Ch.46What’s Donghu Doing There?

Tremble.

My fingertips are shaking.

It seems like I could cut with just a slight grip, but it wasn’t that easy.

People don’t die easily.

Cutting through skin and muscle, breaking bones—it’s certainly not a simple task.

‘No, that’s not it.’

It’s too easy.

Breaking a mere bone wasn’t difficult at all.

Then what makes my fingertips tremble?

“Do you truly intend to sever the bonds of heaven!”

The fate of having to sever heavenly bonds makes Jaun’s body tremble.

The cruel fate of having to kill his parents—whom he should serve for life to repay the grace of birth and upbringing—crashes over his body like a wave.

“Believing in that mere superstition, how can you be so brazen after killing my mother?”

Despite the sword drawing a line on his neck, Jaun’s father didn’t even blink.

He even seemed to be enjoying the situation.

“The Cheonsal Star is not a superstition.”

The words coming with a faint smile cut Jaun’s body to pieces.

“How could it be a superstition when so many born under the Cheonsal fate have…”

For such an absurd reason,

did he try to block the future of a child who hadn’t even properly grown?

That was his father’s death warrant.

Left to right,

a diagonal line cuts his father’s body in two.

Despite holding a sword for the first time,

the Cheonsal talent drew out perfect swordsmanship.

Thud.

Was that the sound of his father’s corpse falling?

Or the thread of fate that can no longer be reversed?

“If this was your intention, why did you raise me at all?”

Words he wanted to ask but couldn’t utter finally emerge.

If he knew he would be killed so meaninglessly,

why didn’t he kill him right after killing his mother?

Why did he teach him to stay away from people,

and deliberately build a house in the mountains?

Barely able to read properly,

why did he spout all that talk about morality?

Various resentments and longings circle in the air before dispersing like smoke.

Now that the heavenly bonds are severed and cannot be restored, where should he go?

“You, you’re a Cheonsal Star.”

Just then, a voice came from behind.

Someone had approached without him noticing,

too consumed by grief to sense another person coming.

Slash!

Jaun’s sword moved once more.

Now that the fate of Cheonsal had begun to move.

Though he had never learned swordsmanship anywhere,

Jaun’s sword moved in a trajectory designed to efficiently kill humans.

Clang!

But it was blocked.

The cheap sword, already ruined after killing one person,

sadly failed to achieve its purpose.

“After killing one person, your hesitation has completely disappeared.”

Yes, this is the Cheonsal Star.

The owner of the voice muttered this while slightly twisting the wrist holding the sword.

“Ugh!”

Thud.

Jaun’s blocked sword twisted and slipped from his hand.

“I wondered why my horse suddenly came this way, but it was because a treasure was hidden here.”

The man stroked his horse’s mane and extended his hand to Jaun.

“I am Geomrimju, Cheonsal Master.”

It seems better for people with the same fate to stick together,

what do you think?

At those words, Jaun looked around.

His father, cut in two and emitting the smell of blood,

and the unknown man looking down at him with an outstretched hand.

Where should he go?

There was no one who could give the right answer to that question.

-You were born to kill people.

His father’s words suddenly came to mind.

‘Yes, if I was born for that purpose.’

Jaun took the Cheonsal Master’s hand.

‘I will live as you say.’

For the sake of my mother,

who had to die without reason, whose breath was taken by mere superstition,

I will survive until the end to show them.

+++++

‘It definitely feels completely different since it’s a historical drama.’

After finishing the immersion, I put down the script.

The story of Jaun, the rival who would be entangled with Swordsman Baek Dong-soo from beginning to end.

Despite being a child role, it had a significant part.

‘Well, it’s not like I’ve played insignificant roles until now.’

Since historical dramas tend to run for quite a while,

appearing in one could dramatically increase my recognition.

If I became famous among teenagers as a school uniform model,

I could expand my age demographic through historical dramas.

Plus.

‘There’s also Eclipse.’

I looked at the second script, <Eclipse>.

A drama that achieved unbelievable success,

making history in the historical drama genre, <Eclipse>.

Even without checking its rating, I was well aware of its reputation.

‘And the actual rating is no joke.’

<Eclipse, A>

An A proudly written there.

A monster production that hit a peak viewership of 40%,

with an average viewership exceeding 30%.

Not choosing this work despite knowing its future would be like saying I didn’t want to be an actor.

Moreover, the role I was offered was of a different caliber.

‘Finally, I get to play a good guy too.’

There were some roles where good and evil were ambiguous.

