The scenery outside was passing by quickly.
Han Seongtae quietly watched what he could see beyond the window, then turned his head.
Inside the car Jung Dusik was driving, and the script for He Comes was resting on Han Seongtae’s lap.
There was not all that much time left before he had to shoot the script Choi Yechan had given him.
He had to practice whenever he had time.
Rustle.
As Han Seongtae turned the pages and murmured the stage directions under his breath, Jung Dusik glanced at him through the rearview mirror.
“Ah, right. Seongtae.”
“Yes?”
“I forgot to tell you, but do you want to take a look at this?”
At Jung Dusik’s words, Han Seongtae tilted his head and took the phone he handed over.
On the screen was a real estate listing.
Even at a glance, Han Seongtae opened his mouth when he saw the luxurious property listed alongside an enormous price.
“What is this?”
“You asked me to look for a house for you. So I checked a few, and a pretty decent listing came up. Take a look.”
At Jung Dusik’s words, Han Seongtae nodded and looked at the screen.
It was a mixed-use residential building in Seoul, the kind they called an officetel apartment.
“It’s two hundred million won?”
“Yeah. It’s on a jeonse-with-rent deal. It might feel expensive, but the location is good, the facilities are good, and security is very good too. So a lot of celebrities live there.”
“Ah.”
At his manager’s explanation, Han Seongtae tapped the phone with his finger.
He had asked Jung Dusik to look for a place, and he had been willing to consider an expensive home positively.
Even so, he had thought that since he had money saved up until now, maybe he could somehow manage it.
He had also received the payment from signing Rampage in the first place, and he was not someone who spent money.
Other than rent, maintenance fees, and the absolute necessities for living, he spent less than five hundred thousand won a month.
Because of that, there was far too much money in his bank account for someone in his early twenties.
‘Still, this is too much of a burden.’
Two hundred million won was a sum that could only feel burdensome to the current Han Seongtae.
“There are others too. The links are there, so take your time and look through them.”
“Yes, hyung. Thanks for taking care of this when you’re busy.”
“It’s nothing.”
At Han Seongtae’s words, Jung Dusik smiled and shook his head.
Watching that, Han Seongtae smiled too, and as Jung Dusik suggested, checked the other properties in the other links as well.
‘As expected, they’re all expensive.’
After looking through all the listings, Han Seongtae’s expression was not bright.
Every single one of them was expensive.
It made him wonder whether there was any place among them that he could move into.
And the fact that even after earning over a hundred million won, he still could not buy a single home made him let out a hollow laugh.
“So, do you see anything that looks decent?”
“Yes. They all look nice. Aside from being expensive.”
“They’re expensive, but once you actually live there, you’ll think differently. Ah, right. Make some time within the week. Let’s go look around in person.”
“Yes. We should. Let’s coordinate the schedule.”
“Okay. It’ll take about thirty minutes before we get there, so get a little rest if you can.”
At Jung Dusik’s words, Han Seongtae smiled, nodded, and turned another page of the script.
The role he had taken did not have a single line of dialogue, but that did not mean he could avoid practicing.
There were plenty of performances he could show even without dialogue.
It was while he was reading the script like that.
Bzzz.
How much time had passed? Han Seongtae’s phone vibrated.
—Seo Harin: Seongtae-ssi, I heard you came back to Korea. Before you leave again, how about we get a meal together sometime?
A text from Seo Harin.
When he had first arrived in Korea, Kim Rina had contacted him too.
Where were these people hearing the news from? Word really spread fast.
—Yes. I’ll make time.
Separate from those thoughts, Han Seongtae’s fingers were already quickly sending a reply.
Not long after sending the message, a reply came back saying they would meet next time.
As he let out a small laugh looking at it, Jung Dusik’s voice came.
“We’re here. Let’s get out.”
“Yes. Thanks for the ride, hyung.”
At Jung Dusik’s words, Han Seongtae smiled, got out of the car, and immediately went up to the office where Ma Seokdong was.
Ma Seokdong was sitting on the sofa in the middle of the office, looking over a script.
The moment Han Seongtae spotted him, he walked over and bowed his head lightly.
“Hello, sunbae-nim.”
“Oh, Seongtae-ssi, you’re here. Come over here and sit down comfortably.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Can I get you something to drink? I’ve got coffee and soft drinks.”
“Then I’ll have coffee.”
“Okay.”
At Han Seongtae’s words, Ma Seokdong smiled and brought over some coffee.
At that, Han Seongtae bowed again and thanked him.
“It’s been a while, right? This is the first time we’ve seen each other since War of Villains.”
“Yes. That’s right. Have you been well?”
“I’m always doing well. Lately I’ve just been a little busy preparing a film. According to the rumors I’ve been hearing, Seongtae-ssi has been shooting overseas too.”
“Yes. I happened to get the opportunity.”
Since the details of Rampage were confidential, he could not speak about it in detail.
Ma Seokdong understood that too, so he did not press Han Seongtae for more information.
“Is the movie you’re preparing going well? I heard you’re directly involved in the production this time.”
Ma Seokdong was an actor.
But sometimes he also made films as a director or as a producer.
Didn’t a whole separate team for Ma Seokdong’s film productions get created later on?
