Superstar From Age 0

“They say that even a graceful swan is paddling hard under the water. Doesn't it look like that?”

Kang Jae-han's remark made Team 436 laugh.

Seo-jun, who was preparing to run to the end of the audience seats by twisting his ankles, was no exception.

“True. It's cool that Seo-jun appears from the audience seats… but the audience won't know how hard he has to run.”

Kim Chae-yeon, who turned on the stopwatch on her phone screen, said with a smile.

How did Seo-jun manage to appear from the audience seats while he was on stage?

Of course, he had to run hard from the stage to the prepared place at the end of the audience seats, change his clothes quickly, and appear as if nothing happened when Kang Jae-han said ‘There!’ with his line.

And he had to be careful not to be noticed by the audience while running.

The scene that was created for that purpose was the spaceship crash scene.

When the lights were shone towards the audience seats, dazzling and dizzying red, blue, and yellow lights confused the audience and blocked their sight.

And the noisy and chaotic music hid the sound of Seo-jun moving.

Meanwhile, seo-jun went down from the stage and ran hard to the end of the audience seats.

And voila!

Seo-jun appeared in his changed clothes according to Kang Jae-han's line.

It was an effort that the audience didn't think of.

“Min-hyung, watch carefully.”

“Yes!”

The most important thing was the lighting.

He had to use the 1st and 5th aisles that were not easily visible to the audience, but it would be a big problem if he accidentally moved the light and shone it on Seo-jun running.

“Shall I start?” 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Yeah.”

Seo-jun, who did some light stretching, put on a black cloth that could cover his whole body at Kim Chae-yeon's signal and jumped down from the stage.

“Are you timing until he changes his clothes?”

“Yeah.”

Kim Chae-yeon answered Lee Sol's question. The clock on the stopwatch on the phone screen moved quickly.

The size of Theater 2 was different from Mirinae Hall.

As the audience seats widened, seo-jun had to run longer to reach the end of the audience seats.

So they decided to adjust the length of the ‘spaceship crash scene’ to match that time.

“He's really good at sports. Seo-jun is really fast.”

“I know. He doesn't look tired even after climbing up the stairs so quickly.”

Seo-jun, who had reached the end of the audience seats in no time, came out of a place made of blackout curtains and changed his clothes.

He wore a white wig, a white cloak, and yellow lenses in order to match the time of the play.

Of course, there was a team member in that blackout curtain who helped Seo-jun change his clothes.

“Good!”

Kim Chae-yeon's stopwatch stopped.

Seo-jun walked down like a white butterfly fluttering his white cloak.

The staff who were pretending to work and secretly watching Team 436’s movements exclaimed in admiration.

“It's definitely longer than Mirinae Hall.”

Kim Chae-yeon looked at the stopwatch and estimated the time of the ‘spaceship crash scene’.

Just like in their graduation performance, they planned to set the ‘spaceship crash scene’ longer than the stopwatch time.

The aisles between the audience seats were stairs, so he could stumble while running, and there could be times when something went wrong with putting on a wig or something.

“We can extend it, right?”

“Of course. Don't worry. We’ll finish it today.”

Kim Chae-yeon and the music team smiled reassuringly. Seo-jun nodded and looked at Park Min-hyung, who had changed from costume manager to lighting manager.

“Can you do it, Min-hyung?”

“Yes! I can do it!”

Seo-jun smiled satisfied at the cheerful answer of the first-year student and looked around Team 436.

“Then let's start our afternoon practice!”

The team members answered loudly at their leader's words.

Saturday, october 31st.

The last practice of this year began.

***

[Happy New Year!]

[Sunrise from mountain vs sea]

[Actor Lee Seo-jun leaves New Year's greetings on his YouTube channel!]

January 1st.

The new year dawned.

Some people got up early with a new mindset and watched the sun rise, while some people slept late as usual on holidays.

Seo-jun left New Year's greetings through his YouTube channel [JUN] as usual every year and started preparing to go out to meet his childhood friends.

‘The supreme door didn't open.’

Seo-jun thought of the huge door that was tightly closed in the library with a white background as he put on his top.

