Chapter 4
I took photos of the injuries scattered across my body.
When I wore clothes, they weren’t very visible, so it was strange how quickly the others concluded it was abuse just from seeing them.
After taking care of that, I sat down in a chair.
In the meantime, Do Jaeyeon found my profile that my aunt had posted on an online child actor recruitment board. From there, he began going through everything I had done—commercials, acting gigs, anything he could find.
I stared a little too intently at the three people digging through my past.
“Why is he looking at us like we’re so pitiful?”
“Hyung, just stay still.”
“Right. He’s not in his right mind, is he?”
They were starting to question my mental state.
I was happy to see people I thought I’d never see again, but to them, I was just some stranger. They probably thought I was weird.
To avoid their gaze, I pulled out a small notebook from my bag.
It had belonged to my late father. The first few pages contained his diary—three pages in total. All of them were mostly about me. Things like how much he loved me, how he wanted to be a better father… lies like that.
On one of those pages, I had written a bucket list.
Since I was supposed to die at thirty-seven, I wanted to do the things I still had left as much as possible.
- Travel somewhere
- Make friends
- Hear someone compliment my personality (including things like “keeps promises”)
And so on.
Ten items in total.
They were things I had wanted to do even before the regression.
Twenty years sounded like a lot, so I would probably gain many experiences. Hopefully, I could also act in many different roles.
While I was writing, Gam Suhan placed a printed script on the table.
“I was thinking we could read this together. Is that okay?”
I glanced at it and vaguely remembered it.
It was a script for a drama that would be released on OTT next year.
Come to think of it, it hadn’t even been released yet in this timeline.
The story was an ensemble drama about a group suicide incident at an elite high school.
The role given to me was a character named Shin Luka, a wealthy playboy. The scene was where he tests the female lead, Lee Yeri, who entered the school through a special admissions program, about her feelings for the male lead.
[S#10. Empty Classroom / Night]
(At the window, Yeri hands Luka a drink.)
Luka: (moving his hand) It’s cold… ah, by the way. Have you ever fallen for someone you hated?
Yeri: (sighs, as if she already knows who he’s talking about) No. Not now, not ever.
(Luka smiles teasingly at her reaction)
Luka: Right. That’s how everyone reacts. But I’m not talking about that person you’re thinking of. I mean… people in general. You know, those people who end up falling for someone they initially hated.
Yeri: (pretending not to care, but listening closely) Suppose they exist… so what?
Luka: I thought about why people fall in love like that. I’m so naturally likable that I can’t really imagine it myself, but I came to a conclusion.
Yeri: And what’s your conclusion?
Luka: They hated them without even trying to know them. If they had looked properly, they would’ve liked them. They just couldn’t see what was right in front of them.
Yeri: (snorts, but it doesn’t feel unrelated to her)
Luka: So here’s a warning. If you want to keep hating someone forever, make sure you never understand them. Otherwise, just look properly. Figure out who they are.
Lee Heeyoon read the script quickly with his eyes.
A completely different character from the boy sitting in front of them.
Focus is good.
Actors around this age usually struggled with concentration, but Heeyoon didn’t.
Acting was a job, after all, so beyond talent and visual suitability, there were many practical factors involved.
Among them, the most important was efficiency—an actor who could shorten filming time.
Filming time meant production costs. Heeyoon read quickly, fully focused, even in a room that still smelled faintly of fish stew.
Inside the soundproof meeting room, he immersed himself in the script.
Outside, Gong Seongbeom whispered to Do Jaeyeon:
“Doesn’t he keep staring at us too much?”
Do Jaeyeon snapped back:
“You yelled at a kid covered in bruises, boss.”
“I was just worried… I mean, doesn’t it feel like he has something else to say?”
While they worried about his mental state, Gam Suhan focused on the script reading with Heeyoon.
After finishing the script, Heeyoon called them in.
“We’ll start.”
Luka: (moving his hand) It’s cold… ah, by the way. Have you ever fallen for someone you hated?
From the very first line, Gong Seongbeom was impressed.
