Revealing Secrets (2)
* * *
-At last, I’ve found you, my father’s enemy!
-Heh heh heh… Has that little brat grown this much?
The interior of the apartment is decorated luxuriously.
On the wall-mounted TV, nearly 100 inches in size, a scene so poorly acted that the ultra-high definition seems wasted is being displayed.
An actor dressed in overly elaborate armor, perhaps in a Joseon-era [Korean dynasty from 1392 to 1897] warrior concept, points his sword and shouts.
-Today, with my sword! I shall punish your head!
The eyebrows of the veteran actor playing the villain twitch as he receives the line.
The lead actor’s acting is at a level that one can’t bear to watch, but he’s trying so hard not to laugh and concentrate that it’s visible from outside the screen.
-Oh, go ahead and try. If you survive this place, you shall be king.
Elder actor Seok Pil-ho, who played Chairman Eun Gi-hak in the past in ‘Return of the Idol Mangnani,’ sighed.
“It’s so pathetic, I can’t watch. I wonder if the director filming that is having a harder time, or the actor receiving it is suffering more?”
Another veteran actor sitting next to him also has a connection with Park Gun.
Baek Jang-hyeop, the corrupt police chief from ‘The Dog of Seoul,’ sips his sake [Japanese rice wine] and replies.
“It’s both. While editing, several people must have struggled a lot.”
“No, why doesn’t that guy’s acting improve? I heard he even received special training from old man Yang in the past?”
“Acting isn’t just about practice. There are plenty of guys who don’t come to their senses even after rolling around for twenty years.”
The face of Baek Jang-hyeop, who was exchanging words, is filled with playfulness.
“So, I heard you’re appearing in a two-hundred-million-dollar production. Is it another role as an old rich man this time?”
“Don’t even mention it. Would you believe that I’ve received over fifty offers for chairman roles since then?”
Baek Jang-hyeop finally bursts into laughter.
The prodigal returnee has returned; the so-called ‘Return of the Idol Mangnani’ has exploded in both the web novel and drama scenes.
The character that gained as much popularity as the Eun brothers, the main characters, was undoubtedly Eun Gi-hak, the grandfather Seok Pil-ho, who performed enthusiastically in the role of Chairman Eun.
[Baeksang Arts Awards [prestigious South Korean awards ceremony], Best Actor Award goes to Seok Pil-ho from ‘The Return of the Idol Mangnani’… First honor since debut]
[Did Park Gun’s magic work again this time? Fellow colleagues also ‘sweep’ the awards ceremony]
[Koo Shin-seung, Choi Pil-lip, Park Gun, and even Seok Pil-ho, the dignity of the awards shone (comprehensive)]
He even won a trophy at the Baeksang Arts Awards ceremony at the end of the year, but after that, Seok Pil-ho became the ‘National Chaebol Chairman [conglomerate chairman, often used to denote a wealthy and powerful businessman].’
Baek Jang-hyeop, who wiped his eyes, patted his friend’s shoulder.
“So what? You’ve always been good at chairman roles anyway. It’s our job to bring the same roles to life differently each time.”
“Well, it’s more comfortable to play the roles I’ve been doing than to do clumsy supporting roles.”
Image fixation is the number one thing an actor should avoid, but there are roles that one often plays.
In Seok Pil-ho’s case, it’s either a chaebol, a corrupt detective or prosecutor, or, conversely, an actor who always plays the boss of an organized crime group.
-Your Majesty! No, Father! Why didn’t you give me faith or love!
On TV, a handsome-faced bomb is continuing his terrible acting. Seok Pil-ho suddenly asked, as if he had thought of something.
“How about that friend?”
When he is with his close friends, the phrase ‘that friend’ from Seok Pil-ho’s mouth is an expression of great respect.
And… among the young actors these days, there is only one guy who can hear such a thing.
“Park Gun? Well, that side is not so much that his acting is consistent, but that he is consistent as a person.”
