“Ahem.”
Han Seongtae cleared his throat, which had been strained from singing continuously, and reached toward the table beside him.
Gulp.
After drinking some water, he turned his head to the side.
He saw Kay finishing his own drink and setting down his cup.
“……”
Han Seongtae smiled at Kay, who was staring intently at him.
Kay smiled back.
As though they had reached a mutual understanding without saying a word, Han Seongtae and Kay simultaneously brought their mouths toward their microphones.
When the accompaniment began playing again, Han Seongtae nodded along and opened his mouth.
I won’t fall anymore
I’ll keep moving forward
He sang.
Ignoring the pain in his throat, Han Seongtae sang the song over and over again.
How much time had passed?
Beep!
At the sudden sound, Han Seongtae looked away from the sheet music.
“Let’s eat something. We already skipped lunch. You’re not planning to skip dinner too, are you?”
Hearing the complaining voice of Kim Minseok, Han Seongtae removed his headset.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
Kay smiled brightly at Han Seongtae’s suggestion.
It had already been four days since they started recording.
During that time, Han Seongtae and Kay had grown considerably closer, to the point where they could now converse comfortably.
“I’m starving. Let’s go eat.”
“Sounds good. What do you want?”
“Not sure.”
“Kay, is there anything you’d like to eat?”
“Ah, I’m really sorry about this. I actually have dinner plans already.”
“That’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. What about you, Director?”
“My family keeps telling me to come home, so I think I should head back.”
Hearing their responses, Han Seongtae nodded and looked at Kim Minseok.
Kim Minseok shrugged at his gaze.
“Looks like it’ll have to be just the two of us.”
Kim Minseok gestured for Han Seongtae to follow him.
Seeing that, Han Seongtae chuckled and started walking.
They were in this place again.
Looking at the fried chicken restaurant Kim Minseok had entered, Han Seongtae shook his head.
No matter how much someone liked chicken, wasn’t going to the same place four times in four days a little excessive?
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming in?”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.”
At Kim Minseok’s urging, Han Seongtae followed him, pretending to be reluctant.
They had barely sat down and ordered when Kim Minseok spoke to him.
“Don’t you think you two have been spending a little too much time together lately?”
“Huh?”
“I know you’re the same age and all, but you’ve gotten way too close. I feel like you talk to Kay more than you talk to me.”
Han Seongtae let out an incredulous laugh.
“Are you jealous?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You are jealous. Why? Are you sulking because I haven’t been spending time with you?”
“That’s not it.”
Despite denying it, Kim Minseok stuck out his lower lip in a pout.
His reaction was so amusing that Han Seongtae teased him several more times before smiling slightly.
“You’re still my best friend, though.”
“……”
Kim Minseok said nothing in response.
However, rather than looking genuinely upset, the corners of his mouth were visibly raised.
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
“We’re almost finished with the project. What are you going to do next?”
At Kim Minseok’s question, asked while tearing into a piece of chicken, Han Seongtae set down the glass he was holding.
What am I going to do next…?
Wasn’t the answer already decided?
Han Seongtae spoke calmly.
“I’m going.”
“Going? Where?”
“Canada. I want to learn more about acting.”
“Don’t you ever get tired of it? What more could you possibly learn there?”
“I don’t get tired of it.”
Han Seongtae shook his head firmly.
Acting was his life.
And because it was his life, he could never grow tired of it.
xxx
“Have a pleasant flight.”
Han Seongtae returned the flight attendant’s bow with a slight bow of his own before stepping inside.
A flight bound for Canada.
After finding his seat, Han Seongtae sat down and took his smartphone out of his pocket.
Several acquaintances had contacted him.
—Jung Dusik: Have a safe trip. If I didn’t have work, I’d have gone with you.
—Don’t worry too much about it. I’m just going on a little trip. Besides, it’ll be more convenient to travel alone this time.
—Jung Dusik: Still, if you need anything, contact me right away.
—Yes.
After replying to Jung Dusik, Han Seongtae contacted his other acquaintances.
—Our flight will……
Hearing the announcement coming through the speakers, Han Seongtae let out a long breath.
He hadn’t even departed yet, but he already felt exhausted, making him chuckle.
Should I get some rest?
He was about to turn off his smartphone when it vibrated again.
Bzzz.
Han Seongtae blinked at the screen.
—Lee Seunghyeon: Are you leaving?
It was a message from Lee Seunghyeon checking whether he had boarded the plane.
Bzzz.
—Kay: You said you were leaving today, right? Have a safe trip. I’ll surprise you when you get back.
There was also a message from Kay.
—Kim Minseok: Have a safe trip.
After replying to Kim Minseok’s message as well, Han Seongtae finally turned off his smartphone.
Feeling the airplane begin to move, Han Seongtae closed his eyes.
He was really going to Canada now.
As Han Seongtae looked forward to his upcoming schedule in Canada, the airplane took off with a low roar.
“Time really flies.”
Kim Minseok spoke.
Sitting across from him, Jung Dusik nodded while looking at his smartphone.
“It really does. Time goes by so quickly. The movie opens the day after tomorrow, right?”
“Yes.”
Time had passed like an arrow.
It felt as though they had only started producing the movie yesterday, yet its release was already just around the corner.
Kim Minseok continued speaking to Jung Dusik, who was still looking at his smartphone.
“We’re also releasing the soundtrack on the same day the movie opens.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Hyung, what kind of response do you think we’ll get?”
“Response?”
Only then did Jung Dusik lower his smartphone and look at Kim Minseok.
He noticed the worry in Kim Minseok’s eyes and chuckled.
