Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 697

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to join you on your birthday celebration?”

“I thought it would be nice to show them how I enjoy hanging out with a friend. And we can also talk about our childhood stories.”

Unlike the other sprouts who always prepared different events for him, Seo-jun thought it would be a good idea to share his unknown childhood stories with the sprouts on his birthday.

“Our childhood…”

Jack Smith’s voice faded as he tried to recall his memories over the phone.

“I feel like you’re going to expose all my embarrassing past.”

“Ha ha.”

Seo-jun laughed.

Well, it was obvious who had more laughable past between Seo-jun, who had lived many lives and was quite mature even as a child, and Jack, who was just a brat in his first life.

“What about your training?”

“It’s fine. I can adjust my rest days.”

“Well, okay. I don’t mind. Are you going to upload it on YouTube?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Then I’ll have to tell all the dark secrets of superstar Seo-jun Lee!”

“Then I’ll have no choice but to reveal the dark secrets of major leaguer Jack Smith. You have your childhood albums at home, right?”

There was a brief silence.

“…Uh…let’s be moderate with each other.”

Jack, who had more embarrassing past than Seo-jun, backed down first, and Seo-jun laughed.

***

That’s how they made an appointment for Wednesday.

Seo-jun started his intensive training with the stunt team to prepare for the upcoming crank-in of [Shadow and Knight].

Of course, he didn’t forget to use his ability before training.

“Philip.”

“Yes!”

“There’s something stuck in your hair.”

“Really? Where? Here?”

As soon as he heard Seo-jun’s call, Philip Yoon ran over and shook his head wildly with both hands before Seo-jun could even touch him, making his hair a mess. He really looked like…a ‘dog’.

“Hmm. Here.”

He had never raised a puppy, but he wondered if it felt like this.

Seo-jun smiled slightly and pretended to remove something from Philip Yoon’s hair, planting the seed of [(Good)Mimicking the Spring Birch] in him.

[(Good)Mimicking the Spring Birch] was an ability that used the target’s information and the user’s effort as nutrients to mimic the target’s effect.

Seo-jun used the same method he had used on Kim Jae Yeon on Philip Yoon.

[(Good)Mimicking the Spring Birch] is activated.

[Target: William Lee / Synchronization Rate: 13/100]

Thanks to the information that Philip Yoon had studied so far, a sprout popped up on his head. When this sprout grew into a spring birch, he would be able to mimic the atmosphere of ‘William Lee’.

‘Then, just like Jae Yeon hyung who replaced Jin Natra without any discomfort, Philip would be able to act as William.’

Of course, the ability only affected the ‘atmosphere of William Lee’, and the posture and movement had to be studied hard by Philip Yoon himself.

“Hyung. Is it gone now?”

“Yeah. It’s fine now.”

From now on, it was up to Philip Yoon’s effort.

After stretching enough for safety, they started their actual training.

“We’ll start with individual practice. We’ll sync up later.”

Seo-jun and Philip Yoon nodded at trainer Aiden’s words.

“Philip, you should observe and follow what Jun does as much as possible. But don’t just watch, ask me or Jun if you have any questions or doubts.”

“Yes! I got it! I brought something to take notes too.”

“Feel free to ask me anything.”

“Yessir!”

Seo-jun and Aiden smiled briefly at Philip Yoon’s enthusiasm and then started to talk seriously. Philip Yoon’s expression also became serious as he held his notebook.

“As you know, Jun, you have to change your vibe 180 degrees from Jin Natra. He’s a villain and you’re a hero.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s see your ‘William Lee’ first.”

At Aiden’s words, Seo-jun stepped back a little from Aiden and Philip Yoon.

William Lee.

He was a boy who lost all his memories from the time of ‘Jin Natra’, had no memories for two years, but grew up with his parents’ love and became a hero.

Unlike Jin Natra, who was a villain, he had to express his ‘goodness’.

And that was a very easy thing for Seo-jun, who had trained his goodness since he was young and opened the ‘Library of Goodness’ first.

‘There are many kinds of goodness.’

Kindness, gentleness, mercy, benevolence, compassion, generosity, innocence, etc.

Then, what kind of goodness suited the hero ‘William Lee’?

Kindness and gentleness were good. Benevolence and compassion were a bit too much for ‘William Lee’, who was a high school student.

But there was a mind that had to be at the base of all those goodness.

Unbending strength.

The desire to save everyone.

The basic mindset of a hero.

“…Wow…!”

The actor Seo-jun Lee’s vibe changed in an instant.

Philip Yoon covered his mouth with both hands as he exclaimed without knowing. His eyes were still full of surprise and admiration.

‘This is actor Seo-jun Lee.’

He was going to be the stuntman of such an actor.

He felt a bit heavy in his heart, but somehow his heart was pounding.

“Okay. I was worried for nothing. As expected, it’s best to leave the acting to Jun.”

Seo-jun laughed as he returned to his normal self at Aiden’s words.

“Then let’s check out the action part. You said that your swordsmanship and martial arts were influenced by Jin Natra, right?”

“Yes. I lost my memory, but my body remembers. It feels like that.”

“Then, since Jin Natra’s swordsmanship was rough like a villain, wouldn’t it be better for William, who is a hero, to do it more formally and politely?”

Seo-jun shook his head at Aiden’s opinion.

“No. I think Jin Natra’s side was more formal, because the story was more intense. He had memories of learning from Natra’s knights, and he was used to it.”

Philip Yoon perked up his ears, afraid to miss a word.

“But William lost his memory, so he would feel a bit awkward when he does swordsmanship or martial arts, like ‘how do I know this?’ I think it would be nice if he had that feeling left.”

