Chapter 18: The Aquarium and the Sea (3)
Chapter 18: The Aquarium and the Sea (3)
‘Finally.’
Seo-yeon was overcome with emotion as she flipped the calendar.
‘I’m seven years old now.’
Ju Seo-yeon, age 7.
First year of kindergarten.
In truth, turning seven didn’t change much.
Perhaps she could feel her body growing a bit faster than before?
She would be entering elementary school next year.
And…
‘Hmm.’
There were many things on her mind.
Most of them, naturally, were related to acting.
Now that she had begun practicing in earnest, her own shortcomings were becoming glaringly obvious.
She realized that emotional acting was certainly no easy feat.
‘Most things can be handled with emotional mimicry, but…’
Even professional actors don’t always express emotions with their full power.
For her, she felt that mimicking emotions was sufficient for most parts.
At the very least, she believed she was on par with adult actors in that regard.
‘Well, considering my age…’
True emotional acting stems from life experience.
It was only natural for children to be clumsy at it, given their lack of experience.
However, she had filled that void with her past life.
Slap.
She cupped her face with both hands while looking in the mirror.
‘My facial expressions are relatively natural.’
However, the more she studied acting, the more she felt other areas lagging behind.
Subtle movements, eye contact, and vocalization when delivering lines.
Fortunately, thanks to her practice, her vocalization was about a 4 out of 5.
‘I need time.’
Of course, with the filming of The Moon that Hides the Sun (Taesumdal) looming, she didn't have time to learn anything entirely new.
The best she could do now was maximize her existing strengths.
In the past, when she was all-in on being a VTuber, it didn't matter, but things were different now.
Who was she? Ju Seo-yeon, the (future) Great Actor.
Regardless, she had no intention of wasting the talent she possessed.
It was like a miraculous gift obtained from her past life.
“Whew.”
Taking a deep breath, she removed her hands from her face.
Glancing at her palms, she saw the various small scars etched there.
Her eyes reflected in the mirror were bloodshot and red.
It felt as if they were even redder than usual.
As if they changed according to her emotional state.
‘…Is that really the case?’
Even if it were true, it didn't seem to be a dramatic transformation.
At any rate, her body was peculiar in many ways, so she had learned to just accept it.
From her strange physical strength to her eyes.
“Alright.”
Now that she had composed herself, it was time to practice again.
For the first true emotional performance of the seven-year-old Ju Seo-yeon.
*
There were two stars at Arong Darong Kindergarten.
One was Lee Ji-yeon.
A high-spirited child who was working hard appearing in various CFs.
She had a very strong personality, and among the children in the kindergarten, no one dared to defy her.
Except for one person.
“Seo-yeon is so well-behaved.”
Hyun-young, the teacher of the Flower Class, looked at Seo-yeon with envy.
She wished the children in her class were even half as well-behaved as Seo-yeon.
“She is… well-behaved, right?”
Min-ah, the teacher of the Sun Class to which Seo-yeon belonged, replied with an ambiguous smile.
The second famous star of this kindergarten.
In truth, it was a bit unfair to Lee Ji-yeon, but there was a significant gap between the two.
Especially after the Taesumdal audition was broadcast, there were even people who peeked at the kindergarten just to catch a glimpse of Seo-yeon.
Those people were gone now, but Min-ah had been secretly terrified.
If a dangerous accident had happened during those times…
“She’s well-behaved, but… how should I put it? She’s a mysterious child.”
If asked if she got along well with other children, the answer was yes.
But how to describe it?
It didn't feel like she was playing with children her age; it felt more like she was ‘humoring’ them.
She was even good at looking after them, which inevitably left Min-ah with complicated feelings as a teacher.
“Come to think of it, when did you say the drama starts airing…?”
The premiere of The Moon that Hides the Sun (Taesumdal), the drama Seo-yeon was appearing in, was drawing closer by the day.
While checking the calendar for the date, Hyun-young noticed a date marked in red below it.
“Oh, come to think of it, the talent show is coming up soon, isn't it?”
“That’s right. Hehe.”
“…Why are you laughing?”
“Hehehe.”
Hyun-young narrowed her eyes at Min-ah’s mischievous smile.
The talent show was, in a way, a proxy war between the kindergarten teachers.
Of course, the "war" only resulted in snacks for the winning class.
However, that was only for the children.
For the teachers, it was a different story.
The teacher of the first-place class was granted a whopping two days of vacation!
Of course, if they forced the children or did anything unreasonable for this, they could face disciplinary action.
A true battle between teachers, conducted under the strict supervision of the kindergarten principal.
That was the talent show of Arong Darong Kindergarten.
“I’m thinking of visiting Jeju Island this time.”
“…Just you wait.”
But as the saying goes, those who tell you to "just wait" are never the ones to fear.
Min-ah had two stars in her class.
In terms of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it meant the Sleeping Dragon and the Young Phoenix were in the same place.
For the record, the Young Phoenix was Lee Ji-yeon.
‘The world of competition is cold-blooded, Teacher Hyun-young.’
Min-ah was confident she could easily crush the competition with even a simple play.
After all, the lead child actress of The Moon that Hides the Sun was in her class!
Ju Seo-yeon herself.
“Ju Seo-yeon, the teacher is looking at you with that weird look again.”
“What do you mean, ‘weird look’? That’s no way to talk about a teacher.”
“If it’s weird, it’s weird.”
At Lee Ji-yeon’s whisper, Seo-yeon glanced at Min-ah.
