Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 387:

March, when the flowers bloom after the cold winter.

As he headed to his new classroom for the new school year, seo-jun looked at his face reflected in the window.

“Hmm.”

During the winter break, seo-jun had eaten like a bear before hibernation, not only from his family but also from his friends and acquaintances.

He had to use [Slime's Digestion Ability] to cope with the food that kept appearing.

But thanks to that, he had regained the weight he had lost due to filming.

“Mom and dad and Da Ho hyung don't seem to worry anymore.”

Then his phone rang.

-Mom: By the way, are you busy today?

[Okay. Got it!

Subin became a third-grader in elementary school, and Eun-su became a first-grader.

Today was Eun-su's entrance ceremony.

“I wish I could go.”

He replied to his mom and then received a barrage of messages from Seo Eun-chan, his uncle.

-Seo Eun-chan: She's been like this since last night lol

-Seo Eun-chan: (A picture of Eun-su walking around the living room with her backpack on)

-Seo Eun-chan: (A picture of Eun-su wearing her new shoes and not taking them off)

-Seo Eun-chan: (A picture of Eun-su choosing her clothes with a serious expression)

[Uncle.

[Why do you sound like you’re bragging…

-Seo Eun-chan: My daughter is the cutest!

Seo-jun laughed.

Who would think that this person was a successful agency president?

[Take lots of pictures.

-Seo Eun-chan: Okay.

-Seo Eun-chan: It's a good thing she got assigned to Plum Blossom class.

[Yeah. Subin is there too.

They were in different grades, so their class hours were different, but he didn't know how much it would help. Seo-jun smiled happily and stood in front of his new classroom.

[Grade 3 Class 1]

It was a strange feeling to see the sign.

“It's already third grade.”

He thought time flew by as he opened the classroom door.

There were some kids who came early, but they were all lying on their desks.

It looked like there were invisible dark clouds hanging over them.

Seo-jun tilted his head.

“Why are you all like this?”

Yang Ju-hee, who seemed to be in a better condition than the others, shrugged her shoulders and answered.

“It's third grade.”

“Ah…”

The kids who were lying on their desks made a snorting sound.

He couldn't tell if they were laughing or crying.

“It felt like a distant thing until last year… But now I'm so nervous!”

“College! Early admission! College entrance exam!”

“Ahhhh!”

Some kids were suffering, while others were optimistic. One of them was Han Jinho, who smiled slyly and said.

“I've already decided what I'm going to do when I become an adult.”

“What are you going to do?”

Seo-jun was thinking of getting his driver's license first.

He originally planned to get it right after his birthday this year, but he decided to wait until next year since he was still a student.

“First of all, I'm going to buy a lottery ticket.”

“That's…”

He didn't know if he should call that healthy or not.

It was a typical third-grade classroom full of despair and chaos.

***

A little later.

The morning assembly began.

Seo-jun's third-grade homeroom teacher was Jung Si-woon.

Jung Si-woon looked at the anxious third-graders with a worried expression.

“You guys. You have to decide your route for this year clearly from now on. If you have enough grades to go to your desired college, you can do both your work and study, but if your grades are not enough and risky, you should consider taking a break from your work for a year.”

The teachers had told them to think about college since they entered high school, but they never felt it so close before, so the kids perked up their ears.

“Of course, don't forget that practical skills are important for those who aim for art colleges. Art colleges take more students through early admission than regular admission, and some early admission tests are 100 percent practical skills.”

Han Jinho raised his hand sharply.

“Teacher! Do we have to go to college?”

“I knew you would say that.”

The kids laughed at Jung Si-woon's words. Jung Si-woon also smiled and opened his mouth.

“I don't know about other jobs, but I think it's okay not to go to college for actors. But that's something you should choose after you know the situation well when you don't go to college.”

The kids listened to Jung Si-woon's sincere words with a serious expression.

Seo-jun also paid close attention to Jung Si-woon's words.

“People's lives are long and unpredictable, so you never know what will happen to you in the future. Especially in our country, people care a lot about where you graduated from. You have to think a lot and talk to your parents and decide what to do.”

“Yes!”

“But you don't have to be too serious about it. You can go to college at any age. I can go too if I want to.”

The kids burst into laughter at Jung Si-woon's joke.

