An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 246

246. #45 – A 10,000-Year Life (1)

My vision blurred, and the silence around me gradually filled with murmurs.

“What’s going on?”

“Who is that guy?”

The murmuring conversations became clearer in my ears.

The blurry vision slowly began to focus.

Tap-!

Suddenly, a distinct red light appeared before my eyes.

The large, red light filled my vision.

“Hey!”

A loud shout startled me, and I shook my head vigorously, snapping back to my senses.

“Who the hell is that guy!”

The person shouting at me was the director, standing next to the camera with a deeply furrowed brow.

His yelling caused a stir around us.

“Is that guy even an actor?”

“Does he have camera shyness?”

“Why is he just standing there blankly in front of the camera?”

The whispers made sweat trickle down my spine.

I bowed deeply.

“I… I’m sorry.”

“Hey, you! Get out here now!”

The director seemed furious and shouted at me.

I couldn’t say anything.

The same scene, a short line of dialogue.

I couldn’t even handle that one line, and we had already filmed this scene ten times.

At the director’s “Action” cue, my body froze like a log, unable to move.

The red light of the camera made me sweat profusely, and I couldn’t do anything.

Even after all that practice.

In the end, I couldn’t show anything in front of the camera, not even something that could be called acting.

“I’m sorry….”

This wasn’t the first time I had suffered from camera shyness.

But the shyness still hadn’t been cured.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, my vision blurred….

‘What is this…?’

I squeezed my eyes shut from the dizziness. When I opened them, a different scene came into view.

“Yuna… ?”

Song Yuna stood before me, tilting her head as she looked at me.

“The shoot is starting soon. What are you doing?”

She glared at me coldly with a blunt expression and tone.

“Ah… yes.”

“Didn’t you hear that Hee-sung should put his hand on my shoulder?”

At her words, I carefully placed my hand on Song Yuna’s shoulder.

“Don’t cause an NG [no good, meaning a mistake], let’s go in one take.”

“…Yes.”

“Ready, action!”

At the director’s shout, Yuna and I exchanged loving glances and began to act.

“I love you.”

Song Yuna’s eyes were moist.

She whispered to me with eyes that seemed about to cry.

I pulled her into my arms, swallowing back my tears.

“Don’t leave.”

I closed my eyes while holding Song Yuna.

Song Yuna disappeared like smoke in my arms.

When I opened my eyes, I saw my parents’ faces in front of me.

“Hee-sung, your mom and dad just want you to be happy.”

My mother bit her lip, looking at me instead of the gift I had given her.

“Yes, don’t use the money you’ve worked so hard to earn on us. You can live doing what you want to do and buying what you want to buy.”

My father also looked at me deeply and spoke sincerely.

“Mom, Dad….”

Their words choked me up.

“I’m an actor. Always good clothes, expensive shoes. From dermatology to massage…. Mom and Dad suffered raising me, but now you can live comfortably and enjoy everything.”

“We are enjoying our lives enough. We have a son, Jin Hee-sung, haha.”

I swallowed back my tears at my mother’s words.

“You had a hard time raising me. Now, Mom and Dad can enjoy life. I’ll earn the money.”

She grabbed my hand tightly and said.

“Hard? We’ve never had a hard time raising you, Hee-sung. Rather, we’re sorry we couldn’t do more for you. Looking back now, we should have done better. We should have let you do more of what you wanted to do… I regret it.”

My father nodded at my mother’s words.

“Yes, son, I’m always sorry.”

“What couldn’t Mom and Dad do for me? I enjoyed everything. I received a lot of love….”

In the end, I couldn’t hold back my tears.

It blurred my vision as I looked at my parents.

I quickly wiped away the tears with my sleeve to see my parents’ faces.

Then my vision became clear.

“Huh?”

But in front of me was not my parents, but Manager Kim.

“…Hyung [older brother/male friend].”

“Hee-sung, even if you’re busy, you have to take the vitamins I give you.”

He picked up the vitamins that were on the floor and handed them to me.

Then, he opened a bottle of water and handed it to me, continuing to speak.

“Of course, I’ll always be there to take care of you. But you always have to take care of your health.”

“Okay.”

“Tell me if you need anything. No, I’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry, haha.”

Manager Kim joked and then spoke again.

“Kuh, what would Jin Hee-sung do without Kim Ji-hoon by his side, really?”

I smiled at his words.

“That’s right. What would I do without you, Hyung?”

But tears were already welling up in my eyes as I stared at him.

Flash-!

“Haa… haa….”

I opened my eyes and saw the hotel ceiling.

“What, it was a dream.”

I gasped for breath and jumped out of bed.

“Why this dream all of a sudden?”

I had dreams several times a day.

Always hellish dreams.

I vividly dreamed of the things I had experienced in my 10,000 years of life.

But this dream was very different from usual.

Among the countless lives of 10,000 years, the people I met while living as Jin Hee-sung.

My parents, who embraced me with love.

Manager Kim, who cared about me more than his own family.

And even Song Yuna.

From the moment I first stood in front of the camera and experienced camera shyness.

To the image of me becoming an actor and acting.

