A hero.

I learned that a hero has to defeat villains. That’s what the fairy tales and TV shows said.

When shiny heroes defeat villains, everyone’s happy. Heroes always win, always turn the tables, no matter how dire the situation.

Even if they lose once, it’s fine. There’s always a next time, always a chance to power up.

I longed for, and yearned to be, such a hero.

In this black-and-white world, only heroes could claim the color white, while everything else remained dark.

I genuinely wanted to be a hero.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

I did everything I could to become stronger and to fight well.

Just like every hero does.

“Hey, what are you?”

At first, I started off weak.

“P-please, spare me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it…”

“What did you do wrong? You didn’t do anything. You were just born that way.”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

As time went by, I got stronger and began to defeat villains. Bad guys deserved punishment. It was okay to do it.

“Head!”

One day, I heard a voice and turned my head. Kids were swinging swords—practice swords—but they resembled the heroes I admired.

Now that I thought about it, heroes usually wielded weapons, and most of them wielded swords. Just as I’d used a knife when I killed that stray dog that had tried to bite people, I realized I needed a weapon again. So, I learned kendo.

“Waist!”

Crack!

Even when my hands bled, as long as my bamboo sword didn’t break, I kept practicing.

Kendo was perfect for me. Carrying a bamboo sword was a major advantage.

In a way, it was like I had powered up, too. I went from fighting with bare hands to having a weapon.

Maybe that’s why?

My second heroic moment came sooner than I expected.

“If you borrow money, you gotta pay it back!”

It was the same old story. It was a time when the legal interest rate was up to 49 percent.

It was a time when TV commercials urged people to take out high-interest loans. Those were the only places willing to lend to our struggling family.

We were weak.

“We promised to pay back the principal, but you kept avoiding us!”
“Well, whatever. Just pay back the interest on time.”

They were pure evil.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

And I was the hero.

“Son…run. Get out of here, far away. I’ll handle this.”

Even though things had come to this…

“Go far away, wherever you can.”

The fact that I was a hero didn’t change. I defeated evil.

+++++

Swoosh!

As soon as I snapped out of it, I realized what this so-called hero really meant.

“A criminal catching criminals.”

A vigilante.

An evil that punishes evil. A being that tries to enact justice outside the law, believing in their own righteousness despite their wickedness.

A title like Hero suggested a path that, while it defeated evil, posed the question: could that path be called good?

It was clear they wanted to blur the line between good and evil.

“With it being a short film, the content is definitely concise.”

The mention of this black-and-white world made me imagine how the movie might play out.

“A black-and-white film?”

I paused for a moment.

“There’s no better script at the moment.”

No need to think any further.

“Seok-ho hyung, I’ll go with this one.”

I placed the Hero script on the passenger seat.

“Hmm? Oh, Hero? Are you sure? It’s a bit brutal.”
“Hey, I can handle it. I watch Saw, you know.”
“You watch Saw? Shouldn’t you be too young for that?”
“They show it at school.”
“…”

Seok-ho hyung muttered about how kids these days were different and said he’d contact the director.

“I hear he’s a college student, and he should be graduating this year.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and this is his first project post-graduation.”
“You already talked to him?”
“No, but he wrote a long post when he uploaded the script on the forum. Must be lonely.”

“Anyway, if you’re set, I’ll handle the rest. You should have some free time until Christmas. And then there’s the High Dream production announcement the following week.”

At his words, I checked my phone.

“Come to think of it, Christmas is coming up.”

The Christmas party with Su-jin’s family. I was already looking forward to it.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

– [You can’t fully embody the Hero character’s vitality.]
– [Download the app Heavenly Warrior’s Body]
– [From now on, when you dive into martial arts characters, you’ll gain martial arts skills.]

The Sims – The Real Life was giving me an early Christmas gift.

+++++

December 25th, when Mariah Carey’s Christmas song filled the air. Su-jin’s family was preparing for the Christmas party with excitement.

“When Dong-hoo gets here, don’t let him leave right away!”
“…Why?”
“Because if he leaves immediately, he won’t eat the food I prepared.”

Daughter, that’s not what I meant.

Kim Gi-chul felt a pang in his heart. His precious daughter, the apple of his eye. And now she had a crush!

He hadn’t known. Or rather, he had.

“There’s no way I couldn’t have known.”

He’d just chosen to ignore it. Every day it was Dong-hoo this, Dong-hoo that.

If he hadn’t known, that would’ve been a problem in itself.

