Beautiful Top Star Chapter 4

Chp 4: For a perfect performance

TL: Pineapple

Editor: Isalee

“Where are you going?”

His wife curiously asked this because Woo Hyuk came out of the bedroom wearing training clothes.

“I’m gonna go jog around the neighborhood for a bit,” Woo Hyuk replied as he headed for the door.

“Is your body okay?”
“I feel fantastic!”
Woo Hyuk just laughed at the worried expression that his wife was making.

“Okay, come back soon. I’ll have a delicious breakfast waiting for you.”

He opened the door and ran down the stairs.

My body is so light. He felt like he was floating five centimeters off the ground while running.

After running one big lap around the neighborhood, he decided to head to the park.

The park had a small work out area. Usually in the morning you could see people working out here, but today there was no one.

He began doing some light stretches. After that he went up to be bar and hung onto it to do pull ups.

A few days ago, he could barely do five pull ups but now he could easily do ten.

Bruce Lee’s life-experience popped up in his mind.

“Hayah!”

He used his thumb to brush his nose and imitated Bruce Lee’s sound and posture.

Were there any children in the world who didn’t imitate Bruce Lee?

Woo Hyuk was no exception.

There were many comedians who impersonated Bruce Lee.

After I experienced Bruce Lee’s life last night, my opinion of him was completely overturned.

Actually, when I chose to experience Bruce Lee’s life, I wanted to pa.s.s an audition using kicking skills. Bruce Lee was in fact more talented in acting than martial arts.

Bruce Lee’s acting career ended when he was 33.

His entire life was based around his acting career.

Those that came after Bruce Lee don’t think of him as an actor. Instead, they regard him as a legendary warrior or an idol of masculinity and the founder of Jeet Kune Do. [1] Bruce Lee debuted in his first movie when he was only three months old. [2]

When he was 18, he had already acted in 20 different films and was an actor until he died at 33.

Woo Hyuk’s respect for Bruce Lee shot up immensely after he experienced his life.

Having a healthy body, steady concentration, dexterity, good breathing techniques, and keen perception were required in order to learn martial arts.

Whenever I saw him in his movies, I was always mesmerized by his acting.

It was overwhelmingly mesmerizing.

Every single one of his actions came from his martial arts skills.

He was most definitely a master in martial arts, but he was also an expert in acting by considering the camera angles, lighting, placement of the other actors, and the environment that he acted in.

The way he always shouted when he acted wasn’t a martial arts skill but was a byproduct of him enhancing his acting.

There was no other actor that could shout exactly the way he did.

How would it have the same impact without his punching sound effects: “Puk”, “Euk”, Pababak!”?

It would be like eating fried chicken without pickled radish. [3]

That’s how Woo Hyuk thought about it. I learned many things after experiencing Bruce Lee’s life.

I not only discovered his true self and personality, but also found his flaws.

For a long time, Woo Hyuk just thought that he was unlucky. He thought that he could become a star just by being a part of a really good movie or TV show.

It was laughable.

Wait for an opportunity?

Opportunities don’t come to you, you have to make your own opportunities; that’s what Bruce Lee said.

You worked harder than others?

That’s ridiculous.

Instead of thinking about working harder than others, you should think about working harder than you did the day before.

Woo Hyuk was too content with his acting skills. He thought that there was nothing left for him to learn.

It was a huge mistake.

Bruce Lee was always faithful to his foundational skills, and he practiced them every single day.

Compared to Bruce Lee, he himself was extremely lazy. He never even practiced and complained about his unluckiness.

He didn’t put enough effort into acting.

Neither did he pay attention to himself.

It was natural that he hadn’t rise to stardom.

Even though he was a bit lucky in the beginning, it wasn’t anything special for him to be proud about.

Sooner or later, he would have lost his fundamentals.

Woo Hyuk reflected on himself and his career deeply while doing pull ups.

After he reached ten pull ups, he started to become tired and he was barely able to do 20.

According to the life-experience database, the special skills and abilities that I obtain from the person’s life that I experience will gradually disappear.

In order for it to not disappear, I need to put in effort and practice those skills.

I need a special skill to stand out during auditions…

There isn’t much time to show off martial arts skills in auditions.

I need to show off a skill that can make a huge impact on the judges during the audition.

It might be a good idea to show off Bruce Lee’s nunchuck skills to the judges.

I have to acquire a set of nunchucks.

Since I’m empty-handed right now, should I at least try some kicks?

Last night while going through Bruce Lee’s life, he remembered him saying this in one of his auditions.

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, I fear the man who has practiced one kick10,000 times.”

To kick one kick 10,000 times?

I can leave a good impression on the judges with one kick.

