Chapter 159: You Never Know What Life Will Bring
Chapter 159: You Never Know What Life Will Bring
Meanwhile.
In an old building tucked away in a back alley of Cannes, a man with a cannon-sized camera slung over his shoulder rushed into an office.
Inside, people dressed similarly were busy at monitors—retouching photos or writing articles.
“Jack! Did you bring us anything?”
“Bring something? I hauled in a live one. A big fish that’s still flapping.”
The man called Jack wore a self-satisfied grin as he plugged his camera’s memory card into the computer.
He called his coworkers over to the monitor.
“Guess who this handsome Asian guy is.”
“…Wait, isn’t that Ryu? The one who blew up Cannes this time?”
“Bingo.”
Jack nodded and played the video.
On screen, Ryu Sunho was fighting with a pickpocket.
No—calling it a fight was generous. It was closer to one-sided restraint.
Dodging a punch lightly, hooking a leg to trip him, then twisting the arm with smooth, flowing motion.
It looked like a scene from an action movie.
“Wow… what is this? Why can he fight so well?”
“Right? I was shocked while filming too. I saw him jogging in the park, so I was just going to grab some paparazzi cuts, and he hands me a dynamic gift like this.”
“This is insane. This’ll pull views.”
“From now on, when we film Ryu, we should make sure he doesn’t notice. If he catches you, your arm might get twisted like that.”
Laughter burst out at the ridiculous joke.
“But why isn’t Ryu going back to Korea? The other Korean actors all left.”
“No idea. Do we even need to care about that? He’s probably enjoying a vacation. Cannes is nice.”
“Dig a little deeper. There could be more story. Like a hidden kid in France, or a secret girlfriend—”
“Your imagination’s rich. Why don’t you become a novelist? Why waste talent doing paparazzi?”
“My imagination is mostly low-class stuff, so this suits me better.”
Jack snorted and opened a browser search bar.
When he searched Ryu Sunho’s name, a flood of articles poured out.
He spotted one in Korean and immediately ran it through a translator.
“…What? It says Ryu’s participating in Cannes Lions?”
“What are you talking about? Why would an actor go there? Is he going as some pretty face?”
“…Doesn’t look like it. Look. It says he was invited as a creator.”
The paparazzi stared at each other, eyes widening.
The day of the Cannes ad festival awards arrived.
When I looked in the mirror, my heart was pounding.
“Now I’m nervous.”
It felt like I was more nervous today than when I stood on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet a few days ago.
…Maybe that’s only natural.
If you looked at the number of years, I’d lived a life closer to the Cannes ad festival than the Cannes Film Festival.
My previous life as an ad person—fifteen years—flashed past like a flipbook.
The Cannes ad festival.
A holy ground every advertiser in the world dreamed of being invited to at least once.
Winning just once was a glorious stamp of recognition on your career.
And yet in my previous life, no matter how many times I was invited, I never went even once because of my grotesque appearance.
To think I’d attend after becoming an actor.
They say you never know what life will bring.
“Let’s go. We’ll be late.”
With Han Seungwoo, I headed to the Palais des Festivals.
The very place where the Cannes Film Festival awards had been held.
But the atmosphere was subtly different from the film festival.
If the film festival was a stage for glamorous stars, this was a stage for the people who planned the game from the shadows.
A sharper, more intellectual tension hung in the air.
I sat in the assigned seat with Han Seungwoo.
Looking around, the place was packed with creators dressed freely, without constraints.
Mixed among them, I was clearly an alien presence.
Sure enough, a few people sitting nearby recognized me and started whispering while stealing glances.
“Isn’t that guy an actor?”
“Why is an actor sitting in the nominee section? This is the creators’ seat.”
“Is he trying to steal even this kind of place?”
“This isn’t a film festival. That’s not respectful to creators.”
Some reactions were sharp.
From their perspective, it probably looked like a celebrity ad model was hijacking their achievements.
A bitter smile rose with a strange sense of kinship.
Because I felt like there had been a time when I’d complained like that too.
But today I’m not here as a pretty face.
I let my eyes drift away lightly.
Then the lights in the hall changed, and a man stepped onto the stage.
It was Simon, the CEO of Cannes Lions.
“……!”
A face I recognized.
In my previous life, after I rejected Cannes invitations multiple times, he had come all the way to Korea just to see me and persuade me.
He had been briefly startled by my twisted face, but then he understood and hugged me warmly.
Even after that, he would occasionally come to Korea, share drinks, and talk advertising with me.
…It’s nice to see him again. When he was younger, his hair was thick.
If Simon saw my neat, present-day face, he’d be shocked.
…Of course, Simon now had no memory of that.
“Welcome to Cannes Lions!”
With dynamic gestures, Simon declared the start of the Cannes ad festival.
“This year, we received the highest number of entries since the festival’s founding. A total of 31,453 entries came in from around the world.”
He continued his speech in a passionate voice.
“In particular, there was one astonishing work this year that satisfied my already high expectations by 200%. It was a perfect example of how creativity can change the world.”
Murmurs rose around me, voices filled with expectation.
Everyone had that look—hoping it might be their work.
Right. If you were a creator invited to Cannes, that level of confidence came standard.
“Then let us begin the awards in earnest.”
For reference, Cannes Lions had a lot of award categories.
Film, Print, Outdoor, Direct, and so on.
Around thirty categories, divided by the function and role of creative work.
That didn’t mean winning here was easy.
This was a battlefield where the world’s best geniuses gathered.
That was why, up to now, Korea had only won the Grand Prix three times.
Of course, later on—after I jumped into advertising—Korea won more in that timeline.
“Next is the Media category.”
At last, the category we submitted for began.
