As soon as I saw the lineup, a sigh escaped me without thinking.
“Yeongbin, why did you choose these scripts?”
“Uh… Out of the scripts the CEO showed me, these were the most interesting, and all the characters felt so three-dimensional, so I liked them.”
“Sure, the works themselves are good.”
All three of these dramas had a viewer rating of over 7% even before regression, so they did fairly well.
But none of them were dramas that fit Lee Yeongbin.
Did President Ma Eun-in know this and just leave it be?
Well, Ma Eun-in isn’t an actor, so maybe she wouldn’t have known to consider that far.
“How old are you again, Yeongbin?”
“I’m twenty-three this year.”
“Right. Twenty-three. No matter how mature you look, you’re still twenty-three.”
I picked up the script that had been at the bottom of the pile I’d thrown earlier.
“But look here, the first drama. How old do you think the character they need here is? The cold and charismatic elite lawyer you auditioned for.”
“Hmm… About thirty, maybe?”
“That’s being generous. He’s finished college, law school, and passed the bar exam.”
“Ah…”
“You auditioned for a role you could never have gotten in the first place.”
Yeongbin fell silent, as if he hadn’t thought that far.
“And the second one. This role doesn’t suit your image. You’d need to look sickly and haggard, but look at your body. You’re muscular, sturdy—a classic sports major physique, like a potato. Who’s going to pick you?”
I glanced at Yeongbin’s shoulders.
Even at a glance, it was obvious he’d worked out for years, maybe swimming or something else.
“I can lose weight! I can!”
“I bet you said that at the audition too. But if you were the director, would you pick someone who’s already perfect for the part and acts well, or would you pick you?”
“…I guess I’d pick the one who’s better suited?”
“Exactly.”
Yeongbin grew quieter and quieter.
He looked pitiful.
‘Self-objectivity matters, too.’
Yeongbin’s acting wasn’t lacking, but it wasn’t yet at the level to overwhelm competitors who fit the part even better.
“Last script. A historical drama. Have you ever done one before?”
“No. Never…”
“Pronunciation matters more than you’d think in a sageuk. The words are unfamiliar enough, and if your pronunciation’s off, it’s no good. Have you fixed your pronunciation issues?”
“I did fix them, but… not perfectly yet…”
As my final evaluation ended, the mood plummeted.
It felt like the lights had gone out.
Yeongbin drooped his shoulders and bowed his head in despair, as if his confidence had been crushed.
Probably because the confidence he’d built from previous commercials and roles had been deflated by these failed auditions.
Let’s see.
There was something suitable around this time…
A drama that would be awkward for me, but quite fitting for Yeongbin.
“Try for a weekend drama audition. There should be a drama holding an open audition soon.”
“A weekend drama?”
“Yeongbin, if you’re going to get this depressed after just three auditions, you won’t last as an actor. Anyway, there’s a role in the drama I’m thinking of that should suit you. What was it called?”
“Are you talking about ?”
Just then, Ma Eun-in, who’d come to the lounge after finishing up contract discussions, looked down at me with a surprised expression.
“Yes, that one.”
“I didn’t expect Jeon Yeohu to know about that drama.”
“I like looking up audition announcements.”
Ma Eun-in nodded.
“I see. I was looking for a decent audition for Yeongbin since he seemed so down. As you said, there’s a role for someone around Yeongbin’s age in . The part is the son of a restaurant owner and the main character’s younger brother, so it’s pretty substantial. He’s a pure-hearted youth who helps the couple throughout, so it would suit Yeongbin well.”
Hmm. No matter how I think about it, Ma Eun-in—
She’s a really good president.
“President…”
Yeongbin’s eyes filled with tears of gratitude.
I didn’t want to hear the heartwarming exchange between those two, so I left the lounge.
“Hyung.”
Outside the lounge, in an empty seat where no staff were yet, Ha Jeban jumped up as soon as he saw me.
“Did everything go well?”
Ha Jeban, now visibly relieved, nodded.
As he said he’d leave separately, he thanked me again.
“Thank you for everything. If there’s anything you don’t know after regressing, just ask me anytime.”
There wasn’t much I could get from a guy who hadn’t even received a quest or knew much about the future.
“Yeah, got it.”
After Ha Jeban left, I went back inside and had a few more words with Ma Eun-in and Yeongbin. Most of it was useless, but one thing stood out.
“TAM proposed a follow-up commercial. They plan to keep the same actors from the first ad and tell the next part of the story. Yeongbin will find a new lover, and Jeon Yeohu, you’ll have scenes with Kim Unyul as a couple. The episode will run like a short web drama, about ten minutes.”
Neither Yeongbin nor I had any reason to refuse the offer or the pay, so we agreed. Yeongbin was happy he’d be able to pay six months’ rent.
On the ride home in the van, I thought about Yeongbin and Ha Jeban’s fates.
