Chapter 368
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 368
Chapter Title: The Boy from the Han River
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“So you thought he was an unknown actor.”
At the planning director's final, confirming blow, Director Min Huigyeong, who had her forehead pressed against the desk, flinched. Everyone chuckled softly at her reaction.
Seojun searched his memory.
“Come to think of it, we only talked about your work back then.”
He hadn't told Director Min Huigyeong which projects he had appeared in. Since she didn't recognize his face and he hadn't mentioned it, it was completely understandable that she would mistake him for an unknown actor.
Recalling all the things Director Min Huigyeong had frantically said to Seojun and her recent behavior, the planning director finally understood.
“No wonder… He was unknown, and you didn't know his name or contact information, so you couldn't tell us.”
“Yeees.”
Director Min Huigyeong, still with her head on the desk, replied with a drawn-out sigh.
She couldn't just cast a kid whose name and experience she didn't know as the lead, nor could she ask them to find some nameless kid she met by the Han River.
Her response made everything click into place. A wave of relief washed over the frustrated planning director.
“So you held auditions to find him.”
And that kid was Seojun Lee.
‘I don't know what this actor looked like when she met him by the Han River, but…’
The planning director glanced to his side. There was Seojun, radiating the aura of a star.
Even if he were an unknown actor, with that kind of presence, he could see why she'd go as far as holding auditions to find him. It seemed like it would even be worth creating an entire agency just to support him.
While the planning director dreamed of creating the next Cocoa Entertainment, Seojun blinked.
“You held the auditions because of me?”
At Seojun's question, Director Min Huigyeong gave a tiny nod. To an observer, it looked like she had simply twitched.
“To be precise, it was to find an actor whose name I didn't even know, but… yeah.”
Just knowing his identity seemed to have created a bit of distance. Seojun smiled at her words.
“You can speak casually with me, Director.”
“…Should I?”
Director Min Huigyeong finally lifted her face. The redness seemed to have subsided a little.
“I’d braced myself for it, in my own way. Proposing an audition to *the* Seojun Lee… Other production companies wouldn't have even dreamed of it.”
The planning director of the film production company, Danhong, nodded repeatedly.
“But to think it was all unnecessary…”
She was still a bit dazed by the fact that the boy she had been searching for, even holding auditions for, was none other than Seojun Lee, the very first person she had sent the script to.
Having taken such a long and winding path, Director Min Huigyeong let out a hollow, incredulous laugh. But the reason she could laugh was likely because she had finally found the actor she was looking for.
“I thought you’d become a famous actor… I just didn't realize you already were one.”
A worldwide star, at that.
Seojun gave a gentle smile at her words.
The planning director watched Director Min Huigyeong and Seojun, smiling warmly.
A director and an actor who met by chance at the Han River. It was a story the public would find fascinating if it were turned into an article.
The audition was one thing, but with Seojun on board, the promotional material was endless. The planning director, imagining the PR team's delight, opened his mouth.
But there was something else they had to do first.
“Well then, shall we begin the audition?”
* * *
Lee Yunju brought Seojun's application from the office and placed it before the directors.
Seojun took his seat in front of them, where a single chair had been placed.
It had been a while since he’d been in a setting like this, and feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement, Seojun straightened his posture and looked at the judges with a clear gaze.
Director Min Huigyeong read through the neatly organized resume.
From his oldest work, *Shadowman 1*, to his most recent, *Survivors (Theatrical Cut)(Director's Cut)*. They were all works she had thoroughly enjoyed.
Only then did it truly sink in.
‘…It’s really Seojun Lee.’
She had thought that if the boy didn't show up for the audition, she would end up filming with Seojun.
But a part of her must have believed she would definitely find the boy. She had only imagined working hard, sometimes making mistakes, with another unknown talent; she had never imagined this.
Director Min Huigyeong's eyes trembled.
From a blockbuster series to an Oscar-winning film.
