The Child Actor Whose Name Was on Everyone’s Lips
I’m translating the chapter into clean, publication-style HTML and will keep the in-universe web content in styled blocks as required. Next I’m formatting the narrative and the forum/comment sections carefully so the output stays natural and valid.CHAPTER_TITLE: The Five-Million Mark and the Birthday Thread
“Why? Gongja, let me hug you just once. No, wait. Then can I touch your cheek? Wow, you’re like a rice cake.”
You little punk. Don’t you dare reach for me!
“Nooo!”
“Why not? Come on, cut me some slack.”
It was disgusting. A man’s touch.
When Ki Cho-un reached out to touch my cheek, the staff called out.
“Stand by for camera.”
“Ah, damn it.”
Ki Cho-un moved into position for the scene, but he must have been nervous, because his fingers refused to stay still.
“Hyung.”
“Y-yes?”
“Trust me.”
Yeah. I’ll play along.
“Y-yes, sure.”
“Mm-hm.”
I drew in a breath.
Focus. I’m Lee Yun right now, and I’m unbearably heartbroken.
Heartbroken, huh.
I reached for an old memory: the time a schoolteacher slapped me across the face for no reason at all, just because I was an orphan.
Well, I don’t actually need to drag up a memory that terrible to do this.
Even now, that teacher was still an absolute bastard.
The staff called out.
“Stand by, cue!”
I blinked. Moisture gathered at the corners of my eyes almost at once.
Ki Cho-un spoke.
“Kid, why are you sitting here like this?”
I looked up at him.
“I was waiting for it to dry.”
“No, nothing’s wet. What’s supposed to dry?”
I poked at my chest.
“This right here.”
Ki Cho-un’s expression changed. He was concentrating now. He lowered his head deeply.
“Is it sorrow?”
“It’s nothing so grand. It’s just that…”
I made a miserable face.
“If I carry my sadness around with me, Mother will worry.”
In the script, Lee Yun had to hold back his tears here. So I bit my lip.
“I see. But it’s not good for such a little one to bear it alone. Why don’t you ask your father to comfort you?”
My eyes grew wet. I shook my head.
“I don’t have a father.”
I rubbed at my eyes. Lee Yun was the kind of child who wanted to hide his tears; he didn’t like letting anyone see them.
“Mother says I’ll meet Father again someday, but I…”
Ki Cho-un bent down to the child’s level.
“All right. I understand.”
I steadied my breathing. Holding back tears could tighten your throat and make you stumble over your lines, so I had to keep my breathing under control to prevent that.
“Then, sir, who are you?”
“I’m just a passing scholar. Child, it’s late. I’ll take you home.”
At this point, viewers would probably be waiting for it.
The hero takes the child home and reunites with the heroine.
But the two of them were hopelessly out of sync.
“Thank you, sir.”
That was the scene’s final line.
“Okay! Cut!”
Seonwoo Yeongjae PD’s voice rang out, half laughing.
“Great emotion!”
I wiped the moisture from my eyes and stood up.
This was my last shoot of the day.
The others were probably still going to keep filming, but for me, it meant something else.
That means I’m off work!
Seonwoo Yeongjae PD was stroking his chin, looking at the monitor, when it happened. All at once, Ki Cho-un grabbed my shoulder.
Thud.
What now?
When I turned around, Ki Cho-un was wiping his face with both hands.
“Hyung?”
“Ah, you.”
He muttered under his breath.
“You told me to trust you, and I was wondering what you meant…”
Huh.
Was there something wrong with my acting?
I didn’t think so. He said “okay” right away, didn’t he?
“Damn. You, you’re the real thing. I’m so shocked I can’t even speak.”
You’re speaking just fine right now, though.
“Hey, kid. No, Gongja. Are you some kind of big-shot senior actor?”
What was he talking about? Was he sick or something?
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“No, I mean it. Your acting is really, like… senior-actor level. The kind done by unbelievably good actors.”
Oh dear.
This guy’s sharper than he looks.
How had he figured it out?
“How can a five-year-old act like that? And your vocalization, too. Everything just sticks so naturally, like it was made for the role.”
That’s because I’m on my second life, obviously.
“Gongja. You’re not five, are you?”
“Nope!”
I grinned.
“Gongja is only three!”
“Huh?”
“Mm, but I could be four!”
Honestly, looking at my growth, I felt like I’d long since passed four, but still.
“W-wait. Three? I’m losing my mind over a three-year-old’s acting?”
Got a problem with that, you punk?
“No, three is way too young. That’s like a puppy that can’t even open its eyes!”
I’m saying I might be four.
“No matter how I look at it, you seem five.”
Leaving the confused Ki Cho-un behind, I went looking for Deok-su. No, actually, before I could even start, the grim-looking man was already striding up to me.
“Filming is all done. Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
“I don’t know much about acting, but I think you did very well. Let’s change and head home.”
Deok-su picked me up and stood.
Ah, I am a little tired.
Maybe because I have a child’s body.
Then Ki Cho-un grabbed Deok-su by the shoulder.
“Uh, excuse me, um, Gongja’s manager?”
“I am not a manager.”
“Huh? Then what are you? A bodyguard?”
Deok-su shook his head.
“A nanny.”
“Huh?”
As Deok-su adjusted his sunglasses, he said, “Is there a problem?”
