Superstar From Age 0

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: AgRoseCrystal

Chapter 580

-Hwang Ji-yoon: [Fire] Rough cut screening.

-Hwang Ji-yoon: Date) March 8th

-Hwang Ji-yoon: Place) Korea National University of Arts, Film Department, Screening Room 2.

“Hey, Seo-jun!”

As Seo-jun was about to grab the door handle of the screening room, Yu Seo-young, the art director, came walking with the art team. Seo-jun greeted them with a bright smile and the art team members also waved their hands happily at Seo-jun.

“Are you just going in? What about the others?”

She meant Seo-jun’s classmates who participated as staff members of [Fire] team, the acting majors who had moved up to sophomore year this year.

“They’re still in class.”

“Huh? You can skip the OT, right?”

“It’s a major class.”

“Oh…”

“You’ll be in trouble if you miss the professors’ classes.”

“Especially if they know your face.”

“We had that yesterday. They said, ‘We all know each other, right? Let’s start the class.’ And then they really filled up the whole class time.”

They all nodded their heads, remembering that.

“Then, what about you, Seo-jun? Aren’t you going to class?”

“Oh, I took a leave of absence.”

“…A leave of absence?!”

Yu Seo-young and the art team’s eyes widened and then narrowed.

“Oh… Are you filming a movie?”

“I didn’t see the article…”

Just as Seo-jun was about to open his mouth, the door of the screening room opened. The person who opened the thick door for soundproofing was Hwang Do-yoon.

“Oh. You’re all here? Why aren’t you coming in?”

“We were just about to go in. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to buy some snacks to eat while watching the movie.”

“Oh. Then, should I go with you?”

“No. I already contacted the others. Go ahead and watch.”

Hwang Do-yoon smiled brightly and ushered Seo-jun and the art team into the screening room and then went outside.

Seo-jun looked around the screening room. There were soft chairs arranged in a staircase-like manner in front of the large screen. It looked like a small movie theater.

“Hello.”

“Hi. You all came together.”

“We met earlier.”

The film majors who had arrived earlier and were sitting in their seats greeted Seo-jun and the art team warmly.

“Sit here. Here.”

“This is the best spot.”

The film majors who had taken classes here before told Seo-jun and the art team where the screen looked the best.

And there were students who had already arrived there. They were the music team who couldn’t follow them to the filming in Gangwon-do, but recorded the music with Kwon Se-ah from December until the editing was finished.

“…Oh my god…”

The music team stared at Seo-jun without blinking.

They had seen the videos of [Fire] to get a feel for the atmosphere of the parts where they would put the music, and they knew that he had appeared in the movie because they recorded the music at Cocoa Entertainment, but… Still, seeing him in person made it feel real.

“Hello, Seo-jun oppa.”

“Hi, Se-ah. Hello.”

“Hi, hi!”

It was the real actor Lee Seo-jun.

They heard someone say ‘This is crazy…’ and the other students shook their heads. Yeah. That’s how they felt when they first saw Seo-jun.

Seo-jun, Yu Seo-young, and the art team sat down.

“You recorded the narration and music at Cocoa Entertainment, right?”

“Yes. They have a recording studio for the singers.”

The music team and Kwon Se-ah recalled the time they recorded.

The recording studio at Cocoa Entertainment was convenient because they didn’t have to worry about the recording time. And it was also a place where famous idols recorded, so the facilities were good.

The engineer told them that it was the place where Blue Moon recorded last year, and some of the music team members (who were fans of Blue Moon) couldn’t breathe for a while.

“How was it?”

Kwon Se-ah and the music team perked up their ears.

“I haven’t heard the music yet.”

Ah…

It was a strangely relieving and nerve-wracking statement. It meant that they would hear the music with the video now.

“The narration was good.”

Seo-jun smiled brightly, remembering the time he recorded the narration with Hwang Do-yoon, Hwang Ji-yoon, and Kim Se-yeon in various versions.

“Oh. I’m looking forward to it.”

The film majors, such as Park Woo-jin, did not hide their expectations.

A little later.

The stage art majors came in, and the middle-aged actors Kim Sung-sik and Jung Eun-mi arrived. Then, the acting majors who bought snacks with Hwang Do-yoon came into the screening room.

“Popcorn!”

“There are drinks!”

They each grabbed snacks to eat while watching the movie and sat down.

“Are you all here?”

“Yeah.”

Hwang Ji-yoon, who came out of the office in the back with Kim Se-yeon, asked and Hwang Do-yoon answered.

Hwang Ji-yoon climbed up to the podium and looked at the team members sitting in the audience with a slightly nervous heart. They all had expressions of anticipation.

