Chapter 02

It seemed that simply knowing they were still alive—even if we never met—had been a tremendous source of strength for me.

After reading the news, I called the company.

It might have fallen apart, but to me, those people were family.

How could they not even tell me someone had died?

…Were they really family?

Or had I been nothing more than a stranger to them all along?

Maybe I was just too oblivious to know where the line had been.

After attending Director Do Jae-yeon’s funeral, my apartment became a disaster.

There wasn’t even room left to set down another bottle of soju.

Empty bottles and trash were piled everywhere.

I had stopped moving forward.

Thankfully, the industry I’d left behind hadn’t.

I spent my days watching the endless stream of new dramas and films that continued to be produced.

That became my entire life.

* * *

The call came one winter day.

For once, it wasn’t spam.

Nor was it my uncle’s family calling to ask for money.

…No.

Actually…

I couldn’t tell who it was.

I couldn’t read the caller’s name.

…Huh?

Come to think of it…

Why couldn’t I read it?

That was strange.

I’d always had excellent eyesight.

The letters shouldn’t have been blurry from this distance.

When I reached across the table to grab my phone, my foot slammed into the chair.

“Shit!”

I hopped around cursing from the pain…

Then stepped on an empty soju bottle.

My feet flew out from under me.

The back of my head smashed into the marble floor so hard that my vision went white.

At first, I thought lying still for a few minutes would be enough.

…

It wasn’t.

The injury was much worse than I’d expected.

Blood was already running down my head.

This… isn’t good.

Still lying on the floor, I fumbled desperately for my phone.

I was going to call an ambulance.

But the moment I picked it up…

A thought crossed my mind.

Am I really alive?

Not a single person in this world wondered whether I was alive or dead.

No one.

I wasn’t enjoying my life.

I didn’t treasure it.

So…

Could I really call this living?

The moment I let the phone slip from my hand—

[Current Date: December 25, 2047]

[Remaining Lifespan: 23 Years]

[A transaction is available.]

[Consume the user’s life…]

[Would you like to travel to a random point in the past?]

I let out a dry laugh.

“Could you explain things in a way that’s actually understandable for once, you damn devil?”

[WARNING]

[The user’s lifespan will be consumed.]

[WARNING]

[The user’s lifespan will be consumed.]

Yeah, okay.

You don’t have to say it twice.

I get it.

It’s using up my life.

The phone in my hand began ringing again.

I narrowed my eyes.

Looking closer only made it stranger.

The caller’s name wasn’t merely blurry—

It looked smeared, as though something had been spilled across the screen.

I rubbed it with my sleeve.

Nothing changed.

A chill ran down my spine.

Was this the devil’s doing too?

[So?]

[Would you like to travel to a random point in the past?]

The devil urged me.

If I went back…

Maybe…

Just maybe…

I could see the people from Leader Actors again.

At Vice President Gam Su-han’s funeral, none of it had felt real.

But at Director Do Jae-yeon’s funeral…

It finally hit me.

Everyone I’d ever loved…

was gone.

…I just want to see them one more time.

Isn’t that how it always is?

When people wish to see family who’ve passed away, they don’t dream of grand miracles.

They just want one more meal together.

That’s all.

We should eat jokbal.

The three of them loved pig’s trotters so much they’d order it as a late-night meal all the time.

I’d never even tried it.

[Transaction complete.]

[Consuming the lifespan of ‘Lee Hee-yoon.’]

[Death has been fixed for December 25, 2047.]

[Returning to the past.]

Back when Leader Actors terminated my contract, I hadn’t understood.

Five years later…

I did.

Leader Actors hadn’t collapsed naturally.

It wasn’t some baseless conspiracy theory.

The company wasn’t a giant corporation, but it had been firmly established within the industry.

A company like that didn’t simply crumble overnight.

And…

Most likely…

Those three—including Do Jae-yeon—

had all been caught up in whatever destroyed it.

So this time…

I’d make Leader Actors bigger.

Big enough that no one could ever bring it down.

And to do that…

I had to become an even better actor than before.

Acting had always been an extension of life itself.

If you couldn’t truly understand an emotion…

You couldn’t portray it convincingly.

Warmth.

Love.

Those feelings had always come unnaturally to me.

I’d never experienced them deeply enough to understand.

Happiness.

Love.

Teenagers willing to die for friendship.

Children throwing tantrums because they trusted their parents’ unconditional love.

If I could understand those things…

If my life became even a little more colorful…

Then maybe…

No matter how much of a piece of trash I was…

There would still be film sets looking for me.

Come to think of it…

The chance to act again…

wasn’t bad at all.

Thinking that way…

Giving up the remaining twenty-three years of my life…

didn’t feel like a waste in the slightest.

Before dying here…

I figured no one would ever discover my body otherwise.

So I called emergency services.

Then I lay back down…

and started counting.

I didn’t even make it to five.

Everything went black.

As I died…

Only one thought crossed my mind.

