Episode 74
Gongza was an astonishing child. To be honest, if you asked me to pin down exactly what made him so astonishing, it was hard to name only one or two things.
It has to be one or two things.
And yet the most striking of them all was his presence.
Duk-soo looked back on the moment Gongza had been on camera.
Gongza is a genius.
He was bigger than children his age, yes, but still a small child all the same. And yet the second he stood before the camera, that tiny figure swelled and bloomed as if it had been waiting for its chance.
He looks even bigger than adult actors.
Of course, once the cut sounded, Gongza turned right back into a small, pretty child.
As he passed by, Duk-soo glanced at a newspaper stand. On a no-name sports paper, there was a small article about Gongza.
Ma Gongza signs with Ace Media
Exercise video for children
Will Ma Soo-jung's adopted son, Ma Gongza, continue his undefeated myth?
It wasn’t the main story on the front page, but still, to give column space to even this sort of trivial item...
That’s too much exposure.
Duk-soo let out a small breath.
That wasn’t good for a child’s upbringing.
Is that why Ma Soo-jung removed his work?
She had said that movies and dramas wanting Gongza had been piling up.
Gongza probably wants to go out and work...
The tiny angel loved work so much he would even curve his eyes all softly and sweetly at the mere mention of it. The lady who had seen that had said,
“Gongza must have been an ox in his past life.”
“No, maybe a bee?”
“Could’ve been an ant.”
Back then, I had said,
“Neither oxes nor bees nor ants actually like work itself.”
If there really were someone who loved work that much, then something about them was definitely broken.
“Then why is Gongza like that?”
“I don’t really know. But it’s Gongza.”
At that, everyone had nodded at once.
“Right. It’s Gongza.”
“If it’s Gongza, he can like it.”
“Kids who talk fast are smart, anyway.”
“Gongza learned Hangul fast too.”
“I told you he’s a genius.”
“And he’s kind.”
“Where do you even find a kid like that? He’s really an angel.”
Even so, the conclusion remained the same.
“Still, Gongza needs to rest from work.”
But the child wanted to work.
So after discussing it, we settled on an exercise video.
Ma Soo-jung had suggested that it might help ease Gongza’s work addiction a little. Naturally, Duk-soo welcomed the idea wholeheartedly.
He loves dancing so much he starts swaying the moment music comes on...
He was sure Gongza would make it look adorable.
Duk-soo nodded and walked along the holiday street. Of course, the decent citizens who saw him trembled and edged away, but Duk-soo, whose mind was filled with nothing but Gongza all day long, didn’t notice a thing.
* * *
What is a top star?
Having spent a long time lingering as an extra, I knew the answer.
A brand.
For an entertainer to rise was, in truth, the beginning of a war over the three syllables of their name.
Then what makes up a brand?
Skill?
Of course skill mattered.
But that wasn’t everything.
I shook my head. If this were a place where people were judged purely on acting ability, I would have reached the top long ago and then some.
Exactly. That’s what I’m saying.
I looked at my total coins and thought it over.
I need to manage this well.
My mother was working hard on set again today. This little one seems to have become a top star.
Total Coins: 923,442
I’ve spent a little here and there, but we’re already at this much.
Even if I’m a child actor, I guess I still count as a top star?
I grinned.
As expected, good looks are the best.
The best. Always new, always fresh.
Since my face was genius-level, the top-star life I’d struggled for in my previous life had simply come to me.
Though, of course, I was insanely lucky too.
If it hadn’t been for the affection and wealth of a chaebol-third-generation mother, it wouldn’t have been this easy.
Well, what I got may have come from luck.
I stood up.
Keeping it is effort.
Quietly, I ran through the image I’d earned.
Kind. Genius.
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
How did it end up like this?
I’m neither of those things.
Well, being kind is fine. Hardly anyone in entertainment wants to be known as unkind, so that much I can accept...
The problem was genius.
I am not a genius!
Sure, I talk fast, and in acting I might stand out sharply, but still! This is too much pressure!
Though the public probably doesn’t expect me to become a genius in physics or chemistry or anything...
Honestly, even with acting, I couldn’t say what sort of evaluation I’d receive once I became an adult.
I was never, ever a genius.
If anything, I was closer to the hardworking type.
Right. Anyway, a genius.
To think I’d ended up with that kind of image.
I let out a sigh.
Even if I slowly shift it later...
For now, however ridiculous it was, I was a genius.
So I have to be a genius as an entertainer.
Maybe that’s why.
I have to be better than the other child actors at everything I do.
But the thing is.
I raised my head. Duk-soo spoke.
“Have you memorized it all?”
I muttered weakly,
“J-just one more time.”
“Understood.”
Duk-soo pressed the remote. Soon, the TV screen filled with the background of a practice room.
I stared at the screen with desperate intensity.
A dancer in a tracksuit put his hands on his waist. Then he shouted brightly,
“All right, children! Shall we do this together?”
The dancer cupped a hand to his ear.
“Too quiet!”
He put a hand to his ear again and looked around.
“Yes, understood. All right, let’s begin!”
A cheerful intro flowed out.
- Whales’ family! Lalalala!
The dancer moved his arms and legs energetically. He didn’t forget to give his waist a little sway either.
I hurried to follow along. But I realized almost immediately.
Come to think of it...
The waist movement wasn’t right.
- Let’s run away~ this way and that~
My arms were wrong.
- Got you! Lalala!
My legs tangled.
The song ended. I dropped to my knees on the spot.
The conclusion was merciless.
I can’t dance.
And not just a little.
