I Will Live As An Actor

Translator: MarcTempest

Chapter 113

The blanket flew up with a thud. Shin Jae-hee, the president of the club, had her face covered with the blanket up to her forehead. Her face was as red as a ripe persimmon. 

It was not because of drunkenness. 

The alcohol she had drunk at the orientation party had already been metabolized. 

Yet, the reason why her face was so red was simple.

-You have red pepper flakes on your front teeth.

“Ugh, ahh!”

What the hell was he talking about? 

He had no manners at all in the serious atmosphere. 

Come to think of it, he had been like that since the orientation started.

He was late, of course, and even though he was a good-for-nothing jerk, he didn’t hesitate to tease his sunbaes. 

Of course, that was a bit satisfying. But anyway, when he walked with his freshman peers, he always lagged behind a step or so, as if he was looking at children.

Did he look at her front teeth with that same gaze?

How embarrassing.

“Jae-hee! Why are you screaming all of a sudden? Is there really something wrong?”

Her mother’s anxious voice came from beyond the door. It was understandable. 

The late-born model student came home with a flushed face, locked the door without washing, and went to bed.

“Jae-hee, why is your face so red? Are you sure you’re not sick?”

“I drank some alcohol. There was an orientation today.”

“You can’t drink well, and you drank too much because you became the club president.”

Her mother didn’t know that her daughter was a heavy drinker. Just in case, her mother added from behind the door, “By the way, Jae-hee, did you get the autograph from Jang Young-guk…?”

Shin Jae-hee kicked the blanket and jumped out of bed. Then she flung the door open, and her mother looked startled. 

Shin Jae-hee shook her head and said firmly, “Mom! Jang Young-guk is no good, he’s really no good. So don’t ever ask me to get his autograph again.”

“What, why is she suddenly like this?”

“I’m going to bed, so don’t wake me up anymore.”

Just then, the front door opened and Shin Jae-hee’s father entered the house. Her mother approached her husband, who took off his shoes with a shoehorn.

“Honey, why are you so late today?”

“I had a sudden seminar at the academy. I was late because I attended that. They said we should have a drink since the new semester is starting soon. I forgot to call you in advance.”

“Again, again, again. The other professors praise you for becoming the department head, and you’re so happy that you forget to call. And dye your hair. How long are you going to look like a grandfather?”

“What, is there something wrong with it?”

He was an old professor with white hair, the department head, Shin Jung-gil. 

Very few people in the Law Department of Korea University knew that Shin Jung-gil and Shin Jae-hee were father and daughter. 

Of course, the professors who had a good sense of information knew, but that didn’t mean that Shin Jae-hee got any extra points on the exams. 

Shin Jung-gil had always emphasized fairness when he became the department head.

“You should look more neat as the department head. By the way, I don’t know what kind of luck I have. My husband is the department head of the Law Department at Korea University, and my daughter is the club president. Hoho.”

“Hey, it’s just a matter of rotation. What’s so good about it?”

“By the way, Honey, you saw Actor Jang Young-guk, right?”

“Yeah, he was a very smart student. I felt good to meet a decent law student after a long time. I wish he would walk the path of a legal professional rather than an actor. He has such a righteous and fair spirit.”

That was when it happened. The door opened again and Shin Jae-hee came out.

“Dad, what do you mean by righteous and fair? And can anyone be a legal professional? You have to pass the bar exam to take the first step. Do you think he can do it?”

“Oh my, why is she like that again? And she’s not a kid anymore, but she still has so much eye crust.”

“Ah, Mom!”

***

Young-guk’s head throbbed from the alcohol he drank last night. 

The water ran down his shoulders. 

As he finished showering and went downstairs, the smell of hangover soup tempted his appetite. 

The housekeeper greeted him with a smile.

“Student Young-guk, you came home drunk yesterday, didn’t you? I knew it, so I made you some pollack bean sprout soup. Come and have a spoonful. Don’t you have a shoot today?”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. You got up on your own. I’m grateful that I don’t have to set the table twice.”

As Young-guk entered the kitchen where the table was, he saw his grandfather and uncle already sitting there. 

He felt awkward. 

It was the first time in his life that he had overslept so much. 

Well, he had too many shots of soju with the sunbaes at the pub last night.

In his past life, he would have been fine with that amount, but he felt like he got drunk more easily since his body became younger. 

Young-guk bet the other girl was suffering from a hangover by now. 

By the way.

-You have red pepper flakes on your front teeth.

Was that too much?

He wondered if it was appropriate to say that to a girl. 

He had improved his social skills in his repeated life, but he still found it hard to talk to women. 

Just like he couldn’t fix his clumsiness. 

