episode_0004

Just before Volkid started his .

“Hmm.”

Volkid tilted his head.

“You don’t understand…? No. Does it even make sense not to know what acting is? Why have you been like this since earlier?”

After explaining about acting for a while and teaching Seo Yisoo the script he should act out, Shin Jihu looked upset.

Behind him, the PD and the production crew were giving him cold stares.

Even without turning around to check, it was obvious that those stares were far from friendly.

If he were to start explaining the definition of acting from the beginning in this situation…

He might not even get to audition and could be kicked out.

Fortunately.

Volkid nodded his head.

“No. I understood roughly. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

His mind wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t understand the definition of a word.

Although his social skills had deteriorated and his thinking had become simpler due to over a thousand years of solitary life, Volkid’s essence was still that of a dragon.

It didn’t make sense for him not to understand the definition of words humans use.

“Hmm. Acting. This… feels a lot like…”

However,

The acting he had just learned felt a lot like something familiar to him.

“It’s like… playing.”

Acting.

It’s the act of expressing the personality and actions of a character.

But what about a dragon’s play?

It’s a role-playing game where a dragon creates a fictional character based on a specific mortal background and personality to experience that character’s life.

Quite similar, isn’t it?

“…Is it over now?”

“Yes. Thanks for the detailed explanation.”

“Good. Can you do it?”

Shin Jihu seemed worried.

He seemed unsure about Volkid, or rather, Seo Yisoo’s transformation.

“Don’t worry. It seems like acting is quite a familiar act to me.”

Dragons are beings with infinite bodies and finite minds.

Therefore, going crazy in their long lives is inevitable.

Play is a way for them to refresh their minds worn out in that eternal existence.

For dragons, it’s nothing more than a means of survival.

‘Play… is a fundamental ability given to dragons.’

It was such a fundamental and essential ability that it didn’t even require mana.

‘The character of a top star, Yeonsu.’

Volkid manifested his ability.

He was about to depart as the character from the script Shin Jihu had taught him.

Although he had learned Korean through language acquisition magic, he had not yet familiarized himself with Korean culture or customs.

What is a top star?

Volkid couldn’t grasp it.

But it didn’t matter.

“Access Akashic Records.”

The information of the world recorded in the Akashic Records connected with Volkid’s mind.

From there, he brought forth information that he wouldn’t have known before and began constructing the character of Cha Yeonsu.

Starting from the clear parts in the script.

To even the parts that the author of the script hadn’t paid attention to.

All of it was intricately assembled to create one person’s character.

And so.

When he opened his eyes after a moment.

He was no longer the dragon Volkid.

He was born and raised on Earth.

He had grown up with nothing but love and jealousy.

Therefore, he was charming and lovely.

He was now the top star, Cha Yeonsu.

“Unni.”

I raised my eyebrows.

Anyway. I don’t like anything about the new manager who just came.

“I told you I only drink water from a specific brand.”

I look at the person.

There’s a woman who seems somewhat weak somewhere.

I didn’t like the way she fidgeted with her fingers and looked at me cautiously.

Even though she’s older than me.

Well. What does age matter in this industry?

Being popular and having good grades is what matters.

I said to my manager indifferently.

“Go back and get it. What? Can’t you just drink anything this time? Look at this unnie.”

But, really. This unnie.

It’s funny how she’s so timid.

I, what was it again? Right. Acting like a tyrant.

Her expression of injustice fully reveals her feelings.

Well, actually.

I am acting like a tyrant.

What’s the big deal if I drink a different brand of water?

My taste buds are not that sensitive.

If you ask me to choose based on the brand, I probably won’t be able to tell the difference.

But.

What does it matter?

She smiles brightly at her.

With a twinkle in her eye, I say.

“No. I want to drink it.”

I am Cha Yeon-soo.

Top star Cha Yeon-soo.

A person born to receive love and jealousy.

And, isn’t it true that.

When you love someone, you want to do anything for them.

You willingly become a fool for the one you love.

