Superstar From Age 0

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: AgRoseCrystal

Chapter 565

“Ready, action!”

The painting tools from Hanyang were not coming.

Min-han seemed more anxious than the young master who was waiting for them. He went out to the gate and the crossroads several times a day to see if the merchant had arrived or not.

“I’m fine. Min-han hyung.”

The young master, who had started to call him hyung, looked a little embarrassed, but Min-han grumbled.

“I’m not fine. It’s snowing and it’s been days. Letters and people keep coming, but only the young master’s painting tools are not coming.”

The young master smiled faintly and said.

“Then why don’t you send a letter? And if there’s anything you want, I’ll buy it for you. I’ll pay for it. It’s a return for the gift you gave me last time.”

It was a return for the gratitude he felt for thinking of him.

“Ah…”

At the young master’s words, Min-han rolled his eyes and scratched his neck.

“That’s… I don’t know… how to write.”

“…Oh.”

“But Mr. Lee knows how to write! I think we can ask him. Hanyang goods… what’s the most famous thing in Hanyang?”

Min-han quickly added as he saw the young master blinking his eyes in surprise. Half of the villagers didn’t know how to write, so he didn’t think much about it until now, but he felt a little embarrassed when he saw the young master who was younger and smarter than him.

“Then… how about learning how to write?”

A cool breeze blew through the slightly opened window. Along with it, the young master’s voice was heard. Min-han opened his eyes wide.

“I’ll teach you.”

The young master smiled softly and said. Min-han nodded quickly.

***

“I never thought I’d use this…”

Min-han looked at the paper, brush, inkstone, and ink on the table. They were the things he wanted to give to the young master, but he didn’t expect them to come back to him.

The young master smiled as he saw Min-han looking at the things in front of him with curiosity.

The young master put a paper with something written on it on one side of the table. The consonants ???? and the vowels ???? were neatly written.

“I asked Mr. Lee to write it for me. It’s easy to learn, so you’ll learn it soon. And we can also exchange letters even after I leave here.”

Min-han nodded as he felt nervous.

“Let’s learn numbers as well while we’re learning Hangul.”

“Oh, I know numbers. I learned them because I thought they would be useful for counting money. And addition and subtraction too.”

Min-han said confidently, and the young master burst into laughter.

“Then what about Hangul? If you want to write something like a contract, you need it to avoid being cheated.”

“There’s not much need for contracts in this countryside.”

So he only learned what he needed.

“But it will be very helpful to know how to write. You can also do business in Hanyang.”

“…Business in Hanyang…”

That was something Min-han had never thought of.

A big store, preferably with a tiled roof… no, a western-style store like this mansion would be nice too. He would make a lot of money.

He dreamed of it and said.

“Then let’s start with the first letter…”

Min-han clumsily picked up the ink-stained brush and focused on the young master’s voice.

“Cut! Okay!”

“We’ll shoot the close-up shot right away!”

As they set up the clean paper and brush again for the close-up shot, Seo-jun fixed his hair that was blown by the wind. He saw ‘that thing’ in his eyes.

‘That thing’ seemed to have made the brush and paper with effort, and was sitting a little away, writing ????, ???? like Min-han. It seemed to be interested and wanted to imitate everything people did.

‘As long as it doesn’t interfere with the shooting, it’s fine.’

“We’ll start shooting the close-up shot!”

Seo-jun took his eyes off ‘that thing’ and focused on the shooting again.

***

“I think I’ve memorized all the letters, so let’s try writing some words. Let’s start with your name.”

At the young master’s words, Min-han put his brush on the edge of the white paper. The black ink began to be absorbed into the white paper.

?????

Min-han wrote each letter carefully with his trembling hand.

“Is there anything wrong?”

Min-han wrote the last letter ? and put the brush on the inkstone and asked. The young master’s eyes twitched.

“Uh, no, but… was your last name Min?”

The young master, who had called him Min-han, said with a sorry face.

Mr. Lee and Mrs. Go also called him Min-han, so he thought it was his name, but it turned out that Min was his last name and Han was his first name.

Min-han looked at his name with pride and said.

“Ah, my name is Min-han.”

Ah, that’s a relief.

“I don’t have a last name.”

‘…That’s a big deal?’

Min-han laughed at the young master’s expression, which was relieved and then dismayed. The customers who heard his story had similar expressions.

“I didn’t have a name either.”

Min-han looked at his name and told his story.

“They said I was found alone in the mountains near here. I don’t know what happened, but my clothes were torn and my body was in bad shape. I almost died in the mountains, but I was able to live thanks to the villagers. And that’s how I came to live in this village.”

The young master listened quietly to Min-han’s story.

“They said I wasn’t in my right mind at that time, so I couldn’t find out my age or name. They guessed I was about eighteen by looking at my height, so I became eighteen years old, and my name…”

Min-han smiled sheepishly and said.

“The name Min-han was given to me by a guest who stayed in this mansion.”

‘Oh…’

He never dreamed that Min-han, who he thought was one of the ordinary people, had such a story.

“I wanted to meet him and thank him. I really like the name he gave me, and I’m using it well. And… I’ll live well so that the name won’t be tarnished.”

