How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor Chapter 123

Chapter 123

 

“Wow~! Filming is so much fun~!”

The actress covered in fake blood beamed brightly.

It was Hyewoo, who had just been acting out getting stabbed by me.

“You wanted to film that badly?”

“Of course~.”

Hyewoo complained, saying I had no idea how bored she’d been.

“After I disappear at the beginning, I’m off-screen for a really long time.”

For the past several days, we’d been filming nonstop in the mountains.

Since there hadn’t been any scenes where Hyewoo was discovered, she naturally hadn’t had any scenes to shoot either.

In other words, it had been weeks since she’d stood in front of a camera.

‘No wonder she’s happy.’

Thinking she’d had it rough just sitting around waiting, I suddenly became curious.

“Then why did you stay at the dorm the whole time? You could’ve gone home until your next shoot.”

“It’s just… I was anxious. What if I went home and everyone forgot about me and finished the movie without me?”

I burst out laughing at such an absurd concern.

“What are you worrying about that for? You’re the scene-stealer in one of the most important scenes in the entire movie.”

“Huh?”

“When people watch the movie, they won’t be able to avoid talking about you. I know I wouldn’t.”

From the moment Hyewoo returns to the villa, the atmosphere of the movie changes completely.

The first half encourages the audience to speculate about the mysterious sound.

‘Is it a ghost? A monster?’

That mysterious mood abruptly shifts into a thriller when Hyewoo and Junho begin their brutal struggle.

At the moment everyone is wary of an outside threat, the person inside the group, Hyewoo, returns drenched in blood and becomes the source of terror.

Since it was the movie’s decisive turning point, the actors needed to anchor it with stable performances.

And Hyewoo’s acting just now had been excellent.

‘Not merely decent… it was really good.’

It wasn’t easy to create something eerie and unsettling without any makeup.

Putting on ghost makeup and pretending to be scary would have been easier. Controlling the atmosphere with nothing but facial expressions was genuinely difficult.

‘One wrong move and it’d become cringeworthy.’

It was strange that someone capable of pulling off something that difficult had worries like that.

I told her she could afford to be prouder of herself, and she smiled shyly.

“Thank you for saying that….”

I had only spoken the truth, so why was she so embarrassed?

Young people these days really were hard to understand.

“Hyewoo! Hyewoo!”

Ajin came running over like an excited puppy after fixing her makeup.

“How was it? Riding the wire? Was it fun?”

“No, it really hurts. Hmph.”

“It hurts? Seriously?”

“It hurts a lot. I’m one hundred percent going to have bruises tomorrow.”

Pointing under her armpits, Hyewoo whined.

‘Poor thing.’

The scene where Hyewoo kills Jaehyun and charges at Junho required wire action.

The audience had to see Hyewoo as something almost inhuman, and normal running wouldn’t create that effect.

‘It must be rough.’

Even I, who knew as little about film sets as Hyewoo did, could tell that much.

Because of how the harness worked, ropes wrapped under the armpits and around the inner thighs, meaning all of the body’s weight was concentrated there when she was lifted.

She only floated in the air for a few seconds, but during those few seconds, her entire body weight hung from a single line.

“We still have several more takes. This is bad.”

“It can’t be helped. I don’t mind getting bruised. I just hope we get the best shot.”

At Hyewoo’s brave words, Ajin gave her a thumbs-up and declared she was the best.

It was a kind of conversation I’d never heard among men.

Feeling like I had no place there, I quietly slipped away.

“Would you like some water?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

I gulped down the bottle Choo Seomok handed me.

Outwardly, I maintained as calm an expression as possible, but inside, my heart was pounding like crazy.

‘Whew.’

This is fun. Way too fun.

‘What do I do?’

It wasn’t my imagination. My blood really felt like it was pumping faster.

I swallowed slowly, afraid my bright red heart might leap out of my mouth if I spoke.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

I decided to honestly admit that I was excited.

What else could I do?

I was standing there pretending to be a perfectly composed adult, but if I let my guard down even a little, I felt like I’d start stomping my feet in excitement.

‘Was my acting as good as Hyewoo’s?’

Compared to when I’d filmed the romance movie, this wasn’t even close.

Of course, the delicate emotional expressions unique to romance had been enjoyable in their own way, but this genre seemed more my style.

I’d never cared enough about anything to use the word “taste,” so I hadn’t known.

‘Maybe I should watch movies like this when I get home.’

I’d seen plenty of ghost horror movies, but they never really impressed me.

Maybe what I needed was movies where humans fought humans, like the scene we’d just filmed.

‘Hmm.’

In Korean movies, the protagonists of those kinds of stories were usually…

Gangsters, weren’t they?

‘I’ve deliberately avoided those because they’d probably make me feel weird.’

While working as a loan shark, I’d been through all sorts of things.

I’d made people kneel and beg.

There had been times when unpleasant things filled my field of vision, and experiences that had disgusted me at first eventually became numb through repetition.

No matter how many times I experienced it, the sticky metallic smell of blood clinging to my whole body was unpleasant.

I had avoided those kinds of movies because I was afraid they’d remind me of those feelings.

‘How strange.’

It was strange that I could feel excited while covered in fake blood.

Would watching those movies make me feel this way too?

Or would I think, ‘I want to make movies like that too’?

‘Whew.’

Strength unconsciously gathered in my fingertips.

I was having trouble just standing still and kept fidgeting when…

“Mr. Seulho, are you alright?”

“Huh?”

Coming to my senses, I saw Choo Seomok staring at me.

