Superstar From Age 0

Two hours ago.

New cars arrived at the village where the filming crew of [Title: Travel] was shooting.

“Looks like someone got here before us.”

Lee Ji-seok looked out the window and saw vehicles similar to the ones used by the staff parked nearby.

His manager, Yoon Seong-oh, who was driving, answered him.

“They said there's another movie crew overlapping with us. But they adjusted it so there won't be any problem with our evening shoot.”

“Really? What movie is it?”

Yoon Seong-oh parked the car on one side and said.

“I don't know… Do you want me to find out, hyung?”

“No. It's fine. We can go check it out later. Jong-ho hyung. We’re here.”

Lee Ji-seok turned his head and woke up Kim Jong-ho, who was wearing an eye mask.

“Hmm. Really?”

Kim Jong-ho got up after tossing and turning for a moment and took off his eye mask.

His sleepy face was revealed.

“You're getting old, hyung. Can you handle the shoot?”

“Try shooting all night and see if you’re tired or not.”

Lee Ji-seok teased him with a worried tone.

Kim Jong-ho stretched his neck and answered.

Kim Jong-ho and his manager, who had been with him all night, were planning to come down to Busan later because they were afraid of falling asleep while driving.

So instead of calling another manager, they borrowed Lee Ji-seok's car, but they felt like they came for nothing.

Lee Ji-seok, who was giggling, and Kim Jong-ho, who was grumbling, got out of the car and headed to the set.

While Kim Jong-ho and Lee Ji-seok were getting ready for the shooting of their movie [One Shot], Kim Jong-ho changed into a black suit and Lee Ji-seok changed into a shabby baseball jacket and started their makeup.

“The chase scene will be filmed tomorrow evening, you know that right? We don't know how much we’ll have to run tomorrow, so we’ll shoot briefly today and finish.”

That's how the shooting of [One Shot] began.

Manager Yoon Seong-oh glanced at the two actors who were shooting for a moment and moved his steps.

He said it was okay, but he was curious what kind of shooting it was.

Besides, if he met an actor who didn't get along well with him, his condition might get worse, so it was better to find out in advance.

‘Come to think of it, seo-jun said he was in Busan too. Is Seo-jun here?’

He thought that for a moment and chuckled.

He heard that Seo-jun was shooting a movie in Busan, but he didn't hear where he was shooting.

In this wide Busan, of course there were only certain places where you could shoot, but Yoon Seong-oh didn't even think that Seo-jun's shooting location would overlap with his.

“Are they shooting here?”

A quiet neighborhood.

There was a place where people's voices could be heard.

Yoon Seong-oh moved his steps.

He couldn't enter the set, so he just wanted to take a quick look and come back.

If he knew who the actor was, he could roughly guess what movie they were shooting and who else was starring in it.

But there was a familiar face there.

“Manager Ahn?”

“Oh, Manager Yoon.”

It was Ahn Da Ho, the manager of actor Lee Seo-jun.

Yoon Seong-oh approached Ahn Da Ho in surprise.

Ahn Da Ho also stepped back a little so as not to disturb the shooting.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ji-seok hyung is shooting over there.”

At Yoon Seong-oh's words, Ahn Da Ho also looked surprised.

He heard that there was another shooting crew coming, but it turned out to be Lee Ji-seok's movie.

“Is actor Kim Jong-ho also here?”

“Yes. He's shooting with him. Is Seo-jun shooting right now?”

Ahn Da Ho nodded and smiled slightly.

“It's not easy to meet like this. I guess fate is fate.”

Yoon Seong-oh also smiled and said.

“I’ll tell Ji-seok hyung right away. He’ll come over soon. We’re going to finish shooting early today, so we have plenty of time.”

“Seo-jun's shooting is almost over too.”

Yoon Seong-oh nodded and hurried back to the set of [One Shot].

While Kim Jong-ho was shooting, Lee Ji-seok was resting.

He was sitting on a chair and looking at the next scene he was going to shoot when Yoon Seong-oh came up to him.

“Where did you go?”

“Over there at the set.”

“Yeah? What are they shooting?”

Lee Ji-seok took his eyes off the script and looked at Yoon Seong-oh. Yoon Seong-oh smiled sheepishly and opened his mouth.

“It's Seo-jun.”

“…Seo-jun?”

“Yes. He said he was shooting a movie in Busan, but I guess he's shooting here.”

At that, Lee Ji-seok's eyes widened and he chuckled.

