Although it was early April, Woo-Jin rolled up his sleeves due to the hot weather. A slight smile appeared on his face as he placed an ice cube from his iced americano into his mouth. It had been almost a month since Woo-Jin had finished shooting his parts for Death Hill. He had heard that the shooting for the movie itself had ended a week ago. He did not know how the scenes they had shot over the course of six days, which were akin to a raging storm, would be edited, but judging from the ambiance at that time, it seemed likely that they would turn out well. He was more certain of that after talking to Director Moon yesterday.

After complaining about how he had been unable to pick the male lead at will due to the pressure placed on him by the investors, Director Moon had assured Woo-Jin that as per the contract, they have full authority over the post-production. Director Moon’s cheerful laughter and voice were still ringing in Woo-Jin’s ears, telling him he had nothing to worry about. He had heard that the ambience of the set had been ruined by Park Min, who had returned after Woo-Jin was done shooting his scenes. That did not come as a surprise, as the actor, who was hung up on screen time, could not possibly have remained quiet about losing an entire sequence.

However, the production staff had had a lot to say too, as he had left to shoot a commercial while the shooting was in full swing, not forgetting the fact that his flight had been canceled and delayed as well, resulting in further delays. Nonetheless, that could be seen as a blessing in disguise; apparently, Park Min had felt threatened as a result and abandoned his old attitude. He was said to have  worked rather hard during the shoot.

“Regardless, your acting suddenly improved within a day or two!” Director Moon had exclaimed.

Woo-Jin had only been able to hang up after listening to Director Moon, who was still very unhappy with Park Min, complain for a long time. On the other hand, Woo-Jin, whose acting really had suddenly improved within a day or two, had been unable to stop his flushed face from burning throughout the phone call.

Even though he was not bad at acting, Woo-Jin knew himself very well. Despite the fact that he had good acting skills, an inexperienced rookie’s acting was bound to be awkward. Regardless of how much a celebrity was recognized for their acting skills, if one were to look at their first movie or drama, it was hard not to laugh at how rustic and plain their acting used to be. Woo-Jin’s first time had not deviated much from that either. Even then, he had managed to seize the opportunity because he was better than the male lead, Park Min, not because he was outstanding. If his acting had been perfect from the start, there would have been no need for them to retake the scenes they had shot before.

The sudden improvement in his acting skills had been triggered by the memories of his past lives. The hundreds of lives and deaths he had experienced in the past had given him the insight and understanding that he needed. His past lives had given him firsthand experiences that movies and books were unable to provide. As a result, they had made it a lot easier for him to empathize with other people’s lives. Hence, over the past month, Woo-Jin had looked back on his past lives and done his own research. His soul certainly belonged to him, but in his previous lives, he had had different personalities and talents. They had probably been greatly influenced by the genes from his parents in those lives, as well as his education and environment. That was evident from the fact that the current Woo-Jin had an entirely different personality from those he had in his previous lives.

Looking back on his past lives, which he sometimes shared similarities with, but at times had also done things that were utterly beyond his comprehension, Woo-Jin learned a lot, while either relating to them or being disappointed with them. He had also gained a lot of other things. First among those things was a grasp of multiple languages. Originally, he had also been able to speak English and Chinese to a certain extent, but now, he was able to speak several languages after remembering his past lives. Of course, there was the issue of some of the languages being too archaic to some extent; they were from previous eras, so they were very different from how they were used in modern times. However, once he figured out the language system, that issue was resolved.

It was just speculation, but the great intellect he had been born with, and his ability to remember his past lives, seemed to have led to the expansion of his comprehension skills and knowledge. Because of that, he was able to increase the capabilities of his brain. This exponentially improved version of his brain had opened up several possibilities and potential directions for Woo-Jin. For instance, his musical talent and ability to play musical instruments came with that outstanding intellect.

He had been a musician several times before in his previous lives, so he had the knowledge and techniques to play not only the piano and violin, but also all kinds of wind and string instruments. Needless to say, that did not mean he was suddenly proficient at playing those instruments. Just because one learned how to play the piano in their younger years did not mean they would be able to play the piano as well as they used to after a few decades. However, he possessed the basic knowledge and techniques needed to play most instruments, excluding modern digital ones. Furthermore, he no longer feared musical instruments because he knew how to read sheet music by heart.

Since it was hard to get an instrument, he was unable to give anything else a try, but for now, his experiment with the piano was considered rather successful. Even though his current piano-playing skills were nowhere close to what they had been in his previous lives, considering the fact that he had been a genius pianist at that time, it would be unfair to make that comparison. Nonetheless, seeing as people were asking Woo-Jin if he had majored in piano when he had never learned it before, the results were good enough for him.

