Become a Star

Chapter 32

“I’m Chae Woo-Jin, I played loan shark A in the movie.”

Upon hearing his words, a commotion broke out in the theater. The real name of ‘The Unknown Actor’ had finally been revealed, but it was not wrong to say that he [1] did not have a name. Apart from Park Min, the production crew and the other cast members were busy trying to hold back their laughter.

Up until now, they had kept quiet whenever people talked about ‘The Unknown Actor’ just so that they could see this reaction, since they could imagine the reaction of the public if they were to find out that the charming character was actually a nameless one.

“Nevertheless, since I’m called A and not 1 or 2, I’m grateful towards the writer because it sounds rather cool.”

The crowd burst into laughter. While they were still immersed in the ambience of the movie, if it was revealed that the real name of ‘The Unknown Actor’ was loan shark 1, they would have instantly been brought back to reality.

“Just like everyone else, I’d like to thank the production crew and my seniors, but I’m certain that the gratitude I feel is even greater. Since it was my first time acting, I was lacking in a lot of aspects, but everyone had done a good job in guiding and encouraging me, especially Kang Hee-Joo, who had ended up reshooting a scene because of my poor acting. As I watched and observed her on set, I managed to learn what it was like to be a professional actor. Today, it was my first time watching the ending of the movie. For some reason, Ara didn’t look very happy in the end, and that was what made me the happiest.”

The movie clearly had a happy ending. Not only did Ara manage to get rid of the false charge, she had also caught the criminal and was now freed from the clutches of the loan sharks. Ultimately, the movie ended with her walking on the beach while holding hands with the male lead. However, he could feel the heavy weight on her shoulders by looking at Ara’s facial expression at the end – her forced smile suggested that while she was happy, she was never truly happy, thus eliciting sadness in the viewers. Woo-Jin had seen Ara’s final facial expression through the eyes of loan shark A, and hence, it was more satisfying than anything else as A had died while hoping for something like that to happen. Woo-Jin's face was glowing, as he smiled.

The words of the production crew and actors, who had spoken before him, became vague and scattered. The only thing they remembered was the last impression left by Chae Woo-Jin. As a result, Park Min had only achieved half of his goal. He wanted to sacrifice Kang Hee-Joo and quietly remove himself from the spotlight. However, that didn’t mean that the movie would not become a box office hit, and it also didn’t change the fact that he was still the male lead.

Park Min had only been getting useless attention over the past few days. However, he concluded that this was better than being criticized for his acting skills or having his appearance compared to Chae Woo-Jin, and being criticized for it. While he did manage to remove himself from the spotlight as planned, he wanted Kang Hee-Joo to be in the spotlight, not Chae Woo-Jin.

Park Min had gone in the wrong direction from the start. He tried to make Kang Hee-Joo look bad by attacking her acting skills, but her acting in the movie was perfect to the point that it was hard to believe that she had struggled in the early stages of the production. However, Park Min, who was indifferent towards other people’s acting, could not have known that. As such, Park Min’s presence, as well as his comments, had been quietly buried beneath all the buzz.

After the preview screening, the headlines were filled with several different topics. Chae Woo-Jin’s appearance as the real identity of ‘The Unknown Actor’ who acted as the charming loan shark A; praises about Chae Woo-Jin’s acting skills; and Kang Hee-joo and Chae Woo-Jin’s warm anecdotes.

The pre-screening ticket sales of Death Hill were fully booked, setting a new record in its opening week. Even though the early success was not guaranteed to continue till the end of screening, the extraordinary records fueled positive thoughts. Amidst the discussions about how the movie would easily exceed 10 million viewers, there were several speculations and high expectations about the final rating of the movie.

Despite such a pleasant start, Woo-Jin suffered for a few days right after its release. He started facing problems the moment the movie was released to the public.

“How could you shoot such scenes without my permission? Even if you are an adult and have already completed your military service, in my eyes, you are still a child…!”

His mother was shocked by his passionate kissing scene with Kang Hee-Joo in the movie. During the shoot, even Woo-Jin felt that the kissing scene was extremely heavy and racy. It felt as if he was shooting an erotic film instead of an ordinary kissing scene. A’s desire to devour Ara was best portrayed in that scene, and it was very violent and sexual as it was a scene where he had struggled with his inner conflict.

As an actor, he was satisfied with his acting, but he was not that thick-skinned to get his family to watch the movie. That was the reason why he intentionally did not tell his family about his appearance in Death Hill, even though it was well-received at the preview screening. His family was not interested in the entertainment industry, and they did not browse the internet much. Hence, he thought that he would be able to hide it successfully from them.