That alone was enough.
Heeyoon could act—and exceptionally well.
There was no unnecessary habit in his performance.
He fully absorbed the character and brought it to life.
Despite his long child-actor career and lack of formal training, there were no awkward habits at all.
Most importantly, he gave equal weight to the line and the stage direction—“It’s cold.” He moved his fingers as if actually touching something cold, reacting to it properly.
Even if the line seemed insignificant in the script, he treated it with precision.
A script is only an outline. A fragment of a much larger world.
An actor must imagine that entire world, not just their lines.
Words must not remain words. They must become action.
Heeyoon was a textbook example of that theory.
While reading Yeri’s lines, Gam Suhan kept glancing nervously at the others.
We have to take him. We have to.
Gam Suhan’s desperate eyes were answered silently.
Do Jaeyeon was already mentally drafting the introduction post for their new recruit, and Gong Seongbeom pulled out his “trump card.”
“Hey, Heeyoon… our company is small, but my father is actor Kang I-hyun. You know him?”
“I know him. He’s on a break right now.”
“Yeah, he’s taking a break—”
“Because he’s sick?”
Heeyoon asked calmly, as if it was nothing.
The three were slightly taken aback by how detached he seemed, but Gong nodded.
“Yeah, he’s ill. But he sometimes gives advice to our actors when they’re struggling with roles. He’s not great with people, but he’s helpful in his own way.”
Then he got to the point.
“So… would you stay there? At our family home.”
“Oh?”
“No rent.”
“Really?”
“Just… don’t expect a warm, cozy atmosphere. He’s a bit of a difficult old man. Just talk to him sometimes.”
“Why are you calling it ‘just talking’? It’s acting advice, right?”
“Yeah, but our old man is kind of—”
“So you call acting discussions ‘just talking’ even though you manage actors?”
Heeyoon frowned, making the adults momentarily flustered.
Then he relaxed his expression again.
“Fine. I’ll stay there. You already said it, so you can’t take it back.”
“Do you think we’re the kind of people who’d take back housing for a kid?”
Heeyoon gave them a strange look.
But then he nodded.
“No. You don’t seem like the type. The kind of people who take back housing.”
On the way to my uncle’s house to sign the contract, one thing kept bothering me.
I knew Leader Actors had gone bankrupt.
I knew a giant company, Mobidick Entertainment, had absorbed them.
But I couldn’t understand why these people had been dragged into that collapse to the point of losing their lives.
Yes, I had been difficult—but that didn’t erase the fact that I was a profitable actor.
I earned well.
More importantly, my earnings had helped Leader Actors nurture great actors and produce award-winning works twice. Even if they weren’t financially successful.
So I wanted to know.
Why did they have to end like that?
And if I knew… I wanted to save them this time.
Whenever I desperately wanted something, that kind of deal always appeared.
At ten, when I was freezing to death.
At thirty-seven, when life felt meaningless.
And now, at sixteen, wanting to save those three idiots who still suspected I might be Gong Seongbeom’s hidden son.
I was desperate.
[The deal is proposed.]
[By using 5 years of your lifespan, you may access information regarding (Leader Actors’ collapse).]
[Do you accept the deal?]
…Hah.
Thirty-two is a bit early…
The fact that I was hesitating meant I probably didn’t love them that much.
I let out a bitter laugh—and cursed.
“Hyung, try not to swear too much,” Gam Suhan said softly beside me.
But Do Jaeyeon in the passenger seat shouted loudly.
“Hey! Don’t swear in front of adults!”
His voice was so loud that Gam Suhan panicked and covered my ears with his hands.
This was it.
The family I had missed.
Do Jaeyeon, who scolded me while trying to fix my broken behavior, and Gam Suhan, who tried to protect me with unconditional affection, believing love could solve anything.
And Gong Seongbeom, who always said, “He’s practically a founding member, cut him some slack.”
They were my real family.
My fake family.
I looked at them again.
Now I thought—
I might finally be able to act this feeling properly.
I might finally be able to act… like I was happy to see them.
