Top Star By Luck [EN]: Chapter 78

[Yes, I will arrange the schedule.]

The interview with Kim Do-ha was set.

And quite quickly at that.

Originally, these kinds of projects require coordinating schedules with both parties simultaneously, and if things go awry in the middle, the entire project can evaporate. But an unusual event occurred in between.

[Kim Do-ha says he’s a fan of the actor. He urged to meet as soon as possible.]

Apparently, he was burning with enthusiasm for the interview with Lee Min-ki.

‘If it’s luck, it’s luck, but it’s not a welcome kind of luck.’

Lee Min-ki gave a bitter smile.

It felt strange that Kim Do-ha liked him.

If it were the old days when he knew nothing, he would have been so happy about this favor that he would have felt like he was flying.

But now he knows.

Knowing the ugly essence of Kim Do-ha, it was difficult to be simply happy.

‘Well, whatever.’

He decided to focus on something better than these troublesome things.

And that is.

“……I never thought the day would come when I’d come here on my own two feet.”

It was home.

Lee Min-ki decided to take full advantage of his brief respite to meet his family, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

To be precise, it was more accurate to say that he couldn’t put it off any longer.

‘I’ve been putting it off because I’ve been busy, and it’s come this far.’

He had put it off for too long.

Come to think of it, it had already been two projects since he met Lee Min-seo.

It had been more than half a year since he filmed [Campus Story].

Around this time, he started to feel uneasy about keeping his family at a distance.

‘I even went to the alumni meeting, so there’s no reason not to see my family’s faces.’

The crumbling bricks of the red brick house visible in the distance caught his eye.

What was worn down as much as the traces of time was also a painful spot for him.

Because he had really avoided it for a long time.

Of course, there were reasons for avoiding it.

[Son, I want to support anything my son does, but being an actor doesn’t seem like the right fit.]

His parents had vehemently opposed his acting career.

[Even kids from good families who are pretty and handsome are mostly unknown actors.]

[Your mother is right this time.]

They didn’t seem to think there was even a 1% chance that he would succeed as an actor.

“……Ugh.”

Lee Min-ki, recalling nagging from a corner of his memories, let out a small groan.

In the old days, when he heard those words, he felt resentful that his parents were ignoring him.

He thought they were sure he would fail.

But since that was actually the case, he had nothing to say.

‘I suffered for at least 10 years before slipping and dying, so, well, adults aren’t adults for nothing.’

Anyway, it doesn’t matter now.

He is different now.

It was no exaggeration to say that he was clearly on an elite course as a rookie actor.

Starting with minor roles, then supporting roles in movies, and then leading roles in public broadcast dramas.

He had successfully landed supplement and coffee commercials one after another, so he was now clearly in the ranks of successful rookie actors.

‘Anyone would see that I’m successful.’

This was important.

To reach a position of objective success.

He wanted to face his family with confidence when he had achieved sustainable success, not just a one-hit wonder.

To show that he was someone who could live like others.

That was the dream that Lee Min-ki had been dreaming of for a long time in his past life.

‘……Okay, now it’s one step.’

He had been avoiding it by slowly turning away hundreds of steps, but now he only needed to take a few more steps.

Go into the house over there and open the doorknob.

Face his parents with confidence.

As the proud son Lee Min-ki, not the failed son Lee Min-ki.

“…….”

Still, it’s a bit weird to meet the three of them without my sister.

But what’s so strange about a family of three seeing each other?

It’s awkward to think it’s awkward.

“Hoo, hoop!”

It was the moment he was trying to muster up courage again.

“President, could you wait a little longer?”

From that corner.

A random voice was heard from somewhere in the back alley.

And it was quite a harsh voice.

“It’s not like we dug up money from the ground to lend it to you. If you act like that, it makes things difficult for people. You know?”

“Um, just a little more time.”

“Tell me exactly. How long do I have to wait to get paid back?”

“The money will be coming in next month…….”

“I think I’ve heard that about five times now. If I hear it one more time, I’ll memorize it.”

It was a voice that could guess the relationship between the two people even without listening closely.

And one more thing.

‘Father?’

It was also a familiar voice.

As he tiptoed, as if possessed by the voice, the figure of one person came into view.

“……!”

It was his father.

He was bending over with his back hunched, lowering his head repeatedly in front of another middle-aged man.

“You have children too. If you don’t have money, ask your children to lend you some.”

“That’s difficult.”

“Why, are you strangers to each other? Don’t tell me, President, you don’t even contact them?”

“I’m really sorry, but I’d like you to go back today because I have something to do. I’ll contact you again soon.”

Words that felt like they were suffocating him.

He hid in the alley like an uncomfortable person and listened with one ear for a while.

‘…….’

Lee Min-ki moved his feet.

Head-on.

He had been going around and around, and he had been thinking about going around a few more steps, but at least for now.

“I’ll pay that debt.”

He wanted to walk head-on.

“Who is that?”

The menacing man across the street frowned, and Lee Min-ki took off his hat.

“……!”

