Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Crushing the Test
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Seonwoo swallowed a sigh.
He'd been prepared for this ever since the Troupe Leader told him that false rumors about him were spreading.
That the troupe members might give him the cold shoulder.
But their view of him seemed even worse than he'd imagined.
"Seo Jinwook. Nice to meet you?"
So this was them trying to put him in his place right from the start.
Seonwoo looked at Seo Jinwook. Pale white skin, sharply upturned eyes. His face alone screamed bad news.
His instincts were screaming.
Stay away from this guy.
"...Kim Seonwoo."
But he couldn't exactly refuse the handshake.
Seo Jinwook gripped his hand and spoke in a leisurely tone.
"Got any script you can jump into right away?"
"Not really. I haven't been studying acting for long."
"Huh, is that so?"
Seo Jinwook let out a hollow laugh at Seonwoo's words. His expression made no effort to hide his disbelief.
Seonwoo didn't blame him.
He probably would've felt the same if he were in their shoes.
Wasn't it weird for some kid who barely studied acting to suddenly join the troupe?
Still, it was starting to piss him off a little.
He hadn't done anything wrong, had he?
He'd been recommended, invited in, and showed up.
"Why don't you just skip acting? If you think you can't hack it, no one's forcing you."
Did he deserve treatment like this?
Seonwoo stared at Seo Jinwook without a word. The smug grin made it clear he was looking down on him.
Seonwoo hesitated for a split second.
Should he just play nice and back down a bit?
Standing up to him now might make the newbie look too cocky and start even more gossip.
But in the end, he shook his head.
"No. Let's do it."
He hadn't done anything wrong, so he had no reason to tuck tail.
Especially not in front of a guy like this—showing weakness would just invite more teeth-baring down the line... And he wanted to show the others too.
That he wasn't that hopeless at acting.
Maybe he hadn't expected Seonwoo to stand his ground so boldly.
Seo Jinwook's eyebrow twitched. But he quickly smirked and handed over a script.
"Fine. Let's try the third scene."
Seonwoo took the script without a word. It was a practice one, pieced together from famous scenes from various films.
And the scene Seo Jinwook mentioned was...
Oh, I know this one.
He recognized it.
A legendary scene from University Hospital, the zombie flick every Korean knew.
The setting was obvious from the title: a hospital.
Zombies swarming in, doctors and patients trapped in a ward.
People pounding on the door, begging to be let in, while young doctor Suho and the older doctor Hakjun clashed.
Suho: (pointing at the ward door) Open the door! Come on, open it!
Hakjun: What are you saying? Can't you see the zombies back there?
Suho: They're doctors like us. Doctors who save lives! If we don't open now, they're all dead!
Hakjun: And if we do? Then everyone in here dies too.
Suho: So what? Are we just gonna stand by and watch them die? Just leave them out there?
Hakjun: Watch your words. It's not saving them—it's killing the people in here.
Suho: We have to do something... We're doctors! Right? How can you just stand here and do nothing?
Hakjun: This is doing something. Keeping that door shut. That's our job. Got it?
...Watching it in the movie gave me chills.
Society crumbling under the zombie outbreak, everyone clinging to their humanity in their own way—it was captivating.
And now he was going to perform it.
"You've seen the movie, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then you get the vibe. Which role you want?"
The role.
The answer had been clear from the moment he picked up the script.
"I'll do Hakjun."
Unlike Suho's explosive outburst, Hakjun responded with calm composure.
Suho's base color was red. Panic and righteous fury, grabbing every eye.
But he chose Hakjun because...
...It's beautiful.
Hakjun's color bubble was the most exquisite he'd seen lately.
Moonlight as its base.
That cool, elegant hue had captivated him.
And the man behind that color bubble... Hakjun was utterly magnetic.
Just like in the original film.
"Got it. Take some time to analyze. Let me know when you're ready."
"I can go right now."
"Right... now?"
Seo Jinwook echoed in disbelief. Seonwoo inwardly winced.
Maybe he should've pretended to prepare a bit longer?
Too late now. He nodded.
"Yeah. Let's go."
"...Fine."
Seo Jinwook licked his lips.
His face screamed You walked right into it. Seonwoo ignored him and slowly summoned his color bubble.
Come to think of it, he'd never performed in front of this many people before. With Seonjun or Jiwan, it was always one-on-one.
But now? At least a dozen pairs of eyes on him.
Could he really pull this off?
I have to.
His stomach twisted.
Those piercing stares boring into him.
