Life, Once Again!

Chapter 80

Chapter 80

“Mr . Junmin seems to be very rich . ”

Maru and Ganghwan were sitting in front of a convenience store . A big one, that saw the faces of many people that passed by .

“He really is . You know land in Gangnam is exploding in value right now, right?”

“Yes . ”

“Four years ago… At least, I think it was four years ago . I was walking in Gangnam with him for work, and Senior just casually pointed out a few buildings on the road and told me this: ‘those are mine . ’ I couldn’t even laugh back then because of how nonsensical he sounded right there . But what makes him amazing isn’t his land, it’s the types of people he can call using his name . ”

“I noticed he doesn’t often like to attend events with famous celebrities . I suppose he isn’t overtly social?”

“You seem very interested in him . ”

“He’s contractually above me, after all . In a contract worth 300 million won at that . I thought it’d be good for me to keep that in mind . ”

“ . . . Fair enough . He doesn’t like complicated things . Well, except for messes related to dogs . It’s his dream to buy a mansion somewhere and live there with his dogs . Apparently he can do it right now if he wanted, though . ”

Likes dogs… Maru thought a leash would make a nice gift in the future . For a relationship forged in business like this, small gifts were important . You never know how long you could maintain this relationship in the future, so it was always good to build trust when you could . As the two of them kept talking casually, Ganghwan suddenly put an index finger on his mouth .

“Look over there . ”

Ganghwan was gesturing towards a woman in a gray coat . She looked good in it, especially paired with a hat of the same color .

“How old does she seem?”

“Twenty four?”

“What do you think she does?”

“Probably a college student? One that’s waiting for her friends . ”

“What are her friends like?”

“I don’t really . . . ”

Only detectives in novels would be able to accurately ascertain information like that, Maru looked at Ganghwan curiously .

“I’m not looking for an exact answer . Just imagine, turn that woman into a character . Notice her shoes, They’re sneakers, not heels, right? Hm, I wonder why . If she was here to meet her boyfriend, she probably did that to level the height with her shorter boyfriend . ”

“Or maybe she hurt her ankle . ”

“Very nice opinion . Observe a little more, but don’t try to be too intrusive . What else can you gather?”

Maru carefully observed the woman a little more .

“She’s wearing a ring on her finger . ”

“As a simple accessory, or something a little more than that?”

“Looks like an engagement ring . ”

“How does she feel?”

“Probably excited waiting for her boyfriend . ”

“Maybe . Or perhaps she’s very mad at this person?”

“What?”

Right then, the woman in the gray coat stood right up . Her hands were clenched into very tight fists . Maru followed her gaze across the street to where she was staring . A man was walking towards the woman with a smile on his face . He was a little bigger than the woman . When he walked up to her and said, ‘sorry, I’m late’, the woman threw her phone on the ground .

The phone broke with a pretty loud crack . The man looked at it confusedly, before realizing something . He tried to explain himself, but the woman didn’t seem interested at all . Her foot swung right up and hit the man squarely in the stomach . That kick seemed to have quite a lot of power in it, too . The man fell right back .

“Wow!”

Ganghwan whistled, and clapped . The people around the convenience store all turned to look at what was going on .

“Don’t talk to me ever again, you piece of trash . ”

The woman grabbed her bag and walked away . For a split second, Maru saw a taekwondo uniform with a black belt inside it .

“How did you know they were going to fight?”

“I heard her talk when you were buying the coffee . ”

“ . . . . . . ”

“What?”

“Why did you ask me those questions, then?”

“To invoke your imagination . What else? It was just a simple game . ”

Ganghwan grabbed his drink on the table .

“What is an actor?”

Two days had passed since they first met each other, but Maru was already getting quite used to Ganghwan’s way of talking . The man was like a daydreamer, he stared dumbly into the air for a while before asking a question out of nowhere . Trying to get context out of this man was pointless . You just had to focus on the present moment when you were with this man .

“A person who acts . ”

The topic of their conversation changed, as if the woman in the coat was never mentioned in the first place . Maru took a sip of coffee as well .

“What do you think acting is, then?”

A follow-up question . This time, Maru thought a bit before answering .

“A person who imitates an imaginary character, I think . ”

“Imitates a character . Huh, that’s the right answer . ”

“ . . . How many right answers do you have in your head, coach? So far, everything I said was right . ”

“I don’t think there are any wrong answers in the world . There might be a chance that my answer could be proven otherwise by you . There are no wrong answers, only possibilities . ”

“What’s one plus one?”

“ . . . Maybe in some other universe, the answer is three, you bastard . ”

“I’ll take that for now . ”

“The sun rose in the east a hundred days ago, it rose in the east ten days ago, and it rose in the east yesterday as well . So the sun must rise in the east tomorrow as well . In the world of logic, that may be true, but who really knows? Maybe the sun would rise in the west tomorrow . ”

“Earth is going to end if that happens . ”

“You know what I mean, I’m not trying to question scientific logic . Acting is one of those many jobs that require a human to be creative . But, unlike other jobs similar to it, acting shines only when you hide yourself more and more . ”

“You shine when you hide yourself?”

