Superstar From Age 0

A little while ago, before the curtain rose on the stage.

The performers changed into their costumes and took their instruments to their positions on the stage. Seo-jun, wearing a neat blue hanbok, was chatting with his managers.

“Did you see? The staff were shocked.”

The daegeum player said with a laugh. The other performers also giggled as they recalled the rehearsal.

“They had every reason to be. The grown-up Grand Prince Seongnyeong. No one expected that.”

They had been told beforehand that Seo-jun and the performers would play traditional Korean instruments, but they never imagined that the subject would be ‘Grand Prince Seongnyeong’.

The gayageum player nodded.

“I get it. The grown-up Grand Prince Seongnyeong… He never appeared in the drama, so they couldn’t imagine it.”

“That’s true.”

To be honest, the performers were also puzzled when they first heard the explanation for this performance.

If Seo-jun was still a child actor, they could understand. If he looked like he did in [The Royal Physician], they would all accept him as ‘Grand Prince Seongnyeong’.

But Seo-jun was an adult now.

“Of course, his appearance now is not completely different from when he was young.”

But still, the grown-up Grand Prince Seongnyeong.

They wondered how they would show the prince who died at a young age.

The performers thought that it was possible to show the adult version of ‘Gray Vainy’ in [Over the Rainbow 2] because it was a movie. The movie had costumes, characters, and a story, so they could express the adult role well.

But this stage was just a plain performance with no story or dialogue, and the costumes were ordinary hanboks (although they were expensive).

How could they express that they were ‘Grand Prince Seongnyeong’ in such a situation?

“But he did it with his acting.”

“Exactly.”

The performers nodded repeatedly.

At the Cocoa Entertainment’s singer team practice room, where they practiced as if it was the real thing.

Actor Seo-jun showed the performers why he was ‘a world-famous top actor’.

“There was no dialogue at all.”

“It felt like we were in the palace.”

“I understood why Heo Uigwan wanted to make him king.”

“I binge-watched [The Royal Physician] again that day.”

“Me too!”

It was a moment when they realized that seeing once was better than hearing a hundred times.

“The fans will be amazed too.”

“There won’t be anyone who won’t be surprised.”

The performers smiled mischievously.

“We’ll get ready now!”

At the staff’s words, the performers took their places. Seo-jun, who finished talking with his managers, also sat down in the center of the stage, where the ajaeng was placed. ＲÂΝo͍BĘŠ

“Please enjoy the performance today.”

“We’re the ones who should say that. Grand Prince Seongnyeong.”

“Haha.”

Seo-jun laughed at the performers who bowed jokingly.

Seo-jun turned his gaze forward and looked at the curtain that blocked the front.

He had seen a glimpse of the Sprouts filling the audience seats. They were holding their light sticks preciously and chatting excitedly with flushed faces. Seo-jun felt happy.

He liked filming works, but he also really liked meeting fans like this.

‘Let’s do our best.’

Let’s make a happy memory for them.

[Clap!]

A clap sound that signaled the start of the performance was heard.

Like the performers who straightened their posture, Seo-jun also raised both hands on the ajaeng. Then he recalled the analysis of the ‘grown-up Grand Prince Seongnyeong’ that he had done while preparing for the fan meeting.

[Clang!]

‘Ready,’

The magic spell that only worked for actors.

[Grand Prince Seongnyeong is here.]

‘Action!’

[(Line) The dignity of the young lion king is activated.]

It was Seo-jun, no, Grand Prince Seongnyeong who was there.

***

Kang Tae-young sometimes cried and binge-watched [The Royal Physician] while thinking about that.

What if Grand Prince Seongnyeong had overcome his illness and grown up?

He had thought about it a few times while watching the adult Gray Vainy in [Over the Rainbow 2].

Would he have grown up as innocent and cheerful as he was when he was young?

Or would he have gone through puberty and become a troublemaker?

Or maybe he would have grown up to be a great man like his brother, King Sejong, and helped with the national affairs.

He couldn’t even guess, since he was already dead. That’s why he was more sad.

[Grand Prince Seongnyeong is here.]

“…!”

But,

here,

the grown-up Grand Prince Seongnyeong appeared with a halo.