“Do you all have one or two colleges in mind that you want to go to? You might not be able to show your full potential on the practical test day or the college entrance exam day, so think about whether you want to go to another school or take a year off as a backup plan. It might be good to talk to your parents too. Look carefully at the professors and curriculum of the colleges you want to go to and come to me if you have any questions or need any materials.”

Some kids swallowed dry saliva. They felt the reality of being third-graders by Jung Si-woon's words.

“I’ll post the early admission schedule here, so don't forget to apply. Check the time and whether it's by mail or online. There are always some kids who miss the application because they get it wrong.”

He nodded his head vigorously as he spoke, and Seo-jun felt his heart sink.

The other kids seemed to feel the same way.

“There will be some kids who study in the classroom, so let's be considerate of each other until the college entrance exam is over.”

“Yes!”

“And the graduation performance will be at the end of December, so those who want to perform, come to the staff room and fill out an application form. You remember that if you get good reviews from the teachers at the graduation performance, you can perform at the Milky Way Center during the winter break, right?”

“Yesss!”

Seo-jun and the kids lit up their eyes and Jung Si-woon smiled.

It seemed that they liked the performance talk more than the college talk, just like last year's third-graders.

“Last year, one team came out from the music department, so let's have one team from the acting department this year too. Two teams would be better.”

He smiled brightly and left the classroom, and the kids relaxed as if they had relieved their tension.

“Wow… It feels like we’re really third-graders.”

“I know.”

“Do we have to go to college?”

“Isn't it better to go?”

The kids had a lot of thoughts.

Then Kim Joo-kyung saw Seo-jun writing something down.

[Graduation Performance Application Form]

Kim Joo-kyung widened her eyes and asked.

“Huh? Seo-jun, are you going to do the graduation performance?”

“Yeah.”

At his words, the other kids also looked up.

The ones who had performed with him at the Yeoul Art Middle School graduation performance, Jeon Seon-min and Park Si-young, as well as Kim Ha-woon and Jo Bo-ram from other middle schools, had curious faces.

“Did you choose a script?”

“Not yet.”

The kids who knew how the play [Mirror] was created laughed.

“Are you going to adapt something again?”

“I guess so.”

“By the way, if Seo-jun does the graduation performance… Will they come?”

At Yang Ju-hee's words, the kids from Yeoul Art Middle School sparkled their eyes.

“I wonder. Will they come?”

“I hope they does!”

“Who's coming?”

At Park Si-young and Han Jinho's words, Kim Ha-woon and Jo Bo-ram tilted their heads. Kang Jae-han explained with shining eyes.

“Our school allows outsiders to watch the graduation performance in some cases, but they have to give a special lecture.”

They knew that.

“Yeoul Art Middle School was the same, and there were some lecturers who came to see Seo-jun's graduation performance and gave a special lecture. It would be nice if they came again!”

“Who?”

“Kim Jong-ho senior, Lee Ji-seok senior, Park Do-hoon senior, Lee Da-jin senior, woo Jeong-han director-nim, Director Choi Dae-min, Director Choi Min-sung, writer So Eun-jin!”

…? …!

Kim Ha-woon and Jo Bo-ram were stunned for a moment by the names that Kim Joo-kyung listed. The other kids also had their mouths wide open with similar expressions.

At that sight, seo-jun and the kids from Yeoul Art Middle School laughed.

“Yeah. I felt the same way back then.”

“Me too.”

“I wonder if they’ll come this time.”

“Should we ask?”

At that, the kids’ eyes turned to Seo-jun. Their eyes were glittering.

“Now?”

“Yeah. They must be resting since they finished filming.”

The kids nodded their heads at Seo-jun's words.

Seo-jun smiled and took out his phone and sent a message.

[I'm doing the graduation performance this year. Can you come?

He looked at the group chat and blinked his eyes. The read sign disappeared, but no one answered.

‘Hmm. The response is not very good. ’

He felt a bit embarrassed as he imagined uncle Kim Jong-ho and Lee Ji-seok hyung calling Mirinae Arts High School's staff room right after reading his message to check their schedule.

He didn't feel much earlier, but he felt a bit, no, very disappointed that they didn't reply.

“Why?”

The kids looked at him with curious eyes. Especially the ones who had never heard the lectures of those top actors were really intrigued.

