Living as an Actor (3)
Ibin took pride in his life as an actor.
He had started as an unknown face and climbed steadily, one step at a time.
Even in dangerous scenes, he had preferred to perform them himself rather than rely on a stunt double, and that sincerity had earned him the affection of directors and crews alike.
And that was precisely why he felt uneasy about his son, I Seongjin, becoming an actor.
Of course, if he said a word or two, directors, staff, and the other actors on set would all be inclined to show the boy a great deal of favor.
But was that really the path to becoming a successful actor?
So Ibin had told his son this:
“I don’t care if you want to be an actor, but don’t ever think of using your father, Ibin, as a shortcut.”
“Learn from the ground up. Practice until you’ve truly earned your place.”
“That is how you become an actor.”
And so I Seongjin had begun from the bottom.
He started as an extra with no lines at all, then slowly worked his way up to bit parts with only a single line.
For a long time, his son had suffered.
Even while living in a cramped little room and refusing to mention the name of his famous father even once, insisting he would survive only on the money he earned himself.
Even if it meant working part-time jobs in his spare time just to pay for living expenses.
He had wanted to become an actor by living through the same hardships his father once had.
And that son of his...
“...W-What do you mean?”
He was in the hospital.
He had been told that one of his arms had been trapped in the wreckage, crushed beyond repair, and that it would have to be amputated.
What was that supposed to mean?
What on earth had happened?
One of the staff, pale as paper, had recognized I Seongjin as Ibin’s son in the emergency room and explained what had happened.
It had been a dangerous scene.
The one where a vehicle collided with another vehicle.
However carefully they prepared, it was still the kind of shot that should have been done with a stunt double.
But I Seongjin had chosen to do it himself.
It would feel more real that way, and a stunt double was not necessarily any safer.
And so the shoot had begun.
Then an accident no one had anticipated had occurred.
The filming vehicle had been completely destroyed, and I Seongjin, trapped inside it, had suffered severe injuries.
His left arm had been crushed so badly that it was beyond saving.
“A... Ahhhh...!!”
When Ibin heard that, despair swallowed him whole.
It was his fault.
He had wanted his son, who dreamed of becoming an actor, to avoid the hard life he himself had lived.
He should have let the boy live safely, even if people said he was riding on his father’s fame.
No—better yet, he should have opposed the idea of becoming an actor altogether.
I did this.
I ruined my son’s life.
Sitting on the floor of the emergency room, Ibin cursed himself.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“...W-What are you saying?”
“Please ask your son.”
“Ask him... what?”
“He has probably just received a supporting role offer. He’ll be playing a bank robber.”
“.....”
“And in the scene where he flees by car and then crashes into another vehicle, that accident will happen.”
“Th-That...”
“At that moment, your son won’t use a stunt double. That’s how Ibin works, after all.”
“...That accident?”
“Yes.”
Because of that accident, I Seongjin would lose his arm.
And then he would spend the rest of his life as a shell of a man.
The same was true of Ibin.
He would blame himself for turning his son into a cripple and retire from acting for good.
The downfall of a father and son.
That was their future.
“Then... then what should I do?”
Should he tell his son not to take the role?
Should he go to the director?
Should he tell them to use a stunt double?
Ibin spoke quickly, throwing out one possible solution after another.
But there was no proper answer.
“Your son is extremely stubborn.”
No matter what Ibin suggested, I Seongjin would never change his mind.
He would give everything he had for that role, and in the end, the accident would happen.
“Why...!! Th-That’s right! The director! I’ll speak to the director!!”
He would ask them to exclude his son from that role.
Only then did the future change.
To one where I Seongjin spiraled into despair and became a broken man.
“...Why...?”
“Perhaps he was shocked that his father tried to stop him.”
Ibin covered his face with both hands.
“What’s wrong with wanting a happy future for my son...?”
“No one said it was wrong.”
It was simply the future as it was unfolding.
“Is there... is there no way...?”
“What if you approached it from a different angle?”
“...Huh? What do you mean...?”
“What if you removed the car scene altogether?”
“Th-That... can that be done?”
“If you negotiate with the investors, I think it can be managed one way or another. Then surely the writer or the director could make adjustments?”
“...Come to think of it, if the investors exert pressure, changing one or two scenes shouldn’t be difficult.”
Ibin seemed to be thinking about how to persuade the investors for this film.
So I shook my head.
“This time, you were lucky.”
“Pardon? Why...?”
“Ms. Yu-na.”
“Have you finished talking?”
“Yes.”
I called over Han Yu-na, who had been sitting in a corner sipping coffee by herself.