But most of the scripts so far had been for villain roles.

‘There are limitations to child roles, and villains tend to make more impact.’

Given the conservative time setting.

Even if a new actor appeared like a comet,

they couldn’t just give them the lead role.

So inevitably, I received more villain scripts.

That’s why this good male protagonist child role felt quite refreshing.

“I’ll do both.”

“Yeah, uh, what? You’ve decided already?”

Then I should do both.

Hearing my decision, Seokho expressed concern, wondering if it would be okay.

After all, filming two historical dramas simultaneously could be challenging.

But,

‘With immersion and having exercised for a long time, I’ll be fine.’

Physical strength and acting weren’t issues for me at all.

“Oh right, and the director contacted me saying the rough cut of The Real Hero is done and wants us to watch it together.”

“Really? That was quick!”

“Since the Mise-en-Scène Film Festival deadline is mid-April, he wants to keep editing and fixing until then, and he wants to hear your opinion too.”

Opinion, huh.

‘I should try not to say anything.’

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

‘I’ll just say I completely trust him and everything is fine with me.’

One director was enough to control the film editing.

It was an independent film after all.

Besides, constantly making changes could sometimes make a film worse.

Sometimes it was better to stop editing at an appropriate point.

‘Come to think of it, shouldn’t Endless Frontline be finishing editing soon too?’

Wait a minute.

‘So The Real Hero and Endless Frontline will be released consecutively between June and July.’

A twin structure where if one does well, the other naturally follows.

While I was eagerly anticipating their screen debut.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

[Sims – Real Life], as if reminding me not to forget it,

asserted its presence by sending consecutive messages.

And the content of those messages was,

-[Determined that the ‘kendo’ learned in The Real Hero and the ‘swordsmanship’ Jaun will possess are different domains]

-[Downloading application ‘Ilhwisotanghyeolyeomsan-ha’]

-[Your sword will never be defeated.]

It was telling me to perfectly portray Jaun.

+++++

Late March.

The Mise-en-Scène Short Film Festival

was literally sucking in short films like a whale.

As one of the film festivals that started in 2002,

Mise-en-Scène was arguably South Korea’s representative short film festival.

After dividing films into five sections by genre,

judges who matched those genres would watch and evaluate the films,

discovering young new talents based on their expertise.

These judges were mainly active in the commercial film industry,

and some of them aimed to find good new actors.

Among them, the most representative was:

“…Ah, I actually came looking for Donghu.”

The owner of the glossy Guan Yu beard,

Director Kang Sanghun.

“None of you have seen our Donghu acting? Come to the preview later. It’s really amazing.”

Loving films so much, he volunteered as a judge even while filming.

Why? Obviously to find good actors!

But he had already found one.

‘Just thinking about it makes me laugh.’

Director Kang Sanghun kept bragging about Kim Donghu to the surrounding directors.

Starting with how a young kid could express emotions so well,

to how good he was at action, his great stamina, how much he studied, and so on.

His reaction was like that of a great-grandfather seeing his first fourth-generation grandson.

“Ahem, stop bragging. Who doesn’t know that actor Kim Donghu is good at acting?”

And naturally, his fellow directors were uncomfortable with Director Kang’s boasting.

That acting in <High Dream> that seemed to bring Lee J to life.

Who wouldn’t want to cast him after seeing that?

“You all should work with our Donghu too. Of course, I’ll claim his first screen appearance.”

Director Kang Sanghun was so pleased with this fact.

The pride of being the first to put a super-promising rookie on the big screen.

Winning a rookie award with his work, and a bright future stretching ahead!

Imagining this made him want to dance with joy.

But.

“…Huh, what’s this… The Real Hero? Kim Donghu’s name is here?”

“What?”

Unbelievable words spilled from a fellow director’s mouth.

“What are you talking about! Why would actor Kim Donghu appear in an independent film!”

It must be someone with the same name, how could that be possible?!

Director Kang Sanghun rose from his seat, fluttering his Guan Yu beard.

It was nonsense.

Or more precisely, a truth he didn’t want to believe.

“It’s true, it’s written right here on the DVD. The Real Hero, starring Kim Donghu.”

The actor Kim Donghu’s face is clearly on it.

Saying this, the fellow director, as if mocking Director Kang Sanghun:

Whirrrr.

Played <The Real Hero> DVD for all to see.

“…No, no, he was supposed to make his debut on my screen…”

Why are you appearing on that black and white screen, Donghu?

Thud.

That day, Director Kang Sanghun’s world collapsed.