Chapter 62

The final joint performance of the two remaining contestants.

The performance began with the two contestants standing at opposite ends of the stage, facing the audience.

"I'd feel relieved if someone just smashed my skull with a sledgehammer."

The opening scene wasn't much different from the original classical script provided.

"It's not that. I just don't want to talk about it. It's too embarrassing, that's why."

"Listen. Just listen to me."

Kang Hyeok delivered his lines, and Junwoo responded, maintaining the flow.

As the play progressed, the two gradually moved toward the center of the stage.

"Ah, this is so frustrating. I can't stand it."

The exchange felt twisted, not quite a back-and-forth.

Whether it was an intentional distortion or a mistake in the adaptation due to lack of time, the contestants looked puzzled.

On the contrary, the actors in the front row of the audience slightly tilted their heads as they watched the performance of the two on stage.

They noticed subtle points that the contestants failed to grasp.

It was an intriguing development. The emotions of the characters in the original script were being portrayed differently.

*Thud.*

Kang Hyuk stopped walking in the center of the stage and turned towards Jun Woo.

"I really hate you."

The three judges and the actors in the front row all flinched simultaneously.

"Looking at you makes me feel like I'm going insane."

It wasn't evident in the original script.

Kanh Hyeok spews the lines adapted by Junwoo.

He was speaking to Junwoo, with dialogues about Jun Woo, but it felt as though Kang Hyeok was speaking to himself.

Soon, the studio audience fell into a strange illusion.

At that moment, when Junwoo delivered his lines to Kang Hyeok, it seemed as if Junwoo became Kang Hyeok.

How could this be possible? As the drama intensified, it appeared as if two different Kang Hyeoks on stage were in perfect harmony.

It was a bizarre scene, with Kang Hyeok asking Kang Hyeok, and Kang Hyeok pouring out his emotions to Kang Hyeok.

Jun Woo took a step forward.

"Don't do anything."

Kang Hyeok stepped backward.

"I know too. I know why it's come to this."

Kang Hyeok was being cornered.

"You're doing the same things you used to do."

The audience's gaze followed their movement sideways.

Just as a few lines were exchanged, Moon Kangwoo's face, which had been filled with interest, suddenly turned stern.

As the lines continued, the nuances being conveyed were subtly twisting and changing.

Without realizing it, Moon Kangwoo opened his mouth.

Now, it was clear.

To say they were just in sync from the start didn't capture the imbalance that was present between the two.

From the beginning, Junwoo had been in control of the entire stage.

With every line Junwoo delivered, he was drawing out the unknowable aspects of Kang Hyuk.

"What does this sound like to you? You don't know, do you? I don't know either!"

Kang Hyeok reached out as if to grab Junwoo by the collar.

Emotions were erupting dramatically.

He was not in his normal state.

His skills were surging beyond his own limits.

For Moon Kangwoo, who was there to show support, it was a shocking sight.

The Kang Hyeok on stage was exhibiting skills incomparable even to Moon Kangwoo, the top of South Korea.

No, it might even be more than that.

Without realizing it, Moon Kangwoo envisioned himself standing on that stage at this moment.

It was not Kang Hyeok, but himself standing next to Junwoo.

He knew that it was his young directorship that made the current Kang Hyeok possible.

He couldn't know exactly how.

The lines that Junwoo spoke, the facial expressions, gestures, and the subtle differences in tone.

Those were the things he couldn't grasp, existing in a domain beyond his reach.

How they were scratching and affecting some parts of Kang Hyeok.

How it was possible to elevate someone with mere acting prodigy skills from an audition program to such a level.

Moreover, there was Kang Hyeok, who seemed to be vomiting emotions almost every time Junwoo touched.

He seemed unaware of what he was doing on the stage right now.

A long breath was heard beside Moon Kangwoo.

It was Jin Do-ryeon sitting next to him, exhaling a long breath through her nose.

Probably, not just her, but everyone here was thinking the same.

They were incredulous at the thought of replacing themselves in the position of a mere acting aspirant. But they couldn't deny the feeling of envy either. Complex emotions were swirling.

"I swear it's true. I'm innocent."

"Don't take this the wrong way. It's not because I'm upset with you. You always say it. That you're leaving because it's disgusting."

"Don't be mistaken."

With a flick, Junwoo pushed Kang Hyeok's shoulder.

Kang Hyeok staggered back.

Judge Jo Sungrae felt the same.

He had seen all of Kang Hyeok's performances.

Now, he couldn't take his eyes off Kang Hyeok for even a second.

Kang Hyeok was always different. Junwoo, who appeared out of nowhere, was probably the beginning of his misfortune.

Compared to other aspirants, he was definitely a genius.

Throughout the program, he perfectly performed and interpreted every role given to him.

A participant indeed worthy of the title of acting genius, having countless applications, education, and experience from Daemyoung backing him. He was the predestined winner from the start.

But now, Jo Sungrae was feeling an emotion he had never experienced in his life.

He was overwhelmed, unable to judge or enjoy the stage.

"...I feel like I'm going to vomit if you're next to me."

It was a voice choked with suppressed feelings.

Like the audience watching the stage, Kang Hyeok seemed to see Junwoo as himself.

It was painful. It was the first time he felt that way watching someone else's stage.

