Superstar From Age 0

[Actor Lee Seo-jun, fan meeting scheduled for February!]

-Is this the first fan meeting in hundreds of years?ㅠㅠ

=I’m so happy that I’m crying like a waterfall.

=Why? It’s not like we have a chance to get a seat anywayㅎㅎㅎ(Not funny)

=I know, right?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ(Not funny)

-Gah. Is this the best you can do? Is this your best?

=Even if the fan meeting venue is bigger, or the date is longer, it’s still hard for all the Sprouts to go.

=222 We have no choice but to leave it to fate.

-Mid-January! The storm is coming for [Sprouts]!

=Movie title: [Ticketing]

=ㅋㅋㅋㅠㅠㅠ

-Will he play the violin too?

=Yeah. It would be great if he did both the play and the violin!

=I’m fine with just listening to his violin. Please hold a Gray Vainy concert at Gocheok.

=22 I also want to hear his violin in person. People who have heard it say that the sound source is good, but the live performance is the best.

-When I’m sad that Seo-jun is not a singer: When I have less chances to meet him in person.

=22 If he was a singer, we could see him on music shows and concertsㅠㅠ

=But I still don’t have a seat anyway……ㅎ

The news of Seo-jun’s fan meeting made the Korean Sprouts, as well as the overseas Sprouts, wiggle their butts.

‘Even though I probably won’t get a seatㅠㅠ’.

They thought, but they still hoped, maybe, just maybe, and waited devoutly with their hearts pounding until the ticketing date.

Meanwhile, Seo-jun was in Korea to film the teaser for [Shadow & Knight], which would be inserted as a cookie video in [Mad Hatter].

‘Is this enough?’

He was in the recording studio of Cocoa Entertainment.

When Seo-jun finished his work and lifted his head, the engineer on the other side of the glass wall nodded. It was a signal that the recording was over. ꭆÁℕȯ𝔟Ё𝓢

“How was it this time?”

Only then did Seo-jun speak. He had to be careful not to make any other noise during the recording.

The engineer and Choi Tae-woo looked puzzled at Seo-jun’s question. They couldn’t tell the difference between the previous recording and this one.

Seo-jun understood.

It was a subtle part.

“We don’t know. Do you want to listen?”

“Yes.”

Seo-jun smiled and answered, nodding his head in agreement with the engineer’s words and Choi Tae-woo’s gesture.

As the engineer touched the machine, the sound of the recording that had just been done came out of the speaker in the recording booth. Seo-jun listened carefully to the sound and nodded his head.

“I think this is good enough. Please send this one, Tae-woo hyung.”

There was no need to do any post-processing, as Marina Studio would take care of it.

“Okay. I’ll do that.”

“Then I’ll go now.”

“You don’t need a ride?”

Seo-jun laughed and said to Choi Tae-woo, who was slowly becoming like Ahn Da Ho.

“I’m fine. It’s not the first time I’m going there, you know.”

***

The Lee Seo-jun squad gathered together for the first time in a long time.

It was at Lee Ji-seok’s house.

As always, they ate the lavish food that was prepared and shared their stories.

The play that Lee Da-jin was preparing, the movie that Park Do-hoon and Kim Jong-ho were filming, the drama that Lee Ji-seok had finished filming. The Lee Seo-jun squad was still active.

Of course, they also talked about Seo-jun’s [Over the Rainbow 2] and his violin pieces.

“I listen to them every day!”

“Me too. It’s so nice to listen to them in the morning.”

Lee Da-jin and Park Do-hoon, who were excitedly talking about the violin pieces,

“It would have been nice if it was released in theaters.”

“I know, right. He would have won another award this time.”

Kim Jong-ho and Lee Ji-seok, who regretted that it was not a theatrical release, laughed.

They had all talked about these things once on Banana Talk, but it was much more fun to talk face to face.

“How was To My Friend?”

“The concert was great, of course. It was amazing to see the difference between Gray and Seo-jun’s playing styles.”

