Become a Star

{By the way, are we going down to the basement right now?}

{You said you wanted to see my paintings. My studio is in the basement. I need to avoid sunlight because of my weak eyes.}

Lloyd removed his colored glasses and tucked them into his shirt’s pocket. He then showed the woman his eyes.

She used to think Lloyd’s white hair was dyed all this time, but even his eyes were of a strange color.

She didn’t have the intellectual level or education to know what an albino was, so she asked a stupid question.

{W-What’s up with your eyes? Are you wearing colored contact lenses?}

{Well, something like that.}

They arrived at the basement door that was directly connected to the garage. Lloyd then entered the password to his studio.

{You even have a password? You must have some pretty expensive paintings. This place almost feels like some sort of secret base.}

The woman spoke sweetly to Lloyd with her eyes and voice soaked with curiosity, greed, and a strange sense of expectation.

{My paintings are pretty expensive, but the password’s mostly to keep my father from coming inside. As you mentioned, this place is my secret base.}

Lloyd put his index finger to his mouth and gave the woman a secretive look before opening the studio door.

She then smiled in return.

{I wonder what secrets you’re keeping from your dad down here,} she asked herself.

{Things my father can never find out about.}

{Then you absolutely shouldn’t get caught. Did you set the password to something so difficult to memorize that your dad could never figure it out?}

{Not really. It’s pretty simple. It’s just my father’s birthday,} Lloyd answered.

{What? Then you’ll get caught super easily!}

The woman then commented that the password was pointless and looked at Lloyd pitifully.

Lloyd then replied calmly yet sorrowfully.

Even though he no longer had any expectations, talking about this story always made his mouth dry and his heart to pump faster in frustration.

{My father always uses his biological son’s birthday as his password, even though he died thirty years ago. Some people use numbers related to the people they love as passwords to protect their most precious treasures because no matter how precious of a treasure it is, they don’t mind being caught by that person. That’s why my father doesn’t know that my password is his birthday….}

It was an ironic problem. He didn’t want anyone to discover his secret, especially his father. But Lloyd had set the password to the place that hid his secrets as the birthday of the person he least wanted to find out the truth.

It was a contradictory thought process. His father could never know his secrets, but Lloyd hoped to let him know someday.

As the door to his studio opened, the wails of souls echoed and crashed against the walls noisily.

It was a boisterous place as usual.

An additional scream echoing in here wouldn’t change anything.

{Welcome to my studio.}

***

After finishing the first filming session without any problems, Woo-Jin went to February 9th.

He stared at the sign for a few seconds before entering the bookstore.

Once he stepped inside, Ilya was sitting on the high-quality sofa disguised as a counter, listening to the radio as usual.

{Didn’t you start filming today? What brings you here?}

Ilya checked the time at Woo-Jin’s sudden entrance. It was soon time to close the shop.

His voice held a mixture of joy and reproach as he thought Woo-Jin should’ve returned to his dorm since filming had ended so late today.

{I realized something while filming the introductory scene today.}

Woo-Jin started speaking his thoughts as he sat on the chair across from Ilya.

{The treasure trove of memories you two have in common that was mentioned before. Is it… a place where a collection of paintings and old books are stored away?}

{That’s right.}

Ilya answered right away without showing any doubts as he was done being surprised by Woo-Jin.

However, the novelist found it odd that Woo-Jin brought the topic up first since the actor was always reluctant to speak about Lansky or the things he knew. Furthermore, they had both started avoiding any topics relating to Lansky at some point in time.

{Were you that curious to know where the treasure trove was?}

{I wasn’t too curious, but I did want to know what memories you two shared despite not staying in contact at all and why you two cared so much about these memories that he’d even place Miss Consccia’s marriage on the line.}

{I see. And you finally figured out where it was today.}

From Woo-Jin’s story, Ilya realized that the actor already knew about the safehouse but seemed to have only realized today that the treasure trove they had spoken about was the safehouse in question.

Ilya was curious to know what had helped Woo-Jin connect the dots. He then reflected on the contents of his novel’s introductory scene, when his face brightened in enlightenment.

{Ah, the password!}

Albert and Lloyd’s passwords were set the same way but had vastly different meanings.

Most people wouldn’t care about the passwords so much, but it was a very important yet saddening matter for a child longing for affection.

