Superstar From Age 0

The stage darkened and the curtain fell.

The audience was stunned by the story that shifted from SF to the Joseon era and the identity of the android.

They had never imagined such a twist.

Even the students who knew the rough plot were wide-eyed like rabbits when Seo-jun appeared from the audience seats.

That kind of direction was not mentioned in the announcement.

Silence lingered in the Mirinae Hall.

It felt like the terrifying aura of Jangsanbeom, which had struck like a storm, had left behind beast-like footprints.

Then, a refreshing breeze blew that could not be felt indoors.

The heavy atmosphere changed in an instant, and the breath that had been stuck in their throats burst out.

As they recalled the incomprehensible scene change and retraced the story from the beginning, admiration flowed out of their mouths.

“Wow… That was no joke…”

Clap clap clap clap!!

The Mirinae Hall became noisy with loud applause.

***

The people in the VIP seats also clapped their hands non-stop and talked about the play.

“I never expected Jangsanbeom.”

“It seems like the title was not just randomly chosen. If you reverse MOEB, you get BEOM. That means tiger.”

Ooh.

Everyone exclaimed at Director Woo Jeong-han's words.

“Then 436 must be related too. Maybe it's the year when Jangsanbeom's story came out? 1436?”

“Didn't Joseon start in 1392?”

Everyone looked surprised at Writer So Eun-jin's words. Was Jangsanbeom such an old story? Park Do-hoon shook his head vigorously.

“I don't think it's the year. I heard that Jangsanbeom is more of an urban legend than a folk tale. It's said to be the most recent one among the stories that have been passed down.”

“Urban legend… There's a huge difference between folk tales and urban legends. I thought Jangsanbeom was a monster that had been passed down since ancient times.”

As Park Do-hoon spoke, Kang Tae-young noticed Evan Block sitting next to him and Rachel Hill sitting behind him.

He felt a pang of regret.

“Oh! Do you know Jangsanbeom? I don't know if there's a similar story in America, but… It's like a tiger that mimics human voices and eats people.”

Evan Block and Rachel Hill smiled at Kang Tae-young's attempt to explain. They seemed to understand his struggle.

“Yes, we know Jangsanbeom.”

“Oh, you knew?”

Kang Tae-young widened his eyes and then sighed in relief.

Kim Jong-ho and Lee Ji-seok looked at Evan Block and Rachel Hill with curious expressions.

“I knew you were learning Korean, but I didn't expect you to know such stories.”

“We found out about it two days ago.”

Rachel Hill said with a smile.

“Thank you for explaining, tae-young. Evan, do you have the paper?”

“Yeah. Here.”

Evan Block smiled and took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

The actors, directors, and writers wondered what kind of paper it was.

“What is that?”

“Jun gave it to us before we watched the play.”

At Director Woo Jeong-han's question, Evan Block handed him the paper with a smile.

Director Woo Jeong-han and the people sitting around him stretched their heads to see the contents of the paper.

“What is this…?”

Evan Block explained as Kang Tae-young couldn't see well because he was blocked by him.

“It's a collection of Korean monsters. It has everything from their names to related stories. We’re learning Korean, but we’re not very good at those old stories.”

Rachel Hill nodded her head with a smile.

“Jun seemed worried that we wouldn't understand, so he told us to read it carefully before we came. We expected some stories to be connected like [Mirror], but we didn't know they would be linked like this.”

If they had something like this, it would have been helpful for people who didn't know about Jangsanbeom to enjoy the play more, even if it wasn't a perfect spoiler like [Mirror].

“But wouldn't it be too obvious if Jangsanbeom's story was written on it?”

To enjoy the play, they had to know about Jangsanbeom, but then they would realize that the play was related to Jangsanbeom.

It seemed a bit difficult to make a spoiler that wouldn't affect the twist of the play.

At Kang Tae-young's words, Director Woo Jeong-han handed him the paper with a smile.

Kang Tae-young and Brown Black, who were sitting across from him, looked at the paper with sparkling eyes.

The music and staff who were listening to the conversation without realizing it also had faces full of interest.

“Gumiho, Geosunse, Dooeokshini…?”

Rachel Hill said with a smile.

“He put in stories of other monsters besides Jangsanbeom, maybe because he didn't want us to guess the plot.” 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Everyone laughed at Seo-jun's meticulousness.

