Chapter 6
When CEO Gam Seongbeom of Leader Actors returned, his father, Gam Ihyeon, was completely engrossed in conversation with Lee Huiyun, whom he had met for the first time that day.
As CEO Gam Seongbeom approached to take Lee Huiyun away, his mother, Park Seonyeong, who had been lovingly watching her husband’s cheerful expression—a sight she had not seen in a long time—grabbed her son’s arm and pulled him out onto the patio.
Gam Seongbeom asked in disbelief,
“Mom, do you still like Dad that much?”
“Yes. I do. Honestly, I’m surprised too. I never thought I’d feel this way.”
“Seriously… By the way, it looks like you like that kid even more than your own grandchild.”
“Oh, don’t be silly. A friend is a friend, and a grandchild is a grandchild.”
Even in his mother’s eyes, the two of them looked more like friends than anything else.
As Park Seonyeong watched her husband chatting happily with Lee Huiyun, she wore the face of someone who had gone through more than sixty years of life without ever being broken. Gam Seongbeom had once thought his mother seemed like an innocent young girl, but after watching over his father’s long illness together with her, he realized she had always been the stronger one.
Regardless of that, she also still looked undeniably wealthy. Her personal assets seemed to continue growing even now.
Park Seonyeong stared quietly at Lee Huiyun as he talked with her husband before speaking to her son.
“But… who did that child belong to?”
Gam Seongbeom hesitated.
As expected, nothing escaped the eyes of someone who had spent over thirty years as a teacher.
“His parents died in an accident when he was seven. After that, he was raised at his uncle’s house… and I think they abused him the whole time.”
Park Seonyeong nodded.
Then she smiled gently.
“What about school?”
“Oh, right. He has to take the middle school equivalency exam. We need to get him into high school. But he doesn’t have enough time to study…”
“He’s still a child. He’ll catch up quickly. Besides, isn’t there a math teacher living in this house?”
When she referred to herself, Gam Seongbeom asked worriedly,
“But is Dad really okay with this? He gets exhausted after spending just half a day with his own grandchild.”
“For some reason, he says he’s fine. He even said he’d pay for Huiyun’s tuition.”
“…Dad? Really? That doesn’t sound like him.”
Unable to believe it, Gam Seongbeom glanced back toward his father.
For some reason, he felt a little jealous.
CEO Gam Seongbeom left first, saying he had too much work to do, and Park Seonyeong, Gam Seongbeom’s mother, brought my conversation with Gam Ihyeon to an end.
“Alright, that’s enough talking. Let’s continue over dinner.”
“I completely lost track of time.”
Gam Ihyeon smiled awkwardly.
A little later, we all gathered around the dining table.
From what I’d seen alone, there were at least five employees working in the house.
A late dinner had been prepared.
It was my first meal since returning.
Come to think of it, I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten with someone else.
Eating with other people around felt strangely unfamiliar.
After leaving the company in my previous life, I had always just ordered whatever I felt like eating.
Eventually, even that became tiresome, so I simply stocked up on chicken breast and ate just enough not to die.
Seeing a proper home-cooked meal again felt awkward.
It was so unfamiliar that I actually froze several times during dinner simply because there were too many side dishes to choose from.
Yet every time I hesitated, instead of acting surprised, Park Seonyeong calmly told me what to eat.
“Try the lotus root. It’s delicious and good for you.”
“Lotus root…”
Without thinking, I murmured the words and searched for it before placing a piece into my mouth.
In my previous life, there had never been anything I couldn’t eat if I wanted it.
But sixteen-year-old Lee Huiyun had lived a very different life.
Although the person inside was the thirty-seven-year-old Lee Huiyun, it seemed the body’s original memories and habits still remained.
“…”
It was ridiculous.
My eyes suddenly filled with tears.
Neither of them said anything.
Gam Ihyeon asked one of the household staff to bring me a handkerchief, while Park Seonyeong quietly rested her hand on my back.
Her hand was warm.
After dinner, I returned to my room.
It wasn’t very large since it was a guest room, but when I opened the door, there was a wooden porch outside.
I liked that I could simply sit there and feel the outdoors.
As I sat there for a while, I noticed Gam Ihyeon walking slowly across the yard.
Leaning on a cane and supported by someone else, he had still come all the way here.
It seemed he had something to say.
I decided to speak first.
“I don’t usually cry.”
“No matter what anyone says?”
“Even if you told me to leave tonight… I couldn’t.”
“I wasn’t going to tell you to leave.”
After making his way over with such effort, Gam Ihyeon sat down on the wooden porch beside me.
If he hadn’t come to send me away, then why had he come all this way?
As I looked at him, he spoke.
“My wife is a teacher. She hates it when people skip meals. Our conversation got interrupted, didn’t it?”
After saying that, he simply sat there in silence.
I guessed he’d come to check whether I’d finished crying.
Since we were already here, I decided to ask something I’d been curious about in my previous life.
“When you’re acting…”
“Yes?”
“Do you have to love your character? Because I never have.”
Not once had I ever felt that a role truly belonged to me.
Maybe it was because I’d been acting since childhood.
Everything had simply become habit.
At my question, Gam Ihyeon shook his head vigorously.
It was such a forceful denial that it almost felt as though he somehow understood I’d sacrificed a day of my life.
“Absolutely not!”
“Not at all?”
“Not at all. Why would you have to love your role? Even if your character is a terrible person? A swindler who preys on the helpless? Would you still love them? There’s no need.”
“I thought that’s what actors were taught.”
“Some actors may come to love their roles. But I don’t believe it’s a requirement.
It may happen naturally.
But here’s what I think, Huiyun.
We have to recognize the person we’re playing.
