That Kid Is Definitely Going to Be a Star
That kid is going to make it big. No question about it.
Mom, who had been waiting outside the studio with no idea who I was up against, came running over.
"Ha-jin, is everything all... oh my!"
She jumped, startled to find me standing there with Yujin.
"Hello, Ha-jin's mom. I'm Oh Yujin — I'll be good friends with Ha-jin from now on. You know who I am, right?"
She gave a waist-deep bow and flashed a sly little smile.
Sly as a fox, that one.
"Of course I do, of course! How could I not know the youngest from Cheerful Girl Comes to Town!"
Mom, having met a child actress from the drama she'd been obsessed with lately, was utterly, hopelessly won over, cooing how wonderful, how delightful over and over. In the waiting room she'd been too frozen to utter a single word, and only now was her fangirl heart finally showing itself.
She traded phone numbers — on the condition that she'd switch the channel for me right away.
"Me, me too..."
Sora, phone in hand, had somehow materialized at Mom's side as well.
When Mom saw Sora, her eyes went even wider than before. Yujin alone had been enough to overwhelm her, and now the genius child actress Sora was speaking to her too.
"I'm Han Sora — I played the Crown Princess in Lady Hyegyeong. Nice to meet you."
Despite never having met this adult before, she recited her signature role clearly and confidently.
An actress was an actress, even a child one.
She begged Mom to call her sometime, and they exchanged numbers too. Behind her, a woman who looked like her manager wore a doubtful expression, but she didn't stop it.
Just like that, Mom had somehow managed to snag the numbers of two rising child stars.
"I must be dreaming... phone numbers from girls like those..."
Mom was dazed in an entirely different sense now.
Sungsik-hyung, changed into comfortable clothes, handed me a note.
"What's this?"
"My number. It's... it's not like I'm in any position to do anything for you, but I have this strange feeling we're going to know each other a long time. Save it when you get a phone of your own."
"I will. Thank you, hyung."
"If any other six-year-old called me 'hyung' it would feel incredibly awkward, but coming from you it doesn't bother me at all. You're a fascinating kid."
As I watched Sungsik-hyung walk away, Mom asked, "Who was that?"
"Not famous yet, but someone who's going to be enormously famous someday. Save this number too, please."
"That makes three numbers for Ha-jin. Should I just buy him a phone at this point?"
"It's fine. I'm still a kindergartener."
Behind me I heard what sounded like perked-up ears going twitch-twitch, but that must have been my imagination.
"Auntie, come quick! It's starting!"
"Coming, coming."
I grabbed the cookies my niece Areum loves and headed to the living room.
Oh Yeon-soo, a college student on leave, was babysitting her niece Areum again today. Thanks to a brother-in-law who slipped her a generous allowance, playing with the kid was no hardship at all.
They'd agreed to watch Wagle Wagle Kindergarten, which aired at this hour together.
Today was especially special — the day Areum's letter to the show would be featured.
Her sister had sent it by email, and apparently it had been selected.
No way she could miss an event this big.
So this show is still on the air.
It was a program Oh Yeon-soo had never missed back when she was Areum's age. The familiar, homey BGM had gotten a slick makeover, and it suited the updated logo beautifully.
Whoa. What is this footage?
This was no kids' show to be sneered at.
Camera angles tailored to a child's eye level, rich and varied visual direction, backgrounds and props that never talked down to the audience — she couldn't help thinking, was a children's program always this good?
That admiration peaked during the segment Areum loved most: Curious Tiger Teacher.
"Auntie! That one, that's mine! That's the one I sent!"
Areum, smaller than other kids her age, had written in asking how to grow taller.
The boy sitting in the center held up the letter and read its contents out loud, word by word.
But Oh Yeon-soo couldn't focus on her niece's letter at all.
Her eyes had been stolen, completely, by the boy reading it.
No — what is with that kid's face...
Areum was no different.
From the moment the boy appeared, she couldn't tear her eyes from the screen.
Having finished the letter, the boy announced there was a growing-tall exercise and got all the kids up on their feet.
Then, riding a lovely melody with his lines, he walked them through the movements one by one.
It was like a scene straight out of a magnificent musical.
Even the two girls dancing alongside couldn't have complemented him better if they'd tried.
Areum got so excited dancing along that she blocked the whole screen, so Oh Yeon-soo finally got up.
A kids' show producing framing like this? What on earth is this?
The moment the program ended, she put on Areum's favorite cartoon and hustled into her tiny room.
She powered on the PC and pulled up the KBC homepage.
She'd been so dazed she hadn't caught who had appeared on the show.
Okay, calm down. It's a children's program... here we... go.
She clicked the Wagle Wagle Kindergarten link. Nothing. Dead silence.
"Why won't this page load already?"
You said you upgraded the internet, brother-in-law!
The viewer message board crashed again and again, at all hours, and only managed to stabilize two days later.
"Hahahaha. I knew I picked the right guy. Look how he's brought this thing to life."
