Come Back

“Can I ask you to do something free-roaming? If the actor wants… anything, that’s fine.”

It would have been better if you had specifically told me what to do.

“What are you hesitating for? Just do something.”

The useless CEO just kept squealing in a low voice.

Choi Hong-seo, with permission from Director Kang, brought a chair from the back table. He placed the chair facing the man at the head of the table, took off his tuxedo jacket and draped it over the backrest. He took off his bow tie and placed it on top of it, and unbuttoned two buttons of his shirt. He untied his neck and folded the fingers of his right hand one by one. One, two, three, four… five.

“How could this happen! Falling asleep in the dressing room, what a burn!”

The old man’s self-deprecating voice burst out of Choi Hong-seo’s mouth. It was acting that naturally captured the character’s characteristics through speech and actions, rather than an exaggerated voice that tried to imitate an old man too much.

“The show ended a long time ago, and everyone has left the theater… and you’re still snoring so peacefully, falling asleep? You old punk! You useless old dog, you!”

It was the opening scene of Anton Chekhov’s “The Song of the Stork.”

“Yegorka, damn you! Petrushka! You devils, you’re all asleep. A hundred devils and a witch are breathing in your mouths, Yegorka!”

Choi Hong-seo walked to the chair with his jacket and bow tie hanging over his head, limping slightly. Like an old man whose body weighed a ton due to old age, his thighs and knees were not listening to him, he sank down on the chair with a creaking sound.

Choi Hong-seo opened his eyes narrowly as if searching for something in the fog, and muttered regretfully, jutting his chin forward.

“I can’t hear anything… Only echoes… I can’t see anything…”

Choi Hong-seo continued his speech, slowly opening his eyes and staring into the distant sky.

“Oh, but I can see the prompter box a little bit… Yes, this is the special seat marked with letters, and, um, this is according to the score… I can’t see anything else! It’s a dark, bottomless pit like a tomb where death itself is hidden! Oh, I’m going to freeze to death!”

Choi Hong-seo, who had been uttering Svetlovidov’s monologue that filled the entire first chapter of “Song of the Stork,” got up from his chair, leaning on his knees and barely supporting himself with the armrests. He then turned around and shouted obnoxiously.

“Yegorka! Petrushka! Where are you, you devils! Oh, God! Your foul language, your drunken faces, this ridiculous clown costume! I don’t like the sight of it! I must go and change my clothes. I feel so disgusting!”

Choi Hong-seo, who was acting without any awareness of the other people in the reception room, slowly looked at each of them one by one. It was not intentional, but rather an impromptu judgment.

Choi Hong-seo looked around at President Myung, Director Kang, President Cho, the chairman of a board somewhere… and finally the man in the top seat. He shook his head and muttered.

“If I stay here all night like this… I might die…” Then he turned around and walked away from them, limping as if he had just sat down on the chair.

Choi Hong-seo, who had been walking a few steps like that, soon returned to his normal, quick pace and bowed his head. There was no applause or praise.

But emotions were seething inside Choi Hong-seo.

Because this wasn’t a ‘joke’ or a ‘product introduction’.

It was an audition to prove one’s talent in front of these people, a small performance. Even though this was also a self-proving to be chosen, it was strictly an interview or audition. It was different from ‘Choice’.

In front of these wealthy and powerful VIPs, instead of being unilaterally teased and ignored, he proved his honed talent. That fact made Choi Hong-seo hot for no reason.

The man in the upper seat, who was facing Choi Hong-seo from the front, did not react quickly. However, it did not mean that he was indifferent. He kept making eye contact with Choi Hong-seo.

“Do you usually enjoy reading Chekhov?”

That was the man’s first question.

“To be honest, no… It’s embarrassing to say, but I’m not a person who reads books that much. That scene just now was one of the scenes I practiced with my acting teacher.”

“Okay… So, is there a reason you chose that scene in particular?”

“I learned on set that sincerity is as important as acting ability. I may lack great acting skills, but I am confident in my sincerity. In particular, I know that the role of Hwang Ji-woo has many long and philosophical lines and many difficult scenes. So… I wanted to show that I was ready to do my job with sincerity enough to smoothly digest such a long monologue.”

“Sincerity…”

The man repeated and chewed on Choi Hong-seo’s words, as if he found it surprising that he had emphasized sincerity rather than acting ability.

“There’s no need to answer in such a stiff tone. I enjoyed it. Thank you for your hard work.”

I don’t know if it was because of my mood, but the man’s aura and expression seemed to have become much gentler. It’s not like he was sharp towards Choi Hong-seo from the beginning.

“I think this is enough for me. Does anyone else have any further questions?”

The man looked around and said, but neither President Cho nor the woman next to him looked interested and just emptied their glasses. They seemed to be dissatisfied with the man who ruined the party, but the man didn’t seem to care at all about that.

“It’s awkward to discuss investment issues in front of you, so I’ll send it to you first.”

“Should we send him first?”

President Cho, who had been drinking casually, jumped at the man’s words. The man slowly turned to President Cho with a face that asked, “What’s the problem?” “I said you don’t have any more questions.”

“No, that’s…”

“If you have any questions, please let me know.”

“… … ”

Shouldn’t we at least pour them a drink and try to please them? Those guys have to lick our toes to get us to invest.

President Cho couldn’t bring himself to say that, so he just glared at President Myung and Choi Hong-seo. It seemed like he didn’t have the guts to glare at the man in the upper seat.

Hmm… The man sighed as if he had made up his mind and looked at Choi Hongseo again.

“I enjoyed your acting. I think you should go out.”

“Oh, yes…”

“I hope this work goes well and I see you again, Mr. Choi Hong-seo.”

“thank you.”

As he left the reception room with the famous CEO, who was bowing and snickering so much that his forehead touched the ground, Choi Hong-seo thought to himself, “But he did call my name correctly in the end, didn’t he?

Before closing the door, I looked back and saw a man sitting like a picture in a frame, looking this way.

@

After leaving the reception room, President Myung and Choi Hong-seo went down the stairs in silence.

The back of the famous CEO who was leading the way looked very unpleasant.

“Fuck… I was just trying to get a drink. Why is that thing hanging around there?”

The famous CEO, who was about to head straight to the bar in the garden, hesitated, muttered a curse, and turned around.

I could see the back of Jeong Ji-in sitting on a high chair in front of the bar. The senior actor who had taken Jeong Ji-in out of the reception room had gone somewhere, and she was talking to a tall, handsome man.

Following the famous CEO who was changing directions, Choi Hong-seo walked to the bar set up in the living room. The famous CEO asked for a glass of liquor and moved to a less crowded place. Choi Hong-seo took a bottle of water.

In the corner of the living room, the famous CEO plopped down on a small sofa set that could seat two people facing each other.

“Hah …

The famous CEO, who had emptied more than half of his glass of alcohol in one go, began to swear thickly. He felt around his chest to find a pack of cigarettes and continued to swear at someone while holding the filter in his mouth.

“It was an opportunity to catch even the boss, but because of the bastard, fucking alone.”

He must have been quite excited because he couldn’t even light a cigarette properly and kept fumbling with it several times.

Regardless of how the famous CEO felt, Choi Hong-seo felt relieved and alive after getting out of there and breathing some fresh air.

“Then today… there is no entertainment?”

“That’s what I’m saying. What’s going on?”

The famous CEO took another deep drag on his cigarette and tossed his neatly arranged hair.

“Who was that person earlier?”

“Who? That bastard who ruined work today?”