Chapter 26: Preview Screening (3)
Chapter 26: Preview Screening (3)
Children naturally tend to try and live up to their parents' expectations.
This was true for school plays like this one, and it was especially true for children who had landed important roles.
Basically, my role as the 'Magic Mirror' wasn't very long.
As Snow White grows up, the girl playing the Queen speaks to the Magic Mirror a total of three times.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"
The mirror, which would normally answer, "It is you, my beautiful Queen," changes its answer as Snow White grows.
The fairest of them all is Snow White.
Upon hearing that answer for the third time, the Queen breaks the mirror.
My first performance as a VTuber should have ended right there.
"How dare you!!"
As soon as the words "The fairest of them all is Snow White" left my mouth, the girl playing the Queen threw a punch with all her might, fully immersed in her role. For the record, this was a scene Teacher Min-ah had insisted on adding.
She said a standard Snow White was boring and wanted to add her own arrangement, but...
Anyway, as if to meet the teacher's expectations, our little Queen vigorously struck the foil-covered mirror with her fist.
Very vigorously.
"..."
The mirror was made by cutting a round hole in a cardboard plank and covering it with aluminum foil.
Even a seven-year-old's punch can easily pierce through foil if thrown with enough force.
If I hadn't reflexively jerked my head back, I would have taken the Queen's punch straight to the face.
What should I do?
My judgment was quick.
Normally, the Magic Mirror meets its end here with a final "Ack!"
I don't know if the Magic Mirror originally broke in the fairy tale, but at least that was the end for the Sun Class's Magic Mirror.
Regardless, it would be rude not to properly react to the Queen's passionate performance.
I dialed up my Emotional Mimicry, which I had kept at a moderate level to match the other children's acting, to a certain threshold.
And then.
"Aaaaaargh!!"
With a magnificent scream, Ju Seo-yeon collapsed.
The noisy area instantly fell silent at that grand death scene.
Good, now everyone's eyes must be fixed on the two of us.
If the Queen sets the mood and speaks now, the atmosphere will seem quite eerie.
After all, a child's scream is the easiest way to evoke a sense of fear.
If she delivers her lines over the current ominous background music...
Even ordinary lines will be transformed by the Queen's charisma!
...
...
...Huh?
I should have heard the Queen's next line by now, but it was silent.
I peeked through my closed eyelids and saw her frozen in the exact pose she had used to pierce the mirror.
"Um, Seo-yeon?"
Teacher Min-ah asked, having crept onto the corner of the stage and lowered her body.
"Are you alive?"
"Yes."
"Um, we didn't do it like this during practice, did we?"
When she asked that, I was at a loss for an excuse.
If I said I was just reacting to the Queen's performance, it would sound like I was blaming someone else.
"I guess I'm just a natural on stage..."
"Well, that's true, but..."
It seemed my death acting was so realistic that Teacher Min-ah had come up to check on me.
I felt it instinctively. I overdid it.
The moment of Ju Seo-yeon's first great acting failure.
"That gave me a fright."
"It was so realistic for a second that I thought something had actually happened."
Fortunately, the audience's reaction was favorable.
Combined with the ominous background music, they seemed to interpret the lack of dialogue as the Queen's own emotional acting.
"Phew!"
Teacher Min-ah must have realized this too, as she dragged me and the cardboard plank off to the back of the stage.
Thanks to that, the girl playing the Queen blinked in surprise for a moment but soon continued her performance.
"Oh boy, you gave me a heart attack."
Anyway, the play proceeded without any other major issues.
The Queen drove Snow White out, and the children playing the dwarves all played their parts well.
There's definitely a difference between a kid who has acted before and one who hasn't.
Lee Ji-yeon was a child actor who hadn't filmed anything special yet besides commercials.
However, compared to the other kids, her presence was vivid enough to stand out.
Even her usual tomboyish self was now being presented perfectly as Snow White.
Her line delivery was clear, and looking at her now, it was hard to understand why Lee Ji-yeon would later vanish into obscurity.
The wounds she received from her agency must have been that deep.
"Te-Teacher."
As I was watching the performance.
I saw the boy playing the soldier approach Teacher Min-ah with a deeply troubled face.
Did something happen?
Curious, I took my eyes off the stage for a moment and looked over.
"The Prince's pants... the color is weird..."
A truly horrific answer came back.
*
Young Lee Ji-yeon's first stage.
Since she had only filmed a few commercials, she did her best even though it was just a school play.
She couldn't see her clearly, but her mom would be watching.
Gosh, why can't everyone act properly?
Such complaints rose up, but it was only natural.
How many kids this age would have actually learned how to act?
If anything, this was a decent level.
Even though she thought that, she was still full of regret.
If only they could do at least as well as that girl playing the Queen.
I knew Ju Seo-yeon should have taken a different role.
Even if she had just played a dwarf, it would have been better than this.
Everyone was watching the children's antics with smiles on their faces, but Lee Ji-yeon wanted to show them something more impressive.
That was just how a child's mind worked.
And so, Snow White ate the poisoned apple and collapsed.
A glass coffin made of prepared transparent plastic.
Lying there, Lee Ji-yeon slightly opened her closed eyes and looked toward the side of the stage.
That Prince guy, he better not mess up.
