The Audition (1)
“Hah… hah….”
I sprinted down the alley, gasping for air. Someone was chasing me from behind. I glanced back and threw every ounce of strength into widening the gap between us.
When the alley ended, a wide playground opened up. A few kids were playing near the swings, but I paid them no attention. I bolted toward what looked like the spectator stands, tripped over my own feet, and went sprawling.
“Hey kid, are you hurt?”
Someone rushed over and helped me up. It was Ahn Jung-hoon, the soccer player, out for his morning jog. Then he spotted my pursuer and scowled. “And what the hell is that guy doing, chasing a kid in broad daylight!”
Apparently he'd taken the man for a kidnapper. His gaze landed on a can rolling around nearby, and he sized up the distance. No way. Not with that…?
I tried to tell him the man wasn't a bad guy, but his foot was faster. He kicked the can like he was shooting at a goal, and it sailed through the air in a picture-perfect arc, smacking the pursuer right on the head. It was an absolutely absurd shot.
“GWAAAAAGH!”
The man clutched his head and rolled across the ground. The can-kicker turned to me with a triumphant grin—but I rolled my eyes and ran straight for the man writhing on the pavement.
“Whoa—hey, kid!”
Bewildered, Ahn Jung-hoon watched my retreating back with a look of pure incredulity. I grabbed the suffering man and cried out.
“Uncle! Are you okay?”
The scene overlapped with another: me locked in a tug-of-war with my uncle at the entrance of a dental clinic.
“You said you'd buy me a toy! Uncle, you liar!”
“How about you ask the doctor to be gentle, hm? If you're a brave boy and get your treatment, I promise I'll buy you a toy.”
“No!”
Shaking off my uncle's hand, I started running toward the alley. The scene shifted again—a close-up of Ahn Jung-hoon's face as the police led him away. His utter bafflement was a thing to behold.
Then back to the midpoint: the can kick split into slick cut scenes, and alongside on-screen text, a sleek camera filled the frame.
It was an Ohsung Techwin camera commercial.
The light faded, and I returned to reality.
“Seriously, that face is unreal. You were right, hyung—he looks even better in person. How is a six-year-old that good-looking?”
“And you came all the way here just to check that out. Impressive.”
“I was curious, that's all. Worth the trip, though. His acting wasn't bad either.”
“Today's shoot was short, so there wasn't much to see. Wait till you watch him sing and dance—you'll be blown away.”
“Forget the singing. This ad leans heavily on emotional close-ups, so what matters is expression work. Not sure how he'll hold up there.”
“See for yourself. They'll test exactly that at the audition anyway, won't they?”
“Right. This time they're looking at improvisation.”
“Yawwwn~”
After finishing the shoot and coming home to a snack, drowsiness started creeping over me. I lay down for a nap, and the commercial I'd just seen drifted back into my mind.
So that's the ad they're holding auditions for, isn't it?
In my past life, Director Lee Joo-young had made it big with a commercial series that wrapped B-grade absurdist sensibility in a coat of genuine polish. But that B-grade DNA hadn't dropped out of the sky—it had been growing ever since his days at Naeil Planning.
The camera commercial I'd glimpsed in the light was remarkably similar to the digital camera ad that became the Mackerel Kidnappers' signature hit.
So this is another memory being patched in for me.
It was directed by Lee Joo-young before he founded the Mackerel Kidnappers. It starred Ahn Jung-hoon, who would later earn fame through that digital camera ad. And the uncle was played by an actor destined to make his name as a first-rate supporting player.
Finally, I remembered the face of the child actor who'd originally appeared in the ad. He was the one I'd had a bitter history with in my past life.
Looks like I'll be seeing that mug again at the audition.
The moment I recalled getting beaten by that bastard on set, sleep vanished completely.
Whenever he caught flak from a PD or director, he'd pathetically take it out on the extras. In any scene with friction or a fight sequence, he'd hammer his scene partner without mercy. Then he'd hide behind his agency, spinning it as being “lost in the role”—a spineless piece of trash. Powerless supporting actors and extras had to fawn over his moods just to survive him.
Kang Ji-hoon. In this life, it won't be that easy for you.
Beyond appearing in Director Han Jae-ryong's film, I'd found a new goal. If only for Yu-jin's sake, I had to put that bastard firmly in his place.
Audition day, Naeil Planning headquarters—
The basement hall next to the studio had been bustling with audition preparations since morning.
“Good morning, Director. We're in your hands today.”
Joo Se-hee, PR team leader at Ohsung Techwin, greeted them with a saccharine smile, then made a big show of gushing about how many handsome child actors would be showing up.
“Yes, well, I'm sure it's hard work for you too, Team Leader.”
Director Lee Joo-young replied with a sour expression. The truth was, his mood had been foul for days. He'd carefully curated the field down to five kids with their condition in mind, and then the damned client had blabbed all over town, sending portfolios flooding in at the last minute.
He sighed, staring at the stack of portfolios piled on one end of the desk. These aren't even adult actors. Does anyone honestly think screening twenty-plus kids in a single day makes sense?
