Superstar From Age 0

Kwon Se-ah, who made eye contact with Seo-jun, greeted him with a flustered expression.

Seo-jun smiled and greeted her back.

She didn't seem like a bad person, but she was probably very shy.

Or maybe she was stressed out because of her slump.

“Let's begin the test. You can leave after 30 minutes.”

The professor finished calling the roll and the test papers were passed from the front. Seo-jun checked the time and started reading the test paper.

There were questions of various difficulty levels, from easy to hard.

‘It's interesting that they are all subjective questions.’

Until high school, most of the test questions were multiple-choice. But there was not a single multiple-choice question on the test paper, only long blanks for subjective answers.

Seo-jun chuckled softly and wrote down his answers.

***

“You can leave now.”

At 30 minutes, the teaching assistant checked the clock and announced.

One by one, the students started to get up from their seats.

The professor had left after checking for five minutes since the test started and the teaching assistant was supervising instead.

Seo-jun submitted his test paper to the teaching assistant and left the classroom. It felt a bit strange to leave while there were still people left.

As the students who left the classroom dispersed in the hallway, seo-jun stood on one side of the hallway and looked at his phone.

[Actor Kim Jong-ho is working hard on filming in Hollywood!]

[From Hollywood! Actor Lee Ji-seok's interview with Kim Jong-ho!]

He left in January and it was already late April.

The filming should be almost over by now.

Lee Ji-seok, who had a minor role in the movie, had already finished filming, but he was looking for other works to audition for in Hollywood.

‘Uncle Jong-ho said the same thing.’

He wondered if their next works would be Hollywood movies too.

At that moment, the students poured out of the classroom.

Seo-jun wondered if they had finished the test at the same time or if they had just given up and left.

He scanned the faces of the people who came out.

‘No one.’

There was no one he was waiting for. He scratched his cheek and looked down at his phone again.

[Barcelona FC B Park Ji-ho, playing in today's game!]

[Violinist Jason Moore, European tour from May!]

He checked the articles of the people he knew from various Korean and American sites.

They were all doing well, he thought, smiling warmly.

Then the classroom door opened.

He saw a student coming out alone and stepped forward with a bright smile.

“Hello.”

“…!”

She didn't seem to expect anyone to talk to her.

She was coming out with a sullen expression and slumped shoulders, but she flinched when he spoke.

Seo-jun smiled and said.

“I'm Lee Seo-jun from the acting department. We’re in the same group.”

“Ah, yes! Yes! I'm Kwon Se-ah from the music department.”

She bowed slightly and rolled her eyes.

Seo-jun stood out in the empty hallway.

She also remembered him leaving early as soon as 30 minutes passed.

Kwon Se-ah asked in a small voice.

“Um… did you… wait for me?”

“Yes.”

She looked puzzled and Seo-jun explained apologetically.

“I have a filming next week, so I can't come to class. I thought it would be better to tell you in advance. I’ll talk to the professor.”

He felt sorry for being a villain in the group activity.

Of course, the professor said it was okay to miss class for external activities (filming, exhibitions, performances, etc.), but he felt bad for his group mate who had to get one-on-one feedback from the professor for graduation.

“Ah… It's okay! Shooting is important, right?”

Kwon Se-ah blinked and asked with a curious expression.

“…Are you shooting for Chick Class?”

“No. It's Babel Tower.”

“Oh! The drama…”

Kwon Se-ah hesitated as if she had something to say, but soon nodded.

“I might also miss it because of the concert, so don't worry. Have a good shoot.”

“Thank you.”

Seo-jun bowed and watched Kwon Se-ah leave, scratching his cheek.

‘A concert…’

He wondered if she had overcome her slump.

***

A week later. Friday.

The [Acting Introduction] exam that started at 10 o’clock was over.

Thanks to the exam ending an hour earlier than usual, the classroom was filled with excited first-year acting students in an instant.

“I'm done with the midterm exams!”

“Me too!”

Jeon Seong-min looked enviously at his friends who were genuinely happy.

“I have one more exam next week.”

Although there was a midterm exam period, the professors had more discretion than in high school, so some exams were postponed.

“Having an exam next week… I think it would be better to take three exams at once.”

“I know, right?”

“But if the midterm exam is delayed, does that mean the final exam is delayed too?”

Jeon Seong-min pressed his forehead without answering Kim Joo-kyung's question.

Yang Ju-hee and Han Jinho burst into laughter.

“College goes on vacation right after the finals, right?”

“Seong-min, you have to go to school for another week!”

“…That's still uncertain. Your exams could be delayed too.”

Everyone thought for a moment at Jeon Seong-min's words and nodded their heads.

