Have You Ever Acted Before?
Have you ever acted before?
The people gathered in the garden had fallen under the stage's spell, as if bewitched.
The performance itself was superb. A sweet piano melody carried the children's voices along, melting the hearts of everyone who listened. The harmony between the boy carved from marble and the girl straight out of a dollhouse was elegant and beautiful.
But even that wasn't enough to explain it.
This was beyond merely singing well or playing well. The audience was intoxicated by the stage like a crowd under collective hypnosis, unable to collect themselves. It wasn't just this is nice — it had reached the level of worship and reverence, where hearts stir toward something transcendent.
Why am I so drawn in?
Faces slackened as if everyone had taken something, and no one could shut their mouths. Unable to contain the heat surging up from somewhere deep, tears misted the corners of eyes. Adrenaline shot through bodies until goosebumps crawled across skin. The reactions varied, but every single one converged on the same conclusion.
Those kids are going to shine as the brightest stars someday.
I'd known since rehearsals that their musical talent was in full bloom, but right now it was something else that astonished me — the way Yu-jin commanded the stage all by herself, holding every gaze in the audience captive.
That kid was just born for the stage.
With that tiny body of hers, she drew out rising high notes with effortless power and control. The soulful expression that would one day, fifteen years from now, enchant the entire world — it was already complete. Like a butterfly beating its wings in a beautiful arc, her graceful hands seduced everyone watching.
The world unfurling before us~ ♫
It's so precious~ as long as we're together~♩ ♬
The harmony wrapping around Yu-jin and me gathered into a single point, and like water draining smoothly from a full sink into the pipes, the emotion that had swirled at its crescendo faded out into a quiet, gentle rhythm.
Yu-jin bowed before her microphone, and I closed my eyes and lifted my fingers from the keys. A moment of silence. Then thunderous applause, cheers, and whistles filled the garden.
My chest swelled at a reaction you'd only see at a proper concert — the kind of attention people had never once given me in my past life, no matter how badly I'd wanted it.
"Oh my gosh, unnie! This is insane, absolutely insane! Where on earth did you find this kid?"
"She's my daughter, isn't she? Anyone standing next to her needs to be at least this good."
Standing beside Yu-jin, I greeted the audience and then turned my head. Director Han Jae-ryong was beside himself, trying to soothe a sobbing So-ra. She already loved my voice, and this time it had truly gotten to her.
As I approached, So-ra wiped her tears.
"Don't cry after hearing such a beautiful song. You said smiling suits you best, remember?"
Suddenly So-ra threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shoulder.
"Huuuueeeeng, thank you, Ha-jin. It was really... really wonderful."
At So-ra's sudden outburst, everyone around us froze — and Director Han Jae-ryong's expression was a sight to behold.
"Oh my, oh my. Unnie... is that... a love triangle?"
So-ra clinging to me in tears, Yu-jin pale and trembling beside us, and me in the middle wearing a dumbfounded look, completely at a loss — we had somehow ended up filming a trashy melodrama at someone else's birthday party.
When we came down from the stage, a crowd closed in around me.
"Wow, they said your face was worth a fortune, but you're the real deal. Want your big brother to teach you how to handle the ladies?"
"Did you see Director Han's face? You'd better sweet-talk him later, kid."
"Ha-jin, was it? Did you come without a guardian? I'm with Mirage Enter—"
"You're the one who taught the rhythm-and-movement class at Wagle Wagle Kindergarten, right? Have you ever been in a drama or a movie?"
After enduring the barrage for a good while, I finally managed to claw my way back to my seat. So-ra and Director Han were too busy receiving congratulations to notice me. I'd have to give So-ra her birthday wishes later, it seemed.
Grrrumble~
We'd left early, so I hadn't even had lunch. I was heading toward the buffet when Yu-jin appeared carrying two plates. With a little hmph, she set one down at my spot and took her seat.
"This is for me? Thanks."
"...It's because you played the piano for me."
With that, she popped a juicy-looking cube steak into her mouth.
I'd expected her to snap at me for asking why she'd brought it, but her non-reaction was somehow more unnerving.
"Not eating?"
"Y-yeah. I'll eat."
The cube steak practically melted in my mouth. I was working my way through the plate, marveling at each bite, when Yu-jin's voice reached me.
"You don't know when my birthday is, do you?"
"Nope."
"It's in March."
Already passed, that.
"I'm definitely having a birthday party, so sing for me alone."
Ah, she wants the exact same thing.
"Okay."
"While playing the piano."
"Mm-hm."
Her expression softened, just a little.
Did that do the trick?
A shadow fell over me, and when I looked up, some scruffy middle-aged man was staring down. A thicket of unkempt beard, a hat jammed low, stray hairs poking out wherever they pleased.
Yu-jin spotted him and greeted him first.
"Hello, Director."
Director?