“Yeah. I want to hear it in person so badly.”

Park Do-hoon and Kim Jong-ho praised him without hesitation. Seo-jun smiled with a slightly flushed face and said.

“I’ll play it for you next time.”

“Wow. This is why having connections is good.”

“That’s right! Lee Seo-jun squad is the best!”

“The best!”

Lee Ji-seok and Lee Da-jin smiled brightly and clinked their glasses. Park Do-hoon and Kim Jong-ho also laughed and raised their glasses, and Seo-jun also giggled and clinked his glass.

“Hahaha!”

A new topic of conversation flowed out of the laughter-filled place. It was from Seo-jun’s mouth.

“Are you crazy!!”

Lee Da-jin, who was about to scream without knowing, lowered his voice. He was afraid someone might hear.

“The Jin Nara series…!”

The other actors were also surprised by Seo-jun’s story. They were so shocked that their jaws seemed to drop to the floor.

“…Really?”

“Yes. Uncle. The contract is done.”

“But Seo-jun. Can you tell us this?”

Seo-jun smiled at Park Do-hoon’s worried question.

“It’s okay. There’s a cookie video that’s like a teaser in Mad Hatter.”

“Mad Hatter? You mean the movie that’s coming out soon?”

Lee Ji-seok asked with interest.

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Oh, I saw it on Moviegoer’s video. They said there was a secret cookie video that they didn’t show at the press screening of Mad Hatter, is that it?”

Seo-jun nodded at Lee Da-jin’s question.

“Yes. That’s it.”

“Wow. That’s the teaser for Jin Nara… Everyone will be shocked.”

The three actors imagined what would happen in the future. It seemed to be beyond their imagination.

Kim Jong-ho snickered and said.

“Marina Studio really sharpened their knife.”

That’s right.

The actors nodded in agreement and asked Seo-jun with curious faces.

“But when did you film the cookie video? During Over 2 filming?”

“It wouldn’t have been that fast… Didn’t you go to America for a while?”

Seo-jun shook his head at Park Do-hoon and Lee Da-jin’s words.

“I didn’t go to the US.”

“Huh? Then how did you film it?”

“I sent them a recording I made in Korea. Just a while ago.”

Recording??

Another question mark was added.

At the same time, Seo-jun laughed at the sight of his four co-stars tilting their heads in confusion.

“Originally, we were going to shoot it like a real trailer, but the script is still incomplete.”

They all listened to Seo-jun’s story.

They were all actors, but the behind-the-scenes of the movie was interesting.

“Of course, sometimes the scenes or the content of the trailer and the movie are different, but rather than changing them, it was suggested that it would be better to shoot it really short and arouse people’s curiosity, and that was adopted.”

Oh.

They all nodded at Seo-jun’s words.

“Definitely, the suspenseful side would be more buzzworthy.”

“Right. It’s not a normal movie, it’s Jin Natra…!”

Their voices faded at the part where they said ‘Jin Natra’.

Before they knew it, the five actors had gathered together and whispered to each other, leaving their meals behind.

“So they said I didn’t need to shoot.”

“Really? A trailer without Seo-jun… I can’t imagine what it’s about?”

Park Do-hoon tilted his head and Lee Ji-seok recalled something.

“Ah, that’s why you said it was like a trailer earlier.”

At that, the actors who remembered Seo-jun’s words earlier said ah, and nodded.

“Yes. That’s right.”

Seo-jun smiled and continued.

“Originally, that was the end of the cookie video shooting, but even if it was a short video, I didn’t like the idea of not appearing in the movie trailer as the main character. So I insisted a bit and sent them a recording I made in Korea.”

“Recording… What scene is it?”

Kim Jong-ho asked and Seo-jun laughed awkwardly and looked at the air.

“You’ll see for yourself.”

By the way, it was a scene that Marina Studio would ask ‘Really???’.

***

A noisy movie theater.

Moviegoer kept putting his hand in his pocket, trying to click on the [Sprouts] app.