“Hmm. That's true. The schedule is decided by the professors, after all.”

“But I hope the finals are over soon.”

“Me too. When the exams are over, it's vacation… Do we really not have to come at all?”

“That's what they say?”

Wow!

For the freshmen who had just graduated from high school, the college vacation without a closing ceremony was a new world.

“Shall we go eat then?”

“Already? It's 11 o’clock.”

Yang Ju-hee got up from her seat and said, han Jinho checked the time.

“We don't have any classes. We can just go home after eating, right?”

“What about Seo-jun's class… Oh, he has a shoot today?”

Kim Joo-kyung said and Seo-jun nodded his head.

“How long do you have to shoot for?”

“Until 1:30. Da Ho hyung said he would pick me up at 12:30.”

“What about lunch?”

“I was going to eat with you guys.”

Seo-jun answered cheekily while shrugging his shoulders, and his friends laughed and got up from their seats one by one.

“What do you want to eat?”

“I don't know…”

“How about the stir-fried pork place behind us? I heard there are fewer people there now. It's 11 o’clock, so there shouldn't be many people, right?”

“Yeah! Let's do that.”

“I wanted to try that!”

At Yang Ju-hee's words, seo-jun and the others nodded their heads repeatedly.

***

After eating the delicious stir-fried pork and stopping by a nearby cafe to chat with his friends, seo-jun felt a vibration in his bag and took out his phone.

-Da Ho: I'm here.

-Da Ho: Where are you?

It seemed to be 12:30 already. Seo-jun grabbed his bag and got up from his seat at Da Ho's message.

“I’ll be going then.”

“Okay. Have a good shoot.”

“Bye. Seo-jun!”

His friends waved their hands and said goodbye, and Seo-jun also smiled and waved his hands.

He left the cafe and went to the place Da Ho told him, and there was a familiar black van. He quickly got in the car as the door slid open. Da Ho, who was sitting in the driver's seat, looked back with a smile.

“Did you eat lunch?”

“Yes. I ate at the stir-fried pork place we went to last time.”

“Oh, there. It was good.”

Da Ho turned the steering wheel and headed for the shooting site.

Seo-jun fastened his seat belt and read the script of the scene he was going to shoot today over and over again until he arrived at the shooting site.

“Seo-jun. We’re almost there.”

“Yes.”

Seo-jun got out of the car and Da Ho took care of the luggage. It was a bag full of things that Seo-jun might need during the long waiting time. It contained toiletries, blankets, yuzu tea and snacks.

“It's huge.”

“Right?”

The place where Seo-jun was going to shoot today was not a self-made set, but a rented one.

That's why it was so big.

People were walking around with their luggage near the building, apparently still preparing for the shoot.

“Shall we go in then?”

“Yes.”

Seo-jun entered the building with Da Ho. The assistant director who was looking around the situation noticed them and guided them to the waiting room.

“You came early!”

“Hello, director.”

Shin Ji-hye, the director of [Babel Tower], ran up to them with a bright smile as soon as she heard that Seo-jun had arrived.

“Did you eat lunch, actor?”

“Yes. I ate well.”

“There are a lot of people in the scene, so we might have to shoot it several times. I could edit it, but… I want to keep the feeling as it is.”

Seo-jun nodded his head with a smile at the director's words.

“It's okay. It's for the sake of the work.”

Seo-jun liked the director's stubbornness for the work. Of course, it shouldn't be an obstinacy that doesn't compromise at all.

“Then, since there's still time until the shoot, rest comfortably in the waiting room.”

After Shin Ji-hye left, seo-jun came back from brushing his teeth in the nearby bathroom and smiled widely at the sight of the actor in the waiting room.

“So-yeong noona!”

“Seo-jun. Where did you go?”

“I went to brush my teeth.”

“Oh, brushing your teeth. That's important.”

Choi So-yeong nodded her head repeatedly at Seo-jun's words.

“You said you took an exam? What class was it?”

“Introduction to Acting.”

“Wow. Introduction to Acting! I haven't heard that in a long time.”

Choi So-yeong, who graduated from Korea National University of Arts, also took that class when she was a freshman. It was already a long time ago that she could count it with two hands.

Knock knock.

As Seo-jun and Choi So-yeong were having a pleasant conversation about their college life, they heard a knock on the waiting room door.

“Yes. Come in.”

“Hello, seo-jun.”

It was Kwon Kang-min, the male lead of [Babel Tower], and two other actors.

He looked a bit awkward as if he wondered if he could come here, but he relaxed when he saw Choi So-yeong.

“So-yeong was here too!”

“Hello, actor. Long time no see!”