Jo Sungrae had to resist the urge to turn his head away.

He wished it would stop.

It occured to him for a moment; he hoped it was Junwoo who would stop.

"Why are you here?"

Otherwise, Kang Hyeok wouldn't be able to stop.

He knew. This wasn't just immersing in a role.

The boundary between the stage and reality was blurring.

Neither the judges nor the actors in the front row could know.

What exactly had been done to make Kang Hyuk vomit emotions like this.

The audience and the other participants, seeing a side of Kang Hyeok they had never seen before, were just as bewildered.

Only Junwoo, who was on stage with him, didn't seem to have any doubts. He kept pushing Kang Hyeok with consistently escalating tension from the start.

The final stage ended.

And then, silence lingered for a while.

No cheers, applause, or shouts were heard.

"...Cut."

The voice of the production team was heard.

And Kang Hyeok immediately gasped for breath.

Actor Kingdom continues to run non-stop.

The somewhat ambiguous final stage that was not clear enough for a standing ovation had ended.

All three judges came to the same conclusion.

They had accepted Junwoo's intention.

The stage was directed by Junwoo, the script was adapted by him, and he brought the best in Kang Hyeok.

But considering today's stage alone, no one could deny that Kang Hyeok was the protagonist.

And that's why it could be a performance beyond perfection.

Kang Hyeok's feelings that had been brewing for a long time during the program and his life were different from others. Even Kang Hyeok, who had always been confident and upright, had things about himself he didn't know.

The focus of Junwoo's stage was precisely that aspect.

The final stage unfolded by the two. If it were to be given a title, it would be 'Kang Hyeok'.

*Boom.*

A large firework burst from the ceiling above the stage.

Flower petals showered down on the two like snow.

"Congratulations!"

Kang Hyeok won the final victory.

As his name was called, Kang Hyeok lifted his head.

His stunned face was projected large on the screen behind the studio.

He was always Kang Hyeok, maintaining a composed and confident demeanor.

Never once did he show a faltering or crumbling appearance during the broadcast.

But now, he was showing a face he had never shown before. Too shocked to be happy, too petrified to be confused, his expression was transmitted through the camera as is.

Except for Kang Hyeok, who seemed frozen in time, the flow of the broadcast was moving quickly.

MC Seo Yeon-mi, holding the winning trophy, walked onto the stage.

"You've worked hard."

With a gentle smile, she handed the trophy to Kang Hyeok.

"Congratulations, Kang Hyeok. Please share your thoughts on the victory."

Everyone was waiting for the winner's remarks.

The shining trophy held out in front of his chest.

Kang Hyeok raised his hand and carefully grabbed it. Then, the moment he firmly clenched the trophy with his fingers arrived.

Irregular breathing began to pant.

Soon, a sorrowful cry echoed throughout the studio.

He did not wipe his tears with the back of his hand, cover his face, or turn around.

Kang Hyeok just stood in the middle of the stage and wept like a child.

*Clap, clap,*

Someone in the audience started clapping.

In their eyes, it was a touching moment of the ultimate winner unable to contain the joy of victory, shedding tears.

"Wow! You're the best, Hyeok!"

"You were really cool!"

"You did so well, bro! Congratulations!"

"I knew you would win!"

Cheers and words of encouragement poured out from the audience.

But it seemed like Kang Hyeok couldn't hear anything at the moment.

They didn't know. He was crying out of unbearable shame and humiliation.

And then,

"Hyeok!"

The applause and voices from the stage gradually subsided.

Kang Hyeok kept crying. He didn't continue with his remarks, nor did he express thanks to the audience or the camera.

The participants, who had just been waving and giving thumbs up on stage, awkwardly lowered their arms.

The atmosphere in the studio was settling into a heavy silence.

Participants exchanged cautious glances.

Some were looking around to see if there were others like them, while some still silently observed the stage.

The air in the studio was strangely difficult for a moment of celebration for the emergence of a winner.

Junwoo did nothing. He neither congratulated nor encouraged. He just silently watched Kang Hyeok beside him.

The judges, the actors sitting in the front row of the audience, the production team, all gradually blended into this atmosphere.

Some of them knew to some extent.

That those tears were not of joy for achieving the long-awaited moment.

The final episode of the broadcast, a moment when cheers should pour out and joy should erupt.

"Kang Hyeok... Kang Hyeok...!"

Only Yoo Sang-jun, sensing the seriousness of the situation, was restlessly gesturing and calling Kang Hyeok to the stage.

But Kang Hyeok could no longer see the camera or the producer below the stage.

He had always been the center of attention. In a way, it was natural. From the moment he was born... the moment he was born with the name of Daemyung on his back. From the moment he started acting, from the days he had been acknowledged.

But this was not it. Kang Hyeok wanted to run away from this place right now.

At the same time, he felt a strange emotion, as if he had shed a layer of everything that had been surrounding him.

The sense of liberation he had never felt before, having climbed up tenaciously from the compulsion of always having to be at the top, dreaming of becoming an actor, enjoying acting.

So, he continued to cry like a child for the first time in his life.

Eventually, Kang Hyeok, in the center of the stage, holding the trophy, could not utter a single word of sentiment.

Thus, the long shooting of Actor Kingdom came to an end.