Chapter 6 · 10 min
Chapter 6
Audition
______________
“Wahahaha!”
“You look especially happy today?”
Juhwan answered his friend, film director Noh Seojun’s question in a confident voice.
“Of course I’m happy!”
Then he showed him the report summarizing the effects that had resulted from the commercial.
“Our company’s stock price went up again because of that ad!”
Seojun skimmed through the report, agreed that he had every reason to be happy, and gave his simple assessment.
“It was well made.”
“Oh, since when do you say things like that?”
Even Seojun, who was normally very picky about works, had no choice but to admit it this time.
The visuals were excellent, and the information that needed to be conveyed was neatly incorporated without harming those visuals.
And the parts meant to stand out were clear as well.
“But where did you find that child actor?”
Especially the child actor who had become the highlight of the commercial.
Her appearance was one thing, but she had enough charm to make him unconsciously stop while flipping through TV channels and stare blankly at the screen.
‘That’s why I even looked her up separately.’
If he still couldn’t find anything after searching the internet for several hours, that meant this commercial had been her first work.
“She’s the daughter of a friend of one of our company employees.”
“...You got lucky.”
“Wahahahaha!”
After letting out a hearty laugh, Juhwan began bragging about Mina with an even happier expression than before.
“This kid is no joke. She’s definitely going to make it big.”
“...She’s that good?”
“Yeah.”
Seojun had known Juhwan for over ten years, and including this time, he had only seen him this confident exactly five times.
And in the previous four cases, Juhwan’s eye had never been wrong.
“Juhwan.”
“Yeah.”
“I need a child actor for my next movie. So I’m going to hold auditions for child actors.”
“Really?”
At Seojun’s words, Juhwan listened closely without hiding how pleased he was.
“The role is basically a major supporting role, the protagonist’s daughter. And.”
“And?”
“I’m going to assemble the best cast I can possibly get.”
‘I’m going to pour everything I have into this project.’
Because of that, Seojun had one concern.
“Will a child whose only filming experience is one commercial be able to show enough presence there?”
The possibility that the child actor might actually harm the work.
‘In the worst case.’
He had included the protagonist’s daughter because it made the story more complete.
But if there was no one he liked even after the auditions, he had already made up his mind to boldly revise the script.
“You’ll know when you see her. She’s not the type to get swallowed up. If anything, she’ll do the swallowing.”
Juhwan grinned confidently, and Seojun smiled back before making one request.
“Then leave her a message for me. Ask if she has any interest in auditioning.”
The two raised their glasses and toasted.
_____________
The next day.
“Mina.”
“Yeah.”
“I told you not to look at your phone while eating.”
“...Yes, ma’am.”
I reluctantly stuffed the smartphone that was practically half of my body into my pocket.
Then, as we ate and talked about everyday things, Dad called me.
“Ah, right. Mina.”
“Yeah, Dad.”
“Do you have any interest in auditioning for a movie?”
“Huh?”
‘What is this about now?’
The pattern of this conversation felt strangely familiar.
But for now, I listened to Dad explain what had happened.
“Apparently, a director named Noh Seojun is about to film a movie, and Director Juhwan recommended you for a child role in it.”
“Mr. Juhwan did?”
I could tell he liked me quite a lot.
‘Still, I didn’t expect him to act this proactively.’
“They can’t just cast you immediately based on an acquaintance’s recommendation, so if you’re interested, they said you should come audition.”
“What kind of movie is it?”
I asked Dad what I was curious about and took a sip of water
“[Train to Seoul]?”
“Pffft!”
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
“Cough! Cough! Ah, sorry. It went down the wrong pipe.”
‘T-Train to Seoul...?!’
There might be people in Korea who hadn’t watched this movie, but there was probably no one who didn’t know it.
After all, it was a zombie movie that surpassed ten million admissions.
‘Even I watched it, and I barely watched movies!’
“Anyway, the title is [Train to Seoul]. Apparently, it’s a zombie movie?”
It was unprecedentedly bewildering that I was being offered a role in a work like that.
But if I showed that I knew about it here, things would get even stranger, so I forced myself to stay calm.
“Oh! A zombie movie!”
“They said they’ll tell you the role and the details if you apply for the audition.”
“Hmm, I see?”
It was fine because I already knew what the role was anyway.
‘There’s only one child role in Train to Seoul.’
The protagonist’s daughter.
Train to Seoul had only one child character, the protagonist’s daughter.
‘...And he recommended me for that?’
I suddenly became curious again about exactly what Mr. Juhwan had seen in me that made him recommend me.
“So, are you interested?”
“Hmmm...”
“Like last time, it’s your choice this time too. If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to.”
‘This time, I don’t have as big of a motivation as last time...’
For the commercial, I had the huge goal of getting a smartphone.
‘Should I think about the risks first?’
The risk was obvious.
Me becoming famous.
This was a guaranteed ten-million-admission movie.
If I played the protagonist’s daughter in a movie like that, I could be bothered about it until at least middle school.
No, maybe even until after I became an adult.
“Hmmmmmm...”
Honestly, getting attention itself was fine.
I could handle that.
But if that popularity started restricting my freedom, that was a different story.
“Are you thinking about it that hard?”
“Yeah.”
“What part?”
“If I get famous, I won’t be able to live comfortably while doing whatever I want.”
“Hmm... That is important to you.”
My parents also knew very well how much I hated having my freedom infringed upon.
