Tap, tap, tap.
Faintly, the sound of a kitchen knife tapping on a cutting board could be heard.
Drawn by that sound, when he woke from sleep, a savory smell stimulated his salivary glands.
‘The time is…’
Lifting his heavy eyelids and turning on his smartphone screen to check the time, Han Seongtae’s face went slightly blank.
A very early hour, not even five in the morning.
Tap, tap, tap.
Sizzle, sizzle.
From the kitchen with its door firmly closed, the sounds of cooking and the delicious smells were wafting all the way into the living room.
[‘The One Who Made Laughter in Tragedy’ smiles, saying that as you get older you sleep less.]
[‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’ informs you that he woke up an hour ago and started cooking.]
If it was an hour ago, that would mean he got up and started cooking at an hour when it was only four o’clock.
At their messages, Han Seongtae couldn’t help being impressed.
‘Should I cut my sleep a little more?’
Lately he had been sleeping four hours a day, and he wondered if he ought to reduce that time. (T/N: Dude, no.)
[‘The One Who Defined His Era’ scolds you, saying it’s out of the question to cut back when your sleep time is already insufficient.]
[‘The Founder of Jeet Kune Do’ says you can only improve if you have sufficient rest.]
He quickly dropped the idea under the gods of acting’s opposition.
Smiling, Han Seongtae got up and opened the kitchen door.
At the same time, the delicious smells that had been concentrated inside the kitchen suddenly flooded Han Seongtae’s nose.
“You’re up already? Get some more sleep.”
“No, it’s fine. I slept soundly.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Wow, but this looks really delicious.”
“Want to try some?”
“Is that okay?”
At Han Seongtae’s question, Grandma nodded with a smile.
Glistening, glossy stir-fried pork.
[‘The Founder of Jeet Kune Do’ swallows.]
[‘The One Who Made Laughter in Tragedy’ sparkles his eyes, saying it looks tasty.]
Food so good-looking even the gods of acting were salivating.
Han Seongtae put a piece of meat in his mouth and his eyes opened wide.
“It’s so good!”
“It’s nice to see you eat well. Minseok isn’t up yet?”
“No, he’s sleeping.”
“If only Minseok were diligent exactly like you.”
“That’s not it. Minseok usually gets up early too, but I guess he’s tired because he worked a lot yesterday.”
At Han Seongtae’s words, her eyes turned toward the room where Kim Minseok was sleeping.
A gaze full of worry.
Seeing that, Han Seongtae gave a faint smile.
“Grandma has something to do so I’m going out; when Minseok gets up, eat together and have fun before you go.”
“If you’re going out to work, I’ll help you.”
“No, you don’t need to.”
“But…”
“I’m just going to the village hall and back, so don’t follow me.”
At her restraint, Han Seongtae nodded.
After Grandma left the house, Han Seongtae looked over the dishes set on the table.
‘It won’t taste good if it gets cold.’
After a quick glance at the time, Han Seongtae went straight into the room where Kim Minseok was.
It wasn’t even six o’clock yet, but there wasn’t the slightest hesitation in Han Seongtae’s action of waking Kim Minseok.
“Ah, why! Let me sleep a little more!”
“What do you mean, sleep. Finish sleeping when we go back. Get up now and eat.”
“You can just eat by yourself.”
“Grandma told me to eat together once you woke up.”
He pulled the whining, don’t-want-to-get-up Kim Minseok to his feet.
They had gone to bed at ten yesterday, so he’d slept more than six hours.
Sleeping more wasn’t going to make him any taller, and Han Seongtae brought Kim Minseok into the kitchen.
“Drink cold water. It’ll wake you up.”
“…Okay.”
Handing cold water to him as he nodded weakly, Han Seongtae took a seat at the table.
“You said there’s a lot to do today. With that much sleepiness, do you think you can even work?”
“You’re just too diligent.”
At Han Seongtae’s words, Kim Minseok let out a deep sigh.
“Let’s eat and then do a quick look around. Check the house layout in more detail, and let’s go up the mountain too.”
Seeing Kim Minseok speak with his mouth stuffed full of rice, Han Seongtae chuckled and nodded.
“Hey, what’s in there?”
At Kim Minseok’s question, Han Seongtae looked around inside the storage shed.
Things that looked like tools and a line with several clips were scattered around the shed.
“Just, a bit of this and that?”
“Anything usable?”
“Mm… this looks like it could be usable.”
When he came out of the shed, there were a rusty saw and a hammer in Han Seongtae’s hands.
Because the shed door was low, he bent his back and waddled out; seeing him, Kim Minseok’s eyes sparkled.
“Hey, you’ve got a vibe right now.”
“…?”
“Since we’re here anyway, how about we at least get a taste of it? I brought the camera just in case.”
Saying that, Kim Minseok brought the camera out from the room.
Watching him, Han Seongtae blinked.
‘I didn’t expect this.’
They had come to lightly check filming spots, not to act.
A situation he hadn’t expected in the least.
“Not gonna do it? If you don’t want to, we can skip it.”
At Kim Minseok’s question, Han Seongtae quietly looked down at the saw in his hand.
[‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’ looks at you.]
He may have been flustered, but he had no intention of not acting.
His life was made up of acting.
“No, let’s do it.”
At Han Seongtae’s words, the gods of acting smiled.
Putting their messages behind him, Han Seongtae moved his feet busily.
He could see Kim Minseok setting up the camera, and in front of it, Han Seongtae quickly skimmed the script.
