The Former Hero is a Top Star – Episode 157 (157/199)
The Hero’s Memory (1)
* * *
Kim Ryul.
Once considered a failure in Chungmuro [Korean Hollywood], now a young, up-and-coming talent drawing attention not only from Chungmuro but from the world.
The director of ‘Black Priest’ and the man who filmed ‘Park Gun’s’ debut film was staring intently at the screen, not wanting to miss a single scene.
―What do you want? If you’re not with the Liu gang or the Hamilton crew, then who the hell are you and where did you come from!
A Filipino gang boss, his face covered in blood, cried out desperately.
Perhaps it was because the director put so much effort into the extra auditions, even though he didn’t cast any popular actors.
Even though it’s a role that ends as soon as it appears, the face glistening with blood and sweat vibrates with murderous intent.
However, the visitor standing before him, a man in tattered clothes, instantly swallows that force.
―I am Gode.
―What?
―It’s simple revenge.
Swish!
At the same time, the machete is swung, and the severed neck flies through the air like a ball.
As the audience holds its breath, Gode—Park Gun—takes something out of his pocket.
Held in his hand is a blood-stained potato. It was one of the two pieces of food given by the brother and sister who were sacrificed without cause last night.
―Endo, was it?
A low voice flows, and the fire that engulfed the building blazes in the eyes of the former special forces soldier.
His enemies… a flame of karma that may destroy even the world.
“······Hoo.”
As the screen changed, someone in the front row sighed. Blinking his dry eyes, Kim Ryul recalled the memory from earlier.
‘Park Gun, there was a reason you said that.’
Time went back to 15 minutes before the premiere.
In the waiting room behind the screening room provided by the movie theater, the main actors of ‘Black Priest’ met.
‘Oppa [term of endearment used by a younger woman to an older male friend or brother], it’s been so long. It’s so hard to see you, isn’t it?’
‘I was overseas. And isn’t Lee Jang-mi busier these days? I heard you’re doing three projects at the same time.’
‘···This oppa is really, how does someone who was in New York know all that?’
‘Jang-mi still doesn’t know? Our actor Park has twelve bodies, wahahahaha!’
‘CEO. You’re going to get kicked out if you keep doing that here.’
CEO Tae Jong-beom and Lee Jang-mi, who arrived late, and the many entertainers who were with them exchanged greetings.
While friendly conversations were exchanged here and there, Kim Ryul handed Park Gun a bouquet of flowers.
‘Congratulations. It’s finally starting.’
The color of today’s protagonist’s suit is a deep blue sea color. Park Gun, who was already holding a lot of bouquets, smiled faintly.
‘Director. Thank you for coming.’
‘The premiere of Black Priest was in the fall, but this work is in the summer. Did you get a lot of inspiration from the overseas locations?’
Kim Ryul also knows Park Gun’s criteria for selecting works. He knew that he had chosen Black Priest because the subject matter was about demons and the fight against non-believers.
As a director, it is natural to be interested in the path of a close actor.
‘No, I mean, there’s real potential. These days, relatively low-budget movies are trending, right? If actors like you two hold the weight as a two-top team…’
Over there, CEO Tae was holding onto Choi Phillip and Seo Hee-do, talking about investing in a new project.
Park Gun, who was looking in that direction, nodded.
‘Yes. I gained quite a lot.’
‘I thought so. Is it because it’s a story about a former special forces soldier?’
Isn’t it a well-known fact that Park Gun is a former special forces soldier? When actors take on roles that are meaningful to them, they break out of their shells.
However, the answer that came back was different.
‘No, I don’t think that’s it.’
‘Then what reason······.’
Kim Ryul, who was asking, paused for a moment. At the moment when his emotions were at their peak, he remembered the expression of his colleague that he knew but did not know, which he had seen on the set of ‘Black Priest’ and on the awards stage at the Grand Bell Awards and Cannes.
‘Because I killed the most. In the play.’
Did he harm so many people during his special forces days? Or is there another meaning?
He wanted to ask what he meant, but he didn’t have a chance to talk more because new guests were coming in.
Soon, the premiere began with the actors, staff, and invited guests.
―So, who smashed those Filipino hillbillies?
―I, I’m sorry! I don’t know!
―What?
―They’re all dead… no one saw the enemy!
The branch manager of Gode’s enemy, a huge killer organization, distorts his face on the screen.
Kim Ryul also narrowed his brows unconsciously. Park Gun’s ambiguous words were disturbing the director’s concentration while watching the movie.
“There were no five, and they guarded the light, so I’m looking forward to what’s next······?”
*
The movie continues.
A young brother and sister in a Philippine slum, who handed two potatoes to ‘Gode’.
That night, they lose their lives to a gang that burned down the slum in opposition to the government.
―Who are you?
―We are… Endo. We will chase you down and kill all of your brothers’ brothers… Keuheok!
Gode, who wiped out not only the gang but also the entire Philippine criminal organization involved, begins to chase a large organization called ‘Endo’.
It truly shows a path worthy of the name Gaze, the Watchman of Wrath.
The next scene is Korea.
While familiar Seoul scenery unfolds, Gode seeks help in his father’s country.
―What, why is the boss here······.
A blond-haired gun dealer with a shaved head, a white man who appears to be a former soldier, says with a surprised face.