“But who knows if this will succeed? It might just flop.”
“Dad, even then, there’ll still be more people who recognize me than there are now.”
“That’s true...”
As the entire family sat there agonizing over it together.
Mom suddenly said something completely unexpected.
“Huh? Wait, if we think about it the other way around, if you pass this audition, film the movie, and get famous, doesn’t that mean you won’t cause trouble anymore?”
‘Does... it work like that...?’
“...Mina’s mom, aren’t you underestimating Mina a little too much?”
A brief silence passed.
“...You’re right.”
“See? It’s not like there haven’t been eyes on her until now.”
“True... If she cared about what other people thought, half the trouble she’s caused so far wouldn’t have happened...”
“No! What do the two of you take me for?!”
I got angry at how openly worse their treatment of me had been getting lately.
But at the same time, some of my worries were resolved.
‘They’re not entirely wrong.’
It wasn’t like I wanted to do things like drunk driving, tax evasion, or gambling.
Things that were actually illegal.
There was no reason to stop doing what I wanted just because I got a little attention.
‘Then...’
It wasn’t perfect, but since some of my worries had been resolved, this time I thought about the returns.
‘Dopamine.’
The dopamine alone was more certain than anything else.
Earlier, I had thought negatively about it being a guaranteed ten-million-admission movie, but if you looked at it the other way around, this was a chance for my face to appear in a movie like that.
And the zombie genre itself was interesting too.
‘Acting was fun when I tried it too.’
“Ah, and they asked me to tell you this too.”
“What?”
Just when my mind was already leaning toward doing it, Dad gave me some additional information.
“They said the pay would be higher than you’d expect.”
“...Really?”
Once there were enough reasons to do it, I made my decision without any further delay.
“Well, I might as well audition.”
All these worries only mattered if I actually passed anyway.
So I decided to participate with a light heart.
______________
Time passed, and the day of the audition arrived.
“No... Why is the atmosphere like this...”
“Y-Yeah...”
This wasn’t the atmosphere I had imagined at an audition venue.
‘I was sure it’d be like a crowded marketplace full of kids...’
Instead, it was unexpectedly quiet, with everyone calmly focusing on what they needed to do.
‘And are all of those people managers?’
I saw a few cases where parents and managers were both present.
But there was no one like me who had come with only their parents.
‘Ah, I guess that’s why.’
I had heard that today’s audition would be judged directly by Noh Seojun, the overall director of Train to Seoul.
So, in order to prevent people with pathetic careers like mine or neighborhood kids with no acting skills from wasting the director’s time.
I had heard they had already conducted document screenings and a first-round audition in advance.
‘So that’s why the atmosphere is like this.’
Everyone who needed to be filtered out had already been filtered out, leaving only the elites.
‘And I’m here in a place where only those elites remain.’
“Even thinking about it again, this is ridiculous...”
‘One commercial, and then immediately an audition for a major supporting role in a guaranteed ten-million-admission movie?’
If I had decided to become an actor after regressing.
There probably wouldn’t be an easier route to success than this.
“Ah, Mina. Your name is on that chair over there.”
Mom found a chair with my name attached to it, so we went over and sat there.
But at that moment.
“What, there’s a kid here I’ve never seen before too?”
‘Hm?’
A girl around my age suddenly picked a fight with me from beside me.
‘But... I’ve seen her somewhere before...?’
“Wasn’t this a place people without the career or skill couldn’t come to?”
As she chattered away, I felt a sense of déjà vu, like I had seen her somewhere before, so I searched through my memories.
And soon, I remembered where I had seen her.
‘Oh, she’s that girl. The protagonist’s daughter in Train to Seoul.’
She was the girl who would pass this audition and win the role of the protagonist’s daughter.
“What’s your name?”
I remembered her face, but her name was fuzzy, so I asked.
“Hah! Are your eyes just for decoration?!”
She snapped at me and pointed with her hand at the name tag attached to her clothes.
‘Ah, I guess we’re supposed to pick up name tags too.’
The name tag had a number and a name written on it.
At a glance, it clearly wasn’t something she had brought herself but something handed out here.
“Yeah, okay. Han Dohwa, huh?”
Seeing the name brought several pieces of information to mind, but I ignored them for now.
“What about you? What’s your name?!”
Because there was something more important right now.
“Before that. I have one more thing I’m curious about.”
Step... step...
I slowly walked toward Han Dohwa.
“Hey.”
I placed a hand on her shoulder.
“How old are you, talking down to me like that?”
“...Huh?”
“How old are you that you’re casually speaking informally to me?”
Let me say this in advance: I’m not someone who just blurts things out without thinking.
So this time too, I had a plan.
‘First, Plan A—’
“T-Ten years old...”
‘Ah, we’re the same age.’
Plan A was ruined the moment it started.
So I immediately switched strategies to Plan B.
“Ten? That’s pretty informal, isn’t it?”
For reference, Plan A had been this.
If she was younger than me, casually chew her out.
“I-I’m ten years old...”
“You’re ten, and you spoke informally to me the moment we met without even asking my age?”
And Plan B was this.
‘Even if she isn’t younger, just do it anyway.’
It truly was a flawless plan.
“I-I’m sorry...”
“Let’s be more careful from now on, okay? Dohwa?”
“Y-Yes... Unnie...”
After giving Han Dohwa’s shoulder a couple of pats, I quickly ran away with Mom to get my name tag before I got caught.