Chapter 7
Surprisingly, my uncle, Lee Kyunghoon, was at least concerned enough about appearances that he didn’t actually come to the company. Instead, he called CEO Gam Seongbeom and said this:
“You’re aware that every contract involving a minor requires my signature, right?”
It was a threat. If they didn’t agree to his demands, then later, even if the company brought him schedules they wanted me to follow, he simply wouldn’t sign them.
Ignoring that threat for the time being, I applied for the qualification exam that would be held in August.
If I passed the qualification exam, the admissions process for arts high schools would begin, and around the end of October, I would take the acting practical exam for an arts high school in Seoul.
After I submitted my application, CEO Gam Seongbeom ordered jokbal.
“Enough fish. Let’s eat some pork today.”
Before regressing, I had never eaten jokbal even once.
The three people at Leader Actors really were destined to become family. They all had the same taste in food. To them, the pinnacle of late-night meals was jokbal, and above even that was spicy jokbal.
That had to be prejudice.
Why did they like eating feet of all things?
Right before my regression, my greatest wish had been to eat jokbal together with those three.
But now that I was looking at the actual delivery…
Why had I ever wanted that?
I must have been out of my mind for a moment.
“Is spicy jokbal okay with you?”
Vice President Gam Suhan looked at me as he asked. The other two were watching me as well.
Apparently, in their minds, a person who disliked jokbal simply couldn’t exist.
Maybe someone too weak to handle spicy food could.
So this wasn’t a question of preference—it was consideration for the weak.
I shook my head.
“It’s my first time eating jokbal.”
As I spoke, I placed some of the non-spicy jokbal onto my plate.
The three people who should have been shouting, How can anyone not like jokbal?!, were strangely silent.
When I looked up, they all looked completely shocked.
Vice President Gam Suhan’s eyes were already filling with tears.
They must have assumed I’d grown up too poor to ever eat something like this.
Well…
That wasn’t entirely wrong.
At that moment, I felt like an outsider stepping into an incredibly exclusive group where the only way to be accepted was to eat jokbal.
Gathering my courage, I took my first bite.
The taste was…
Strange.
It was better than I’d expected.
Not bad, actually.
I couldn’t really tell whether food tasted good anyway.
I think I’d simply hated the idea that it was a foot.
I quietly filled my stomach while eating the jokbal.
The three of them remained solemn for quite a while.
Then Do Jaeyeon finally spoke.
“Oh, about the entrance exam. Your free acting portion is basically a free pass, but apparently you need a special skill. And you have to write a personal statement too.”
CEO Gam Seongbeom grimaced before asking me,
“Do you have any special skills?”
“No.”
“Hey, think before you answer. Seriously… when is this puberty phase going to end?”
As always, CEO Gam Seongbeom absentmindedly smacked me on the back.
The moment he noticed the murderous stares from his employees—looks that said they were staring at human garbage—he hurriedly rubbed my back apologetically.
A special skill…
I’d spent my life acting until I was thirty-seven.
Nothing else really came to mind.
Seeing me hesitate, CEO Gam Seongbeom turned to Do Jaeyeon.
“Jaeyeon’s special skill is Special Forces martial arts.”
“Yeah, but even if I taught him that, he couldn’t use it for the entrance exam.”
So I said,
“I learned some Special Forces martial arts too.”
“I thought you said you didn’t have any skills?”
I’d learned it because there had been a lot of action roles.
The memories were hazy, but I thought I’d trained for quite a long time.
The three of them stared at me again.
“Oh… come to think of it…”
I thought for another moment.
“Does horseback riding count as a special skill?”
“…Hyung, be quiet for a second. Let him keep remembering.”
CEO Gam Seongbeom sprang to his feet as though he were about to lose his mind, but Vice President Gam Suhan waved him back down.
Meanwhile, I continued thinking.
Since this was an arts high school entrance exam…
Maybe something more related to acting…
Then I remembered something I’d completely forgotten.
“I was born here, but I moved to America right after I was born and lived there. I’ve forgotten a lot, so I’m not sure whether I can still do it…”
CEO Gam Seongbeom shot to his feet.
Then he asked,
“Can you act in English?”
“I haven’t done it since I was seven years old, so I honestly don’t know if I still can.”
“Suhan!”
CEO Gam Seongbeom called the only member of the group who had entered college through the College Scholastic Ability Test.
Startled by the booming voice, Gam Suhan adjusted his thin-framed glasses and began asking me questions in English.
After exchanging a few sentences with me, he hurried over to the desktop computer.
At the printer, Do Jaeyeon said,
“I’ve already printed out an English script.”
“Thanks, Jaeyeon.”
Gam Suhan accepted it with a small bow.
Do Jaeyeon only shrugged indifferently.
So that was the expression of someone in love.
Back then, I had thought Do Jaeyeon simply found Gam Suhan frustrating.
Now that I looked back on it, I realized that people looked very different when they were in love depending on their personalities.
I needed to observe people more carefully.
“Think you can do this?”
The script handed to me contained monologues from Treplev and Trigorin in The Seagull.
There wasn’t a woman preparing to become an actress who hadn’t read Nina’s monologue.
The same was true for men.
Though men had to choose which character’s monologue to perform.
I picked up Treplev’s first.
“Nina, I cursed you and hated you. I tore up your letters and photographs. Yet every minute, every second, I remained painfully aware that my heart would forever be bound to yours.”