So, even you, my manager.

Should willingly and happily become a fool for my sake.

I said with the most loving expression I could muster.

“Huh? What are you doing? Hurry up and go.”

I told her to endure the tyranny for my sake.

Because she is my manager.

Because she is the one working to help me.

Of course, she must love me too.

Or maybe.

Could it be that you are jealous of me?

It would be better if you weren’t.

You’ll regret it.

I’ve never let someone who is jealous of me off the hook.

I hope you don’t either.

“Come on, hurry up.”

I commanded her with all my sincerity.

***

“Hmm. Acting. It’s more fun than I thought.”

“…Is that so.”

After finishing the audition.

The two headed back to their lodging.

Since the filming location was in the countryside, the two who lived in Seoul had arranged for lodging nearby.

They rented two shabby motel rooms.

Although KS Entertainment is a successful agency for actors.

They wouldn’t have arranged a fancy accommodation for the rookie actor Seo Yisoo.

“Yes. I’m glad you had fun.”

“Yes, yes. It was fun.”

Volkid nodded excitedly.

It was sincere.

It was truly an enjoyable experience.

“Acting. It’s similar to playing but different.”

Acting and playing.

Both involve abandoning one’s true self and portraying a fictional character.

But there was a fundamental difference.

While playing, one should not be caught playing a fictional role.

Acting, on the other hand, was exactly the opposite.

It was a performance that openly and publicly announced to everyone that one was acting.

“It’s strange. Truly strange.”

After returning from his short play as “Cha Yeonsoo” to being Volkid.

He vividly remembered the gazes directed at him.

Expressions of astonishment bordering on horror.

Volkid instinctively knew.

Their astonished emotions were the result of witnessing his play.

His play as “Cha Yeonsoo.” The acting that impressed them and the subsequent emotions that followed.

Such external perceptions and evaluations…

“It’s thrilling.”

It gave him a completely different feeling than when he simply returned from playing.

Originally, dragons were designed to enjoy playing.

Playing itself is a survival mechanism, so it’s natural.

But Volkid had lived alone for over a thousand years.

Living a life without others lowers one’s emotional immunity.

Volkid felt intense emotions that he had never experienced before in the clear and positive reactions that resonated with him.

It was almost… a feeling of excitement.

“Hehehe.”

He couldn’t help but let out a foolish laugh.

“…”

Seeing Volkid like that, Shin Jihoo looked at him with a slightly complicated expression.

“By the way. Memory loss?”

“Huh?”

“You. Memory loss, right?”

“Oh, right, yeah. That’s true.”

“…”

Although Volkid had taken on the body of Seo Yisoo, her memories were nonexistent.

And her knowledge of this place, Earth, was also lacking.

There is no mana left to transform into another body.

In such a situation, in order to continue living as Seo Yisoo, she had to come up with an excuse for not having her memories.

That excuse was amnesia.

“Hmm. Strange.”

Of course, objectively speaking, it was a story that was hard to believe.

It was hard to believe that a perfectly fine girl suddenly suffered from amnesia.

Shin Jihu sent a suspicious glance.

Even though it was just the gaze of a mere mortal.

“Hmm.”

For some reason, Volkid felt uncomfortable receiving that gaze.

Perhaps it was because Shin Jihu was the first person he had faced in over a thousand years.

A thousand years is a long time.

No matter how much of a dragon he was, living alone for that long could lower one’s immunity to others’ reactions.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Volkid unconsciously avoided the gaze.

His wandering eyes, without realizing it, turned towards the sky.

And in that moment, Volkid’s gaze fixed on one place.

“……Ah.”

“What? Why are you acting like that again?”

Shin Jihu’s eyes followed where Volkid’s gaze had stopped.

However, there was nothing there.

“It’s just the sky? There’s no rain. Why are you like that?”

“Ah, I see. Haha.”

But Volkid’s eyes were different.

There was something in that sky that he couldn’t ignore.

“Don’t you see it? Look over there.”

Volkid raised his finger to point to where he was looking.

