Ch.183No, I didn’t want to remember.

“A-Again?”

Director Lee Seongdeok was flustered as soon as he heard Kim Donghu’s words.

No, he wasn’t the only one who was flustered.

‘Has actor Kim Donghu ever personally requested a reshoot before?’

Everyone except Kim Donghu was shocked by the request for a reshoot.

“Is there something you’re not satisfied with?”

It was quite common for actors to demand reshoots, but…

Director Lee Seongdeok awkwardly looked around, surprised by these words from Kim Donghu who had never done this before.

Which part didn’t he like that made him bring this up?

He always strived for perfection upon perfection, but was there a flaw somewhere?

Without a single mistake.

Everyone was on edge at the request from Kim Donghu, who always performed perfectly.

“No, it’s not that. But I’d like the perspective to be a bit different.”

“The perspective?”

“Yes.”

Kim Donghu glanced at where the cameras were pointing.

Behind himself and behind actor Han Taegeon.

There were cameras in both positions, but more were behind Han Taegeon.

Naturally, this was to film more of Kim Donghu.

To show him from various angles.

But Kim Donghu had a different idea.

“I’d like the scene to unfold from the Hero’s perspective, not Jo Yongsu’s.”

“The Hero’s perspective, you say?”

“Yes.”

The title itself is “The Real Hero.”

It’s a film criticizing how incompetent the police and the law are.

Therefore, what needs to be shown isn’t the Hero’s attitude.

The police’s attitude toward the Hero should be the focus.

“The Hero’s enemies aren’t just criminals. They also include the police chasing him.”

A criminal who punishes criminals.

A judge who takes justice into his own hands yet is defended by the public.

How do the people’s guardians view him?

He thought that should be shown at the end of this film.

“And… I want it to be more desperate. The rain is good, the direction is good, but… I want the Hero to cry out in anguish, screaming for justice.”

Recalling his past when he wasn’t protected.

The Hero would feel resentful toward the police who never fully supported him.

But it didn’t make sense for him to escape calmly until the end.

He is, after all, a criminal who takes justice into his own hands.

Even if he’s revered as a hero by victims,

He wanted to show that the Hero is still just a human.

“Do you think that would make it a better film?”

It wasn’t Director Lee Seongdeok who responded to Kim Donghu, but actor Han Taegeon.

He had been quietly listening to Kim Donghu’s words.

“If we do as you say, will the film get better?”

He couldn’t contain his curiosity and spoke up.

It was a genuinely sincere question.

That bold attempt to change the entire structure of the film.

Not knowing what result it would bring.

He was asking the most reliable leader for an answer.

“Yes.”

And that leader’s decision carried firm conviction.

“Then I also want to reshoot it that way.”

There was no choice but to follow.

With two heavyweight actors in agreement, Director Lee Seongdeok had only one option.

“…Shall we proceed right away then?”

To agree.

However.

“Give me a week, no, three days. I’ll… I’ll sharpen my performance more.”

Actor Han Taegeon needed time.

Time to do his best not to ruin Kim Donghu’s vision.

That time passed in the blink of an eye.

After spending three days honing his mind and body solely for the performance.

“…Let’s shoot!”

The reshoot requested by Kim Donghu began.

+++++

The reason for requesting a reshoot.

It was because they hadn’t even drawn out half of the world he had seen in the script.

‘This isn’t right.’

The Hero’s world is more cruel, violent, and desperate.

From his childhood when he killed thugs and ran away.

When he returned to his neighborhood.

When he heard the news of his mother’s death without any protection.

Looking at the smug face of the factory manager who had worked his mother to death.

He learned that the world was ugly and terrible.

And when he killed those arrogant bastards.

Seeing the victims crying with relief as soon as those bastards died.

The Hero realized that was the path he needed to take.

Moreover.

-Thank you… thank you so much.

-Thanks to you, I can finally sleep in peace. My son’s resentment has finally…

-I saw my daughter smiling in my dream. I… I really…

The Hero wasn’t alone.

He had the support of the world.

That pain mixed with the victims’ resentment.

Those tears woven from that pain.

They accompanied the Hero’s footsteps.

Therefore.

“…Cue!”

When the lens focused on me.

“You, you came to catch me? Me?! Even at this moment! Instead of the people who are suffering! You came to catch me, who is saving them?!”

He burst out with anger he had been holding back.

Deep night.

A narrow tunnel.

Pouring rain that muffled the police sirens.

He found it absurd that public power was being wasted on him.

“How can you do this? When I asked for help, you said you were busy, you said there were procedures.”

Now they can move without any procedures like this?

Why? Then why didn’t they save my mother back then?

When they inspected the factory’s safety management.

If you had looked more carefully, you would have seen how terrible the conditions were.

Back then you just laughed and chatted with the factory manager before leaving.

And now you’re calling for backup just to catch me?

“Is it because I’m on the news and getting attention, is that it?”

The Hero’s gaze falls on the police officer.

Jo Yongsu. The guy who’s been following me relentlessly.

The one who’s been desperately trying to catch just me.

When there are so many more important things to do.

Not caring about victims who are still crying even now.

