Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 712

William’s mouth fell open without him realizing it.

He was looking at his favorite hero, Shadowman.

He had a hunch when he saw the black pillars rising like shadows, but he never expected to meet him so close.

But for some reason, Shadowman, who was wearing a mask, looked very surprised too. 

He seemed to be shocked and frozen, as if he had stopped breathing.

William was amazed to see the hero Shadowman, but why would Shadowman be surprised to see him, who was just an ordinary person?

‘Am I mistaken?’

William felt like he had eye contact with Shadowman, who was wearing a mask.

A strangely familiar yet unfamiliar feeling.

His heart beat slowly, then fast, then busy. But he didn’t know why. It was as if some memories were locked tightly with dozens of locks… No, maybe not. There was no memory that could be locked with locks in him. Then… was it déjà vu?

Along with the silence, William’s face was filled with confusion.

“Shadowman!”

The child he was holding shouted.

!

William and Shadowman came to their senses. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like a long time had passed.

“…You can go this way.”

Shadowman raised his left arm and pointed to the hallway that had been blocked before.

“But the way is blocked… Wow…!”

“Wow!”

As soon as William spoke, a black shadow sprang from Shadowman’s feet and spread on the floor like a carpet. Not only the floor, but also the walls and ceiling were stained.

Then it pierced through the fallen stone walls lightly, lifted the debris to the ceiling and stuck them to the wall.

It was a passage made of shadows, as if digging a tunnel with shadows.

William and the child exclaimed at the magical sight.

The black shadow passage was endless. The end must have been the exit.

“Just follow the shadows.”

“Yes! Thank you, Shadowman!”

“Thank you!”

William bowed his head and stepped into the shadow passage with the child in his arms.

Thud!

Shadowman, who had been watching William’s back as he ran with the child for a moment, turned his body and moved to save the others.

-I’ll take you to your mom and dad.

Those words remained deep in Shadowman’s heart.

***

“Cut! Okay!”

While the staff prepared for the next shoot, Seo-jun and Evan Block moved to monitor with the child actors who had acted well.

“Me too?”

“Of course.”

Of course, Mr. Cameo, Jack Smith, was also with them.

“Uh… I feel weird.”

Jack shivered as he watched himself acting hard on the monitor screen. Seo-jun tilted his head.

“You saw it at the baseball stadium, right?”

“That was okay because it felt like watching a baseball game. This is acting. It feels very strange. Um. I don’t even know if I did well…”

“You did great!”

“You were awesome…!”

The two child actors said with sparkling eyes. Evan Block nodded his head.

“You did it naturally. You looked like a real actor.”

He did that well.

Jack scratched his cheek with a shy face.

“Seo-jun told me. I just had to remember the feeling of saving ‘us’.”

“Us! I know!”

“Whale…”

Aha.

Evan Block nodded his head. He must have been able to act like that because he had a real experience of saving lives.

‘Maybe that’s why he cast Jack in this scene.’

Evan Block looked at Seo-jun. Seo-jun smiled brightly as if he knew what he was thinking.

As expected.

He was a thorough actor when it came to acting.

“But I was wondering how to do it, but when I saw Seo-jun acting, I felt so immersed. It really felt like escaping from a collapsing building.”

Jack said, recalling the shooting scene a while ago. Seo-jun’s acting on the set was amazing compared to the practice.

When Jonathan shouted ‘Action!’ and Seo-jun immersed himself in acting, he felt like everything around him changed.

The cameras, lights, and staff that bothered him disappeared and he only saw the set, as if he was really there.

From meeting ‘William’ to the ceiling collapsing, to running to escape, Jack Smith felt like he became a character in the movie.

“It’s possible because it’s Seo-jun. It’s rare to find an actor who can make the other person immersed as well.”

Jack Smith nodded at Evan Block’s words.

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

A little later.

Jack’s shoulders sagged at the voice of Matthew, the assistant director. He had been shooting all day, but he still wasn’t used to it.

“Are you shooting the same scene again… Aren’t you tired?”

“? Not at all?”

He tilted his head as if he didn’t understand why it would be hard. Jack laughed and said. Seo-jun didn’t look tired, he looked happy.

‘Not only acting, but…’

Jack thought that this mindset was one of the reasons why Seo-jun was a great actor.

“You’re really born to be an actor.”

“Ha ha. Thank you.”

Seo-jun smiled brightly at the best compliment.

And a few hours later.

The cameo shoot of major leaguer Jack Smith was over.

***

The shooting location this time was a park.

It was the place where William used to jog every weekend morning, and it was a place where they had shot before.

The shooting time was also the same as the previous shoot, in the morning according to William’s jogging time.

“These small details are important.”

“Marine fans are scary.”

James, the director of photography, nodded at Jonathan’s words. Seo-jun, who had finished preparing, smiled.

“By the way, I think you read all the stories attached to the memorial hall in Shadowman 2.”

It was hard to read them on the screen because they were small and the quality was bad when zoomed in, but they worked on them this way and that way and read them, the terrifying marine fans.

“So. I almost got into big trouble for writing anything.”

While Seo-jun and the two directors were chatting about this and that, Evan Block finished his preparations and came out. Seo-jun looked around the set with a regretful expression and said,

“I wish Rachel was here.”

Today’s shooting scene had Bell Natra (voice only), but Rachel Hill couldn’t make it today.

“It was surprising that she came to the last shooting.”

That was true.

Seo-jun nodded at Evan Block’s words.

“Then let’s start shooting!”

At Matthew’s assistant director’s words, Evan Block, who had wireless earphones in his ears, sat on the bench with a prop, and Seo-jun, who had to jog, warmed up his body. Stretching before exercise was essential.

