An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 12

Episode 12 #3 – HS Entertainment (3)

“Hello!”

The cheerful greeting announces someone’s arrival.

It’s the office used by the HS Entertainment management team.

Having worked here for a week, I naturally walk inside as if it were my own office.

“Hee-sung, you’re here again today?”

“Yes, I heard Team Leader Kim is coming in today?”

“Yeah, he came in and went upstairs to see the head of the team. He’ll be down soon, probably.”

“Yes, thank you!”

After talking with Team Leader Kim at the cafe last week, I had a professional photoshoot the very next day.

The quality was far superior to the cheaply taken photos I had used for my initial profile.

I was ushered into the studio after a full hair and makeup session at the salon.

The scene that unfolded there was like a studio from a drama or movie.

An enormous amount of lighting and a huge studio space.

What was especially surprising was the photographer.

A famous photographer who often appeared in behind-the-scenes pictorial shooting videos on TV.

That person, who felt like a celebrity to me, meticulously took my pictures.

Since then, my schedule has been packed every day.

Skin care appointments started because you never know when filming will begin, and even personal training (PT) for body management.

Feeling like the company was taking care of everything, I felt like I was truly becoming a celebrity.

And most importantly, acting.

I came to this office every day to look at scripts in order to find auditions that suited me.

Since I don’t have any work lined up yet, Team Leader Kim sometimes fills in as a manager for other celebrities.

However, when he doesn’t have work, he always reviews scripts with me.

That’s why I come to the company every day to look at scripts.

In fact, no one told me to come to work at the company.

Even so, why do I bother coming to the company?

Because it was a luxury to go to a cafe every day to read scripts.

I’d have to sit there all day, and I’d feel bad ordering just one cup of coffee… anything more than that was beyond my budget.

Also, I wasn’t comfortable enough to invite Team Leader Kim to my house yet.

Besides, it would be even more uncomfortable to sit in my cramped studio apartment and look at the script.

But more important than all of this, there was something else.

It was the company cafeteria.

When I toured the HS headquarters last time, I had wanted to try the company cafeteria.

Then, after following Team Leader Kim and tasting the food once, I unknowingly started coming to work at the company as if I was possessed.

I desperately wanted to take two servings every time I ate a meal, but since I started body management, I’m struggling to control myself.

“Hee-sung, you’re here?”

At that moment, someone came up next to me and sat down.

It’s Team Leader Kim.

“Oh, I got here a little while ago, hyung [older brother or close male friend].”

“Have you looked at the script a bit?”

“Yeah, this one’s kind of interesting, what do you think?”

“What is it?”

What I handed to Team Leader Kim was not a mini-series script, but a one-act play script.

Usually, drama mini-series often consist of 16 episodes.

But the one-act play I chose is a 1-hour, 1-episode broadcast.

To be honest, I want to audition for the lead role in a drama mini-series of a good production right away.

But even for HS Entertainment, it’s impossible for a minor actor like me, and I knew that better than anyone else.

“This is a college professor role, you know?”

“College professor? Then the age doesn’t match at all.”

“No. It’s a young college professor type, like a part-time lecturer. Look at the script.”

‘One-Act Play – Not Looking at the Stars.’

A sweet love story between a college professor in his early 30s and a 20-year-old freshman student.

A student who feels attracted to an expert in a field and approaches them.

And a professor who is fascinated by that student.

The professor is hesitant to embrace love, regardless of the age difference, because it is confined to a place called a university.

A scenario filled with a pure first love story that everyone experiences at least once.

The role I want to play in this one-act play is the college professor.

So, I want to play the lead role.

The lead role in a one-act play is, comparatively, a little less significant than a supporting role in a drama mini-series.

To put it simply, it’s like appearing briefly in about 3 out of 16 episodes?

One-act plays have very low viewership ratings because they are dramas that conclude in a single episode.

Therefore, it is difficult to increase public recognition.

But I thought that the lead role in a one-act play was perfect for showcasing my acting skills and building my filmography.

“Hyung, isn’t this good?”

“Ah… it was ‘Not Looking at the Stars’? I was going to look at that script anyway.”

“What do you think?”

Team Leader Kim tapped the script with his finger and said.

“I think it’s good. It’s a contest script, and the director is a veteran who used to do drama specials, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“Can’t I… audition for this?”

“Then I’ll find out the audition date.”

“Thank you, hyung.”

“No need to thank me. Practice the script, and let’s check it out in the afternoon.”

At Team Leader Kim’s reassuring words, I nodded with a confident face.

I had a good feeling for some reason.

***

“I’ll take just one question today and finish the class.”

A female student sitting far away raised her hand.

“Me!”

“Okay.”

“Professor, what is the relationship between humans and the universe? I don’t think there is any….”

It’s that kid again today.

She always monopolizes the last question of my class.

She asked the question with a bright face, and soon a smile spread across my face.

“Hmm… humans and the universe. That’s a good question. Modern astronomy explains that the universe and humans are inextricably linked.”

The students stopped packing their bags and started concentrating, looking at the podium.

