He is Coming was one of the projects Choi Yechan had been preparing for a long time.
A crime-action film that also carried social turmoil within it.
He had been preparing it ever since filming War of Villains, and because of that, he had paid a great deal of attention to the casting.
Among all the roles, there was exactly one where he had thought, ‘I absolutely have to cast this actor.’
Han Seongtae and the tattooist.
The one and only person who had come to mind while writing the project and deciding on the role.
He had wanted to cast Han Seongtae all the more because of the acting he had seen from him in War of Villains.
Because Han Seongtae was someone with talent and passion.
He would make him look forward to things again this time too.
Even so, he had not expected Han Seongtae to show something so strong that he could practically dominate the film.
It had not even been that many weeks since he offered him the role.
Not only had there not been enough time to practice, but in the first place, the role itself only had about five seconds of screen time in the film.
Because of that, he wanted just once…
He would have been satisfied if that person, Han Seongtae, could simply leave a strong impression at the end of the film.
‘…What is this?’
The moment he saw Han Seongtae acting, he felt as if his thoughts had stopped.
Han Seongtae, covered in full-body tattoos, was lying on the floorboards.
There was a chair set in front of him, and beside it a desk, with a box of tattoo tools placed on top.
Yes, that was exactly the composition Choi Yechan had wanted.
That should have been enough.
But it seemed Han Seongtae was showing something beyond even that.
His languid expression and slow, deliberate movements sucked in all of Choi Yechan’s attention.
As if Han Seongtae alone existed in this place.
Even though there was a lead actor right there, he could not take his eyes off Han Seongtae.
‘He grew again in the meantime?’
Watching Han Seongtae, Choi Yechan could not help but let out a hollow laugh.
He knew he had talent, and he knew he had the passion to polish that talent.
But he had not expected it to bring about growth this fast.
Who could have expected it?
Only a year or two ago, he had been a university freshman, someone performing plays on a university stage in front of barely a dozen people.
And now that same person was showing acting that made everyone marvel.
It was the kind of explosive growth that naturally stirred anticipation.
And looking at Han Seongtae like that, Choi Yechan clenched his fist tight.
The fact that he had formed a connection with Han Seongtae.
For a moment, he even found himself thinking that perhaps the chance to create that connection was the result of pouring out every bit of luck he had ever possessed.
Han Seongtae ignored the gazes fixed on him.
From the moment filming began, he had already become the tattooist.
The alleyway tattooist.
There was no one who knew his past, and no one who could say for sure what kind of person he was.
Choi Yechan had not told him what kind of person the tattooist was either.
And so Han Seongtae gave the tattooist a story.
What his past had been like, and what he was like now.
What his dream had been, and why he had become a tattooist.
‘The tattooist had been a gangster.’
One part of the story Han Seongtae gave him was that the tattooist’s past was that of an organized crime thug.
He had joined a gang to succeed, and had thrown his fists around in order to climb higher.
Every time he moved to widen his territory, the scars on his body increased.
No, his body had already been full of scars from the beginning.
Han Seongtae pursued the reason why he wanted to succeed.
He looked further back, to before he had become a gangster.
The tattooist had been poor.
He was an orphan, and because he had no money, there had been very few months in his life when he had eaten as many as ten meals.
He was always hungry, and always jealous of others.
School life had been the same.
At school, there were no kids who would welcome a beggar, an orphan, into their group.
He was excluded and mocked.
He became the target of the bullies.
By the time he went to school day after day, his body had no choice but to fill up with scars.
The wounds increased and increased again.
And then came the event that led him to tattoos.
The leader of the bullies brought a tattoo pen to school and drew tattoos all over his body.
Drawings with no sense of style at all, made only to mock him.
Those drawings covered the tattooist’s body.
Whenever he looked at himself in the mirror, he wanted to die.
But he did not want to die.
So he took the tattoo pen into his own hand.
And he drew tattoos onto his own body.
He had a fear of needles, but still, vomiting, crying, and fainting, he tattooed himself.
Each time he completed one drawing, some of the fear peeled away.
Each time another tattoo was added, his past self disappeared a little more.
And by the time his whole body was covered in tattoos, he had already taken revenge on the people who had tormented him.
The tattoos that covered even his face soon became his symbol.
He joined a gang while still in high school.
There, the tattooist made a name for himself and rose to a fairly high position.
And then he began to wonder.
He had climbed high and made a great deal of money, but strangely, his heart felt hollow.
So he let it all go.
The gang took one of his legs as the price of running away.
He did not care.
He did not particularly want to live anyway, and he was sick of throwing punches.
So he opened a tattoo shop.
He set up a tattoo shop deep in an alleyway where people could not find it easily.
And there, he spent his time in quiet peace.
By that time even the connections from his past were beginning to forget him.
Jingle.
A customer came to his shop, a place where he might get one customer in a month, if that.
A customer drenched in blood.
He saw an expression in his eyes that he had long since forgotten.
It felt as if he were looking at his past self.