In fact, Seo-yeon had a rough idea of why Min-ah was looking at her like that.
‘…Hmm.’
She felt a bit bad, but Seo-yeon had no intention of doing anything special for the talent show.
Taesumdal was her priority right now, and she felt it would be a bit strange for her or Lee Ji-yeon to participate in a children’s talent show.
“Not me. I’m going to be the princess at the talent show.”
“…Do it if you want to.”
“I’m going to do it even if you tell me not to.”
It seemed Lee Ji-yeon was full of motivation.
‘But why don’t I remember what a kid this driven did later on?’
Seo-yeon occasionally had that thought whenever she saw Ji-yeon.
Lee Ji-yeon was a child with a strong desire to be an actress.
Though she was only doing CFs now, she was steadily preparing for drama auditions.
She clearly had talent, so she should have landed at least a few child roles…
“By the way, what agency are you with?”
“Me?”
At Seo-yeon’s question, Lee Ji-yeon looked at her with wary eyes.
It was a look that asked if Seo-yeon was planning to invade her sanctuary as well.
“…I’m just asking because I’m curious.”
“Hmph, well, if that’s the case.”
Lee Ji-yeon then told her the name of her agency.
Eunha Entertainment.
Only after hearing that name did Seo-yeon have a rough idea.
The reason why Lee Ji-yeon had never appeared on TV again in the future.
*
The filming of The Moon that Hides the Sun (Taesumdal) proceeded without a hitch.
As if the period of stalling because of Seo-yeon’s issues had been a lie, they were already racing toward the final scenes of Episode 2.
In fact, there were fewer than ten filming sessions left for everything up to Episode 3.
“We’ve been filming like crazy lately… but Seo-yeon doesn't look tired at all, does she?”
“I know. I was planning to take it a bit slow.”
The staff members chatted while watching Seo-yeon, who had just finished a scene.
Despite filming all the delayed episodes in a row, her face was fresh.
On the contrary, Park Jung-woo, who filmed with her, looked more exhausted.
This was despite the fact that Seo-yeon had more scenes than Park Jung-woo.
“Director, shouldn't we take a break? It feels like we’re pushing too hard lately.”
Director Gong Jeong-tae nodded at the camera director’s words.
To be honest, he also felt that they had been filming too many of Seo-yeon’s scenes recently.
“But… the person herself wants it this way.”
“Well, that’s true.”
It was about two weeks ago.
Seo-yeon had approached Gong Jeong-tae and hesitantly started to speak.
“Um, Director.”
“Yes, go ahead, Seo-yeon.”
“If it’s alright with everyone else…”
With a truly apologetic face, Seo-yeon made a request to Gong Jeong-tae.
To summarize, she wanted to quickly film the episodes that had been delayed.
It was a commendable sentiment, but at the same time, it was overstepping.
It was unheard of for an actor, let alone a child actor, to make such a suggestion to a director.
However, since Seo-yeon wasn't the type to make baseless requests, Gong Jeong-tae decided to hear her out.
Seo-yeon began her explanation calmly.
“Looking at the script, there are two scenes that seem to have very deep emotional arcs.”
“You mean S#24 and S#32?”
“Yes.”
Listening to Seo-yeon’s articulate speech, Gong Jeong-tae once again wondered if this child was really only seven years old.
He didn't have children of his own yet, but compared to his cousins he saw during the holidays, the difference was like heaven and earth.
Both in terms of attitude and vocabulary.
At any rate, Gong Jeong-tae could guess the reason behind Seo-yeon’s words.
“Seo-yeon, don’t tell me…”
“It’s, um, a secret. That’s why I might need to rest until the next scene after that…”
She spoke hesitantly, clearly aware that she was asking for a lot.
One of those scenes, in particular, was with Jung Eun-seon.
Since there had been a major conflict before, Gong Jeong-tae wasn't particularly keen on the idea.
‘She hasn't said anything since then, though.’
Then again, perhaps Jung Eun-seon thought it was fine after seeing Seo-yeon acting so well afterward.
Though subtle emotions were always visible on her face, she hadn't said anything specific.
‘People from the old school are so difficult.’
In recent years, the treatment of child actors had improved, but there had been a lot of talk for a while.
It was because there were often people who exploited or spoke harshly to child actors on sets or at theaters.
That was why there were even people called chaperones who specifically managed the children.
Of course, he wasn't saying Jung Eun-seon was like those people, but he knew she wasn't very tactful and had a sharp way of speaking that wasn't suitable for disciplining a child.
‘Still…’
Naturally, the right thing to do was to refuse Seo-yeon’s proposal.
Honestly, there was no need to push her acting; her current performance was more than enough.
However, if this child was going this far to ask, he was curious to see what kind of performance she would deliver.
“Then, let’s see it once before I decide.”
“Pardon?”
“In other words, you’re saying this for the sake of your acting, right, Seo-yeon? So, I need to see what that acting is like before I can consider it.”
He was the one who set the filming schedule.
Whether it was Seo-yeon’s request or not, once he made the decision, all responsibility fell on him.
Even so, Gong Jeong-tae wanted to see Seo-yeon’s acting.
“…I understand.”
As soon as Gong Jeong-tae finished speaking, Seo-yeon took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
It still took her some time to get into character.
And then.
“…Whoa.”
After Seo-yeon finished her performance.
Gong Jeong-tae had no choice but to agree.
This… this was worth a shot.