Both had their destinies changed because of me, but I hadn’t done much for Ha Jeban, and I hadn’t even interacted with Yeongbin before the regression.
‘If I want to change the fate where I die, maybe it’s better to stick close to the people I had connections with in my previous life, not just these two… If only I knew the reason for my death. Damn system.’
[Hello!]
They say even a tiger appears when you call; apparently, so does the system if you curse at it.
[Jeon Yeohu, Regressor, we’re here to inform you of recent updates.]
Here to give me good news, maybe?
[Due to your actions, there have been changes in your probability of death!]
A change?
My probability of dying has changed?
“How did it change?”
[Probability of dying before age 35: 96%]
……
“This is fucking bullshit.”
Gukido glanced at me sideways, surprised by my voice and expression in the rearview mirror.
“Yeohu? Who are you talking to?”
“No one. I just saw some bird poop…”
“You saw bird poop from inside a moving car…?”
“I was surprised too.”
“Kehahaha! Yeohu, your eyesight must be amazing. That’ll help if you ever have to shoot an action scene.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Gukido-hyung is the kind of person who makes me wonder just how optimistic a person can be. Anyway, thanks to his silly joke, I snapped out of it a bit.
Anyway, even if the system doesn’t give me any quests and stays silent, it doesn’t mean nothing’s happening. Looking on the bright side, my probability of dying does change depending on what I do.
Thinking about it, I’ve changed the fates not only of Yeongbin and Ha Jeban, but also Ju Taegang, Kim Hyemi, Park Iwon, and others. If they’re not directly related to my death, then changing other people’s lives doesn’t seem to drop my survival odds too much.
‘Still, since the probability did drop, I guess helping people around me, whether they’re connected to me or not, helps extend my life as an actor.’
It’s funny.
Before regression, I ignored everyone else just to survive in this brutal entertainment world, but now, to keep living as an actor, I end up helping those around me.
Is this the irony of fate? Or maybe a real chance given to me—I still can’t say.
I relaxed my body and leaned back.
If the system asked whether I thought my life before regression was wrong, I’d still find it hard to answer.
Humans are selfish.
In the end, they don’t mess with anything that could hurt them.
They’re endlessly strict with others, endlessly forgiving with themselves.
Everyone knows humans aren’t perfect, but sometimes, imperfect people deserve to die.
I was a selfish human being, kept silent to protect myself, and sometimes was swallowed by a victim mentality.
To someone, I may have been a person who deserved to die.
But I regressed.
A bastard who doesn’t even deserve another chance at life.
To survive, I have to change my past.
That ‘perfect’ life I never even thought was wrong.
Can people really change just because they regressed?
Really?
***
Time passed quickly.
After the script reading, entered full-scale filming.
[You still have a while left, don’t you? I’m almost done. Jealous?]
[What, why aren’t you replying.]
[Aren’t you jealous?]
From time to time, Ju Taegang-sunbae and Han Serang-sunbae from would message me too.
‘Did I extend Ju Taegang’s showbiz career for nothing…?’
Anyway, had almost wrapped up all filming and was moving on to the poster shoot.
My role didn’t have enough scenes to appear in the poster, so I wasn’t called for that.
Besides, I was so busy on this side that I couldn’t spare a thought for .
In 20XX, working conditions had supposedly improved, but the grind was still real.
At least, miraculously, the set was sticking to the 52-hour workweek.
But since this drama had a lot of night shoots, I just had to accept my days and nights would get flipped.
Since today’s scene with Jung Chanyul took place in the afternoon, I was sitting in a small camping chair waiting for my turn.
Today’s scene was the first real conversation between Jung Chanyul and Choi Taek.
Choi Taek is against Jung Chanyul transferring to the Exorcism Division of HR Team 4 to follow Lee Haryeong, but the rich and cocky Chanyul wins the argument and is smug about it.
It was the first time I’d face Choi Geonhyeong directly in a scene.
Was I nervous?
‘Ha.’
As a genius actor, and a man—Jeon Yeohu does not get nervous in front of someone who acts worse than him.
The only thing that might make me nervous in this drama… would be acting opposite senior Jeong Gungwon, who plays Jung Chanyul’s grandfather.
‘That man’s skills are on another level.’
There will definitely be a scene where I have to raise my voice at Jeong Gungwon, who plays Jung Bae-min.
At the end of , it’s revealed that the villain interfering with HR Team 4 was an evil spirit inside Jung Bae-min, and Lee Haryeong exorcises it from his already-dead body.
Jung Chanyul witnesses his grandfather die right before his eyes as the spirit is banished.
That might actually make me a little sad when the time comes.
“Next scene, get ready!”
After a long wait, I stretched out my stiff body and finally stood before the camera.
We’d gotten a little friendlier at the cast dinner, but Choi Geonhyeong still greeted me with a gruff face, and I bowed politely.
Just like that.
“Standby!”
Jung Chanyul vs. Choi Taek scene,
“Cue!”
Filming begins.
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