episode_0025

“You’re not acting?”

“It’s not that I won’t do it at all. I’m just going to take a break for the time being. I’ll continue taking acting lessons from the teacher.”

“If you’re a teacher, is it actor Jeong Dong-ho that I mentioned back then?”

“Yes.”

I told my father before that I wanted to learn acting from actor Jeong Dong-ho.

Of course, I didn’t say that I was having a hard time because of emotional acting.

If my dad finds out, he’ll stop me from acting for real.

“Was it hard to act?”

“It’s not hard now, but I think it will be hard later.”

“Later?”

“Yes. I often see my older brothers and sisters at the broadcasting station, and they say it’s hard to act while going to school. I guess there’s not enough time. I want to go to school properly.”

As soon as the topic of school came up, his expression immediately changed to one of agreement.

Besides the aftereffects of emotional acting, there are a few other reasons why you might want to take a hiatus.

First of all, the entertainment industry now is so poor compared to before I returned.

Broadcasting power is tightly controlled by the three terrestrial broadcasters, so whatever is produced has to go through these channels to reach viewers.

The comprehensive programming channels were created in 2010, and it will take several more years before they will have the power to compete with terrestrial broadcasting.

This means that it will take at least 10 years from now for broadcasting diversification to be achieved.

It will take another five years for OTTs like Netflix and Disney to establish themselves.

Even the promotional window is like that.

Facenote, the earliest social media essential before the return, came out in 2004.

When talking about videos, you can’t leave out YouTube, which started its service in 2005 and was acquired by Google in 2006, but it wasn’t until 2008 that it began to demonstrate its power as a platform.

In conclusion, it is too early to do anything now.

We live in an era where we make ourselves known through various media, do our own promotions, and even act in Korea, but foreigners watch us. So, the current broadcasting environment is literally like a frog in a well.

“I didn’t know my son thought like that. I was too hasty. I’m sorry.”

“No. I’m just happy that I have a dad who wants to help me do what I want to do.”

My father’s expression became strange and he hugged me tightly.

“What a cute guy. How can he speak so beautifully.”

And then he keeps rubbing his cheeks.

Why don’t you shave?

“CEO Oh must be secretly lusting after you, he must be sad.”

“Mr. Oh, there will be many celebrities more famous than me joining your company, so don’t worry.”

“How do you know that?”

“That’s how I feel.”

They say you’ll become one of the top three entertainment companies without me.

The day of crank-in for ‘Confession of a Pianist’ —

Before filming a movie or drama, there is something that actors and staff always do together.

It is a ritual where rice cakes, fruits, and a smiling pig’s head are placed in front of the person.

I hope that filming can be completed safely without any accidents.

You may wonder if this is a superstition, but heavy lighting can fall over, or actors or staff can get hurt due to the terrain or weather on set.

“This is a ritual to keep the sleeping ghost, rain ghost, and wind ghost from coming.”

“There are ghosts like that?”

“Then. They always show up when we’re filming. If they’re possessed by a sleeping ghost, they’ll fall asleep while touching the equipment and have accidents. If they’re possessed by a rain ghost or a wind ghost, they can’t film because of the weather. They’re really bad guys.”

The teacher smiled and put a white envelope in the pig’s mouth.

“Hajin seems to be okay with pig heads. There are kids who cry because it’s scary.”

“What are you scared of? It’s dead.”

He walked briskly, put the envelope in the pig’s mouth, and bowed deeply.

When I raised my head, everyone was clapping and cheering, saying I was cute.

These days, it seems like I’m being praised just for breathing.

Thus began filming for the first and last appearance of his childhood.

*****

He rubbed his trembling fingers and sighed softly.

My mother, who used to hit me on the shoulder whenever my voice was even slightly disturbed, left the room.

As I was trying to look at the sheet music to see how much was left, the space next to the piano became distorted.

That guy came again.

[Still sitting in front of the piano.]

“My mom increased my practice time because I made a mistake earlier.”

[Every time you sit down at the piano, you have a crying expression on your face… Why do you keep doing that? You don’t like it.]

“I can only play the piano. He said that if I didn’t do even that, I would be a useless child.”

[who?]

“Mom.”

[Let’s see where the mother who speaks like that is.]

And then it disappeared in an instant.

A few seconds later, it reappeared right next to me.

[Let’s go outside. Lying in the garden and looking at the night sky will make you feel better.]

“No, Mom will be back soon.”

[I’m taking an important call right now. It’ll take a while. There’s plenty of time to go out to the garden.]

“How do you know?”

[I can go anywhere in this house. I saw it on the second floor a little while ago?]