There.

“The moon is up there, isn’t it.”

Round.

Without a single broken spot.

So perfectly round.

There, the moon was rising.

“Haha! It’s the moon. The moon! There’s a moon here!”

“I’m not sure about the amnesia, but you definitely seem a bit out of it.”

“I’m perfectly fine! It’s just… because there’s a moon up there. That’s why!”

She exclaimed excitedly.

Pointing her finger.

Bursting into laughter with a new voice.

“Haha, hahaha, hahaha!”

Perhaps it was only now that Volkid truly felt it.

‘Yes. This is truly a new world.’

Leaving behind the world he had destroyed.

There was no way to return to his original homeland.

Following his grandfather’s last words.

He had to live in this world.

Taking on the form of a human.

Becoming a woman.

Countless memories flooded back all at once.

– Volkid! Run away!

– Ahh! Oppa! Save me! Help me!

His younger sister was torn apart and killed.

His mother burned in the fire, not losing consciousness even as her entire body turned to ashes.

His grandfather ripped out his own heart to send him here.

Those he loved, and those who loved him.

They all died like that.

He left behind such a world and came here.

Emotions overwhelmed him.

A myriad of emotions that he couldn’t pinpoint flooded over him all at once.

The vast mind of a dragon was too overwhelming for the fragile brain of a human girl to handle.

‘Ugh!’

It felt like his brain was melting from the overwhelming emotional bombardment.

But he didn’t show it on the outside.

He didn’t want to.

Because then, he might deny the journey he had come this far on.

So, Volkid… no, Seo Yisoo.

Just.

“Haha, ha. Hahaha.”

He continued to laugh.

Laughter was all that came out.

It was laughter.

But for some reason, Shin Jihu felt like she was crying.

Strangely, that was the impression he got.

“Are you… okay? Do you think another ‘episode’ might happen?”

“Hmm! Don’t worry. I’m feeling very happy and in good condition right now.”

What could possibly be wrong?

However, Seo Yisoo pondered for a moment.

I recalled my grandfather’s last words.

“Live a short life.”

Short.

That’s how my grandfather left his last words.

“How much mana do I have left?”

Today, I used up a lot of mana.

Even the mana inside the Dragonheart, which was supposed to be infinite, was almost depleted.

“Hah! Is this the level of a rice grain?”

Truly a rice grain.

She only had that much mana left.

Of course, that was a metaphor from the perspective of a dragon.

The standards of a dragon who manipulates infinite mana and a mortal human were different.

“Roughly… if I don’t use magic at all, I can survive for about 100 years.”

100 years.

It’s a long time.

But from the perspective of a dragon who lives eternally, it was indeed a short time that passed in the blink of an eye.

“Live a short life.”

“Yes, I will do as you say.”

Seo Yisoo made up her mind.

To live this fleeting moment given to her.

Although until now, it had been filled with nothing but pain.

She still didn’t know the meaning of life in this place where she had drifted into after all the suffering.

But. At least this fleeting moment.

She won’t live like eternity.

I will live for a moment.

Yes, like a flash.

“My life will be a flash.”

Seo Yisoo thus gave a proposition to her remaining life.

“Hehehe.”

With a foolish laughter. Like that.

“…Are you sure you’re okay?”

As if worried, Shin Jihoo asked again.

“Of course! Just…”

Seo Yisoo.

Turned her body to face Shin Jihoo.

She showed him how happy she was.

And.

Shin Jihoo.

Felt that Seo Yisoo’s eyes looking at him were moist.

Somehow, he seemed infinitely fragile.

He thought.

“Isn’t the moonlight nice? That’s why.”

Under the moonlight.

Bathed in silver.

With a complex expression due to too many memories and indescribable emotions.

But at the same time, igniting the will of life decisively.

Seo Yisoo, said.

I will make my life like a flash.

She decided on her life.

[Seo Yisoo’s remaining lifespan]

[99 years 364 days 23 hours 59 minutes 53 seconds]