Free Acting
"How about learning to dance from me, at least."
"Dancing?"
"Singing and instruments are going to be a dime a dozen. You'd need dancing at the bare minimum if you want to stand out, wouldn't you?"
With that, she launched into a light bounce and body wave.
It was the most basic of basics, but once it passed through Yujin's body, the lines of the movement completely transformed. The movement of a K-POP goddess destined to captivate the entire world was in a league of its own from the very start.
"Dancing, huh... I think that could work."
"Right?"
If dancing became my specialty, I'd be aiming for the practical dance or musical departments anyway, which meant that in the broadcasting and entertainment department, it carried real scarcity value.
At the very least, it'll catch more eyes than singing or an instrument.
"Your big sis is working this hard to get you accepted, so stop holed up in a corner practicing and get out there and find stuff like this."
"Why are you the big sis?"
"My mental age is higher, so obviously I'm the big sis. I'm at least two years older, mentally."
She acts like that while looking two years younger than me, though.
But I kept that to myself. Her hands were sneakily strong, after all.
Yujin had been obsessed with dancing lately, saying she wanted to become an idol. After So-ra left for America, she'd risen to the top as the undisputed lead among child actresses, so everyone was shocked when she suddenly announced she was going to be an idol.
And I was shocked in a rather different sense, since I bore some of the responsibility for that.
"You know how I'd die before living without Ryunji, that fox of hers... do you like her too?"
"I do."
"What?"
"She's pretty, she sings well, and, hmm... she's an incredible dancer, you know? She's really beautiful when she dances."
I was only stating facts. It was true that she was pretty, sang well, and danced well. I meant it in the sense of liking her as a fan.
Of course, Yujin took it a completely different way.
"Hmph. I could do way better than some girl like that! I'm better at dancing and singing than I am at acting."
"Then prove it. If you dance better than Yuna, I'll become your fan on the spot."
"Really?"
I hadn't known she'd actually go through with becoming an idol.
"So why did you apply to Seorim Arts High? There's Hanyang Arts and Eunseong Arts, too."
Hanyang Arts was close to home, and Eunseong Arts had produced a long list of famous actors. If acting was the goal, applying to Eunseong was the logical choice.
"I'm fine with it since it's a school full of idols, but you? That doesn't make sense for you."
"That's what I should be saying. You weren't even thinking about arts high at all. Why all of a sudden do you want to apply to the same school as me?"
She'd lightly stomped all over CEO Oh's suggestion that I go study abroad and enroll in a music conservatory or film academy, and submitted my application alongside hers instead.
"If you were going to a regular high school, I wouldn't have applied here either."
"Wait, what does that have to do with..."
"That school's crawling with idols and trainees. You think they're just going to leave you alone if you get in? As long as I'm there, they won't dare come anywhere near you."
Well, when you put it that way?
"So why on earth did you apply to a school like that!"
The truth was, I'd never been dead set on arts high. Now that the shackles were off, I could keep acting even at a regular high school.
But when Future Sight tells me to go, what can I do?
The performances I needed to give and the events that would unfold down the line were all shown to me directly by Future Sight. The same went for those faint memories of my past life suddenly sharpening into clarity — that, too, was Future Sight at work.
The two had one thing in common: whenever I resolved them, a precious bond was forged.
A few years from now, a private school corruption scandal would erupt at Seorim Arts High. Rumors had long circulated that the chairman was neglecting the school's abysmal facilities while siphoning tuition and donations for personal use, but this time it would be properly torn open.
The catalyst would be an exposé video made by a group of students from several departments, pooling their talents together.
Titled I Accuse, the video was crafted in musical form, showcasing each student's specialty, and it rode the Moutube algorithm past ten million views, sending shockwaves through the country.
Eventually, exposé programs like PD News picked up the story, the Board of Education launched a special audit, and the chairman was referred to the prosecution.
The scandal ignited a nationwide whistleblowing movement against private school corruption — a social phenomenon on par with the Me Too revelations.
And they want me to pull all of that forward by several years.
Principal Seo Chang-beom and Vice Principal Na Kyung-man, who had stood on the students' side, would clash with the chairman only to be framed and dismissed. Na Kyung-man in particular — a director once showered with respect — would be so deeply wounded that he'd nearly cut ties with the world entirely.
And the vice principal is a close friend of Teacher's. I can help him too.
The fact that this memory had sharpened right around admissions season was no coincidence. Ever since kindergarten, I'd seen what happened when I acted the moment a memory came into focus.
Solve the problem this time, and a future-securing connection would be my reward — like the loot that came bundled with a cleared quest in a game.
Obviously, I couldn't let that slip away.
That was why I'd applied to Seorim Arts High.
"Haah, haah... Is that good enough now?"