It was a torturous password that constantly reminded the child that he would never be the first priority in his father figure’s heart — that he would never be the most loved child.

The passwords in Confession of White contained the sadness Ilya held in his heart.

Of course, other people could reproach Ilya for demanding too much from Lansky despite not even being his biological grandson.

Ilya also knew that.

However, the passwords for the safehouse were always the birthdays of great artists or the days Lansky had purchased some of his favorite artworks.

And Lansky had always told Ilya that the boy was the greatest writer in his heart.

But Ilya began to think those words were lies when Lansky changed the last password.

In fact, if the new password was the birthday of another artist like it was in the past, Ilya wouldn’t have given it much thought.

At the very least, if the password to one of the rooms other than the central room was set to a number relating to Ilya, he wouldn’t be this sorrowful.

{Do you know the password to that place?} Ilya asked.

Woo-Jin hesitated to reply. If he answered the question, it would be tough to talk his way out of it.

In fact, Woo-Jin knew that he shouldn’t have come here today. If he ran out of excuses and escape routes, all he could do in the end was admit the truth.

His plan was always to pretend not to know despite knowing it all, so he had to act ignorant until the end.

However, as he played Lloyd today, Woo-Jin felt Ilya’s sadness, jealousy, and the writer’s twisted loneliness as an unloved child. Thus, the actor couldn’t stand still and do nothing.

These stories had already become memories of the past as the years went by.

Some people could argue that complaining about one’s scars was foolish and confusing since the matter was already part of the past.

But that was from others’ point of view. From the perspective of the person who had been hurt, the passage of time did not erase their pain or change the past.

They simply got used to their scars and the pain, composed themselves, and buried them deep in their hearts.

Knowing this, Woo-Jin had to do something. He couldn’t sit still and pretend to be unaware of it all.

If he pretended not to have noticed the scars and wounds of his loved ones for the sake of protecting his peaceful life, then he wouldn’t be any different from Lansky.

In fact, Lansky had hurt his loved ones unknowingly, so Woo-Jin would be worse than Lansky.

Thus, he had no choice but to abandon everything and visit Ilya this evening.

{The password is Giorgio Consccia’s birthday,} Woo-Jin answered.

Many passwords were required to enter the safe house, but Ilya’s scars had to have been inflicted by the very last one.

{Indeed, the password protecting a place where one keeps their most cherished items must have a deep meaning like that.}

{But the man in question doesn’t seem to know the password is his birthday.}

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have placed such a condition on his daughter’s marriage. The situation had become quite ridiculous.

On the one hand, it would hurt Ilya’s self-esteem and twist his feelings to tell Giorgio that the password was his birthday.

On the other hand, Giorgio was unaware of the truth and jealous that Ilya was the only one to know the password.

{So, will you tell Selena the password?} Ilya asked.

He thought Woo-Jin would definitely tell her since he was close friends with Dustin. But to his surprise, the actor immediately shook his head.

{Miss Consccia is wasted on him.}

{You did sound very sincere when you said that before.}

Ilya smiled faintly as he recalled the events of that evening.

He had used the excuse that he didn’t want to see Giorgio turn his gaze away to the side, only to watch Woo-Jin closely.

Young people of Woo-Jin’s age tended to be nervous and shiver around Giorgio the first time. Or they tried to appeal to him and curry his favor.

But Woo-Jin did not do anything of the sort.

At first, the actor did seem awkward about Giorgio’s entrance, but afterward, he smiled heartwarmingly or wore a regrettable expression while watching Giorgio.

Woo-Jin had tried his best to hide his emotions, but it was plainly obvious in Ilya’s eyes.

{Even if Dustin is my friend, it is subjectively true that he is quite lacking in many ways.}

{Because Selena is a Consccia?} Ilya asked.

{No. To be honest, that is her only flaw. Her background would be completely unhelpful for Dustin, and he doesn’t care much about her family’s history. I’m merely comparing Selena and Dustin as two individuals. To be honest, it would be extremely taxing and exhausting for a woman to marry a Hollywood star, and I won’t sit back and watch that happen agai…}

Woo-Jin suddenly stopped himself before finishing his sentence. He was wary of Ilya. As he faced the writer’s serious expression, Woo-Jin smiled faintly and gave the excuse that he had gotten too empathetic because he had a sister and had spoken from an older brother’s perspective.

