Chapter 8 · 10 min
Chapter 8
Audition
“W-What kind of person are you...!”
“Exactly. I came here to audition too, not to get picked on.”
“Th-That’s...!”
Han Dohwa flinched at my words, hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a voice tinged with guilt.
“I’m sorry... for picking a fight...”
“Oh?”
‘She’s actually apologizing sincerely.’
Maybe it was because she had been in the entertainment industry since she was even younger than she was now.
I couldn’t help but genuinely admire how maturely she apologized for her own mistake, unlike most kids her age.
‘Han Dohwa.’
I recalled what I had known about Han Dohwa before regressing.
The child actress from Train to Seoul, a future top star.
And.
‘The entertainment industry’s representative punching bag.’
I didn’t know exactly how she had gotten the nickname ‘representative punching bag,’ but I knew the gist of it.
On some variety show, she had been incredibly good at taking hits, and her reactions were so satisfying that she later became fixed in the tank role.
But in her acting projects, she showed the contrasting charm of having none of that punching-bag quality at all.
That was probably why this somewhat funny nickname had become her representative nickname.
‘She already has that punching-bag quality.’
Even when I just poked her a little, she jumped around so dramatically that I could feel in real time how satisfying it was to get a reaction out of her.
“But why did you pick a fight with me?”
Before regressing, I had never really heard anything about Han Dohwa having a bad personality.
And yet she had picked a fight with me the moment we met.
That probably also played a part in why I hadn’t remembered her name sooner.
“Th-That’s...”
‘Looks like there wasn’t much of a reason.’
Seeing her reaction, I immediately lost interest.
“Forget it. It wasn’t anything serious.”
“A-Are you forgiving me?”
“Huh? Was it serious enough to need forgiveness?”
Kids this age could get into a fistfight and then turn around, make up, and eat together.
Stuff like this was everyday life.
‘Ah, girls are a little different, though.’
I didn’t know why such tiny kids held grudges for so long.
It’d be better to just get all the pent-up feelings out and make up quickly.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“Thank you...”
“Yeah, yeah, my friend Dohwa.”
Unlike before, I patted her shoulder a couple of times to show that it was fine and was about to go take care of my own business.
“U-Um, you know...!”
Han Dohwa stopped me again.
“...What is it now.”
When I openly showed how annoyed I was, Han Dohwa watched my expression carefully.
“A-Are we... friends...?”
“...Huh.”
‘What kind of pattern is this now...’
“No, no, you called me your friend, Dohwa, so... um, I don’t have any friends...”
“Ah, okay. I get it.”
Wasn’t that a chronic problem among celebrities who entered the entertainment industry from a young age?
They were busy, and ordinary people thought they lived in a different world, so they ended up without friends.
“We’re friends.”
“R-Really...?”
“Yeah.”
Everyone had a different definition and depth for friendship.
‘But for me, this is enough to count as a friend.’
“Alright! We’re about to start the second-round audition, so everyone gather around!”
“Ah.”
‘...I didn’t even get to rest properly.’
I had a bit of mental fatigue from continuously doing counseling for children without a break.
But I decided to think of it as volunteering for the children of the nation.
‘It actually is true.’
Just look at her face. She looked completely different from before we talked.
Look, she’s so happy that even now she’s smil—
“Hehe...”
‘...That’s a little creepy.’
Leaving Han Dohwa grinning in a way that was almost enough to give me chills, I trudged toward the gathering place.
“Ah! Mina! Let’s go together!”
Han Dohwa stuck close behind me.
“Ah, um, but I can call you Mina, right...?”
‘...What am I supposed to do with this loser.’
_____________
“Everyone’s here.”
Noh Seojun looked over the five people in front of him one by one, then stopped his gaze on Mina.
‘Ryu Mina...’
He could understand why Juhwan had been so confident about her.
He wasn’t sure whether she had enough potential to make him certain she would become hugely successful, though.
‘And Han Dohwa.’
During the first-round audition, these two had been the only ones he judged as relatively decent choices for the role of Seo Hayoung.
‘They’re not perfect, though.’
The two were still far from satisfying Seojun’s standards.
‘Still, if I pass one of them and give them some intensive private coaching, they should be able to reach the required level.’
So this second-round audition would essentially be about choosing which of these two had more room to grow.
And who could show her own charm more clearly.
‘I won’t have to remove Seo Hayoung’s role.’
He considered that very fortunate.
“For this second-round audition, you will act out Scene 48 right here, immediately.”
‘R-Right now...?!’
‘H-Here...?!’
Out of the five people who had passed the first audition, four focused on the fact.
That they had to audition right here on the spot, while Mina was concerned about something else.
‘Scene 48?’
Just as when she had practiced, whenever Mina thought of the Scene 48 Seojun mentioned, the actual movie scene came to mind more than the script.
‘It’s the scene where the protagonist gets separated from his daughter, and she gets trapped in the same place as a zombie with no lower body, then somehow ends up killing it.’
It had been impressive enough to be one of the famous scenes she remembered even after watching the movie.
‘It’s a desperate scene.’
Seojun thought this scene was the best one Seo Hayoung could show on her own.
‘I have no intention of holding back just because this is an audition.’
