The Haunted Monster Actor - Chapter 42



Only Krnovel

Episode 42

Diriring!

Let the guitar’s melody gently stir the quiet silence.

Aaaah …

The crowd’s enthusiastic cheers explode with light and beat fiercely throughout the stadium.

Hyunsoo surrendered himself to the beautiful melody and shouts that burst from his fingertips.

I closed my eyes and sang while strumming the guitar in a state of ecstasy.

A tone more powerful than any other instrument burst out from Hyunsoo’s neck.

At this moment, I am a ‘muse’ who shines brighter than anyone else in the world.

He is a ‘star’ who has captured all the light of the world.

* * *

Flash!

As soon as he opened his eyes, Hyun-soo’s vision was enveloped by a bright light so intense that it was difficult to open his eyes properly.

‘light…….’

Yes, it is light.

Until just now, he had been shining brighter than anyone else in the world.

“Ugh, the sun is high in the sky, why don’t you get up now?”

“… … ?”

Hyunsoo’s frowning eyes turn towards the sunlight.

A young girl is seen pulling back the curtains on the window.

Hyunsoo reached out his hand towards the girl.

“What? Are you thirsty? Do you want some water?”

“Water…? Are you thirsty?”

At that moment, something occurred to Hyunsoo and he asked the girl in an urgent voice.

“That’s right, the show! How did the show go? There was still one last encore song left… …!”

The girl who heard Hyun-soo’s words shook her head with a bewildered expression.

“What kind of performance? Seriously, how much did you and Dong-geun drink yesterday?”

“Dong-geun… … ?”

Hyunsoo, who got up while clutching his head as if it was about to burst, was only then able to recall who the girl in front of him was.

“Mom made some buckwheat noodle soup, so come out and come out quickly!”

bang!

Yumi, who had finished the mission given to her by Mrs. Im, closed the door to Hyunsoo’s room and left.

“… … .”

Hyunsoo, who had been unable to come to his senses for a while, soon muttered in a daze.

“I see… … It was all a dream.”

It was a wonderful dream.

In my dreams, I was a musician performing passionately on stage in front of tens of thousands of audiences.

The enthusiastic scene flashes before my eyes like an intermittent noise screen.

Despite the quiet morning, Hyunsoo could still hear the shouts vibrating the space around him.

“… … .”

In fact, Hyunsoo wasn’t half-asleep right now.

The excitement, the emotion, the catharsis in the dream… … has not yet completely subsided.

Hyunsoo, who closed his eyes and meditated for a while, was soon able to somewhat overcome the aftereffects of his dream.

“… … a musician.”

After the murderer and the soldier, the musician?

That means the next work will probably be… … .

“Is this a work related to music?”

Nothing is certain yet, but one thing is certain.

“I don’t think the timing is very good.”

In my experience, it takes quite some time to adapt to a new dream.

It’s so unfortunate that I’m dreaming a new dream during the year-end awards week, the time with the most external events.

Normally, I would have to meditate for a few days to control my dream emotions, but starting tomorrow, I have a busy schedule of year-end award ceremonies and various interviews.

‘I need to come to my senses.’

Whatever it is, you need to sober up and come to your senses first.

Hyunsoo closed his eyes once again, collected his emotions, and muttered quietly.

“But maybe because it’s my third dream, I feel like it’s easier to control my emotions than before?”

There is no heaviness in my chest like when I dream of Jang Gi-chun or Lee Jun-hyeok.

That means the new dream doesn’t have as big an impact on Hyun-soo as he thought.

‘Or maybe I gained some initiative thanks to the special training(?) with senior Bae Geum-sik this time.’

Hyun-soo, who had somewhat gotten over his dreamy emotions, came out of the room and sat down at the table that Mrs. Im had prepared for him.

“Son, wake up now… … .”

“Wow!”

“… … ?”

“It smells really good, right, Mom? It’s been a really long time since I’ve had your spicy beef bone stew.”

“Huh? Come to think of it, it’s been a while since you boiled it, right?”

As the warm soup warms my stomach, I feel my hangover slowly disappearing and I find myself humming.

Hehehehehehehe

Knock knock knock!