The time was coming when his face would become his ID card.

He could throw his business card here, or say his name.

But Lee Min-ki said something else.

“I’m my dad’s son.”

* * *

If Lee Min-ki’s family were defined in one word, it would be this.

A poor family.

Wasn’t that what a famous novel said?

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

But the cause of the unhappiness that this family had felt was extremely ordinary.

Money.

Just not having money.

This one thing was one and all of the reasons why their family was unhappy.

The husband was pushed out of company politics and lost his job early.

He challenged himself to start a business with the severance pay he received, but he failed and lost it all.

Fortunately, the couple runs a moving company and doesn’t have to worry too much about making a living, but the days when they lived without debt were so distant that they couldn’t even remember.

It was safe to say that it was a model unhappiness in modern life.

So textbook that it was trite.

Also.

[I feel sorry for Min-ki.]

So was the guilt they felt towards their child.

[Why, honey.]

[He’s doing well on his own, but I wonder if we’ve blocked his path?]

Their son was always a concern for the two of them.

[Min-ki has liked movies since he was very young. Right?]

[He only watched movies every day. Even at an age when others were dating, traveling, doing things, and having fun, he only watched movies.]

He gave up college and said he would contribute to the family, and after working for several years, he suddenly left home, saying he would challenge himself to act.

They couldn’t support him on that path, but blocking him was like a fish bone stuck in their hearts.

That’s right.

These parents even felt guilty towards their child.

For ignoring the possibility, however small, and thoroughly presenting reality.

[Maybe acting is right for him, but maybe we ignored him too much.]

[But we couldn’t stop him.]

[I don’t know if he’s eating properly. I’m so worried that I can’t sleep.]

[Send Min-seo.]

But that was only for a moment.

Eventually, he debuted on his own and became a star in the blink of an eye.

You can see his face just by turning on the TV.

When you go grocery shopping, Lee Min-ki’s face is on BFC Coffee.

This fact, along with joy, further fueled the couple’s guilt.

[If we had believed in him and pushed him even a little, he might have been much better off.]

They didn’t recognize him.

As a result, they felt sorry for making him debut as an actor at a much later age.

They didn’t even support him with words, let alone money, and they even went so far as to stop him.

So they decided.

[Let’s not be a burden to Min-ki.]

Even if things were difficult, they decided not to ask their children for help.

They had no shame in doing so.

They didn’t want to put a burden on their son’s shoulders, who was now enjoying the prime of his life as a young professional.

They say that well-off celebrities earn a lot, but wouldn’t spending also increase as income increases?

These parents had seen several times on TV the sight of an entire family sticking to one celebrity and sucking on a straw [living off their success].

They used to click their tongues, saying that such leech-like families were worse than not having them.

Even if the debt on their shoulders was heavy, they didn’t think it was enough to abandon human decency.

‘Now there’s not much debt left, so let’s pay it off and talk about it later.’

After diligently paying it off, they would be able to breathe easily in a couple of years.

They would be confident then.

That’s how they were waiting for their son’s visit.

Ding-dong!

When they went outside at the welcome sound of the doorbell, it was a debt collector at a bad time.

[Oh, President, I was wondering when you were coming.]

While feeling the heavy reality once again on a day that should have been enjoyable.

“I’m my dad’s son.”

Their son appeared.

Lee Min-ki, the son whose face they were too burdened to face, that is.

“……Actor Lee Min-ki?”

“Yes.”

“President’s son was Lee Min-ki?”

The man who came to collect the debt looked back and forth between Lee Min-ki and his father’s faces with a dumbfounded expression.

‘Wow, now that I see it, they look alike. Like two peas in a pod.’

Amazing.

But Lee Min-ki’s father was just as surprised.

‘Is that really my son?’

Even though he was the son he had seen for over 20 years, there was a change that was hard to believe even though he was facing him with his own two eyes.

It was definitely a familiar face.

The features were exactly the same, and the voice was the same.

But you could say that the aura of the person itself had changed.

‘When did our son get so handsome?’

His physique became more confident.

It was entirely thanks to his posture.

He straightened his back, and his neck and shoulders also straightened along his spine.

In addition, the relaxedness that was naturally embedded in his brightened face sparkled softly.

But his gaze was tinged with worry.

‘When did he get so many wrinkles?’

It was none other than his father who was the reason.

The wrinkles etched on his face like tree rings were more noticeable than he thought.

It was because he hadn’t seen him in quite a while.

They were wrinkles that were etched into his face from working every day to feed his family. It would be difficult to return those thick wrinkles to before they even appeared.

But at least.

The wrinkles that will appear in the future will be reduced.

‘Because I’m going to do that.’

There is a fact I realized at the alumni meeting.

You can’t undo the life that has already passed.

But at least you can change the life that is given to you in the future.

That much is possible.

Work and family.

Lee Min-ki took another deep breath and opened his mouth.

“You said there was a debt?”

If the families in this world are happy for mostly similar reasons, the reasons for unhappiness are diverse.

If so.