How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor

Author: Cireng

Chapter 39

Inside the screen, Yoo Seulho had a deep scowl on his face.

He spoke to the young middle-school boy who had just lost his parents.

[“Do you enjoy sitting here wallowing by yourself?”]

[“No, I….”]

[“While you’re over here filming your little drama, I was busy dealing with customers. So I’m supposed to do all the damn work by myself?”]

His very first appearance was vicious.

His voice was as cold as the lines he delivered, and his eyes were chilling.

No matter how one looked at it, it was not the expression of someone looking at his own younger brother.

It was as if he were looking at nothing more than ‘the murderer who had taken their parents’ lives.’

***

‘His eyes are good.’

Noh Hamrak set down the popcorn he had been eating and focused on the screen.

Every time Yoo Seulho delivered a line afterward, he found himself admiring him inwardly.

‘He really brings the character to life.’

There were many actors who exaggerated on purpose to make themselves seem more unlikeable when playing trashy villain roles.

But Yoo Seulho didn’t look like someone trying hard to appear nastier.

Like the kind of villain everyone inevitably meets at least once in life, he acted so naturally that it reminded viewers of people who genuinely lived that way.

That naturalness made him feel even more disgusting.

‘Damn.’

How could someone change so completely overnight?

For Noh Hamrak, who had gone beyond anger and felt outright disgust while watching Yoo Seulho’s acting all this time, admitting his talent was honestly not easy.

Part of him even resisted it.

Wondering if his own judgment had become unreliable, he rewatched Yoo Seulho’s scenes from Episodes 1 and 2 dozens of times.

But he always reached the same conclusion.

‘He’s good.’

At least in this drama, Yoo Seulho’s acting was excellent.

It was completely different from the past, when every role he played had carried his signature stiffness.

‘Maybe everyone was right. Maybe being a villain is really his calling.’

Whenever Noh Hamrak focused on analyzing Yoo Seulho’s performance, at some point he stopped seeing Yoo Seulho and started seeing Kang Minwoo, the male lead’s older brother.

That was why he only belatedly realized that while a child actor played the fourteen-year-old version of the male lead, Woo Junseo did not play the fourteen-year-old Kang Minwoo.

Yoo Seulho played the twenty-year-old Kang Minwoo himself.

‘Well.’

Thinking about it, that made sense.

No matter how young Woo Junseo was, it would have been difficult for that face to convincingly portray a fourteen-year-old.

On the other hand, making a child actor play twenty-year-old Kang Minwoo would have been strange too, since he was already an adult at that point.

‘A twenty-year-old doesn’t suddenly get a completely different face at twenty-six.’

Still, having one of two actors suddenly replaced by another person should have felt awkward.

Some degree of disconnect was only natural.

That was why it felt so strange.

‘Why does it feel so seamless?’

Noh Hamrak carefully studied Yoo Seulho’s face on the screen.

There was no difference in makeup between the flashback version and the present-day version, nor any notable change in appearance.

Yet he somehow felt younger than he had in Episodes 1 and 2.

‘That’s weird.’

Did he secretly get some kind of procedure done just for this?

Obsessively analyzing where this bizarre sensation came from, Noh Hamrak finally realized it.

Ah.

‘The expression…’

It was different.

More precisely, the emotion contained within it was different.

‘The look of someone who wants the other person to be hurt.’

It was unlike the malice Kang Minwoo had displayed up until now.

It wasn’t the relaxed, practiced cruelty that had become second nature to him.

Unlike the present, where he hurt and beat his brother without any particular reason, the flashback version contained clear malice.

The intent to wound his brother with his words was plainly visible.

That made him seem purer.

Younger.

‘Was that intentional?’

Or was it luck?

Did Yoo Seulho really possess that level of talent as an actor?

No matter how satisfied he was with the performance he was watching now, the memories of Yoo Seulho’s past work were too bitter for him to trust him completely.

While Noh Hamrak analyzed the drama frame by frame with equal parts suspicion and curiosity, his girlfriend became completely absorbed in the story.

“Oh my, so that’s why he turned out like that.”

The drama rapidly condensed the flashback sequence.

Unlike the male lead, who eventually came to his senses after their parents’ deaths, the older brother, who had never caused major trouble until adulthood, quickly lost his way afterward.

Kang Minwoo, who became the head of the household overnight, gave up on college and started earning money.

The anger he felt toward his changed future was directed entirely at his younger brother.

That was why the male lead endured years of domestic violence from his older brother without saying a word.

Even when he thought things had gone too far, he gritted his teeth and endured it because he believed he had destroyed the family.

But the male lead didn’t know.

His older brother had always been rotten from the start.

[“What? My parents had life insurance? Uh, how much was it?”]

Unlike his younger brother, who had always been a loud troublemaker, Kang Minwoo was a quiet problem child.

