Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 99

Former Hero is a Ten Million Actor – Episode 99 (99/199)

Toast (1)

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—Find him, citizens of the Empire.

Roman’s lounge.

Expensive Bluetooth speakers blare lines from the final episode of ‘Butcher General’ from all directions.

Lee Seong-cheol, the head of the department, scanned the room, enjoying the passionate performances of the lead actors.

“Wow, amazing. We filmed that on Monday. I thought we were going to have a major disaster because they couldn’t memorize the script.”

“The *jjokdaebon* [script pages written the day of filming] Dong-soo *hyung*, Young writer-*nim* is over there.”

“Both of you, please be quiet. You’ll get caught.”

The guests seemed to be enjoying themselves. An hour earlier, CEO Noh Joong-man had left for an important meeting with a production company.

As he left the CEO’s office, he entrusted Lee Seong-cheol with the role of proxy host.

‘You have to greet the guests. Greet the people appropriately, and if it exceeds 40%, contact me.’

‘Are you coming after you’re done, CEO?’

‘I have to show my face at the wrap-up party. I heard our company’s actors are really good at drinking.’

‘···That’s right, except for Hani.’

The *sulggorae* [heavy drinkers] who crush writers and composers at every wrap-up party are over there.

A few seats away, Jin Ji-yoo and Park Geon were whispering something. It seemed Jin Ji-yoo was mostly asking questions, and when Park Geon put his finger to his mouth, her expression turned sullen and she crossed her legs.

‘Ji-yoo wasn’t like that.’

As an early member, Lee Seong-cheol, the head of the department, knew the entertainer Jin Ji-yoo well.

From her idol days… as the breadwinner leader of a 3rd generation girl group, to settling down as an actress after all sorts of hardships, those who know her story shake their heads.

First, because of her tenacious spirit,

Second, because of her thorough self-management and professionalism.

‘If it weren’t for the CEO, she would have retired, or experienced something worse.’

Although she had risen to the ranks of top actress with her dazzling talent, Lee Seong-cheol often felt sorry for her.

He knew well where that obsession to show only a perfect image came from. Among the affiliated entertainers, two actresses in particular were like that.

—Miss Song, where are you going!

—I have an appointment with that person. You are free to leave.

Just then, Baek Hani, playing Song Yi-seol, gave a passionate performance.

Lee Seong-cheol stroked his chin, looking at her white face holding a gun.

‘Come to think of it, she’s been unusually quiet in this work.’

Baek Hani didn’t cause any accidents.

That alone was a blessing, but… she showed behavior that didn’t match the reputation of ‘Baek *jiral*’ [troublemaker] on SNS, YouTube, and even the Jarmani launch show.

A person who didn’t care whether the work went to hell suddenly promotes it? It doesn’t make sense if it’s because of money, and it makes even less sense if it’s because of camaraderie.

And the head of the department wasn’t a fool.

—Were you looking for me?

Lee Cheon-in’s hoarse voice, wearing a general’s mask… Park Geon’s hoarse voice overwhelms the lounge.

It’s a dominance that tears through the screen and jumps out, different from Song Yi-seol’s presence.

It can only be seen as the influence of that actor.

Of course, representative actors such as Choi Pil-lip and Gu Shin-seung, as well as roads and debut trainee, there is not a single person who hates Park Geon.

There is a reason why Jin Ji-yoo went to the audition herself and volunteered for two special appearances.

‘If she sees him as more than a colleague…’

Lee Seong-cheol smiled quietly.

Strangely enough, Roman Entertainment rarely had even the most common scandals.

It would be interesting no matter who he was involved with. Especially Park Geon, that rookie who is surprisingly unaffected by all kinds of malicious public opinion.

Do not interfere in the private lives of actors unless there are ethical or moral issues. Wasn’t that the slogan that CEO Noh Joong-man and he put up?

As Lee, the head of department, shifted his gaze, a series of loud explosions erupted on the screen.