I had knocked down every single one of the guards blocking the door. I bent my freakishly twisted fingers back into place. The gash along my side was slowly sealing itself shut.
There was no point in even saying it. I was an immortal — torn and cut, I always returned to what I was.
"In there... is the one who can kill me..."
When I opened the door, a faint light glimmered in the center of a pitch-black room. Past a cluster of guttering candles, I saw a man in a hood.
"It was you who called me, wasn't it?"
"To be precise, you wanted me here. You want to die."
"So you can kill me, then."
"Before that — why do you want to die?"
"Boredom. At first it was wonderful. Living on forever, young and untouched by death — how could that be anything but bliss? I did everything I ever wanted to do. But you see..."
...
"It was all for nothing. Once the people who loved me and the people I loved were gone, nothing brought me joy anymore. The pain just kept piling up as the years went by. That's when I understood. Immortality — living as an immortal — wasn't a blessing. It was a curse."
"So that's why you want to die."
"That's right. And that's when I learned you existed. They said you could kill anyone. So come on — kill me, already."
...
"What's the matter? Now that it's time to actually do it, you're getting cold feet?"
The man sitting across from me pulled back his hood.
"Wh-what! You're... you're...!!"
I recoiled in horror at the sight of a being with my exact face. Why was there another one of me?
"So you appear as someone identical to me. Kheheheh... Never mind, it doesn't matter. It means I can finally die!!"
The other me across the room was laughing like a madman — a laugh of pure, ecstatic triumph, the joy of a man who had finally succeeded. Why was he laughing like that?
"What is going on? I told you to kill me, so why are you cackling like that?!"
"Kheheh, sorry, sorry. I'm just so happy."
"Happy about what? And what's this about being able to die? I'm the one who came here to be killed!"
"If I look identical to you, then you're qualified to guard this room. This is a room for immortals, you see."
"A room for immortals?"
"Yes. Only immortals can enter. But tell me — what happens if there are two immortals in here?"
"Two immortals...?"
"That's right. I'm an immortal too. And now that you've come in, I've become an immortal who can die."
With that, he drew a razor-sharp blade and, without a moment's hesitation, drove it into his own throat.
"Gahk—!"
"H-hey! Wait—!"
"This... room needs only... one eternity. So... if you ever w-want to die... find another eternal one... and bring them... here..."
"You... you wretched bastard. Why are you telling me this only now..."
"Do you know... how long I've wanted to die? Thank you... truly... thank you."
...
Cursing the immortal who had gone first, I returned to reality.
It was the most emotionally demanding acting I'd done in recent memory, yet it was more bearable than I'd expected. Ten years of time had forged the stamina and fortitude to withstand the aftermath.
By the time the tangled emotions inside me had loosened to some degree, Teacher had come back.
"Have you decided on your free performance piece?"
"Yes, Teacher. I'm going with this one."
I handed him the script.
"Kim Si-woon's, is it."
"I think Director Kim's style just suits me, somehow."
It was the script for The Immortal and the Doppelganger, Director Kim Si-woon's film from two years ago. A scene where two identical faces talked to each other — it let me show off a dual role as well. A scene where the ecstasy of finally being able to die collided with the despair of having death stolen away.
If the aftereffects had still been with me, I wouldn't have dared to touch it. But now, it was doable.
"It's a scene where you can easily drown in the emotion. Are you sure? Expressing two completely opposite feelings at once will tangle your head up in no time."
"That's why I practiced it over and over. It's definitely different from before. Maybe time really does heal, just like you said."
"Hmm... Then let's see it. Start from Scene 38.1."
"Yes, Teacher."
I set the script down in front of me and gathered the emotions once more.
...
"Well, I'll be. That's better than Hosang. He's no slouch at emotional acting either, but I honestly don't know what he'd say if he saw your performance."
"I've still got a long way to go. I couldn't come close to that scream at the end."
"What? You didn't just read the script, did you? This is a rated-R film, you know."
"Ah... sorry."
It was a movie I'd seen before my regression, and it had slipped out without thinking.
"Honestly, this kid. Well, it's not like it's porn or anything. Just don't go telling Si-woon you watched it — for all his movies look like that, he's secretly a straight-arrow about these things."
"Of course. Don't worry."
While I was busy preparing my free performance, Yujin had been diligently dragging home every trending boy group dance on the scene.
"Once you've practiced this, we're shooting a cover dance video together."
"Why, though?"
"I need proof that I raised you, don't I? I already told So-ra."
She brushed my opinion aside without a second thought and had already mapped out the whole plan — what to film, where to post it, everything.
Her Moutube channel was bigger than most girl groups', so a cover dance video would certainly put my face out there... but no matter how I looked at it, this wasn't for my benefit. It was pure self-interest on her part.
Well, considering how much she was doing for me, I could turn a blind eye to a little self-indulgence.