Chapter 82:
Chapter 82
Actor Park Sang-chul had successfully finished the first day of the Korean Theater Festival and was watching the rest of the performances.
The one he was most looking forward to was none other than the last performance of the festival, ‘Spring of Joseon’.
The incident he had experienced at the Korean Theater Association still gave him a headache whenever he lay down in bed.
-What is the purpose of you seniors participating in the Korean Theater Festival!
He still remembered the last words of Young-guk.
‘What a cheeky bastard.’
He had never seen anyone talk so rudely in front of his seniors before. But he couldn’t say anything because it wasn’t wrong.
Confronting Young-guk there would only be like spitting on his own face, and he felt the gaze of the chairman of the association who was watching them from the end of the hall, so he had no choice but to let it go.
‘Let’s see.’
At first, he sat in the audience with the thought of seeing how well he could do. But as the curtain and the scene repeated, Park Sang-chul’s throat began to shake.
Usually, the most eye-catching thing on the stage of a play is the lead actor. But if the lead actor can’t perform the blocking skillfully and acts awkwardly, the harmony of all the actors tends to collapse. But.
‘Is that kid really a newbie?’
He thought he wouldn’t be good at acting in a play.
Especially on such a big stage. Just looking at the number of spectators in the audience, it was natural for a rookie actor to shake his hands and feet. But Young-guk was dominating the stage.
He was more noticeable than the senior actors who had once held the reputation of the theater world.
-My lord, why do you seduce Japanese women like that? Every time you cause trouble, I’m so scared that I can’t leave you alone!
-Chun-sam, what are you so afraid of? And I’m not someone who goes around without a purpose. It’s all for the sake of restoring the spring of Joseon. Movement.
-Movement is nonsense, what you do every night is movement. And what do you mean by the spring of Joseon? Haven’t you seen the cherry blossoms blooming on the streets of Gyeongseong? I really don’t understand what’s in your mind, my lord.
On the stage, Baek Mu-yeol smiled faintly and looked at the audience.
-Chun-sam, how can you know my intentions.
At that moment, actor Park Sang-chul, who was sitting in the audience, flinched.
He felt as if Baek Mu-yeol’s gaze on the stage was looking at him.
After a moment, Park Sang-chul’s face turned red like a ripe persimmon.
‘That crazy bastard.’
And then he broke out in a cold sweat without knowing it.
He was Park Sang-chul, who had spent his whole life on the stage of a play. But every time he watched Young-guk’s first play, he wondered about himself.
Could he have dominated the stage like that rookie actor when he was young?
***
The streets of Gyeongseong were already full of cherry blossoms.
At a time when there were few people, Baek Mu-yeol and Misaki walked hand in hand.
Their eyes met under the faint moonlight.
“Mu-yeol, isn’t it beautiful? We planted the saplings that our people brought when we established the Governor-General’s Office in Joseon, and they’ve already grown this much. I wish I could go to Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺) in Kyoto with Mu-yeol someday and enjoy the cherry blossoms together. It would be wonderful to walk the streets of Kyoto holding hands.”
Baek Mu-yeol answered Misaki’s question with a faint smile.
And he looked at the cherry blossoms that bloomed all over the streets of Gyeongseong and calmed his troubled heart.
Soon, there were signs in Japanese all over the streets, and people wearing traditional Japanese clothes were common.
The clattering sound of the wooden shoes, called geda (下馱), was heard, and they wore sword sheaths on their sides as if they were proud.
He would be lying if he said he didn’t hate it.
“Someday I would love to walk the streets of Kyoto with Misaki, as you say, it would be very beautiful. But I guess I can’t compare to you. By the way, I heard that the governor-general is so busy with his duties that he can’t visit his residence often. Is that true?”
“Yes, that’s why there are fewer guards at the mansion. I came over the wall secretly today to meet Mu-yeol. Mu-yeol, why don’t you go to Kyoto with me? If I tell my father, he will surely change your status to Japanese.”
