After Story 139

Why did this only happen to him? Something must be very wrong.

Just when did things start going wrong? When he easily quit his first job? When he couldn’t hold back his nature and beat up a senior at school and was forced to transfer schools? When he deceived the granny at the small shop and stole money and food? Or when he was born under to goddamned parents?

He wiped his sweat and went into the shade. The weather was extremely hot, enough to melt some plastics. It wouldn’t be strange even if someone died because of a heat stroke.

He took out the bottle of water he brought from his house. It was totally frozen when he left his house, but now it was half-melted. He opened the lid and drank a little bit before pouring the rest above his head. Cold water ran down his neck, making him feel slightly better.

“Dammit.”

He glanced at the people walking by outside the shade. An ahjumma in her late fifties holding a sunshade seemed to be in a good mood as she was laughing and chatting with a phone against her ear.

Here, someone was almost dying because of the heat, so he found it very annoying that she laughed like she had everything in the world.

He chewed on his lips as he watched that woman before lowering his head. Picking a fight was also a waste of energy. On a day like this, he had to stay still.

He rested for a long while under the shade before leaving. He flicked away the droplets of sweat that formed on his head as he stood in front of a vending machine. He put his hand in the hole where the change would come out before rummaging through it. Something caught his hands. When he took it out, it was a 500-won coin.

“Shit, that’s some good stuff,” he grinned before putting it in his pocket.

At the next vending machine, he got 50 won. Like that, he went around the whole neighborhood. He now had 2,000 won in his pocket. The 1,000 won he picked up underneath one of the vending machines was a windfall.

He looked at the money in his hands before frowning and crouching down.

What an idiot, being happy because of something like this. Other people were busy graduating college and getting employment, while he had become nothing but an unemployed thug that was rummaging through vending machines.

He knew he had to work, but he didn’t want to bow his head to other people just to earn chump change. He had already quit his part-time job at the convenience store after a few days when he punched a customer in the face. A customer should act like one. They shouldn’t be tossing money and acting arrogantly to the part-timer.

He didn’t want to work like that for an hourly wage of 3,500 won.

Just where did everything go wrong? This wasn’t supposed to be his life. Something must have gone gravely wrong.

Or maybe, he did not get his opportunity yet. Just like how cicadas would endure months in the ground before finally poking out of the ground to fly up in the air, something life-changing was bound to arrive in his life.

After deciding to think like that, he felt a little more comfortable. He did nothing wrong. He might have made a few mistakes but nothing was grave enough for his whole life to flop on its face.

There was bound to be an opportunity for reversal. There would be a chance so great that it would make him forget about this moment.

He used the back of his hand to scatter the pooled sweat between his chin and his neck. He had long since ran out of water.

When he looked around, he saw a convenience store. He was craving some cold ice cream. It was just when he was standing up after pushing against his knees,

“Hey, young man! Why are you staying here in front of another person’s restaurant the whole day?”

An ahjumma opened the door and shouted at him.

* * *

Thanks to the scorching heat, there were no customers, and she had just heard that the rent was going up, so she had been vexed to her bone. That was when she saw a random young man not moving an inch in front of her restaurant.

Normally, someone like him wouldn’t even have caught her eye. She would’ve just thought that he would leave after some time. However, she wasn’t feeling good today.

She opened the door and vented the frustration that had been piling up since morning today.

Hearing her words, the man slowly stood up. His short hair and baggy shirt entered her eyes first. The next moment, she made eye contact with him.

She felt her frustration disappear in an instant, and instead, felt like she had provoked the wrong guy. His exhausted-looking eyes were filled with unknown frustration. She instantly realized that he might explode with a small stimulus.

She had been running a barbecue restaurant for 10 years and knew that someone like him wouldn’t restrain himself. He was the type of guy to barge into the restaurant and cause a total mess.

It was likely that the police would be useless as well. At most, he would be rebuked, and he would then just come back later to cause another mess.

It seemed she had made a grave mistake this time. She flinched back before trying to close the door quietly.

The man approached her. Just as she was thinking that he was going to cause a mess at her restaurant and started to feel gloomy,

“I’m sorry. I was a little dazed thinking about something.”

The man lowered his head before raising it again.

She felt rather taken aback. The impression the man gave off, that felt like he might pick a fight with anyone around, had changed drastically. He looked so round now that he might just laugh it off even if he was sworn at. It was rather peculiar.

Did she see something wrong? Just a moment ago, he felt like a total thug, but now, he only looked the part, as he actually seemed to be a polite young man.

“I-I’m sorry too, for shouting at you all of a sudden.”

“No, that’s okay. I mean, the weather’s so hot.”

The young man scratched his eyebrows while laughing. Looking at that, she felt apologetic. The weather was hot enough that healthy young men would fall down from heat strokes. She had to be understanding that some people might rest in the shade. Just how exhausted must he have been that he had been dazed out without even being able to move?

Now that she had another look, he looked a little similar to her son, who had gone to military service at a late age.

Was she always such a stuck-up person? She felt sorry for saying something bad to a youth who was exhausted due to the heat.

“Wait a sec.”