“They said they’ll come.”

“Wow!”

The kids were happy and Seo-jun felt happy too.

“I couldn't ask many questions last time because they came so suddenly!”

“Me too! I'm going to ask everything I've been curious about!”

“That's a good idea! Should we make a questionnaire?”

“Acting too!”

“Hollywood audition too!”

The classroom became quiet for a moment at Han Jinho's shout and then became noisy as if a bomb had exploded.

“Yeah! Let's ask that too!”

“Why did I forget that!?”

Seo-jun tilted his head at the reaction of his friends who were excited.

“Why don't you ask me about Hollywood?”

The kids shook their heads vigorously at Seo-jun's words.

“You debuted in Hollywood.”

“It's a bit different from the situation of actors who started in Korea.”

“You didn't even audition.”

It sounded like a valid point, so Seo-jun scratched his cheek with an awkward smile. He hadn't auditioned for [Over the Rainbow] or [Survivors].

‘Shadowman was an extra audition… But it was kind of rushed.’

The audition was almost like filming.

While he was doing that, messages from people who said they would come to see his graduation performance arrived on Seo-jun's phone.

The names made Class 1 noisy again.

Class 2 kids who came to see what was going on became noisy too after hearing the story.

***

[‘Sprouts’, Actor Lee Seo-jun's Birthday Donation Lineup!]

[Actor Lee Seo-jun, “Thank you for celebrating my birthday!”]

[Actor Lee Seo-jun, who became a third-grader in high school! What is his target college?]

[Let's find out about last year's art college early admission and regular admission!]

[Lee Seo-jun's cheering stick on sale!]

-Seo-jun! Happy birthday!!

-Lee Seo-jun is already a third-grader! He’ll be an adult next year!

=22 I still remember the cute Prince Seongnyeong.

-Where is Seo-jun going to college?

=I think Seo-jun doesn't have to go if he doesn't want to.

-Art colleges mostly take students through early admission.

=Regular admission doesn't have much weight on the college entrance exam. It's mostly practical skills.

=But you still need to get at least grade 4 these days.

-Cheering stick! Cheering stick!

=Finally, it's out! I've been saving money since I heard about the cheering stick. I'm going to spend it all!

=But the price is not cheap, is it??

=I know. I was going to buy a few, but I think I can buy a few more.

=(Calculating)

-It's good that the site doesn't crash lol

=They must have prepared well.

=I'm an American sprout, but I feel comfortable here too lol

-They changed the design of my favorite snowball! I like this one better!

=22 The snow made me sad because it reminded me of winter, but they changed it to petals… I'm sadder!

=ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

=333 They changed it to petal(?) balls and the background looks like spring, so it's sad but also nice. It seems like Prince Seongnyeong is still alive here until springㅠㅠ

=I have to binge watch my favorite todayㅠㅠ

-Over the Rainbow is good too. The commemorative ticket is super shiny.

=The other things also seem to have upgraded designs, so I'm so happyㅠㅠ

-I hope the cheering stick arrives soon!

=222 I want to take it when I watch Seo-jun's movie!

=333 When is it coming out? Dahong?

***

At the end of March.

The internal screening hall of [Tentative Title: Travel].

Among the people who were busy preparing for the internal screening, the planning team leader looked around for someone.

He found Seo-jun and director Min Hee-kyung who were talking.

“You're both here!”

“Ah, team leader.”

“Hello. Team leader.”

They greeted him and the planning team leader smiled brightly and said.

“I came to tell you some news. It's not confirmed yet until we do the internal screening today, but this work. It seems like it will be submitted to a film festival that will be held in May.”

He blinked his eyes a few times at the planning team leader's words and exclaimed.

“Wow!”

There was only one film festival that came to his mind that was big enough for him to come and tell him personally and that was held in May.

Unlike Seo-jun who figured it out right away, director Min Hee-kyung seemed to have no clue.

‘What film festival is held in May?’

She tilted her head and Seo-jun smiled brightly.

Did he look twice as shiny as usual or was it an illusion?

‘A film festival that makes an actor who won an Academy Award look like that?’

Suddenly.

It felt like lightning struck her head.

At the same time, she heard Seo-jun's voice.

“Cannes Film Festival! Director!”

At that, director Min Hee-kyung froze.