Become A Star

Chapter 39

“I'm not that famous yet, so I think it's natural for people to not know who I am. Also, people have told me that I look very different on screen compared to my real self. Maybe that's the reason why people who have seen the movie do not recognize me in real life. Not too long ago, a few people who were sitting in front of me were talking about Death Hill, as well as about loan shark A. Despite that, they did not recognize me. Even though I don't know what the future has in store, it has been a very fun and magical journey thus far.”

Be it in the past or present, Woo-Jin had always caught the attention of others, but he rarely noticed it. Even though he had been receiving incomparably more attention than what he used to in the past, there was no way a person could change so suddenly. As long as people did not act like they recognized Woo-Jin, he would just conclude that they did not recognize him. Even if his eye-catching appearance had caught their attention, he would assume that they were not interested in him unless they talked to him.

There might have been various reasons behind it, but there were unexpectedly many who could not bring themselves to approach Woo-Jin even if they did recognize him. Because of that, Woo-Jin had bought into the illusion that he was enjoying the freedom of being relatively unknown.

“Doesn't it make you sad?”

“The movie has just been released, and it's just one movie. Naturally, I am not expecting anything much. To be honest, I don't think it's particularly a bad thing. I want to use public transportation; I want to go to the supermarket and shop comfortably; and I want to have the freedom to go anywhere I want to with my friends and family like I do now.”

Regardless of how thick-skinned he was, Woo-Jin would still feel a lot of pressure if he were to act freely and walk down the streets while being scrutinized by the public. Woo-Jin was very satisfied with his current state when he saw other famous celebrities having a hard time because their private lives were being taken away from them.

“As long as you are not upset, it's fine. But I'm having some trouble understanding your reasoning. How can people not recognize you when you are so strikingly handsome? Of course, after seeing you in person today, I feel that it's such a shame that the cameras were unable to perfectly capture your charm. What are your thoughts on that?”

It appeared as though she was expressing pity when she asked that question, but Woo-Jin felt that it was a thoroughly calculated trick question.

“I don't think that Chae Woo-Jin's charm is important in the film – what's important is how well loan shark A was portrayed, and how charming he was. If I didn't have this mindset, it would be a mistake on my part as an actor.”

“Is loan shark A the only important thing to you in the movie? Not how you look or how you appear on screen?” Journalist Lee Yoo-Jung's question was strange, but Woo-Jin answered calmly.

“If you had watched the movie, you would know that appearances are not important to a character like loan shark A. Death Hill was trying to use his violent love and selfish greed as devices to express some of the absurd violence in the society. If you're able to sense Chae Woo-Jin's presence in loan shark A, it would mean that I'm not qualified enough to be an actor.”

As Woo-Jin answered Lee Yoo-Jung questions, he could not understand why she was so dead set on talking about his appearances. Woo-Jin had heard a lot of people comment that he did not look as good on screen, so he wondered if it was really that bad. Woo-Jin also wondered if Lee Yoo-Jung was indirectly implying that he was thick-skinned for becoming an actor with his bad looks.

However, the questions had been vetted by Kang Ho-Soo in advance and were given the green light, so they would not be unreasonable. Since it was an interview conducted by a magazine company that advocated lookism, he felt that the content of the interview was bound to deviate in that direction.