Chapter 47: The Tear that burned all Doubts.

“Hello, I am Yoon Sayoung.”

The silence that had frozen the space coldly shattered only after Sayoung opened his mouth and greeted everyone.

After bowing deeply, Sayoung briefly made eye contact with those sitting in front of him one by one, starting with Director Jung.

Yoojun unknowingly clenched his fist when his gaze passed him and headed toward Han Jaewoo.

As if greeting someone he met for the first time, Sayoung rested his gaze briefly on Jaewoo with insensitive eyes, just as he had done with others, and then withdrew it.

Han Jaewoo tightly gripped the pen he was holding.

He could feel the murmur behind his back.

Sayoung’s expression was calm.

Even though Yoojun had given him a hint in advance, honestly, it was definitely not enough time to calm his flustered heart and regain concentration, but Sayoung looked like someone who had known all these facts and prepared from the beginning.

His fingertips tingled as if electricity ran through them, and Yoojun repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist.

“First… let’s see your acting.”

The writer sitting next to the director spoke in an awkward voice.

The surroundings became quiet again.

Sayoung lowered his head for a moment and caught his breath.

He was trying hard to pretend to be calm, but his mind wasn’t truly peaceful.

It was such a crucial moment.

It was a position he could dare to hope for only after experiencing the pain of death.

It wasn’t simply about revenge.

In his life before death, Sayoung fell into even greater depression while watching Seo Danwoo, realizing the path he had given up, the opportunity to challenge forever lost.

It was around that time that he lost the will for all other aspects of life and came to rely on Han Jaewoo more extremely.

He had given up acting which he loved so much, closing that shining world himself because of only one person, so because of the obsession that his life would become truly useless if he couldn’t even obtain love, Sayoung clung more to Han Jaewoo’s affection.

But right here, Sayoung obtained a second chance he thought he would never get.

Standing in front of Seo Danwoo, he was holding the doorknob of the door he had locked with his own hands.

Something began to burn inside his chest, where he thought nothing remained.

The craving for acting, which had been foolishly and pathetically taken away, still remained within him.

Only then did Sayoung think that perhaps he had rather been using Han Jaewoo as an excuse.

Because he wanted to act so much.

Because he really wanted to play the role of Seo Danwoo.

Because he couldn’t quite muster the courage to step out into this position again, perhaps he had been pushing his back with the justification of revenge.

It didn’t matter either way.

Anyway, winning this role would be a proper blow to Jaewoo, so reasons didn’t matter.

Finally raising his head and opening his eyes, Sayoung opened his mouth.

“If I betray His Highness the Crown Prince, what can Your Highness the Grand Prince give me?”

And Seo Danwoo was there.

There are times in life when a person instinctively receives a strong premonition that something somewhere is wrong.

For Yoojun, right now was exactly such a moment.

As Sayoung recited Seo Danwoo’s lines in front of him, at this moment when he completely became Seo Danwoo himself, Yoojun gained a fear that something somewhere in his life might really go wrong.

A single transparent tear flowed down Sayoung’s, no, Seo Danwoo’s cheek.

This scene was one that showed the essence of the character Seo Danwoo.

Seo Danwoo’s tear was the sorrow of one forced to betray the lord he had served for a long time, but at the same time, it was also skillful acting to deceive the opponent by one who willingly became a spy for his lord.

Even though he wasn’t without suspicion.

Even though he thought Seo Danwoo wouldn’t easily betray Kang Mujun, the reason Kang Museong eventually accepted Seo Danwoo was because of that pitiful tear.

Because the desire for him to be his person must have been too desperate.

Because the desire to become his true lord, hold his hand, and ascend to the throne must have been immense.

So in the end, the desire to make even his heart, which he wanted to obtain so much, entirely his own must have been intense enough to devour and burn all suspicions.

Just as Seo Danwoo was to Kang Mujun, he was also the greatest weakness to Kang Museong.

Therefore, Seo Danwoo was an important role even if not the main character.

Seo Danwoo had to prove solely with his charm the plausibility of why two men fighting for the throne of a nation were swayed by and clinging to a single man.

And Sayoung was expressing too perfectly the reason why he had to be Seo Danwoo, why he had to play Seo Danwoo.

Director Jung let out a low groan.

Even that sound didn’t properly enter Yoojun’s ears.

He even completely forgot about checking Han Jaewoo’s reaction.