Seo-jun, who had a high basic liking for actors, smiled brightly at their appearance.

“Hello!”

“Haha. It feels so good to be greeted like this. Can I sit down?”

“Of course!”

Kwon Kang-min sat down with a grin.

The two actors also took their seats next to him. They had scripts in their hands.

“There aren't many lines, but… I thought it would be better to match them before shooting.”

He also had a lot of desire to get close to Seo-jun.

“I'm fine with that! Oh, please speak comfortably.”

“…I want to do that too, but… Seo-jun has been active since before I started acting. It's so… how should I say it… amazing.”

He had watched Seo-jun's works before he started acting, and he had continued to watch them after he started acting.

It was a really amazing thing to meet an actor in reality who he had only seen on the screen for a long time.

Moreover, he was going to shoot with him soon.

“Right. I was amazed when I saw him on Working Man. I thought it was a dream.”

The actor who had been rolling his eyes for a while said.

“…Can I really speak comfortably…?”

Seo-jun laughed and nodded his head.

While the actors were talking, Da Ho quietly got up and went outside. He planned to look around the shooting site in advance to see if there was anything dangerous.

***

There was a brief script reading between the actors.

“This role is really fun.”

“Right. I think the viewers will love it too.”

Choi So-yeong nodded her head at Seo-jun's words with a smile.

“…Wow…”

The script reading was an excuse to meet Seo-jun, but the three actors didn't intend to act carelessly.

‘…They couldn't even if they wanted to.’

They could feel Seo-jun's acting skills even in that short script reading.

They naturally put their effort into matching his acting.

They felt like they had lost all their strength from their bodies, even though it was a very short line.

“I don't think I can speak comfortably to Seo-jun.”

“Me neither. How can So-yeong speak so casually?”

“So-yeong has been close to him since a long time ago.”

Seo-jun and Choi So-yeong laughed at the actors’ conversation.

They were having a pleasant conversation when the assistant director came to them.

They had to change their clothes and do their makeup soon, as the shoot was not far away.

“Then we’ll go. Seo-jun.”

Kwon Kang-min, who had somehow managed to speak comfortably to Seo-jun, greeted him with a bright smile.

He was full of thoughts of bragging to his family and friends that he had become friends with Seo-jun.

The other two actors were the same.

“Seo-jun. See you later.”

“Yes!”

After Choi So-yeong left the waiting room, Da Ho came in at the right timing.

He had the clothes that the costume team staff gave him for today.

“You can change into this, and the main actors are going to shoot first, so the makeup team will come later.”

“Yes. I got it.”

Seo-jun came out of the makeshift dressing room in the corner of the waiting room after changing his clothes, and his phone rang. It was Park Ee-deun.

-Park Ee-deun: Are you busy?

It was a strangely familiar message.

[No

[I haven't started shooting yet.

He seemed to have read it, but there was no reply from Park Ee-deun. Seo-jun turned his head and asked Da Ho.

“Da Ho hyung. Ee-deun has a Chick Class shoot today, right?”

“Yeah. They shoot on Fridays and Saturdays. I guess today and tomorrow are their last shooting days?”

‘Then they must be busy too…’

He was worried about what was going on.

A while later, he got a message from Park Ee-deun.

-Park Ee-deun: Oh, sorry.

-Park Ee-deun: I forgot you had a shoot today.

-Park Ee-deun: Good luck!

Seo-jun smiled faintly at Park Ee-deun's message and tapped his phone. Da Ho looked at him with a curious expression as if he saw some force in his fingers.

[Ee-deun.

[There are two ways to make someone angry.

[The first is to stop talking in the middle of a sentence.

[The second is…

…He probably felt some anger in it.

After another long silence, Park Ee-deun finally sent a message.

-Park Ee-deun: (Picture)

-Park Ee-deun: (Picture)

-Park Ee-deun: (Picture)

-Park Ee-deun: Ha-rang is waiting for you!

He groaned and gave up, sending him pictures without any spacing in his message.

The pictures caught Seo-jun's eyes before Park Ee-deun's message without spacing.

There was Ha-rang's back with a bright background.

He seemed to be holding a dragon plushie with its tail sticking out from his side.

In the evening when the sun was setting, there was Ha-rang's back again.

He had brought out both the dragon and the flying squirrel Pipo plushies and sat down on the floor. Park Ee-deun's back was also visible sitting next to Ha-rang.

Again with a bright sky, there was Ha-rang's back. He had played with some paint and his whole body was covered with colorful paint.

He had two pieces of cloth dyed with paint in his hands as big as maple leaves.

As if waiting for someone, ha-rang was looking that way.