On top of that, the client kept dropping not-so-subtle hints about Kang Ji-hoon, the child actor of the moment. The kid's image didn't fit the ad's tone at all, so they'd never even offered him an audition—yet the client had sent over his portfolio anyway.
Something must have gone on between them and that agency.
Since this was one of the company's flagship campaigns, he couldn't push back. His stomach churning, Lee Joo-young leafed through the paperwork, vowing that once he went independent, he wouldn't give clients like this a second glance.
The moment I opened the waiting room door, every eye in the room fastened on me. After my TV appearance, I'd received so many of these stares that I'd grown downright numb to them.
“Mom, isn't it about time I stopped getting nervous?”
“But… everyone here looks so grown-up, and they're all glaring at us. Are you sure you're okay, Ha-jin?”
“Of course I'm okay. We came here for an audition, not to gawk at people.”
I said it deliberately loud, and the stares shifted to looks of people beholding some strange new creature. I had zero intention of losing any battle of nerves.
Everyone here seemed to regard each other as rivals, and the atmosphere was definitely colder than the KBC waiting room had been. There was an empty spot along the wall, so I told Mom to stay back and walked over alone.
As I sat down, I caught snippets of conversation from the managers leaning against the wall.
“I hear Ji-hoon's coming?”
“Really? He hardly ever shoots commercials.”
“For Director Lee Joo-young, he'd make an exception. That ice cream ad with Yu-jin was a massive hit, remember?”
“True, it was shot beautifully.”
“Word is he begged his mom for it after seeing Yu-jin's ad. Said he wanted to be filmed like that too.”
“Little punk's already chasing the spotlight.”
“Well, that face earns its money.”
It earns an obscene amount, actually.
Kang Ji-hoon, successful as a child actor, would debut as a high schooler in a boy group called Black TNT. The group itself was mediocre, but leader Kang Ji-hoon's looks were so talked-about that his popularity made headlines for days on end. After he became an adult, the dating rumors erupting at every turn cashed in that face value for all it was worth. Any girl group member or actress who was even half pretty, he'd test the waters with first.
Especially the scandal that broke when Clover Day's popularity was skyrocketing—it put Yu-jin through absolute hell. Black TNT's toxic fandom went so far as to send her death threats. And because Kang Ji-hoon kept up this infuriatingly ambiguous attitude, as if he might actually have feelings for her, the controversy refused to die down for ages.
Even after the group disbanded and he transitioned into acting, the habit never left him. He was the guy whose dating scandal broke right before I regressed.
Phew. Enough. Why am I doing this at an audition?
Just as I was chasing the thoughts away, someone came and sat down beside me. Instantly, the area around us went quiet. I turned my head, and there was Kang Ji-hoon, smiling at me.
The infuriating face had come looking for me of its own accord.
“You're seriously handsome. What's your name?”
“Byun Ha-jin.”
“Ha-jin, huh. You know who I am, right?”
“Nope.”
His smiling face crumpled in an instant. Yeah, that's the face that suits you. The same face that had grinned down at me while kicking me in the ribs on set.
“You don't watch dramas? Five Families Under One Roof.”
“Don't watch it.”
“Then movies? I was in The Wizard Family.”
“Didn't see it.”
“Then Ding-Dong-Dang Childr—”
“Today's the first time I've ever seen you, isn't it?”
“Yeah.”
“I'm on Wagle Wagle Kindergarten. But you don't know me—because you don't watch that show. And I don't know you either, since I've never watched anything you're on. So stop asking.”
Kang Ji-hoon was two years older than me. Once kids hit elementary school, they rarely watch shows starring kindergartners. So of course he wouldn't know me—logic that clearly wasn't getting through.
“How old are you?”
Starved for a response, he abruptly switched gears.
“Six.”
“Are you kidding me… I'm eight, you know. And you've been acting all cocky this whole time.”
With that, he reached to grab my arm.
But I was faster. I might have gotten younger, but the reflexes from my baseball days hadn't gone anywhere.
“Ow—you, aren't you… gonna let go?”
He tried to wrench his captured wrist free, but my hand didn't budge an inch.
“Don't touch my body without permission. Do it again and I'll break it.”
I scowled and tightened my grip, and fear bloomed across his face. Sensing the strange tension, a manager started walking over from across the room. I released my hand and stared straight ahead as if nothing had happened. He sized me up for a moment, then moved to a spot far, far away. A bully who'd had strong-arming the weak and groveling to the strong drilled into him since childhood.
A staff member came in and began checking the list of audition participants. She looked at my face, flinched in surprise, and verified my name.
“So you're Ha-jin. Wow, that face is really… wow.”
Marveling, she handed me a printout covered in drawings and moved on. I took a look—it was a kind of storyboard illustrating the ad's content, with fake story beats scattered throughout to hide the twist.
So they're going to have us act out several scenes in a row, improvising.
And so began the first audition I'd applied for since regressing.