The boy who had been picked as the Prince through drawing lots.
She didn't like him because he had no passion for acting and couldn't even memorize his lines properly.
Because of that, the Prince, who was supposed to appear once in the middle, was only going to show up at the very end to say a few words.
Let's at least get that right.
Thinking that, Lee Ji-yeon waited for the Prince to appear.
The moment the solemn background music played along with the dwarves' crying.
Step.
She heard footsteps.
For some reason, the audience suddenly began to stir.
What is it?
Lee Ji-yeon tried to squint to see what was happening, but she couldn't see much.
What on earth did that Prince guy do to cause such a reaction?
As she was thinking that, the footsteps grew louder.
"Why are you crying so sadly?"
The Prince spoke to the mournfully wailing dwarves.
It was a clear, boyish voice.
Huh?
Lee Ji-yeon almost snapped her eyes open.
It was a familiar voice.
To be precise, it was a bit lower than the mirror's voice she had heard just a moment ago.
It was a boyish voice.
And as far as Ji-yeon knew, there was only one person who could make a voice like that.
It was Ju Seo-yeon, who was always showing off by doing unnecessary vocal exercises.
"Wait, honey. Isn't that child Seo-yeon?"
"Uh, I think so... But wasn't Seo-yeon supposed to be the mirror?"
Ju Young-bin narrowed his eyes and looked at the stage at his wife's words.
It had been strangely noisy backstage earlier; did something happen?
It's my first time seeing my daughter act right in front of me like this.
He had seen her act in the soy milk commercial, but this was his first time seeing her in a 'play.'
His impression of it was...
Astonishing.
The reaction of those around him was the same.
Given the nature of parents who want their own child to stand out the most, this might not be a welcome situation.
A child who had already gained attention from a drama teaser released yesterday was now sweeping up all the attention around her.
But even so.
"Snow White?"
His eyes were drawn to her.
Just, continuously.
"To think such a misfortune could befall such a kind and beautiful princess."
As she listened to the dwarves' explanation, the Prince's face slightly crumpled in sorrow.
With long black hair tied back in a single ponytail, black pants, and a relatively plain top, it wasn't an outfit that particularly suited a prince.
Only the crown on her head indicated that she was the Prince.
Nevertheless, every single movement displayed a certain Graceful State.
Even though the child playing the Prince was clearly a girl...
Her gait and actions were perfectly those of a man.
As if she had experience living as a man.
Soon, the Prince picked up Snow White, who was lying in the coffin, in both arms.
"Hey, what are you doing, Ju Seo-yeon?"
Lee Ji-yeon whispered in a small voice.
Squinting her eyes to the side, she saw the Prince with black hair neatly swept back.
It was Ju Seo-yeon, disguised as a boy.
"The pose doesn't look right if I just lean my head down."
The scene Teacher Min-ah had arranged for afterward was a grand kissing scene.
They were kids, so it wasn't exactly a kiss scene.
But because of the size of the glass coffin, it was difficult to get a good pose with a small child's body.
"You really..."
"What?"
Seo-yeon smirked, looking every bit like a prince.
Well, of course.
She was the Prince right now.
"Didn't you want me to act properly?"
The moment Ji-yeon was about to say, "No, this is a bit different," the Prince turned around while holding Snow White.
"Especially..."
Turning their backs to the people so that the position of their heads couldn't be clearly seen.
Then, the Prince's head tilted.
"The finale has to be stylish."
Of course, they didn't actually lock lips or kiss, but to the audience, it might have looked that way.
That was the intention from the start.
Hearing the audience's sharp gasps of admiration, Seo-yeon stared into Lee Ji-yeon's wide-open eyes right in front of her.
"It's your acting debut, isn't it?"
Well, at this point...
I thought it was a pretty spectacular finale.
*
Anyway, that was how Lee Ji-yeon's spectacular first theatrical debut ended successfully.
All the participating children were satisfied.
Teacher Min-ah, who had successfully secured her vacation, even had tears of joy in her eyes.
...Except for one person. The boy who was supposed to be the Prince but had an accident in his pants due to nerves.
Thanks to that, I, who was capable of ad-libbing, had to be rushed in.
In a way, all the lines I spoke as the Prince were ad-libs.
Still, I did reappear as a tree at the end.
Naturally, Snow White was revived by the Prince's kiss.
After a grand battle against the Queen, they emerged victorious, and the play met its happy ending.
I had to deal with people for quite a while afterward, but that also became a good memory in its own way.
"But, Mom."
"Yes?"
I sat in the back seat of the car and let out a deep sigh.
"Do I really have to go?"
"Well, Jung-woo and my daughter are the stars of this Preview Screening, aren't they?"
The day of the Preview Screening had finally arrived.
To be honest, after finding the previous event burdensome, I had made up my mind to avoid this one at all costs.
But isn't that just how professional life goes?
You can't live your life only doing the things you want to do.
If I want to work as an actor later, I shouldn't get on a PD's bad side...
I heard that word had even reached the Drama Bureau Director.
It wouldn't look good to back out when such high-ranking people were paying attention.
Besides.
Mom is looking forward to it, too.
Looking at my mom's face as she drove with a beaming smile... well, I thought this was fine.
After all, I wouldn't be participating in events like this again for a while.