He had long since given up on studying, but because he hated going home, he stayed at school as long as possible.

Despite his family’s poverty, he squeezed money out of his parents by claiming he needed to go to a study café, and even spent weekends away from home.

Even Kang Minwoo felt grief at his parents’ sudden deaths.

At first he denied reality and rejected it.

He regretted not doing better.

He feared that he himself might die at any moment.

Those were emotions far too heavy for someone who had only just become an adult.

Instead of dealing with those complicated feelings and uncertainty, he chose anger.

And there was only one target for that anger.

His younger brother.

‘It’s all your fault.’

I was going to do better from now on.

But because of you, even that chance disappeared.

‘So you have to take responsibility.’

The bullying that began as revenge eventually continued for six years.

For Kang Minwoo, violence became something completely familiar.

At this point, he no longer even remembered why he had started hitting his brother.

Because he was the only adult child at the time, Kang Minwoo received the enormous life insurance payout from their parents all for himself.

But he never told his brother about it.

Instead, he gaslit him by pretending he had only been unable to attend college because of money, even though he had never wanted to go in the first place.

‘See? If it weren’t for you, my life would’ve been smooth sailing.’

I couldn’t go to college because of you.

I lost my parents because of you.

I’m living like this because of you.

Using those ridiculous excuses, Kang Minwoo even stole the meager wages his brother earned from part-time jobs.

Of course, the only reason he needed money was to chase after women.

He had never possessed any grand ambitions to begin with.

A man who would have lived a pathetic life regardless of whether his parents were alive or dead.

A pathetic man who simply chose to blame everything on his younger brother.

That was Kang Minwoo.

[“There was this girl I saw on the street yesterday. Turns out she goes to the same university as you. You know her?”]

[“What’s her name?”]

[“Seo Yena? Seo Yuna? Something like that. Anyway, she’s pretty. Long straight hair. Damn, it was the first time in a while I got such a nice view.”]

The drama had already returned to the present.

It showed Yoo Seulho chuckling.

And Woo Junseo’s expression immediately darkened in response.

[“……”]

Although the male lead’s first impression of the heroine had not been good, by Episode 3 they had already developed a subtle connection.

One day, while walking down the street, he had been suddenly tackled by a random dog.

And naturally, the dog’s owner turned out to be the heroine.

They had been fighting like crazy over a group project the day before, so seeing each other was awkward.

But the dog’s charm quickly dissolved that awkwardness.

The heroine, who had been quite worked up during their argument, seemed much calmer now, perhaps because she was out walking a dog she loved.

After clearing up their misunderstandings, the two finally began having a productive conversation.

While talking to her, the male lead felt something strange.

For the past several days, the heroine’s bubbly voice had only irritated him.

He found it annoying.

He wondered why she always seemed so cheerful.

His irritation grew until it became:

‘Wouldn’t it be nice to live that carefree?’

But those negative feelings collapsed in an instant beneath the gentle spring breeze.

The falling cherry blossoms.

The strangely sentimental nighttime walk.

The fact that they had just reconciled.

All of it mixed together and left the male lead confused.

It was the true beginning of the romance.

***

“Come on, it’s just because she’s pretty. They’re dressing it up because it’s a drama.”

“Hm?”

“You’re a guy too, so tell me honestly. If the girl wasn’t pretty, would the male lead really be this confused? It would’ve just ended as a funny incident.”

Noh Hamrak readily agreed.

‘That’s true.’

In real life, if you ran into someone you’d fought viciously with over a group project while out walking, you’d be more likely to secretly spit at them than develop romantic feelings.

In the end, the male and female leads’ looks were the story’s greatest source of plausibility.

“Pretty is everything for men.”

When Noh Hamrak said this calmly, his girlfriend pouted.

“Right? I knew you’d say that.”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m dating you.”

“…Honestly~. I didn’t say that because I wanted to hear something like that.”

Though she grumbled, she began humming happily.

Noh Hamrak had survived another day.

Meanwhile, unlike the happy couple sitting in front of the television, the atmosphere between the brothers inside the television was growing increasingly tense.

***

[“What’s with that look?”]

Kang Minwoo sprang up from the sofa after noticing the strange silence from his brother.

The male lead tried to compose his expression, but it was already too late.

His brother had noticed.

[“What’s wrong with my expression?”]

[“You know her, don’t you? Is there something going on between you two?”]

[“She’s in the same department as me, but I don’t really know her.”]

[“Bullshit. Tell me the truth. What, are you afraid I’ll ask you to introduce me? So a girl comes before family now? You selfish little bastard.”]

Kang Minwoo exploded and unleashed a barrage of verbal abuse at his brother.

The dialogue stayed just barely within the limits of what could be aired on public television, making it hit even harder.

“Wow~. Deadweight really knows how to curse.”