An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 241

“Cut, okay!”

At Director David’s signal, I bowed my head.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

I quickly left the set and headed straight for the trailer.

I usually paced around in front of the trailer out of frustration, but after pouring all my energy into filming, I felt completely drained.

I just wanted to lean on something and rest.

“Hee-sung, you worked hard.”

Manager Kim greeted me, offering a warm drink.

“Yeah.”

I took the drink and gave a short reply.

Then, I leaned back on the plush sofa.

“Haa….”

I don’t know why, but I kept sighing.

Was it exhaustion from filming, or from the endless dream?

I couldn’t even tell anymore.

“Hee-sung, it looks like the next shoot won’t be for another 3 hours.”

Manager Kim carefully told me while I was resting.

“Okay.”

I tried to answer as kindly as possible, but.

“Should I… leave you alone to rest?”

Apparently, I didn’t seem very welcoming to him.

“No, just relax, *hyung* [older brother or male friend]. Don’t worry about me.”

“…Okay.”

I never meant to make Manager Kim uncomfortable.

It’s just that I’m filled with darkness, and I tried my best not to make him feel uneasy.

But he seemed to be having a hard time dealing with the changed me.

But I didn’t want to pretend to be cheerful.

Besides, it’s not like I’d actually become brighter if I pretended.

I thought that just ‘pretending’ would make Manager Kim even more uncomfortable.

Manager Kim shook his cell phone and said to me.

“I’ll go make a quick call.”

“Okay.”

Thump.

Manager Kim left the trailer, leaving me alone.

Without eating anything or trying to sleep.

I just slowly closed my eyes.

I wanted to take a real break, but I couldn’t fall asleep.

Because if I did, I might have another nightmare.

No, I was sure to have a nightmare.

Not a single day, not a single time had I not dreamed.

That’s why I didn’t want to fall asleep even more.

When I was tired on set, all I could do was fidget with my cell phone or just close my eyes and sit still.

That was it.

When I closed my eyes, a name came to mind.

Song Yuna.

Recently, Song Yuna had been popping into my head.

Her name.

Her clear voice, her blunt and cold tone.

Her big eyes and high nose.

Strangely enough, Song Yuna kept messing with my head.

When I wasn’t acting on set, I closed my eyes because I kept thinking about her.

But even when I closed my eyes like this, she floated around in front of me.

“Why does Song Yuna keep….”

The reason why Song Yuna came to mind like this wasn’t just because of the dream.

The cell phone I canceled in Korea.

After that, contact with everyone naturally ceased.

It was obvious.

Since I canceled the number, they couldn’t contact me and get a reply.

But there was one person.

Only Song Yuna was different.

The moment I canceled my cell phone.

She had been texting me right up until then.

Asking if I was doing well, if I was okay, telling me to take care of myself.

After the cell phone was canceled, I couldn’t receive those texts.

Because the texts couldn’t come.

But Song Yuna didn’t stop there, and she sent me messages on my SNS [Social Networking Service].

Of course, the messages weren’t as friendly as before.

-What is it? Why aren’t you replying to my texts? Unbelievable.

-What, no reply again today. Is something really wrong? I’m not worried; I’m just annoyed that my texts are being ignored.

-Jin Hee-sung, are you doing this on purpose? I sent a text because we’re in the same company, but I’m really angry that you’re not replying. I don’t think this will end with just buying me a meal?

Messages didn’t come every day on SNS, but every few days, messages would suddenly come.

And I never sent her a reply.

Because I had firmly decided to end all ties and even canceled my cell phone.

The biggest reason I didn’t reply to Song Yuna was….

Because my memories of her were becoming clearer and clearer.

She was Song Yuna who I saw in my dreams.

When I woke up from the dream, she kept contacting me.

Now, even when I closed my eyes, she came to mind, and before I knew it, my head was full of Song Yuna.

…I shouldn’t be like this.

Then.

Ding-dong.

The SNS alarm rang again.

I clicked on the alarm to check.

-Jin Hee-sung, I came to America for a shoot.

***

“Ready, action!”

Director David shouted with a frown.

And Jin Heesung’s eyes changed at that sound.

“I’m going to… kill them all.”

His eerie voice and tone.

Unlike his scary words, one corner of Jin Heesung’s mouth stretched out.

Rather, that smile amplified the eeriness several times over.

“Sa… save me. Please.”

“You guys made me like this. I told you from the start. Just kill me.”

There was no great anger in Jin Heesung’s voice.

No, it was just a voice that didn’t feel any emotion.

“That’s… I was really wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be you being reborn….”

“No, it’s no use regretting it. Now, you just have to die.”

Jin Heesung pointed his gun, turned his neck once, and picked his ear with one hand as if he was bored.

“I won’t bother listening to your last words because I don’t want to hear them, and no one will listen.”

“Sa… save… Aagh!”

Bang-!

A short scream and an explosion of gunfire.

Thud-.

Red blood splattered on Jin Heesung’s face.

He rummaged through the pockets of the man who had fallen to the floor.

