An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 93

93. #19 – There is No Set Answer (1)

After discovering the zombie script, I flipped through it, losing track of time until I reached the last page.

It wasn’t just the presence of zombies that kept me reading.

The suspense was breathtaking, the story compelling.

It felt more like watching a movie than reading a script.

“This is seriously immersive.”

Before I realized it, I was frowning, deeply engrossed, as I finished the last page.

Then, I turned the script over to look at the cover again.

[Survivor of a Doomed World]

[Director: Kang Jun-soo]

It was strikingly similar to the zombies I saw in my dream.

I stared intently at the script cover, lost in thought.

Wait a minute.

This is strange.

Until now, my dreams always followed reading a script.

After having a dream, I would search for the corresponding script.

But this time, it was different.

The dream came first, and much later—not even the next day—I found the script.

It broke the pattern I had observed.

Yet, strangely, I was drawn to this work.

Is this just an exception?

I rested my elbows on the table, pressed my temples with both hands, and considered various possibilities.

But no matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation.

Then, with a glimmer of hope, I began searching through the other scripts on the table.

“Maybe there’s another zombie story… or perhaps the mountain scene I saw in my dream is in another work.”

One, two….

“This isn’t it.”

The rejected scripts, those that didn’t meet my standards, piled up higher than the ones I hadn’t even looked at yet.

“This script isn’t immersive enough.”

Before I knew it, the stack of scripts I was going through was empty.

I had been examining scripts for so long without moving that my body felt stiff when I stood up.

Crack.

The sound of my bones cracking echoed through the room.

I got up, stretched, and looked out the window.

Darkness had already fallen.

Once again, the dream from that day came to mind.

The moment I was alone in the car in the dark, deep mountains.

The static on the radio, creating a sense of isolation from the world.

And the countless hordes of zombies rushing toward me.

Dark red blood dripped from their mouths.

The zombies, making eerie noises and opening their mouths, seemed vividly before my eyes.

I shook my head violently and sat back down.

Then, as if compelled, I opened the first page of ‘Survivor of a Doomed World’ again.

Director Kang Jun-soo’s work was a movie, not a drama.

And my first movie, which had ended in failure, came to mind.

Was it wise to consider another movie, even so?

I didn’t want to develop any jinxes [superstitions about bad luck].

A jinx feels like limiting myself, so I try not to dwell on them.

And I intend to continue doing so.

But my first movie, where I played a supporting role, had flopped.

Now, as I was beginning to make a name for myself as a lead in dramas, I wondered if it was the right move to jump into another movie.

It wasn’t that I would never make a movie again.

That would be creating a jinx.

Overcoming such fears was my responsibility.

“What, you’ve already read it all?”

Just then, Manager Kim, who had left the conference room earlier, came in and asked, his eyes wide.

He stared at the script on the table, not at me, his mouth agape.

I smiled and replied, “Yeah, I read it all.”

He clicked his tongue in amazement and took a seat in front of me.

“Were there any good ones?”

At Manager Kim’s question, I picked up one of the scripts and handed it to him.

“Hyung [older brother or close male friend], I think this one is good.”

He looked at the script I handed him and nodded slowly.

“This is a zombie movie, right?”

“Yeah, did you read it too, hyung?”

“I read a bit at the beginning, but I’ll take a closer look again.”

He took the script and asked, “So, is this the only one that’s good?”

I shook my head emphatically.

“Yeah, just this one.”

He looked at the dozens of scripts spread out before him.

Out of all of them, this was the only one I wanted.

Manager Kim nodded and turned his gaze to me.

I looked at him with eager eyes and said, “Hyung, please contact the production company.”

Manager Kim raised the corners of his mouth and replied, “You really want to do this… no matter what?”

Just by looking at my eyes and hearing my tone, he knew how much I wanted the role.

I smiled at him.

“Yeah. I really want to do it.”

***

A dark place where nothing could be seen.

All I could see was pitch-black darkness.

It wasn’t just my vision that was blocked.

….

No sound, no smell.

This feeling of being in a world of ‘nothingness’.

Where the hell was I?

I sniffed and looked around, turning my head.

Then I took a deep breath.

No, wait a minute!

This wasn’t reality.

This was… my dream.

Flash-!

Then, a bright light flashed from somewhere.

The light came into view.

Everything changed in this place, which had been dark and quiet, with just that one small light.

“Ugh….”

In front of me, there were dozens, no, hundreds of people making strange noises and twisting their bodies.

They were all opening their mouths and moving their heads quickly, as if searching for something.

In that moment, I recognized them.