He wondered if it would open on the first day of becoming an adult, but unfortunately, the door of the supreme library did not open.

‘Does the supreme level open later?’

He put on his coat and picked up his hat. The ability engraved on the hat sparkled.

‘Only that's left now…’

He had given up on the search function, but he didn't really need it urgently even if he could use the supreme abilities for acting (he planned to lower the level when using them for acting).

‘I want to open them all.’

Isn't it a Korean thing to want to clear all the quests?

He wanted to open it more when there was only one left.

‘I don't know what the conditions are for opening it.’

That was the problem.

He knew that the intelligence and mana of his current life were needed to open the library doors, but he didn't know how much intelligence and mana were needed.

There was no condition for what to do to open the door, and he just judged it himself when he touched the library door.

‘It was easy to open the intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced levels.’

He opened them without any important realization or clear change, just living as usual.

He knew very well that there were many previous lives who were smarter and stronger than Seo-jun who couldn't open the advanced door. He could tell by reading the books of life.

They worked hard but couldn't open the doors above their level (of course, transcendent beings easily opened up to the supreme level), but opening the library doors in this life was a fairly easy task.

‘And I opened the evil library for the first time.’

He thought that maybe the library of life was on his side.

‘…Or is it because humans are special?’

Seo-jun stopped his hand as he was putting on his shoes.

The difference between his previous lives and his current life was that his previous lives were all non-human beings and now he was human.

He wondered if something had affected the Library of Life.

Seo-jun, who had been thinking about various things, shrugged his shoulders.

‘Well, it doesn't matter.’

There was nothing he could do even if he thought deeply.

The best thing was to read the books of life as usual and use his abilities for acting.

Wouldn't that open the doors of the highest class as it had been until now?

It was fine even if they didn't open.

He would be a little annoyed every time he saw the closed doors, but he had enough abilities to use for acting.

‘The condition for opening the doors will be figured out by the transcendent ‘me’ in the next life or the life after that.’

He thought that his future self would satisfy his curiosity if he read [Lee Seo-jun]'s book of life.

Seo-jun, who was postponing things to his ‘next life’ instead of his ‘tomorrow's self’, turned his head at the gaze he felt from outside his room.

“Mom, dad. Do you have something to say to me?”

Seo Eun-hye and Lee Min-jun, who were sitting on the sofa in the living room and smiling at Seo-jun, flinched at his words.

They couldn't say no because they knew they had looked at him too eagerly.

The couple opened their mouths with an awkward smile.

“Seo-jun, are you coming home late today?”

Seo-jun shook his head at Seo Eun-hye's question.

“No. I’ll just have lunch and come back.”

The color returned to his mom and dad's faces at his words.

“Then you’re having dinner at home?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“Okay!”

Seo-jun tilted his head at the happy-looking mom and dad's faces.

***

That evening, after having lunch with his childhood friends and giving them tickets for the third show of [MOEB-436], seo-jun's eyes widened at the green bottle and brown bottle on the dining table with a grill on it.

He was familiar with them, but they felt strange somehow.

Soju and beer.

“What's with the alcohol?”

Seo Eun-hye and Lee Min-jun, who were putting vegetables to eat with fresh pork belly on the table, smiled and said.

“Mom and dad's dream was to drink with Seo-jun. We would have missed it if it wasn't for Director Choi Dae-man's words on the graduation performance day.”

“That's right. I wondered when we would drink… It's already like this!”

The two of them smiled happily.

They didn't really like alcohol, but they drank it once in a while when they felt good.

“I was a little worried that you might drink with your friends first because it's New Year's Day. Just a little.”

“You wouldn't drink from noon!”

At Seo Eun-hye and Lee Min-jun's words, seo-jun rolled his eyes.

It was a secret among his childhood friends that Park Ji-ho, who proudly brought his ID card today, almost ordered alcohol in broad daylight.

‘It was more out of curiosity than wanting to drink.’

Mina, an aspiring chef who was curious about the ‘taste of alcohol’, was a bit tempted by Ji-ho's words that ‘aren't you curious about what it tastes like’, but she soon shook her head.

Drinking in the daytime was too much.

