(???)
A woman burst out in exclamation while staring at the monitor.
“Wow… what is this?”
It was the CCTV footage of Baek Siu using an umbrella to beat down the convenience store robbers.
Though they had knives, they were still just young boys.
The boys, easily 10 cm shorter than Baek Siu, made it look like suppressing them wasn’t all that impressive.
Yet, even still, an exclamation escaped.
The slick way Baek Siu pulled out the umbrella and the elegant manner in which he wielded it looked like a scene straight out of a movie.
“He’s an actor, does he have some movie in the works?”
Even though the woman herself had deep knowledge in dramas and films, she recognized it was no ordinary scene.
It seemed most people thought along the same lines, leaving similar comments.
And except for a few people criticizing the judicial system’s unfairness or pointing out Baek Siu’s violent nature, most seemed to be enjoying the situation.
– “Haha, so serious!”
– “CCTV glance. You’re filming right now?”
– “Life’s like a drama these days!”
– “Is this… a Swordmaster?”
“…Swordmaster?”
A woman who had been idly scanning the comments suddenly perked up at a certain word and sprung out of her seat.
And like a madwoman, paced around her computer restlessly.
“Aha, this is it. I wondered what was missing.”
As if having a profound realization, the woman sat back down and reopened the script she’d temporarily set aside.
She began furiously revising a specific part at a rapid pace until…
“Yes, yes! This is what it needed!!!”
In just a few dozen minutes, she had neatly sorted out the part that had been blocking her.
The woman was confident now.
The reworked script would require a large-scale revision, but the current version was leagues better than the first.
And with the hardest part now out of the way, revising the script wouldn’t take much longer.
And once this script was complete, she’d give it to that actor first, without a doubt.
“Baek Siu! You be my actor!!”
The actor who had given her the decisive inspiration, Baek Siu.
I believe that life is, fundamentally, a continuous cycle of injustice and unfairness.
And in my case, I’m always the victim of the pranks fate plays.
That is, I’m currently feeling incredibly wronged.
Of course, things went far beyond expectations.
Over time, the social issues surrounding juvenile delinquent problems and judicial system inadequacies were brought up repeatedly, but I had long since moved away from the center of the incident.
The delinquent problems were always noisy topics anyway, and they continued to flare up.
This all culminated in my leaving behind the famous meme “This new actor is, in fact, a Swordmaster,” skillfully extricating myself from the situation.
But things were a bit different at the company.
As soon as I returned to the office, I was summoned by Heavenly Yuah, and ever since that day, I’ve regularly heard lectures from her.
“Are you listening to me?”
“…Yes, Yuah Senior, I’m listening closely.”
“Don’t lie, your gaze was wandering.”
“…I’m perfectly fine. You’re telling me I should always keep Iron Brother on me, no matter what.”
“Hmph, you remember that, alright.”
Honestly, it’s impossible not to feel wronged.
I just went to the convenience store to buy a can of beer, didn’t I?
Why am I getting a lecture over 30 minutes long from Heavenly Yuah?
Should I just stand there and take it when someone charges at me with a knife?
Above all, the frustrating part is that through a few events, my image has now become strange.
Even now, Heavenly Yuah is looking at me as if she’s dealing with a troublesome person.
It’s a pretty familiar gaze, as one I often directed toward the Heavenly Demon myself.
No, how could a Heavenly Demon (?) dare to look at me that way?
This is too unfair.
Even if the world has changed, that woman, Heavenly Yuah, surely would have caused dozens of major incidents with the way she was built.
But how dare she act so shamelessly in front of me, pretending she knows nothing?
After all, the Heavenly Demons are all equipped with shameless traits, but this feels like too much.
“Maybe we should just allow alcohol to be stored officially in the office. A bit of beer or wine in the break room wouldn’t be bad, right?”
“…It’s a good idea.”
The one positive outcome is that the decision was made to keep beer stocked, so I won’t have to leave to buy beer anymore.
This is a sweet deal.
My bank account is on thin ice since I haven’t been working much lately, but if these small conveniences keep piling up, I might never have to leave.
Is this what self-imposed house arrest feels like?
Whatever, who cares. As long as I’m comfortable, that’s all that matters.
“Whoo~ Swordmaster~”
“Swish, and three of them flew back. Of course, they were smaller kids, but still…”
“Is this Eastern mysticism?”
“Surely, you don’t use “Force,” right?”
Even the guards, hearing the story, playfully patted me on the shoulder as they walked past.
The guards, who were idling, seemed to find this entire event quite fascinating.