A spinning roundhouse kick should be good.

“Can I do it?”

The most flashy, brilliant kick among kicks was the spinning roundhouse kick.

He took on a Poomsae form [4] and practiced some kicks. It was the first time he had practiced taekwondo since the army.

I was pretty athletic and when I performed this back in the army. I received praises from my seniors. [5]

I’m not sure if I can kick as well as I did in the army, because after I got discharged I never practiced kicking, so I’m not confident in doing well.

He loosened his leg muscles and began practicing some light kicks.

*Shwik!*

I feel like my form and technique is a lot better than when I was in the army.

He said to practice kicking 10,000 times.

Anyway, let’s first try 100.

After 50 kicks, he was out of breath.

“No matter what you do, don’t give up. If you set a limit for yourself and reach it, then you will give up.”

Thoughts of Bruce Lee came up in his mind and he resumed kicking.

He reached 100 kicks.

In order to reach 10,000 kicks, he has to kick 100 times for 100 days.

Would he be able to do it?
Of course!

Just because he received such a great gift that would help him in his career doesn’t mean that he could just slack off.

He had to at least put in the b.l.o.o.d.y effort for the baby fairy who gave him this gift.

If it was the Woo Hyuk in the past then he would have given up after 50 kicks.

This time he pushed himself to the limit.

After reaching 100 kicks, his entire body was drenched in sweat.

He was out of breath but he felt completely refreshed.

It feels great to be able to overcome your physical limits.

Your body is the most basic thing necessary for acting.

It’s not easy to act professionally with a weak body.

Famous actors put in enormous amounts of effort to train their bodies so that if their bodies were ever cremated, then there would only be a handful of ashes. It’s impossible for beginners to do this.

Without practicing the basic drawing fundamentals, it’s useless to mimic Pica.s.so.

Every actor knows that a healthy body is the key to acting, walking, motion, action, diction expression, and eye expression.

If he had no important matters to attend to, he decided to come the park to practice kicking everyday in the morning.

He picked up the training jacket that he’d left on the bench.

His cell phone rang while he was heading back home.

It was his friend, Sul Min Hwan.

Min Hwan was Woo Hyuk’s college friend and they had similar physical attributes. They were the same age, so they became close quite fast and they began acting around the same time.

They both had experience in being extras in movies, musicals, and dramas.

However, Min Hwan was really famous right now and his current status was completely different from Woo Hyuk’s.

If a man succeeded in becoming a star their personality would change, but Min Hwan was different. He still was the same to Woo Hyuk. He was very humble and kind. Their friendship hadn’t changed one bit.

Woo Hyuk’s previous role in a movie was all thanks to Min Hwan’s recommendation to the director.

That was Woo Hyuk’s first role in a big movie.

If he played the part well, it was a chance for him to become famous, but his acting was only mediocre.

Before they were even finished with the previous movie, Min Hwan had already landed another role in another movie. So for one month he was extremely busy as he was juggling between two different movies.

“Why are you calling so early?”

-Hyuk ah, can you do me a favor?

“What do you need?”

Min Hwak wasn’t the type of friend who would ask for something that would negatively impact Woo Hyuk.

No, in fact he’d never asked for a favor before.

It was a chance to pay him back a little bit.

If it was not that difficult of a favor, he would accept it.

-One of the cameo appearances couldn’t make it. The director asked me if there is anyone I know who could fill his position. You popped up in my mind. Do you have time today? If you have time, can you make it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameo_appearance

“Where’s the set?”

-It’s somewhere in Gapyoung city. It will take one and a half hours by car.

“I’ll be there.”

He didn’t tell him that his car was in the car center. Because he can take a taxi there.

-You can get here by ten right?

It’s eight o’clock right now, so there’s plenty of time for him to get there in time.

“Okay. what do I have to wear?”

-I’ll have the stylist prepare some clothes for you, so you can come as you are. You’ll just be a cameo but your role has a big impact. It’s too important to give to some random guy. I’ll send you the script by email so read it over. You don’t have to speak so you won’t have to be burdened by that. There’s also an acting scene, so we’ll have a stuntman fill in for you, so don’t worry. See you later.

I feel like I’m the one getting a favor instead of me giving him a favor.

A cameo character is different from a regular extra. They have more of an impact in the movie.

If he does his part well, then he can give a good impression to the viewers.

Woo Hyuk knew that he wasn’t good enough to do a cameo.

If that actor who was supposed to be in the cameo wasn’t absent then he would’ve had no chance in obtaining this role.

They were in an emergency situation, so they had no choice but to call him.

Woo Hyuk wasn’t famous, so instead of a cameo he could only be considered as an extra. Nevertheless, he would still try his best.