I was moved by its playful expression.

I got down from the piano and went into the hallway.

There was no one in the hallway leading to the front door.

[Am I right?]

I believed what he said and started walking towards the front door.

About halfway there, I heard a loud noise from behind.

When I looked back, my mom had already come in front of me.

“You dare… try to run away secretly?”

I was so surprised that I took a step back and fell on my butt.

It had disappeared in the meantime.

“Ah, ahh… uh… .”

“I can’t just let this go today. Don’t come here!”

It was hard to bear my mother’s gaze that seemed to want to kill me.

As I struggled to make space with my hips, I heard the door slam shut.

“What are you doing to the kid!”

It was my dad.

He ran towards his mother and snatched the stick from her hand.

“Where are you…Why are you coming in here!”

“The divorce proceedings aren’t over yet. It’s still my house, so don’t say things like that.”

The voice keeps getting louder.

My ears feel like they’re going to burst from the shrill high notes and freezing low notes.

I couldn’t hear it at all, so I covered my ears and ran towards the front door.

I went out of the house, but I have nowhere to go.

I was running towards the end of the alley and tripped over a rock.

My knees were bleeding and sore, but I got up and kept running.

The place where I stopped walking, out of breath, was the playground.

My legs gave out and I couldn’t stand any longer.

I sat down on the floor and stared blankly ahead.

Someone is walking towards me from over there.

“Oh my, look at your knees. Where do you live? Didn’t you come with your mom?”

I was out of breath and couldn’t speak.

He kept whining so much that he got me up.

“Do you know your mom or dad’s contact information? Their cell phone numbers.”

He shook his head.

Mom and Dad never gave me their cell phone numbers.

“So, do you live in this neighborhood? Or… .”

“… I live in this neighborhood.”

“Get carried by your older sister. I’ll take you home.”

I thought I would get scolded less by my mom if I went with an adult, so I carried him obediently.

He showed his sister the way by pointing with his hand.

“Here it is.”

“Wow, the house is really nice. Wait a minute.”

I kept ringing the doorbell, but my mom didn’t come out.

“Is there no one at home?”

Across the garden I could see the front door slightly open.

I guess I didn’t close the door when I came out earlier.

“You can just go in.”

I got off my sister’s back and limped to open the front door.

The hallway was dark and quiet, just as it had been when I left.

“Oh my, why is it so dark in here? Can you turn on the light?”

I guess he thought no one was home.

My sister turned on the switch on the wall without even listening to my answer.

“Gyaaaahh …

My sister just sat down in the hallway.

Because my mother was lying down a little distance away.

Blood was pooling on the floor, seemingly flowing from somewhere.

My whole body was shaking, but I couldn’t scream.

Because I could see the faint silhouette of that thing beyond my fallen mother.

He spoke to me with an ominous smile.

[You promised, right? That you would help me.]

.

.

.

“What!”

It wasn’t as breathless as I thought.

Because three more people besides me were included in the script.

“Oh, really, Hajin’s acting is good, but even her supporting role feels different. What do you think, Director Jeong?”

The credit goes to camera director Jeong Seong-sik, who has been with the duo since their debut.

“What are you talking about? No matter how I look at that scream, it’s not acting. Taesik, check out that extra role. It’s a shame to only appear in one scene.”

The staff and manager run and lift Eunhye Ko up from the floor.

The expression on his face as he looked at me was strange.

“Senior, are you okay?”

The situation is reversed compared to the last reading.

Now, actress Ko Eun-hye looks much more tired.

Then, he answered my worries with a faint smile.

“I feel better right away because Hajin is worried about me? I’m okay now.”

One of them approaches the camera director, taking off his wet outerwear.

“Looking at Director Jeong’s face, I guess I don’t need to ask.”

“The actor is especially good. In the full shot, his expression is so fierce when he falls to the ground… Acting, right? ”

“Turn it back a bit.”

Actress Ko Eun-hye’s expression became serious as she looked at the monitor.

“Is this me…?”

“You had this expression on your face just now. I wonder if Hajin wasn’t surprised.”

The surrounding staff members add their admiration as they look at the monitor.

The screen is filled with expressions that make it hard to believe that he is acting.

“I feel like I’m only obsessed with something when I’m acting with Hajin. I’m going to get cursed at a lot in the theater.”

“First of all, they cursed a lot while filming me, hahaha.”

This is a scene that was cut out of the script where I became a mother who hates me.

No matter how sharp the method acting is, it can’t beat reality.

This scene is a ‘real’ tragedy wrapped in acting.

And this kind of reality is only possible when dealing with me.

I am a perfect actor and a great assistant.