How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor Chapter 126

Chapter 126

 

Seeing Choi Ran like that naturally made me think,

‘Was Yoo Seulho like this too?’

Seriously… at this point, wasn’t I practically possessed by something?

A girl is sniffling right in front of me, yet I’m worried about someone I’ve never even met.

‘What should I say to comfort her?’

There were plenty of things I could say to Choi Ran.

‘Don’t think like that. They’re just bad at expressing themselves. Your parents still care about you,’ and so on.

After carefully choosing my words, I finally spoke.

“You’re right.”

What was the point of comforting someone who already knew the truth with lies?

“You’ll live just fine without your parents. But feeling hurt is unavoidable, so just accept that.”

“Huh?”

“Isn’t the reason you keep holding it in because you feel like admitting you’re hurt means you’ve lost?”

People weren’t robots.

Even if you could live perfectly well without your parents, it still hurts.

Trying to deny even those unavoidable feelings only made it hurt more.

“Once people reach your parents’ age, they don’t really change. Even if you explain exactly what they did wrong, more often than not, they’ll just get angry instead.”

They’d probably say something like this.

‘You’re still hung up on that? That’s creepy!’

‘You’re the one who can’t move forward because you’re obsessed with the past! That’s your problem!’

“Ugh….”

At my example, Choi Ran visibly shuddered.

“How did you know? I’ve heard every single one of those.”

“It’s easier to just give up. But that’s exactly why it hurts. And it’s perfectly normal to feel hurt.”

“What about you, oppa?”

“Hm?”

“When your parents make you feel miserable, what do you do?”

I froze.

Had I ever felt miserable because of my parents…?

‘I’m not pretending to be tough… I honestly don’t think I ever have.’

Of course, I’d felt regret before.

I’d even been angry at myself.

But I’d never once felt ‘wronged’.

Maybe it was because I’d never had anything to lose in the first place.

‘She thinks I’m Yoo Seulho.’

If I’d lived Yoo Seulho’s life, how would I have dealt with those feelings?

After thinking for a while, I answered.

“I tell everyone to go to hell.”

“Huh?”

“When life doesn’t go the way I want, I stop trying to control myself, too. If feeling miserable is my excuse to make a complete mess of everything, at least I feel better afterward.”

What was life, anyway?

As long as you ate well, went to the bathroom, and slept well, that was enough.

‘Making life too complicated is exhausting.’

Just spend each day telling the whole world to screw itself.

‘Well, I do have my reasons for being obsessed with money.’

But normally, there wasn’t much point in desperately chasing wealth.

The more money you had, the more problems followed.

“You’re already living well. More than well enough. So clear your head.”

“…Thank you, oppa.”

Choi Ran slowly swallowed.

She was clearly trying to force down the emotions rising in her throat.

Since I’d never seen that expression from her before, I smiled.

“Ran.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t secretly stop working.”

“……”

She froze for three full seconds before slowly glaring at me.

“So you’re really going to be like this?”

“Let’s finish quickly and have some ‘saecham’. I’m exhausted.”

“You even know that word? I thought only the older ladies around here used it.”

“What? ‘Saecham’?”

When I asked just to be sure, Choi Ran innocently nodded.

Seeing that gave me a quiet reality check.

‘Kids these days… don’t know the word ‘saecham’?’

Thinking about it, it made sense.

It was mostly used by people working on farms.

‘But I’ve never done farm work either.’

I’d simply picked it up naturally from hearing it everywhere when I was young.

Huh.

So generation gaps really did exist.

If I thought about it any longer, I felt like there’d be no going back, so I quickly changed the subject.

“Anyway, hurry up and work.”

“Yes, sir. Anyone watching would think you’re the boss.”

Grumbling, Choi Ran began sorting the crabs much faster.

She had no idea.

I was saving her life.

‘If we miss mealtime, Choo Seomok’s going to start nagging.’

If that happened, the ears of all three people here might burst.

‘I need to speed things up.’

Thinking that washing the crabs faster would save lives, I worked even harder.

 

***

 

“Great work, everyone~!!”

After everything was finished, Choi Yoon shouted, looking completely exhausted.

She looked like she could collapse at any second, yet somehow her voice was still full of energy.

“I almost feel guilty making busy people work this hard.”

“Isn’t it a little unfair to say that only after we’re finished?”

“Haha. That’s just how adults survive in society.”

I chuckled at her joke.

‘That really was exhausting.’

I’d spent the entire morning bent over, and now my neck and shoulders were throbbing.

But as always, there was one cure for sore muscles.

Money.

“Here.”

Choi Ran handed me a thick envelope.

“You’re paying in cash instead of transferring it?”

“…I’ve always wanted to do this at least once.”

She answered with a sullen face.

Smiling, I tossed the entire envelope to Choo Seomok.

“Here.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll hold onto it and divide it up when we get home.”

“Forget it. Keep it all.”

“Huh?”

His eyes widened.

“No. I can’t do that. We both worked for this, so why would I…?”

“Is getting this money going to make me rich? Nothing changes for me. But it’s different for you.”

There was no comparing a celebrity whose signing bonus alone was worth hundreds of millions of won to a manager who lived off a monthly salary.

When I told him to use the money to find a place to live sooner, Choo Seomok nodded.

“Thank you.”

Seeing him bow made me feel embarrassed, so I grumbled,

“Just ignore the annoying way I said it.”

