Chapter 257
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 257
Chapter Title: The Audition Video
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Lee Seojun's acting is special.
It’s as if he brings a real character to life; ‘Lee Seojun’ disappears, and only the ‘role’ remains.
It was true for Grand Prince Seongnyeong, Jin Natra, and Gray Vainie. He wasn't Lee Seojun; he was Go Joowon and King Danjong.
Because his acting was so perfect, people distinguished between ‘Lee Seojun’ and those characters.
Right after watching a movie, while the emotions lingered, they might have superimposed the roles onto him, but they never thought ‘Lee Seojun’ would destroy the Earth or that ‘Lee Seojun’ *was* Gray Vainie.
That was because those characters were part of stories far removed from ‘reality’.
But what if.
If Lee Seojun were to play a ‘student his own age,’ would people be able to separate the role from the actor?
Seojun himself, and of course his acquaintances, would know the difference between the role and him, but the three teachers judging the audition did not.
The look in his eyes as if he were truly in love, his wounded expression, his heart-wrenching voice.
The teachers were in awe of Seojun’s acting, which felt more real than reality itself.
“...It is acting, right?”
“It seems like acting, but it also doesn't...?”
“Whether it's acting or he's channeling something real into his performance, he’s truly brilliant. I don’t think I breathed the entire time.”
Unlike with number 541, Kim Hawoon, whose score they had tallied immediately after his free acting segment, the teachers were still mulling over Seojun’s performance.
“Ah, we don't have time for this.”
“Everyone else must be waiting.”
The teachers rose, tidied their area, and headed to the conference room next to the faculty office. The acting department teachers were already seated there.
“You’re here!”
“Let’s watch it right away!”
While the camera was being connected to the projector, one teacher asked the three who had judged the audition.
“How was it?”
“It was incredible. Seeing it in person, the intensity was on another level.”
“Oh? What kind of performance was it?”
“It’ll be faster to just watch it yourselves.”
The three teachers who had already seen it chuckled leisurely.
“Alright, let’s begin.”
Light emanated from the projector, and the empty audition room filled the white screen. Soon, the door opened, and Lee Seojun walked in. Jung Siwoon smiled fondly at the sight of his student, who had grown up so much.
Lee Seojun introduced himself and then began his free acting piece.
Jung Siwoon’s eyes sparkled as Seojun’s demeanor changed in an instant. When a student plays a student, they often reflect their own personality in the performance, but Seojun had completely become the ‘role’.
Watching the boy gaze at the camera with wounded eyes while tears streamed down his face, the teachers felt their hearts ache. Some even had their eyes well up.
The fresh-faced boy’s unrequited first love was heart-wrenching just to watch.
Seojun’s performance ended, and the video turned off.
The teachers, who had been watching, entranced, snapped back to reality.
“...He’s good.”
That was the first thing anyone said.
“But... don’t you think he was acting while thinking of someone he actually likes?”
“I thought so too. Is it because the shift in his aura isn't as dramatic as with his other characters?”
“Really? I thought his atmosphere changed completely when he started.”
“It’s because the role is a student.”
At Jung Siwoon’s voice, all the teachers’ eyes turned to him.
“A student?”
“Yes. For example, it’s like this.”
Jung Siwoon continued.
“Let’s think of Seojun as the color blue. Jin Natra is black, William is yellow, King Danjong is green, and Grand Prince Seongnyeong is light green. With every role, Seojun drastically changes his color like this and paints the work with it.”
Oho.
The acting department teachers nodded, understanding the simple analogy.
“But this time, his performance as ‘Choi Eunyul’ is a color very similar to blue. Something like sky blue or navy. Or maybe an even closer shade...”
Jung Siwoon took out his phone and searched.
“Midnight blue, cerulean blue, royal blue, cobalt blue... there are so many types. Anyway, the color of the character ‘Choi Eunyul’ resembles ‘blue,’ which is why it seems similar to ‘Lee Seojun.’”
“Then in the future, if he plays roles similar to ‘blue’—meaning, if Seojun takes on roles like an ‘actor’ or a ‘student’—won’t people get confused?”
It rarely happens now, but in the past, there were people who genuinely mistook actors who played villains for bad people. That too was a form of ‘image fixation.’
Jung Siwoon shook his head.
“Think about how designers can distinguish colors so well. They get used to it. Once you’re familiar with midnight blue, you’ll be able to tell it apart from blue. This video is just too short; if you watched for just ten more minutes, you’d see the distinction. Because Seojun acts so perfectly, you can easily tell that it’s definitely different.”
