An Actor Who Has Lived For 10,000 Years [EN]: Chapter 97

#19 – There’s No Set Answer (5)

Lush thicket.

Whish, whish—.

A chilling wind swept through the dense trees.

Darkness had fallen, and this was no ordinary night.

Something was off.

No matter how I turned my head, all I saw were trees and thickets.

The asphalt road was nowhere to be found, only an endless forest.

What is this, a mountain?

But no matter how I looked, it wasn’t high up.

Could there be such a vast forest on flat ground?

The chilling darkness and towering trees felt too eerie to be called a countryside.

The entire distance was just forest.

In that moment, I realized.

This is….

Not reality, but my dream.

Where the hell is this?

And what year is it?

Is this some Paleolithic era with tribes?

Then, a text appeared before my eyes like subtitles.

‘May 2, 2002. Republic of Korean Democracy.’

The words disappeared like a mirage as soon as I read them.

My vision began to distort.

What….

Why is my front like this… Ugh!

My arm bones were twisting freely, and my spine was bending like a bow as if each vertebra was breaking.

“Ughhhhh!”

A bizarre sound burst from my mouth.

Hot, damp black blood flowed from my lips.

Turning my head, I saw people like me all around me.

No, zombies like me were swarming.

I couldn’t see straight, and not all forms were fully visible, but.

We just started running towards the sound, towards the light.

Dada dada dada—.

It wasn’t a conscious run.

It was just instinct.

No new path opened up, no matter how much we ran.

The thicket I had seen earlier, and the one I felt like I had just seen.

A chaotic and disorderly deep forest.

Darkness couldn’t be an obstacle to my steps, instinctively moving to find people.

I just rummaged around, searching for the remaining human bodies in this place.

Smacking my lips and sniffing, tilting my head unnaturally.

All of this was to find humans.

Then, the moment I found a living human…!

“Kreeeeeee—.”

I lunged at the human’s tender flesh.

The entire horde of zombies, including me, swarmed towards that one person.

They were relentlessly surrounded by countless zombies.

Before long, that human was turning into a zombie like me.

“Ugh… Kreeee.”

I immediately turned away from that human, no, that zombie.

Looking for the next target, I tilted my head again.

Flash-!

The ceiling of the house in front of me.

“Haa….”

This is the third time already.

It was the first time I had such dreams of the same genre.

How can I dream about zombies three times in a row?

The increasingly vivid and clear dream left my whole body drenched in sweat.

The zombie dream that I just couldn’t get used to.

Tightly closing my eyes to the vivid dream, I shook my head violently.

I jumped up and caught my breath, leaning against the bed frame.

I began to slowly retrace the contents of the dream.

Surely… there must be something.

Everything I had seen in my dreams so far had been digested as acting.

And in those dreams, I wasn’t an illusion, but my past.

As I calmly recalled the things I had seen in the dream, that’s when it hit me.

Wait a minute.

Frowning, I scribbled something on the paper next to me.

‘2002 Republic of Korean Democracy.’

I had clearly seen these words in the dream.

It was definitely 2002.

After dreaming, I had never forgotten even the smallest scene in the dream.

There was no way I could be mistaken or forget.

So, it means the background is 2002….

“That doesn’t make sense.”

I immediately opened my phone and searched for pictures of ‘2002’.

Nowhere did I see a place with lush thickets and a desert atmosphere like in my dream.

Closing my phone, I stared at the words I had written again.

“2002 Republic of Korea… Huh?”

Rubbing my eyes hard, wondering if I was still half asleep, I read the words again.

“Republic of Korean Democracy?”

My face immediately contorted.

“Not the Republic of Korea, but what is the Republic of Korean Democracy?”

The Republic of Korean Democracy in 2002….

For a moment, I wondered if it was North Korea, but that wasn’t it either.

North Korea’s full name is ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,’ which was far from the ‘Republic of Korean Democracy’ in my dream.

Closing my eyes tightly again, I started racking my brain until my head felt hot.

I organized the events I had experienced so far, setting up various hypotheses.

Then, a word suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘Parallel world.’

I shouted in surprise at the word that came to mind.

“Could it be… a parallel world?”

I said, stroking my arms, which were covered in goosebumps.

“So, it wasn’t just my past life that appeared in my dreams?”

Come to think of it… even if I had lived the same era repeatedly.

A whole 10,000 years….

10,000 years is too long a time to live only on Earth since civilization began.

Pressing my throbbing head with my hands, I sighed.

“Haa, my head is getting too complicated.”

***

“Hyung [older brother/friend], you’re here?”

Arriving at the company earlier than Manager Kim again today.

He opened his mouth wide and discovered me sitting in the practice room.

“What, why are you here so early?”

Towards the surprised Manager Kim, I unfolded the script.

“I need to practice the script quickly. We’re filming now, so I need to work harder.”

He smiled and took a seat in front of me.

“Hee-sung, I was actually a bit surprised that you were doing that movie.”

Manager Kim said, looking at me.

Unlike his worried words, his expression was gentle.

“But after looking at the script several times, I know why you’re doing it.”

At Manager Kim’s words, I tilted my head.

He tapped the script in front of me and said.

“This… is something. I think it’s going to be really successful.”

Manager Kim seemed to have fallen into the story while reading the script as well.

He nodded with a proud face.

Soon, he jumped up and said to me.