Then, he took out a handkerchief from inside and wiped the blood off his face.

Jin Heesung threw the blood-wiped handkerchief on his face without regret.

Turning around and leaving the scene, the corner of Jin Heesung’s mouth stretched out again.

That smile was reminiscent of a demon.

Smirk-.

The camera fully captured Jin Heesung’s smile.

“Cut, okay!”

At Director David’s signal, applause and cheers erupted again on the set.

Whenever Jin Heesung acted, the set was full of actors.

It was to see his acting.

Overwhelming acting ability.

Jin Heesung wasn’t greatly surprised by the cheers, nor did he respond.

Wiping the fake blood off his face with his hand again, he bowed his head.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Then, he headed to his trailer.

Director David, watching the scene, clicked his tongue.

“Jin Heesung… there’s no flaw in that guy’s acting. He’s the first actor like that I’ve ever seen.”

The actors next to Director David began to buzz, looking at Jin Heesung.

“Jin Heesung, isn’t that actor really crazy?”

“I know. Are all Asians good at acting?”

“No. Not all the actors in the Korean movies I’ve seen were like that. So, I guess everyone wants to come to Hollywood.”

“Well, but what is that actor anyway. He seems like someone who has committed murder.”

At their words, the assistant director nodded and muttered.

“That cruel smile is so natural, as if he lived the life of a serial killer….”

***

“Kyaa!”

Jin Heesung swung his knife, not caring about the woman’s scream.

A sharp knife.

The end was so sharp that it seemed like you could get cut just by looking at it.

“Sa… save… me……. I’ll do anything you tell me… please.”

The woman’s body was stabbed in several places, and she was bleeding.

But Jin Heesung’s eyes didn’t waver even a little at the cry for help.

The woman desperately looked at Jin Heesung, who kept his mouth shut.

Thud-.

She stretched out her arm with difficulty and grabbed Jin Heesung’s ankle.

“Please… save me….”

He didn’t seem to have any emotional turmoil even at that sight.

“Dirty.”

Rather, he shook his foot to shake off the woman’s hand that grabbed his foot.

Her hand fell powerlessly.

Then, Jin Heesung pulled out his knife and began to swing it cruelly at her.

“Aagh!”

Several painful sounds erupted.

“…….”

Soon, no words came out of the woman’s mouth as she was stabbed by the knife.

Finally, her breath stopped.

Jin Heesung, looking at her, tilted his head with a smirk.

That smile was more than just eerie; it was cruel.

Jin Heesung murdered another woman today.

He, who realized that it was an infinite reincarnation of 10,000 years, had been committing murder for some time.

There was no death for him.

After realizing that living while having hellish nightmares every day was not living at all.

Jin Heesung thought that reality was more of a nightmare than dreams.

As his mind went crazy, he grabbed a knife one day.

He was randomly murdering people on the street.

Today was just another day for him.

“Haa… everything is dirty.”

The streets of London at night were now trembling at Jin Heesung’s appearance.

But now, in the 1880s.

The technology to catch Jin Heesung, who was committing such terrible murders, was woefully inadequate.

So, Jin Heesung smiled today and moved his feet quickly in the darkness to take another’s life.

Pat-!

“Haa… haa….”

As soon as I woke up from the dream and came to my senses, I punched my chest with my fist, gasping for breath.

A very vivid dream.

No, a past memory that comes to mind so clearly.

It happened in London in 1888.

At that time, I was just living a normal life as a British gentleman.

I was an ordinary man, no different from anyone else.

But like now, I realized that I had been punished with a life of 10,000 years.

That’s probably how it was back then.

Out of the 10,000 years of life.

It was around the time when one life was coming to an end.

Of course, now was the time when the 10,000 years were coming to an end along with the end of Jin Heesung’s life.

But back then, there was still so much time left before the punishment of 10,000 years ended… so much that I couldn’t even know the end.

So, I think it was even harder to accept reality.

That painful memory, that cruel punishment.

I, who was in the middle of it, ended up committing serial murders.

I couldn’t know why I made that decision at the time, and how I went crazy as a psychopath while committing murder.

However, the memory of me committing murder in London was too clear and vivid.

The voices of the people who were crying out for me to save them while looking at me.

The faces and expressions of people feeling painful pain.

Everything was clearly drawn in front of my eyes.

So, it was even more painful.

Before I knew it, hot tears were flowing down my cheeks.

I couldn’t conclude that it was tears of repentance.

Because even I don’t understand myself at the time.

I writhed in pain because the memory of that time was clear.

My memory didn’t fade even a little.

Rather, it seemed to become clearer as I tried to forget it.

“Haa… it’s too painful….”

These tears are just tears of pain flowing with my past.

Because of me at that time, who was so different from my current thoughts and values.

I felt a sense of alienation when I thought of the past.

But without my knowing it, it seemed like that figure was suddenly appearing while acting in this work.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to immerse myself in imagination and kill people.

I wouldn’t be able to make such a cruel smile so eerily.