“That’s why you all fail.”

They’re not even worth being angry at anymore.

The pouring rain enters the tunnel.

Feeling his body slowly getting soaked by the rain.

He walks toward the emergency exit stairs of the tunnel.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots ring out simultaneously.

Three blank shots.

A stern warning that live ammunition could be used.

That sight makes him laugh mockingly.

“Do you really think it’s right to aim those bullets at me?”

Is it right to spend this time on me?

With all the trash I’ve killed, and still need to kill.

At that question, the police officer finally speaks.

“You’re… you’re just a serial killer who thinks you’re passing judgment.”

“Yeah, I know! I know! I know!”

What a ridiculously funny thing to say.

“I killed people! No matter how trashy they were! Because I killed people, killed many, serial! Serial killer! Is that what you want to tell me now?”

He still doesn’t understand what’s wrong.

“There are things that must die, things that deserve to die, that’s why I killed them.”

But you’re protecting them.

His hands tremble.

It was clear anger.

Having a role that should help clean up the maggots.

Yet actually trying to protect those swarming vermin.

The sight of pointing a gun at him, who was carrying out justice.

It was so disgusting it made him want to vomit.

Bang!

When he roughly opens the emergency exit door, a bound person appears.

“What are you doing!”

As another person appears, the police officer lowers his gun.

Even his voice comes out in surprise.

That sight is laughable.

“Age 35, no prior convictions. Charges include multiple counts of rape and corpse desecration by arson.”

“What?”

“That’s the profile of the trash I’m holding.”

Please catch him, please kill this bastard.

That’s how they begged the police, and when nothing happened, he finally came to me.

As he spits out those words, strength naturally enters his body.

He couldn’t bear it.

That this kind of bastard was still breathing.

The sight of this vermin looking at the police with hope that he might still live.

The way he makes “mmph” sounds wanting to struggle despite being unable to speak.

It pushed his patience to the limit.

Crack!

So he killed him.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With the knuckles that had executed justice so many times.

Breaking his neck, crushing his skull.

All the while, the police can’t do anything.

Why? Because that’s the law.

Because those are their protocols.

“What the hell are you doing right now!”

“What are YOU doing?”

A smile forms.

It’s clearly a sneer.

With fingers dripping blood and brain matter, he points at the police officer.

“Standing there just shouting, squawking away, what have you been doing?”

There stood a police officer who hadn’t moved a single step.

Despite firing all his blank shots as threats.

A police officer who couldn’t shoot anything was standing blankly at the opposite end of the tunnel.

Only then did the Hero realize.

“Right, in the end, you’re no different.”

Now he understands all the behavior and conduct shown so far.

Seeing how they save no one.

At the murder unfolding before their eyes.

That sight of just shouting in confusion at the unrealistic disparity of reality.

“Don’t you think it’s funny even to yourself?”

Thud.

He kicks the coldly dead trash with his foot.

Splash.

Water splashes.

“Take this and get lost, what matters to you is results, right? Putting on a show.”

What exactly are the people? I’m too stupid to understand.

Water splashes again.

The conversation is over.

There’s no reason to face each other anymore.

And then, as if on cue.

Bang!

The police officer’s gunshot echoed through the tunnel.

“Ha, right, I knew it, that’s exactly your level.”

Those were the Hero’s last words.

+++++

In the end, police officer Jo Yongsu.

“Huff… huff….”

Couldn’t shoot the Hero.

No, he was unable to.

Because he felt he had no right.

With what qualification was he trying to catch him?

Simply because he was a police officer?

Because he had to exercise the duties and rights of that role?

‘Then what was I all this time when I wasn’t doing that?’

Had he always fulfilled those duties and rights?

No.

He hadn’t.

He had lost his initial belief that police meant justice.

He had made it a habit to say they were just salaried workers too.

But now?

So in the end, he couldn’t shoot.

Belatedly, police sirens sound from behind.

Forces that have come to catch the Hero through this heavy rain appear.

“…Ah.”

What he sees before him is the coldly dead.

A body with no prior criminal record.

Was that right? Had the victim asked for help?

What did he say back then?

‘File a report over there… we’ll contact you later so rest at home until then… did I say that?’

The front of the empty tunnel.

The downpour that won’t even leave footprints catches his eye.

Nothing remained.

The Hero had disappeared without a trace.

“Senior! Senior! Are you okay?!”

He hears his junior’s voice from behind.

And sees at least five police cars.

Did all those people come just to catch one person?

Now those officers will search around this tunnel.

Wandering through the dark mountain paths in the downpour to find him.

“…What’s the point of all this?”

Will everything end if he dies?

‘Of course not.’

Yet what is the reason for catching him?

-You should move up soon too, get promoted once we catch him.

A conversation from some time ago comes to mind.

What did he say then?

He doesn’t remember anymore.

No, he didn’t want to remember.

++++++

When he first heard the request for a reshoot, he wondered how much would change.

But.

‘…What am I filming right now?’

The moment the reshoot ended, Lee Seongdeok realized.

‘I’ve filmed a miracle.’

That a moment that would never come again had arrived.