He felt his face brighten up.

If there was someone who could ruin an actor's condition, there was also someone who could make it better than usual.

“Let's go see him when we’re done shooting.”

“Okay. But you’re not going to tell Jong-ho hyung?”

“No.”

It was such a quick answer that Yoon Seong-oh thought he heard it wrong. But he realized it wasn't when he saw Lee Ji-seok's face full of mischief.

“Hehehe.”

Lee Ji-seok laughed like a villain.

***

He thought he saw it wrong.

“Huh? Ji-seok hyung?”

Lee Ji-seok, who was waving one hand with the other hand in his pocket like a neighborhood uncle passing by, appeared.

The staffs discreetly moved aside, so it seemed like it wasn't a mistake.

Kim Han-seok, who was lying down, also got up in surprise at Lee Ji-seok's appearance.

Seo-jun smiled brightly and approached Lee Ji-seok.

“What are you doing here, hyung?”

“I was shooting nearby.”

“Oh. That's why you’re dressed like this.”

That's why.

He thought his outfit was too different from usual.

“Wow. There are two actors here.”

The shooting director came up with a smiling face.

He was the shooting director who had worked with them on [Rebellion], so he knew Lee Ji-seok as well. Lee Ji-seok smiled and reached out his hand.

“Long time no see, Director.”

“That's right. Is this the actor team that's shooting here today?”

“Yes. Jong-ho sunbae is shooting with me.”

The shooting director and Lee Ji-seok chatted while Min Hee-kyung, the director, stared at them with wide eyes.

She knew that there was another shooting crew coming today or tomorrow, but she didn't expect Lee Ji-seok to come all the way here.

Min Hee-kyung looked back and forth between Seo-jun and Lee Ji-seok.

She knew they were close from various articles, but they really looked close.

‘Well, there's a reason why they call it the Lee Seo-jun faction.’

Lee Ji-seok greeted the shooting director and then greeted Min Hee-kyung as well.

Seo-jun was relaxed because he had been through various incidents (with a half-detached feeling), but Lee Ji-seok felt a little nervous.

“Did uncle Jong-ho come too? But why can't I see him?”

Seo-jun looked around and Lee Ji-seok giggled.

“Are you filming right now? Let's surprise him when you’re done.”

“Ha ha. Should we?”

Seo-jun, who was laughing happily with the two people, felt a presence behind him.

It was Kim Han-seok.

“Hyung. This is Kim Han-seok, the actor who is filming with me this time.”

Actor!

Kim Han-seok suppressed his smile that was about to rise at Seo-jun's words. But Seo-jun and Lee Ji-seok did not miss it.

Lee Ji-seok smiled and reached out his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I enjoyed watching ‘Bluebird’.”

‘Bluebird’ was the title of an independent film that Kim Han-seok starred in last year.

Most people would mention ‘One Step’ when they heard Kim Han-seok's name, but Lee Ji-seok did not.

‘As expected of my hyung.’

It was nice to be recognized, but it felt like he had not made any progress if it was a work from his elementary school days.

It was not a good thing for an actor.

Seo-jun smiled slightly at Kim Han-seok's happy face.

“Just speak comfortably! Senior!”

“Then should I? I liked ‘Bluebird’. You did well.”

“Thank you!”

Lee Ji-seok smiled at Kim Han-seok and turned his gaze to Seo-jun.

He stared at Seo-jun's face and looked him up and down.

Seo-jun tilted his head, and he opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“Seo-jun. Why did you lose so much weight? You look like half of yourself.”

Seo-jun touched his cheeks. Kim Han-seok also tilted his head. He did lose some weight, but not half.

But to Lee Ji-seok's eyes, he looked very thin. He had not seen Seo-jun for a while, and he felt that way when he saw him with less weight.

“I just lost a little bit. Not half.”

“I heard you were playing a terminally ill character and I was worried… Hmm. Well, you have Team Leader Ahn, so you'll be fine.”

At Lee Ji-seok's words, seo-jun blinked.

***

“Cut, okay!”

At the director's words, Kim Jong-ho closed his eyes tiredly.

‘I need to rest well until tomorrow's filming.’

He agreed to make a cameo appearance at Park Do-hoon's request, but he did not expect it to be so exhausting.

He turned his stiff neck and saw Seo-jun waving his hand brightly among the staff.

‘Huh? Seo-jun?’

But he looked thinner than usual, and his face was pale unlike his usual healthy complexion. He looked like an illusion. He felt dizzy for a moment.