“Did Seo-jun tone down his acting a bit?”

At Director Choi Dae-man's confident question, everyone nodded their heads, including Evan Block and Rachel Hill.

“It was perfect for the play. If he had put more effort into it, it would have been too realistic and unpleasant.”

In the meantime, only Brown Black tilted their heads.

Wouldn't toning down mean bad acting? It seemed to them that he had a lot of power in his acting.

“Uh, can I ask what you mean by that?”

“Seo-jun is good at acting.”

Director Min Hee-kyung, who had postponed the busy schedule of [Flowing Away], which was sweeping the film festival awards, and participated in the Mirinae Arts High School special lecture and got a ticket for the graduation performance, opened her mouth.

Brown Black nodded their heads like octopuses, thinking, ‘Our Seo-jun is good at acting.’

“But he's so good that sometimes I wonder if it's real.”

The directors, actors, writers, and everyone else agreed. They all had experienced being fooled by Seo-jun's acting at least once.

“If we can see it that way as directors or actors who are familiar with acting, how would ordinary people see it?”

Brown Black widened their eyes at Director Choi Min-sung's words.

“If it was a video, they would have focused more on the scenes where real Yoo-jin dies and the peddler dies.”

The image of real Yoo-jin covering his mouth and nose with white gloves and looking at M with bloodshot eyes flashed through the directors’ minds.

To escape from M’s hand, he would have grabbed his wrist and arm, and dug his nails into his arm with all his strength.

But M, who was an android, would have looked at him lightly as if he was killing a bug or throwing away trash.

That image, along with Seo-jun's practical exam video for Korea National University of Arts, passed through the directors’ minds.

“Even though it was a play, seo-jun hid all of that.”

Disgust and chills.

Seo-jun knew very well how his acting would look to the audience. He adjusted it very well between those feelings.

“I wish he showed a little more in the edited video that will be released. I want to see their facial expressions in detail.”

Everyone nodded at Lee Da-jin's words.

Then their eyes turned to the cameras that were filming from the audience seats. Especially to the right camera that was filming closest to the audience seat where Seo-jun walked down.

The independent film director who participated in the filming as a part-time job at Mirinae Arts High School flinched.

He felt like he was being watched from the VIP seats.

He felt like a fish in front of a cat under that intense gaze.

As soon as the curtain fell, seo-jun let go of the tension in his body.

He smiled as he recalled the astonished expressions of the audience he had seen for the last time.

‘It seems to have gone better than I thought.’

Unlike movies or dramas where the camera filters his abilities, seo-jun's abilities were fully conveyed to the audience in the play. It must have been more shocking than usual, as Jangsanbeom appeared unexpectedly from the audience seats.

‘Of course, I used it at the lowest level possible…’

Still, for the audience, everything on stage must have felt like it was right in front of them, touching their skin.

‘I can't act without using magic either.’

Seon-gi and Ma-gi.

The balance between them was important.

So Seo-jun laid out Seon-gi in advance in the audience seats and let out Ma-gi when he acted as Jangsanbeom.

Both abilities were of the same grade, so they didn't break each other like they did in [Shadowman 3]. He also practiced.

‘I didn't practice with the audience seats full of people, though…’

It seemed to have gone much better than he had thought.

Seo-jun smiled contentedly and exhaled, activating his ability.

[(Seon) Intermediate Angel's Fan is activated.]

A refreshing and warm wind blew.

The Ma-gi that had been confronting Seon-gi in the audience seats was purified.

The audience members who came to their senses after feeling the wind opened their mouths one by one, and the silence in the audience seats was felt behind the curtain.

Seo-jun turned around after confirming that the last speck of Ma-gi was purified.

Kang Jae-han, who had pretended to be dead with one arm and leg sticking out of the blanket, was raising his upper body.

“Jae-han, are you okay?”

Seo-jun reached out his hand.

“Yeah. I'm fine. This part is soft.”

Kang Jae-han grabbed Seo-jun's hand and got up. The area where Kang Jae-han stepped on was soft and squishy like a bed mattress.

When the art team made the set, they used a soft material for the area where Kang Jae-han would fall under Seo-jun's attack.

Thanks to that, seo-jun and Kang Jae-han were able to act as fiercely as a hunting beast and a falling prey without any worries.