The moments were quickly drawn like a panorama.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a dream like this before….

After dreaming, I always had to take a headache pill because my head throbbed.

Because I always had terrible dreams like hell.

But the dream I just had was so different.

Only tears blurred my vision.

I desperately missed the people I had seen in my dream a little while ago.

“…I miss you. Mom, Dad…. Manager Kim, too.”

Everyone in Korea was drawn before my eyes.

All the happy moments with them.

And among them, one person who made my heart ache so much.

It was Song Yuna.

The thing that didn’t disappear from my head was Song Yuna.

“I really miss you… Song Yuna.”

My emotions seemed to be running wild.

When I thought of her, my heart ached so much that tears came to my eyes.

When I thought of the happy moments together, a smile flowed out without me knowing.

I fumbled for my cell phone and picked it up.

I desperately wanted to call her.

“Should I at least hear her voice?”

But then I shook my head vigorously and gave up.

“No. That’s not why I stayed in LA….”

I barely swallowed my feelings for her and searched for ‘Song Yuna’ on the internet, looking at her pictures.

A smile gradually spread across my face as I looked at her pictures, without me even realizing it.

“Not from the 10,000 years of life, but now I… I think I like Song Yuna….”

***

A monitor without wires.

Many people surrounding it.

“Wow… now that the end is near, it seems like he misses people.”

“Right. He’s crying and laughing, he’s right before going crazy? Haha.”

They smiled as they looked at the monitor.

The person on the monitor was none other than Jin Hee-sung.

It was a video of him staying in a hotel in LA and being confused, not a work he appeared in.

In other words, it was a monitor that could show him anytime, anywhere.

The gods were watching Jin Hee-sung with interesting faces.

“Every time I see him confused like that, I think of my old self.”

“Me too. But I’ve only lived for less than a thousand years, and he’s lived for 10,000 years?”

“Wow… if he’s lived for 10,000 years, the pain of the memories he’s receiving now must be enormous.”

The gods clicked their tongues and focused on Jin Hee-sung.

“But when is his 10,000 years supposed to end?”

At the question of one god, a person wearing a black cloak opened his mouth in a low voice.

“One week.”

“What? Only one week left?”

“The end is really in sight.”

A god wearing a fedora stroked his chin and asked many people.

“Everyone, what do you think that guy will do on the last day he receives his punishment? That is, a week from now?”

At his words, many people seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

“Um… of course, he’ll return to nothingness.”

“That’s right. Choosing death is so obvious, right?”

“Of course. Look at how painful he is now. There’s nothing to think about.”

But there were also opinions contrary to them.

“But seeing him cry so desperately, it seems like he has someone he loves……. Wouldn’t he refuse death?”

“Well, I think I might want to be in the human world more than that person if I were him.”

They fiercely unfolded their arguments.

The god in the black cloak waved his cloak and said.

“Shall we make a bet?”

“What bet?”

“What choice will that guy make in a week? Whether he chooses death or refuses it….”

At his words, the gods began to buzz.

“Okay, let’s bet!”

“I’ll cast a vote for choosing death.”

“Me too!”

“Of course, it’s death. I’ll participate in the bet too.”

Among the bustling gods.

One god who was staring intently at the monitor at the end opened his mouth quietly.

“I’ll cast my vote for not dying.”

At those words, the other gods widened their eyes and looked at him.

Votes were cast countless times for ‘dying’.

Only one vote was cast for ‘not dying’.

The god in the black cloak raised the corners of his mouth and said.

“I’m looking forward to the results in a week?”

***

I don’t know how many hours I cried because of an unknown dream.

My eyes were swollen.

My appearance was so bad that I couldn’t even look at it because I had no appetite and kept not eating.

I leaned weakly against the bed.

“Haa….”

I just opened my mouth with a sigh today.

At that time.

Beep.

[Sender: Manager Kim Ji-hoon]

A call came from Manager Kim.

I was so happy to receive a call from Manager Kim while thinking of him.

But I didn’t want to answer it.

If I heard his voice, I felt like my heart, which had been firmly determined not to go to Korea, would waver.

The dream I had while missing him came back to my mind clearly.

I remembered the days when I laughed and joked with Manager Kim, and my heart was quite confused.

Beep.

When I didn’t answer the phone, the alarm rang again on my cell phone, as if he had sent a text message.

I pressed down on my throbbing head and looked at my cell phone.

-Hee-sung, please answer the phone. It’s urgent.

I tilted my head at his text.

He had never asked me to answer the phone before.

Of course, there were many times when I didn’t answer his calls.

Then Manager Kim would leave a text message and call again in a few hours or the next day.

“Did something happen?”

I hesitated at his text.

Beep.

The phone rang again.

“…Hello?”

-Hee-sung!

At his urgent voice, I cleared my throat and answered as if nothing had happened.

“What’s wrong?”

-Why does your voice sound so bad? What’s wrong?

“No. You said it was urgent. What is it?”

Manager Kim shouted in a somewhat excited voice.

-You’ve been nominated for Best Actor at this year’s Academy Awards [the Oscars]!

I was startled by his words and shouted.

“Best Actor?”