These were… zombies!

Bang!

A loud noise was heard.

“Krrr….”

“Ugh….”

The zombies reacted even more intensely than when the light had flashed.

Their backs were bent backward, and their emaciated legs were so strangely attached to the floor that they couldn’t even support their bodies.

The arms were bent arbitrarily at each joint, as if they had lost the function of the bones.

Dada Dada Dada-.

Soon, the zombies started running toward the source of the noise.

I was swept along with them, running with all my might.

The bony arms were stretched back behind the body, and only the shoulders and face were facing forward.

The legs were weak and could not support the body, so they stumbled and fell.

But everyone around me, including me, got up and kept running toward one place.

Come to think of it….

Everything I could see was distorted.

A warped view.

Things, people, and even the road seemed to swirl around me.

Still, I didn’t feel dizzy.

I was focused on the light and running toward it.

“Kuaaaaa.”

A strange sound came from my mouth.

It wasn’t just me making these sounds and gestures.

Everyone here had the same eyes, arms, legs, and even the dark red, sticky blood that was dripping.

Everything was the same as me.

Since my vision was unclear, I often ran into walls and other zombies.

As I was running, I saw a person whose heart was beating normally.

The only human.

“Sa… Save me.”

A person with a terrified face, confronted by the approaching zombie horde.

His face was pale, and he trembled as he stepped back.

He bared his teeth, twitching his upper lip.

The fair skin of the human screaming for help.

I swallowed without realizing it.

‘I want to eat… I want to eat….’

At that moment, I was running toward him.

No, that face….

It’s me?

He was shaking his head in fear, but it was definitely me, Jin Hee-sung.

I’m here now, in this body.

What the hell is that?

Why am I there?

Without time to think, I rushed at Jin Hee-sung, who looked like me, making a strange noise.

It wasn’t just about enduring with willpower or wanting to bite him.

It was pure instinct.

Biting a living human.

Tearing off his flesh with sharp teeth.

Turning him into a zombie like me….

I threw myself at Jin Hee-sung and covered him.

And the flesh-colored neck visible above the collar.

I opened my mouth wide and bit his neck hard.

“Aaaagh!”

He roared in pain.

That sound lasted only a moment.

“Ugh….”

Soon, his pupils turned the same pure white color as mine, and with the sound of bones cracking as he twisted, he slowly got up.

Again, he strained to hear even the smallest sound and turned his head.

Pat-!

“Haa, haa.”

A pure white ceiling in front of my eyes.

Waking up from the dream, I swallowed hard, remembering all the vivid and realistic scenes.

Clearly, the person I bit in my dream had my face.

It wasn’t just that he looked alike; it was exactly me, Jin Hee-sung.

But when I was dreaming, my body was definitely a zombie….

What kind of dream was this, and what did it mean?

Even though it was just a dream, I got out of bed, panting.

My whole body was covered in sweat.

I shook my head violently and rushed to the bathroom.

Even while showering, the scenes from my dream were hard to shake off.

As if I had actually been a zombie, the distorted vision and the heightened senses of smell and hearing came to mind vividly.

I finished showering, replaying those scenes.

Returning to the room, I looked at my cell phone.

-1 missed call.

Manager Kim had called.

“I don’t have any schedule today?”

I tilted my head and called him.

-Hello?

“Hyung, did you call?”

-Yeah, Hee-sung, are you up?

“I just woke up. But what’s going on so early?”

-You know the movie you wanted to be in.

“You mean ‘Survivor of a Doomed World’?”

-Yeah, the zombie movie.

“Did you hear back about that?”

-Yeah, they said they’d like you to be in it.

At Manager Kim’s words, I forgot the dream that had been bothering me and shouted, “Really?”

-Yeah, they want you to be in it.

I clenched my fist and shook my arm in the air.

I bit my lower lip and barely swallowed the urge to shout into the phone.

But at Manager Kim’s voice, I immediately erased the smile from my face.

It was good news, but Manager Kim’s tone wasn’t.

It was gloomy, as if I couldn’t accept the offer.

“But hyung, why do you sound so down?”

-Ah, that’s….

Manager Kim hesitated and trailed off.

I hurriedly asked, “It’s okay, hyung, what’s wrong?”

-I’ve said it several times, but….

I spoke softly to him, who was holding back a sigh as if he was sorry to say it.

“What is it? You can tell me.”

-It seems like it’s going to be hard to get the lead role.”

“Huh?”

-They said you can only be in the movie if you’re a supporting actor.”

I frowned at Manager Kim’s words and said in a flustered voice, “…What?”