Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Better to Film Alone
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"Shooting solo would be best, right?"
After the director's question, I pondered for a moment before nodding.
"Yes, I think that's for the best. I might ruin the vibe if I show up for no reason."
"Aw, don't think of it as imposing. I heard your dad is a super famous painter too. There must be some of his fans among our viewers."
The problem was that those fans also bought my paintings.
Once an artist finishes a painting, they could never touch it again.
But the funny thing was, the painting's value could fluctuate wildly from that moment on.
This led to tons of talk in the art world—not judging the work on its own merits, but how much the artist's name was worth.
'In fact, that's the big part of this market.'
Someone had even experimented with it for real.
It was one very famous incident where a renowned artist hid their identity and sold paintings on the street.
The price: 60 dollars.
But hardly any sold. Then, when the artist posted about it on their SNS, those same paintings shot up in value by thousands of times.
Just from cases like that, you could see how much pretense there was in the art world.
"My fans would actually hate seeing me on TV."
"Yes."
With that, I just gave a small smile instead of saying more.
The director looked puzzled but didn't press further.
And so it was decided that Daeun would film alone. I stepped away to tell her.
"Daeun."
"Daddy!"
Before I could ring the doorbell, I knelt down in front of Daeun, who was waiting at the entrance.
"For today's shoot, it'll just be you and Aunt Erina. Okay?"
She looked a little flustered at the idea of just the two of them.
"No Daddy!"
"Yeah, Daddy will watch from outside to see how well you're doing."
"Why can't Daddy come in too?"
I smiled gently and said,
"Because you're the star."
"S-Star...?"
"Yeah, the star."
Her eyes lit up at the word.
"If you and Aunt Erina are the stars, maybe Daddy shouldn't butt in."
Nod! Nod!
"Without Daddy there, you'll both shine even prettier as the stars."
Nod! Nod!
Heh, easy to convince.
I gazed fondly at her eager nodding, then drove it home.
"So Daddy can't come in, right?"
"Yeah! Daeun can do it alone!"
"Our Daeun is amazing!"
"Daeun can do it!"
"Yeah yeah. But Daddy will be watching on camera from outside, so if you miss me..."
I held out my pinky.
"I'll come running no matter what. Promise?"
At "promise," she hooked her pinky with mine.
"Yeah! Pwomise!"
"Yeah, promise."
With the basics explained, I showed her a fist pump, yelled "Fighting!", and stepped back.
It must've helped, because her face brightened up.
"Alright, let's start! Daeun, ring the doorbell please!"
At the director's words, Daeun finally pressed it with gusto.
Ding-dong!
The moment Daeun stepped inside, she shouted,
"Auntie!"
Erina greeted her with a smile.
"Oh, Daeun!"
"Daeun came to paint!"
At the mention of painting, Erina beamed and pointed inside.
"Perfect timing. I was waiting for you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course. We promised to paint each other, remember?"
Daeun clapped her hands at that.
Clap!
"Oh! Right!"
Remembering their talk from yesterday, she was thrilled.
Seeing this, Erina walked to the seat she'd just been in and said,
"Daeun, anything you wanna eat? I didn't know your favorites, so I grabbed whatever I could."
"Daeun wuvs chocolate milk!"
"Oh! Got that too! You like chocolate milk, huh?"
"Yes!"
Then Erina headed to the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out a chocolate milk, and... didn't hand it over right away. She asked,
"Want me to stick the straw in?"
Shake shake!
But Daeun refused.
"Daeun can do it myself!"
She took the chocolate milk from Erina's hand and started peeling off the straw wrapper.
Rustle.
Her little fern-like fingers tugged, but it was stuck tighter than expected.
Nngh-!
Pop!
She yanked hard and finally got the straw off, but it wasn't over.
The thin plastic wrapper was still on.
Rip-! Rip!
No matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn't budge.
Once, twice... Her failed attempts made her hands sweaty, leading to even more slips.
Erina looked sympathetic and offered,
"Want Auntie to help?"
"No! Daeun can do it!"
Over something like this.
Erina said that, but she found herself quietly cheering as Daeun wrestled with the straw.
Rip-!
"Daeun! You know, if you pull from the side, it comes off super easy."
"From the side?"
"Yeah, like this."
Erina demonstrated in the air, as if peeling it for her.
Did it work?
Snap!
"Oh! Got it!"
"Yay! Awesome!"