In an instant, Ki Cho-un snatched his hand back and took a step away.
He is pretty scary, honestly.
He really did look like someone you shouldn’t mess with. And with a person like that, well—
“I-I’m sorry.”
I found myself apologizing for no reason at all.
“I see.”
“Oh, um, i-it’s nothing much, but may I ask one thing? This little kid, I mean, is Gongja really three years old?”
Deok-su’s low voice dropped like a stone.
“Find out for yourself.”
Huh?
Wouldn’t he normally explain politely?
Deok-su turned around without waiting for the end of the sentence. I blinked.
Did Ki Cho-un say something to Deok-su?
No, come to think of it, there hadn’t been time for him to say anything, had there?
I tilted my head, and Deok-su patted my shoulder.
“If you’re sleepy, you can sleep.”
I just smiled.
Honestly, it’s not really my problem.
Well, they wouldn’t fight, right?
I closed my eyes, then opened them again. Maybe because I was a little worn out. Honestly, I was sleepy.
* * *
The angel was sleeping quietly in the car seat. Kim Deok-su turned the wheel and said, “Yes, that did happen.”
A familiar voice came through the earphones.
“So that Ki Cho-un punk was bullying our Gongja?”
“Yes. He seemed to like Gongja later on, but at first, yes.”
“How dare he make disparaging remarks about my son?”
The grinding of his employer’s teeth came through vividly.
“He also said maybe Gongja got in through connections.”
“That little brat! Connections? We get calls every single day asking for more Gongja appearances.”
“He seemed to be a very narrow-minded man.”
“No, if he’s talking about connections, that means I’m the one who put him in. How dare he look at me like that!”
There was a series of cracking sounds, as though the employer were stretching.
“Keep looking out for him, thank you.”
“It’s my job. Ah, the filming went very well. All the staff and actors were amazed.”
“I see. Gongja isn’t too tired, is he?”
“He’s asleep right now.”
“The set isn’t a harsh place for child actors, is it?”
“No. It seems like a good atmosphere. Everyone takes good care of him.”
“That’s a relief. Ah, I’ve got the next shoot, so I’ll hang up here.”
“Yes. I’ll contact you again next time.”
The call ended. Deok-su glanced at Gongja again in the rearview mirror.
He’s not an ordinary child.
Kim Deok-su didn’t know much about acting. But he could tell the child’s performance was not what you’d normally expect from a child actor.
To be that good.
You only had to see everyone’s reaction to know that.
He learned Hangul in five hours, too.
It was truly astonishing.
The person who had looked after the child said he had been read many picture books. Even so, for a small child to master Hangul in five hours was close to a miracle.
No matter how effective that Hangul apron is, that should still be impossible.
No matter how he looked at it, Gongja had to be a genius.
The child was extraordinary in every possible way.
If he’s a genius, maybe that’s why he acts so well.
Kim Deok-su looked at the sleeping Gongja in the rearview mirror.
Still, being a genius isn’t exactly a problem.
The child’s forehead was especially round. He wanted to smooth back the little stray hairs that had fallen over it.
“He’s so cute, after all.”
Genius or not, what did it matter?
Kim Deok-su muttered to himself and turned the wheel. It would still take an hour to reach Seongbok-dong.
* * *
“Another one’s fallen down the rabbit hole.”
Seo Sajang let out a sigh.
“The popularity’s shooting up.”
Honestly, he’d thought the attention would end after people noticed the pretty face and then promptly forget it.
But this kid really does drag attention after him, doesn’t he?
Photos, variety shows, commercials, movies, and now the drama he was filming.
The last one’s still up in the air, but so far everything’s been a hit, hasn’t it?
How was that even possible?
Thanks to him, the public’s taken notice.
Seo Sajang sighed and folded his arms.
In other words, Gongja had more fans.
A ridiculous number more.
There were few people who disliked a cute child.
He’s this one-of-a-kind, kind, and good at acting. Of course people are going to love him.
Seo Sajang tilted his head.
“That means he’s basically perfect.”
No, he was still just a kid.
Seo Sajang thought about it again.
“Seriously, how is this even possible?”
Inside the monitor, Gongja kept smiling. Someone had already made an animated GIF of him and uploaded it.
Seo Sajang scrolled again, then clicked on a post.
Seo Sajang clicked the link.
GUIDELINES:Read the rules before posting.
NOTICE:Gongja is still a child. Please be careful with your posts.
NOTICE:Shills and viral marketers, get lost.
Seo Sajang muttered, “So one more has been born.”
He silently bookmarked it.
“There are a lot of people here.”
What’s more, the board categories were incredibly detailed.
What kind of age groups are even in here?
Seo Sajang clicked through them one by one. There were even dinner-table photos from married women and school lunch photos from teenagers.
“What is this bizarre hybrid?”
He clicked on Gongja Archive. Everything Gongja had ever appeared in was there.
Good grief.
It was far more serious than he’d expected.
“This is enormous.”
At this rate, there was a high chance it would catch the attention of the portals as well.
Seo Sajang opened another board. There were children wearing the clothes Gongja had worn in a commercial.
But their faces are all hidden in the upload.
From the notice, it looked like people were supposed to cover faces before posting.
Did something happen?
Seo Sajang clicked a photo first.
The cafe’s atmosphere was strange in the best possible way.
Seo Sajang kept scrolling. Then, all at once, he froze.