Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 264

…It was unsettling.

That was the emotion that the audience felt simultaneously after watching the play ‘Mirror’.

From the beginning to the end of the play, the audience thought that the protagonist was Kim Jin-woo, who had a split personality.

They focused all their attention on him.

He appeared with a gentle impression and won the hearts of the audience.

He showed his horror-stricken face and earned their sympathy.

He showed the struggle between his two personalities through his shadow.

And when his identity was exposed, it was spine-chilling.

He was the character who captivated the audience with the most impressive performance,

‘…Why do I feel like I was deceived?’

A strange silence filled the Yeoul Hall.

But not everyone felt that way.

From the front seats, where the students were sitting, applause erupted.

They had flushed faces, as if they were excited.

They chattered loudly.

Especially the acting majors, they looked thrilled.

“Creepy…! I get it now!”

“Wow. They did it like that!”

“Unbelievable. They paid so much attention to the props! Did you see that!?”

“Isn’t Lee Seo-jun senior amazing at acting? It’s like he really has another personality!”

“The other seniors were great too! Especially Yang Ju-hee senior…!”

Lee Da-jin, who couldn’t catch up with the students’ reactions, tilted her head.

She was puzzled.

She turned her head to ask the three actors and the writer next to her about this uneasiness.

They must have watched the stage with the sharpest eyes.

‘Seo-jun’s acting is good, but his adaptation is a bit vague.’

But it seemed that the others had different thoughts. Kim Jong-ho, Lee Ji-seok, Park Do-hoon, and writer So Eun-jin had sparkling eyes.

“They used the props well. I didn’t notice until halfway through because they were so familiar.”

“The split personality acting too. It was clear which one was the second personality, from the speech to the atmosphere.”

“The control of intensity too. The whole play focused on Kim Jin-woo, but at the last part, it shifted to Jeong Chae-won. It seemed like Seo-jun and the kids deliberately held back their power.”

“The movement was flawless and the shadow acting was impressive too. Ugh. I want to see the video soon!”

They poured out praises, as if they had no trace of discomfort.

Lee Da-jin blinked her eyes and opened her mouth.

“Am I the only one who feels a bit disappointed by the ending? Aren’t you unsettled?”

The three actors and writer So Eun-jin looked at Lee Da-jin, then glanced at the parents’ seats and the students’ seats.

The parents who praised the acting but felt uneasy about the loose ending, and the students who were stunned by watching and realized everything.

Kim Jong-ho’s eyes widened as he noticed the difference between the two groups.

“…You didn’t read the book?”

“The book? Oh, if you mean Mirror, I haven’t read it yet because I wanted to read it after watching the play.”

“Huh. Really?”

“Why? What is it?”

“Did you read the book, writer So?”

At Park Do-hoon’s question, writer So Eun-jin nodded.

“Yes. I was curious because Seo-jun chose it. I had to restrain myself.”

Kim Jong-ho said to Lee Da-jin, who looked at him anxiously, after looking at the parents’ seats and students’ seats again.

“The parents didn’t read the book and the kids did.”

“The kids must have read it because they had auditions.”

Lee Da-jin asked nervously at Lee Ji-seok and Kim Jong-ho’s conversation.

“What’s in the book that makes you say that?!”

“It’s mind-blowing.”

The three actors and writer smiled meaningfully.

***

Seo-jun wiped off the water on his face with a towel that he brought backstage after finishing his performance.

He had been hit by it several times during practice, so he was able to get hit cleanly.

Meanwhile, Jae-han and Sung-min, who came backstage with him, breathed out and calmed their pounding hearts.

“You both did well.”

“Sung-min did better than me. I thought he really hit Seo-jun when he fell.”

“It was Seo-jun who fell well. Action is hard.”

Seo-jun and the kids laughed.

They felt elated after finishing their performance.

Meanwhile, the curtain fell.

Kim Chae-yeon, who operated the switch to lower down curtain as leader of music team, sat down with a sigh of relief.

“It’s finally over…”

She looked exhausted as if she had lost all her energy.

Seo-jun and the kids raised their thumbs at her.