“All the materials that make up humans come from the universe. Carbon, the most important element among the organic molecules that make up humans. And nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, sulfur. All of these were synthesized in outer space, in stars.”

All the students nodded as if they were interested, and the student who asked the question was concentrating on me without blinking an eye.

“…So, the origin of all the materials that make up humans. In other words, it can be said that humans all originated from stars.”

I put my arms on the podium and leaned against it, pouring out answers.

“Do you understand, student?”

The student who asked the question finally nodded.

“Then that’s it for today’s class. There will be an astronomy presentation next week, so please come on time!”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

At the same time as the greeting, the students rushed out of the lecture hall.

And the student who asked the last question slowly walked to the podium.

“What’s wrong….”

“Professor, then we are all made of star dust?”

“Hmm… I guess?”

The student didn’t leave and was just staring at me.

“Do you have any more questions?”

“…Professor, I like you!”

“…….”

I froze at her words.

“Anyway, I’m just a small existence like star dust in the vast universe… It’s not like the Earth will be destroyed if I confess, right?”

After throwing out a bold statement, she quickly handed me a pink letter she was holding with a shy face.

Then she ran straight out of the lecture hall.

“Hey…!”

That wasn’t the first time she had given me a letter.

In class a few weeks ago.

And in another class last semester.

We are just teacher and student…!

Ring ring ring ring ring.

Pop.

I woke up to the loud ringing sound.

‘What, a dream?’

Before I could even come to my senses whether it was a dream or reality, I answered the loudly ringing phone.

“Hello?”

-Hee-sung, I’ve left, so come down soon!

“Okay, it’ll be 10 minutes. I’ll go down without being late.”

***

“Hee-sung, you’re here?”

“Yeah, hyung, you came quickly?”

“Listening to your voice, it sounded like I woke you up, but you came right away without being late?”

“Haha, of course.”

“Fasten your seatbelt so we can leave.”

At Team Leader Kim’s words, I fastened my seatbelt and said.

“We’re going to the shop first, right?”

“Yeah, it’s an audition, so we have to go with a full set of hair and makeup.”

I nodded and looked out the window.

What was that dream I had earlier?

I don’t know anything about astronomy, or even earth science when I was young….

Can you become smart in any field in a dream?

No, apart from that, how can I have such a vivid dream?

It’s like something I actually experienced….

“Hee-sung.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?”

Team Leader Kim asked, lowering his eyebrows as if he was worried about me.

“Your voice sounded a little rough when we talked earlier. Are you not feeling well?”

“No, it’s not that… it’s just that the dream was a little strange.”

“Dream? What kind of dream was it that was strange?”

I recalled the dream and answered Team Leader Kim.

“When I think about it, it’s a little similar to the content of today’s drama audition.”

At my words, Team Leader Kim burst into laughter.

“How much did you practice the script that you’re even dreaming about it? You’re going to do well in today’s audition. I already have a feeling it’s going to be a hit? Haha.”

“I hope so….”

“It’s close, so it’ll only take ten minutes, so rest a little.”

“Okay.”

As always, I opened my cell phone and went to the internet.

An article on the main page of the internet.

‘Astronomy. New definition of the theory of relativity?’

A topic that would not be of interest to me, a liberal arts person, under normal circumstances.

But I clicked on the article as if possessed.

-The definition from the Titius-Bode law is….

The Titius-Bode law that appears in the article.

It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of the name of the law.

No, even the letters feel unfamiliar.

But why do I naturally understand this law?

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

There is a rule between the distances from the sun.

And there is a sequence in that distance rule….

Strange?

How do I know this, and why doesn’t the content of the article feel unfamiliar?

I grabbed my head tightly at the unknown feeling.

Squeak.

“Hee-sung, we’re here. Come down quickly.”

“Ah… okay.”

***

When I arrived at the audition site, I saw a lot of people.

It was my first time at a one-act play audition, but it was as crowded as any drama mini-series.

Since it’s a short one-act play, it felt like most of them came aiming for the lead role.

Listening to the lines they were saying while practicing for the audition, there were a lot of actors reciting the same lines as me.

Not to mention the faces, there were a lot of handsome people.

The tension gradually increased as the audition time approached.

The reason why I couldn’t help but feel burdened was because I had the name HS Entertainment behind me.

No one here knows that I belong to HS Entertainment.

I desperately wanted to show the company that believed in my acting that I was getting my first audition.

That’s why I was even more nervous.

“Huh? What.”

“There!”

“Where is it, wow! Is it real?”

Suddenly, the audition site started to stir with a commotion.

I was focused on practicing, but the increasingly loud noise broke my concentration.

‘What, did someone famous come?’

I turned my head and looked at the noisy side.

What…?

I frowned without realizing it.

Park Min-joon.

That annoying classmate I met at the Hwang Flower filming site.

Why is that bastard here?

Park Min-joon looked at the audition participants who welcomed him and sent a faint smile, then naturally sat down in the audition waiting line.

Crazy….

Park Min-joon is also auditioning for this one-act play?