“That’s true.”
The three teachers who had judged him nodded.
Watching the video again, the Seojun right before and the Seojun during the performance were different. It was strange to think they had been surprised, wondering if he had someone he liked. The acting Seojun was the very embodiment of a ‘boy’.
“Besides, no one is going to watch Lee Seojun’s acting just once. After a few viewings, they’ll definitely be able to tell the difference. Though less perceptive people might need to watch it more.”
Everyone nodded as if they understood Jung Siwoon’s point. Just then, a second-year teacher asked.
“But Choi Eunyul... do you know this work?”
“Ah. It’s a youth drama from MBS. The original was probably an internet novel.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. The actor who played ‘Choi Eunyul,’ the role Seojun performed, was so bad that the script was revised midway, and it ended up being a flop. It’s impressive he managed to get the pre-revision script. I heard rumors that Cocoa Entertainment collects all sorts of scripts, and it seems to be true.”
The acting department teachers tilted their heads. For a failed drama, Jung Siwoon knew it all too well.
“How do you know so much about it?”
To one teacher’s question, Jung Siwoon smiled warmly.
“Because I was the male lead.”
***
[Actor Lee Seojun Passes Mirinae Arts High School Audition!]
[Mirinae Arts High School Announces Accepted Students! So When Are the Audition Videos Coming Out?]
[Mirinae Arts High School Audition Videos to be Uploaded Tomorrow!]
[Audition Videos Scheduled for Upload Today at 6 PM!]
-It’s here!!
-Audition video! Audition video!
-No!! I have to work late today!!
=...But it’s Friday? TGIF ㅠ
-Why is no one talking about him passing?
=? There’s no way Lee Seojun would fail, right?
=22 I might have my doubts about other things, but this is acting? How could Lee Seojun possibly fail?
-Seojun! Congrats on passing!!
-I wonder what kind of acting he did this time?
=I can't even guess lol
=His Yeoul Arts Middle School audition was from a 10-year-old movie, right? Maybe this one is from something old too?
=Whatever it is, I’m waiting!
When Friday 6 PM arrived, the audition videos of the accepted students of Mirinae Arts High School were uploaded to N-tube.
[Number 541, Kim Hawoon]
[Number 542, Lee Seojun]
Perhaps in order of exam number, Seojun’s video was last.
What kind of performance would he show this time? With excited faces, people clicked the play button.
***
Thump!
Startled by a loud noise from inside the room, the assistant writer threw the door open. Writer So Eunjin, who had made a name for herself as a star writer since *Naeuiwon*, was banging her head on her desk.
“Writer So!? What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Should I call 119?!”
“I’m, I’m fine....”
“You don’t look fine at all! Just ten minutes ago, you were so excited about watching Seojun’s audition video for inspiration, and now you look this haggard?!”
Oblivious to her frantic assistant writer, Writer So Eunjin was crying inwardly.
‘To think I’d see this here...!’
A novel she had posted online in high school, half as a joke and half seriously, because all her friends were reading and writing them. It gained popularity, was published, became popular again, and was even adapted into a drama,
the internet novel, [Waiting for a Star].
As the original author and a high school senior at the time, So Eunjin could only watch blankly as the drama fell apart, starting with her most beloved character, ‘Choi Eunyul.’ That frustration became the catalyst for her to become a drama writer.
*[Waiting for a Star]* was Writer So Eunjin’s first work, one she had written with the most excitement without a single thought for readers or anyone else, but that was precisely the problem.
‘It’s my dark history!’
Writer So Eunjin cried out internally and lifted her head to look at the monitor again. Her forehead was red, prompting the assistant writer to panic once more, but Writer So Eunjin simply moved the mouse.
‘But this Choi Eunyul is so perfectly Choi Eunyul...!’
It was as if the Choi Eunyul she had only ever imagined in her head had truly appeared. She clicked play, and the Seojun on the monitor began to move. Choi Eunyul’s voice came from the speakers, and both the assistant writer and Writer So Eunjin became engrossed in Seojun’s performance.
“...Writer.”
“...Yes?”
“Do you know what work this is from?”
Seeing her assistant writer’s sparkling eyes, as if completely smitten by the teary-eyed Choi Eunyul, Writer So Eunjin pressed a hand to her forehead.
‘There must be more than just one or two people like her.’