He’s terribly good at it, though. Baek Jang-hyeop added and chuckled. Seok Pil-ho refilled his empty glass.
“Consistent? What do you mean?”
“I heard from my distant nephew. Since his debut, he has never refused when fans ask for photos or autographs.”
“Is that possible? A friend who has risen to the ranks of a world star.”
Baek Jang-hyeop nodded.
“Because he doesn’t spare time. If he’s busy because of his schedule, he even takes group photos and sends them to each person, which made me stick out my tongue.”
“His fan service is amazing. We wouldn’t have been able to do that much for the fans who came to the theater when we were young.”
One had worked with Park Gun in his debut film, and the other in a drama based on a web novel. Both actors have experience working with Park Gun.
At that time, Park Gun’s attitude towards the staff, extras, and fans who visited the set left a deep impression even on the veteran actors in the entertainment industry.
Already, only six empty bottles remain. Baek Jang-hyeop wiped his wrinkled mouth and said.
“But you know, I’m worried about that friend because of that.”
“Oh my, about a young man who has decades left to live?”
“Look, people aren’t machines. Actors are especially more anxious beings. So we tend to cling to desire even more.”
They are now well over sixty, but they too are actors who have lived like the wind in their younger days.
They know the meaning of those words because they survived in the entertainment industry, which was close to the wild before the current system was established.
Seok Pil-ho asked.
“So, what were you worried about?”
“I was worried because he was too perfect.”
“Huh?”
“Park Gun, that friend… what should I say, he was like the embodiment of a sacrificial spirit. Already detached from everything in the world.”
An actor who is not even thirty years old yet is perfect in acting skills as well as personality. He jumps in for his colleagues both inside and outside the work, and does not spare fan service and donations.
It sounds ideal if you only hear the words, but emptiness follows behind the brilliant achievements and admirable anecdotes.
What is inside the young supernova, the young monster who has never had a single controversy?
“It’s another story… I heard that he takes care of the staff he meets, especially the people around him, so much. It’s as if he lost something precious somewhere.”
“What, so that’s why he started acting?”
Has it already been a year? It’s about time we heard from Roman and his group who flew to New Zealand.
Baek Jang-hyeop, who stood up, went to the bookshelf on the wall and picked up one of the series.
The hardcover cover, mixed with black and gold, read ‘The Book of the Gods’ Volume 10.
“I don’t know. What was that friend’s reason.”
In the pages that the wrinkled fingers turn, the final bloody battle in the imperial palace spews blood.
* * *
“We’re… all going to die…”
The deepest part of the imperial palace.
Originally, it was an unpermitted place, but all the ministers remaining in the castle have gathered and are trembling.
“Even now, through the underground passage… No, somehow with Lord Rau’s magic…”
“Are you crazy! The underground passage is already surrounded by demons, if you go there, it’s a dog’s death!”
“Then are we all going to die here! While the suicide squad blocks the castle gates, we should at least survive!”
Even though the end is imminent, only meaningless arguments echo emptily in the hall.
It’s not that they remain loyal to the emperor. Those with the strong hearts to escape have already turned into mummified corpses drained of blood by the emperor’s magic.
Only the most foolish and pathetic sheep, trying to grab even the mad tyrant’s clothes, have gathered here.
“Kuh, finally…!”
Lord Rau, the head of the court magic division, who was listening to the situation outside through communication magic, groaned.
“The castle gate… has been breached. The fortresses in three directions have already been occupied, and monsters are pouring in through the opened path.”
The other court mages who are loyal to the emperor also lower their heads sadly.
There is no way to escape.
The pure white castle, Kataram, prohibits the use of unpermitted magic. No matter how much the fairy barrier has weakened over time, teleportation from inside the castle to the outside is impossible.
One of the ministers, driven mad by fear, threw himself in front of the emperor and cried out.
“Your Majesty, please make a decision!”
