Chapter 2: Will-o'-the-Wisp

Graham Payne's career couldn't just be summed up as a "veteran actor". He had started his career in anonymity, but gradually shed his inhibitions and grew into a leading man, becoming a symbol of hard work.

Sage Smith watched the thespian and realized something.

"I can see it," he muttered as he saw the strange ball of fire flickering beyond the monitor. Was it some sort of intuition, something beyond explanation? "I'm going to have to snap my jaw shut for now."

He observed the actor silently sweeping his eyes over the audience both in the venue and in the terminal, causing a feeling of anticipation to rise from them. However, Sage's eyes were focused on the strange ball of fire before him.

"Could it be?" he wondered, his gaze transfixed on the monitor even as he raised his right hand. As he recalled the conversation he had with that strange old man earlier, his hand wavered. If the strange ball of fire he saw were 'emotions', he remembered the old man telling him to 'grab it with the right hand, let it go with the left'.

As he had already done several leaps of faith earlier that day, Sage thought that one more leap wouldn't hurt. He extended his hand towards the monitor, reaching for that ball of flame. At first, he felt nothing, but as the fingers of his right hand grasped something phantasmal, he could sense his fingertips making contact with something.

"Throughout my life, I have been incredibly blessed. Everyone who has been with me from the start of my acting journey up to now, I sincerely thank you all. Forgive me if it seems this thanks is inadequate for the lot of you, but…"

Sage could feel something warm and cold around his fingers as he saw Graham Payne's acceptance speech, and once he started to name the names of those who worked on the film, Sage began to draw upon the flames.

It wasn't much, but the flames he had taken through his right hand seemed to contain raw emotion. He wasn't sure yet whether he had absorbed the actor's emotion through the speech or made a copy of it for himself, but his intuition and sense of wonder took over.

Realization soon set in that the old man's advice to take it in with his right hand and return it with his left hand actually did something.

A few moments passed in his disbelief that he could hold emotions in his hand: actual, tangible emotions. Once he had gotten over that, his mind quickly went over the possible uses of it: to understand the emotions of others, possibly assist them; and in turn, further his understanding of himself and his own emotions, or lack thereof.

Despite his desensitized heart, Sage still aspired to do good for others, and thus immediately thought of how he could help his fellowmen with this new talent of his.

As the flames lingered in his right hand, he was reminded of the old man's instructions and molded the flames back into a ball as he moved it to his right hand. While the actor continued the latter half of his acceptance speech, Sage focused on the concept of returning it to his left hand.

He eyed the smaller ball of flame that was the actor's and flicked the flames on his left hand in that general direction.

But, given that this was his first attempt, his throw went wide, and the ball of flame he meant to return to the other smacked onto the actor's face.

Sage winced, but it seemed the throw worked, as the actor's ball of flames burned brightly once more.

However, Sage could feel a rush of something flowing within him. He closed his eyes and a multitude of images passed by like a movie on fast-forward.

"What's this?" Sage asked, but as the images kept rushing through his mind, the places and faces he saw were familiar.

"I know this," he told himself as he saw an entertainment reporter ask about his previous project. "I'm seeing Graham Payne's memories!"

Bits and pieces of his life filtered through the images and the emotions that came with them, too.

"Oh, my twenties? I'd rather not talk about them. Just think of it as me passing hardships."

"I was a guy who jumped from one job to another until I was forty. Yes, my outlook on life was bleak."

"I didn't know I had a problem until they told me that it wasn't right to drink a bottle of soju nightly to help me sleep. They called me a wreck behind my back, and they were right."

He could see the context of each sentence, how the man lived through those years, and the emotions and feelings being dredged up from those experiences along with it.

"Robert De Niro was the one who inspired my dream of acting. It wasn't easy; I majored in an entirely different field in college, and my shyness prevented me from even considering enrolling in a proper acting academy. Borrowing books on acting from the library marked the beginning."

"In retrospect, there were quite a few opportunities, but at that time, I missed them all."

"I can't say I didn't feel regretful. Even though I'm only saying this now, I went through a lot of hardships because I always felt that I was left behind."

"I eventually learned to draw on that feeling to motivate me."

"While I lived in a tiny room, every idle moment I could spare was spent practicing my acting. Every day was a hustle with no breaks."

Struggles, deficiencies, regrets...

The intensity and urgency of his words weren't confined to interviews. His autobiography "My Trials and Tribulations" was a radically-worded summary of Graham Payne's life: an avalanche of emotions expressed within that was now looming over Sage.

"At the Venice Film Festival: A Humbled Graham Payne Accepts His Best Supporting Actor Award".

More images followed.

"Leaked Video of Famous Actor in a Pub Brawl at Cannes!"

Brutally and unfairly dissected by the media and the public.

"Graham Payne's Infamous Press Conference."

Relief, anger, and disappointment followed.

"Volatile Character Actor Graham Payne Cast as Lead in 'Resting Streets'!"

"Graham Payne is the sentimental favorite to win Best Actor in a Lead Role at the incoming Couronne d'Platine Festival!"

