Chapter 6
“All right. Have some water first, then we’ll start.”
I drank the water Kim Hyeondeok offered me while recalling the plot of the movie.
The protagonist’s older brother, who was a detective, is killed by a certain organization, and the younger brother desperately seeks revenge.
The scene I was going to perform was the moment when the younger brother sees his older brother lying in the morgue.
It was a scene that required emotions to reach their absolute peak, so it was by no means easy.
But there was a reason I had chosen this particular scene.
It was the kind of acting I could do best at this point in time.
-“How can an actor become immersed in a role when the actor and the character are completely different people?”
Before my regression, someone had asked this question during a special lecture Kim Hyeondeok gave to ordinary people.
-“Actors and their characters have lived completely different lives.”
At the time, Kim Hyeondeok had answered:
-“I’m a director, so I don’t know much about acting either. But the actors I’ve worked with use something called ‘emotional memory.’
It’s a theory where actors recall experiences similar to those of the character they’re playing to bring out the appropriate emotions.”
‘Emotional memory acting.’
For example, if I had to act out the scene where my older brother died, I wouldn’t be able to fully immerse myself in the role because I was an only child.
In that case, an actor recalls a personal experience that is most similar to the situation the character is facing.
For me, that would be the moment my father died.
Since I had reunited with my deceased father after ten years, I knew I could perform this scene well.
“Ready—”
I closed my eyes and recalled the morgue where my father had been when he died.
“Action.”
Gijun slowly exhaled and stared into empty space.
The life disappeared from his previously clear eyes.
His empty pupils, filled with sorrow, turned toward the desk.
“Hyung.”
His cracked voice struck Kim Hyeondeok’s ears heavily.
“Why are you lying here, hyung……? Huh? Say something.”
Gijun slowly raised his trembling hand and touched something in the air.
With nothing but his eyes, he created the clear image of his older brother’s corpse, lying there cold and lifeless.
“You’re… dead?”
He remained silent for a long time, turning those words over and over in his mind.
Then he let out a small laugh.
“Ah~ So that’s what happened.”
As if refusing to accept the situation before him, the man laughed even though his body was trembling.
“Come on, hyung. Don’t joke around.”
His mouth was stretched into a wide smile, as though he were joking around with his brother.
But his eyes had turned red, and tears were filling them.
“Why did you have to die now? Why did you have to die after fighting with me?!”
Plop.
The words he couldn’t swallow fell as tears he couldn’t hold back.
“So get up!!”
Bang!
When he slammed his hand against the desk, Kim Hyeondeok, who had been watching the performance with complete concentration, flinched.
Was there really another actor this age who could perform like this?
Admiration.
No, even that word wasn’t enough.
Shock, surprise, and even something chilling.
His acting was so incredible that it sent shivers down Kim Hyeondeok’s spine.
“Get up…. I’ll apologize, so please….”
With trembling hands, he sobbed as he held his brother’s face.
He cried for a long time.
Thinking about the reason his brother had died.
“There was an organization my brother was investigating.”
His eyes slowly changed from sorrow to anger.
The eyes that had reached the very peak of sadness naturally transformed into madness.
“Those bastards probably….”
Bang!
Gijun slammed his hand against the desk even harder than before.
“The bastards who did this to you… I’ll kill every last one of them…. I swear….”
His eyes were filled with a fanatical rage that seemed capable of burning down the entire world.
Those burning eyes were consuming him as well.
If he could kill the people who had murdered his brother, even if it meant burning himself up in the process, even if he could disappear into those flames together with them—
“…And then I’ll go to you too, hyung.”
“…Cut.”
At Kim Hyeondeok’s words, the things around me gradually came back into focus.
Instead of the dim white fluorescent lights, there were bright yellow lights.
Instead of a corpse lying on the desk, there were piles of documents and trash, along with a camera and computer.
Instead of the smell of disinfectant from a morgue, there was the smell of ramen.
Instead of a doctor in a white coat, there was Kim Hyeondeok, staring at me with a stunned expression.
“That’s it. I just need a tissue for a moment….”
“…Yeah, sure.”
I turned around for a moment and wiped my face, which was covered in tears.
I didn’t know it yet.
My acting had once again lit a fire in Kim Hyeondeok’s heart.
“……You wrote those lines yourself?”
Kim Hyeondeok asked in a daze.
“Yes, I did!”
I spoke as confidently and energetically as a man in his twenties could.
I felt a little guilty for taking credit for the original author’s work in front of the author himself, but there was nothing I could do.
It wasn’t as though I was going to make the movie myself.
“……I think you’d be better off as a writer than an actor.”
He must have really liked the dialogue.
“I want to be an actor. As you saw, my skills are still lacking, so it may take me quite a while. That’s why I’m not sure whether joining Nabi Actors is the right choice for me.”
Kim Hyeondeok thought for a moment.
“First, there’s something I need to tell you… Your talent is incredible. No, actually, I’ve been directing for a long time, but I’ve never seen anyone act like you.”
I hadn’t expected that much praise.
“Thank you.”
“So there are two things I’m thinking about right now.”