It was too impressive and brilliant to be the filmography of a mere eighteen-year-old actor.
An actor with this resume was going to be in her movie.
Her heart pounded, and her palms grew damp.
For a moment, she recalled her first film, which had been a disastrous failure. This project might end up the same way. She felt an unwarranted pressure, afraid that her film might tarnish such a magnificent filmography.
The casting director and art director, who were working with Seojun for the first time, felt the same.
“This film will be released overseas too, right?”
“His historical drama was released abroad… so of course it will, right?”
Casting an actor who didn't fit the role or couldn't act, or creating a flaw that didn't fit the film.
A single one of those things wouldn't ruin the movie, but they might be criticized for years to come. And not just in Korea, but possibly all over the world.
“…We have to work hard.”
“I know, right?”
Unlike the three nervous directors, the veteran cinematographer was smiling warmly at how much Seojun had grown since he’d last seen him. The planning director, who had worked with him on *Yeok (Reverse)*, felt the same. That was when he was in his first year of middle school, a full five years ago.
The planning director spoke in a friendly tone.
“First, please tell us which character you're applying for and what you think of them.”
In a strange situation where the actor being auditioned was calm while the directors who were supposed to be judging coolly were nervous, the audition for *[Working Title: Journey]* began.
* * *
The casting director, listening to Seojun’s explanation, whispered to the art director.
“This is a character analysis for the audition script, not the main one.”
Since Seojun had received the script for *[Working Title: Journey]*, they had expected him to analyze that character, but it seemed he had prepared a new analysis for the audition script.
“And a very good one at that.”
The directors swallowed hard at the actor's thorough preparation. If he was this prepared for an audition, how meticulous would he be during the actual shoot? They struggled to calm their trembling legs.
“Alright, let’s see your performance. I'll read the lines for the other character.”
“Okay.”
At the planning director's words, Seojun’s posture in the chair shifted.
As if his relaxed demeanor until now had been a lie, he was perched on the edge of his seat, looking uncomfortable and anxious.
Seojun's wavering gaze wandered around the audition room.
A consultation room in a university hospital materialized before the eyes of the directors and the planning director, who all knew the contents of the script.
All five of them pictured the consultation rooms they knew. The placement of the desk, chairs, and windows differed, but they had one thing in common: a cold, clinical atmosphere hung in the air. It was because of Seojun's acting, which expressed anxiety and discomfort with his entire body.
Lost in Seojun's performance, which had begun without a single line, the planning director was brought back to his senses by a tap from the cinematographer, who was quite accustomed to Seojun’s acting. He then uttered the line he had repeated countless times today.
“You have six months left.”
He tried to deliver it like an actor, so as not to break the mood, but watching and doing were clearly different things. The planning director, coldly giving his own awkward performance a score of minus 100, looked at Seojun.
Seojun’s eyes, which had been roaming the room, fixed on the doctor. Seojun blinked.
“What?”
That single word instantly changed the air.
Director Min Huigyeong, the casting director, and the art director, who were seeing Seojun’s acting up close for the first time, leaned forward without realizing it.
“…Only six months…”
The planning director, who had momentarily held his breath under Seojun's direct gaze, continued his lines. This was on a completely different level from the other auditions. He felt like a real doctor delivering a terminal diagnosis to a patient, and his heart grew heavy.
“Left. We’re still researching a cure for the disease…”
“But I’m a junior in high school.”
His voice was utterly ordinary, as if he still couldn't comprehend.
The cinematographer, who had stood up at some point, took a couple of steps back, imagining the camera angle. The casting director and art director held their breath.
“…It could be shorter.”
“I’m telling you, I’m only eighteen.”
“…Rather than inpatient treatment…”
“I have to take the college entrance exams next year.”
“…”
“I don't feel sick at all. I just came because I had a cough. I was studying at the library, and the cough was bothering me!”
Seojun’s voice grew louder.
The doctor's words were impossible to understand, and he refused to accept them.