He was the ‘grown-up Grand Prince Seongnyeong’ who had never appeared in [The Royal Physician] because he died at the young age of 12, and he had no dialogue, and the background was just a plain stage, but the Sprouts accepted it.

That the man sitting in the center and smiling gently was really Grand Prince Seongnyeong.

Seo-jun’s excellent acting skills made it possible.

‘Uaaaaa…!’

It was when the Sprouts had fully grasped the situation and screamed silently in their hearts, and shed tears like a flood on the outside.

[Clang!]

Another clap sound was heard.

Unlike before, that sound was the real start of the performance, and the performers who held their instruments in their hands began to move. The sounds of traditional Korean instruments such as gayageum, haegeum, daegeum, danso, sepiri, etc. began to be heard.

Sitting in front of the long ajaeng and wearing a fine hanbok, Grand Prince Seongnyeong, who was emitting a halo that Heo Uigwan would have seen, lightly touched the ajaeng.

Ding-

He pushed and pulled the bow with his right hand and pressed and plucked the strings with his left hand. It looked like a violin or a cello that was placed on the floor and played.

The Sprouts who were crying a storm quickly wiped their tears and looked at Grand Prince Seongnyeong on the stage without blinking.

They couldn’t miss this. They absolutely couldn’t!

But the Sprouts’ ears seemed to be drawn to the other side. They couldn’t ignore the performance that was coming out of the speakers. It was too, too good.

[(Line) The elegance of the Taebaek gumiho is activated.]

[(Line) The connection of the orchestra conductor is activated.]

Numbers were flashing over Seo-jun and the performers’ heads, so it couldn’t be bad.

Kang Tae-young, Lim Ye-na, and Song Yu-jung perked up their ears.

They thought it was just a strange but traditional Korean performance for the appearance of ‘Grand Prince Seongnyeong’, but when they listened carefully, it was a familiar song.

“Over the Rainbow…!”

It was a Korean traditional music version of [Over the Rainbow].

As they listened, they felt like they were watching the scenes from [The Royal Physician].

The story of ‘Grand Prince Seongnyeong’ and ‘Heo Uigwan’.

They remembered the moments when Grand Prince Seongnyeong and Heo Uigwan first met and were happy together, as the music expressed their excitement and joy.

“Sigh.”

The Sprouts swallowed their tears.

Why did they feel like crying even though it was a happy part? Was it because they knew what would happen in the future?

As expected, the part of frustration was filled with the despair that Heo Uigwan felt when Grand Prince Seongnyeong died of illness.

Was it because of the instruments, or the way the music was arranged? The original song was much darker and sadder, and it reminded them of the emotions they felt when they watched [The Royal Physician].

Kang Tae-young, who loved [The Royal Physician] the most, covered his mouth with both hands and almost cried as he watched the performance. Most of the Sprouts were like that.

And the last part of [Over the Rainbow], the brilliance.

In the original song, it was the brightest part where Gray and his friends found hope and achieved their dreams, but the arranged [Korean traditional music version] was different.

It was bright, but not entirely.

It sounded like Heo Uigwan’s voice, who treated a young herb seller who resembled Grand Prince Seongnyeong, and recited his story in front of Grand Prince Seongnyeong’s tomb, and eventually fell down and cried, wishing ‘Please come back…!’. The instruments slowly faded away with their sorrowful and plaintive sounds.

“Sniff, sniff…”

A faint sob was heard from here and there in the audience.

Seo-jun, no, Grand Prince Seongnyeong picked up the microphone next to him. Then he smiled like he did in [The Royal Physician], full of mischief, and said.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Grand Prince Seongnyeong. Heo Uigwan and you all have been looking for me so hard, so the Jade Emperor let me come down for a while. I’m so glad to see you like this.”

“…”

A very short silence.

“Waaaaah!!!”

The fan meeting hall was filled with the Sprouts’ loud cries.

***

“It was a joke, you know…”

Seo-jun scratched his cheek awkwardly at the Sprouts’ loud cries.

He couldn’t stay as ‘Grand Prince Seongnyeong’ for the whole fan meeting, so he returned to his normal state as if he shouted ‘Cut!’.