If they could show something through imagination alone in this empty environment.
Then later, in an actual filming environment with a scene partner and a proper set, they would perform even better.
“Is there any actor who would like to try first?”
Despite Seojun’s words, no one raised a hand.
“Yes, this is the natural response. We’ll proceed in the same number order as before. The first person, please prepare within five minutes.”
‘F-Five minutes...?!’
‘Th-That’s too short to mentally prepare?!’
‘Phew...! Thank goodness I’m not first...’
While all the audition participants were flustered.
Mina alone was flustered for a different reason.
‘Ah, I got distracted and missed the timing.’
Volunteering first in something done on a first-come basis like this.
Was a chance to prove just how confident I was, so I had intended to do it immediately.
‘I guess even this was part of the director’s plan.’
Less than three seconds had passed between him asking for volunteers and saying the next line.
‘Since it turned out this way, I might as well watch how the other kids act.’
Might as well make the best of it.
____________
And five minutes later.
“The first person.”
“Y-Yes!”
“You may begin.”
“Yes...!”
‘Oh, it’s starting now.’
Scene 48 was intense.
But because it was intense, the structure itself was short.
“E-Eek! I-Is someone there?!”
This scene began at the moment Seo Hayoung thought she was alone in Car 15.
When she heard some kind of sound.
Like in every horror movie and thriller.
There was naturally a strong feeling that she absolutely shouldn’t approach it, but for the sake of the story, she did.
And she discovered a zombie with no lower body lying prone and slowly crawling toward Seo Hayoung.
At first, seeing it, Seo Hayoung panicked and called for help.
But as said earlier, Seo Hayoung was alone in Car 15.
No, more precisely, Seo Hayoung and the zombie.
There were only those two.
Once Seo Hayoung realized that fact, she stopped screaming and made a decision.
To kill the zombie before it bit her.
After that, she killed the zombie with the emergency escape hammer the protagonist had given her before they were separated.
That was the content of Scene 48.
“Yes, I watched it well.”
“Haa, haa... Th-Thank you...”
“For now... compared to the first round, there were quite a few disappointing points, but since there are many people watching right now, I’ll organize them separately and send them to you by text later.”
“Th-Thank you...!”
‘...No, he’s going to separately text them the things he wants to give feedback on later?’
Honestly, I hadn’t known just how serious the director was about acting.
But at this moment, I knew for certain.
‘Doing extra work after getting off work...’
Director Noh Seojun was an acting-obsessed maniac.
‘And it wasn’t like her acting was bad enough to need separate feedback...’
Of course, even I could see there were a few lacking parts.
‘But she still did well...’
There were only five people who passed the first round.
Wasn’t the bar way too high?
“Alright, next. The second person.”
“The third person.”
The turns of the next two ended in an instant.
“The fourth person.”
“Yes!”
Now it was Han Dohwa’s turn.
‘...No, they’re child actors. Why are they this good.’
After watching the acting of the first three in person, Mina had no intention of denying that she had inwardly looked down on them because they were kids.
‘But even taking that into account, they’re way too good...’
Since I had made acting part of my everyday life from the moment I regressed, of course I was better.
But if you asked whether the difference between our levels was like heaven and earth.
‘It isn’t.’
Roughly speaking, level 34 and level 40.
There was a wall between them, but one that could perhaps be broken down as soon as tomorrow.
About that much difference.
Even more so.
“Haa... Haa... I-It’s over...”
“...Yes. I watched it well.”
‘...Han Dohwa is on a completely different level from the first three.’
She might even be better than me.
Thinking that, I fell into deep thought.
Because I had felt many things while watching them.
First, I immediately found something those kids had that I didn’t.
And also that it was what made those children so charming and radiant.
‘Passion.’
That’s right. I had no passion.
Well, that made sense.
Right now, I had only come to this audition with endlessly light thoughts like, ‘It’ll be nice if I pass because I’ll make money,’ ‘A zombie movie sounds fun,’ and ‘Being in a ten-million-admission movie will be such a dopamine rush,’ but those kids were different.
For their dreams.
To achieve the things they aimed for, they were here.
‘...This is embarrassing.’
I felt ashamed that I had taken this audition so lightly.
“Alright, the last person.”
“Excuse me. Can I go wash my face once?”
“Yes, take your time. Come back when you’re ready.”
“Thank you.”
I went to the bathroom and washed my face with cold water.
Then I stared blankly at the mirror and let out a sigh.
“Phew...”
And I looked at my face reflected in the mirror.
‘I really am pretty...’
Even though I had ended up with a face like this after regressing, honestly, I hadn’t really had any intention of becoming a celebrity.
“But.”
The situation was different now.
“If I don’t take this seriously here, that’d be embarrassing, wouldn’t it?”
Meet sincerity with sincerity.
Wasn’t that what romance was, and proper respect toward those kids?
‘The goal is overwhelming first place.’
So with that in mind, I put all the minor things aside.
And decided to bring out my full strength, at least for this moment.
“Phew... Hah...”
I took a deep breath and focused my mind.
‘I am Seo Hayoung... Seo Hayoung...’
And before long, the moment I felt ready.
I returned to the audition room.
“I’m ready.”
I am Seo Hayoung.