“Hello, I’m Director Hwang Ji-yoon.”

“Ooh!”

Applause and cheers erupted.

They hadn’t seen each other much since December, but the awkwardness was only for a moment. They felt like they had gone back to the noisy November and Hwang Ji-yoon smiled and continued.

“I’m glad to have a rough cut screening like this. I’m going to hand out some papers now and I’d appreciate it if you could write down the scenes you liked and the scenes you didn’t like in the rough cut.”

“I don’t think there will be any scenes I don’t like, director!”

“Hahaha.”

Laughter rang out. Hwang Ji-yoon also laughed and said.

“Please write anything you want. Oh, and don’t forget that we have a dinner after the screening.”

“Oooh!!”

“Why does the applause sound louder than before?”

At Park Woo-jin’s words, they all burst into laughter.

Kim Se-yeon and a few film majors handed out pens and papers to the team members.

“Here are the papers and pens. Don’t write your name, it’s anonymous.”

Seo-jun also received a paper and a pen.

He had seen the general flow of the movie when Hwang Do-yoon recorded the narration, but it might have changed in the rough cut. And it could change again with the evaluations written on this paper.

‘Of course, the director will make the final choice.’

As Hwang Ji-yoon and Kim Se-yeon sat down, the noisy atmosphere subsided.

Hwang Ji-yoon turned off all the lights in the screening room with a remote control, and turned on the beam projector with another remote control.

A bright light from the ceiling hit the screen.

Whew.

Hwang Ji-yoon let out a deep breath of tension and pressed the play button on the remote control, looking at the screen that appeared.

***

“Wow… I cried the whole time.”

“Me too.”

“It’s no joke when you see it edited like this.”

“The music too. It really matched well.”

A small meat restaurant near Korea National University of Arts.

The [Fire] team, who had rented the whole place, chatted loudly about their impressions of the movie [Fire]. Of course, their hands were quickly putting meat on the well-heated grill.

“The narration was really…”

“It was so calm that it made me more emotional.”

It wasn’t a lie that they cried, as their eyes were reddish.

“I didn’t know Do-yoon sunbae’s voice was so good.”

“Right.”

“Me too.”

“What!?”

As they all nodded their heads in agreement, Hwang Do-yoon shouted angrily. 

“Euhahaha.” 

Laughter filled the place.

When the meat was cooked, they started to eat properly.

“Lettuce!”

“Onions, please?”

“Three more cups here!”

The music team looked at the [Fire] team members with blank faces.

When someone shouted lettuce!, the meat-eating table that didn’t eat vegetables handed over lettuce, when someone shouted onions!, a team member who was refilling the side dishes at the corner brought another bowl, and when someone shouted three more cups!, a team member who was sitting close to the cups handed them over without any delay.

If something was missing, it was naturally filled with alcohol, drinks, and meat.

“Se-ah, why are they so… in sync?”

“Haha. Well, ah, here’s some salt.”

When someone at the next table looked for salt, Kwon Se-ah also handed over the salt naturally. It was the teamwork of [Fire] team that they had gotten used to in November.

After filling their stomachs moderately, they became noisy again with their opinions on [Fire].

“But I was so absorbed in watching that I forgot to write on the paper.”

“Me too.”

“Same. I didn’t have time to write.”

“I thought so, you all had blank papers.”

At Kim Se-yeon’s words, the team members laughed awkwardly and looked away.

“Then, why don’t you tell me now?”

At Hwang Ji-yoon’s words, they all racked their brains.

“Umm. I liked everything. I didn’t have any scenes that I didn’t like, did you?”

“Me neither.”

“Me too.”

They seemed to answer lightly, but they were all sincere.

“No, what do I do if you say everything is good? Seo-jun, what about you?”

Hwang Ji-yoon, who was anxious that there might be something to fix even with the team’s praise, asked and Seo-jun, who was grilling meat, smiled and said.

“I liked everything too. The editing was good, the video was good, the sound effects like the sound of stepping on snow or the wind were well blended, and the background music was really good.”

He could tell that Kwon Se-ah had talent in this area.

She composed the music well, making it weak when it needed to be weak, and strong when it needed to be strong. And yet, it didn’t stand out more than the video.

At Seo-jun’s answer, a short cheer came from the table where the music team was sitting.

“No. Then, do we submit this to the film festival?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

Hwang Ji-yoon scratched his head at the endlessly optimistic answer.

“Don’t you think you’re too complacent?”

“Hahaha.”

Laughter erupted.

As time passed, the stories about [Fire] and their recent situations began to mix. Seo-jun’s leave of absence story also came up.

“Seo-jun, you took a leave of absence?”

