“It’s because I watched a lot of foreign movies on TV with Mother from the time I was little. I also spoke with Jessica a lot during our last play.”
The questions about how my pronunciation could possibly be so good did not stop with this troupe either.
The atmosphere made it seem as though they would not let the matter go unless I gave them some kind of answer, so I offered the excuse I always used.
At my explanation, the troupe members clutched their heads and shook them, saying it made no sense.
“Wow…. Is this what Korean early education is like?”
“I heard Koreans place great importance on education. It truly is impressive.”
They really should not use me as their standard.
Inside this body was Noah Battenberg, who, just like them, had been born here in England and lived here for twenty-nine years.
I silently offered my sincerest apologies to any Korean children they might encounter in the future.
“What about acting? What kind of early education did you receive for that? I hope the answer is more believable than how you learned English.”
“Exactly. Otherwise, those of us who have devoted our entire lives to acting are going to feel terribly inadequate.”
Seeing the actors tease me with sparkling eyes, I had to tell them something that would make me feel even more apologetic.
What could I do?
I really had never been formally taught.
Even when I had been Noah, I had never received separate acting lessons like those offered by Korea’s current child-actor system, so I truly had no answer to give them.
I had simply spent countless days holding long conversations with excellent actors and directors in my previous life, then learned through practical experience.
“Mm, I didn’t really receive any special training. When I was little, I went to visit the troupe where Uncle worked, got scouted, and went straight onto the stage.”
As soon as I finished speaking, groans erupted from all around me.
“Wait. How old is Siwoo now? Isn’t he five?”
“You debuted on a theater stage when you were younger than five?”
The fact that I had been scouted at an even younger age than I was now seemed to be quite a shock.
Several actors looked at me again with expressions closer to horror than admiration.
“Oh… I just looked back over my entire acting career.”
One actor even began seriously reflecting on his life.
Just as the actors were about to grow depressed, Jessica laughed and stepped in between us.
“None of you believed me, but it looks like Siwoo has completely won you over.”
At Jessica’s teasing words and broad grin, several actors protested as though they had been genuinely wronged.
“Jessica, you should have emphasized more strongly that his acting was this incredible.”
“That’s right. Do you have any idea how much we’ve been worrying until now?”
Jessica replied that she had already done everything she could.
Even while saying that, the actors did not forget to welcome me again.
“Thank you so much for coming to us, Siwoo. You’re our team’s messiah.”
“Exactly. Tell us if you need anything. Siwoo is our lead now.”
“Not merely our lead. Siwoo is a genuine genius.”
Some actors cheerfully offered their hands and introduced themselves to me again.
“Oh dear, how foolish must we have looked yesterday? I’m sorry, Siwoo.”
“That’s right. I’m sorry, Siwoo. Please don’t think all English people are fools because of us.”
“Of course not. I don’t think that.”
Others offered sincere apologies.
Once the first actor apologized, the rest followed one after another, apologizing for how rude they had been the day before.
I understood the anxiety they had felt, so I told them it was all right and accepted their apologies.
As I shook hands with each actor and the atmosphere relaxed, a figure quietly approached us.
“Oh, Gordon.”
It was Gordon.
The actors who had been laughing and talking around me suddenly pretended to be occupied or said they needed to use the restroom when Gordon came over.
Since he was the one who had hurled the worst insults at me yesterday, they were leaving space for us to settle things ourselves.
I compared Gordon’s dazed expression from earlier with the one he wore now.
His face was still stiff, but he seemed to have regained more of his senses.
I did not speak first. I simply waited.
After all, I was not the one in a hurry.
“Ahem. You were… pretty good.”
“Pretty good?”
Only pretty good?
After seeing my acting, was that the best compliment he could manage?
I stared up at Gordon.
I stared so intently that it felt as if I might bore a hole straight through his face.
Receiving my sharp gaze with his entire body, Gordon could not find anything to say and merely scratched his head.
“Ahem…! At least we won’t have to worry about you running away!”
After shouting those words as though they were meant for no one in particular, Gordon left the rehearsal room.
Was I supposed to be satisfied with that much for today?
At least he was no longer trying to force me out by making unreasonable claims and hurling abuse.
I let out a deep sigh and looked up at Jessica.
The actors who had been pretending not to watch my confrontation with Gordon gradually crept back toward me.
“It’s all right, Siwoo. Gordon is very bad at things like this.”
“Siwoo, you have permission to think Gordon is an idiot.”
“That’s right. Even from our perspective, he was the one in the wrong. He must be too embarrassed to approach you properly right now.”
Jessica and the actors offered excuses for him that were not quite excuses.
Apparently, they were worried that I might have been hurt.
But I had more or less expected Gordon to respond that way, so it did not bother me.
“Mhm? It’s all right. He’ll understand once we begin acting together.”
I was confident, so it genuinely did not matter.
Learning to honestly acknowledge another person’s ability would also become a stepping stone for Gordon’s growth.
Perhaps she had not expected me to speak so maturely, because Jessica smiled proudly and stroked my hair.
“Honestly, calling Siwoo was a stroke of genius.”
“That’s true.”
When I answered primly, the actors surrounding us burst into loud laughter.
Amid all that cheerful commotion, my life in England began in earnest.
After rehearsal ended, Jessica asked,
“Siwoo, was there anywhere you wanted to visit when you came to England?”
“Mm, the West End!”
My answer came out without a moment of hesitation, and Jessica said that sounded good and suggested we go together.
We rode in Jo Yisu’s car and headed for the West End, the holy ground of London theater.
“Siwoo, don’t walk so quickly. You’ll get soaked.”
I had not realized it while we were inside the rehearsal room, but a steady drizzle was falling outside.
