The Haunted Monster Actor - Chapter 73



Only Noblemtl

Episode 73

My jaw is swollen and I can’t breathe.

It feels like being thrown into a heavy mud puddle where it’s hard to move even a finger.

Your eyes, your voice… … I can tell just by your presence.

‘Not you, bring Oryul.’

Jeong Eui-shin began to act like Oh Yul, as if he was being forcibly dragged out with his limbs tied tightly.

[Nineties Dive – Dialogue for Role Analysis]

S#?. Conversation on and below the dark and empty stage.

O-Yul asked, squeezing his voice as if spitting out the mud that had accumulated in his chest.

“Who are you…?”

“Me? Jiyuhan.”

O-Yul shook his head at the stranger’s answer.

“No, you’re not Jiyuhan. The Jiyuhan I know isn’t the kind of guy who would carelessly call himself nothing… … worthless… …!”

The look in Oh Yul’s eyes as he speaks in a passionate voice somehow resembles Ji Yu-han.

It was then that a bitter smile appeared on Jiyuhan’s lips after hearing Oh Yul’s answer.

“Are you alone?”

“… … ?”

“Where are your other friends? Where’s Junghyuk? Where’s Wooram? No, it’s been 15 years and you still don’t have any friends besides them? That’s right, I told you to smile more often. If you just have that gloomy expression on your face, who would come near you? They’ll all run away.”

Heheheehe.

O-Yul met Yoo-Han’s laughter with ridicule.

“… … You were the one who ran away, leaving us behind. Do you… … think you have the right to say something like that?”

“Yes, that’s right. I went alone, just like you said. But, there’s one thing I’m curious about.”

“… … ?”

“What on earth have you guys been doing all this time?”

Jiyuhan’s twisted face becomes distorted once again.

As if cracks were appearing in the mask worn on one’s face.

The reality that Oh Yul knew, the dream, and Ji Yu-han’s existence begin to become distorted.

“… … That damn Jiyuhan, Jiyuhan, Jiyuhan! Every time I heard your voices in the darkness where I couldn’t even move my head, let alone play guitar, every time you continued your disgusting performance using me as an accompaniment, I felt like tearing my ears off. Why… … won’t you let me go?”

One day, Oryul suddenly had that thought.

“Every time I want to drink, every time things don’t go well, every time I wish for something I can’t reach, every time I feel sad or miserable over trivial things—!”

“… … .”

“Calling my name… … Making excuses about ‘Jiyuhan’… …!”

Up until now, haven’t I been running away from reality?

“You must know what I’m going to say by the look on your face, right? Yes, that’s right. It wasn’t me who was running away, it was you guys.”

Before he knew it, Jiyuhan’s gaze was turned to the guitar leaning against one wall of the studio.

“I am no longer everyone’s dream.”

You guys just made it up yourself.

“It’s a vain delusion.”

The two people’s ‘opera’ ended there.

* * *

“… … .”

Jeong Eui-shin was silent for a while.

Because he didn’t really know how to express what he had just encountered.

It can only be felt with the senses.

Goosebumps running up my entire body.

Kim Hyun-soo’s acting in the opera just now was…

‘It has transcended any category.’

In a word, out of specification.

The reason for this expression was simple.

This is because Jeong Ee-shin was unable to ‘interpret’ Kim Hyun-soo’s acting at all, which he had just seen.

‘I feel like I’m possessed by a ghost.’

As soon as the opera ended, Kim Hyun-soo frantically wrote down the lines he had said in his guitar textbook.

What is difficult about Jeong-i Shin’s gaze as she looks at Hyun-soo like that is a kind of ‘awe’.

‘I’m a genius? That’s funny.’

Jeong Eui-shin encountered an actor who fit that description for the first time.

‘I see, now I understand.’

The ’empty feeling’ that Hyun-soo felt when he recited Oh-yool’s lines during the script reading.

It was clearly in line with the emotions and sentiments he had analyzed.

‘And yet, I was doing the analysis wrong.’

