Rebirth: King to Superstar

Joon-won tumbled into his apartment and slowly closed the door. He was very tired and noticed the time was already past midnight and almost 1. He slowly took out his phone and sent a text to Gim Da that he might not come to work the next morning and also told him to call if they needed someone. He drank a lot of alcohol earlier that night and mostly due to others forcing it down his throat. 

'Gim Tae, you bastard, I told you to stop with the alcohol. The next time I get a chance when we drink, you ain't even leaving the bar that night.' He cursed Gim Tae, who shoved bottles of alcohol into his mouth and made his drink. He wasn't an avid drinker and was not good at it. 

He made his way into the kitchen and drank a lot of water to cool before splashing some on his face. He took out his phone and noticed there were messages from Jung-hwa. He remembered something very important. Jung-hwa told him she was coming back on Sunday because of her own drama house training. 

He opened the chatbox and saw it was what he expected. She wanted to meet because she was bored in her dorm room with all her roommates out for holidays and wanted to have dinner together. He sent her a quick apology and told him he was at a drama house party. He suggested they have dinner when they are free in the coming week. 

Joon-won threw the phone on his bed after that and changed out of his stinky clothes and wore fresh ones before jumping onto the bed. 

The next morning Joon-won didn't wake up until 10 in the morning. He woke up with a splitting headache and also a hungry stomach before he dragged himself into the kitchen before pouring himself a bowl full of milk and cereal. He felt a bit better after eating something and decided to take a cold bath to get over his hangover. 

As he came out of the washroom in fresh clothes, he noticed there was a pile of clothes that needed to be washed and threw them all inside the washing machine. He flopped onto the couch and took out his phone. He saw he got replies from both Gim Da and Jung-hwa.

Gim Da was fine with him not coming in as Gah Soo agreed to cover for him, as he did the same for her the day before. He sent a quick thanks to Gah Soo and received a reply immediately. She told him it was ok and was just repaying the favor he did for her. 

He then opened Jung-hwa's chat box and saw she was already at the drama house as she sent him a picture of it from the outside. The drama house was called Violet Fantasies. He found the name odd but sent her a good luck message and plopped on the bed. He noticed the date was 8; it was 2 weeks since he died. 

A lot happened to him in two weeks and he knew many more things will continue to happen. His train of thoughts was cut when he heard his stomach rumble and decided to order food from the widely known fast-food chain WacDonalds. 

It didn't take long for the delivery guy to arrive in front of his apartment, as the fast-food chain literally had a store on each street. He tipped the delivery guy who looked around the same age as him and kept the bag on the coffee table. 

Taking a seat, he took out his two big burgers and drink before feasting on them like a beast. He was very hungry and now his stomach was finally calming down. He couldn't help but swear Gim Tae more as he ate. Gim Tae, on the other hand, was suffering an even worse hangover while continuously sneezing and wondering if there were ghosts in his flat because of it.

After finishing his food, he took the trash downstairs and dropped it in the dumpster before flopping on his bed for another small sleep. He was still tired and wanted to sleep a little more. He kept an alarm on his phone for 3 as he had to go to the drama house to get the script for the week's drama performance. 

Monday was a holiday for them and only the actors and each team's leader like Pak Shin had to come in and learn about the next drama's plot and what kinds of props, costumes, and other stuff were needed. Even though he probably wouldn't sleep till 3, it was not bad to be more cautious. 

Joon-won woke up again at 1 and this time with a much more clear mind and turned the television on. He wasn't hungry and didn't plan to eat any lunch. He went through the news before stopping at a channel that was reporting about the entertainment industry. It was trying to expose a scandal between a singer and her company's owner. 

According to the reporter, the singer gave sexual favors to everyone before blackmailing them with a video recording of their act to get all the roles and songs she wanted. This was big news and many fans didn't want to believe it as a field reporter went around asking about the incident. Instead, they were blaming the company's president for lying. 

Joon-won couldn't help but shake his head at mindless fans. It was the company president himself who came out and told everything while also naming out a few other producers and directors in the industry who were involved in this scandal orchestrated by the singer. He showed them proofs he kept of the chats between him and the singer that contained her threatening him. 

But people would just not choose to believe the raw truth right in front of their eyes but instead follow the mere words of the singer. Every word spoken should be backed by evidence and nothing should be believed because of a few words spoken because they can be lies. 

Joon-won signed at how the society perceived that it was always the man's fault at scandals like these. But he couldn't blame society for it too because there were many instances in the past and present proving their belief to be true.

After that, he simply hung up his washed clothes and went out. The time was still 2 and as he had time; he decided to take the bus instead of a cab. He reached the nearest bus station and sat among different homeless people around it who were treating the bus stop as their home. 

He checked his pockets and found a few coins he could give out and distributed among the people there. By the time he gave out, the bus arrived, and he made his way to the drama house. 

He saw the deserted drama house front and only a few people packing up the various stalls set up the other day or removing the posters. He walked into the drama house and went towards the resting area instead of the costumes room. There were already a few actors in the resting area and as he entered a few people sent a glance towards him. He ignored the curious glances and took a seat

He looked around and noticed most of the people were not the same actors who played in the drama yesterday. San min told him during the party to come in early and she will distribute at 3 sharp. She also told that most of the actors would be different because the drama house had a rotation when it came to actors. 

Of course, the rotation mainly depended on the actors themselves. Most of the people who do not get a chance in the drama in a week can try again next week and the people who do generally take a break the following week as they do their best the whole week. 

The door opened, another guy walked in, when he did everyone either looked away or looked at him with vigilance. He had an arrogant expression on his face as he swept over everyone in the room like they were beneath him. His eyes stopped when he saw Joon-won looking at him normally, unlike others.

"Hey kid, you new here? Don't you know you should greet your seniors when they come in?" 

Joon-won was startled a bit as he didn't know who this guy was and why he was acting all arrogant and rude to people, he didn't know. He looked around to see if it was someone else but understood it was him when everyone's eyes were on him. 

"Do I know you?" he raised an eyebrow and asked back. 

"Oh! Am I hearing a question instead of a reply? We got a feisty one here, eh? Looks like I need to teach you some manners." and He started walking towards him.