“You do tattoos… right?”
“Come over here.”
To the man asking if he did tattoos, the tattooist crooked his hand in invitation.
The other man closed his mouth and quietly stepped closer.
Then he turned around and showed the tattooist his back.
‘A lot of tattoos.’
Like the tattooist himself, the customer’s body was covered in tattoos too.
Those tattoos had not been drawn for fun, or to show off.
The tattooist could read the meaning contained in them.
Because every single tattoo carried the meaning that the man had completed a revenge.
“I’d like you to draw this.”
The man handed him a drawing.
A picture of a spike driven into the devil’s heart.
‘So he’s finished all his revenge.’
Reading the meaning in that picture, the tattooist picked up the tattoo pen without saying anything.
The man looked at him for a moment, then turned his head away.
On the back of the man, who had stripped his upper body bare, there was an empty space right in the middle.
A place left open to decorate the finale.
The pen in the tattooist’s hand moved toward that spot, close to where the heart would be.
Ziiik, ziiiik.
It must have hurt somewhat, but the man did not let out even a single groan.
His body was only trembling slightly.
Like someone forcibly suppressing emotions too strong to contain.
The pen in the tattooist’s hand moved along with the rise and fall of the man’s body.
The tattooist could have told him to stay still.
But he said nothing, and simply continued his work.
Because he could understand what the man was feeling.
Because he knew too well that keeping silent was the only thing he could do for him.
[‘The One With a Thousand Faces’ watches your acting in breathless silence.]
[‘The One Who Made Laughter from Tragedy’ lets out a hollow laugh as he watches your acting.]
[‘The Founder of Jeet Kune Do’ wears a strange smile and says your acting is already complete.]
So completely that he could not even see the gods’ messages,
Han Seongtae was acting as the tattooist himself.
The drawing gradually spread across the man’s back.
He gave the man the tattoo he wanted.
And as he slowly closed and opened his eyes, the time around him seemed to move slowly as well.
“Cut!”
And with that, the shoot came to an end.
“Hoo…”
At the director’s voice, Han Seongtae ended the acting and let out a deep breath as he raised his upper body.
In front of him, he could see the lead actor still sitting there blankly.
Han Seongtae glanced at him, then looked down at his own body.
Even though he had sweated a little while lying there, the makeup had not smudged at all.
‘This isn’t permanently stuck on, right?’
That sudden thought made him a little worried.
There was no way the makeup covering his whole body was actually permanent, right?
[‘The One Who Defined an Era’ says it would be harder to find acting better than this.]
[‘The One Who Lives and Dies by Speed’ says your acting has a charm that pulls people in more the longer they watch it.]
[‘The Actor of Eternal Youth’ wears a calm smile and says there will not be anyone who can watch your acting without admiring it.]
Only after the acting ended did the gods’ messages come back into view.
Watching what they were saying, Han Seongtae let out a small laugh.
How could he feel anything but good when the gods were praising his acting?
“You worked hard. The eye acting when you came in earlier was good.”
Han Seongtae spoke to the actor still sitting in front of him.
Kim Semo, the actor playing Ahn Seonghyeon, the protagonist of He is Coming.
At Han Seongtae’s words, he was blinking blankly.
A face full of thoughts.
Han Seongtae tilted his head at the sight of him, and then—
“Why do you act like that?”
At the lead actor’s sudden question, he had no choice but to pause.
What kind of thing was that to say out of nowhere?
Why did he act like that?
Could it be that there had actually been some kind of problem with his acting?
‘He’s not the kind of person Michael was.’
They had definitely exchanged greetings with smiles before they started acting.
“If you act like that, then what are we leads supposed to do?”
At Kim Semo’s next words, Han Seongtae let out a laugh before he even realized it.
So he was not cursing at him.
While even the gods burst into laughter at what he said, Han Seongtae finished his cameo shoot in a good mood.
Now that his work in Korea was over too, it was time to go to America.
“The moving date was a month later, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good. You’ll get back just in time.”
At Jung Dusik’s words, Han Seongtae smiled and nodded.
The moving date had been set.
A month later.
It was perfect timing to move right after returning from filming in America.
If nothing unusual happened in America, he would be able to move right away.
“You packed everything, right?”
“Yes. I just need to leave now.”
At Jung Dusik’s words, Han Seongtae nodded right away.
Today, he was going to America.
This time, the destination was Los Angeles.
After Boston, the fact that he would now be able to go to another filming location used in Instinctive Rush made Han Seongtae’s heart pound wildly.
It was just as Han Seongtae had packed his things and stood up.
Bzzz.
The smartphone on the desk vibrated.
Just as he reached out to check the notification—
Bzzz, bzzzzzzzz!
The phone’s vibration shook the whole desk.
At that sight, Han Seongtae’s eyes wavered slightly.
“Yes, hello… what?”
Beside him, Jung Dusik’s eyes widened like saucers as he answered the phone.
Watching him, Han Seongtae stared hard at the smartphone.
It felt like something had happened.
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