Sweat broke out down my back. Duk-soo came up beside me and said carefully,
“W-well, practice will help.”
“Teacherrr...”
I looked up at Duk-soo with watery eyes.
“R-really?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Teacherrr...”
I whispered with genuine sorrow.
“Don’t lie to me.”
Let’s not live like that.
Duk-soo blinked. I dropped my head.
I, I had no idea I had a weakness like this.
To think I was such a complete klutz! How was I supposed to do action scenes now?
Should I have wished to be a dance king when I died?
Why had I only wished to be healthy? If I was going to become a top star, why hadn’t I realized I’d need to dance well too?
I was truly despondent for the first time in a long while.
Right. The world was never going to be easy.
It had always been brutally hard.
Duk-soo hurriedly tried to comfort me.
“Th-that’s not a lie.”
“Teacherrr...”
I pointed silently at the screen.
“Gongza has followed along thirty times now.”
“W-well, yes.”
“Admit it. Gongza is bad at exercise dances.”
Come to think of it, it was absurd.
How can I follow it thirty times and still be like this?
Normally, wouldn’t it improve after about ten tries?
No matter how young I am, after this much I should’ve memorized the routine completely!
But I was still exactly where I had started.
“E-everyone has at least one thing they’re bad at.”
That’s true. But still.
You need to move your body well to act well too.
I’m supposed to do action roles, too.
This is driving me insane.
What was I supposed to do?
I took a deep breath.
“We c-can stop this.”
I shook my head.
“Teacherrr. Gongza won’t give up on work.”
“You don’t have to do what you can’t do.”
“It’s too late for that.”
The job was already signed and delivered. If I was going to do it, I should have handled it in advance.
Duk-soo. I do have the word surrender in my dictionary.
I took a deep breath.
Just not right now.
I lifted my head in a daze. For once, my shoulders felt heavy.
Yeah. This is familiar.
Come to think of it, in my previous life I had always lived with this feeling.
From casting to the set, everything was always like this.
Even the settlement statements were full of noise.
I even sued my old agency.
Thinking back on the past only made me sigh.
From beside me, Duk-soo patted my shoulder.
“I-if you work hard, it’ll work out.”
Ah, effort.
When someone says that, it’s not supposed to mean just “work hard and it’ll work out,” Duk-soo.
I grabbed Duk-soo’s arm and stood up.
Then I’ll have to work hard all the more!
Because the filming date was coming.
I looked at Duk-soo.
“Please repeat it one hundred times.”
“Pardon?”
“If one hundred isn’t enough, I’ll do one thousand.”
That should settle it.
“Y-you shouldn’t overdo it.”
“Teacher. Effort means overdoing it.”
Now please replay it quickly.
Duk-soo looked at me for a moment, then started the exercise video again. I fixed my eyes on the television with blazing intensity.
I stretched out my arms and muttered,
Let’s see who wins this.
* * *
You won.
Damn it. I lost.
I couldn’t even get up from the bed. Duk-soo massaged my body as he said,
“A-are you all right?”
“I’m not all right. Teacher, it hurts.”
Because somewhere around the fiftieth time, my legs had stopped moving.
Duk-soo tried to stop me.
I shifted my body down a little.
“A little more there.”
Duk-soo kept rubbing my muscles. I let out a long sigh.
“I overdid it.”
I know.
I had even been taking water and chocolate and trying to follow the gymnastics again afterward.
I looked like an old man with low blood sugar, but that wasn’t the important part right now.
When I had been rushing around, about to operate the CD remote myself and get back on my feet, I had collapsed straight down.
And now that I’m awake again, this ceiling feels familiar.
Duk-soo pressed down on my body in small motions as he said,
“The lady said she’d go buy baby pain-relief patches.”
“They make those?”
Didn’t know that.
But do babies really get muscle aches often enough to need them?
Well, I suppose they could.
I twisted my body and groaned.
“Eeeh.”
“Let’s give up.”
Not possible, sir.
Duk-soo tried to persuade me calmly.
“Gongza has no sense of rhythm.”
Is that so?
Well, I’d need something to feel rhythm in the first place.
I let out a deep sigh.
I really should have wished to dance well too.
Damn it. W-wait a second?
At the thought that flashed through my head, I flailed, and Duk-soo asked in surprise,
“What’s wrong?”
I groaned.
“I’m such an idiot.”
Damn it.
Why didn’t I think of using coins?
Well, strengthening my body had been absurdly expensive.
But I’ve saved up a lot of coins already.
Tears threatened to spill from sheer grievance.
If your head isn’t good, your hands and feet suffer, huh.
I couldn’t even twitch my arms or legs.
“D-don’t cry.”
I sniffled. Duk-soo hurriedly tried to comfort me.
“Just because you can’t dance well doesn’t make Gongza an idiot.”
That’s not what I mean.
I sighed.
“No. Gongza is an idiot.”
Right. He had said I lacked rhythm.
I checked my total coins first.
Total Coins!
Total Coins: 923,542
I didn’t even need to think twice.
Raise rhythm for me. Tell me the coin cost for the price, too!
500 coins are consumed to learn the price.
To raise the rhythm of child actor Ma Gongza, 922,542 coins are required.
Wow.
It strips me clean.
Coin. Are you being stingy, or do you know something?
Then the next caption came up.
As the price, for one month I will move to the rhythm whenever music plays.
The price was acceptable.
So when music plays, it probably just means I’ll twitch a finger or two.
There was no need to wait.
It will be executed three minutes from now.
Every action has its price.
The stated price will be applied.
I shot to my feet.