Park Yeon-ji, who played the Tavern owner, and Kim Young Chan, who played peddler 2, came to Seo-jun and Kang Jae-han's side with excited faces.

“You were awesome! Seniors!”

“It seemed more powerful than during rehearsal!”

Seo-jun's white hair and yellow eyes were terrifying when he acted as Jangsanbeom, but when he wasn't acting, they looked no different from a photo shoot.

Especially, the black suit and white cloak looked great together.

“You guys did really well too. You practiced well and did even better in real performance.”

The golden eyes that were full of life rounded up.

“Right. I really thought you were the Tavern owner and peddler.”

The two juniors smiled as if they couldn't hold back their laughter, biting their lips.

“Really? I'm glad. I almost forgot my lines in the middle.”

“Me too. When Seo-jun senior appeared, I felt the atmosphere in the audience seats all the way behind the set. I was so nervous.”

Kim Joo-kyung, who played the scientist, and Han Jinho, who played the real Yoo-jin, also came up on stage with bright faces.

There was no curtain call because it was a school performance with multiple teams on stage, but fortunately it was the last team so they could relax a little on stage.

“Wow! Jae-han, how did you act so calmly after seeing Seo-jun's acting?”

“It seemed better than during rehearsal?”

Kim Joo-kyung and Han Jinho exclaimed. Seo-jun nodded his head too.

It was hard for Seo-jun to act in this large Mirinae Hall without affecting only Kang Jae-han on stage.

So peddler 1 had to act entirely on his own power, as if there was no Jangsanbeom appearing right across from him.

‘It would have been hard for first or second graders, but it was lucky that Jae-han volunteered.’

The students who heard Kang Jae-han's answer smiled and clapped their hands. Kang Jae-han smiled shyly.

“It was like that, but I was okay because I did a play with Seo-jun once. Seo-jun concentrates more in real performance, so I focused on my acting as much as possible.”

“That's why they pick experienced ones.”

“That's right.”

Seo-jun and the students admired him with their eyes. Kang Jae-han chuckled.

“Let's go down. The kids are waiting behind.”

“Yeah.”

As Kim Joo-kyung said that and they were about to go down the stage happily after finishing the performance safely,

Clap clap clap clap!!

A loud applause and cheer came from behind the curtain.

The students and Seo-jun smiled brightly at the late but loud cheers.

****

Students and families began to come out of the Mirinae Hall one by one.

The students didn't need to go back to their classes, so they went home with their families right away.

“Good reaction, huh?”

The reporters brightened their eyes as they watched the reaction of the students and families.

Even now, articles with Seo-jun's name in them had comments asking what kind of play it was.

They had to convey the atmosphere of the scene faithfully.

“436! If you flip it, it's 634! That's Jangsan's height. 634 meters!”

“It's exactly ‘Jangsan’ and ‘Beom’. If you flip it, it's 634-BOEM.”

Of course, the reporters ignored the spoilers that were ringing in their ears.

They listened carefully to the voices that came from all directions.

Then, a voice caught their ears.

“Hey. I think there were foreigners in the staff seats too. Do they have foreign teachers?”

“Oh. Evan Block and Rachel Hill?”

The brother who tapped his younger brother asked, and the younger brother answered casually. He was not without a little pride in his heart.

“…What?”

“…Huh?”

The brother stopped walking and the other families who were walking around also stopped.

The Mirinae Arts High School students who had casually spilled the beans looked at the first grader with an expression of regret and Kim Haun, a third grader in acting department who was going home with his family, quickly took out his phone.

“…Hey. You… What did you say?”

“Ah, ah, ah, no… That…”

The first grader trembled.

The reporters’ eyes widened. Judging by the reaction of the students, it didn't seem like a joke.

“Seo-jun said it's okay to tell!”

At Kim Haun's voice, they turned around and opened their mouths when they recognized their senior.

The families who heard the story looked back at the Mirinae Hall with surprise and the families who sat close to the staff seats had a regretful expression on their faces.

“Hey. Why didn't you tell me sooner?”

“That's right. I would have seen their faces at least. How are they in real life?”

“The atmosphere is amazing! They speak Korean very well too! I think they're better than me!”

The reporters smiled from ear to ear as they heard the stories pouring out from all sides.

As expected of Seo-jun.

There was never a day when he ran out of stories.

The first grader who was being shaken by his brother to tell more details breathed a sigh of relief at the atmosphere.