How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor Chapter 5

Chapter 5 

 

“…?”

At my single line, Woo Junseo’s eyes instantly changed.

His brows furrowed sharply as if something had rubbed him the wrong way, but only for a moment. A few seconds later, he quickly changed his expression.

“Hyung, what do you mean by that?”

The voice that followed wasn’t Woo Junseo’s.

It was the male lead, Kang Minjun.

A voice weary and exhausted by life, yet still carrying a fundamentally kind nature.

It was remarkably similar to the image of Kang Minjun that I had vaguely imagined over the past three days.

‘Wow.’

He really was good at acting.

No wonder he was a rising star.

Quietly admiring him inwardly, I casually delivered my lines.

“I said, why aren’t you dead? You need to die so I can collect the insurance money, you bastard.”

I paid close attention to creating a tone full of irritation.

When saying things like this, if you put too much force into your voice, all you accomplish is making yourself sound threatening.

That was the kind of tone used by loan sharks or gangsters.

Too heavy for a trashy older brother who beat up his younger sibling whenever he felt bored.

‘Drag out the ends of the sentences…’

Rather than precise pronunciation, I focused on mumbling lazily without opening my mouth much.

Like someone who cared less about what he was saying and more about how the other person reacted.

Like someone desperate to pick a fight.

“When’s your part-time paycheck coming in? I need money to go to the PC café.”

“…I gave you money last week.”

“Hey, that money’s been gone forever!”

I suddenly raised my voice and shouted.

At the same time, I abruptly lifted my hand.

The other man flinched.

A signal of abuse engraved into the body.

The reaction of someone accustomed to violence.

‘Well, look at that.’

This bastard really could act.

It felt as though I was facing the actual protagonist rather than Woo Junseo.

Maybe because he was matching me so well, I became even more immersed than I expected.

‘It wasn’t this intense when I practiced alone.’

At some point, I stopped even noticing that the PD was sitting beside us.

I simply spat out every line that came to mind.

After spending three straight days reading my few lines over and over from the moment I woke up, the dialogue felt embedded into my body.

Not memorized.

Engraved.

Like a scent so deeply absorbed it could never be removed.

“You little shit. Are you seriously talking back to your only older brother? Fine. Looks like you need a beating today.”

At some point, it wasn’t even the scripted lines anymore.

Words that Kang Minjun’s older brother might actually say began pouring from my mouth.

As I spoke, I casually tapped Kang Minjun’s shoulder.

His eyes trembled violently.

Seeing the obvious fear in him naturally made me smile.

The feeling of a predator standing before prey.

This was…

“Stop!”

The thunderous shout made my body jolt.

The trance-like state I’d fallen into suddenly broke.

The other person seemed to snap out of it too.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

If Jang PD hadn’t started applauding, it probably would’ve taken me much longer to come back to my senses.

Turning my head, I saw Jang PD enthusiastically clapping, his face slightly flushed.

The manager was clapping along too.

“Wow, what’s with your chemistry? It’s incredible!”

“Was it acceptable?”

“Acceptable? It was amazing. Damn, I should’ve recorded that!”

Jang PD frowned regretfully.

The fact that he immediately asked whether we could perform the scene exactly the same way again while he recorded it on his phone carried obvious positive meaning.

‘The reaction doesn’t seem bad, right?’

The feeling of momentarily losing my rationality while speaking those lines wasn’t particularly pleasant.

How should I put it?

It felt like completely letting go of the steering wheel.

‘This is different from practicing alone.’

I had thought speaking the lines naturally would be enough.

Instead, the level of concentration and immersion was completely different from what I’d expected.

There was even a strange heat lingering in my body.

‘…Feels like something’s missing.’

No.

I shook my head and unclenched my fist before I realized it.

‘What’s missing?’

I’d already accomplished today’s goal.

Not getting humiliated.

And Jang PD’s reaction was even better than I’d anticipated.

Though that was probably because his expectations of Yoo Seulho had genuinely hit rock bottom.

“Man, I still haven’t recovered. What was that? What have you been doing, Seulho? You’re completely different from before.”

“Maybe I’m suited for villain roles.”

“Looks like it! Why haven’t you been doing villain roles all this time? Seriously, your acting felt so natural. Honestly, it wasn’t exactly goosebump-inducing or anything like that… but… how should I say it? It just felt completely natural.”

I felt relieved hearing him say it didn’t feel like acting.

“Ah, but you kept changing your movements too much. You know you can’t do that in front of cameras, right? The camera angles are all set up beforehand. If you move around as you did just now, that’ll be a problem.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Hm, but that’s something we can coach on set. Anyway, today was fantastic. We can finish the script and move straight to the reading now. The only thing left unfinished was your role, Seulho.”

The expression on his face clearly showed the relief of having one major worry removed.

Then again, according to my manager, directors and PDs tended to be incredibly proud of their own projects.

Jang PD in particular was one of the rare PDs who even wrote his own scripts.

His attachment to his work was apparently enormous.