“Are you feeling unwell? Your cheeks seem a little red.”

“Red? It’s probably just blood.”

“I’m not stupid enough to confuse blood with flushed skin.”

“Really?”

“……”

Seomok glared at me and turned around.

Just as I wondered whether he’d gotten upset, he came back holding some cosmetics.

“Put this on your cheeks. If your face gets too hot, you’ll get pimples.”

“Forget it. Do I look like a teenager?”

“Do you have any idea how serious adult acne is? Right now, Mr. Seulho, you’re insulting one hundred thousand acne sufferers–”

“Fine, fine. I’ll do it right now.”

I immediately placed the cooling pads he’d handed me against my cheeks.

As the cold pads touched my warm face, my rationality naturally returned.

“But can I just use these like this?”

“You have to wash off all that blood anyway. You’ll be showering several times today, so just keep them with you.”

Ah.

‘Life really is full of surprises.’

Who would’ve thought I’d be showering repeatedly because of fake blood?

The blood on my face could be wiped away with cleansing tissues, but my hair was another matter.

Since blood splattered all over me while repeatedly stabbing Hyewoo, it was better to just wash everything off instead of trying to clean it with tissues.

“Today’s going to be rough.”

“Make sure to moisturize properly after washing. If you’re too lazy and skip it, your makeup will peel.”

Ha.

‘How did Choo Seomok survive before meeting me?’

Without anyone to nag, how did he live?

“I’ll take care of it myself.”

“You say that because you can’t.”

“You really never let anything slide, do you?”

At moments like this, I actually missed Hyun Jingae a little.

Thinking of him, I glanced toward him beside Ajin.

He’d apparently been sneaking looks at me because our eyes met immediately.

‘What?’

He looked like he wanted to say something, so I mouthed the question.

After making sure no one was watching him, Hyun Jingae raised a thumbs-up.

‘Your acting was amazing!’

Apparently worried that two thumbs-ups wouldn’t get the message across, he even mouthed the praise.

‘Seriously.’

Thinking he looked surprisingly cute, I returned the thumbs-up and looked forward again.

And immediately met the eyes of Choo Seomok, who had been staring at me.

“You scared me. What?”

“……You have to keep your promise. I believe you’re a man who keeps his word.”

“Huh? What promise?”

Glancing briefly at Hyun Jingae, Seomok shrugged.

 

***

 

“See you in three days~!”

After filming the scene where Junho kills Hyewoo, the entire cast and crew were given time off.

Honestly, my first thought was, ‘Really? Is that necessary?’

Things had just gotten exciting. Couldn’t we push through while we still had momentum?

Director Seo sighed and admitted he felt the same.

“Whenever there’s a scene this emotionally exhausting, you have to take a break. Otherwise, people start talking afterward.”

“Really? I didn’t know.”

“After my first movie came out, one of the actors publicly criticized me. Said I ruined the cast’s mental health or something.”

The movie had bombed, so the accusations hadn’t gained much attention, but ever since then he’d always insisted on rest periods.

“Right. Better to avoid controversy.”

“Rest well for three days, and I’ll see you then. Great work, hyung-nim.”

Seeing Director Seo bow respectfully made me emotional.

That rude bastard from before had finally become a decent human being.

“You worked hard too.”

After saying we’d meet again in three days, we parted ways.

I was about to get into the car when I noticed Ajin and Hyun Jingae standing off in the distance.

“Seomok, wait a second.”

“Yes.”

I told him to wait in the car and started walking over.

I wanted to talk to Ajin about Jaehyun and Yoo Taeho’s relationship, but suddenly someone grabbed my jacket from behind.

“…?”

Turning around at the tug, I found Choo Seomok standing there.

“What?”

“……”

Normally he’d answer immediately, but instead he just looked at me.

His face was expressionless, but somehow…

He looked like a soaked stray dog.

“What is it? You’ve been weird since earlier.”

Even after I told him to just speak if he had a complaint, he stubbornly remained silent.

But somehow I could tell he was trying to say, ‘Don’t go.’

So I shook him off immediately.

“I’m going. Wait in the car.”

“……”

Choo Seomok quietly got into the car.

I’d been ready to scold him if he kept pestering me, so that was a relief.

I quickly headed over, but Ajin had already gotten into the car, leaving only Hyun Jingae outside.

“Seulho.”

For some reason, Hyun Jingae greeted me with an excited face.

“You came because you wanted to say something to me, right?”

“…?”

What’s with him now?

I was just about to tell him I didn’t need him and wanted Ajin instead when…

With an embarrassed expression, Hyun Jingae said,

“Right. This jacket… it’s the one you gave me before. You said it would suit me.”

“I said that?”

“Don’t you remember? It was right after I became your manager.”

He said that although he hadn’t appreciated it back then and never wore it, he’d make sure to wear it from now on.

I snorted.

“Do whatever you want with it. If it’s not your style, you can sell it.”

“Hey, you can’t sell a gift! It feels a little strange because it looks like something younger people would wear, but it’s nice.”

Chuckling to himself, Hyun Jingae suddenly lowered his voice.

“I don’t look older because I’m wearing this, right? Just tell me that.”

Good grief.

‘There really are limits to ridiculousness.’

Words came out of my mouth without passing through any filters.

“Hyung, what are you talking about? Looking older?”

“Really? Then that’s a relief.”

“You ‘are’ older, though.”

“……”

Hyun Jingae stared blankly at me like a raccoon that had just lost its cotton candy.