“Do I really need to rest…?”

Kim Jong-ho had been sleeping and did not hear that there was another film crew. He washed his face briefly.

“Uncle Jong-ho!”

Then he heard a voice calling him. It was as cheerful as usual, unlike the illusion-like appearance.

Kim Jong-ho lowered his hand that covered his face.

He looked at Seo-jun with shaky eyes and found Lee Ji-seok laughing behind him.

“…Seo-jun? …Why are you here?”

Seo-jun and Lee Ji-seok burst into laughter at Kim Jong-ho's surprised face.

***

After Kim Jong-ho finished filming and did not even change his clothes or makeup, the actors gathered in the house next to ‘Kwon Yoon-chan's House’.

“Why did you lose so much weight? I thought I saw wrong.”

Kim Jong-ho, who looked at Seo-jun like a worried grandmother, peeled an orange that Ahn Da-ho brought and handed it to Seo-jun.

“Ji-seok hyung said the same thing earlier.”

Seo-jun put an orange slice in his mouth with a full smile on his face.

“I lost some weight because my character is terminally ill.”

“I heard that story, but… You have no color in your face.”

“Oh, this is makeup.”

At Seo-jun's words, Lee Ji-seok laughed out loud. Kim Jong-ho coughed awkwardly.

Well, he sounded just like usual. Kim Han-seok was quietly looking at the two actors with sparkling eyes.

“Well. You have Team Leader Ahn, so you'll be fine.”

“Ji-seok hyung said that too.”

Ahn Da-ho, who was talking with the managers in one corner of the room, coughed with a shy expression.

“How much do you think You're going to lose?”

“…Well.”

Lee Ji-seok and Kim Jong-ho rolled their eyes.

Seo-jun seemed to know what they were thinking. He probably looked like a mummy to them.

‘What kind of image do people have of me in their heads?’

Seo-jun sighed exaggeratedly and said.

“I won't lose weight to the point of harming my body.”

He had to live long and healthy as an actor.

“But you’re unusually strong, seo-jun. You think you’re fine, but it's not to us.”

“Yeah. Yeah. It's more worrying because you’ve never been sick.”

That was true.

Seo-jun, who was stronger than normal people and even more than what the two actors thought, had nothing to say and closed his mouth.

He was actually planning to lose more weight than now.

Seo-jun, who only pouted his lips, made Lee Ji-seok and Kim Jong-ho chuckle. They got along well at times like this.

“Are you resting tomorrow?”

“Yes. I've been filming continuously, so I'm taking a day off.”

Seo-jun's hand was full of oranges that Lee Ji-seok and Kim Jong-ho peeled for him. He put one in his mouth and spoke.

“Do you want to come and watch the filming tomorrow?”

At that, seo-jun nodded.

He was curious about the other film sets.

He wanted to see how different images would come out in the same place.

“Can I go too?”

“Of course.”

Kim Han-seok asked and Kim Jong-ho answered with a smile.

***

The next day.

Seo-jun and Kim Han-seok headed to the set of ‘One Shot’.

It was not completely dark at night, but evening when the sun was setting.

When they arrived at the set, the staff were preparing for filming.

There were extras in black suits who would appear as Kim Jong-ho's subordinates, but they all looked surprised at Seo-jun.

Why is Lee Seo-jun here?

“Uncle Jong-ho seems to have gained weight from eating too much.”

“He looks the same to me?”

“Really?”

Lee Ji-seok and Kim Jong-ho went to do their makeup, and Seo-jun and Kim Han-seok sat on the prepared chairs and chatted.

The director of ‘One Shot’ looked at Seo-jun and Kim Han-seok with a pitying expression.

“Can't we change the script?”

“We can't. Do you want to put high school students in the scene where gangsters appear?”

“What about neighborhood residents 1 or 2 passing by?”

“Do you think that would work?”

The director sighed with regret at the realistic words of the assistant director.

“It would be nice if we could put Lee Seo-jun as a cameo…”

“We can't put him as a cameo, but we have something to promote.”

“Huh?”

The assistant director smiled and handed his phone.

On the phone screen, there were two characters from ‘Working Title: Travel’ and two characters from ‘One Shot’ talking.

Two men in baseball jackets and suits, and two boys in casual clothes.

They did not remove their makeup, so it looked like characters from different styles met.

“I’ll ask the managers later if we can use it.” 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The director's face brightened at the reliable words of the assistant director.