The thought of those people searching for the drama and the original novel made the author, So Eunjin, feel a complicated mix of joy and the embarrassment of exposing her diary to the world. And if the cause was the superstar Lee Seojun, the aftermath would surely be enormous.
‘Seojunnn!’
***
While the world was abuzz with Seojun’s audition video, there was one place shrouded in gloom.
November.
It was the high school seniors fighting the college entrance exam war.
“Ah, Seojun’s audition video is up.”
During break time.
At the words of her friend, Im Yena, who was hesitating with her phone in hand, Song Yujeong tilted her head.
“So just watch it? It’s not even two minutes long, is it?”
“Because I’ll just keep replaying it. The CSAT is less than two weeks away, and if I watch it now, I’ll keep watching until I get sick of it. The problem is, I won’t get sick of it.”
She had already gone on N-tube and pulled up Lee Seojun’s video; all that was left was to press play. Im Yena groaned, her finger hovering over the screen.
“Really?”
At Song Yujeong’s calm reply, Im Yena tilted her head.
“Yujeong, you don’t like Seojun?”
“No, I do like him, but...”
Song Yujeong scratched her cheek.
“Hmm. His works are entertaining, so I always watch anything he’s in, and I’m happy when he wins awards, but he’s so famous that he feels distant, you know? Like he’s not of this world? Plus, I’ve been watching him since he was really young, so he feels familiar, almost like a little brother. It’s hard to put into words.”
“I guess there are people like that.”
The majority of people liked Lee Seojun, but not everyone was a die-hard fan. Some would rewatch his works multiple times, while others would only see them once.
Respecting personal preferences, Im Yena’s eyes sparkled as she thrust her phone at Song Yujeong.
“Then watch this and tell me what you think! No spoilers!”
“Do you really have to go that far?”
“Uh-huh!”
“...Fine. Alright.”
If she could, the future Song Yujeong would have grabbed the present Song Yujeong by the collar as she took Im Yena’s phone. *Don’t watch it now,* she would have screamed. *Wait until after the CSAT!*
Oblivious to her future self’s warning, Song Yujeong took the earphones and phone from a broadly smiling Im Yena. She put in the earphones and pressed play.
-Yujeong.
A soft voice drifted through. It was a voice laced with an unconcealable tenderness and affection, despite its attempt to sound nonchalant.
-So... just once. Just this once.
-Smile at me like that, too.
Song Yujeong stared blankly at Seojun as tears streamed down his face.
His trembling eyelashes as he blinked, the teardrops rolling down his cheeks, the pained furrow of his brow. And the sparkling black eyes of Seojun, who was in love.
The less-than-two-minute video seemed to stretch into two hours, time moving in slow motion.
Without realizing it, Song Yujeong pressed the replay button.
-Yujeong.
-Smile at me like that, too.
With every word Seojun spoke, her heart pounded, and with every movement, her head spun.
Forgetting to breathe, Song Yujeong pressed the replay button once more.
“? Yujeong? Song Yujeong?”
An idol fan for eight years.
Nineteen-year-old Song Yujeong had just been hit by a truck of feels, for an actor, for the very first time.
***
[Actor Lee Seojun Sheds Tears.]
[Reports of Lee Seojun-Induced Fandom Accidents Pouring In From Everywhere!]
[Actor Lee Seojun, Now Ready for Romance?]
[Even His Crying Face is Charming, Actor Lee Seojun!]
[The Work Lee Seojun Chose, The First Internet Novel Drama, ‘Waiting for a Star’!]
-First article lol. Definitely got the clicks.
-Seojun cried! He cried!
=ㅠㅠ He’s handsome even when he cries! No, I think he’s even more handsome because he’s crying!
-My friend got hit by the feels truck too. She only stanned idols, but she immediately signed up for the fan cafe lol.
=22 My friend too lol
=333 That’s me. Hit by the feels truck lol. How could I not join the fan cafe after he cried like that, asking someone to smile for him... ㅠ
-I’ve been waiting for a day like this! Romance! Seojun in a romance!
=He’ll probably start doing romance projects soon.
=But in Korean dramas, even doctors and detectives have love lives lol
=Korean Drama - Love = 0 lol
-Where did he even find such a classic ;;;
=22 Waiting for a Star... ;;; My dark history ;;;
=333 I still have the book at home.
=444 I still secretly read it and cry these days lol
-But what’s Waiting for a Star?
=...A generation gap, here of all places...
=(Link) It’s a masterpiece. Go read it!
=Don’t watch the drama. The second male lead ruins it. Just watch Lee Seojun’s audition video.
#