Chapter 27
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: First Audition in America
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“Are you all ready?”
Nara Kim, with her short bob, lifted her black sunglasses, meeting Seojun's eyes with a smile. Seojun threw his fists in the air and replied.
“Yeah!”
“Shall we get going then?”
“Seojun, you need your bag.”
Seo Eunhye brought Seojun's backpack. Seojun slipped his arms through the straps.
He left the house holding his mom's hand in one and Aunt Nara's in the other.
“Oh, Jun!”
“Hi, Eric!”
Seojun cheerfully greeted his next-door neighbor, Eric Smith, who was out taking out the trash. Eric smiled and asked.
“What bag is it today?”
“A zombie!”
Seojun let go of their hands and spun around. A backpack with a zombie doll, covered in stitch marks, caught Eric's eye.
The red bloodstains here and there and the zombie's pale skin made it look realistic, yet it was still quite cute.
“That's cool! Did Sang make it for you?”
“Yep. Uncle Heesang made it. Where's Jack?”
“Jack's visiting his grandma's house. He’s going to cry and say he wants one when he sees it. Looks like I'll have to place another order with Sang.”
Shaking his head, Eric held out his fist, and Seojun bumped it with his own.
Eric greeted Seo Eunhye and Nara, who were standing behind them, before heading down the stairs.
“Heesang’s dolls are really popular.”
“He quit his job to start this, so it would've been a disaster if they weren't.”
Seo Eunhye sighed as she spoke, and Nara laughed.
“It's all thanks to your N-tube channel.”
After moving to America, Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun had been incredibly busy. There was so much to prepare for starting over in a new place.
In particular, they had spent several sleepless nights studying laws related to child crimes, including child abuse.
Things that would be overlooked in Korea could be considered child abuse in the United States. While it was a necessary precaution for a child's safety, they had to be careful with every single action.
Studying would have been difficult without the materials Nara Kim had prepared for them.
Just as the busy couple was getting used to life in LA, they realized that, due to the meddling of others, this place was no different from Korea—it was a place where people lived. Still, once they resolved to overcome it, it felt like half the battle was won.
Seo Eunhye started posting vlogs of their American life on N-tube, gradually featuring Seojun’s dolls.
Around that time, Kim Heesang was hard at work brainstorming doll designs to satisfy the tastes of the couple and Seojun.
At first, there were many comments calling them strange, but gradually, opinions emerged that they were quite well-made, and soon, more and more people began asking where to buy them.
Seo Eunhye consulted Kim Heesang and posted the ordering instructions on N-tube. Overwhelmed by the flood of orders, Kim Heesang had gleefully handed in his resignation.
“Last Halloween, I bet almost every kid in this neighborhood was carrying one of Heesang’s dolls.”
And the trendsetter behind it all was Seojun. The various monster dolls that the little boy carried whenever he went out with his parents initially caught only the adults' attention due to their uniqueness, but they soon gained fanatical popularity among the children.
Jack, who lived next door and was very close to Seojun, would burst into tears every time Seojun got a new doll, putting both the Smith and Lee couples in an awkward position. The magnanimous Seojun would often give him one of the dolls he liked a little less.
“Auntie! Let's go!”
Seojun took Nara’s hand and pulled her along. At his urging, Seo Eunhye and Nara laughed and started walking.
Nara and Seo Eunhye fastened their seatbelts, and Seojun sat in his car seat. The zombie backpack was placed neatly beside him.
“Seojun. Did you practice?”
“Yeah!”
At Nara's question, Seojun excitedly tapped his feet.
“Seojun's never acted before. Will he be okay?”
At Seo Eunhye's words, Seojun was about to say that wasn't true but stopped himself. He had tried so hard to act cute during the Elephant formula commercial shoot. He pouted his lips, hidden from his mother's view.
“You worry too much.”
“No, I don't.”
Seo Eunhye pressed her forehead at Nara's nonchalant reply.
“You were the one who called just three days ago and told us to shoot a movie. And it wasn't even a suggestion.”
“Ahahaha.”
* * *
Three days ago, a call came from Nara. Seo Eunhye put it on speakerphone so Seojun could listen in.
-Seojun, let's shoot a movie!
“A mov…?”
“I'll do it!”
Before Seo Eunhye could even finish her question, Seojun had answered.
A movie! A movie! Having only filmed vlogs since coming to America, Seojun was getting antsy. He felt that if he hesitated, he might never become a superstar.
Seojun threw his hands up and ran around the living room.
“I'll do it! Seojun will do it!”
-Great! I'll send you the script!
“Wait, hold on! Nara!”
Nara, who was about to hang up, asked again at Seo Eunhye's call.
-What is it?
“What’s this all of a sudden about a movie?”
-The other day, Seojun was watching a documentary about movies, and when I asked if he wanted to be an actor, he said yes.
“He did?”
-Yeah. So I sent the commercials and N-tube videos Seojun has been in to a place that was looking for child actors, and they replied asking him to come for an audition.
“An audition?”
At Seo Eunhye's words, Seojun ran over and asked into the phone.
“It’s not a movie shoot? It's an audition?”
-It's an audition and a film shoot combined. There will probably be other child actors there too. They're going to put the best footage they get from the kids into the movie.
“So Seojun might not even be in the movie?”
-Just think of it as good experience. What do you think, Seojun?
“I'll do it!”
He was confident he could beat anyone who showed up. Seojun clenched his fists. Seeing his fiery determination, Seo Eunhye threw in the towel.