“Keep practicing. I’ll get you coffee.”

“No. I’ll get it myself.”

He pressed my shoulder as I tried to get up and sat me down.

“Whoa, whoa, stay still. The actor is practicing hard, so the manager has to do that much. Haha.”

I burst out laughing at his tone.

“Yes, yes, then I’ll take an iced Americano, Manager?”

He laughed heartily and left the practice room.

After he left, I unfolded the script again and quickly began to immerse myself in it.

“It doesn’t make sense that there are zombies in this world?”

I got up from my seat.

Again, I took a stance as if trembling with fear and cleared my throat.

“Ahem, ahem, it doesn’t make sense that there are zombies in this world?”

My lips trembled.

My shoulders were hunched and my face was trembling with anxiety.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I changed each expression.

I realized after meeting Choi Seo-bin last time.

That what I choose for a project isn’t the appearance fee or fellow actors.

Nevertheless, I ignored the project because of the anxiety that I had to put down the title of lead role for a while.

But after meeting Director Kang and talking about the project, I was able to correct my thoughts once again.

That when I choose a project, I don’t have to look at the peripherals.

Of course, I have to consider them, but the peripherals shouldn’t be the main focus.

The project I want to do.

The role of the project that I can bring to life.

The actors, directors, and staff who do that acting must come together to create a finished product.

Clenching my fist, I looked at myself in the mirror.

That me appearing as a supporting role is by no means a step down.

It’s just a stepping stone to move one step further.

***

“Hello.”

“Yes, Hee-sung. It’s been a while.”

The gym in the company.

I arrived at the gym, which I hadn’t been able to visit often because I was busy filming.

After joining HS Entertainment for the first time, when I didn’t have any special schedules.

I worked hard to build my body at the company gym.

But now I have to change the body I built up.

This time, the project I’m going into is ‘Survivor of the Destroyed World’.

Because it’s a zombie movie, it’s natural that I can’t have a proper meal in a world full of zombies.

So, I had to make a body that was so slender that it was emaciated.

To do that, I had to lose weight quickly.

“I’m going to start exercising because of the project I’m going into this time.”

I explained the project to him.

I immediately put my body on the scale.

-183cm, 78kg.

After checking my weight, I couldn’t help but sigh.

“Haa, I think I need to lose 10kg from here?”

At my words, the trainer opened his mouth and replied.

“You need to make it under 70kg, right?”

“Yes, I think I need to make it a very gaunt body.”

Not a chubby physique, and the muscles I had worked hard to build.

The trainer stroked his chin and said.

“To make it like that, you need to lose some muscle….”

Before he could finish speaking, I opened my mouth.

“Muscle, I don’t care. I have to lose it unconditionally.”

At my firm words, he nodded.

Not an extra passing by, but appearing as a supporting role, so every element was very important.

I can’t miss even the smallest detail.

The trainer looked at my weight and height and muttered softly.

“…It won’t be easy.”

I answered him, burning with determination.

“I have to try. No, I have to do it.”

As if reading my mind, he quickly wrote out a diet plan and handed it to me.

“Please follow this, and your body will be damaged if you only do it with diet. You have to come to the gym and exercise whenever you have time, no, you must.”

“Yes, thank you.”

***

At the practice room I went to work today.

While I was practicing the script, looking in the mirror.

Manager Kim burst into the room and approached me.

“Hee-sung, are you practicing well?”

I smiled at his words and nodded.

Manager Kim sat down and continued.

“It looks like the cast is almost set.”

At his words, I tilted my head.

“Wasn’t it all decided with the lead roles you mentioned then?”

“No. There are several lead roles, so I was talking about the two who were already confirmed at the time. It looks like the casting of the remaining supporting actors is coming to an end.”

At Manager Kim’s words, I nodded slowly.

“Well, even if you’re a supporting role, you’re at the level of a lead role in a decent project. Your importance is different from other supporting roles.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it seems like what the director said at the time wasn’t just to sound good. The amount of screen time is proof that he recognizes you.”

“I see. Then are all the lead roles decided?”

“No, they haven’t been able to pick one yet. It seems like Director Kang is still thinking about it.”

If it’s Director Kang, he would have already had the actor he wanted.

I stuck out my lower lip at the words that there was still one spot open.

And I muttered softly, looking at the script.

“Who are they trying to pick for that spot that it’s taking so long?”

Manager Kim also agreed with my words and replied.

“I know. Who will get that last lead role….”

Again, I turned my gaze to the script.

Manager Kim clapped his hands and said to me.

“Ah, Hee-sung. Let’s go have some hot soup for lunch today.”

He swallowed hard and continued.

“A 곱창전골 [Gopchang-jeongol: spicy Korean stew containing beef tripe, vegetables, and noodles] restaurant opened in front of the company, and the team leader said it was really delicious when he went there yesterday.”

At Manager Kim’s words, I shook my head violently.

“No. Eat with other people today.”

At my words, he looked at me with a sullen face.

“Why, don’t you want to?”

Then, he raised his eyebrows and asked again.

“Should we eat something else?”

At his words, I handed him the script and replied.

“No, I’m starting to prepare my body for the project starting today.”

Then he opened his mouth wide.

I took out the bag I had put under the table.

Then, the lunch box inside.

I took out the chicken breast, boiled eggs, and tomatoes and showed them to him.