The play is passing the middle and heading towards the end.

—They’re independence army bastards! They’re acting like butcher mask!

—Kill them all and take off their masks, you don’t have to capture them!

Numerous butcher masks that appeared throughout Gyeongseong were members of the masked independence army.

A battle between police officers and fake butcher masks unfolds, and casualties from guns and knives occur.

—What, it’s a kid?

A military policeman grabs one, puts a knife to his neck, and frowns as he takes off the mask.

As he said. Not the existing independence army, but Koreans in Gyeongseong who were moved by Lee Jeong-nyeong’s speech were also given weapons and participated in the war.

Taang—!

At that moment, a loud explosion is heard and the military policeman’s forehead is thrown back.

Where the white smoke cleared… Song Yi-seol, holding a matchlock gun on the wall in the distance, reloads.

How many guys she had killed so far, her beautiful face was covered in gunpowder soot and was all black. Her neat eyebrows narrow as she recalls the 2 *gak* [approximately 30 minutes] ago.

—Cheon-in, you have to run away. While the Gyeongseong Independence Army and Koreans buy time, hurry…!

Song Yi-seol and Lee Cheon-in, who met again after many twists and turns.

However, that butcher mask raises the cracked ax handle despite her desperate request.

—I remember those I killed.

—What are you talking about, all of a sudden?

—Countless Japanese policemen whose necks I cut off, traitors who sold the country, those evil Governor-General’s henchmen and samurai crazy about the Emperor… their blood is soaked into this scroll, everywhere on my defiled hands. Having chosen the life of an executioner, I cannot escape my sins…

—What about it!

A desperate cry cuts off Lee Cheon-in’s words.

—If I don’t kill, I’ll be killed, if I don’t hold a knife and gun, I’ll be chained and enslaved, so is it wrong to harm someone? If so, I will be a sinner as much as possible. I will survive ten or a hundred years and wash away my sins.

If Lee Cheon-in had lived the life of a Yaksha (夜叉) [a fierce, demon-like being] for revenge, Song Yi-seol had lived a life of endurance.

She, too, was a victim who had been oppressed by the shackles of being the daughter of a noble family.

Was it a tragic history, and were those who lived through that turbulent era bound to be tragic?

—···I may not be able to survive. But I will try, if I can just cross the river and go to the interchange, I can take the train to Pyongyang.

And once again, a kiss scene. The screen switches from the two men and women kissing to show the outside world turning urgently in succession.

—The Hwangwoo Association bastards, when did they get here…….

Lee Jeong-nyeong collapses on the streets of Gyeongseong. 슈헤이, the leader of the Hwangwoo Association who killed the commander of the Gyeongseong Independence Army, gets on his horse with glistening eyes.

And finally, the final battle takes place at the railroad crossing waiting for the train to Pyongyang.

—My name is Bae Ja-hyeon. I received a message and gathered some of my family from Manchuria.

Jin Ji-yoo, who plays Bae Ja-hyeon, a female independence activist from Manchuria, captivates everyone as soon as she appears.

Can they survive? When hope flashed in the eyes of Song Yi-seol and Lee Cheon-in, the sound of loud hooves was heard and enemies appeared.

—Butcher Mask, stop right there!

—When did those tenacious bastards get here……!

While Song Yi-seol is shocked, 슈헤이, wearing a demon mask, draws his sword and rushes in.

There is no gunpowder left. The Manchurian independence soldiers Bae Ja-hyeon brought, Lee Cheon-in, and Song Yi-seol cling to the enemies and engage in a sword fight.

Baaaaang—

In the midst of the desperate fight, a train appears with a horn that tears through the eardrums.

At the same time, torches are lit in the distance and Japanese soldiers in military uniforms appear. It is the reinforcement unit that 신지, the chief of the police department of the Governor-General, called before he died.

—Go quickly, you can’t go if it’s not now!