Additionally, he had been a Dwarf, one of the humanoid races, in a past life. It was only natural that his dexterity had increased. Originally, he had already been good with his hands, but now he was able to easily fix and build things at home. As his mother and younger sister watched from the side, they had been amazed at what he was doing. He had felt flattered after seeing how pleased they looked, and after a certain point, there was nothing left in the house that he had not touched.

He had also become very healthy and was in great shape. This was due to the fact that he had worked hard every single day to practice a mental cultivation technique he had learned when he was a warrior, in order to build inner energy. Of course, as expected, after practicing it for a month, he had not accumulated even a speck of internal energy. Nonetheless, it had still strengthened his meridians, and energy and blood. It had also expelled toxins and waste products from his body.

Back when he had been reincarnated in China, the Shaolin Monastery and the Wudang Sect had still existed. However, there had been no such thing as ultimate martial arts of the sort that were found in martial arts novels. They had just been a simple group of warriors who trained together, and monks who learned martial arts. Of course, it could not be denied that their skills and abilities had been superior to that of ordinary people or soldiers. It was a fact that they could not be compared to the warriors from other Earths in parallel universes. Perhaps that was why this Earth lacked a proper internal energy mental cultivation technique. However, using the proper mental cultivation technique, along with the knowledge he was equipped with, Woo-Jin had worked hard training his qi. His method was considerably different from the other mental cultivation techniques and martial arts that had survived on this Earth into the present.

He also taught his mother and sister how to do the same clear and concise technique, which had no side effects. He told them that he had learned it from a senior in the military, and to his surprise, they had responded positively. Despite not enjoying working out, his mother was open to doing those simple qi exercises that could be done at home; his sister, who was a high school student, had said that her head felt lighter and clearer after doing it, and did it diligently.

As Woo-Jin inspected and honed the abilities he had acquired from his past lives, a month flew by in the blink of an eye. Apart from feeling anxious and confused about why this had happened to him, there was nothing bad about it for now. He had been worried that the memories of all his 999 lives might be entangled with one another, causing mental instability, but no damage had been done to him thus far, so his worries were unfounded. That was because he had thoroughly separated the personalities of his previous life from himself. He had accepted their memories and knowledge, but Chae Woo-Jin strongly adhered to his belief in possessing a different personality from his previous identities. The outcome had been surprising even for Chae Woo-Jin himself.

After living 999 times, will the soul grow stronger by itself?

Woo-Jin speculated that souls could be trained, and so, his soul might have become stronger as he lived one life after another. Otherwise, there was no way he would be fine even after remembering the memories of all 999 lives. However, there was something interesting - there was only one thing that had never changed in his previous and present lives, regardless of race, dimension, appearance, status, or personality. It was that he loved the arts with all his heart. 

***

“That man over there is a celebrity, right?”

“Umm… He looks like one, but I haven’t seen his face before.”

These were conversations about Woo-Jin coming from one side of the cafe he was sitting in. The moment he entered the cafe, he stood out from the crowd. People could tell that he was definitely someone who was different from the general public.

“So that’s what people meant by ‘a glowing face’.”

“Look at his skin. What kind of man has that kind of pale and poreless skin?”

“If he were a celebrity, wouldn’t he be wearing makeup? Celebrities’ makeup is different from ours.”

“I’ve never seen his face before; are you sure he’s a celebrity? And it doesn’t look like he’s wearing any makeup at all.”

Whether he was a celebrity or not, or whether he wore makeup or not, people whispered to one another, talking about Woo-Jin, and some of them even secretly took pictures of him.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be taking pictures of him secretly without his consent. What are you going to do if you get sued?”

“I’m telling you he’s a celebrity. We just don’t know if he’s a new actor or a model. I’ll post this picture later on when he becomes famous.”

The image of Woo-Jin sitting by the window with his legs crossed, looking listless and gloomy, looked like a painting. Whenever Woo-Jin moved his head slightly with the sunlight shining on him, people saw the illusion of light dust fluttering from him.

“Mr. Chae Woo-Jin?” came a voice.

“Yes, I’m Chae Woo-Jin. Hello.” Woo-Jin, who had been sitting in the cafe thinking back on the past month, stood up to greet Kim Sang-Jin. The latter had called him, asking to meet today.

“Oh wow, it’s only been a few months since I last saw you, and your face looks so much better.” 

Today was the first time the casting director, Kim Sang-Jin, was seeing Woo-Jin since his audition for Death Hill. At that time, Woo-Jin had been a soldier, so he had short hair. His face had been slightly rough too due to sunburn. However, within a few months, Woo-Jin had become a lot more handsome. Kim Sang-Jin looked very satisfied. On the other hand, since Kim Sang-Jin had initiated today’s meeting, Woo-Jin was very nervous.