No helping it. Maybe not this guy, but the others clearly weren't rolling out the welcome mat.
He had to show them.
That he wasn't some deadweight parachuted in.
"Open the door! Come on, open it!"
Seo Jinwook launched into the lines without warning.
At the same moment, vivid red flames erupted from him like fireworks.
The flippant vibe from before vanished, replaced by an intensity that burned from his tense face, outstretched fingers, desperate shouts—flickering and fading like real fire.
Beautiful.
But no time to admire it.
Seonwoo burst his own color bubble without hesitation.
And that was the moment.
The oncoming flames surging toward him... recoiled against the cool moonlight radiating from his body.
"What are you saying? Can't you see the zombies back there?"
* * *
"...Getting on Jinwook sunbae's bad side right out the gate. Rough start for that guy."
Yechun sighed, watching Seo Jinwook's eyes sparkle as he stared down Seonwoo.
Seo Jinwook was actually the one the junior line dreaded most. Even the seniors weren't thrilled with him.
His personality was just too prickly.
A messy mix of half-baked narcissism and authoritarianism, always meddling everywhere. Juniors usually had two options: grovel to stroke his ego or stay off his radar.
The problem? His acting chops were top-tier in Cheongsong.
Maybe it was his innate intensity. Even trained actors often got swept up in his momentum.
Even veterans found facing him daunting.
So...
"I'll do Hakjun."
The moment Seonwoo picked Hakjun, Yechun sighed inwardly.
He could already see Seonwoo getting crushed.
He knew why Seonwoo chose it.
Hakjun was calmer than Suho—easier to pull off, he probably thought.
But... that was a trap.
"Holding off Jinwook's Suho as Hakjun?"
"No way. He'll shut it down quick."
"Look at him—he's thrilled. Can't wait to devour the newbie."
Countering explosive acting with subtlety was never easy.
Especially against Seo Jinwook.
"Open the door! Come on, open it!"
Seo Jinwook's performance was explosive, alright.
Devouring his opponent whole.
"His energy's even fiercer today."
"Must be pumped facing the newbie."
Crisp projection.
A face desperate enough to bolt for the door any second.
Rage, despair, panic—it was so real, you half-believed zombies were outside.
Proof Seo Jinwook was the real deal.
Game over.
Everyone nodded.
If he could even spit out his lines, it'd be a miracle. He'd probably freeze solid.
Yeah.
"What are you saying? Can't you see the zombies back there?"
That's how it should've gone...
What was this?
...Huh?
Why didn't this parachuted newbie look intimidated at all?
"They're doctors like us. Doctors who save lives! If we don't open now, they're all dead!"
"And if we do? Then everyone in here dies too."
Perfectly subdued, fitting Hakjun to a T.
But it wasn't colorless or flat.
"So what? Are we just gonna stand by and watch them die? Just leave them out there?"
"Watch your words. It's not saving them—it's killing the people in here."
Hakjun responded to Suho's frenzy with steady calm.
As if Suho's impatience couldn't touch him—solid, unyielding presence.
It was like Hakjun had leaped straight from the screen.
Seonwoo wasn't even that old, but the way he clasped his hands behind his back, the lifeless gaze, the fleeting cynical smiles... Nothing felt off.
A crotchety old doctor right there in the flesh.
The troupe members' jaws slowly dropped.
How?
He said he barely had any experience.
How was he nailing expressions like that?
It didn't make sense.
The acting blew past every expectation.
"We have to do something... We're doctors! Right? How can you just stand here and do nothing?"
"This is doing something. Keeping that door shut. That's our job. Got it?"
A low voice.
But the conviction in it made him loom large despite the quiet tone.
An undercurrent of intimidation even.
And it wasn't just the onlookers who felt it.
Seo Jinwook, trading lines directly with him... felt like he'd been clocked upside the head.
No wonder.
He'd thrown everything to crush Seonwoo's spirit.
But the result?
...What the hell is this guy?
Seo Jinwook could feel it firsthand.
Not once had he overwhelmed Seonwoo's presence.
How?
Simple. Seonwoo's Hakjun was just as vivid, just as alive as his Suho.
It didn't add up.
How could someone with zero real experience pull this off?
How the...
Shit...
Then it hit him.
Why the Troupe Leader had mentored Seonwoo personally. Why he'd thrown an untrained newbie into the actors' room.
Unbelievable, irrational talent you could see with your own eyes but still couldn't grasp.
The newbie was a genius.