Which was why he must’ve been furious when Yoo Seulho delivered that disastrous performance during the previous shoot.

Under normal circumstances, Yoo Seulho would’ve never seen Jang PD again, no matter how powerful his parents’ connections were.

‘Without Woo Junseo, this meeting really would’ve been impossible.’

In many ways, I did owe him thanks.

It was true that I got this job because of him.

And I couldn’t deny that the scene just now worked so well because of the synergy he provided.

An asshole was still an asshole.

But gratitude was gratitude.

“Thank you, Junseo.”

“……”

I spoke with genuine sincerity.

No response came back.

Ever since Jang PD shouted “Stop!”, Woo Junseo had looked like someone whose soul had left his body.

“Junseo? Are you alright?”

Did I poke his shoulder too hard earlier?

How was he planning to perform getting hit in the back of the head later if he was already like this?

When I called out again with concern, Woo Junseo finally snapped back to reality and forced an awkward smile.

“Ah… sorry. I had something on my mind.”

“Junseo was probably shocked too, seeing Seulho’s acting. Haha, understandable.”

“…It’s not that. I really was thinking about something.”

Maintaining a trembling smile, Woo Junseo forced himself to grin toward Jang PD.

I watched him carefully avoiding eye contact with me.

What a rude bastard.

“Ah, Seulho, are you heading out first? Junseo and I still have some things to discuss.”

“Understood. Please contact me once the schedule is finalized, PD. I’ll be waiting.”

“Of course. I’ll get in touch right away. Manager, have a safe trip too.”

I stood up together with Hyun Jingae.

Ding.

As the bell rang and we stepped outside, a cool breeze brushed against me.

Only then did I realize my face was quite hot.

‘That’s strange.’

I had thought it wouldn’t be any different from putting on a mask and talking to clients like I always did.

Yet I’d become far more immersed than expected.

The feeling left me somewhat bewildered.

Difficult to describe.

“Hey, your acting was insane just now.”

“Was it okay?”

“Okay? It was way beyond okay! You really looked like a lunatic! A complete psychopath!”

Hyun Jingae stomped his feet excitedly.

“Wow, so you weren’t beating me for nothing. Who would’ve thought your acting skills would improve that much? I guess it really worked.”

His pure admiration made it painfully obvious how low his intelligence was.

He actually believed that?

Naturally, I didn’t reveal my thoughts.

Instead, I looked at him with moved eyes.

“It’s all thanks to you, hyung. If not for you, who would’ve helped me immerse myself in the role of beating someone? This is all because of you.”

“Heheheh, really?”

“Yes. Please keep helping me until filming ends.”

“Then just leave it to m… Huh? Until filming ends?”

“Seulho… what exactly do you mean by that…?”

Hyun Jin-gae stood there dumbfounded, muttering to himself.

At that moment…

BANG!!

The café door flew open so forcefully that it drowned out the bell.

Hearing Hyun Jingae shriek, “Mother of God!” in a high-pitched voice, I turned around.

The one who had thrown the door open was Woo Junseo.

But the expression on his face…

‘What the hell?’

His eyes looked completely broken.

Instinctively, I felt something was wrong.

I watched him carefully as he strode toward me.

‘Go ahead and try hitting me out of nowhere.’

Filming or not, I’d beat the living hell out of you.

Fortunately, my worries proved unnecessary.

With an icy expression, Woo Junseo extended his hand.

“Sunbaenim. That was impressive.”

“Huh?”

“Your acting just now was excellent. I’m really looking forward to working with you on set.”

“Thank you. But… did you come out just to say that?”

The comment was much tamer than expected, and I relaxed.

Woo Junseo forced a smile, apologized to my manager, then stepped closer.

‘What’s this?’

The way he leaned in as though to whisper made me instinctively uncomfortable.

What was this guy doing?

Then Woo Junseo spoke in a voice only I could hear.

“Hey.”

“……”

“The lead role is mine no matter what, so stop showing off and stay in your place.”

Hah.

It took talent to speak with such a murderous voice while smiling.

My manager standing beside us probably couldn’t even imagine what he had just said.

After a brief consideration, I cheerfully whispered back.

“Quit talking shit and go do your military service, dumbass.”

“……”

He froze completely.

Unlike Yoo Seulho, who had already completed military service, Woo Junseo… despite being the same age, was still a college student.

Watching his eyelids tremble, I smiled brightly.

“See you at the script reading.”

Without hesitation, I turned away.

My manager hurried after me, asking what we’d talked about.

I told him that two actors of the same age had simply exchanged advice.

From behind us came the sound of something breaking, followed by a man’s roar.

I ignored it.

That night, for the first time in ten days, I slept comfortably.

 

***

 

Although the face-to-face meeting had lifted a weight off my shoulders, there was still one thing I needed to solve.

That was learning exactly how Yoo Seulho had lived his life in the past.

The method I ultimately chose was simple.

—Mindo Detective Agency.

“Yes, I’d like to investigate someone.”

—Who?

Hearing the familiar voice on the other end of the line, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Yoo Seulho. An actor.”