Would someone end up suggesting we start sparring with swords?
No, with Heavenly Yuah glaring with fire in her eyes, that’s unlikely.
“Hey, I’m kind of into swordplay, so let’s… talk some other time.”
“…Selli? Why stop halfway through?”
But even here, I feel wronged because Selli—known for her “Greenlight” wink and notorious for losing swim caps in the pool—approached me with interest in swordplay, only to flee in panic.
Because, of course, Heavenly Yuah gave her a look like, “Don’t play with him.”
Why? This feels extremely unfair!
It seems the world is always unfair, and I’m right at the heart of that injustice.
After those baffling few days passed, and the topics of minor law violators and Swordmasters completely disappeared…
Team Leader Seo approached me and handed a suspicious script.
“What is this script?”
“It’s a separate script for you.”
“Targeting me?”
“Yes, for a leading role.”
Apparently, this script designated me for a leading role, but apart from my name, everything else was replaced with question marks.
What made me suspicious was the reason.
In such cases, this would mean it’s the first time this script was ever brought to me, and apart from me, nothing had been confirmed. Considering I’m not an actor who receives such treatment, it was odd.
If it were Heavenly Yuah, I could see it, but could I really be the top casting priority as a rookie?
This clearly isn’t a normal situation.
“The lead is confirmed, so I received it, but personally, I can’t recommend this work.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, the content is concerning, but there are no finalized decisions regarding production or scheduling. Even the writer is a rookie. This project has overwhelming chances of being cancelled.”
“That’s true.”
Indeed, if it were only about the role, it wouldn’t explain the number of question marks surrounding it. This is a production not even decided yet.
A rookie writer, seemingly inspired by an actor he liked, threw the script out first.
Had the target been Heavenly Yuah, she’d undoubtedly have ignored it, but for someone like me, and with a rookie on my side, it seems the script was brought to me just for the experience.
“I’ll check it out anyway. It is the first script made for me, after all.”
“Yes, that’s why I passed it along to you.”
Regardless, this is the first script that was brought to me.
In such cases, there’s a big chance the role was created with me in mind.
It’s quite an honor for an actor to be in that position.
When someone tells you, “No one else but you can play this role,” it’s a dream come true for an actor.
So, I should start reading it thoroughly and try to feel it. If I write some notes down and give it back, that’ll suffice.
Who knows?
Such small connections could bring big blessings in the future.
“Still… why does this feel so unfamiliar yet familiar?”
I opened the script with a light heart, but the very beginning hit me with explanations that were both extremely foreign yet familiar.
That unfamiliarity comes from the fact that even now, with dramas diversifying genres, this kind of material isn’t often handled.
Its familiarity, however, stems from its being an unforgettable backdrop even after 50 years.
“So… the background is ‘Chosun Gold Rush,’ right?”
Though the provisional title says ‘Yunsan Gold Mine,’ it’s clearly the background of ‘Chosun Gold Rush.’
‘Chosun Gold Rush’ was the title of the drama that caused a massive hit on a famous OTT platform just before I was taken to Martial Forest.
It was a drama based on events from the Yunsan Gold Mine, one of the largest gold mines on the Korean Peninsula.
Only, I heard the production of this drama went through tremendous difficulty.
For one, the setting itself was quite challenging.
It was Steam Punk.
The drama took place in a fictional version of Joseon with the addition of Steam Punk elements, plus monstrous beings as a spice.
It was a hybrid of genres.
“Ultimately, with zombies in the mix, adding Steam Punk and monsters to the Joseon era is still quite… head-scratching.”
Steam Punk is such a niche genre in our country that setting up the environment is difficult, and production costs increase exponentially.
Even if the script is great, high production costs make it hard to secure investment. With the writer being an absolute rookie, it was bound to take a long time from conception to production.
“But it was a huge hit, right? It was extremely popular not just domestically but overseas as well.”
The painstakingly created ‘Chosun Gold Rush’ exploded onto the scene with immense buzz and even conquered the global OTT platform ‘Finesse,’ maintaining its number one spot for quite some time.
It even took number one across all the countries Finesse entered, making its popularity easy to gauge.
Naturally, the actors involved also hit it big.
Or rather, calling it a coin-level surge in their careers is probably more accurate.
Because of the production budget constraints, a bunch of rookie actors took on leading roles in the drama.
But the unprecedented success opened an entirely new world for them.
“So now this script is coming to me?”
Am I going to follow a path similar to those actors?
My heart started pounding like it was malfunctioning.
