass with an awkward smile.

Clink-

Our glasses clinked again as if to strengthen our friendship.

And the topic changed with Cali’s words.

“Hee-sung, are you going to Korea after the musical?”

“Um… I don’t know yet.”

“I want to go to Korea.”

At his words, Robert clapped his hands loudly and shouted.

“Oh, me too. Let’s go to Korea.”

“Okay. Let’s go to Korea. I’ve never been to Korea.”

Cali and Robert looked at me with wide eyes as if they were excited.

I laughed heartily at their words and opened my mouth playfully.

“Okay. If you guys come to visit, I’ll give you a full course tour of Seoul.”

Robert’s eyes sparkled at my words.

“Wow, is there such a thing as a full course tour of Seoul?”

“That’s right. That’s cool, a full course tour of Seoul. What is it?”

I swallowed the laughter that was about to burst out and introduced it to them.

“A full course tour of Seoul is… first of all, starting with kimchi stew, kimchi fried rice, kimchi pancake, kimchi braised ribs….”

Before I could even finish speaking, Robert shouted at me in surprise.

“Oh… my god! What the kimchi!”

At Robert’s reaction, I said to him with a playful face.

“What? Are you being racist?”

Robert, who is sensitive to the word racism, covered his mouth with one hand, and quickly waved the other hand in the air and said.

“No. Bro… it’s not racism, it’s not….”

“Haha, I understand.”

“Hee-sung, be careful. If Robert has another racism controversy, he has to retire. Hahaha.”

Before we knew it, we had become so close that we were joking about each other’s weaknesses.

***

A relaxing day after filming the movie.

In the late afternoon, Park, the manager, came to the accommodation.

“Hyung, what’s going on?”

“I came to explain our schedule.”

“You could have done it over the phone….”

“No. I was bored because filming ended.”

Park came into the living room and took a seat on the sofa, and I sat next to him and started talking about the schedule.

“When do we start musical practice?”

“We’ll take a break for about a month and then immediately start preparing for the musical.”

Park opened the schedule and showed it to me, continuing to speak.

“You know that the director is different from the movie filming director, right?”

“Yeah, you mean the musical director is a different person, right?”

“That’s right. Musicals and movies are completely different fields.”

Park showed me the names of the actors written in the notebook and said.

“The director and staff will all be changed. Most of the actors will stay the same.”

“All the supporting and minor actors too?”

“No. The main and supporting actors will stay the same, and there will be some casting changes for the supporting roles.”

“Really?”

He nodded his head at my words and replied.

“Yeah. Depending on the proportion, they will be reduced or increased, and additional roles may come in.”

“Well, the musical is a live performance, so these many minor actors can’t come in.”

“Yeah, it seems like they’re going to replace a lot of them with musical actors.”

Park pointed to the calendar and continued to speak.

“Practice starts right away next month, and the supporting roles will join about two months later.”

“So, I have a month’s vacation, right?”

“That’s right. That’s why I came to talk about the schedule today.”

He raised his eyebrows and asked.

“What do you want to do for a month?”

And I answered Park without any hesitation.

“I’m going back to Korea.”