{Sure, sure. I get it. Let’s go with that,} Ilya said half-heartedly.

{We’re not ‘going with that.’ It’s the truth,} Woo-Jin complained.

{I get it already.}

Ilya chuckled lightly, and Woo-Jin couldn’t help but laugh along as the situation was amusing.

{Anyways, I have no intention of telling Miss Consccia for the moment. They’ve only just started dating, so marriage is still out of the question.}

{The right thing to do with lovers who have just started dating is to watch over them. If they want to take it further, they’ll become earnest and start acting desperately by themselves,} Ilya commented.

{But funnily enough, the problem is that there’s no one better for her than Dustin either. It is a blessing to meet someone who sees only you and loves you unconditionally,} Woo-Jin added.

It would be difficult to find someone other than Dustin who would sincerely love Selena as an individual and not as a Consccia.

Of course, Selena was more than capable of discerning people approaching her with hidden intentions, but Woo-Jin didn’t want her to live such a life where she was constantly on guard and making calculations in her head.

{And most importantly, it’s obvious that Selena loves Dustin back.}

Despite constantly calling her Miss Consccia, Woo-Jin had begun calling her by her given name at some point.

{That is why parents eventually lose to their children,} Ilya said.

Woo-Jin nodded in agreement.

No matter how much he shouted, ‘I’m against this marriage!’, Woo-Jin had already recognized Dustin as Selena’s partner in his heart. It was emotionally taxing on Woo-Jin to have his mind and heart stay in disagreement and conflict with each other.

{I feel that as I become an adult, everything I say and think becomes contradictory,} Woo-Jin sighed.

{Because the more one thinks, the more one calculates their every thought,} Ilya said.

Adults were stubborn beings that didn’t change their behavior even if their thoughts and calculations changed.

{By the way, do you know what artworks are stored away in that place?}

The ‘place’ Woo-Jin referred to was Ilya and Giorgio’s trove of memories.

Ilya didn’t think much of Woo-Jin’s sudden question and quickly recited the works he knew were in Lansky’s collection.

He couldn’t ever forget them, no matter how much time had passed.

{You’ve left out a few important works,} Woo-Jin said.

{I omitted some since I can’t recite the long list of works, but I’ve mentioned all the ones I consider important,} Ilya replied.

{But you don’t know what’s stored inside the drawer in the center of the bookshelf of antiquated books.}

{Ah! That’s….}

Ilya finally remembered what Woo-Jin was talking about.

The old and precious books were placed on a specially designed and crafted bookshelf, but the really old and valuable books were placed inside a box and stored away in a drawer at the center of the bookshelf.

When Lansky was explaining about the bookshelf in the past, he tried to show Ilya the contents of the drawer, but the boy was too scared and shook his head.

Everything he could see with the naked eye on the bookshelf was already so valuable yet fragile that his hands were trembling.

One time, Lansky had to pull out a book and personally turn the pages one by one to show Ilya since the boy was cowardly and didn’t want to touch it himself.

{Leonardo Da Vinci’s Notebooks, the Gospels of Henry the Lion, the Gutenberg Bible, and the Book of Urizen,} Woo-Jin listed.

{Seriously? Gosh, I should’ve agreed when he said he’d show them to me.}

Woo-Jin smiled at the regretful Ilya and added.

{And there are a few more books.}

{What are they?}

The collection Woo-Jin had listed was enough to excite most people, so Ilya subconsciously leaned forward as he was curious to know the rest.

{The Bard Does Not Sing, The Lake Under the Sea, and The Boy is Alive. All three books are the first editions and even have the author’s signature.}

Ilya froze and stared blankly at Woo-Jin.

The books he had listed were Ilya\'s first, second, and third works.

During his lifetime, Lansky had a firm philosophy and beliefs about his collection.

He didn’t collect books that were simply famous. He collected his favorite works based on his completely subjective opinion.

But because he had such a great discerning eye, most of the masterpieces in history ended up in his collection.

Thus, considering Lansky’s nature, he would never store Ilya’s books in the safehouse out of favoritism simply because they were written by Ilya.

If he didn’t like the book, it would never enter the safehouse no matter what.

{That place is where he kept the things he cherished after all.}

And even Lansky wouldn’t dare press someone’s birthday as a password right before them.

The password that protected his most cherished things needed to maintain its worth.

Those two boys were such cherished and precious people to Lansky.