She took out a drink from the refrigerator at her restaurant and gave it to the young man.

“It’s okay.”

“Take it. I just feel sorry. I didn’t take into account how exhausted you must have been to sit in front of my restaurant like this, and I snapped out at you.”

She felt a little better after giving him a drink even though he refused until the end.

“I’ll come by next time.”

“Alright. I’ll give you a lot of freebies.”

The youth smiled kindly before turning around. After he disappeared, she closed the door and sat down on a chair. Just why did such an innocent young man look so vicious a while ago, she had no idea.

She looked at the clock before opening the refrigerator in the kitchen. It was about time she got ready to receive evening customers.

* * *

Having returned to the hotel, Maru put the drink the lady gave him into the refrigerator.

As this was his first time playing a supporting character, he wanted to get into the role properly. So he acted and thought like Gomchi, which brought this trouble.

Before the lady talked to him, his nerves had been on the edge. If something went wrong, he might have blurted out vicious words at her.

His thoughts might become biased if he kept looking at the script, so he wore the character over himself and walked around the neighborhood.

Having touched upon method acting after a long time, it gave him more fatigue than he had imagined.

He took a shower and fell down on the bed. The easily angered nature of Gomchi still seemed to remain in his head and on his skin. It was truly hard to become less of himself and more of someone else.

He looked at the ceiling in a daze for a while and got some rest. He focused his senses on the sounds that came from the outside and then on the sounds coming from his body. He meditated lightly to hone his mind and control his body that had been exhausted by the sun.

-It’s over 37 degrees in Daegu. Watch out so you don’t get heat stroke.

That was a message from Haneul. He messaged her to be careful as well before standing up. Gomchi’s personality, which was filled with petty self-pity and dissatisfaction towards society, was now put away completely. He felt like he would be able to create a satisfactory character with some more polishing.

He read the book he brought from home before getting dressed and leaving the hotel. Today was the ceremonial day before the crank-in.

Usually, this would be done on the rooftop of the office of the production company, but the director said that he wanted to hold it in Daegu, where most of the shoot would occur.

He went to the appointed place. It was in front of a shipping container, which would be used as the base for the main characters in the movie.

He saw people gathered around. There were even some journalists holding cameras. It seemed that they had taken an interest after finding out that it was director Lim Hwanggeun’s attempt at something new.

He saw director Lim talking to a middle-aged man in a suit. He watched from a little distance away before approaching and greeting him.

“That’s a nice haircut you have there,” director Lim said while touching his hair slightly.

“Does it suit me?”

“It looks good. It’s just the image I want. A slightly awkward thug. Did you just come down to Daegu?”

“I came here a few days ago.”

“You came early.”

“I was planning to look around and get used to the air around here.”

Director Lim laughed before waving at someone else behind him. When he turned around, he saw Kim Hyuk approaching. Maru had seen this man in Seoul before, so he took a light bow.

“Director, the weather here’s terrific.”

“It’s heaven’s decree to shoot passionately.”

“I might collapse while shooting. Nice to see you here, Mr. Maru. You had a haircut?”

“Yep.”

“Now that I look at you, your face is something else. I might get overshadowed by you.”

Kim Hyuk smiled and showed off his neat hair. Having a clean image was important for him in the movie because he was the one leading the insurance scams, and Kim Hyuk suited the image of an intellectual scammer. He seemed to have chosen director Lim’s work this time in order to escape the image of being an actor specializing in romance.

“Let’s work well together.”

“Likewise. Please take care of me.”

“Don’t say that to me. We just have to hope that the director guides us well.”

All the actors gathered around director Lim. The CEO of the production company and the representative of the investors arrived as well.

The ceremonial table was soon set up. Although the food on the table was lacking compared to a full ceremony, they prepared a big pig’s head.

“We’ll take a photo now.”

The actors gathered in front of the table.

Maru stood next to Kim Hyuk. Kim Hyuk put an arm around his shoulder and winked. This man was easily approachable. It seemed that the atmosphere at the shoot was going to be good.

After taking a photo, they held the ceremony. The CEO of the production company put a money envelope into the pig’s mouth and said that he wanted 5 million in sales.

The other people also gathered around and added their own wishes as they put their money envelopes in the pig’s mouth.

The nearly hundred people in the production staff were staring at the money envelopes in the pig’s mouth. The amount of money gathered there was going to decide the menu for the get-together, so they couldn’t help but pay attention as well.

Maru also put an envelope in the pig’s mouth and commented in a small voice,

“I think 6 million is better than 5 million.”

Then, he smiled at the camera next to the ceremonial table. It was the camera they installed to make the making film.

Lastly, the director stepped forward.

“Let us all do our best so that the movie goes well. And since we’re shooting it, let’s get 10 million in sales. Those that mock me for producing cheap stuff should shut up if I hit ten million.”

After director Lim’s comment, he walked away from the ceremonial table. People applauded and laughed.

“Let’s put the table away and get some food. We’re going to eat and drink tonight and then work to death starting in two days, okay?”

Hearing the director’s words, the staff all replied yes.

Maru put a small piece of tteok in his mouth. The movie shoot that would continue for a month under the scorching heat had just begun.