“Your timing was perfect today.”

“I think I did better than during practice?”

“Really? That’s good!”

Kim Chae-yeon also smiled brightly at the kids’ words.

She was worried that she might lose her focus after watching Seo-jun’s performance, but she snapped out of it whenever she needed to.

While Kim Chae-yeon was talking with the kids, Seo-jun took the glyph.

The word ‘Now!’ floated above Kim Chae-yeon’s head and was absorbed by Seo-jun’s hand.

[(Line)Hobgoblin’s Telepathy-Low]

It is the telepathy of a hobgoblin.

Only five times. Only five letters.

Times: 3/5

‘I didn’t use it much because Chae-yeon did well.’

Seo-jun smiled brightly.

The curtain was completely down, and Si-young and Ju-hee, who had finished their last lines, appeared with excited faces.

“I didn’t make any mistakes!”

“Me neither! I think I did the best today!”

“It seems we’re really stronger in real situations.”

The actors and Kim Chae-yeon talked with bright faces.

***

[The graduation performance of Yeoul Arts Middle School is over!]

[When will the graduation performance be uploaded on YouTube?]

[Why are you guys here?!]

[The directors who filmed the graduation performance?!]

[Leave the filming and editing to us! Lee Seo-jun’s squad is on the move!]

-It’s over!

-Upload it quickly!!

-QR code quickly!!

-Wow. Director Woo Jeong-han, Director Choi Dae-man, PD Choi Min-seong, and writer So Eun-jin?

=There are actors too.

=…It would be weird if they weren’t there

-LOL

-It’s not a special project or anything, but the directors are going to the middle school graduation performance LOL

=22 The video must be amazing.

=But aren’t they fighting? The three directors have different directing methods.

=It’s okay if they fight as long as the result is good LOL

=222 Please edit and choose the best directing!

-The review is up!

-(link)

[Title: Yeoul Arts Middle School Graduation Performance Review (No Spoilers)]

I understand why they call the third graders of Yeoul Arts Middle School the golden generation.

It was a graduation performance worthy of the golden generation.

Are they really middle schoolers LOL

Anyway, from number 1 to number 6, the other plays were fun too.

I recommend watching them.

Well, I guess the most interesting one is number 7. The Mirror Team lol

They all did well. Really well.

Review over!

…Not really, I have something to say after the play.

After watching the play ‘Mirror’, I felt uneasy. I felt like I was missing something.

So I read the book ‘Mirror’ that I brought with me. There were other people who brought books too lol.

Everyone else left, but I was reading the book in Yeoul Hall and got kicked out. But even as I left Yeoul Hall, I couldn’t take my eyes off the book.

…Wow …It was no joke.

After reading the book, I felt goosebumps all over my body.

How could such a book be buried…!

After reading the book, I kept remembering the scenes from the play. But there was a limit to what I could remember, so I wanted to see the video as soon as possible and examine every detail.

The play was impressive enough, but it also made me want to read the book. How do you say it?

I hope everyone reads the book after watching the play.

-…I’m jealous.

-Are you a parent? A staff member?

=You don’t have to be a parent. You can also bring up to two siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc.

-I read the book first… Is that bad?

= : If you read the book, you can see better. You won’t feel this uneasiness lol. Every movement and every line seems like a foreshadowing. It feels like you’re being fooled by more than just words.

=…What do you mean?

= : You have to see it lol

-I hope it’s uploaded soon!

***

A few days later.

Seo-jun and Andaho packed lunch boxes and headed to the editing room.

“Director Woojung Han always uses this place when he works on movies, but he lent it to us for a while.”

“I see. It’s my first time in that editing room.”

Seo-jun, who was excitedly heading to the editing room, smiled brightly when he saw writer So Eunjin waiting in front of the editing room door.

Writer So Eunjin smiled back at Seo-jun, but soon sighed and shook her head.

“You haven’t been home for four days already.”

Four days?

Seo-jun and Andaho looked at writer So Eunjin with surprised expressions.

“All three of you?”

“Yeah. The video for team 6 came out quickly, so I thought team Mirror’s would come out soon too. But they’ve been stuck in the editing room since then. They were arguing loudly at first.”