“I’m curious. What are they?”
“First, I could train you properly at our company. As you can see, this isn’t exactly a great place, but if it’s for you, I’ll support you as much as I possibly can.”
I became curious about just how far that “as much as possible” went.
Was he talking about using all of his connections?
Or simply doing his best personally?
“And the second?”
“I could write you a recommendation letter for another company. I know the CEOs of several decent companies, so I’m sure one of them would take you.”
Just as I expected.
Kim Hyeondeok was the kind of person who valued an actor’s growth more than immediate profit.
Although he liked my acting, he actually thought his own company was nowhere near good enough for me.
“Let me say it again. Your acting is extremely good. It’s already complete.”
I had failed so many auditions until now that I hadn’t been able to accurately judge my own ability.
If someone like Kim Hyeondeok praised me this much, perhaps I could afford to have a little more confidence.
Then it was time to negotiate.
“Since you’ve evaluated my skills this highly, I’ll also seriously consider the two offers you’ve given me and give you an answer.”
“Take as much time as you need. Think about it comfortably.”
I pretended to think deeply for a while before speaking.
“First of all, I’ve realized that my skills are good enough. If you think this highly of me, I suppose it would be okay for me to join an agency.”
“Right. Then you’ll just have to choose between the two options.”
Nabi Actors or another, better agency.
“There’s something I’d like to ask before I make my choice.”
“What is it?”
“Do you know a movie called The Dream That the Night Dreams of Morning?”
“……I know it.”
“You’re Kim Hyeondeok, the director who made it, right?”
“That’s right.”
“I knew it. It was an impressive movie, so I remembered the director’s name. But you were wearing sunglasses, so I wasn’t sure.”
After Kim Hyeondeok returned to directing and made a successful movie, his debut film had been reevaluated.
The Dream That the Night Dreams of Morning.
The total number of viewers was so small that it wasn’t even worth counting, and its average rating was only 0.5.
For reference, the maximum rating was 10.
After Kim Hyeondeok became successful, critics and the public all described him as a “director who worked incredibly hard.”
Kim Hyeondeok himself had even said in an interview, “My first movie is a dark chapter I’d rather not talk about.”
“I watched the behind-the-scenes footage after the ending credits.”
Kim Hyeondeok’s eyes changed.
“A lot of the actors seemed to add their own ideas to the movie.”
That was the reason the movie had failed.
When there are too many people trying to steer the same ship, it goes off course. The director should establish the direction and only accept ideas to a reasonable extent.
But he had accepted everything, and the movie had failed.
That was what Director Kim Hyeondeok had said in an interview.
“So I’m thinking about it. If you’re the kind of director who respects and values the opinions of your actors, that makes me want to work with you. But I’m also worried about whether the company has the potential to continue growing.”
I calmly looked at Kim Hyeondeok.
Be greedy.
Use the possessiveness you’ve had since birth and bet everything on it.
There’s still something more you can put on the scales.
After thinking for a long time, Kim Hyeondeok finally spoke.
“First of all, it’s true that our company is unstable. We’re in a serious crisis.”
No. If you properly use the power you have, this isn’t even a crisis.
“But if it’s to protect an actor under my agency…… I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Whatever it takes.
That probably included borrowing the power of those people.
Finally, the fire of Kim Hyeondeok’s ambition had been lit.
“So don’t worry about whether the company will survive. Make the choice you want.”
Kim Hyeondeok opened a drawer and placed a contract in front of me.
“For your information, if you come to our company, I’m willing to accept whatever conditions you want. You can write anything you want in this contract.”
He wasn’t the kind of person who would play games with a contract.
There was no reason for someone like him to resort to cheap tricks.
“Anything?”
“If there’s something completely unreasonable, then obviously we’ll have to remove it. But I’ll do my best to accept your requests.”
That “do my best” would be different from the one he’d mentioned earlier.
He meant he would use all his connections.
Success.
“Let’s sign the contract.”
Kim Hyeondeok promised the best settlement ratio in the industry to actors he genuinely wanted to recruit.
The actors worked hard, practiced, and went to as many auditions as possible, and the company quickly grew.
That was precisely why I hadn’t accepted Kim Hyeondeok’s offer immediately and had instead taken the long way around.
Hmm, the contract terms.
The company was in a difficult situation, but Kim Hyeondeok could solve it.
So I would be reasonable and ask for only about 15 percent more than the industry average to go to the actor….
“Would this be enough?”
Kim Hyeondeok said with a small laugh.
He valued his actors more than the company’s profits.
“Write down more.”
As expected, someone who had made up his mind was different.
I pretended to think about it before writing down one more condition and handing it to Kim Hyeondeok.
“Stock options?”
“I believe Nabi Actors will become the best entertainment agency in Korea. So rather than sweat over immediate profits, I want to invest my efforts in the company’s future value.”
That was what I said.
Of course, I was saying it after already knowing that the company would eventually enter the top twenty companies on KOSDAQ.
“Thank you for saying that.”
After Kim Hyeondeok finished signing the contract, I immediately shook his hand.
“I’m even more grateful.”
And I said it with a bright smile.