At the nagging of his childhood friends, Ji-ho decided to buy alcohol from a convenience store instead.

He looked quite satisfied just by showing his ID card confidently at the checkout counter.

“…Yeah. I didn't drink as soon as it became January 1st.”

It was true that he didn't drink even though there were some things going on, so Seo-jun said so.

“Right?”

As mom and dad smiled happily, seo-jun also laughed awkwardly.

A moment later.

Seo-jun and his parents took their seats at the table. Fresh pork belly was sizzling on the grill.

“Let's try both soju and beer. It's fun to try different things and find what suits your taste.”

“Today is your first time drinking, so drink a little. If you can't drink, tell us right away.”

“Okay. I will.”

At the sight of his parents who were more excited than him, seo-jun smiled and answered.

“Should I start with beer?”

“First, fill your stomach. Honey, flip the meat.”

Startled by Seo Eun-hye's words, Lee Min-jun quickly flipped the pork belly with tongs.

The well-cooked pork belly showed itself.

It was cut into bite-sized pieces with scissors.

“You shouldn't drink on an empty stomach when you drink alcohol. If you have a dinner after shooting in the future, make sure you fill your stomach a little before drinking.”

Seo-jun nodded at his mom's words.

Lee Min-jun, who was holding the tongs, put the well-cooked meat in front of Seo-jun and Seo Eun-hye.

Seo Eun-hye smiled and put a piece of meat in Lee Min-jun's mouth, who was busy grilling the meat.

They were still a loving couple.

“That's right. Seo-jun can drink at dinner now.”

Lee Min-jun, who put a new pork belly on the grill, said with a slightly worried face.

“What if someone forces Seo-jun to drink?”

Seo Eun-hye's eyes flashed.

“Then I have to tell Da Ho. It's wrong to force someone to drink no matter how old they are.”

Seo-jun agreed and nodded as he put a piece of meat on a lettuce wrap.

“I have a lot of experience, so they won't force me to drink. If they keep doing that, I have a way of not shooting at all.”

That would make it clear whether Seo-jun would leave or the person who forced him to drink would leave.

The 15-year-old top actor, seo-jun, who had enough power to wield as he pleased, ate the lettuce wrap with a crunch.

A moment later.

A small glass filled with transparent liquid and a large glass with brown liquid and bubbles on top were placed in front of Seo-jun, who had filled his stomach moderately.

“Mom likes soju.”

“Dad likes beer.”

Seo-jun carefully considered and reached out his hand at the eyes that looked forward to it strangely.

The long beer glass was caught.

He felt less burdened because the alcohol content was lower than soju.

There was not even half of the beer in the beer glass. Seo-jun carefully brought the glass to his lips and drank slowly.

“Uh.”

He reflexively made that sound.

He frowned at the bitter taste that lingered in his mouth even though he drank very little.

“…What is this taste?”

At his son's reaction, seo Eun-hye and Lee Min-jun laughed and handed him water.

He drank water and revived his taste with pork belly. Seo-jun looked at soju next. There was not even half of the soju in the small soju glass either.

He stared at the soju for a moment and lifted the soju glass to his lips.

Seo-jun unconsciously frowned as the soju passed through his mouth and went down his throat.

The smell and taste of alcohol that clearly asserted its presence remained in his mouth.

“…Ugh. Beer is better.”

At that, the couple burst into laughter.

***

-Ji-ho: Alcohol is gross-?-

-Ji-ho: No.taste.

-Mina: ????

-Ji-yoon: ????

-Ji-woo: He stopped after one sip.

Mina: Did you drink too, Ji-ho?

-Ji-woo: ??Soju was okay for me.

[If I had to choose one of them

[I’d choose beer.

[Soju tastes like hospital…

-Ji-ho: ???Hospital taste???

-Ji-ho: But true. Hospital taste. Ugh.

-Ji-yoon: Did you drink too, seo-jun?!

[I drank with my parents.

-Mina: I should try drinking with my parents too!

-Ji-yoon: You guys are adults now

-Ji-yoon: Drinking on New Year's Day… ?

[????

-Mina: ????

-Ji-ho: ??Drinking party??

-Ji-woo: ???