Well, he was jealous of the villagers who had families and the young master, but.

Min-han smiled awkwardly and continued.

“He told me. For the last name, follow the last name of the person you respect the most.”

The person he respected.

That could only be him.

“I thought I’d just wait for his news here, but I think it would be better to open a big store in Hanyang as the young master said. If the name Min-han becomes known, he might know it too, and he might come to see me someday.”

The young master stared blankly at Min-han.

“And I want to have a family too. I want to make a lot of money so that I don’t starve, I can heal if I get sick, and I don’t have to part with anyone. I want to show him that the orphan he gave a name to is living happily.”

***

Today’s shooting was scheduled to take place outdoors.

There was a lot to do for the first outdoor shooting. They only had a nine-seater van as a means of transportation, so they had to form a shooting team with only the essential staff, and they had to go back and forth three times. They also had to move all the shooting equipment, such as cameras and lights, from the mansion.

‘That thing’ also followed the truck of the [Fire] team, as if it knew it was an outdoor shooting. Seo-jun glanced at it and saw that it was excited to see the outside world and the students for the first time.

“Are we shooting the climax here?”

“Yeah.”

Seo-jun nodded at the first-year student of the acting department. Today’s shooting location was the place where the climax would be shot, but they were not shooting that scene.

The team members who came here for the first time wandered around to look around, and Seo-jun, who was busy with shooting, also took a leisurely look at the shooting location after the snow stopped.

“Isn’t it great?”

The art team leader, Yu Seo-young, smiled brightly and said.

“It is. If it snows a little more, we can start shooting right away.”

There were still patches of dirt, rocks, and debris on the right side, which was supposed to be a blank white space.

“That’s why I’m doing that. I’m researching the paint. I’ve narrowed it down to two candidates. I’ll practice painting as soon as it snows more.”

“Can I help you too?”

“Of course! You can’t back out now, can you?”

Yu Seo-young laughed and headed to where the art team members were.

The art team gathered in a snowfield a little away from the shooting site, piled up some snow with a shovel, and experimented with spraying paint candidate 1 and candidate 2.

The first-year student of the acting department whispered.

“I’m confused whether they are an art team or a science team. They were experimenting in the yard of the dorm too.”

Seo-jun laughed at that.

***

“Shall we eat lunch early?”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

Since the sun was the highest and the warmest at noon, they decided to eat lunch early and shoot all afternoon.

The [Fire] team set up a makeshift tent and gathered together to eat a simple lunch. The warm rice and soup seemed to melt the cold.

Everyone was chatting and eating lunch, when ‘that thing’ peeked in.

It had some knowledge related to the outside world, but almost none about humans, so everything was new and interesting.

‘I guess there’s a reason why goblins in fairy tales are easily fooled by humans.’

As it did in the mansion, it stared at the team members who were eating without eating anything itself. It looked like a child, so it was hard to ignore. It was actually not long since it was born.

‘Can’t be helped.’

Seo-jun sighed inwardly and gestured to ‘that thing’. It hesitated for a moment, then scurried over to Seo-jun. Seo-jun secretly handed it a few cherry tomatoes.

It quickly put the cherry tomatoes in its mouth and stared at Seo-jun again, then pointed its finger at the ham that was fried with egg. It seemed to have gotten comfortable with this scary human.

Seo-jun was dumbfounded by its shameless behavior and sighed, then gave it a ham with chopsticks. He couldn’t help it because he thought of his younger siblings.

Its cheeks turned red and its eyes sparkled as it tasted the food. Next, it wanted rice, then soup. Its hamster-like cheeks moved diligently.

“Can I have some more, please?”

“Huh? You already finished? Sure.”

It was only after feeding ‘that thing’ that Seo-jun could eat his lunch properly.

***

‘That thing’ was very excited.

It was the first time it went outside, and there were many things it knew from knowledge but saw for the first time. It had fun running around among the humans. The most important thing was, the scary human was not scary anymore.

He even gave it food!

It was a kind being.

It had to repay the favor.

“Ready, action!”

It saw a human shouting something it still couldn’t understand. At that voice, the not-so-scary human turned into a completely different person, as if he used a disguise technique. There was another human next to him.

It sat on the bright light and swung its legs, watching them from above. It had an idea.

It remembered how to repay the favor.

It recalled the scene where the humans were happy a while ago.

‘That thing’ flapped its arms. A small whirlwind appeared in the air, following its gesture. It was not snowing now, so it had to pull up the snow from the ground.

Like the snowstorm it saw before.

The wind and snow blew.

It was not so strong that it would knock down the shooting equipment, but it was clearly captured on the camera screen.

“Ah, the wind… Cut! NG! Let’s do it again!”

…?

‘That thing’ looked at the humans holding the cameras. They were supposed to be happy like last time, but they were silent.

‘Did I have to do it harder?’

It tried to use more force, but it felt a sting on the back of its head. It shivered. ‘That thing’ cautiously looked behind.

The not-so-scary human became scary again. No, it seemed like he was twice, three times, four times scarier.

‘That thing’ realized.

Something went very wrong.