But contrary to his feelings, his mind quickly grasped the situation. A storm of anxiety and fear washed over him, and his hands, with nowhere to go, trembled violently. His legs shook. His whole body trembled.
Unable to bear the shaking, the boy shot up from his chair and looked toward his parents, his pillars of support.
Normally, he would have had to turn around, but Seojun hadn't forgotten he was in an audition. His gaze fell upon Director Min Huigyeong’s group.
It was a look of utter confusion, filled with the anxiety of ‘it can't be’ and the denial of ‘it's not true.’
At that expression, the cinematographer moved again. He positioned himself where he could best capture Seojun's eyes. Various directorial ideas flashed through Director Min Huigyeong’s mind. Before she could even choose the best one, Seojun’s lines continued.
“Mom! You know how healthy I am! I’ve studied late since elementary school and never once caught a cold!”
“Dad! Let's go to another hospital. This place… this place is weird. He must be a quack! Let’s go to another hospital and get checked again! How can he say I have six… six months left just for a cough! It’s insane!”
Seojun grabbed and shook the arms of his unseen parents.
His trembling, anxious voice and ragged, desperate breaths filled the audition room. Everyone forgot to breathe.
“…I’m just, I'm just a junior! I’m only eighteen! Why me! Why does it have to be me… *Cough!*”
Seojun’s hand, which was naturally moving to cover his mouth, froze.
*Cough. Cough.*
The sound of his coughing, like the ticking of a time bomb, filled the consultation room.
His parents, pale as sheets, plead with the doctor. *Are the results wrong? Why is there no cure? Please, run the tests again.* Each time the doctor shook his head in response, Seojun's expression visibly darkened.
Knowing it was futile, Seojun pressed both hands over his mouth to stifle the cough. His body shuddered as he forced it down.
“…No. It’s not true…”
*Cough.*
The unbearable cough felt like a shock to his heart and his head.
Finally, his legs gave out, and Seojun collapsed to the floor. His body, curled into a ball as if to ward everything off, trembled faintly. The sound of a child’s sobs, unable to contain his despair, injustice, and fear, filled the air.
* * *
“I wonder if he’s done by now?”
An Daho got out of the car and headed toward the audition room.
He had planned to go straight to the waiting room after finishing his work, but SBC had contacted him about the light stick models. He had left a text on Seojun’s phone and informed one of Danhong’s staff before heading to SBC.
The meeting at SBC had dragged on, taking longer than expected. An Daho sighed as he walked quickly.
“I don't think there's a design they can use from *Working Man!*…”
*We Are Now / In the Sea*, which aired on SBC, would have been great for a model, but the rights belonged to the American network ABS, so it was impossible.
MBC was making a model based on *Spring Has Returned*, and KBC was using *Naeuiwon*, so SBC seemed anxious with only *Working Man!* as an option.
“Regular people might buy merchandise for the dramas, but I feel like only Seojun's fans would buy it for a variety show…”
Shaking his head, An Daho walked on and ran into the planning director, who was just leaving an office.
“Ah! Director…?”
An Daho stopped short as he was about to call out to him. The planning director's eyes were a little red.
‘Did something bad happen?’
While An Daho hesitated, the planning director spotted him and strode over in an instant. An Daho's concerned expression turned to one of bewilderment.
“Director? Is something wrong…?”
“Seojun.”
“Yes?”
The manager's demeanor changed.
The planning director, failing to notice the sharp glint in the manager's eyes, continued.
“There’s nothing wrong with Seojun, is there?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Like if he'd been diagnosed with a rare disease or something…”
At the planning director's words, An Daho's expression softened.
‘Right, the main character in this project is terminally ill.’
It had been a while, so he had forgotten. After explaining to the planning director that no, Seojun was perfectly healthy, An Daho let out a soft sigh.
‘I should probably prepare a copy of his health checkup results in advance.’
Once the movie was released, he was sure he'd be getting this question from more than a few people.