However, he was caught off guard by Choi Min-Woo, his soon-to-be stepfather. Since Choi Min-Woo was running a company, he was very interested in things that were happening around him. Moreover, he had already considered Woo-Jin as his son, so when Woo-Jin had signed a contract with an agency, it was only natural that he would try to learn more about him. Choi Min-Woo had even connected with DS’ CEO. In fact, they had gone to the same college back in the day. They had met up for a meal and had a serious conversation about Woo-Jin the other day, and that was when Choi Min-Woo had found out about Woo-Jin’s debut movie that would soon be released.

Needless to say, Choi Min-Woo went to watch the movie with Park Eun-Soo on the day of its release, and she was extremely shocked by her son’s acting. Regardless of how long she had been watching the movie, she could only see the man on the screen as Chae Woo-Jin, her son, instead of his character, loan shark A. While the kissing scene was shocking in its own way, A’s ending made her even more heartbroken.

“And I have to see my son die in such a manner?”

“What do you mean, I’m not actually dead! It’s just acting,” Woo-Jin replied.

“It looks so real. Oh my gosh, it must have been very painful.”

“It wasn’t painful at all. All the weapons that you saw were fake.”

“I heard that there were several cases where actors got injured on set while shooting an action scene. Also, there was a scene where you were stabbed with a knife. You didn’t actually get hurt, did you?”

“It’s a fake knife. When you press it against a surface, the ‘blade’ automatically goes inside, so it’s safe. As for the blood, it came from a capsule placed in his mouth. He had to bite it in order for the ‘blood’ to ooze out.”

Woo-Jin’s sister was explaining everything in detail to their mother, who was ignorant about film production. This caused the already sweating Woo-Jin to lose his mind. Woo-Hee had not seen the movie yet, but after hearing what her mother said, she looked at her brother as though she was on the verge of tears.

“Woo-Jin, What the hell have you been doing? Didn’t I tell you not to shoot shady things!”

Woo-Hee was somewhat aware of the movie, as it had been quite a popular topic of discussion among her classmates lately. However, as both an honors and a model student, she had been trying to ignore it because studying came first. Her best friends were also similar to her – they did not have much interest in movies or dramas. They would sometimes watch a few interesting dramas or variety TV shows, but they did not really go to the theaters much. At best, she only watched one or two movies a year.

“It’s not shady.”

“But mom said it was.”

“Oh my, it wasn’t shady. I just don’t like it.”

“That wasn’t what you meant? In that case, I’ll watch it with my friends.”

Upon hearing what Woo-Hee said, Woo-Jin and his mother yelled together, “You’re not watching it!”

“Don’t watch it. You will go blind.”

“Mother!” Woo-Jin stumbled in shock upon hearing the harsh criticism from Park Eun-Soo, who was still shocked by her son’s kissing and death scenes. Woo-Hee quietly comforted her brother by stroking his shoulder.

“The movie wasn’t bad. It was interesting, and the action scenes were good, but because my son was in the movie…what’s the point?”

As the mother of a budding film actor, Park Eun-Soo was not ready yet. She shook her head bitterly. All she could see whenever she saw his character throughout the movie was her son. She was startled every time she saw him kiss the female lead, and she ended up crying when her son got beaten up and stabbed. Thereafter, she could not focus on watching the movie, so she did not know its ending. Hence, she was unable to recommend it to her daughter. Perhaps, the parents of the other actors may have felt the same way, or it might just be because Park Eun-Soo was too rigid and old fashioned. Either way, she had a lot on her mind.

***

<A tale about monsters – Death Hill>

The film Death Hill is a story about monsters who are living in our society. A gambling addict of a father who incurred debts due to lack of self-restraint; the high interest accumulated from easy loans and the tyranny of materialistic people; a psychopath who enjoys the act of killing; authorities that were blinded by their thirst for credit; the irresponsible and result-driven media.

With the story being centered around a woman named ‘Ara’, the film is tragic, terrifying, and sad, but it also shows hope. However, even though the movie had a happy ending, ‘Ara’ could not be happy. With the help of some people, she was freed from the false charges against her, as well as from the debt incurred by her father. But in the end, one of them had to sacrifice his life for her.

If salvation was achieved at the cost of another person’s life, could the survivor be truly happy?

She was loved, but she knew that she had to carry the weight of this debt for the rest of her life. ‘Ara’, who is well-aware of the darkness, lies and the weight of life in this world will gradually transform into a monster, even if it was not her intention to do so. It seemed as though that is the message that the final focus of the film wants to convey to its viewers.

After being tainted by the darkness in the world, it is difficult for ‘Ara’ to be any happier than this. This is how monsters nurture other monsters in this world. Additionally, it raises the concern that our society encourages this even further, which could be seen from Ara’s facial expression at the end of the movie, when she had a smile on her face that seemed to be ridden with unhappiness.