Seo-jun and Andaho looked at each other.

They remembered what they had heard about the directors fighting over their directing methods. Seo-jun scratched his cheek.

“Then we’ll just deliver the lunch boxes and English scripts and leave.”

“For English subtitles?”

“Yes.”

“I trust Seo-jun’s translation.”

Writer So Eunjin said with a small smile.

Seo-jun translated not only the script for ‘Mirror’, but also the scripts for other kids’ plays.

He hoped that many people would watch his friends’ plays too.

Writer So Eunjin knocked on the door of the innermost editing room among several editing rooms.

The door that had been tightly closed opened after a few knocks.

PD Choi Minseong’s face appeared, looking haggard as if he had stayed up all night.

“Oh, writer So.”

“Seo-jun and his manager are here.”

“We brought lunch boxes. Have you eaten?”

“Uh, not yet.”

PD Choi Minseong’s eyes unconsciously moved to one side.

Seo-jun, Andaho, and writer So Eunjin followed his gaze.

Three convenience store lunch boxes were still wrapped in plastic on one side of the door.

“You didn’t eat?!”

Writer So Eunjin’s eyes widened as she saw them.

“…We were busy. We’re almost done!”

“You said that yesterday too!”

“Well…”

PD Choi Minseong rolled his eyes.

“…We scrapped it.”

Writer So Eunjin put her hand on her forehead.

“You’ve scrapped it 10 times already…”

Seo-jun and Andaho smiled at the sight of the two.

“Then you must be hungry. Please eat quickly.”

PD Choi Minseong nodded at Seo-jun’s words and turned his body toward the inside of the editing room.

“Director Woo! Director Choi! Dinner, no, breakfast…”

It was too bright to be dinner and too late to be breakfast for Seo-jun, who should have gone to school. Writer So Eunjin sighed and corrected PD Choi Minseong’s words.

“…Lunch.”

“…Please have lunch.”

And then two zombies appeared.

They were Director Woo Jung-han and Director Choi Daeman.

They looked like they had no appetite, but they ate the food from the famous restaurant that they had gone out of their way to get.

They were the three directors who ate hastily.

“Please eat slowly.”

“Thank you, Seo-jun. But didn’t you go to school today?”

Writer So Eunjin handed over the cake she had bought for her and shrugged her shoulders with a smile.

Writer So Eunjin shook her head vigorously.

“It’s Sunday today.”

“…It’s already Sunday?”

They didn’t even know how time passed when they were stuck in the editing room. Writer So Eunjin said with a stern face as she saw the three directors looking confused.

“The deadline is tomorrow.”

“…Haha.”

“Can’t you extend it a little bit, writer So?”

“I’m sorry. I’m not a school official.”

At that, the directors’ hands sped up as they ate.

“But why did you scrap it 10 times?”

Director Choi Daeman, who was the first to finish his lunch box, opened his mouth at Seo-jun’s question.

“If the play was just a play itself, we could have finished editing it sooner. But the twist is in the book, right?”

Seo-jun nodded.

“The play successfully made people open the book,”

There were people who read the book on the spot after watching the play.

Director Woo Jung-han smiled.

“We have to make it that way too.”

“And Seo-jun threw foreshadowing everywhere. We wanted to emphasize every single one of them. But if we emphasize too much, it would be obvious, and if we hide it more in the background, but still make it noticeable, we thought there would be a better composition. So we ended up like this.”

“We didn’t expect it to take this long though.”

“I see.”

PD Choi Minseong, who had emptied his lunch box, smiled.

“Don’t worry. It will be done by the deadline.”

“Yes.”

***

As promised by the three directors, on Monday at 3 p.m.

The edited videos of seven teams arrived at Yeoul Arts Middle School.

[Today at 5 p.m., Yeoul Arts Middle School graduation performance uploaded on YouTube!]

[The book band of the novel ‘Mirror’! Scan the QR code!]

[The bookstore is crowded from morning! What book is in people’s hands?!]

[The play ‘Mirror’ also has English subtitles!]