Jeong Eui-shin met Kim Hyun-soo today to confirm that part.

And now, Jeong-in Shin could understand the source of the discomfort she had been feeling from Hyun-soo.

‘It’s not like an analysis. It’s just… … an instinctive understanding of the text.’

It’s different from method acting and imagination.

Just now, Hyunsoo Kim spoke not as the text in the script, but as Jiyuhan.

It was then that Hyun-soo, who had been writing his lines absentmindedly, opened his mouth.

“Senior… … did you think of all the members of Rising Dive as ‘one person’?”

Jeong Eui-shin nodded.

“As it is shown in the dialogue, I think of the members of Rising Dive as a kind of ‘persona.’ Of course, the subject is always Jiyuhan.”

Persona.

A mask used in ancient Greek mask plays, and the origin of the word ‘person’.

It is usually interpreted as a social mask that people use to manage the image they present to others.

“Actor Kim Hyun-soo described Oh Yul as the antagonist, but from my perspective, the true antagonist of this play is none other than… … .”

“Jiyuhan.”

“Yes. Now do you see why I used the word ‘ambivalence’?”

So, in the first place, it is meaningless to distinguish between Ji-yu-han and Oh-yul as the antagonist.

According to Jeong Eui-shin’s interpretation, the two were originally mirrors reflecting each other.

For Ji Yu-han, error is an obstacle that denies his own existence.

But that’s also the case with errors.

Oh Yul has been denying Ji Yu-han’s absence for the past 15 years.

“So, in the end, the two are two sides of the same coin that will become one.”

This was the reason why Jeong Eui-shin constantly spoke to other members besides Oh Yul through ‘Dialogue Record’.

“Actually, I don’t think it’s a particularly special interpretation. After all, all the characters in the drama are derived from one writer. In other words, you could say they’re the writer’s personas.”

And, Hyun-soo, who was listening to Jeong-i-shin’s ‘interpretation’, had his eyes closed.

The aftereffects of having lost the initiative to the musicians until just now made the stage in Hyun-soo’s mind clearer than ever.

‘A mask… … That makes some sense. However, something is still missing.’

The feelings Hyunsoo felt towards ‘Musician’ were completely different from those of Oh Yul.

‘It was the first time I felt negative emotions from a musician.’

Hyun-soo in the picture soon began to move along with traces of emotions that could not be identified as anger, sadness, or regret.

But I couldn’t find a trace of that emotion anywhere, on or off stage.

The musicians are playing with excited faces as always, and the audience is still enthusiastic.

Hyun-soo’s field of vision, which had been wandering around like that, now reached the audience members who were sitting on the ‘outskirts where the stage lights couldn’t reach.’

It’s hard to see because it’s dark, but their mouths are also smiling happily.

‘… … It must be somewhere. Did I misunderstand something?’

That’s the moment when I was trying to escape from my thoughts without any particular results.

‘… … Wait a minute. The stage lights aren’t reaching you?’

Hyunsoo, who realized something, chased the fragments of emotion once again.

This time, instead of checking the audience’s faces from the stage, he floated up and looked down as if he was looking down.

‘Higher, higher.’

And so, it was only when the stage had shrunk to the size of a small coin that Hyun-soo finally saw the sight.

“……pit.”

Except for the stage that is flickering in the center, the rest of the area is covered in darkness with nothing.

Yes, that’s right.

Hyunsoo had been inside the ‘black pit’ ever since he had the dream.

As Hyun-soo became aware of the ‘negative emotions’ inside the pit, the darkness surrounding the stage began to ripple.

It’s like a sparkling stage in the center… … .

‘The way she hugs you as if she’s precious.’

The darkness that fell asleep while embracing the stage.

“I think I found it.”

It was the true nature of a musician.

* * *

“… … Can I go to the script reading one more time?”

Jeong-i-shin nodded at Hyun-soo’s question.

The two actors continued reading the script until dark.

Or, engage in heated discussions about characters and works.

We also tried to match the rhythm of the song together.

