Chapter 62
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Comprehensive Evaluation
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A few weeks before the comprehensive evaluation, Moon Woo-hyuk was deep in practice in his home practice room.
Given that his father was Moon Kang-hyun, the godfather of the musical world, the practice room was even superior to Song Ha-na's.
In the midst of practice, Moon Woo-hyuk flopped down onto the floor for a break.
Dressed in a white tee and gray tracksuit pants, he was already drenched in sweat.
“Today, huh.”
The thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he caught his breath as he picked up his phone.
He immediately called Song Ha-na, but it just rang endlessly without an answer.
Irritation surged within him.
Today was the day for Song Ha-na and Do-hyun's ballet lesson.
“Argh! Why isn’t she picking up!”
Moon Woo-hyuk barely restrained himself from hurling his phone across the room.
Then, he stared at the massive floor-to-ceiling mirror that dominated one wall of the practice room.
In the mirror stood a boy with green eyes like his mother’s and a physique like his father’s, gazing blankly back at himself.
Just then, the housekeeper entered the practice room.
“Time for your juice, Woo-hyuk.”
“Yes.”
Still sitting on the floor, Moon Woo-hyuk took the juice and gulped it down.
He was on a strict diet, having cut back significantly on meals, so to stay healthy, he had to drink juice multiple times a day as snacks.
This, too, was part of his father Moon Kang-hyun’s regimen.
The housekeeper took the empty cup and left the practice room.
“Yeah, go ahead and practice hard, you two. Won’t make a difference against me anyway.”
Moon Woo-hyuk stood up again and turned on the music.
He naturally began delivering his lines.
It was the scene where he confesses fake love to Elpodi.
He steadied his breath and slowly knelt down.
“Ah, my love Elpodi. You, purer and clearer than any freesia.”
Inside, he was vile, but on the surface, he feigned love for Elpodi as the bard.
It was a character Yoon Jong-hoon had created just for Moon Woo-hyuk.
The part he was practicing now was a moment of dramatic license, deliberately revealing that vileness.
Elpodi didn’t know the bard’s true intentions, but the audience had to catch it through Moon Woo-hyuk’s expression on stage.
Perhaps because his gut was actually boiling right now, the facial acting came out perfectly.
And there was someone secretly watching that Moon Woo-hyuk.
‘He really has been working the hardest lately.’
Moon Kang-hyun was observing from outside the practice room.
Unaware of this, Moon Woo-hyuk immersed himself even deeper into the role and continued acting.
“Lest the bouquet I’ve prepared wilt before your beauty.”
Since the character was made just for Moon Woo-hyuk, Yoon Jong-hoon had designed it to highlight his strengths.
On top of that, through Moon Woo-hyuk’s own analysis, his unique voice and gestures had fully blended into the character.
That made it shine even brighter for him.
“Oh ho.”
Even Moon Kang-hyun, watching secretly, was a bit surprised.
He recalled what he’d heard from the driver who managed his son.
‘It’s… not the lead role, you said, and according to Young Master Moon Woo-hyuk, it’s a captivating character with as much presence as the protagonist.’
After hearing it from the driver, he’d thought, that’s it?
He hadn’t expected much, figuring he’d stubbornly joined another team without even snagging the lead.
He’d been disappointed in his son for ditching the team he’d set up and failing to land a starring role.
But seeing his recent practice, he was changing his mind.
Maybe this could awaken something in him akin to himself.
Moon Kang-hyun decided to trust Moon Woo-hyuk for now and quietly turned away from the practice room door.
“Father…?”
Moon Woo-hyuk happened to spot his father’s back as he walked away.
His father vanishing without a word of advice, which was unusual.
It was truly baffling.
He surely knew he hadn’t gotten the lead, yet he hadn’t said a thing since that day.
Still, it didn’t sit entirely easy with him.
The silence felt more pressuring somehow.
This time, at least.
Having lost the lead, he wanted to nail this one for real.
‘Don’t you want to beat Kim Sun-woo?’
Do-hyun’s words suddenly flashed through his mind.
An opponent he’d never even dared challenge.
The face of Kim Sun-woo, lead in another team’s show, came to mind.
“Focus. Focus.”
Moon Woo-hyuk slapped his cheeks to snap out of it.
He took several deep breaths to clear stray thoughts, then quickly regained his emotions.
“Please accept my proposal.”
Moon Woo-hyuk’s gleaming eyes reflected in the mirror.
***
And on stage, Moon Woo-hyuk brought that exact gaze from the practice room.
Everyone was overwhelmed by his fierce intensity.
“What’s with him? Why’s he so different?”
“Yeah… this is something.”
Even Huh Ji-woong, in charge of musicals and first-year subjects, and Jung Hye-seon noticed it immediately and flinched.
The astonishing part was that he hadn’t even spoken his lines yet.
Even so, the change was obvious at a glance.
Actors aren’t just beings who act with voice alone, after all.
And having been on stage themselves, Huh Ji-woong and Jung Hye-seon naturally recognized the difference.
Moon Woo-hyuk’s role stood in direct opposition to Damious.
The human bard.
At first, he approaches Elpodi to seduce her for her family’s wealth, aiming to marry her and seize it all.
But he falls genuinely for her purity.
Slightly vain and greedy, yet utterly sincere toward Elpodi.