CP Park Woon-chul clapped PD Jo Seung-hyun on the shoulder and laughed heartily.
After the viewer board went down in flames, ratings had shot up a full 6% in less than a week.
Children's broadcasting has a fixed audience, so barring a genuine disaster, ratings rarely fall.
Which is to say, raising them is just as hard.
The previous PD's under-the-table dealings had hit the news and bled viewers over to NBC's competing program — and now, in the span of a single week, that loss had been reversed. From the CP's perspective, the man looked better and better by the day.
"If you knew I was the right guy, then send me over to the drama department."
"I told you — when you land a title credit. And not right now. How long have you even been running this show, and you're already thinking of jumping ship?"
"I wasn't planning to leave this year anyway. I'm revamping a few of the segments... anyway, I'm busy."
"You looked like you were headed to your own funeral when I told you to do it, but now that you've tried it, it's not so bad, is it?"
"Honestly, it's nice that it's not as punishing as variety. Playing with the kids is fun too."
"Speaking of the kids — Yujin and Sora I get, but what's the deal with that boy? Did an agency recommend him?"
"Didn't Ha-jin tell you when he introduced himself last time? He's not an actor."
"I figured he just didn't know any better. But he really isn't an actor? He devours the camera."
"He's a kid from the kindergarten my little sister attends. He's never acted before."
"Really? So what is he, some kind of genius?"
"Hard to say. When a kid with natural charisma doesn't perform for the camera, they come across beautifully on screen."
"Hey, punk. You think 'comes across well on screen' covers this? That's something you're born with. An innate charm that pulls the soul clean out of whoever's watching. A gift from heaven itself!"
"Funny how generous you're being with the score. When you watched Sora act, it was all 'I suppose she has something.'"
"Sora is good at acting. This boy has that plus something extra. And that's not something you can learn. That kid is going to make it big. Guaranteed."
"Wouldn't hurt to throw him into a drama or something instead of a kids' show — we'd find out fast enough."
"That's what I'm saying. Why don't we send him to the drama department first? There are plenty of places that need boy child actors."
"No way — I'm the one keeping him here, and now you want to poach him first? Not a chance. I'm planning to put him in other segments too."
"In one-act dramas and miniseries, the child actors only show up briefly at the start anyway. Use him there."
"First I want to see him actually act. I'm building a children's theater segment — everything except the animation in the middle."
"Well, well. You've thought it all the way through, haven't you? Getting serious about this?"
"I want the show running smoothly even without me. Some of these segments are far too sloppy."
"Handle it however you see fit. So he doesn't have an agency, then?"
"No. His mom takes him around for now."
"That won't last. You think advertisers are going to leave a face like that alone?"
Unexpectedly, it was PD Jo Seung-hyun who drew the line first.
KBC Annex, first-floor café —
"Joo-young! Over here."
"Oh, hyung. Been a while — you doing all right?"
PD Jo Seung-hyun had met his college junior at a café.
His junior, Lee Joo-young, was working at a commercial production company these days.
"What brings you here of all places?"
"Just wrapped a meeting with a client nearby, and I spotted the broadcast building. There was something I wanted to talk to you about anyway, so I called you on a whim."
"Something to talk about?"
"Yeah. That children's show you're running now. The Bustling Kindergarten thing."
"Ugh, for crying out loud — at least get the title right. It's Wagle Wagle Kindergarten."
"Right, right. Wagle Wagle Kindergarten. There's a really good-looking kid on that show, isn't there?"
"How on earth do you know that?"
"I was curious whether Yujin was doing well, so I watched an episode. But that boy next to her — he's no joke. Does he really look like that in person?"
Lee Joo-young was the one who had recommended Yujin in the first place. He'd made a great impression on her during an ice cream commercial shoot and had passed the connection along.
"He's even better in person. On camera, faces spread out a little, you know how it is."
"Whoa. Better than that on top of that... he'd be a perfect fit. Connect me with him, would you?"
"For an ad?"
"Yeah. I want him to do an audition."
"He needs to audition too?"
"It's a campaign being released as a series, a big-budget one, and they say the child actors have to be picked through auditions. The client wants to choose them personally."
"He's not a professional, so I can't exactly coach him through it, but I'll ask."
Lee Joo-young's eyes went round as saucers.
"Wait — he's not an actor?"
"Picked him up at the kindergarten. Never acted a day in his life."
"Whoa. Then what was that whole musical-style line delivery on the show? Is that just raw talent?"
"I'm still stunned every time I watch him. No idea how he'll hold up in proper drama, but right now he's got more than enough."
"As soon as you get permission, connect us for sure. I won't believe it until I see him with my own eyes."
"Got it."
"Ha-jin, what on earth is that thing you're holding?"
The moment I walked out of the recording clutching that, Mom's eyes went wide as dinner plates.
All I could manage was an awkward smile.
In each of my hands was a phone — one given to me by Yujin, and one by Sora.