That’s how the actors and the staff were all ready.

Jonathan Will, the director, looked back and forth between the screen and the set and raised his voice.

“Ready, action!”

***

A week later.

The park was peaceful as if the crash incident had never happened. Listening to the voices of happy people as background music, Mac sat on this bench as he always did on weekends.

-It’s a relief that no one died.

Bell Natra’s voice came through the wireless earphones connected to space. Bell Natra was in the situation of hearing the story of that day.

“That’s right.”

Mac also smiled slightly.

There were many injured and a few seriously injured, but ‘First’ said that there would be no deaths among the seriously injured.

Evan Block, who was playing Shadowman, listened to the voice of Bell Natra, recorded by Rachel Hill in advance, through the earphones. 

The staff was playing the script according to the script through the phone connected to the earphones.

It was possible to act alone without a partner, but it was definitely easier to act like this, even if it was a conversation.

The staff played the next recording.

-Are Jin… no, William’s parents okay?

“They were sitting close to the exit, so they didn’t get hurt.”

-That’s good… really.

A sigh of relief came vividly.

Seo-jun, who was waiting for his scene to appear outside the set, gave a silent applause to Rachel Hill’s Bell Natra performance, which she acted alone.

It was Rachel after all.

-So you can’t come today?

“Hmm. Maybe.”

It was a good thing to try to save the child, but it was a scolding thing to disobey the director’s instructions and leave the crowd that was evacuating.

-But what was the cause?

Bell Natra asked.

“The person who was controlling the Vision (First’s jet) was a First agent. He was moving the meteorite to NASA’s Washington branch. But he said he didn’t know why he did that.”

Shadowman thought of the First agent who was being treated with an oxygen mask.

-What?

“He’s in a bad condition right now, so there’s not much information to find out, but it seems like the meteorite was the cause, so I moved it back to the First headquarters. Completely sealed.”

-…Meteorite…

Aaaah!

A scream came from across the earphones.

-There are too many useless things in space!!

“I agree.”

Why did it have to fall on Earth…

He could only sigh.

***

Seo-jun, who was waiting while rolling his ankles, started to run slowly in place. It was soon time for William to appear.

He didn’t forget to use his ability.

[(Good)Cat Baron’s Graceful Steps(Low) is activated.]

[[(Good)Cat Baron’s Graceful Steps(Low)]’s grade is temporarily lowered.]

[(Good)Cat Baron’s Graceful Steps(Lowest) is activated.]

He judged that it was not a perfect step because it was a memory left only in ‘William’s body’, and lowered the grade of the ability.

As he ran in place and gradually increased his speed, Seo-jun closed and opened his eyes at Jonathan’s director’s gesture to enter the set.

And he became ‘William Lee’ and started running.

***

Tap tap!

Then a familiar sound of footsteps was heard.

Mac lifted his head.

William, who was always running, was seen. His face was full of smiles.

“…I thought you’d be grounded for weeks…”

He must have somehow gotten permission from his parents.

-Is it Jin!? Is Jin here? I want to hear Jin’s voice too!

“It’s hard to hear his voice. We don’t have any conversation, we don’t know each other.”

-Let me hear his footsteps at least, Mac!

At Bell Natra’s pitiful voice, Mac manipulated the earphones. 

The sound from this side would be heard very well. Then he turned his head and looked at William, who was getting closer.

-I’ll definitely take you to mom and dad.

He remembered William, who was saving the child at the baseball stadium.

“…You’ve grown up like this.”

At the same time, he remembered the child who tried to destroy himself.

“…You could have grown up like this.”

Somehow his chest felt stuffy, and he felt choked up.

Did he hear Mac’s murmur that came out without knowing it, Bell Natra’s voice across the earphones was quiet. He thought he might feel the same way.

As William approached, Mac covered his face with a book as he always did. Well, he wouldn’t recognize him, but he hid himself without knowing it.

Tap tap!

William, as he always did, quickly passed by Mac sitting on the bench. Mac lowered the book and looked at William’s back.

He felt sorry for William’s fleeting appearance, but suddenly William stopped walking. Then he bent one knee and crouched down. 

The way he fiddled with his sneakers looked like he was tying his shoelaces again.

Was it luck.

Mac’s eyes turned to William. He had reported that he was not hurt, but he looked around with his own eyes. Of course, while opening the lid of the mineral water without suspicion… naturally…

But…

Suddenly, William, who got up from his seat, came towards the bench where Mac was sitting.

…Huh?!

Mac’s head was messed up by the unexpected situation.

-What? Why are you so quiet, Mac?

He didn’t hear Bell Natra’s voice at all. His body seemed to freeze as William approached. No, it’s weird if you freeze like this! Mac sweated coldly behind his back and tried his best to put the mineral water bottle in his mouth naturally.

He came to his senses a little with the water coming into his mouth.

Mac was sitting alone on the wide bench. He probably thought he would sit next to him because he was tired. Then he might be able to have a simple conversation.

Somehow his heart was pounding.

“…Excuse me…”

William, who he thought would sit next to him, spoke to Mac unexpectedly.

-Gasp! Is it Jin?! Is this Jin’s voice!?

He heard Bell Natra’s excited voice across the earphones, but Mac didn’t care at all. He only gave his eyes to William in front of him.

Why did William talk to him? Oh, is he thirsty and has no water to drink? Then he should stop drinking and give it to William, and Mac tried to take his mouth off the mineral water bottle.

William, whose cheeks were slightly flushed, opened his mouth with a fluttering face.

“Are you Shadowman?”

“Pffft!!”

-Crash!!

Mac spat out the water in his mouth without knowing it, and a sound of Bell Natra falling from the chair came from across the earphones.