I’d read The Seagull so many times that I could recite the monologues without looking.
Reading them in English, however, was a first.
As I read, I suddenly realized something.
Back when I actually used English, I had still been living with my parents.
Speaking that language brought back memories from that time.
The memories my thirty-seven-year-old body had forgotten…
My sixteen-year-old self still remembered.
While I was reading, CEO Gam Seongbeom suddenly stopped me.
“I guess this script is too difficult for you to understand.”
Even though he barely knew any English, he immediately realized I’d drifted off into my own thoughts.
As he reached for the script, I held onto it.
“When I speak English, it reminds me of when I was with my parents. That’s why I got distracted. I can focus again.”
For some reason, CEO Gam Seongbeom flinched.
Sensing Do Jaeyeon’s sharp glare, he quietly retreated into the corner.
Compared to that look…
Yeah.
Earlier had definitely been the face of someone in love.
It really wasn’t that hard to tell.
All CEO Gam Seongbeom had done was notice that I’d lost focus.
Yet even Vice President Gam Suhan was looking at him as though he were absolute human trash.
I returned to the monologue.
First, I read it in English.
Then I performed the Korean version I had already memorized.
CEO Gam Seongbeom, who had apparently been making himself stand in the corner as self-punishment, came back over and said,
“Your practical exam preparation is finished.”
“That’s it? Just one reading?”
“We’ve already spent way more time on this than you actually needed.”
“So what do I do now?”
“My personal statement?”
“Ah… two things, then.”
“Suhan will help you with the personal statement.”
“As for you…”
“Just eat well, sleep well, and grow past 170 centimeters.”
“Oh.”
He was right.
Come to think of it…
That really was the most important thing right now.
Having already raised one son and one daughter, Park Sunyoung was now caring for her husband Gam Ihyeon, who was battling illness.
To her, the newly arrived Lee Heeyoon was a welcome addition to the household.
Watching his wife prepare a study notebook full of corrected answers for their young guest, Gam Ihyeon grumbled,
“You look positively excited. If you were going to be like this, why’d you retire? You should’ve taught until retirement age.”
“Oh, stop talking to me. I’m busy.”
She waved him off, but Gam Ihyeon seemed bored and continued hovering around her.
“School isn’t important. Heeyoon is someone who’s meant to dedicate his life to acting.”
“He said he’s never even attended school properly.”
“He’ll be playing student roles for years.”
“Actors need experience if they’re going to portray it convincingly.”
Having lived together for so many years, Park Sunyoung knew exactly how to silence her husband, a man who worshipped art above all else.
Saying it would help him as an actor worked every time.
Though still dissatisfied, Gam Ihyeon pouted before finally falling silent.
If it was for the sake of acting, he couldn’t argue.
Park Sunyoung glanced toward him as he wheeled himself over to the glass door.
He had accused her eyes of sparkling.
That was rich.
Even now, Gam Ihyeon’s handsome eyes glittered like jewels under the sunlight.
Until the very morning Lee Heeyoon had appeared, those eyes had been dull and lifeless.
…
Curious about what he was watching on his phone, she leaned over.
It was a video their son had sent of Lee Heeyoon performing the monologue from The Seagull.
Even though he’d already watched it countless times…
He watched it again.
And quietly mouthed the monologue along with it.
He was practicing.
Watching the acting of someone young enough to be his grandson, he was reevaluating his own performance.
Even now, in his frail old age…
Gam Ihyeon still wanted to act.
Even believing he’d never be given another chance.
Park Sunyoung paused her corrections and looked at the investment proposal lying beneath them.
“People of Woo Heonjeong.”
Along with the investment proposal…
There was also an offer for a special appearance by Gam Ihyeon.
The qualification exam went well.
Apparently, I had an exceptional memory.
I’d assumed I was only good at memorizing scripts because I’d read so many of them over the years.
But it turned out my memory itself had simply become excellent.
After returning home, Park Sunyoung and I checked my answers together.
Almost everything was correct.
Now, as long as I did well on the practical exam, I’d finally be able to attend high school.
The warning appeared after we finished grading the exam, just as Park Sunyoung was about to go out to buy a cake.
Current Date: August 12, 2025
Remaining Lifespan: 15 years, 4 months, 11 days
Tracking: “The Fall of Leader Actors.”
Warning
An event that will have a minor impact on “The Fall of Leader Actors” has occurred.
A butterfly’s flutter can create a typhoon on the other side of the world, you know?
Ta-da★
Wasn’t it supposed to be a demon?
Maybe the heat had gotten to it.
Now it was saying “Ta-da.”
I clicked my tongue before hurriedly looking around.
I’d thought this was still the period when Leader Actors was enjoying nothing but success.
How could something already be going wrong?
I immediately ran toward the company building.
When I arrived…
Nothing had happened.
In fact, everyone was out on business.
The office was completely empty.
I searched every corner of the building but found absolutely nothing before returning home.
What was it?
I clutched my head, trying to think.
Then I happened to check the time.
Why was it taking so long just to buy a cake?
The moment I got home, I immediately called Park Sunyoung while running back outside.
But this lousy old phone was almost out of battery again.
As soon as Park Sunyoung answered, I blurted out,
“There’s no such thing as making a bad move after too much deliberation. By the time you’ve overthought everything, only bad moves are left. You didn’t fail because you thought too much.”
The instant I finished speaking…
The battery died.