“We can’t do all of it. Let’s do a short take starting from scene 27. Tell me when you’re ready.”
“I’m ready.”
What was there to prepare?
He was an actor prepared at every moment.
“Really? Hm… well, if you say so, then so it is. Try standing over there.”
“Okay.”
Han Seongtae nodded, and Kim Minseok, capturing him with the camera, moved slowly.
The upper body of Han Seongtae entered Kim Minseok’s frame.
“…Action!”
At Kim Minseok’s words, Han Seongtae gripped the hammer tightly.
In an instant, his expression flipped.
“Huh…”
A sigh of admiration slipped out of Kim Minseok before he knew it as he watched.
But that sigh could not disturb Han Seongtae at all.
Once he started immersing, his acting no longer showed Han Seongtae, but the figure of a serial killer.
Crrrk.
The hammer he let hang long dragged across the ground with a creepy sound.
“…”
The serial killer said nothing.
He only quietly went around the house, looking to see if there were any open points.
Bzzzz.
The camera quietly captured him like that.
Han Seongtae kept moving.
In Kim Minseok’s script which didn’t yet have a set title and carried the working title “Survive the Killer”, the serial killer is a methodical person.
An empty house.
For months he watches: whether anyone goes in and out, what daily routine there is, what characteristics there are; he makes his plan watching all that.
He is a person who only moves once he is convinced he can kill.
Knowing that no one would be coming today, killing the woman hiding in the house would be nothing for him.
He could break the door down and enter right away, but there is one reason he doesn’t.
‘Because doing this is fun.’
Killing is easy, but there aren’t many situations where he can savor it this much.
Watching the soon-to-die opponent struggle by any means to survive was entertainment in itself.
Tap.
The hammer he held hit the wall, and his hand checked whether there was any open window or door.
Tack. Clack.
Even if there was an open spot, the woman inside quickly locked it.
Han Seongtae quietly looked at her, struggling to live.
A familiar face came into view.
A face he had seen a few times before.
In his past life and in this life.
Within those, a single person was fleeing before Han Seongtae.
‘Seo Harin.’
Why was that?
Among the many, many actresses, he could think of none but Seo Harin.
He couldn’t even imagine any actress other than her.
In Kim Minseok’s film, in the script he made, the most suitable female lead—no matter how he thought about it—was only Seo Harin.
‘Is it because I know the past life?’
He had seen the actress Seo Harin, and he had seen her present-life appearance as an idol trainee, so maybe that made it even more so.
Thud.
The hammer hit the floor and his hand reached toward the door.
A vicious smile tugged at his lips.
[‘The Man of a Thousand Faces’ watches you with a curious smile.]
The more he immersed himself, the more viscous, thick, Han Seongtae’s acting became.
‘If I were a serial killer…’
His thoughts grew deeper, and at the same time his actions turned rougher.
Thud, THUD!
Han Seongtae shook the door as if to break it down.
“Cut!”
At the faint sound, Han Seongtae snapped to.
“Ah…”
Along with the thought that the acting was over, a wave of regret came over him.
If only he could go a little longer.
“Dude, that was insane. You were just crazy right now. Come over and take a look.”
“…Okay.”
“This bastard shoots one drama and comes back a full-fledged actor. Acting is just your calling.”
At Kim Minseok’s words, Han Seongtae smiled awkwardly.
The main gate of Korea University.
It bustled with students who had come to attend class.
Han Seongtae passed among them together with Kim Minseok.
“Those guys are first-years, right?”
“No idea.”
“Hey, look carefully. Don’t they obviously look like freshmen?”
At Kim Minseok’s words, Han Seongtae glanced to the side.
He could see lots of people walking around.
There were some faces he’d never seen before.
‘How am I supposed to tell freshmen from there?’
From the start, Han Seongtae didn’t know many people, so it was hard to distinguish first-years and second-years.
If you wanted to distinguish them, you’d have to go ask directly.
“Guess so.”
“Wow, aren’t you a little too indifferent?”
“What do I care about first-years for?”
“No, you know, there could be some decent ones. If you bring in kids like that, it’s convenient and nice.”
At Kim Minseok’s words, Han Seongtae laughed and shook his head.
You had to see them actually on stage; how could you tell just by looking whether they had talent or not.
‘Unless it’s an actor I know.’
As far as Han Seongtae knew, there were few who truly succeeded at Korea University.
Even if there were, he wasn’t close to them.
“…Kids these days are the problem. First-years dyeing their hair and all.”
“You do realize you just sounded super boomer, right?”
“What did I do?”
Chuckling, Han Seongtae turned toward where Kim Minseok was looking, and suddenly halted.
‘I’ve seen that face somewhere?’
There was one person who stood out unusually among the people.
Brown hair and snowy white skin.
He felt like he’d seen her somewhere, but couldn’t recall.
“Hey, let’s go.”
If he looked just a little longer, he’d probably remember.
But Kim Minseok didn’t wait for him.
Pulled along by him into the classroom, Han Seongtae soon forgot the girl he had just seen.
“Now that you’re second-years, we should do a proper stage once.”
The professor they newly met in second year spoke with a peculiar smile.
“Let’s prepare a musical.”
At the professor’s words, students’ voices rose from all directions.
“Guess we’re going to get busy again. When are we shooting the movie.”
At Kim Minseok’s mutter, Han Seongtae gave a faint smile.
And that evening.
The trailer for Race Start was released.
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