The moment the emperor on the throne twitched his eyebrows, a roar that shook the entire castle rang out.
Dust falls from the ceiling, and spiderweb-like cracks appear on the marble pillars.
“…?”
While everyone is surprised, only the emperor twists his lips. He senses the uninvited guests who have appeared on the western fortress.
-Kyak, Kieeeek!
-I never thought I would help humans again.
-Kyaaaaak!
-This too, must be fate.
As the fairy king’s son, Jerin, finishes his incantation, a hemispherical sphere burning like the sun flies into the middle of the monsters and explodes.
And… in that far place, there are warhorses looking at the white castle surrounded by monsters.
-We have not set out for the old alliance.
The fairy king, wearing mysterious golden armor on horseback, holds a long spear.
-I have taken up my sword to slaughter the hideous demons and rescue my son.
Hundreds of thousands of horsemen lined up behind the fairy king raise their spears at once.
Paaaaaa―
The horn blares loudly, and the once-forgotten fairy army advances towards the pure white castle.
The fairy king, who has finished his long deliberation, finally listens to the prince’s request and rushes over.
And, the last one has already moved.
“Have you come.”
The moment the emperor’s mouth opened, the upper part of the hall was cut off with a terrifying cutting sound.
A black crow-like man jumps down from the ceiling where the sky has become visible for a moment.
“Ido!”
The ministers scream and stand up, and the court mages prepare magic, but Ido is calm.
He is only standing there, carefully holding a woman in white clothes in both arms.
“No, isn’t that the princess!”
“She must be locked in the underground prison…!”
Groans flow from the ministers who finally recognize Reiwen Airas.
The absolute being who imprisoned his daughter, the emperor, leisurely raised his glass.
“Hoo, is your life still attached? Although she is a woman, the blood of Airas has indeed continued.”
“Did it have to come to this?”
At Ido’s answer, the emperor tilted his head.
“All the people of the empire are under me. That child is the undisputed blood of Airas, but she dared to betray her father and plot a rebellion. It is a serious crime no different from a fleeing corps commander.”
“It’s funny. You were planning to suck your daughter’s blood from the beginning.”
The emperor’s red eyes shine fiercely.
“I would have told you, the people of the empire exist for the emperor.”
Reiwen Airas, who was held in his arms, groaned faintly. As if she had been deprived of some of her strength due to the harsh torture, only a faint pulse barely beats.
Looking down at Jin Ji-yu, who is playing the princess, Gun raised his eyes.
“Wanderer, do you know history?”
“……”
“The predecessors of Airas have served the empire for a long time. If it weren’t for our family, this country, and this land, would have become a barren wasteland ruled by demons.”
The mad tyrant Caldwyn Airas, and actor McLain Jabaslanti, continues his lines.
‘The immersion is… perfect.’
The concentration on that side has already reached its peak as well. All that remains is the final battle between the emperor and the wanderer, Caldwyn and Ido.
Like a long time ago… when he killed the Lord of Sin.
“Yet you ask me for my sins, a stranger who doesn’t even know the rules of this world!”
Stranger, stranger… As the emperor’s voice echoed, the ministers spurted blood from their ears and collapsed.
After placing the princess he was holding in a safe place, Gun walked to the center of the hall and drew his sword.
“You talk too much. Come out now.”
While getting closer to the emperor step by step, the scenery of the set disappeared and familiar darkness surrounded him.
A space where nothing but pitch-black darkness can be seen. It is a demonic realm created by the fourth great demon.
“Berial of Sin.”
In front of him, a huge darkness, as sticky as tar, undulates and takes shape.
Holding the cracked holy sword tightly, the hero—Gode—Park Gun took a breath.
Berial Battle, 42nd attempt.
Today, the demon of sin will be slaughtered. As the last gateway and sacrifice to go beyond the fourth to the fifth, the mysterious Asmeraus.
* * *