“Seo-jun… That kind of joke is dangerous for our hearts…”

At Kang Tae-young’s muttering, Lim Ye-na and Song Yu-jung nodded their heads as they wiped their tears with the tissues that Cocoa Entertainment had prepared for each seat.

“I should have noticed it when I saw the tissues…”

“I never thought I would cry like this at a fan meeting, like a drama.”

“Me too.”

They thought the tissues and water bottles that were left for them to use when they ate snacks in the middle were for that purpose, but they were actually for preventing dehydration from crying too much.

“Too… too…”

“…They did a good job. Cocoa Entertainment.”

“I would take this kind of surprise a hundred times, a thousand times.”

At the voices of the Sprouts in the front row, Kang Tae-young, Lim Ye-na, and Song Yu-jung nodded their heads again. An adult Grand Prince Seongnyeong. They felt like crying again.

“Are you all calm now?”

“Sniff… Yes…”

Seeing Seo-jun in a hanbok smiling like a flower, the Sprouts were able to calm their hearts slowly.

‘Our actor.’

‘Amazing… Handsome…’

“Then I’ll greet you again. Hello. I’m actor Lee Seo-jun!”

“Kyaaaaa!!”

That’s how the fan meeting of actor Lee Seo-jun officially began.

***

“How is it, Director Ahn?”

At the appearance of President Seo Eun-chan, the staff quietly moved away, and Ahn Da Ho, who was smiling, answered.

“It’s going well without any problems.”

“How about the filming?”

At that, Ahn Da Ho’s head turned to one side. The director of photography who was in charge of filming today was giving a thumbs up in the place where there were several monitors.

“It’s good.”

“Haha.”

Seo Eun-chan smiled and looked at the stage.

Seo-jun had already taken off his hanbok and was sitting in a comfortable outfit, talking with the fans. There was no smile on Seo-jun’s face or the fans’ faces. Of course, the fans’ eyes were swollen.

Seo Eun-chan sighed with relief at the redness that remained on the fans’ eyes.

“It would have been a disaster if we didn’t film it.”

“That’s true.”

Ahn Da Ho agreed.

Seeing the reaction of those Sprouts, it was obvious that reviews full of emotion and tears would be posted, and they could easily imagine the reaction of the Sprouts who couldn’t come to the fan meeting.

-□□!?□□□□!??!?

-□□□□?!?

-□□□□□□?!??

-□□□□!!!□□□□!!!

‘Hmm.’

It’s scary even with the mosaic.

Seo-jun became an adult and young fans were coming in, and [Sprouts] was becoming a mix of informal and formal speech, but it was still a calm atmosphere.

If they found out about today’s fan meeting, they didn’t know what would happen to the kind [Sprouts].

‘They might even break into the company…’

Seo Eun-chan, who had the same thought as Ahn Da Ho, asked.

“It will take some time to sell the DVD, right?”

“We have everything else ready. We just need to edit the video and make it into a DVD.”

From the DVD package to the photo cards and other goods.

They had already finished making them.

“As expected, Director Ahn.”

President Seo Eun-chan raised his thumb.

***

“Next, I’ll play the violin for you.”

At the sound of the performance, the Sprouts who were laughing straightened their bodies. What’s coming next?!

Seo-jun burst into laughter.

“You can relax and listen, because I’m playing with a guest. I don’t know if you know, but it’s a concerto for two violins.”

“JUN!!”

“BIN!!”

At the enthusiastic response, Seo-jun smiled brightly.

“Yes. That’s right. My brother Bin, Kim Subin, will play with me. Please welcome him with a big applause!”

Clap clap clap!!!

At the applause and cheers that filled the fan meeting hall, Subin appeared with a stiff walk, holding two violin cases at the end of the stage.

‘Come to think of it, Subin has never been on a stage full of cheers like this, right?’

The only stage Subin had been on was the concours, where it was polite to be quiet and not clap.

Seo-jun looked at Subin with a little worry, then smiled.

As if he had never shown an awkward look, Subin looked around the audience with a bright face and sparkling eyes.

‘As expected, my brother.’

Seo-jun took the violin that Subin handed him, and stroked Subin’s head as usual. Subin also smiled as if he was used to it.

“Kyaaaaa!!”

It was natural that the Sprouts screamed and shouted at the natural brotherly scene.