“I’ll have to think about that for a while, Misaki. I can’t go anywhere with you, but I still have things to do in this land.”
“Hmph. Do you hate Japan? Or do you hate being with me?”
Baek Mu-yeol brushed off the cherry blossom petals that fell on Misaki’s head with his long fingers.
“How can I hate you, who are more beautiful than cherry blossoms. But how can I go to Kyoto and live alone when my country is in such chaos. By the way, did you bring what I asked for?”
“I might have written it weirdly because I copied it secretly from my father’s room. But you really have to look at Mu-yeol. Why do you need information on the high-ranking officials of the Governor-General’s Office?”
“Don’t you know, to do a big business in Joseon, you have to watch out for the Governor-General’s Office. But there are also officials of the Governor-General’s Office who are not known to the world, and there are people who mingle with the independence fighters under the name of spies under the Governor-General’s Office. If I make a mistake in front of those unidentified people, I won’t have this neck left. As you can see, I’m also a Joseonese.”
“Do you hate Joseon being under Japan’s rule?”
“What would a bird trapped in a cage wish for? I can’t help but hate it in a world where I can’t fly as I please. But if you look at me with that look, I won’t read this document.”
At that moment, Baek Mu-yeol tore up the document that Misaki had handed him. Misaki looked at him with wide eyes in surprise. And then he gestured to a beggar who was passing by to make fun of him.
“Hey, you. Can you read Japanese?”
The beggar limped over and bowed his head. Misaki frowned at the sight of the beggar with many scars on his face.
“He can’t even write Korean properly, how can he know Japanese.”
“Well, it’s not much, but it’s enough to buy a bowl of warm meat soup. I’ll give you this money, so burn these torn papers on your way.”
“Oh, my, you’re giving me so much money for such a thing. I’ll do as you say, sir.”
The beggar lay flat on the ground and took the money and the torn papers. As he watched the beggar go away, Baek Mu-yeol got up from his seat first.
“I secretly called a rickshaw, so get on. I think I have to go first today.”
“Mu-yeol, so soon. Did I make you angry?”
“Of course not. My heart is rising as much as the moonlight towards you. If we stay together like this, I don’t know what to do with you.”
Baek Mu-yeol gave a short kiss on Misaki’s forehead and turned away.
At that moment, as if he had been waiting, the rickshaw came to Misaki.
Misaki’s face was red like a radish. But whether he knew it or not, Mu-yeol soon disappeared into the darkness.
***
“Yu-senior, it seems like we’re not the only ones who came here, right?”
AD Kim Young-min scans the audience and whispers in a small voice.
As he said, there were not only ordinary spectators, but also many broadcasters in the seats.
Among them were some famous PDs, and the most noticeable one was none other than Kim Jin PD of SBC.
‘He’s in charge of the next project.’
Didn’t the rumor spread in the broadcasting world that SBC was making a luxury drama this summer, ahead of the second half of the year?
The person who took the megaphone was none other than Kim Jin PD.
He made history in SBC’s drama department with last year’s drama ‘Youth’.
Maybe that’s why the production cost of the luxury drama he’s taking on this time is twice as much as other dramas.
“Is that Kim Jin PD?”
“Yes, senior. I met him when I was an FD and the shooting site overlapped with SBC. But I heard a rumor that he still hasn’t decided on the lead role for his next work.”
At this point, not much time left until the drama production, he still postponed the decision on the lead role.
The reason he came here must be nothing else.
‘He must be eyeing him.’
He already had an experience of working with Young-guk in the drama ‘Youth’. Not to mention the drama was a hit, it would be a lie if he didn’t covet Young-guk.
There are two tendencies among drama actors.
Actors that PDs love and actors that viewers love.
No matter how popular and high-rated they are, there are always actors who are difficult to shoot.