“Hmm. The difference between body and memory…”

Aiden nodded at Seo-jun’s explanation.

“Then let’s train like that.”

Aiden brought a long stick to replace the sword and handed it to Seo-jun and Philip Yoon.

“Do you remember the swordsmanship that Jin Natra did? Let’s review that first and then train.”

“Yes.”

“Philip, try to follow Jun as best as you can.”

Philip Yoon was familiar with swordsmanship since he had learned it before Seo-jun came to America, but it was hard for him to imitate the ‘unique atmosphere’ that actor Seo-jun Lee portrayed, just like Kim Jae Yeon did. He had to work very hard.

“Yes, sir!”

Seo-jun, who lightly swung his staff around, looked up at Philip Yoon’s head as he answered cheerfully.

[Target: William Lee / Assimilation Rate: 17/100]

The assimilation rate had risen by four in the meantime, and a smile naturally formed on his face.

***

A few days later.

As the training situation went smoothly, individual training was reduced and group training was conducted.

“Well, it’s only us doing the training, even if we call it a group.”

“Hahaha.”

“I’ll do my best!”

Seo-jun laughed at Kim Jae Yeon’s words, and Philip Yoon’s eyes sparkled.

[Target: William Lee / Assimilation Rate: 47/100]

Above Philip Yoon’s head, a young spring tree was growing. He must have worked very hard during the short personal training. 

At this rate, Philip Yoon would reach 90% before he joined the filming, and he would be able to see a lush spring tree.

“First, you move like this…”

Trainer Aiden explained the scenes that he and the martial arts director had devised while doing individual training.

It was only practice for now, but a momentary mistake could lead to an accident, so Seo-jun, Kim Jae Yeon, and Philip Yoon all focused.

“Let’s start then.”

And so the group training began.

***

Thwack! Thwack-!

The sound of the long staffs held by Seo-jun and Kim Jae Yeon colliding echoed loudly.

The stuntmen and trainers who were training at the A2 training ground looked at them with interested expressions. 

Among them was Jonathan Will, the director who came to watch for a while.

When the villain attacked, the hero blocked it.

When the hero counterattacked, the villain parried it.

It seemed simple, but flashy attacks and defenses that would become the flower of the superhero movie went back and forth.

‘If it was a real fight, they would all be useless.’

The ability engraved on Seo-jun’s back of the hand conveyed that.

[(Good)The Teachings of the Ancient Egosword-Medium-are activated.]

[(Good)The Teachings of the Ancient Egosword (Medium)]

It is an egosword that gained a soul after passing through the hands of countless swordsmen.

You can learn some of the sword techniques and combat methods of the swordsmen who were its owners.

Learning: Odin Empire Knight Swordsmanship

He had been born as an android, but had he never been born as a weapon?

Seo-jun had read the books of the egoweapons in the library of good for the filming of [Shadow and Knight].

‘There were spears and axes as well as swords, and bows too.’

Of course, there were also defensive equipment such as armor and shields.

He had really reincarnated as all kinds of life forms except ‘human’.

Anyway.

Among the books of the egoswords, there were medium-high and high abilities, but since they were not for defeating someone, Seo-jun chose this ability.

One of the sword techniques in [(Good)The Teachings of the Ancient Egosword], ‘Odin Empire Swordsmanship’, was similar to ‘Jin Natra’s Swordsmanship’, that is, [(Evil)Death Knight’s Chivalry], which was also one of the reasons for his choice.

‘He was a Death Knight from the Empire, maybe the Odin Empire.’

Clang!!

Seo-jun dodged Kim Jae Yeon’s attack as planned and focused on the training again.

Wow!

He must be holding back his strength, but his serious expression made it look like he was really moving with all his might to kill the villain.

‘Jae Yeon must be having a hard time.’

That expression of dying from exhaustion was not something that could be acted out.

It was a pity to cover it with CG, Jonathan, the director, thought as he was mesmerized by the dazzling fight scene like everyone else. He only managed to ask a question after Seo-jun and Kim Jae Yeon stopped their training.

“…Was this scene supposed to be this spectacular?”

At that question, Aiden and the martial arts director avoided his gaze and laughed awkwardly.

“Well… It just turned out like this.”

“What, you said you gave me the autonomy… I just did what I could. Of course, without affecting the story.”

“Still…”

“By the way, it was Jun’s idea.”

The ‘Seo-jun Shield’ that was only used in Cocoa Entertainment in Korea was activated across the ocean in the US training center.

The martial arts director’s words made Jonathan groan.

“Jonathan! You’re here?”

Seo-jun approached him with a happy expression and Jonathan scratched his head and asked.

“Jun, I heard you suggested this, did you intend to make Lawrence do this, Jun?”

“No?”

Seo-jun widened his eyes at Jonathan’s question and shook his head.

“I was going to stick to the original plan if I trained with Lawrence. I changed it because Jae Yeon hyung took it so well. Wasn’t it okay, Jonathan?”

“…It was okay.”

He was captivated by it even without any CG processing.

‘It would be insane if I added CG to that.’

Seo-jun was excited by Jonathan’s words and said.

“Jae Yeon hyung took it so well that it came out really cool. The atmosphere was really villain-like too! It will look really cool on camera too.”

Kim Jae Yeon, who was sitting on the floor exhausted and drinking water from Philip Yoon, smiled at Seo-jun’s praise. He was grateful that he said that even though he was just a stuntman.

“So I’m thinking of raising the difficulty level a bit more…”

“Seo-jun!”

No way!

He appreciated the praise, but Kim Jae Yeon wanted to live.