“Why are you so nervous? Sit comfortably. This reminds me of the first time I saw you. That was probably before you were discharged, right? Without your military uniform, you look more like a civilian,” Kim Sang-Jin remarked.

The biggest reason why Woo-Jin had been selected to be Loan Shark A during the audition was that he had had a close shave during his last vacation, as well as a different vibe from ordinary people. Now that he wasn’t as uptight and disciplined as a military soldier, he seemed more like a normal civilian, but when he got nervous, his body stiffened and his posture changed.

“That’s because I’m in a situation where I can’t help but be tense,” Woo-Jin replied.

“Indeed, it’s normal for rookies to act that way. But what should I do? I think I should apologize to you first, before having a proper conversation.”

Woo-Jin had arrived with anticipation of an offer when Kim Sang-Jin suggested a meeting, but when he heard the latter mention an apology, he was disappointed. However, he hid his emotions and asked for clarification, “What do you mean?”

“I got you in trouble. Even if you curse at me later on, I’ll have nothing to say. Would you like to have a look at this first?” Kim Sang-Jin asked.

Woo-Jin had been disappointed, thinking this would not be related to casting, but to his surprise, Kim Sang-Jin gave him a movie script. “Glooming Day?” he asked as he read the title.

“Yes, the movie is as depressing as the title. Just skim through it for now.”

Glancing at Kim Sang-Jin’s gloomy expression, Woo-Jin quickly skimmed through the script. Contrary to what Kim Sang-Jin said, the script was about a love story between young people. The story was about the immature love of college students who were in their 20s, from the point of view of a teaching assistant who happened to have a crush on the female lead. It might be a little depressing, but the content itself was very refreshing. However…

“It’s boring,” Woo-Jin remarked.

“To be honest, it’s not interesting. It doesn’t fit in with the trends lately, so it’s not wise to make it into a movie as it’s terrible… but some writer!” The more he spoke, the more emotional he became. Kim Sang-Jin placed his hand on his chest and closed his eyes in a bid to control his emotions. After taking a few deep breaths and composing himself, he continued, “The reason why I asked to meet today was because I want to cast you as a supporting actor in this movie.”

“If it’s a supporting role, don’t tell me I’ll be playing Cha Hyun-Seung, the teaching assistant?” Woo-Jin asked. As the content was boring, there were very few characters. Hence, he could tell whom Kim Sang-Jin was referring to.

“Yes, that’s why I said I should apologize to you. Your filmography would be ruined by casting you in a movie that’s doomed to fail.”

“Can’t I simply reject?” Woo-Jin asked. Regardless of how new an actor he was, he was not desperate enough to do a movie that was bound to fail, as Kim Sang-Jin said.

“No. You can’t reject it.”

Woo-Jin frowned at Kim Sang-Jin’s firm, unexpected answer. He was at a loss for words, because it seemed as though he had thought for a moment that he could disregard the other person’s intentions like that as a rookie. 

“Ah, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t want to be involved in this movie either, because I thought it was going to fail… but I don’t have a choice. I have to do it.” Kim Sang-Jin sighed and hesitated, as he was not sure how to explain the situation. Eventually, he started to explain with a depressed look on his face, “This movie was personally requested by the CEO of G&C Entertainment, who will be in charge of the planning, production, and distribution. Why would they choose such a terrible script? That’s because it’s what CEO Choi likes!”

G&C Entertainment, an affiliate of a conglomerate, was involved in everything from investing in films to planning, production, and distribution, using their huge amounts of capital and infrastructure. It was the company that had the most influence over the domestic film industry just by its size alone.

“Even though she’s in her 50s, she still very much has the emotions of a young girl. Hence, she always does this once every few years. She makes a movie with a romance storyline that matches her taste, as well as hiring beautiful men and women as the main leads to fulfill the aesthetic aspects of her movie. No rejection or refusal is allowed here. There are quite a number of directors and actors who declined, and ended up not having more opportunities for years after that. I don’t have to explain any further; you get what I’m trying to say, right?”

The CEO of G&C Entertainment, Choi Won-Hee was known for having been born into a wealthy family, as well as her marriage to another wealthy man, the heir of G&C, resulting in her being involved in the management of her in-laws’ company. She was unaware of the difficulties people faced in life, as she had been born and raised in an environment where she did not lack anything. She had also had a satisfactory married life, despite the fact that it was an arranged marriage. Thus, she could not comprehend or tolerate any situation where she had to give up on something, or when people were acting against her will. As such, her nickname was ‘The Supreme Witch’. Surprisingly, it was rumored that she was rather fond of that nickname of hers.

“It’s sort of a hobby. If you invest tens of billions of dollars into such a hobby, you have to use the director, staff, and actors you want. The scale is different from the kinds of hobbies that ordinary people like you and me think of.”