As if only Yoon Sayoung and himself were here, Yoojun fell endlessly into his acting.

It was different from Sayoung’s acting he had vaguely imagined alone.

It wasn’t like what he saw in works filmed a long time ago either.

Was it because life melted into it?

Was it because he experienced things others hadn’t?

It was at a level hard to believe he had taken a break from acting for a long time.

Yoojun could be certain that this wasn’t just his feeling alone.

“…That is all.”

After both the designated acting and free acting ended, Sayoung, who had been calming the lingering emotions for a moment, bowed to signal it was over, and the densely condensed air burst out in an instant.

Sounds of people exhaling ‘phew’ were heard here and there.

Yoojun likewise exhaled deeply like someone who had run a very long distance and put down the pen he had been gripping tightly.

His fingers throbbed from how much strength he had been applying.

He thought that no matter how pitiful Sayoung’s circumstances were, if he caused a nuisance to the work with his acting, that alone was absolutely unacceptable.

It was true he decided to help him, but it was absolutely not desperate enough to want to help him even risking the work he anticipated.

Just as he warned Sayoung in advance, if he didn’t possess the ability suitable for this work, that was it.

Yoojun absolutely had no intention of becoming his backer.

However, having seen Sayoung’s acting now, Yoojun began to feel anxious in a different way.

He suddenly became scared that Sayoung might ultimately fail to take the role of Seo Danwoo because of other disadvantageous conditions he had.

Even excluding all personal feelings about him, catching Yoon Sayoung was unconditionally beneficial for the work.

If he had to choose only one between Han Jaewoo and Yoon Sayoung, naturally, discarding Han Jaewoo was correct.

Yet if Sayoung, who was even a victim, was pushed out of this work because of Han Jaewoo, Yoojun felt he absolutely couldn’t stand to watch that happen.

Around the time Yoojun was biting his lips repeatedly due to such anxiety, Director Jung spoke toward Sayoung.

“Mr. Yoon Sayoung.”

Yoojun clenched his fists tightly as his heart beat as if it would burst just from that.

However, Sayoung standing in front answered ‘Yes’ with an extremely calm face, meeting the director’s eyes directly.

He looked like a captive standing enduring all insults and disgrace, and even that looked like Seo Danwoo.

The director asked.

“Did you know that actor Han Jaewoo took on the role of Kang Museong?”

The tone was quite gentle and polite, but the content was not at all.

At the question no one had thought to ask directly and openly, the majority of people inside, including the writer, murmured in great confusion.

Naturally, Han Jaewoo, who was most confused among them, turned his head with a dumbfounded expression to look at the director.

It seemed he doubted if he had heard the question correctly.

Amidst the noisy reactions, the director was just looking quietly at Sayoung.

Yoojun’s gaze also naturally followed him to Sayoung.

He also seemed a little surprised by the explicit question.

But he calmed his mind by blinking slowly twice and soon answered in a calm voice.

“I didn’t know when I applied, and found out later when it was released through articles.”

“Even so, you didn’t give up and came here. I don’t intend to touch on private life but… if you get cast, wouldn’t there be discomfort in working together?”

If he gets cast.

Sayoung was more surprised by that assumption than the direct question.

Others were the same.

Most of those who knew in advance that Sayoung was participating in the audition didn’t consider the possibility of Sayoung being cast at all.

There was the thought that he couldn’t possibly overcome the burden of the audition and act properly after experiencing a long hiatus, but more than that, it was because they were certain the director wouldn’t cast him.

Anyone would think so.

There was no need to take the risk of casting Sayoung when Han Jaewoo was already cast.

Jung Myeong-cheol was a director who didn’t need to do noise marketing, and actually disliked such methods.

Furthermore, Sayoung had taken a break from acting for a long time.

It was clearly difficult for such a person to show acting ability overwhelming enough to impress everyone.

Passable acting wouldn’t be nearly enough.

So it was natural to assume there would be no possibility for Yoon Sayoung.

But right here and now, even if it was a hypothetical, the fact that the director showed a positive nuance was surprising in itself.

Director Jung’s words sounded like asking, ‘I want to cast you, but can you handle the difficulties outside of acting?’

Everyone’s gaze focused on Sayoung.

Yoojun wanted to think it was ridiculous that everyone was focusing so much on that single answer as if he were making some grand announcement, but since he was also staring piercingly at Sayoung’s lips just the same, he had nothing else to say.

Before long, Sayoung answered.