“Oh, as expected. My mom’s cooking skills are no joke.”

Hehehehe―

Knock knock knock!

“I’ve always thought about this, but my mom should have started a food business! If she had, she would have been a huge success as a foodie YouTuber by now.”

Huh!

Knock knock knock knock knock!

“Hey, Yumi, don’t be like that. You should seriously think about working in the restaurant business with your mom, even now… .”

“Brother.”

“huh?”

“Stop shaking your legs.”

“When did I say that my legs were shaking?”

“I’ve been shaking ever since I sat down at the table. Look, I’m still shaking now.”

“… … ?”

“What happened yesterday? Or are you still drunk?”

“No, nothing happened… … .”

“But why are you humming a song that you’ve never sung before? Why are you so tense, unlike your brother?”

Humming?

The tension is… high?

“Decisively.”

“… … ?”

“Has your brother ever called you ‘Mom’ lately?”

“… … .”

Come to think of it, ever since Hyun-soo left home and became independent, he has always called Mrs. Im “mother.”

“Why, it’s nice to see our son so bright.”

Yumi shook her head firmly at Mrs. Im’s words.

“That’s a bright look, Mom? I’ve never seen my brother humming like that while shaking his legs. That’s not a bright look. It’s just… .”

Like ‘another person’?

* * *

It wasn’t that my dream emotions had weakened or that I had become more adept at controlling them.

The impact of the new dream on Hyun-soo is so great that his consciousness cannot even perceive it… .

‘The threshold for basic emotions is high.’

When people are emotionally stimulated by something so great, they don’t even realize how their inner selves are changing.

An example is bipolar disorder, where the mood swings between two extremes without the person knowing.

Among them, Hyunsoo could be said to be in a state of severe mania.

“What is this… … .”

Hyunsoo still couldn’t figure out what kind of change had happened to him.

I don’t know about anything else, but one thing was certain.

“Is this dream not so easy?”

The quickest way to stabilize a dream is to find a script that fits it.

However, there has been no contact made to him yet.

‘There probably won’t be a script selection until after the awards ceremony is over.’

Therefore, in order to control your dreams until then, you must first know who the being in your dreams is.

‘A big stage, an enthusiastic crowd, passionate playing and singing.’

Information available so far is very fragmentary.

Of course, there were huge cheers, spectators, and a huge stage… … .

“It was a melody I was hearing for the first time.”

Of course, it is difficult to figure out who the owner of a dream is just from a simple melody.

So there is only one way left.

‘I have to dream some more.’

Hyunsoo, who returned home to Seoul, went to bed earlier than usual.

Throughout the dark dawn, Hyunsoo was a person who shined brighter than the moon.

* * *

The next day, Hyunsoo visited the Pieroreum building for the awards week schedule meeting.

The full-scale meeting began with Goh Geon’s briefing.

“I heard you well, Manager Ko. You’ve put a lot of thought into it. Then, I think we can fix Actor Kim’s schedule for the end of the year to this extent… … Now, Actor Kim knows, but you know that Actor Kim is being mentioned as a candidate for this year’s TVM Rookie of the Year award, right?”

Hyunsoo nodded with a bewildered expression and answered.

“Oh, yes. I heard it from PD Yoo.”

“Based on my experience, I think it’s almost certain that actor Kim will win the award.”

Gao Jian nodded beside him.

In terms of quality, viewer ratings, and popularity, no drama has come out in the second half of the year that surpasses the status of Darkness.

‘And the popularity of the character is close to a syndrome… …! To be honest, who else is more deserving of the Rookie of the Year award than our actor Kim?’

I’m not saying this because he’s my kid, but objectively speaking, this year’s TVM Best New Actor award definitely goes to Kim Hyun-soo.

“So, this awards week will be an even more important week. Manager Ko, please keep this in mind and take good care of Actor Kim. Okay, I also have another schedule, so let’s all get busy!”

“Yes, I understand. Sir! Brother, let’s go right away!”

As it was the end-of-year awards week, Hyunsoo’s next schedule started right after the morning meeting.