She trotted over and sat down.
“Now then. There happens to be someone here with some real influence over the investors.”
“...Pardon?”
To the bewildered Ibin, I explained, “This is Han Yu-na. She’s a successor at Saseong Group, which is investing in the film your son is appearing in.”
“....!!”
So if Han Yu-na could be persuaded, changing that scene shouldn’t be difficult at all.
Ibin’s eyes flashed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
To put it simply, persuading Han Yu-na was not difficult at all.
It wasn’t a hard request, and it wasn’t a burdensome one either.
“Noah, you think that’s the right thing to do too, don’t you?”
“It’s better if no accident happens. Besides, Saseong is investing in it. If something goes wrong and an accident happens, people will start saying all kinds of unpleasant things.”
“Then I’ll take care of that part.”
When she nodded, Ibin’s future changed.
It became a future in which he congratulated his son on successfully making a name for himself in a supporting role.
At this point, it would be fair to say there was nothing more I could do.
“I... I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“Then come visit this café often later on.”
“...Pardon?”
“It wouldn’t be bad if this place became a café frequented by someone worthy of being called a national actor.”
“...Th-That’s true, but what does this café have to do with it...?”
“Ah. Someone I know bought this café.”
Hong Si-yeon had mentioned recently that she was buying up a café.
This one had been among the candidates, and she’d ended up purchasing the whole place at a bargain, including hiring the owner and his daughter.
Thanks to that, I could now come here whenever I wanted a proper cup of coffee, which, from my perspective, was hardly a bad thing.
“She bought it because of me, so I might as well help the place do well.”
The former owner, who was now working for a salary instead of running the shop himself, hummed happily as he brewed coffee.
He was good at his job, the coffee tasted great, and if a national actor became a regular, it was only natural that business would pick up.
That would also mean more money for Hong Si-yeon as the café’s owner, so if Ibin came by often, everyone would benefit.
“Huh... if that’s the case, then of course I should.”
Even if this café served muddy water, he’d still become a regular out of gratitude alone.
Let alone the fact that the espresso here was genuinely excellent.
If the espresso was this good, the other drinks had to be good too.
“I’ll bring my friends, too.”
“Haha. I’d appreciate that. Thank you.”
“Thank you... no, I should be the one thanking you...!!”
He kept bowing over and over, saying that if it hadn’t been for me, he might have lost his son.
Then he got up and left.
He seemed to be going to tell his son about everything.
“He doesn’t doubt what you say, Noah.”
“He’s the kind of man who loves his child too much to doubt me.”
He didn’t have the nerve to risk his son’s future just to find out whether I was right or wrong.
I sipped my café latte.
“So what brings you here today?”
It was a weekday afternoon.
Her clothes were far too neat for someone who had taken the day off.
In other words, she must have come straight from work.
“It’s not that anything happened. I just wanted to see you, Noah.”
“Haha. All of a sudden? Did something bad happen?”
She took a sip from the coffee she held in both hands.
Rather than asking me to read her past, she seemed to need a moment to gather her thoughts.
So I waited.
“Noah.”
“Yes?”
“If someone you thought was on your side was actually planning to betray you... what would you do?”
“Cut them off.”
Why was she worrying about something that useless?
Han Yu-na looked straight at me.
“There’s someone at the company who seemed to be following me sincerely.”
“I see.”
“But... he turned out to be my older brother’s man.”
Ah. If it was Han Yu-na’s older brother...
That thug who’d been stealing rebar?
“I don’t know why that guy is suddenly coming up, but if he’s one of his people, isn’t it enough to just cut him off? Do you want me to tell you how to deal with him?”
“I already know that much.”
Her expression, though she claimed she’d already decided how to handle it, didn’t look very good.
“After I met you, I started trusting people...”
It sounded as though that trust had been betrayed.
Ah. So this girl had come here to vent about something that had happened at work.
Han Yu-na didn’t have anyone she could really call a friend.
In other words, she had no one to confide in.
Seeing her droop like that made me smile.
“Get up.”
“Pardon? Why?”
“There’s somewhere I want to take you.”
“Uh... where?”
“A good place.”
At my words, Han Yu-na’s face flushed slightly.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
And so, after letting Han Yu-na drive us there, we arrived at...
“...So this was the good place? The sea?”
“More precisely, a place good for fishing.”
It was on the West Sea coast, a place I’d visited a few times long ago with the head monk.
“I thought you meant some other... kind of place when you said a good place...”
“What kind of other... kind of place is that?”
Han Yu-na didn’t answer.
She just turned her head away in a flash.