"Hey there, Yu-jin. Enjoyed your singing."
"Thank you."
"Ha-jin... right?"
"Yes."
"You ever acted before?"
Straight to business, no pleasantries before or after. I answered in exactly the same style.
"Why do you ask?"
"If you have, you're making a movie with me."
"I don't even know who you are, sir."
"Film director. I don't make kids' movies, so of course you wouldn't."
"What kind of films have you made?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because I'm curious. You can ask a film director what movies he's made, can't you?"
"You little... I made a film called A Noisy Family."
The moment I heard the title, goosebumps raced across my whole body. This was the director famous for his singular mise-en-scène — unrivaled when it came to sheer visual craft, regardless of genre. So standing on that stage today was fate after all.
"Kim Si-woon... the director?"
For the first time, the blank indifference on his face cracked.
"You... you know that film? Don't tell me you've actually seen it?"
A Noisy Family was an R-rated film in a genre all its own — comedic horror. It was Kim Si-woon's debut feature, acclaimed as a hidden masterpiece. I'd actually appeared as a bit-part actor in one of his films, and he looked so different from back then that I hadn't recognized him.
"Of course I haven't seen it. It's rated for adults only."
"Suspicious. You even know the rating."
"I'm serious. What kind of parent shows a horror movie to a six-year-old?"
"But you know the genre!"
Yu-jin watched our bickering with eyes full of wonder.
"Your parents didn't come with you?"
"They're coming to pick me up later."
"I have somewhere to be, so I can't wait around. Here's my card. I'll check out that program you were on. Talk it over well with your mom and dad, then give me a call. We'll talk about the film then."
He said his piece and was gone, just like that. Besides Director Han Jae-ryong, I'd had a few other directors in mind — and Kim Si-woon was one of them. A director renowned not only for his mise-en-scène but for the way he framed actors beautifully on screen.
Lee Byung-hoon in Bitter Life was seriously cool.
Watching it in the theater, I'd wished someone would film me like that. In this life, maybe it was actually possible.
"That guy's a movie director? What kind of movie?"
"No idea. He said to talk to Mom and Dad first."
"I see."
"How do you know Director Kim Si-woon?"
"He's shot commercials too. He filmed me so beautifully."
I'll have to look it up later. If Yu-jin's the model, the visuals are bound to be stunning.
Noticing the crowd had thinned, I headed over to So-ra's spot with Yu-jin. Director Han Jae-ryong was talking with Director Park Myung-chul nearby. As I drew close, Director Han's face contorted.
"Happy birthday, So-ra. Here's your present."
"Wasn't that song earlier my present?"
"You can't take a song home with you. This, you can keep."
I'd thought it over carefully, then gone with Mom to the department store and picked out a hairpin that would suit So-ra's hair. It was the first gift I'd ever bought for a girl, in this life or the last.
"Mm, thank you."
Watching her hug it to her chest like a treasure, I knew I'd chosen well. Yu-jin beside me announced that her birthday was in March, and I did my best to ignore her. Whether from watching all the lovey-dovey display, Director Han's face crumpled up even worse than before.
"Director Park. About that commercial — can't you use me instead of her?"
"Who else would I put next to So-ra if not Ha-jin? It only works as a picture with the two of them."
"Still, I mean—"
"Daddy!!"
Behind So-ra, the shimmering mirage of a goblin's face appeared. Director Han must have seen something similar too, because he flinched and hunched his shoulders.
"If you won't let Ha-jin be in the commercial... I..."
His voice choked up, and he couldn't finish, eyes brimming with tears.
"So-ra. That's not — I mean, um..."
Wearing a flustered expression, her father kept spewing out I'm sorry, I won't, you can both film it. Only after extracting a solemn vow from him that he'd never say such a thing again did So-ra finally relax her face — then, behind her father's back, she glanced over at me and stuck out her tongue, just a little.
It was acting so convincing that Yu-jin and I nearly bought it ourselves.
"Did the performance go well, sweetie? I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you."
"It's good you didn't come, Mom. There were so many celebrities my head was spinning."
"If it was enough to spin my son's head, your mother would've fainted outright. Glad I stayed home."
"Yeah. Oh, and — I got this."
"A business card? Kim Si-woon...?"
"He's a film director. He said he wants to make a movie with me."
Mom froze solid, the card still in her hand. Appearing in a film carried a weight entirely different from a kindergarten program or a commercial.
"Mom doesn't really know about these things, but Ha-jin — are you sure you should be in a movie? Don't you have to be a seriously good actor to be in one?"
All Mom had ever seen me do was sing and dance to rhythm routines and play with the kids beside the camera. Of course she'd react that way when her son — hardly a proper actor — announced he'd be in a film.
I need to show Mom and Dad my acting myself, then.
However it took, I resolved to land the film role and give my parents true conviction in my acting.