“It’ll be good. No, it can’t possibly be anything but good. Just look at who’s starring in it.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
This was a movie featuring Han Seongtae, who had never experienced a single failure.
Every production he had chosen had performed well, so people in the industry had even given him the nickname Midas Touch.
“Seongtae doesn’t make a move unless he’s sure of something. You know how demanding he is when it comes to acting.”
“I do.”
“So don’t worry. If he’s done something, there’s a reason behind it.”
“Right.”
“What you should be worried about isn’t the possibility of failure. It’s what you’ll do when the movie becomes a massive hit.”
Kim Minseok blinked at Jung Dusik’s words.
A massive hit?
Jung Dusik sounded confident, but Kim Minseok couldn’t be certain yet.
He felt he would only know once he saw the actual results.
“By the way, have you been able to keep in touch with Seongtae?”
“Well…… not really. Since he got busy, I think I’ve barely managed to talk to him once a week.”
“You too? That’s worrying. I haven’t been able to reach him much either.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He’s with Lee Seunghyeon, and he can take care of himself, so I doubt anything’s happened.”
“Well, it’s Seongtae we’re talking about. It’s hardly the first time he’s gotten so absorbed in acting that he’s stopped paying attention to everything around him.”
Jung Dusik nodded in agreement with Kim Minseok.
Han Seongtae was a man obsessed with acting.
There wasn’t a single person present who would dispute that statement.
xxx
Is someone talking about me?
Han Seongtae scratched his ear and looked ahead.
He could see the interior of a tent, along with props arranged in rows.
Lowering his gaze again, he picked up the cane resting across his knees.
He rose from his seat, approached a mirror, and examined his appearance.
A gypsy hat, a fedora, and even a cane.
Looking at himself, dressed in a way that brought a certain person to mind, Han Seongtae smiled awkwardly.
[‘The One Who Made Laughter from Tragedy’ gives you a thumbs-up, saying the outfit suits you better than expected.]
“Are you ready?”
Just then, the entrance of the tent fluttered as Lee Seunghyeon stepped inside and spoke to him.
“Yes, I just finished getting ready.”
Han Seongtae answered and started walking.
All that remained was to act.
Bzzz, bzzz.
Just as he was about to leave the tent, he heard a vibrating sound and turned around.
His smartphone, which he had left on a chair, was vibrating.
“Just a moment.”
Han Seongtae asked Lee Seunghyeon to wait and checked his phone.
—Jung Dusik: You know the movie opened yesterday, right? The response is unbelievable right now. The soundtrack is blowing up too. You should go online and take a look.
Han Seongtae opened the website Jung Dusik had sent him.
A peculiar expression appeared on his face.
[A Story of Youth Created by Two Friends.]
[Youth My Way Draws 960,000 Moviegoers on Its Opening Day.]
[A Historic New Record Surpassing Rampage.]
They were articles reporting on the success of Youth My Way.
However, their contents were extraordinary.
There were reports of the movie setting a record higher than Rampage, along with glowing praise from renowned critics.
[The Comeback of Youth My Way’s Main OST.]
[Kay’s Singing Moves the Public to Tears.]
On top of that, Revival was receiving an overwhelmingly positive response.
As Han Seongtae examined the articles one by one, a smile appeared on his lips.
He had expected things to go well, but actually seeing it happen felt entirely different from merely believing that it would.
Han Seongtae once again asked Lee Seunghyeon to give him a little time and sat down on the sofa.
His fingers moved across the screen, opening an online community filled with people’s reactions.
[Han Seongtae, Just How Many Characters Does This Guy Have?]
I just watched Youth My Way, and honestly, it was really good.
It captured the feeling of being in your teens and twenties so well.
But while watching the movie, I kept wondering what kind of guy Han Seongtae even is.
City of Criminals, Haru, Rampage.
I watched all those movies and was amazed by his performances, but in this one, he was just insane.
Seriously, I feel like this guy has multiple personalities.
It’s like a different personality comes out to act in each production.
Otherwise, how could one person possibly portray such a wide variety of characters?
<On Junseo>Han Seongtae really is incredible. He’s completely different every time he acts. The guy’s just a genius. A genius.
<Cheddar Cheese>Not only is he great at acting, but he’s also an amazing singer. When he sang Revival at the end, wow, I got goosebumps.
<My Sun>Looking at the response right now, this is definitely going to hit ten million admissions. Is this for real? What is this guy, a machine that produces ten-million-viewer hits? Every time he makes a movie, it feels like he’s trying to break ten million. Rampage already passed ten million too.
Han Seongtae laughed as he read people’s reactions.
How could he not feel happy when people loved the productions he had appeared in?
[Holy crap. Revival finally broke into the top 10.]
[At this rate, couldn’t it seriously make the top 3?]
[I think it’s possible with Revival.]
It wasn’t just the movie that was receiving a positive response.
The articles and community discussions Han Seongtae was reading also showed considerable interest in the music featured in the film.
In fact, the response was so favorable that the music had even climbed onto the popularity charts.
Could we actually end up accomplishing something huge at this rate?
Han Seongtae thought to himself while examining people’s reactions, then laughed at how absurd the idea seemed.
Breaking into the top ten and reaching number one were two entirely different accomplishments.
“I should give Minseok a call later.”
Han Seongtae murmured quietly and set down his smartphone.
He had something he needed to do right now, so he couldn’t afford to spend his time endlessly browsing people’s reactions.
He turned around and left to act.
Bzzz.
—Kay: Seongtae, I think we might have done something incredible!
Because he left, he didn’t notice the incoming message.
—Kay: We’re at number nine! My manager says we might even reach number five. My heart is pounding so hard I feel like I’m going to die!
Alongside Youth My Way, Revival was soaring to new heights.
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