―I need equipment. As much as possible.
―Things must be bad. What fearless bastard, what morons touched this human weapon?
The white man is fluent in Korean, and it is also a different sight that Gode is clumsy.
Gode, Park Gun, throws a person’s wrist packaged in a zipper on the table.
―Endo. That’s what they said.
The eyes of the old comrade who saw the snake tattoo engraved on the wrist and the white line on it widen.
―Crazy, why are you involved with them again?
―Revenge for two potatoes.
―······?
Even while looking at Gode like a crazy person, the blond man brings equipment from the warehouse.
Glock 34, 19, 17. Silencers and magazines and stab-proof vests to wear inside the clothes that fit them.
In addition, even bulletproof suits made by special processing of Nomex and Kevlar fabrics, which have become a formula since the success of ‘Kill Thorn’.
―This is enough. It’s cumbersome.
―What are you talking about, do you want to get shot and die?
The man forces Gode, who refuses the bulletproof suit, to carry a full load of luggage.
―Endo is different from the Syrian lunatics we used to shoot. They have clear goals and even as much capital as most authorities. Even if the boss takes that, one shot of armor-piercing ammunition will still penetrate his stomach.
―Why do you think about getting hit? You just have to avoid it.
―···Yeah, you’re great.
Gode finally takes all the equipment.
Some of Endo’s killers who followed him to Korea attack, but he easily subdues them with three bullets.
Gode searches the fallen killers and takes out their passports. The red passport of Singapore is dyed even darker red with the blood shed by its owner.
―Next is··· Singapore?
After that, it’s action, a feast of crazy action.
In the skyscrapers of Singapore, there is a textbook CQB (Close Quarter Battle) [close-quarters battle] action, and in the museums of Turkey, there is a cold weapon action that looks like it came out of a fantasy movie.
Tang, Tatatatang!
As Park Gun in the screen shifts gears, the mouths of the people sitting in the front row open as if promised.
‘···Is that possible with a human body?’
It’s natural to be surprised. The action of Park Gun seen in ‘The Dog of Seoul’, ‘Black Priest’, and ‘Butcher and General’… was never at that level.
Of course, he was unrivaled in the same industry, but that’s like he’s living in a different time alone.
Kakang, Ting―!
He tilts his head to avoid the knife, then raises a wide-bladed greatsword at an angle to deflect the bullet.
Then, he quickly closes the distance and blows the arms and legs of two people into the air.
―Kill him, shoot him!
The killers, who are fed up, pour out bullets, but Gode, wearing Turkish traditional armor, dodges or blocks with his body and deflects with his sword.
The part that was lacking in ‘Kill Thorn’, which maximized the practicality of action, was the sense of speed.
Since it mainly focused on unexaggerated Gun-fu and there was no flashy camera work, some audience members complained of drowsiness during the long running time.
However, Gode breaks that dilemma. With a crazy sense of speed that even goes out of the camera angle while wearing a real sword, armor, and helmet.
―······.
The killers who were operating secretly in Turkey, more than fifty people, all died and fell over.
In the middle of the museum, which has become a veritable mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Gode, who threw away his Ottoman helmet, points his sword at Endo’s executive.
―You, what number are you?
*
When Gode pointed his sword, Gun was also sitting in the actor’s seat and watching the screen.
He could hear people around him swallowing their breaths, and there was blood splattered on the screen, but he couldn’t see it.
He was reminded of a dawn in a certain demon realm.
ㅡIt’s been a while. Why did you come back?
ㅡI didn’t come back. You called me.
The dialogue in the movie with the executive of the organization ‘Endo’ brought back old memories.
The first great demon, Gorzon of Arrogance, asked before his sword fell.
-What number am I?
The second great demon, Modeum of Discord, laughed wildly as he turned to ashes from holy power.
-Remember, Hero. I am the truth!
And the third great demon, Balmon of Wrath, stared at him indifferently until the moment of annihilation.
With eyes that were surprisingly similar to those of humans… like looking into a broken mirror.
‘······.’
Following the Grand Bell Awards, where he heard the first hallucination, and Cannes, where the second hallucination came, a more intense torrent of memories than before covered him.
-Hero! Please save this world!
-I am the great Asruel. I am in the high heavenly seat.
-Hurry, before it’s too late!
The nobles of the Iron Kingdom, the orders of the archangel, battle and death and more death. Gun tried to see the scenes flashing before his eyes.
It’s similar to the production that Gwyn Raymond put in the movie opening. However, if the pages in the screen were turned one by one, the fragments of memories pouring out now are too fast to be confirmed.
Endlessly cutting down the demon army that was pouring in, beheading the great demons deep in the demon realm, and returning to the temple of the Iron Kingdom after dying again······.
The flowing memory stopped at a certain point that he had not yet recognized.
‘The eighth one.’
He can tell instinctively. It is now right after he killed Balmon of Wrath for the eighth time, when he entered the deepest part of the great forest where he was.
In this episode, the saint and his companions happened to be separated. The hero blankly looked up at the ceiling and suddenly realized something.
The lower floor of the stone chamber where Balmon was.
The dark, black vines covering this cave were wriggling, drawing certain letters.
Soon, Gode—Park Gun’s mouth opens.
“The Saint knows.”
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