“Honey, stop pretending and come help. Dong-hoo will be here soon.”
“Fine, even you…”

Kim Dong-hoo, who are you to have completely stolen my daughter’s and wife’s hearts? Just how handsome are you?

Gi-chul took pride in his own looks. After all, he was married to Kim Yu-ryeon, an actress who once ruled the screen.

By most standards, Gi-chul was considered quite the looker. Su-jin had once said she’d marry him when she was five.

“That changed as soon as she met Kim Dong-hoo.”

Just thinking about it still filled Gi-chul with despair.

“Dad! I’m gonna marry Dong-hoo!”
“Dong-hoo? Who’s Dong-hoo?”
“My classmate! He’s the most handsome in the world! And!”
“And?”
“He’s the first boy who’s ever made me cry.”
“He made you cry?”
“Yeah, but he held my hand after, hehe.”

A bad boy! A bad boy at five years old!

“Isn’t that too mature?”

To calm himself, Gi-chul looked at the turkey roasting in the oven. The perfectly golden turkey was mouthwatering just to look at.

“One of the drumsticks is for Dong-hoo.”
“…!”

That was supposed to be his drumstick! Shocked, he looked at his daughter, who beamed at him.

Kim Dong-hoo, just how charming are you to have stolen all my daughter’s affection?

“Unforgivable!”

It might be petty to feel competitive with a child, but today, he couldn’t help it.

Ding-dong!

“Oh, Dong-hoo’s here!”

Speak of the devil.

As Su-jin turned to answer the door, Gi-chul rushed to the front.

Let’s see what he looks like!

Clunk!

When he opened the door to greet Dong-hoo,

“Hello! I’m Su-jin’s friend, Kim Dong-hoo. Thank you so much for inviting me to dinner! Oh, and here, I brought some strawberries. Su-jin told me she likes them…”

“Approved.”
“?”

Gi-chul understood.

+++++

It was already early January.

The High Dream production announcement kept reporters busy with the new year.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”
“It’s definitely chilly.”
“On a day like this, I’d rather be eating some roasted fish cakes and lying at home.”
“As if you’d ever do that on an announcement day, Senior.”
“Oh, you’re getting cheeky, aren’t you?”

Despite the heaters blasting, the cold from outside still seeped in, so the reporters huddled around their hand warmers, trying to stay warm.

“Oh, it’s starting.”

The junior reporter looked toward the stage. Lights flashed as an idol group came up to perform.

“Well, I guess since they’re working with an idol agency, they’re putting on a flashy opening show.”
“Yeah, at least it’s nice to get some eye candy.”

After a few more opening performances, it was time for the cast entrance.

Click, click, click.

“Over here, please!”
“This way, too!”
“Could you wave, just once?”

Finally, the cast made their entrance, and the reporters started snapping photos all at once.

But there was one question.

“Who’s that?”

A face from the making-of clip that had been shown briefly. No one online could figure out who he was. Even reporters on set wouldn’t reveal anything.

Then…

“…Wow, who’s that?”

The boy who stepped onto the stage for the announcement.

He was handsome. But his looks were otherworldly.

It was a level of beauty that defied logic.

His presence alone made everyone else look plain. He had an aura as if he carried his own spotlight.

At Kim Dong-hoo’s entrance, everyone fell silent, swallowing hard as they clicked their cameras nonstop.

+++++

Meanwhile, at Studio Geumgang, as the movie editing was in full swing.

Director Kang frowned as he watched the footage intently.

“The material’s perfect.”

Is it my editing skills that are lacking? Why does this feel so bland? I feel like I’m not fully utilizing what I have.

After pondering, he realized what was missing.

“It lacks intensity.”

Set during the Korean War, the story depicts soldiers fighting in harsh conditions to secure new fronts. But he felt the scenes hadn’t captured the real essence.

“It could use some hand-to-hand combat.”

As they fought desperately in the final twelve hours, with bullets running out, their struggle for survival needed to be more visceral. It was absurd not to have close-quarters combat in such a setting.

Especially…

“It’d be great if Han Tae-geon and Kim Dong-hoo could spar together.”

He wanted to portray the brutal reality of war through the confrontation between Kim Su-ha and the cadet soldier.

“Han Tae-geon, who plays Kim Su-ha, has the experience to handle action scenes.”

But Kim Dong-hoo, who played the cadet soldier, had only just turned fifteen.

“I wonder if he’ll be able to handle the action scenes?”

Adding something that might ruin the movie weighed heavily on Director Kang’s mind.