That part is essential.”
At that moment, I realized it once again.
Gam Ihyeon wasn’t looking at me as a child.
He was looking at me entirely as an actor.
As a fellow actor.
“Do you know what I mean by recognizing someone?”
“No.”
“It’s like finding the one person you know among a thousand strangers.
That’s what it means.”
Finding one familiar person among a thousand strangers.
That was it.
“I can do that.”
“Of course you can.”
Gam Ihyeon nodded deeply before continuing.
“I know you’ll become a great actor.”
“How?”
I asked.
He answered,
“Everything else… can be created somehow.
Actors can simply play whatever role suits the way they were born.
But presence…
That part is something you’re born with.”
“…”
“I never had that gift.
Maybe that’s why I was able to act for so long and play so many different kinds of roles…”
Gam Ihyeon stared directly into my eyes.
My long eyes and slightly upturned lips resembled my mother’s.
That’s what everyone had always said.
Gam Ihyeon became certain.
Then he let out a long sigh before saying,
“From now on…
You’re going to play so many roles.
I’m truly envious.”
Those words came from the bottom of his heart.
Since he’d answered my question, I felt I should give him something in return.
So I began carefully.
“Is there anything you’re curious about regarding the CEO?”
“Seongbeom?”
As soon as I tossed out the bait, Gam Ihyeon hesitated for only a moment before taking it.
“Well…
What do you think of him… as a producer?”
“A producer?”
“He wants to start his own production company.”
Well, he’s going to end up doing both eventually anyway.
Should I spoil the future or not?
After thinking it over, I decided to.
“In my opinion…”
“Yes?”
“He’ll fail spectacularly about twice.
Most of the rest will barely break even.
But…”
“But?”
“He’ll also create one or two…
No, probably two or three truly outstanding productions.”
[A penalty has been applied for revealing the future.]
[-1 day]
[Remaining lifespan: 20 years, 6 months, 16 days.]
Wow.
Just one day of my life in exchange for that much information.
I could probably become rich just by selling spoilers.
I’d just die early.
Though honestly, thirty-two or thirty didn’t feel all that different.
Everything after thirty in my previous life had been unbearably, painfully boring.
If I had to live through all that again, giving up a day didn’t feel like much at all.
More importantly, sacrificing that day had been worth it.
Gam Ihyeon smiled.
Gam Seongbeom had once said that before his father passed away, he hadn’t seen him smile in a very long time.
I’d have to tell him someday.
Your father smiled because of how much he loves you.
That night, I slept incredibly well.
It was hard to believe I could sleep so peacefully in a house I’d never been in before.
I hadn’t realized I was capable of sleeping so soundly in a place full of people.
If I’d known that before returning, maybe I wouldn’t have been so sensitive on film sets in my previous life.
Thinking that, I stepped outside my room.
There was a book lying in front of the door.
[Middle School Equivalency Exam: Complete Review]
On top of it was a note written in unmistakably neat teacher’s handwriting.
When you read a script carefully, you understand it, right?
Do the same with the exam questions, and you’ll pass just fine.
Grandma will help you.
Good luck until the exam! ^^
I opened the book.
For someone who had gone through a normal education, the middle school equivalency exam would be easy if they simply read the questions carefully.
But for someone like me, who had barely ever attended school…
It looked like a mountain impossible to climb.
Who would’ve thought the equivalency exam would intimidate me more than acting?
I’d always wanted to attend school at least once.
I just hadn’t expected that studying would come with it.
Anyway…
She said to “read it carefully like a script.”
So I opened the book and started reading.
Then I closed it almost immediately.
It wasn’t interesting.
Scripts were still far more entertaining.
“…”
Even so…
School.
I’d like to attend properly at least once.
Even if it were only for a month.
I wanted to sit in classrooms.
Make friends my own age.
And now…
There were people willing to help me.
Thinking that gave me the motivation to open the book again.
Before I seriously started studying, I looked at the note one more time.
“Grandma will help you.”
Those words gave me strength.
A few days later, I visited Leader Actors again.
Assistant CEO Gam Suhan’s desk was still piled high with proposals and scripts.
Some I recognized from before my return.
Many had eventually been canceled.
The script on top was The Loneliest Time.
The child version of the protagonist had quite a significant role.
It was a part I wanted badly.
The character was a high school student.
Well…
I’d be in high school next year anyway.
Unfortunately, if memory served me correctly, that role eventually went to a member of a hugely popular idol group.
There was no way it would ever come to me.
To begin with…
I wasn’t even confident I was more handsome than that guy.
Curious about the others, I leaned over to look.
Assistant CEO Gam Suhan quietly spread the scripts out a little with one hand.
Do Jaeyeon sighed before warning me.
“These are confidential. You know that, right?”
“Of course.”
I answered while scanning the titles with my eyes.
Just seeing scripts again made my heart race.
While I was completely absorbed in them, the CEO and the Assistant CEO were busy discussing my schedule and upcoming auditions.
In my previous life, I’d accepted practically every job that came my way.
My schedule had always been packed like a game of Tetris.
Finally, Gam Seongbeom lost his temper.
“Hey! From now on, don’t answer any calls from Huiyun’s relatives. Cancel every single one of his schedules. He’s only got one body! How’s he supposed to do all this?”
“But hyung, what if they come to the company?”
“Then what? We’ll deal with it ourselves! Hey, Gam Suhan. You any good in a fight?”
“Look at me.”
“So that’s a no. Jaeyeon! Looks like you’re our only hope!”
“You should’ve asked me first.”
Do Jaeyeon, who had started working as a road manager immediately after graduating high school, answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Watching the three of them trying so hard to protect me…
For the first time in a long while,
it simply made me happy.