At that moment, his uncle whispered to Grandpa with a thin smile, “Look, Hyung. Something happened to Young-guk last night. He has ‘I have a problem’ written all over his forehead. Young-guk, do you have a girl you like?”

“I think he just drank too much.”

Young-guk shoved a spoonful of the white broth with pollack and bean sprouts into his mouth, and he felt the hangover leaving his body in an instant. 

Uncle kept nagging him, but he had nothing to say.

He didn’t even have time to make friends, let alone a girl he liked. He exchanged greetings with his classmates, but many of them seemed to avoid him. 

It wasn’t just because he was an actor. 

Well, he made a strong impression on the first day of orientation.

“By the way, Young-guk, are you playing the king role from today? I heard that the crown prince part was over last time.”

He was fast with news. 

Who knew the details of the pre-produced drama better than him? 

Young-guk shook his head sideways. 

Both Uncle and Grandpa looked at him with curiosity.

Uncle was right about the Crown Prince Yi-yun. 

It was time for him to lose the throne. But there was one more person left. 

Young-guk explained the role he took today.

“I’m playing a pauper.”

***

“Scene number 37, Pauper Yi-gyeol and Lim Sa-hong―!”

There were not only shabby thatched houses, but also grand houses of the nobles in the folk village of Yongin. 

The street that looked like it was moved from the Joseon era was filled with many extras walking around.

The street that would normally be bustling with merchants and officials was as quiet as a mouse. 

The faces of the people walking by were all shadowed.

The sky had fallen.

Some people muttered that. 

The court officials wore white clothes and shoes and fasted for three days. 

The gisaeng houses that used to play music all the time locked their doors, and the gisaengs were forbidden to go out. 

The commoners in mourning clothes bowed down and cried as they passed by the funeral procession.

“Oh, dear, oh, dear!”

Among the countless mourners, pauper Yi-gyeol was also there. 

He looked at the coffin that contained King Se-jong’s body with no change in his eyes.

Normally, paupers should not come out when the king died. 

That was why Gyeolsangol locked the door tightly and forbade anyone from going out. But Yi-gyeol didn’t care about that.

‘Is my father in there?’

He changed into commoner’s clothes without wearing a mourning band. 

Pauper Yi-gyeol peeked at the coffin made of pine wood while lying flat on the ground. 

He saw the soldiers with cold eyes guarding it, and the Crown Prince in mourning clothes leading the way.

If the ministers saw the face of Pauper Yi-gyeol lying on the ground, they would have fallen in shock. 

He looked just like the Crown Prince in mourning clothes. 

He got up from his spot after seeing the end of the procession heading to the burial site, the royal tomb.

“Owner, give me a bowl of rice soup.”

It was an act that a commoner like him should never do. But who would know that he was a commoner? 

He had been doing it even before he learned that he had royal blood. 

Whether they were nobles or peasants, they all had two legs on the ground. What difference did it make?

“I’m not selling, get out. How dare you try to eat when the king has passed away?”

“Not selling? I can clearly see that the noble sitting over there is enjoying his meal. Do you have to make a distinction even when eating after the king’s death? Why can he do it and I can’t?”

The maid’s eyes widened like lanterns. It was a risky thing to say. 

As proof, the noble who was eating rice soup in the hall glanced at them. Then, a man in a pure white silk robe stood up and walked towards them.

He was Lim Sa-hong, who had been impeached by King Seong-jong and the ministers and exiled to Uiju, and who had been a diplomat to Ming China. 

He should have been leading the procession with the other court ministers, but he had not been reinstated due to their fierce opposition.

“How dare you, a lowly peasant, talk back to me? Do you think you can say anything just because the sky has fallen?”

“What does it matter to you? I don’t care if I get beaten here. The people who mourned and wailed for the late king deserve to fill their hungry stomachs. Who are you to punish them? Are you the father of the former king?”

“What! You b*****d!”

Lim Sa-hong was furious. 

He wanted to cut his throat right away, but he had left his sword behind because of the funeral procession. 

The maid had already hidden herself in the barn, fearing the sparks. 

The noble was still standing and glaring, but the peasant did not budge from his seat.

“Come on, let me see your face. Even if you run away now, the guards will find you by your face. Let’s see if you can still be so arrogant then!”

Lim Sa-hong grabbed the peasant’s hair with his wrinkled hand. 

He twisted his head to face him. 

As soon as the peasant’s face was revealed, Lim Sa-hong’s pupils shook violently as if an earthquake had struck.

Under the gray eyes, a straight nose, and a freckle on the skin. 

It was undoubtedly the person Lim Sa-hong knew. 

He fell to the ground and stammered.

“Yo, Your Highness…!”