Bardro’s first appearance was as he searched for Elpodi, who’d vanished to uncover the hotel’s secret, only to encounter the demon who cursed the count and learn of the curse Damious hid.
Having learned all the secrets, Bardro sweeps the audience with eyes more demonic than the demon itself, searching for Elpodi.
Staring at the seats with a face gripped by darkness, Bardro speaks in a low, rumbling voice.
“Elpodi… I told you, you can never leave me.”
A voice like an echoing cave.
With that low timbre, Moon Woo-hyuk revealed his extraordinary presence.
“As expected, that physique. Makes me think of Actor Moon right away.”
“Tell me about it. Some things you’re just born with.”
Some teachers watching Moon Woo-hyuk on stage thought of Moon Kang-hyun.
Probably most students who knew Moon Woo-hyuk was his son would, too.
But conversely, some were surprised.
‘No, it’s different. Quite unlike Senior Moon’s style.’
Han Hyo-jin, who knew both well, sensed something off.
Moon Kang-hyun built characters of dignity and gravitas, worthy of respect.
Even if they were villains with evil hearts.
In contrast, Moon Woo-hyuk exuded charm itself—a character you couldn’t hate even if you tried.
After his first line, Moon Woo-hyuk prowled the stage like a tiger hunting prey.
Then came the roar after learning the count’s identity and the hotel’s secrets from the demon.
“Foolish Elpodi! I’ll kill Damious and take you as my wife.”
Moon Woo-hyuk’s booming vocal technique dominated the stage.
Bardro glanced at the audience once, then exited with a wicked smile.
The audience watched Moon Woo-hyuk’s opening scene end in tense silence, unable to make a sound.
He flawlessly handled all subsequent scenes.
His teammates, Do Kyung-in and Park Ji-young, who had relatively smaller roles, carried theirs perfectly too.
They lightened the potentially heavy atmosphere just right, drawing out humor.
They excellently eased the audience’s tension exactly as needed.
Hearing their scenes, the audience grew curious about the absent leads’ fates.
What Elpodi truly felt for Damious.
How Damious would ultimately handle Elpodi.
Thanks to them, audiences welcomed these two characters every time they appeared.
Regardless of screentime, they were essential to the story.
Exactly the play Yoon Jong-hoon had described.
Not just the leads shining, but every character.
Then, toward the latter half, Damious, Elpodi, and Bardro finally converged.
“You shouldn’t have said that, Bardro.”
Bardro, having unraveled Damious’s secret at last.
Do-hyun as the enraged Damious choked back surging emotions, spitting out his line like grinding teeth.
Though low, his vocal power was so immense it made listeners hold their breath instinctively.
“What in the world… what is this…”
The hidden truth of her beloved Damious.
Elpodi, overcome with betrayal, staggered backward step by step from him.
Song Ha-na delivered a facial performance brimming with Elpodi’s despair.
“Die for me, Count Damious! To make me a hero. And to take Elpodi as my wife!”
Moon Woo-hyuk as Bardro, consumed by madness, bellowed as he exposed all secrets at Damious.
In this scene, the three rapidly exchanged lines, tangling on stage.
Their movements displayed breathtaking speed that stole the viewers’ breaths.
At the scene’s end, Bardro lunged to kill Damious.
But he was overpowered instead.
A mere human, Bardro couldn’t match Damious, bearer of the demon’s curse.
“Ah… how futile… Where did it all go wrong?”
Bardro met his end.
As Moon Woo-hyuk slowly closed his eyes, the stage went dark.
Sighs erupted from the stage.
Some sniffled amid rising emotions.
Bardro, played by Moon Woo-hyuk, was undoubtedly the villain.
Yet people empathized with his death, sighing in regret.
That meant he’d crafted an irresistibly charming character and performed it masterfully.
‘Casting Moon Woo-hyuk was a stroke of genius.’
From backstage, Yoon Jong-hoon watched, thrilled to the point of chills.
Seeing a character he created come alive before his eyes.
That was why Yoon Jong-hoon loved directing.
Moon Woo-hyuk exited, and the play continued.
A long, drawn-out conflict number passed, and Elpodi and Damious finally confirmed their love.
But Damious couldn’t sacrifice Elpodi as tribute.
Beside the dying Damious, who paid the price for failing to offer his beloved, Elpodi shed tears.
With teary eyes, Elpodi showered kisses on his forehead.
“Know this at least.”
“Please. Don’t say it, Damious.”
Feeling his final, fading breaths, Elpodi began her tearful final number.
A lament of emptiness and despair over losing her love so vainly, cursing the inescapable fate of the curse—it echoed mournfully through the theater.
“My life was full of lies. But… the feelings I showed you were surely…”
Damious listened quietly to Elpodi’s song confessing her love.
Unable to utter his final words, he breathed his last.
Elpodi broke into sobs.
As lights dimmed, her scream-like sobs blended into the number, and the curtain fell.
Song Ha-na’s cries gradually faded in the Cheongyeom Arts High mid-sized theater, until silence reigned.
Students in the seats, teachers on the judges’ panel.
Though the play had ended, for a moment, no one made a sound.
Only profound afterglow and heavy silence filled the space.
Clap—
How much time passed?
Someone broke the quiet with applause.
Soon, thunderous cheers erupted, shaking the theater.