The car appearred at last in front of a lot of people who had been waiting so long for me. I got out of the black, luxurious limousine and stood there for a while adjusting my suit. People began to squeal with excitement and wave their hands toward me with extremely happy faces. I slowly headed toward the people and walked onto the carpet. "Thank you," I kept saying with a bright smile. I was surrounded by a lot of people and cameras. I was on the red carpet and I was a superstar. Have you ever imagined that you would walk down the red carpet like a superstar? I bet you would hardly believe that I had this experience!
At this time, I was twenty-two and I had known the professor Ms. Kim for a short time. She is a French theatre professor who has many connections in the culture circle. One day, she gave me a small card. "Oh what is this, professor?" I asked. It was a ticket for the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). "I have participated in this every year," she said. "Unfortunately, I have another very important appointment on the same day. So, you can go there in place of me if you want." It was not an ordinary ticket but a VIP ticket. It meant that I could walk down the red carpet, appreciate the opening movie with many a movie professional, and even attend a banquet in a hotel. I said to her "Thank you, so very much! I am greatly looking forward to this experience!"
I was supposed to attend the event in the place of her, pretending to be her for the festival. Luckily, her name was unisex. So now I repeated her name in my head like a mantra. I dressed myself up as best as I could and left to Busan with KTX. When I arrived at the event, there were many people there already. Refraining from trembling as best as I could, I walked down the red carpet before all of the "real" superstars arrived. I walked down the red carpet as if I were one of the superstars, even though I was merely a student.
Nobody recognized me, of course. And no one took pictures of me because I did not stand on the photo zone. However, it was so very exciting and I still have not forgotton the moment I walked on the red carpet. Little did I know that later, throughout the event, I would be surrounded by famous men and women. Those popular stars include Dong-gun Jang, Jin-young Jung, Jin-young Park (JYP), a Japanese movie star Ueno Juri, the late Andre Kim, and so on.
Following the film festival event, there was a banquet being offered in a very large hotel for everyone at the festival to attend. In order to get to the banquet, there were limousine's that shuttled people from the festival to the hotel where it was being hosted. But I never could have expected who would end up sharing the limousine with me. I was waiting for the shuttle limousine, pretending a film professional as always of my today.
Upon entering the limousine, a man grabbed it at the same time. I was surprised, however we ended up getting in into the limousine together to go to the banquet. Shocked, I thought to myself: "Jin-young Jung is sitting right next to me. Jin-young Jung from the 2005 movie 'King and the Clown'! What can I do? I am not famous at all as he is! I don't even belong here! Did I get into the wrong limousine? I must have, but there is no way I can leave now without offending!" So I did the only thing I could do. I pretended as if I should be there. I pretended as if I were a foreign film party or an in
ternational actor just as the other passengers were, only from a Southeast Asian country where Korean was not spoken. So for the entire shuttle ride over to the hotel, we sat in silence, despite my desire to talk to the other passengers and ask them questions. When we arrived at the hotel I got up my nerve and ask Jin-young Jung for a photo of us together, to which he thankfully accepted my proposal.
At the banquet, I was surrounded in a very small area by superstars, and I met a lot of them very closely as if I had become one of them. Jin-young Park, Yeo-jung Yoon, Ueno Juri, and Andre Kim were with me so closely that I could have tapped them each on the shoulder.
It was such an amazing evening, but it had to come to end. It was an event that I will never forget. Sometimes we wonder about the life of superstars' and hope to be one of them. Even though I was not Mr. Lee but Ms. Kim on the day, I could indirectly experience a little bit of an actor's life. So how was it? It was beyond belief, nor can I fully describe just how much the event affected me. It was the best moment in my life!
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