Fortunately, Yisu had spare umbrellas in the trunk of his car.
Jessica took one umbrella, while Yisu and I walked beneath another together.
Wow. It had changed so much. I could not recognize it.
As I eagerly looked around while walking, the sight of one theater building forced me to stop.
“Uh… Uh…?”
It couldn’t be.
With an expression filled with surprise, shock, and longing, I stared up at the old theater building.
“The Globe Theatre…?”
That was right.
The building before me was none other than the Globe Theatre.
It was one of London’s foremost theaters centuries ago, where Shakespeare and Richard Burbage had worked!
“Oh, you know it too, Siwoo. That’s right. It’s the theater Shakespeare once co-owned. It still looks magnificent, doesn’t it?”
Jessica continued explaining something, but none of it reached my ears.
More than four hundred years ago, the Globe had been the most splendid theater on the street. Before I knew it, it had become one of the oldest theaters in the West End.
When I first stepped out of the car, I had wondered whether this was truly a street in the West End.
So much had changed that I could not tell whether the road I was walking on was the same one I had once known.
The roads had been improved, and all the buildings surrounding them had become more sophisticated.
With only my ancient memories to guide me, I did not think I could ever find my way around alone.
Yet as I stared at the theater before me, old memories pushed into my mind like scenes from a film.
At the farthest edge of my memory, I recalled the last news I had heard about the Globe Theatre, which had remained with me as a cruel tragedy, and drew in a sharp breath.
My entire body trembled as though from the cold.
A wave of goosebumps too powerful for my small body swept over me.
“W-what’s wrong, Siwoo?”
Jessica, standing beside me, noticed something was wrong and asked in alarm.
At her words, I pointed toward the Globe Theatre with a trembling hand.
“W-why is the Globe Theatre here?”
“What?”
“This theater definitely……. burned down.”
When I stared up at the theater with a stunned face and muttered that, Yisu and Jessica exchanged puzzled looks.
There was a reason I had been struck by such intense chills.
I had clearly heard that the Globe Theatre burned down around 1613, when I was imprisoned in the Tower, and disappeared.
While I was confined there, I never heard anything about the theater being rebuilt.
“What happened? How can a theater that burned down still be standing here perfectly intact…?”
As I grabbed Yisu and questioned him in bewildered confusion, Jessica thought for a moment before suddenly raising her head.
“Ah, right. That’s right. Was it because of an effect used during a performance? I think I heard that the Globe Theatre caught fire. But it was rebuilt afterward. That rebuilt theater is the one that remains. Although its location changed slightly from the original.”
“Rebuilt…”
I see.
That might have happened while I was imprisoned in the Tower.
At the time, I could not easily converse with the servants who brought me food, so it made sense that I had not known what was happening outside.
While I stood lost in thought, Jessica’s puzzled voice pierced my ears.
“But… this happened more than four hundred years ago. How do you know about it, Siwoo?”
“Ah…”
Oh no.
I had not expected something like that to have happened!
I only remembered that it had burned down. When I suddenly learned that this was the same Globe Theatre, I had unknowingly started talking about events from my past life one after another.
I darted my eyes around once, searching for an answer, then replied to Jessica.
“Ah! I think I might have read it… in a biography of Shakespeare or something? That’s why.”
“Hmm, really? But if it was a modern book, shouldn’t it also have included a record of the rebuilding?”
At Jessica’s suspicious muttering, I abruptly raised both hands and shouted,
“W-wow! Can we go inside the Globe Theatre? Is there a performance today too?”
“Mm, it isn’t a day when performances are suspended.”
Yisu answered after recalling what day of the week it was.
Even so, Jessica checked her watch with a troubled expression and said,
“But it’s already late. I’m not sure whether there will be a performance we can still watch. Shall we look around anyway?”
“Yes!”
Phew. I successfully changed the subject.
Holding Yisu’s hand, I followed Jessica into the Globe Theatre.
The lofty ceiling.
The lights decorating it.
Those parts did not seem all that different from before the theater was rebuilt.
Feeling as though I had returned to being Noah, I stared blankly around the inside of the Globe Theatre.
Meanwhile, Yisu returned after asking a staff member and shook his head regretfully.
“They said all of today’s performances have already ended. Unfortunately, it looks like we won’t be able to watch one.”
“It can’t be helped. We came here spontaneously.”
Jessica muttered that she would have to reserve tickets for me next time.
At those words, I shouted my thanks and emerged from my thoughts.
“Oh my goodness. Jessica? Jessica Brown? Is that really you?”
Just then, we heard someone affiliated with the theater point toward us and call out across the quiet lobby.
When I turned, I saw an excited woman who appeared to be a manager covering her mouth with both hands as she struggled to suppress a scream.
“My goodness. I’m a huge fan. Did you come to watch a performance at our theater? Is the British production of RUN coming along well?”
She must truly have been Jessica’s fan, because she even knew all about the RUN production currently being prepared.
“Of course. Today, I was showing our lead actor around the West End.”
“Ah! You’re the young lead of the upcoming production. It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
A manager of the Globe Theatre in this era.
I smiled brightly and greeted her warmly.
She was a complete stranger, yet for some reason, I felt an inexplicable familiarity toward her.
“Rather than standing here, would you like to see the inside of the theater as well?”
“Would that be all right? It seems like it’s already time for you to close.”
“It’s an opportunity to show Jessica our theater. You’re welcome to look around as much as you like. Ah, I only ask that you give me an autograph before you leave.”
“Of course.”
Thanks to the manager’s kindness, we decided to explore the interior of the Globe Theatre.
To think I could freely look around this place that stirred such powerful nostalgia within me.
At the unexpected opportunity, my heart began pounding uncontrollably.
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