As he exchanged lines with Jeong-in Shin and shared his views and discourses with him, Hyun-soo’s inner self expanded.

Ugh, ugh, ugh… … .

The two actors who had been expressing their passionate emotions were now lying on the practice room floor, breathing heavily.

While they were both catching their breath in silence, Hyunsoo opened his mouth.

“Thank you very much, Senior Jeong-i-shin.”

He had no hesitation in sharing what he analyzed, studied, and discovered.

“There is no need to be thankful. As I said before, if there is a limit, there is also a limit.”

Before, I just heard this saying that I had to do it right so as not to tarnish my acting.

But now Hyunsoo knows.

Jeong Ee-shin’s interpretation does not distinguish between Oh Yul and Ji Yu-han, Shin Jung-hyeok and Cha Woo-ram.

To him, everything is ‘Rising Dive’.

That is, it is not because of his acting… … he is just putting his heart into Rising Dive.

“Actually, I wanted to help actors Kang Ji-hoon and Song Ah-jin like I did to them just now.”

“… … Rather than trying to help, I just wanted to give you my personal analysis of the two roles.”

We decided to call it ‘help’, sir.

‘… … Haha, this character is more complicated than Oryul.’

In the end, it was just the wrong way of saying it, but Jeong-in Shin was trying to convey the results of her serious thoughts as an actor to an actor.

“… … Don’t you ask why my words and actions are a little different from those of ordinary people?”

Hyunsoo tilts his head at Jeong-i-shin’s unexpected question.

“Once our relationship progressed to a certain point… … he would always, almost to the point of being certain, ask me about my strange words and actions.”

In short, I was saying that it was about time for you to start getting curious.

The reason why Jeong-i Shin is ‘different’ from ordinary people.

‘I became a hedgehog again.’

Although he tried hard to keep his tone indifferent, Hyunsoo could tell from the conversation he had with Jeong-in that the sun had set.

Jeong-in’s voice now contains concern and worry about something.

Hyunsoo’s mouth was suddenly filled with a small smile as he looked at Jeong-in, who was unable to make eye contact with him properly.

‘I think I know why actor Jeong-in Jeong… … wanted to do this piece.’

Hyunsoo, who was wondering what to say, finally opened his mouth.

“It wasn’t just a little bit.”

“……yes?”

“It seems very, very different.”

“Is that about…?”

“Yes, that’s about it.”

“… … It may not seem like it, but I’m trying to overcome it… … .”

“If a senior tries hard, that is truly foul play.”

“… … ?”

“Not only are you a genius, but your passion for your work is also so extraordinary that it’s beyond what ordinary people have, Senior! Isn’t this just too much, making it hard to keep up?”

“……yes?”

As Jeong-i-shin looked at him with a bewildered face, Hyun-soo looked back at him and smiled.

“Senior, you’d look cooler if you smiled.”

Soon, small cracks began to appear on Jeong-i-shin’s dry face.

… … Huh.

Oh, I really laughed.

But that only lasted for a moment, as Jeong-in-shin suddenly got up from her seat and began to gather up the scripts scattered on the floor.

“Oh, today… … was the most fruitful time I’ve had in a while.”

“Can I help you?”

“No, I can take care of it.”

“Other than that.”

“… … ?”

“Can I help you build good relationships with other actors?”

“… … .”

Jeong-in turns her head at Hyun-soo’s words.

“Friend. Even without that, I haven’t had any major inconveniences in my acting career so far. And why would actor Kim Hyun-soo help me? There’s no benefit to doing such annoying things.”

“If there is any benefit, there is one. It is a very big benefit that you personally told me about.”

“… … ?”

“Without error, there is no limit.”

As he spoke, Hyun-soo’s eyes began to shine like ‘stars’.

The next moment, the words that came out of Hyun-soo’s mouth sounded like ‘a pleasant performance’ to Jeong-in’s ears.

“And Jiyuhan will never leave his friend alone.”

Continued in the next episode ▶