My entire life…

…really was nothing but Leader Actors and acting.

* * *

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes again…

was the familiar system window.

[Current Date: June 6, 2025]

[Remaining Lifespan: 20 years, 6 months, 19 days]

Sixteen years old.

If I’d attended school, I’d have been a third-year middle school student.

If this timing had been the devil’s choice…

It was a remarkably appropriate one.

After my parents died when I was seven, I was raised by my uncle.

Because I worked constantly as a child actor and barely slept, attending school had been impossible.

I officially withdrew from middle school almost immediately after enrolling, so I wasn’t even counted as a student anymore.

Even traveling across a time zone by plane leaves people disoriented.

There was no way I’d instantly adjust after jumping more than twenty years into the past.

But I didn’t have time to be confused.

“Holy—what the hell?!”

I was hanging over the edge of an apartment rooftop.

Fog obscured the ground below.

I scrambled back over the railing with a stream of curses.

“I almost died again…”

As I caught my breath, my legs trembled so violently I nearly collapsed.

Rolling up the sleeves of my long shirt despite the summer heat, I found bruises covering my body.

This was around the time I’d learned that going to the police accomplished nothing except wasting time.

Back then, I’d stand on rooftops whenever things became unbearable…

Yet I still handed money over to the relatives who abused me.

For a child who’d barely received an elementary education…

making irrational decisions wasn’t surprising.

Continuing to believe they were my only family until I was well into my twenties…

That had nothing to do with education.

I was simply born an idiot.

But now I knew.

My real family was at Leader Actors.

Sure, they eventually threw me out.

But in the end…

They were the only people who had ever truly loved me.

My fake family.

Let’s start over.

From the beginning.

Again.

First…

Let’s see whether revenge is possible.

I clenched my fist.

Then nodded immediately.

“Yeah.”

“Definitely shouldn’t pick a fight with them yet.”

Unlike my thirty-two-year-old body, hardened by years of action scenes…

My sixteen-year-old body was as fragile as a dandelion seed.

Years of child acting had left me malnourished and sleep-deprived.

I’d spent my entire life eating too little and sleeping too little.

Probably because of that…

I’d never grown as tall as my genes should have allowed.

I walked down the stairs and headed for my uncle’s apartment.

After entering my room and packing my belongings…

My cousin, Lee Seong-gyu, walked in.

“What are you doing?”

He’d recently started attending an acting academy.

Maybe because of that, he’d cut back on swearing.

Sometimes he even pretended to stop his father from beating me.

Seeing him…

was strangely nostalgic.

“Hyung.”

“I asked what you’re doing.”

“You’d better become an actor.”

“Seriously.”

“You have to.”

That way…

I can pay you back.

You’ll need to be famous first.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder.

“I’m running away.”

“I’m not coming back.”

“So… I guess it’s independence?”

“…No.”

“It’s escape.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

While Seong-gyu stood there dumbfounded…

I opened the front door.

I figured I’d get caught if I waited for the elevator, so I sprinted down the outdoor stairs.

By the time I reached the ground floor…

He had appeared on the apartment balcony, staring at me like I’d lost my mind.

His expression practically said:

Where the hell are you going? You don’t have anywhere to go.

I raised both middle fingers toward him…

Then bolted out of the apartment complex as fast as I could.

I ran like hell.

The real sixteen-year-old me had never dared leave home.

Back then…

I truly believed those people were my family.

I believed that if I kept giving…

Kept sacrificing…

The fragile fence surrounding our family would eventually become strong.

But sand remained sand.

And all the money I’d poured into them never became a river.

Only a little groundwater.

In the end…

I was simply forgotten.

“…Still.”

“I seriously don’t have any money.”

Only after running away did I stop to think.

Sixteen years old.

Officially withdrawn from school.

An old 2G flip phone.

My entire fortune consisted of the transportation money loaded onto my transit card.

…Wait.

Did it even have money left?

It was unbearably hot, so I jumped onto a bus.

Fortunately…

There was enough fare.

I sank into a seat on the nearly empty bus, letting the air conditioner cool me down.

I’d practically fallen asleep.

When it was time to get off, I looked outside.

A sudden downpour had begun.

Leader Actors’ office building was about a five-minute walk from the nearest bus stop.

I sprinted through the rain toward the building.

While I was signed with the company…

The headquarters had moved twice.

The old three-story building in Heukseok-dong.

I’d completely forgotten about it.

But the moment it came into view…

A wave of nostalgia hit me.

I hadn’t even realized how much I’d missed this place.

A handwritten sign was taped beside the entrance.

NO NEWSPAPER SOLICITORS

Below it sat the doorbell.

I pressed it.

The door unlocked immediately.

Thinking about it now…

Leader Actors wouldn’t officially sign me until October of next year.

They had absolutely no idea who I was.

And yet…

they opened the door anyway.

Then again…

“I’m handsome.”

When does the entertainment industry open its doors the fastest?

When someone impossibly beautiful comes knocking.

That…

was me.