This project was the same.
Ma Seokdong was participating both as an actor and as the production company.
“Yes. It’s going well. That’s the reason I called Seongtae-ssi here today.”
Ma Seokdong nodded right away and held out a script to Han Seongtae.
Han Seongtae saw the name written on the script, and let out a hollow laugh at the familiar title.
‘City of Criminals.’
A crime-action film that had been very well received.
If he remembered right, it had even reached five million. So this was when they had started preparing it.
“I think it’d be good if Seongtae-ssi could take the role of Yoo Youngjun here.”
If it was Yoo Youngjun, wasn’t that the role that stabbed the protagonist in the back and then got beaten up for it?
Back when he had watched the movie, that scene had felt so satisfying that he knew exactly what kind of role Ma Seokdong was referring to.
At Ma Seokdong’s suggestion, Han Seongtae wore a strange smile.
‘This sounds fun.’
It was a role that did not look cool, but an actor would never care about something like that.
What did it matter to an actor how he looked on the surface?
Han Seongtae was not someone who cared about his image.
He quickly skimmed through the script, then spoke.
“It’s really interesting.”
“That’s a relief. Everyone worked hard on this script. Would you be interested?”
“Yes. If you’ll have me, I’d like to do it.”
“We can’t not use premium talent like Seongtae-ssi. I look forward to working with you. We can work out the contract details little by little.”
At Ma Seokdong’s words, Han Seongtae smiled and nodded.
From the moment he received the offer, Han Seongtae had no intention of refusing.
Wasn’t it City of Criminals, the film that had passed five million in the first place?
Refusing something like that would have been the strange thing.
“So how have you been these days? I heard from your manager that you went overseas and came back.”
“Yes. I came back from filming and now I’m taking it easy for a bit. Ah, and right now I’m looking for a house because I’m planning to move.”
“A house?”
“Yes. The place I’m living in now is a one-room apartment. I’m trying to move somewhere better, but it’s harder than I thought.”
“Why? Is there some kind of problem?”
“Well, they’re all expensive. So I’m even considering just getting a place with something like a thirty-million-won monthly rental setup.”
There was no need to move into an expensive place from the start.
It would not be bad to begin somewhere decently good and work his way up little by little.
But the expression on Ma Seokdong’s face as he looked at him was odd.
“If it’s that, I think I can solve it for you.”
At Ma Seokdong’s meaningful words, Han Seongtae blinked.
After meeting with Ma Seokdong, Han Seongtae spent two days reading scripts and practicing.
Rustle, rustle.
While the sound of turning script pages filled the one-room apartment,
Bzzz.
—Choi Yechan: Seongtae-ssi. Do you want to come by the set and take a look?
With Choi Yechan’s message, Han Seongtae headed to the set of He Comes.
As he stepped onto the set, he looked around, surveying the area as he walked toward the stage.
“Why, why do you keep chasing me?! What did I even do wrong?!”
“Go ask the person you killed after you get to the afterlife!”
Filming was in full swing on the set.
The lead actor and a supporting actor were acting, and in front of them Choi Yechan was staring at the set with sharp eyes.
Without speaking to him, Han Seongtae quietly stood to one side and watched the set.
The lead’s role was that of a man who hunted down the criminals who killed his family.
There was one trait that defined him: every time he caught one of the criminals, he tattooed his body.
Because Han Seongtae’s role was to be the one who tattooed him at the very end, he watched the lead actor’s performance closely.
As he watched the acting, he was able to get a sense of what kind of acting he himself would need to show.
Within Han Seongtae’s deep gaze, the lead’s acting continued.
Watching that, Han Seongtae thought about the performance he would need to show later.
The lead, having completed even his final revenge, would come to his shop.
The lead would want a tattoo of a strange design.
How would he react to seeing him? How would he treat him?
It was when he had fallen into those thoughts.
Bzzz.
The feeling of the phone vibrating in his pocket broke his concentration.
—Jung Dusik: Seongtae, they say we can look at the house this Saturday. Are you free?
Looking at Jung Dusik’s text, Han Seongtae slowly blinked.
He sent back a message saying he was free, then let out a sigh.
“Hoo…”
It felt like he had been acting for a moment.
[‘The One With a Thousand Faces’ wears a strange smile and says you were born an actor.]
[‘The One Who Made Laughter from Tragedy’ says he’s looking forward to the story you’ll show.]
Han Seongtae found himself looking forward to the time when he could act together with the lead.
Even as he answered Choi Yechan’s welcoming voice from beside him, all of Han Seongtae’s attention was fixed on acting.
‘Ah, I want to act already.’
Han Seongtae felt a deep thirst.
“It took a little longer to work out the contract than expected.”
Ma Seokdong held out a contract to Han Seongtae.
This was not a meeting between one person and another, but between a production company and an actor.
Looking at the contract being held out to him, Han Seongtae wore a strange expression.
‘I didn’t understand why he said that back then.’
He was only now able to understand what Ma Seokdong had meant when he said he thought he could solve his problem.
At the very bottom of the contract.
—150,000,000 won.
The moment he saw the signing amount, Han Seongtae clenched his fist without realizing it.
The problem of moving had just been solved.
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