You In All My Lifetimes

Just a Fangirl

She couldn't place her finger on why he seemed so familiar.

He was seated just a few seats away to her right, but he was instantly recognizable with his deep set eyes, tall physique and his handsome face.

It wasn't the fact that he was a wildly popular actor, with the adoration and adulation of millions of fans all over the world.

It also wasn't the fact that she used to fangirl over him as the one and only Kim Tan in the drama The Heirs. She was grateful for that drama that got her through some of the hard times in university, when she gave up acting for 2 years to continue pursuing her degree at the Korea National University of Arts. His swoon-worthy looks and his performance as the haughty but vulnerable Kim Tan drew her interest, even though she was not usually prone to flights of fancy and fangirling.

This familiarity seemed more than just knowing his name and his acting repertoire.

It seemed as if...

...as if she really knew him. Him from another time and place.

Suddenly, an image flashed across her mind of a man in a bright red hanbok. The embroidered dragon motifs in golden thread on his chest and shoulders clearly indicated his status as a king. His face seemed familiar yet it looked blurry, as if she was seeing him through a pair of tinted lenses, or from a very distant memory...

He seemed to stare at her intently, his hands reaching out to her. She strained to hear him say the words that her ears could not seem to make out.

"...my Queen..."

She reached out to grasp his hand, but the scene was cut by the sound of thunderous applause.

Startled, she looked around her to realize that her fellow actor sunbaes were looking at her expectantly. Actor Jung Woo sunbae-nim was patiently waiting for her to proceed up to the stage as the introductory videos played on the giant screen.

She realized then, that both of them had won the Fantasia award. She accepted Jung Woo sunbae-nim's hand, and ascended the steps while lifting the hem of her white dress carefully to avoid tripping.

As she accepted the Fantasia award and recited her thank you speech, her eyes briefly rested on one face in the crowd.

Out of the many smiling and congratulatory faces in the crowd of hundreds, his brief smile at one of the highlights of her speech made her heart pound. She knew that it was not about her specifically, but seeing that handsome face of his, smile in her direction seemed more than her heart could handle right now.

She felt like she had won the lottery of a lifetime.

The 19th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival would be a moment she would remember for a while.