“As I mentioned earlier, today there will be a pre-interview conducted by the broadcasting station before the year-end awards ceremony. As you know, before that… … .”

“I know, I’m prepared for it.”

Hyunsoo visited Hemeshop Jian in Apgujeong to film an interview for TVM’s main entertainment program, “Broadcast Relay.”

As he entered the room holding a black bag that gave off a delicious smell, the three Apgujeong sisters greeted him with happy faces.

“Is Hyunsoo here?”

“Oh my gosh. It would be so nice if you brought something like this!”

Perhaps because they had fought together in battles, the title of Hyun-soo had been elevated from ‘actor’ to ‘oppa’.

“I was already waiting for you to come without even taking a reservation.”

“You said it was a broadcast, right? We’ll take responsibility for it and make it into Nimai(*) today!”

“Nimai? You’ve been on business trips so many times, you’ve become a person at Yeonji Yogurt Broadcasting Station!”

For some reason, the three Apgujeong sisters seemed more excited than usual.

Hyunsoo felt at ease dealing with those three people to a degree that his expectations seemed insignificant.

The tension between the three people, which would normally be difficult to accept, feels calmer than expected.

‘Is this also the effect of dreams?’

Go Gun, who misunderstood something as he saw Hyun Soo tilting his head, opened his mouth to the three people.

“Three of you, why are you so fired up in the morning? Don’t you know that hyung is completely ‘I’? If you keep doing this, you’ll lose your energy before we even get to the interview. Can you all just stop now?”

“Well, our Hyunsoo oppa is a celebrity, but he’s rather introverted… … Oh, no, he’s rather polite. Anyway, your manager oppa is ‘T’, right?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

“How would I know? I can tell just by looking at him. Anyway, there’s a reason why I’m happy to see Hyunsoo oppa.”

“What are you talking about?”

Chief Artist Mimi answered Gogun’s question.

“Oh, you didn’t know. Ever since Hyunsoo oppa did the GML pictorial shoot, they’ve been regularly requesting collaborations. Since then, they’ve been ordering me to treat them with the best at all times.”

After hearing Mimi’s words, Hyunsoo recalled his previous memories.

‘Come to think of it, Editor Yoo Jin-sook was keeping an eye on Gianshop’s Hemeko.’

I thought it was just a passing remark, but I never thought it would really be a business deal.

That guy is really great too.

“But Oppa, I think something has changed in the atmosphere since I last saw you.”

“Really? Before, only my skin was glowing, but today, my entire aura… … .”

“Yeah, it’s not normal.”

“Are you wearing contact lenses? No? Did you apply any cream?”

“It doesn’t seem like we’re dating… … .”

“what?”

Indeed, as professionals who deal with celebrities and models every day, they caught Hyun-soo’s changed atmosphere just by looking at his reflection in the mirror.

“Okay, okay. That’s all for now! Since you’re busy today, let’s all stop and get to work, okay? I’ll ask you this.”

The three sisters finally started to apply real makeup after Gogun’s pleas.

The powder room became quiet as they focused on their main job.

Mimi, who had been concentrating on her makeup for a while, noticed something strange and looked at Hyunsoo.

‘……hmm?’

Hyunsoo usually closes his eyes to the brightness of the LED reflected on the mirror in the powder room.

But for some reason, today I’m just staring at myself in the mirror…

An intense gaze that could absorb all the daylight lights shining on the son-in-law.

Mimi, who had been staring at his eyes as if possessed by something, suddenly came to her senses and opened her mouth.

“… … Oh, by the way, I heard there’s a rumor that you’re a strong candidate to win the TVM Rookie of the Year award this time. Have you heard that, oppa?”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“What do you think?”

Hyunsoo answered while looking at himself shining more intensely than anyone else in the mirror.

“I don’t think so.”

“Huh? Hey, you’re too humble. Even from our perspective, this year’s Rookie of the Year award goes to you… … .”

“No, that’s not it. The person who will receive the award is.”

“… … ?”

I think there is no one else but me.

―――

(*Nimai: Broadcasting industry slang meaning ‘leading actor’. The contrasting slang is ‘ssammai’ meaning ‘supporting actor’.)

Continued in the next episode