“Yes. I have some work to do. So I don’t think I can attend the film festival.”

The team members who had widened their eyes turned their eyes around and nodded their heads.

“…Well, if that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do.”

While Seo-jun was talking with Hwang Ji-yoon, the team members whispered to each other. They had a strangely excited expression.

“Is Seo-jun secretly filming a movie?!”

“A genre that starts with ‘su’ and ends with ‘ro’?”

“A movie that starts with ‘she’ and ends with ‘man’, a sequel?!”

The fans of Marina Studio, who started the second season and introduced new heroes.

The Marina Studio fans opened their mouths with excitement.

“Let’s all keep our mouths shut.”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

They all thought they had to keep it a secret until the article came out, but they couldn’t imagine that it would take more than a year, and that it wasn’t because of the movie filming.

***

March 10th.

SNS was noisy from midnight. The articles that the reporters who had checked [Sprouts] in advance posted started to come up.

-What day is it today?

=Lee Seo-jun’s birthday.

=Ah.

-What will he do this year?

=He’s keeping it low-key this time. Birthday message+donation

=But the amount is not low-key.

=The birthday message is not low-key either, right?

=22 It’s already on the real-time search.

=33 It’ll be there all day.

=ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Where did Lee Seo-jun’s fans donate?

=Why?

=The places where Lee Seo-jun’s fans donate are problem-free. I want to donate too.

=22 They all look like financial supervisors;;;

=If there was no reliable place, he would just donate directly to the facility.

=That’s impressive…

-This donation is for environmental protection and child protection. He said it was because of the Babel Tower speech and the Chicks in the Forest.

=I see. I should look into the child protection side.

=22

=I’m for environmental protection.

<Seo-jun, happy birthday!>

The fan cafe [Sprouts] was filled with Seo-jun’s birthday wishes from the main page. The boards were also full of congratulatory letters to Seo-jun.

Seo-jun smiled and wrote back with gratitude.

***

March 15th.

A strange atmosphere settled in the car heading to the army training center.

They chatted as usual, but every time the conversation stopped, a strange silence remained.

-Mina: Come back safely.

-Ji-yoon: Take care of yourself!

-Ji-woo: See you when you get a vacation.

-Ji-ho: Come back safely!

He received messages from many acquaintances, including Evan Block and Rachel Hill, Hollywood acquaintances, besides his childhood friends.

Seo-jun, who wore a hat low over his head, looked at the front seat after sending a reply. His parents looked worried and anxious. Seo-jun, who was the least worried, scratched his cheek.

“…We arrived quickly.”

Near the training center.

There were young men who were entering the army today and their families in the still chilly weather.

Some people wore hats to hide their shaved heads, and some people just walked around. There were people who were alone and people who were with their families and friends. The various people who came from different places were immersed in their own emotions and did not care about other people.

Seo-jun and his parents were the same.

Seo-jun and his parents, who had lunch on the way, decided to have a longer farewell time.

Lee Min-jun and Seo Eun-hye held their son’s hand. They sighed involuntarily, thinking that it would be hard to see him for a year and four months. They felt more depressed because he entered the army shortly after his birthday.

Seo-jun smiled brightly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll come back safely.”

“…Okay. You can use your phone these days. Keep in touch.”

“Yeah. I will.”

“I’ll visit you often. Son.”

“Yeah. I’ll be waiting.”

Seo-jun accepted the worry in their words sweetly.

A moment later.

“Enlistees, assemble!”

At the shout to assemble at the training ground, the young men who were outside started to come out one by one.

Seo-jun took off his hat and picked up his luggage, then put it down again and looked back. His parents, who had tried to hold back their tears, had tears welling up in their eyes.

They didn’t expect Seo-jun to turn around, and they tried to wipe away their tears and smile. Seo-jun smiled broadly and hugged his parents, who had become smaller than him.

“Take care of yourself, and I’ll come back healthy. Mom and dad.”

It felt like tears were rising to their throats, and Lee Min-jun and Seo Eun-hye couldn’t say a word and hugged Seo-jun tightly.

The instructor’s voice to assemble again was heard.

Seo-jun picked up his luggage and bowed to his parents once more and went down to the training ground.

Lee Min-jun and Seo Eun-hye, who kept looking at Seo-jun, who had shaved his head, didn’t notice that other people didn’t recognize Seo-jun.

The entrance ceremony began and after a few minor events, it was time to say goodbye to the families and acquaintances who came with them.

“To your parents, salute!”

“Chung! Sung!”

Seo-jun, who saluted more upright than anyone else, engraved the image of his parents looking at him without blinking in his heart.

And so, for a year and four months.

Lee Seo-jun’s military life began.