Having conquered the wrapper, Daeun moved to the next step: inserting the straw into the hole meant for it.
It was pre-punctured to make it easy.
But Daeun was only five.
Thud!
The straw poked the wrong spot and bent in half.
"Ah! So close! Try again."
Erina could've helped right away, but held back.
She tried to understand Daeun's perspective and waited patiently.
After a few more tries...
Thud!
"Wooow! Success! Amazing!"
"Eee! Daeun did it! Daeun poked the staw!"
Both jumped up and down in excitement.
And after overcoming all that hardship...
Slurp.
Daeun finally took a sweet sip of chocolate milk.
Erina watched her with a gentle gaze and asked,
"How is it?"
"Yummy..."
"Super tasty, right?"
"Yes! Suuuper yummy."
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet, they say.
That sip must've been tastier than any chocolate milk.
Then.
"Ah!"
Daeun set her chocolate milk on the table and said,
"Daeun thought of a painting to do."
"Oh, a painting you wanna do?"
"Yes! One to paint for Auntie!"
She got the idea mid-sip, but inspiration strikes like that.
"Can Daeun paint it?"
Erina nodded vigorously.
"Of course! I prepped everything since you were coming. Let's go paint!"
"Wow! Really?"
Erina led her to the studio room inside.
Two easels waited there, ready.
"Here, cool, right? Makes you wanna paint, huh?"
"Yes! Daeun wants to paint now!"
"Then let's start painting each other!"
Daeun clenched her fist and yelled,
"Yes!"
In the room with the two easels.
Only the occasional scratch of pencils and brushes filled the air.
Watching this, the director said to me,
"Wow, their focus is incredible."
It had been an hour since they sat down to paint.
Yet neither had gotten up.
They barely even moved, totally absorbed.
The director shook his head in awe.
"I mean, focus like that at five years old... I can't wait to see how amazing she'll be later."
"Haha."
Sure, Daeun had better focus than most five-year-olds, but that good?
"Were you just thinking she's not that impressive right now?"
Whoa, mind reader?
"Was it obvious?"
"Nah, just figured a painter like you would think that."
As expected from a famous variety PD—reading people like a book.
"Speaking as someone raising a kid her age, that level of focus is unreal."
Should've talked to other parents.
"Honestly, I'd love for you to try a gifted test sometime."
"G-Gifted test?"
"Yeah, there are private ones and government ones. Think of it less as testing genius and more as figuring out her tendencies."
A test for a child's tendencies.
I'd flinched at "gifted" at first, but "tendencies" made it sound worth trying.
"If you need info..."
He slid me his business card.
"Call anytime. I'll consult you nicely."
A famous variety PD's card.
Then it hit me.
"This isn't just to get my number, is it?"
"Yes, hahahaha!"
Well, why would a PD want my number...
"Shoot, caught me."
"..."
He was actually after my number?
"Two birds—one stone: consult and get your number."
"Ahaha..."
As I wondered how to take that, the PD said casually,
"The number thing was for future bookings. The consult is real. Call anytime if needed. Raising kids, sometimes advice from others is a lifesaver."
Whatever the intent, I felt his genuine care for me and Daeun.
Creak.
Then a big car pulled up outside our monitoring spot.
The door flew open, and someone rushed in to greet the PD.
"Whew, PD! Sorry I'm late."
"You're super late today. Shooting since morning."
"Sorry. Sudden work thing at the agency—had to stop by."
The PD winked and nodded.
"It's fine. No need for a manager on casual scenes."
"Haha, thanks. Only you, strong PD."
He shot finger hearts playfully at the PD.
"Ew, cut it out, creepy."
"Aw, you love it."
Then.
"Oh, who's this?"
The PD introduced us.
"Uh, this is Painter Kanghyeok Lee, super famous artist. And this is Erina's manager, Park Gicheol."
Erina's manager.
Makes sense—today's variety shoot, should've had one. I'd overlooked it.
No interest in this stuff usually, but yeah, weird without a manager.
Scripted show and all.
Then Manager Park Gicheol handed me his card with a friendly smile.
"Nice to meet you! Manager Park Gicheol!"
"Oh, sure. Kanghyeok Lee."
"Um, but..."
After quick intros and taking his card, he grinned and said,
"You're ridiculously handsome."
For a split second, Manager Park Gicheol's eyes...
Gulp.
Looked seriously scary.