“Ever heard of method acting?”

“Yes . ”

“You’re smart, so I trust that you got the gist of what I’m talking about?”

“I do . ”

Actors have a role . The role can change depending on the situation, but more often than not, it was completely different from who that actor really was . It could be a fictional character, or a real one . But what was important was that the actor and the character who they were trying to act were not the same person . Method acting, it was a type of acting where the actor immersed themselves with their character .

“Immersion . What do you think that means?”

“I think it means to focus, or to dive into something . Instructor Miso liked to describe it as ‘going insane for something’ . ”

“Focus, dive, insanity . Do you know what these three things have in common?”

“Um, to focus?”

“Correct . But if you go a little deeper, you’ll come to the same answer I gave you a moment ago . To forget about yourself . Do you like movies?”

“I do . ”

“What genre?”

“Thrillers . ”

“Alright . Let’s say your favorite actor, director, and etc decided to make a movie together . When you’re watching that movie, you’d only be thinking of that movie, right?”

“Yes . ”

“You would stop thinking about petty thoughts . As a matter of fact, you’d focus right on the movie . You probably won’t be able to think of anything else during the climax, either . Do you think about what’s going to happen tomorrow, what you’re doing right now, and what you’re going to eat after the movie during its climax?”

“Of course not . I’d only be thinking of the movie . ”

“That’s right . The first thing you forget when you focus is yourself . Your needs will completely disappear from your mind . You don’t even realize that you forgot about yourself, even . There is nothing else to see, you’re only looking at what you’re doing now . You stop being able to live without it . ”

“Like a drug . ”

“Famous actors didn’t do drugs for nothing . It lets you forget yourself . Completely . Focus is the greatest form of happiness a person can experience . So when a person can find something to focus on, they forget everything else . When they stop being able to focus, they writhe in pain . ”

“That almost makes me not want to focus on something . ”

Ganghwan laughed .

“Maybe . Ah, anyway . I said an actor shines more the more he hides himself, right?”

“Yes . ”

“But at one point, there comes a time when your character and role become one . Art is all like that . At first, everyone imitates someone else . Even when you write a song, a story, or whatever . You imitate someone who’s better than you . Acting’s no different . ”

Ganghwan stiffened his expression like a character from a sad play . His voice was still light and jovial, making him look like a character from a dark comedy .

“That’s how everyone improves, before having the ability to create something of their own . It won’t be something that is purely theirs, but you have to admit, it’s work that they’ve put their own twist on . It’s just that in the case of acting, the actor has to imitate others longer than others . You need to prove that to the characters that you’re playing, and not yourself . You’ve heard this line before too, right? I saw so and so in this movie, instead of the main character . ”

“Yes . I’ve seen it at movie recommendations on TV before . ”

“That line is both an insult and a praise for an actor . Let’s say a no-name actor acted on stage . If the audience tells him they thought of the main character of the play when they see him, he’d feel good, right?”

“Right . Because he was praised . ”

“But the story changes when this no-name actor becomes famous . People start asking for two things at once: I want to see the character portrayed by this actor . The next step to erasing yourself is to melt yourself in your character . ”

“So that’s why double casting is a thing . ”

“Well, that has reasons of its own, but you’re not wrong . Some people don’t just watch a play for the play itself, but others want to see how a play is changed when a different actor assumes the same role . Jang Heebin played by Jeon Doyeon and Jang Heebin played by Kim Hyesoo . No matter how much an actor tries to erase themselves, a part of themselves will be imparted in their own character . Plus, when they get famous, the way they fuse themselves with their character would be how they’ll be judged for their skill . ”

“Do you have your own character, coach?”

Ganghwan shook his head quickly .

“I’m a baby chick who can’t even erase myself completely yet, I have to think about that later . ”

“So I guess I would be a baby baby chick in that sense?”

“ . . . Don’t ever make jokes when you go out . You just smell like an old man when you joke . How do you even joke like that at that age?”

“W-who knows?”

Maru avoided eye contact for a second, which made Ganghwan narrow his eyes .

“Well, I think we can call it in with theory for today . Back to the practical stuff . ”

Ganghwan stood up, which made Maru sigh .

“Do we really have to do this?”

“Actors need to use their body . They also need experience . It’s good to get that experience whenever you can . ”

Maru scratched his eyebrow before putting on the sunglasses Ganghwan gave him . He closed his eyes, and grabbed the cane next to him . He stood up with Ganghwan’s help .

“Create an image of the street in your head . You saw it before already . ”

“What kind of a freakish genius do you think I am?”

“You’re not a genius, I know, but I also know you have a really good memory . Just do it . Once your vision disappears, the body finds other methods to cope . Listen for noises around you . Feel the wind stroking your skin . Notice how the earth feels under your feet . ”

“Does this really help me?”

“Depends on how you do this . ”

“Hah . . . ”

Maru stepped forward, relying on his cane for vision .

“Who knows, maybe there will be a blind role for you in the future?”

Maru could hear Ganghwan laugh behind him . Was he making fun of Maru, or was he really intent on teaching? It’s already been two days since Maru started walking blindly on the street .