At the cry of blood boiling, Bae Ja-hyeon and an independence soldier drag Song Yi-seol to the railroad tracks where the train is coming.

Lee Cheon-in also receives the samurai’s swords, but there are too many enemies. Behind the Oni mask, half of which has flown away, 슈헤이 laughs with a crazy face.

—Die, inferior livestock! You will become fertilizer for the prosperity of our military…….

Taang!

At that time, a bullet flying from the bank pierces 슈헤이’s neck. Looking back, 하루카, the third daughter of the Governor-General, is standing there, trembling.

Her heart towards Lee Cheon-in was sincere. Enough to kill a Japanese person to save a Korean who betrayed her.

—It’s here, hurry!

Song Yi-seol shouts as she gets on the stopped train, having taken some measures in advance.

Lee Cheon-in’s gaze alternates between the train that stopped just there and the soldiers who are now rushing in.

And… the butcher mask starts walking.

Not to the place where his beloved woman is, but to the enemies who are rushing in with their bayonets drawn.

—No, Cheon-in! Please……!

Independence army members grab Song Yi-seol, who is screaming and trying to jump off. If they don’t buy time here, the soldiers will stop the train.

If that happens, everyone will be arrested. There is only one way to save those who remain.

—The mask you wore… will eventually be taken off.

Lee Cheon-in’s bare face, facing the river wind, has neither a butcher mask nor a general’s mask.

Soon he stretches out his arms like the old generals. The axe with the dull blade and the slaughter knife with the cracked blade absorb the light of the torch and flicker.

—While acting under a false identity, I have stained these two hands with dirty and ugly blood and dust. I have cut down countless enemies of the nation who had to be killed…….

For the first time in the 20-episode play, the young man’s blood-stained mouth turns up.

—I have no regrets.

When the spirit of Joseon burns like a flame,

A scream-like gunshot rings out.

*

At the same time, the main house where the screening was held.

The parents’ resentment, whose son’s death was already the second, finally erupted.

“No, really again? Why does our son die in every role he takes on?”

“You cruel people, bring Cheon-in back to life!”

“Shh, it’s not over yet. The commercial isn’t on yet.”

Han Young-joo, who suddenly came to her senses, stopped her husband’s rampage. Park Yeol-ho also wets his throat with cold water.

It was a tragedy from the beginning, and therefore it had to end in an unavoidable tragedy…….

Writer Youngdo Eun captured the painful times as a message that permeated her work.

After a while. The darkened screen brightens like a blizzard with the caption ‘3 years later’.

—Hey, get that side right!

—The Prime Minister will be arriving soon, make sure you are fully prepared!

This is Shanghai, not Gyeongseong. Japanese soldiers in thick fur coats are preparing for a parade.

From a four-story brick house overlooking the snow-covered railroad tracks, one window opens and a gun barrel comes out.

The angle that goes from outside the window to the inside along the gun barrel illuminates the main character aiming the rifle.

A familiar mask sways from Song Yi-seol’s waist, who has her black hair tied back and is wearing an ammunition belt.

A brown butcher mask that seems to be faintly smiling.

“······.”

Once again, the screen goes dark, and after ‘Thank you for loving Butcher and General so far’ appears, a commercial flows out.

Until then, no one opened their mouths. Gong Gi-hyung, the team leader holding a smartphone, who seemed to have just come down from the public relations department, was also just blinking his eyes.

In the silence, Park Seon looked at his brother. Park Geon was staring at the TV with his arms crossed.

It seemed like he was dissatisfied with his acting, or like he had remembered something he had forgotten.

“Everyone.”

The young man who was a butcher in Gyeongseong returns as an actor. The well-shaped mouth smiled like on the screen.

“Really, thank you for your hard work.”

With a flood of cheers, ‘Butcher General’, which left behind countless famous scenes and lines, came to an end.

Highest viewership rating of 40.2%.

It was the end of a great journey that climbed a viewership rating of over 20% from the first episode to the last episode.

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