Excitement, anticipation. And now -

"And to everyone, I just want to say that being recognized as an actor is a dream that I've had for the longest time."

At that moment, I couldn't think of anything to say… except this.

Sage felt bizarre as he could feel the actor's emotions at the same time he was feeling them. Not only that, whatever he did put context on these emotions, why the man was using all of his control to not just break down and sob on the film world's biggest stage.

He could clearly feel the backlash as Graham wrapped up his speech. -

"For all the trials and tribulations, the aches and pains, the sorrow and hardship, it was all worth it. Thank you very much."

A single tear coursed down his face right before he turned to walk away from the stage, and at the same time, Sage felt the man's emotions begin to overwhelm him.

He swallowed a lump in his throat as he covered his gaping mouth with both hands.

Oh, it's a public place…

Sage tried his best to keep his control, but to no avail, as the backlash of the emotions surged through his throat like an unleashed animal.

The groan that erupted from his mouth shattered what little control he had, and he collapsed onto the cold floor of the terminal waiting area, a wailing and sobbing wreck.

Even if he had lost control of his body, a part of Sage's mind was still sufficiently detached.

How could someone contain these kinds of emotions? Unbelievable. Graham Payne really did earn that award.

"He must be one of those superfans…"

"Yeah, aren't we fans too? This is a bit too much..."

"This is a train station, after all. You run into all sorts of folks here."

"Yeah, but this is kind of creepy..."

"You're right. Let's get out of here."

The passengers in front of the waiting room monitor moved away, terminal staff and a few drivers sparing glances at him, while the janitor just went about his business even as they all witnessed his rather shameful public display.

Sage lay exhausted on the chair, his eyes unable to cry any further tears after detonating a bomb of emotions that weren't even his.

"What was that?"

Amidst his confusion, he also noticed that everything felt clearer, and more refreshing, as if a fog lingering around him for a few years had been blown away by a sudden and powerful gust of wind.

The feeling of the will-o'-the-wisp was exhilarating.

"I hope I haven't lost my mind yet," he whispered, "because I think I may have just been saved."

It was Friday evening, and a bleary-eyed Sage had been practicing this ability for the past three days. He had called it "the will-o'-the-wisp", and wrote notes about how it worked. It was basically the ability to look at a specific person, evoke their emotions, and use them as his own.

"The experience is totally different from when I imitated that actor, though."

Sage had tried his new ability on his neighbors: the old-timer at the meat restaurant, the bus driver in the street fight, the lady manning the butcher shop, the net cafe part-timer, the couple fighting in the street, and many more. Although he had copied quite a lot of emotions since that day, he had never experienced an outburst of emotions as explosive as that first time. The reason wasn't simply the magnitude of the emotions. It was hard to say whether the ball of flame that appeared near Graham Payne was too overwhelming to grasp, given its intensity. "This one is quite powerful too..."

The will-o'-the-wisp he now had was also quite potent. The emotions he found in a café yesterday afternoon provided a compelling experience, though not as explosive as with the Best Actor.

As he lowered his head, he grunted as he could make out a small flame flickering above his stomach. Yes, he had discovered a place in his right hand where he could store the copied emotions of others.

When not in use, the ball of flame flickered at the base of his neck, ready to move to his face whenever he needed to use it. Sage found this ability quite remarkable, as once he copied an emotion, he could store it and use it for a long time. However, as he practiced, he noted two drawbacks to this ability. First, the stored flame would dissipate whenever he copied a new one. Second, he could only copy emotions from live broadcasts on the screen. That explained why he couldn't feel the explosive emotions he experienced before. Storing just one long-lasting emotion was a bit disappointing, but he thought, "Still... it's not that bad for now."

Sage found himself revitalized. Lately, he had been feeling emotionally dull and gray, but with his new ability, he could copy the vivid and colorful emotions and add a new dimension to his life. It was truly exciting and heart-pounding to experience feelings of that intensity again. If he could find a way to store more emotions in the future, it would be even better, but for now, he felt content with what he could do. His heart pounded with an excitement he hadn't felt for quite some time, mainly due to how his emotions had slowly dulled over time. Thanks to his encounter with that strange old man, he was now looking forward to living a completely different life.

No matter how he thought about it, this ability was extraordinary. It felt like something straight out of a martial arts novel or some sort of diviner's power. In truth, it didn't matter who or what granted it; what was essential was making the most of this newfound ability to the fullest.

Sage turned the calendar and saw that the next day would provide another great opportunity to use his new ability to the fullest. After a few days of testing it at home, he confidently encircled the next day on the calendar and the activities planned for that day.

He underlined the note about a "secret" part-time job he had taken before.

[1 PM, Part-time, Wedding Guest]

This part-time job of being a wedding guest was one of the short-term jobs he had sought out, not only to earn a living without a stable job but also as an opportunity to immerse himself in actual life experiences.

He turned to the mirror, saw the flickering will-o'-the-wisp at the base of his neck, and couldn't help but feel excited at what this job as a wedding guest might offer.

"This sounds like fun," he said, anticipating the potential task being more than just a simple one.

Sage smiled…