“It’s okay. There’s plenty of time.”

Even if he watched [Mad Hatter] and went home, there was enough time until Seo-jun’s fan meeting ticketing today. Of course, his golden-handed sister would do it for him, but the clumsy moviegoer also planned to try.

“Please, just this once…!”

He prayed to all kinds of gods and looked at the poster of [Mad Hatter], which opened today. The content in the poster was not much different from the information he had already checked.

“It’s better to watch it without knowing the spoilers.”

Well, sometimes he would find out things he didn’t want to know while doing research.

“What’s the secret cookie video?”

Moviegoer’s source of information was a friend who worked as a movie translator, a job that had to see the secret cookie video in advance to translate it.

-It’s supposed to be a secret, but I can tell you for promotion.

Whether it was because of Moviegoer’s remark or because they planned to release a promotional article around that time, the secret cookie video of [Mad Hatter] was revealed after that. Thanks to that, the interest in [Mad Hatter] grew a little more.

“Mad Hatter, theater 3, please enter!”

It was time for [Mad Hatter] to start soon.

“Huh? Moviegoer!”

He greeted the viewers who recognized him and sat in his seat.

It was time to focus on the movie. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

***

The movie was over.

He listened to the OST that flowed along with the ending credits and memorized the content of [Mad Hatter] again on his phone.

He would watch it again later, but the first impression was the most vivid, so the note was essential.

He briefly took notes, but the secret cookie video did not come out. He looked around for a moment and the theater was still dark and the seats were still full. It looked like there was still a video to watch.

“I guess the cookie video is coming out.”

“It is. Moviegoer said so and there was an article too, so it’ll come out soon.”

When will it come out, the audience whispered or used their phones, then,

The screen that only showed letters brightened.

They all closed their mouths and turned off their phones.

They came to see the opening day as much as they loved Marina Studio movies, so their solidarity was great.

Moviegoer also focused on the screen.

***

A park with green leaves, lush grass, a wide lake, and a running track around the lake appeared.

The camera that was filming the park from afar approached the people who were laughing and lively.

It was just a movement that seemed to circle the park along the running track, without focusing on anyone in particular.

Then the camera seemed to find its destination and headed outside from the running track.

The place where the camera was headed was a bench.

A man was sitting there. He didn’t show his face, but a book that was laid on his knees and the rough hand that held the book were visible.

Then, beep beep-

A mechanical sound that didn’t match the frequency was heard.

-/Ah, not again!/

Moviegoer listened carefully.

He could tell it was a woman’s voice, but he couldn’t tell who it was because it was cut off with the mechanical sound. Bang! Bang! The sound of hitting the machine made the man sitting on the bench flinch.

-/Ah, it’s done. Can you hear me well now? How is it there?/

“/Same as usual, what./”

‘…!’

It was a short line, but Moviegoer and the audience all recognized who he was. Along with that, the camera showed the face of the man sitting on the bench.

Shadowman, Mac.

Mac’s face, which had aged a bit, had wireless earphones on, and the sound that had been crackling stabilized.

-/That’s good./

It was still the cheerful voice of Bell Natra.

Moviegoer and the audience opened their mouths wide at the unexpected appearance of the two. The theater was filled with surprise and shock instead of breathing.

-/Dad said to stop by. You’ve been away from home for a while, haven’t you?/

“/It hasn’t been long in Earth time./”

-/Dad and I are in Natra, so we have to calculate in Natra time. So come often. You’ll come, right, Mac? Mac?! What? Did it cut off again?/

But unlike before, there was no crackling noise and Bell Natra’s voice was clear.

“/Wait a minute./”

It was just that Mac’s attention was elsewhere.

Thump thump thump-

A sound like someone running from afar was heard.

As the heavy and regular footsteps got closer, Mac smiled and lifted the book that was on his knees and covered his face. The title written on the book cover was briefly seen.

Mac said in a low voice mixed with laughter.

“/He’s coming./”