On the screen, the nominated case films flashed past quickly.
Campaigns revealing the horrors of war, performances warning about the climate crisis, anti-racism projects—powerful, direct videos filled the screen.
And then, last.
Against a blue sea, the story of a man collapsed on the ground and another man who received his heart transplant played out.
The two faces were Park Juwon and Moon Ganghyeok.
In other words, our case film was showing.
The video cross-cut drama scenes with real-world change.
A graph of organ donation registrations skyrocketing.
Countless verification posts uploaded to social media.
And an interview with an actual organ recipient.
It delivered the impact of how fiction—a drama—changed reality.
Sounds of admiration rose around the hall.
“Wow…”
“This is a crazy idea.”
“It’s not just showy. The real effect is dramatic too…!”
After the case film ended, Simon stepped back to the mic holding an envelope.
First, the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Lions were announced one by one.
Maybe it was good news.
Our name still hadn’t been called.
Finally.
Time for the highest honor: the Grand Prix.
“The Media Grand Prix is…”
A short silence.
“Korea’s ‘Seeds of Hope’ campaign!”
Our campaign name was called.
Applause erupted everywhere.
It wasn’t just congratulatory clapping.
It was applause of agreement—It deserves it. We acknowledge it.
I stood up.
I high-fived Han Seungwoo and walked toward the stage.
Step.
Step.
With every step, reality felt like it was slipping away.
This isn’t a dream, right?
No.
The lights pouring down were warm.
You could feel it on your skin.
And it was heavy.
The lion-shaped trophy Simon handed me was.
Much heavier than I expected.
“……”
Fifteen years in my previous life.
Those lonely, brutal years when I hid in the dark and had to prove myself with results alone—everything rose up.
I thought it was no big deal.
But emotions surged like a wave, stronger than I expected.
My throat tightened.
Seeing me like that, Simon smiled and offered me the microphone.
“That was a very impressive campaign. Not only did it surprise me by satisfying my high standards by 200%, I was even more shocked to learn the planner was the drama’s lead actor. How did you come to plan a campaign like this?”
I thought for a moment.
I had plenty of prepared lines.
Polished ones. Witty ones.
But I chose none of them.
I wanted to comfort my past life in the most honest language.
I opened my mouth slowly.
“Once… I knew someone.”
I spoke in Korean.
Because right now, I wanted to hand this speech not to Actor Ryu Sunho, but to the advertiser Ryu Sunho from my previous life.
“Someone who had to be trapped in darkness after an accident before his talent could even bloom. For a long time, the world to him… was like a long tunnel with no end in sight.”
My voice trembled slightly.
My old self flashed by.
Nights spent fighting on, dragging a body covered in burn scars.
“But he didn’t give up. Instead of his own voice, he tried to communicate with the world through outcomes. And at some point he realized something. That hope exists where you reach your hand.”
I clenched the trophy tightly.
“This campaign wasn’t simply to promote organ donation. I wanted to deliver hope to someone in despair—just like my friend found light inside the dark.”
People wouldn’t know who that “someone” was.
They’d probably assume it was just an acquaintance of mine.
That was fine.
This was comfort and dedication for me.
A few people in the audience wiped at their eyes.
Even through interpretation, sincerity didn’t blur.
“And lastly, I want to thank my best partner—Executive Director Han Seungwoo—who believed in and supported this reckless idea. Without him, this project would never have reached the world. Truly, thank you.”
I smiled as I looked at Han Seungwoo beside me.
Han Seungwoo rubbed his nose and grinned.
Clapclapclapclapclapclap—!
When I finished, the audience rose into a standing ovation.
The hot applause wrapped my past and present in warmth.
On the way back to Korea, on the plane, Han Seungwoo sipped champagne and asked, “Why didn’t you do your speech in French? You did it in French at the film festival, all cool.”
“I just wanted to do Korean this time. It felt more sincere.”
“Well, if that’s it.”
Han Seungwoo didn’t ask further, just gazed at the trophy with satisfaction.
After that, the private jet landed at Gimpo Airport.
Unlike a normal flight, it didn’t have a fixed arrival time, so no one would be waiting for us.
That was what I thought as we entered the arrivals area.
The moment the automatic doors opened—
Clickclickclickclickclick—!
Papapapap—!
Light poured down so hard my vision almost went white.
“He’s out!!!!”
“It’s Ryu Sunho!!!!”
“WAAAAAAH!!!!!”
A massive crowd packed the arrivals hall.
Reporters and fans jammed in so tightly there wasn’t even room to step, all shouting at once.
“Sunho! Look this way!”
“Right side! Right side!”
“Wave just once!”
“Show the trophies too! Both of them!”
At one reporter’s shout, I pulled the awards out of my bag and held them up.
In one hand, the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor trophy.
In the other, the Cannes ad festival Grand Prix trophy.
Two gold trophies with different shapes and different meanings glittered brilliantly under the lights.
“WAAAAAAH!”
“This is insane!!”
“This is a real legend…!”
The gasps at the scene hit a peak.
In Korean history—no, in world history—there had never been a case of an actor holding these two trophies at the same time.
After a brief interview, with the help of security, we barely broke through the crowd.
Road Manager Jeong Daeyeop quickly loaded me into the car he had waiting.
Bang—
The heavy door shut, cutting off the outside noise.
Only then did the tension release, and drowsiness washed over me.
Now a short rest—
No.
Time for the most important settlement.
Because the moment I returned to Korea, status-window messages were bursting in front of my eyes like fireworks.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Recognition achievement unlocked!]
[Favorability achievement unlocked!]
[Ripple Effect achievement unlocked!]
This reward…
I’m actually looking forward to it.