An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 155

155. Episode 28 – The Punishment of Ten Thousand Years (6)

“Hate comments?”

Choi Seo-bin frowned as he asked.

I bit my lip and nodded.

“Yes, stories about me have been spreading like wildfire recently.”

“What are they saying?”

“Just the usual hate stuff. Saying I have a terrible personality, that I’m trash. That I swear on set and I’m late every day, things like that.”

Choi Seo-bin’s face grew serious.

“There are also a lot of ridiculous rumors. It’s hard to hold a press conference to address every single one.”

Choi Seo-bin nodded in agreement.

“Exactly. But if I don’t address them, it looks like I’m admitting it, right?”

I clapped my hands.

“Yes, exactly! I’m worried about whether I should just ignore it, or if ignoring it will make it look like I’m admitting guilt.”

Choi Seo-bin nodded again.

I sighed deeply, staring intently at my phone.

“At first, I just thought, ‘Oh, I’m getting hate comments now,’ but as they kept posting ridiculous things, I got angry.”

Choi Seo-bin’s lips twitched.

“So, you’re starting to get stressed by hate comments now?”

He smirked.

“It means you’ve made a name for yourself as an actor, in this industry.”

“What does that…”

“There’s a saying that hate comments are better than no comments. Not that hate comments are good, but it means that people are jealous of your success.”

I tilted my head.

“Then what should I do? Should I respond to them?”

“No, just ignore them. They’re just people who are unhappy with their own lives. They’ve found a target to vent on. They’re jealous because you’re more successful than they are; they’re just envious.”

“But if I leave it alone, they keep posting nonsense about my skills or my personality.”

Choi Seo-bin waved his finger in the air.

“If your skills are good, the hate comments will disappear anyway. They say you have no skills, that your popularity is just a bubble, but that’s not true.”

He was right.

The hate comments were all lies.

I knew they were just jealous and envious.

I nodded and murmured.

“Not everyone in the world can like me. I know that, and I thought I wouldn’t be hurt by hate comments.”

Choi Seo-bin shook his head, looking up at the ceiling.

“Right. I felt the same way.”

“But when I see hate comments on every article, I keep looking at them even though I know I shouldn’t. I get hurt when I see them, and I get anxious when I don’t.”

“That’s why you shouldn’t look at them. Strengthening your mental state by reading hate comments? There’s no need for that.”

Choi Seo-bin sighed.

“Why do you need to toughen up by reading the words of people who hate you? You’re busy enough taking care of your fans.”

“That’s right. I don’t even have enough time to practice and get some sleep.”

“Exactly. Don’t pay attention to hate comments at all. Don’t even look at them.”

Choi Seo-bin was giving me sincere advice.

Anyone could give that kind of advice about hate comments.

But because it was coming from someone in the same industry, someone who had actually experienced it.

It felt like the words of a senior who had walked this path before me resonated deeply.

And seeing Choi Seo-bin, who had felt this pain and become stronger.

I felt touched.

“Yes, I’ll try not to look at them.”

Choi Seo-bin handed my phone back.

I quickly closed the comment section and smiled.

***

A silent car.

A person sat in the back seat with their legs crossed, a laptop on their lap, looking intently at something.

Hair flying, she frowned and clicked on an article.

[Jin Hee-sung, the lead actor in the movie ‘Fence Bandit’. Will he continue his box office success this time as well…?]

Her face twisted in anger as she read the title.

She nonchalantly scrolled down the article.

Then, she reached the comment section at the bottom and smiled sinisterly.

“Jin Hee-sung… Box office success, my ass.”

Her hand hovered over the keyboard, contemplating what to write.

“What kind of comment should I write today?”

She rolled her eyes, a happy expression on her face, and started typing.

“Jin Hee-sung’s popularity is just a bubble. His box office success was all thanks to the other actors. He can’t act, his personality is terrible, I honestly don’t understand why he’s been successful so far.”

She pressed enter fiercely.

Her comment was posted.

Then, she stretched her mouth into a wicked grin.

She put her hand back on the mouse, searching for more articles about Jin Hee-sung.

“Is there anything else new?”

♪♬.

She hummed while writing hate comments, even shrugging her shoulders.

As soon as she found an article related to Jin Hee-sung, she clicked on the link.

The moment Jin Hee-sung’s face filled her laptop screen.

“Tsk…”

She frowned as soon as she saw Jin Hee-sung’s face.

Then, she sighed deeply, as if her pent-up anger had exploded.

“Jin Hee-sung should never be successful. I can’t stand seeing him more successful than me.”

Tap tap tap-.

Her hands flew across the keyboard.

-Isn’t Jin Hee-sung getting into dramas because of Choi Seo-bin? lol

-It’s obvious when his bubble will burst, lol

-Is it true that Jin Hee-sung likes men? Doesn’t everyone know?