“Alright.”
-Okay, I'll send the script then!
And just like that, an email arrived from the quick-acting Aunt Nara. When Lee Minjun came home from work, he could only shake his head at the sight of his son, who couldn't even read, staring intently at the printed script.
“It's my son's first shoot, and I can't even be there.”
“I'll take pictures.”
Seo Eunhye held up her camera in response to Lee Minjun, who was playfully stretching the giggling Seojun's cheeks.
>Ah. I forgot to mention. It's a Marine Company film.
“……Marine Company?!”
Nara's message made Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun's hearts drop.
* * *
The houses outside the window flew by. Seojun wondered. There's a proper speed for the road, but is Auntie following it?
“But how did they know about the N-tube videos and the commercial?”
“I saw the report Manse sent. Said Seojun’s been on camera since he was seven months old, right? Shot a commercial, too.”
Manse was Kevin Kim's real name.
The eldest son, Uri; the eldest daughter, Nara; and the youngest, Manse.
Uri Nara Manse.
Seo Eunhye, Lee Minjun, and Seojun had laughed for a long time when Nara told them the names.
Somehow, the news had reached the ears of Brown Black's fans, and the fan club had been in an uproar, with everyone trying to claim a nickname that included 'Manse' first.
“A report?”
“Ever since we were kids, our grandfather made us submit reports instead of diaries or letters.”
Nara shook her head.
Her grandfather, who made snot-nosed kids write reports; her older brother, who disappeared because he hated working at the company; and her younger brother, who left home for his love of rap and ended up in Korea.
Is there anyone normal in my family?
“My siblings and I are more used to that than things like letters. He sent me a report four years ago asking me to take good care of your family. Of course, I read it back then and forgot all about it.”
A few days ago, Nara had seen a casting call for a young male actor with black hair, black eyes, and a pretty smile, and she had immediately thought of Seojun.
Come to think of it, Manse had sent a report with similar content. After rummaging through the bookshelves in her study, she found Manse's report, which she had read once four years ago and put away.
“The formula commercial Seojun was in is just an ordinary ad to most people, but apparently, it's particularly effective with parents of young children. And the eating videos he did have a huge influence on babies under 20 months old.”
After reading the report, Nara had looked up the videos herself.
To her eyes, it was indeed just a common commercial, but the reactions from parents and children were extraordinary.
Nara Kim glanced at Seojun through the rearview mirror. Her sharp gaze made Seojun flinch.
“Turns out, Eric next door saw Seojun's videos too. Said they were a huge help in raising Jack.”
Moreover, Seojun's videos transcended nationality.
“I knew about that.”
On their first day moving into this house, when they knocked on the door to say hello, the Smith couple who came out had exclaimed, "Oh, Jun!" with surprised faces upon seeing Seojun in Seo Eunhye's arms.
That had surprised the couple and Seojun as well. Since then, the two families had become quite close.
“Plus, the dolls from Heesang that Seojun always carries are selling well. They say they would've sold out if they'd just been promoted. That means there's something special about Seojun.”
Nara was considering using Seojun as a model for King's Market later on. For now, though, everyone was against it since he had no fame whatsoever.
Seojun tilted his head. He had never used his ability. Uncle Heesang's dolls were just popular on their own. He pictured Uncle Heesang on their video call, buried in work with dark circles reaching down to his chin.
Nara's car came to a stop, indicating they had arrived at their destination. Unbuckling her seatbelt, Nara looked at Seo Eunhye and Seojun in the back seat and said.
“Nothing to worry about. Just think of it as a light practice session. Like I said on the phone, it's a very brief extra role. All you have to do is not get nervous, look at the camera, and give a big smile. You read the script, right?”
“Yeah.”
Marine Company… Seo Eunhye recalled the name she had tried so hard to forget.
Ah… Unlike his mother, who was pressing her forehead in distress, Seojun was thrilled. To be filming a movie for such a huge company from the very start!
“Mom read it to me! I practiced, too!”
“Good. You did well!”
Nara helped Seojun out of the car. She didn't forget to put the zombie backpack on his back.
“This way.”
Nara led the way. A bustling noise could be heard from the direction she was heading.
The area was filled with people moving boxes and running around. Nara spoke with a security guard, who then said something into his radio.
Soon, a person came running from a distance.
“Hello! I'm Jonathan Will, a staff member. Are you here for the audition today?”
Jonathan Will, a boy who looked to be about middle-school age, with a sprinkle of freckles, asked while holding a paper covered in red lines.
“Yes. This is Seojun Lee.”
“Okay. One moment, please. Another child actor is auditioning right now.”
Wiping away his sweat, Jonathan guided the three of them inside. To the right, a crew was bustling about silently, seemingly in the middle of filming.
“This way.”
Jonathan whispered as he opened the flap of a temporary tent.
It was then.
“William!”
A woman's scream.
“Waaaaaah!”
And a child's cry.
Jonathan squeezed his eyes shut. The three, unaware of the situation, tilted their heads.
As the child's crying showed no sign of stopping, a very loud voice boomed.
“Jonathan Will!!”
“Yes! Director! I'm coming!”
Jonathan, looking haggard, spoke quickly.
“If you wait here, a makeup artist will bring the costume. Please change into it and wait. When your name is called, you can come out. I might not be able to come back.”
“Jonathan Will!”
“Yes, yes!”
Turning pale at the director's booming voice, Jonathan quickly ran toward the set, where the child's cries could still be heard.