“Yes. It was annoying, but since you gave me the money, I’ll let it slide.”

“You little….”

While I glared at him, Choi Yoon called us over for dinner.

Inside, the table was covered with soy sauce-marinated crabs.

“Did we make these?”

“No way. The ones you made need several more days to mature. These came from the restaurant! Dig in.”

At her gesture, I immediately picked up a crab.

The inside of the shell, soaked in soy sauce, glistened.

‘Looks delicious.’

The moment I took a big bite, the salty flavor was followed by a gentle sweetness.

It was far richer than the fried eggs and plain rice Seomok, and I usually ate.

“How is it?”

“It’s good.”

“What about you, Manager Choo?”

“It’s delicious.”

“…You two are exactly the same. You’re such a perfect pair.”

Choi Yoon narrowed her eyes.

She warned us that reacting like that would get us scolded by our future girlfriends.

“Huh?”

At that, Choi Ran, who’d been quietly devouring her food, suddenly looked up.

“Oppa, do you have a girlfriend now?”

“No.”

“Ran, I meant his future girlfriend~.”

After I denied it, Choi Yoon laughed and clarified.

As Choi Ran expressionlessly nodded, another question came my way.

“Oh, Seulho-ssi. I saw in an article that one of the movies you’re filming is a romance. Is that true?”

“Yeah. But I’m not the male lead.”

“Oh, really? Why? You’d be perfect as the male lead.”

I simply smiled.

I appreciated the sincere compliment, but Yoo Seulho still wasn’t a big enough star for that role.

“So I guess there wasn’t a kissing scene?”

I shrugged.

“Well… does only the male lead get to kiss the heroine?”

“Whoa, what a trashy thing to say…. Then what role are you? The second male lead?”

“You’ll have to go to the theater and find out.”

“Seriously~ That’s so unfair.”

Choi Yoon laughed, complaining that this wasn’t how you promoted a movie.

While Seomok and I laughed along, Choi Ran alone looked back and forth thoughtfully.

Then she quietly put down her chopsticks.

“So… does that mean you did film one? Or not?”

“I told you to find out at the theater.”

“Just tell me that part.”

Was she really that curious?

It seemed harmless enough to reveal whether there was a kissing scene.

“I did. But I can’t tell you anything more.”

“Why?”

“Because my manager’s face turns red.”

The Choi sisters tilted their heads in confusion.

When they asked what that meant, I merely shrugged.

“……”

I could feel Choo Seomok glaring at me hard enough to shoot lasers, but I ignored him with ease.

Mm.

The soy sauce-marinated crab really was delicious.

 

***

 

“Seomok, stop at the rest area. I want to buy a corn dog.”

“……”

“Hey, are you still upset? I already apologized.”

“Don’t talk to me.”

The cold response came from the driver’s seat.

It was ridiculous.

And hilarious.

‘No.’

If I laughed here, he’d stay like this for another three days.

He was still sulking because of what I’d said in front of Choi Ran and Choi Yoon yesterday.

He’d ignored me ever since, and I struggled to keep a straight face.

‘Seriously? You’re going to drag it out this long?’

So you’re a guy too, huh?

I teased you once in front of some girls, and you’re making this huge deal out of it.

The more I thought about it, the funnier it became, but I bit down hard to hold it in.

“How much longer until we reach the filming location?”

“One hour.”

“Oh. But seriously, can’t we stop at the rest area?”

“……”

He really wasn’t responding unless it was work-related.

Our two-night, three-day break wasn’t technically over yet, but there wasn’t anything to do, so we were heading back a day early.

The filming location wasn’t exactly close to Seoul, and traveling in silence was boring.

“Come on. I want a corn dog.”

“……”

“I’m sorry, okay? All I said was your face turned red. I didn’t even elaborate.”

“What was there to elaborate on?”

“Oh, plenty. Like how you snatched the remote from me because you got embarrassed hearing about the kissing scene–”

“Mr. Seulho!!!”

The thunderous shout finally made me burst into laughter.

It felt good to finally have something to tease Choo Seomok about.

We kept talking like that until we eventually reached the horror movie set.

In the end, he did stop at the rest area, so I had a corn dog in my hand.

“Is it really that good?”

“Yeah. It’s like a miniature hamburger.”

“It’s unhealthy. It’s basically just a lump of flour.”

“Flour is carbohydrates if you think about it. You should love it.”

“…I’m done talking.”

Shaking his head, Choo Seomok walked straight into the dormitory.

The way he looked at me made it seem like he was dealing with a five-year-old who couldn’t be reasoned with.

Seriously.

He was usually the childish one.

“Hey, wait up.”

I was about to follow him inside when someone suddenly popped out from the alley.

“Oppa!”

It was Ajin.

I hadn’t expected anyone to be here.

“You came back a day early? You wanted to get back to filming, too?”

“Yeah. I didn’t have anything else to do.”

“Perfect! Let’s practice our upcoming scenes!”

Ajin, who usually hated rehearsing, was the one making the suggestion.

She looked more motivated than I’d ever seen her, clearly excited about the scenes they were about to film.

“Sure. Works for me.”

“Yes!”

She beamed brightly, saying she’d been too scared to practice alone.

At that moment, I had no idea.

The casual rehearsal we’d begun without much thought would end up becoming a night filled with screams, confusion…

 

…and tears.