Her facial expression alone in this one scene elicited these feelings, which is why I can’t help but praise Kang Hee-Joo’s acting. The theme of the movie was very clear-cut. Hence, that might be the reason why Chae Woo-Jin, otherwise known as ‘The Unknown Actor’, said at the preview screening that “ Ara didn’t look very happy in the end, and that was what made me the happiest”.

The ‘Unknown Actor’, another monster with intense desire in the movie, saved someone by sacrificing his own life, but he could not make the person he loved happy. In a way, his sad and horrifying love was similar to violence. It represents the image of a typical person in society, who puts their happiness before everyone else, regardless of how much they love others; just like how we live our lives without knowing that they are monsters.

However, our society is still warm and beautiful. Strangely, after watching Death Hill, a journalist thought back about a photo that went viral on the internet not too long ago. It was a photo of the back of a young man who gave his sneakers to an old man, who was picking up waste paper at a subway station, in exchange for his worn out slippers.

Monsters are not the only ones who live in our society. More importantly, the fact that we are able to recognize beautiful and touching scenes when we see them is proof that we still have warmth in our hearts.

......redacted......

Lastly, adding on to the journalist’s personal thoughts, Chae Woo-Jin is a monster in his own way. It is pretty much impossible to make the worst villain as attractive as he did, but that just shows us that he possesses high analytical and comprehension skills of his character. Most importantly, since this is his first time acting, I greatly look forward to his future endeavors. Judging from what Chae Woo-Jin has shown us, I dare say that a monster of a rookie has appeared in the film industry. Frankly speaking, I will always welcome such a monster with open arms.

(Choi Il-Jae, Maeil Moonhwa)

/

- Did the movie that I watched before have such a theme…

? It depends on the person who watches it hahaha

- In conclusion, the point of the article is Chae Woo-Jin. LOL

- By the way, is Chae Woo-Jin that handsome? Everyone has been saying that Chae Woo-Jin is more handsome, but I think that Park Min is more handsome.

? Mr. Park Min, you can’t write that here.

- I don’t know if it’ll be different in real life, but comparing the photo of him and Park Min, he’s definitely more attractive.

? He looks like he has done plastic surgery on his entire face. Don’t be fooled.

? Excuse me! What basis are you writing that comment on? I’ll give you the link to Chae Woo-Jin’s graduation pictures from elementary school up until high school that were uploaded on the internet, so go take a look! You’re just spreading rumors. DS doesn’t sue people who do things like that. I don’t know what they’re doing.

- The slipper young man! It’s hard to judge since there were only pictures of his back view, but I think he probably has a kind face. He looks tall and slender from his back view alone.

? I was truly touched by that picture. The back view of a person wearing worn out slippers that were going to fall apart at any moment in such a stylish manner, while dragging his suitcase!! At this point, we would have heard about the person in the photo, but we have heard nothing about it so far.

? There were a lot of speculations about his identity, but they were all false. Some people have even claimed that it’s Chae Woo-Jin. In any case, it’s just the delusion of crazy fangirls. LOL

- Genie oppa!! I just found out that his name is Chae Woo-Jin. We’re no longer under Japanese occupation, but I changed your name. I’m sorry T_T

? Same here. I also just found out his name is Chae Woo-Jin. I’ve always thought that his name was Choi Woo-Jin.

? Are the two of you members of Wish Baragi? Fancy seeing you here! To be honest, all of us thought that Genie oppa’s name was Choi Woo-Jin. T_T [2]

- Umm…? Who are you guys? Wish Baragi? What’s that? Is it a fan club…

- Chae Woo-Jin!! I thought that his name was Choi Woo-Jin, but he was already famous before this. Ever since he was a TM trainee, he had a lot of fans because of his great looks. Everyone was waiting in anticipation for his debut and was prepared to spend a lot of money, but he was kicked out after his group debuted. Wish Baragi is a place that is created by and filled with Chae Woo-Jin’s fans. We’re a group of tenacious girls who have been waiting for more than two years without even knowing his actual name!

- That’s right. Wish Baragi! I haven’t been going much since I’ve joined, but I should go again soon. Woo-Jin! I wish you all the best!!!!

“Wish Baragi?”

Hwang Yi-Young, who was clipping Woo-Jin’s articles, tilted her head when she saw the words ‘Wish Baragi’, which had appeared in the comments on each article.

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1. loan shark A <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">

2. Baragi comes from the Korean word for ‘sunflower’ (haebaragi). It usually refers to fans who admire and look up to their idols, just like how sunflowers follow the sun. <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">