-Jin Hee-sung swears on set every day and assaults his manager all the time. His personality is really terrible.

She smiled as she left the comments.

She seemed to feel a sense of exhilaration from writing them.

“Kuh, my stress is gone. Let’s see when Jin Hee-sung fails.”

At that moment.

Ding-.

A comment was posted on the hate comment she had written.

Instantly, she cursed.

“What the f*ck is this.”

She clicked on the notification and saw her comment was flooded with replies defending Jin Hee-sung.

-Jin Hee-sung swears on set every day and assaults his manager all the time. His personality is really terrible.

└Huh? Fans all know that Jin Hee-sung is very close to his manager, what nonsense are you talking about?

└Is there a video of him swearing at and assaulting his manager on set? lol

└You’re generalizing without any evidence, lol. Why do you hate Jin Hee-sung? Tell us the reason.

Looking at the comments, she took a sharp breath and quickly deleted her comment.

Then, she went to another site and started spreading rumors about Jin Hee-sung again.

“Okay. Do you think this is the only place I can curse Jin Hee-sung?”

She smirked wickedly and typed again.

“Let’s see you suffer, Jin Hee-sung.”

For several tens of minutes, she didn’t move.

She left hate comments on articles and posts related to Jin Hee-sung.

She leaned back in her chair, a happy expression on her face.

“Haa, is this enough for today?”

At that moment.

Knock knock.

A sound of knocking on the right window.

She was startled and hurriedly closed her laptop.

Then, she slowly opened the window and raised her eyebrows.

“Why?”

“Min-young, they’re going to start filming soon. Have you seen the script?”

“Ah, already?”

“Yeah, it’s about to start…”

A staff member running between her and the manager shouted loudly.

“Shin Min-young, you need to come out right now!”

At the staff’s words, Shin Min-young finally picked up the script instead of the laptop and said.

“I’ll look at the script one more time before going in.”

Shin Min-young’s manager replied in a hurried voice.

“What were you doing? You had plenty of time…”

“Yeah. Relieving stress.”

The corners of Shin Min-young’s mouth were slightly raised as she answered the manager.

***

“Cut!”

Director Kang got up and approached me.

“Hee-sung, that was good, but give it a slightly more wistful look there.”

“Yes, I understand. I’ll do it again.”

“Good. Let’s go again right away.”

He headed out of the camera’s view, satisfied.

I quickly adjusted my expression.

“Ready, action!”

Looking at the camera with moist eyes, I let out a short sigh.

“Haa… This isn’t what I wanted.”

My tightly bitten lips were trembling.

Director Kang nodded, watching my facial expressions on the monitor.

“If I could go back to the way I was before…”

Tears welled up and flowed down my cheeks.

I slowly closed my eyes, letting the tears fall.

My throat swallowing, my trembling lips, my eyes.

Numerous cameras captured every scene.

“Cut, okay!”

Director Kang shouted, pleased.

“Hee-sung, your acting was great!”

“…Thank you.”

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and bowed.

“Good job, everyone.”

I immediately left the set.

Then, I walked to the back of the building where no one was and sat down against the wall.

“Haa…”

As the filming progressed, Director Kang was increasingly satisfied with my acting.

But recently, an empty feeling had been growing in my heart.

Whenever I received a script, I spent a lot of time studying the work and analyzing the character.

I immersed myself in the role.

As a result, I was praised for my performances.

I also felt regretful and struggled when I had to leave the role behind.

Because I had become that character for months.

There was always direction from the director during filming.

Of course, I filmed in the direction he wanted.

However, my opinions were added to the direction, and I acted by fully expressing the character’s tendencies that I had envisioned.

But this movie was different.

It was Director Kang’s vision.

He only directed me according to his own ideas.

I felt like a puppet, just reciting lines as Director Kang wanted.

If he told me to make an angry face, I made an angry face.

If he told me to cry, I cried.

It felt like I had become a machine that just read the script and acted.

It’s an actor’s job to act based on the script.

But because my own thoughts and feelings weren’t included, the emptiness I felt after acting never disappeared.

It wasn’t that I doubted being an actor.

I just wanted to do ‘the work I wanted’.

After having that dream.

I took this job without thinking because of Choi Seo-bin’s suggestion while I was suffering from a headache.

I thought this wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

Moreover, it was my choice.

My desire for the work I wanted to do grew even stronger.

Not just a work for commercial purposes, not just a job.

Acting that comes from my heart.

That’s the kind of work I wanted to choose.

Of course, that didn’t mean I wanted to quit the current project.

Anyway, because I had committed to it, I had to do my best to finish it.

I pressed my head with both hands and murmured.

“To make matters worse, I’m getting hate comments, so my head hurts even more…”

I shook my head and pulled myself together.

I shook off the dirt on my pants and got up.

“Let’s go back to filming.”

I strengthened my resolve, put on a smile, and headed back to the set.