For example, there are actors who make excessive demands, and there are also those who end the shooting without asking the director’s opinion, as if they were the director themselves. But on the contrary, Young-guk is neither fussy nor rude.
He is also an actor that viewers love, so he can’t help but be tempted.
‘But still, how can he be so conscienceless.’
There is already a widespread rumor in the broadcasting world.
At the SBC Acting Awards ceremony last year, Young-guk broke everyone’s expectations and won the Excellence Award.
There were many opinions that he received a lower evaluation than he deserved, considering the ratings, the popular syndrome he showed, and his acting skills.
The reason for that was that Young-guk had annoyed the high-ranking officials of SBC at the time.
He refused to go to Japan, and he didn’t do any extension broadcasts, so they got angry. But despite that, Kim Jin PD came to the Korean Theater Festival. To cast Young-guk.
‘I can’t lose.’
The famous PD clenches his fist and looks at the stage.
At that moment, some of the PDs in the audience, except Kim Jin PD, looked at Young-guk on the stage with the same eyes as the famous PD.
***
The stage is a brothel in Gyeongseong.
The place is filled with the laughter of the courtesans and the smell of fermenting yeast.
Misaki, who followed him all the way here, looks around nervously. But the guests of the brothel are already drunk and pay no attention to them.
With the guidance of a courtesan, Baek Mu-yeol and Misaki cautiously enter a room. Misaki looks uncomfortable as the courtesans act friendly towards Baek Mu-yeol.
“Mu-yeol, why did you ask me to meet you here?”
“It’s easier to avoid attention in a crowded place. I’m the one who runs this place. All the guests who came today are people I know. The courtesans are also friends who get along with me, so don’t worry. The reason I called you here today is that I have something to tell you.”
“You run this place?”
He was notorious for being a libertine, and his business acumen was also said to be exceptional. But he never expected him to run a brothel. But even that doubt soon fades away in front of Baek Mu-yeol’s smile.
“I thought you had changed your mind after not seeing me for several days since that day. I was sorry then. No matter how I think about it, it’s clear that our Japan did something wrong, but I said something difficult…”
“Stop, I already know your feelings. You even sent me a letter through Chun-sam. I wanted to reply to you, but I had a hard time holding back. Today, I have a brother I want to introduce to you. Can I show you?”
Just then, a man (actor Lee Chang-hoon) walks into the room with the guidance of a courtesan. He has a dignified walk, a tiger-like gaze, and countless scars on his face. Misaki’s eyes widen as he looks at him.
He was the beggar he saw on the street of Gyeongseong on the night of the full moon. But now he is not limping or showing a servile expression like he did then. The courtesan steps aside.
“Mu-yeol…?”
Misaki looks at Baek Mu-yeol with a puzzled look, wondering what’s going on. Baek Mu-yeol gets up from his seat and hugs the approaching man warmly. Then he introduces the man to Misaki with a faint smile.
“This is Kim Sang-ok, a member of the Gyeongseong Righteous Army.”
Misaki’s eyes light up like a lantern at the name of the Righteous Army (義烈團). He knows it too.
The biggest headache for the Joseon Governor-General’s Office is the Righteous Army of Joseon.
A militant group formed by the independence fighters of the Shinheung Military Academy in Manchuria.
Among them, Kim Sang-ok’s name was famous. His father, Governor-General Terauchi Arasuke, always told his subordinates nervously to catch the Korean Kim Sang-ok.
Misaki’s eyes tremble as if there was an earthquake.
At that moment, Baek Mu-yeol holds Misaki’s hand, which is shaking like a willow tree, and says.
“Misaki, how much do you trust me?”
“Mu-yeol, I would believe anything you say. But I don’t understand what’s going on right now. Why are you suddenly introducing me to a member of the Righteous Army…”
“What I felt while meeting you all this time is that there are people in Japan who have the same pure heart as we do. So.”
Baek Mu-yeol looks at Misaki squarely and says.
“I hope you will help the birds trapped in the cage.”
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