Chapter 54
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: From Hollywood to Taekwondo
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On one side of the set, the spaceship of Natra, built by the Marine Company art team, was visible.
It was only the spaceship's openable entrance and a portion of the outer wall next to it, but it seemed to be life-sized, as it was massive.
The empty spaces here and there were surrounded by a green screen.
“Wow, that’s so cool. Can we take a picture?”
Lee Minjun and Seojun marveled at the glistening black exterior of the spaceship.
The back was just an empty structure, but the front looked exactly like Natra’s spaceship from *Shadowman 1*.
Hearing Lee Minjun, Jonathan smiled and said,
“Of course. After we finish filming *Shadowman 2*, it’s going to be displayed in the Marine Memorial Hall. It may look impressive, but only the outside is finished. The inside is completely empty. We have a separate set for the interior.”
“Really? Seojun, let’s take a picture and show it off to your mom and Samchon!”
Jonathan took a picture of the two of them smiling brightly with the black spaceship in the background.
Evan Block and Richel Hill, who had finished their makeup and appeared on set, joined them for a photo.
Meanwhile, the staff finished their preparations for filming. The cameras were aimed at the set, and everyone returned to their positions. Director Ryan Will sat in front of the monitor.
-Ready,
[(Evil) The Melancholy Scent of a Flower Blooming Alone is activated.]
Seojun took a slow breath. Everyone watched the actors with tense expressions.
-Action!
Belle and Mac were speechless. Only then did Mac recall Jin Natra's words.
Goosebumps crept up from his toes. Mac’s mouth moved silently for a moment before he spat out the words through trembling lips.
“You’re… that… kid?”
Jin Natra replied with a cold expression.
“What does that matter now?”
“What?”
Mac shouted. The image of a woman collapsing in tears flashed through his mind. A damp, musty scent seemed to rise from somewhere. Mac couldn't help but yell out, his emotions surging.
“Your parents are waiting for you! If you were alive and well all this time, shouldn't you have run to them immediately?!”
“In this body?”
Jin Natra pointed a finger at himself. Mac, who was about to yell back, flinched.
A child who looked to be around ten years old. The wormhole incident on Natra had happened a year ago. A four-year-old child couldn't have grown that much already.
“How…?”
“It’s because time flows differently on Natra and Earth.”
Belle stepped between them. Looking conflicted, she placed a hand on Jin Natra’s shoulder. At her gentle pull, Jin Natra turned away.
“Let’s go back.”
“…Alright.”
The two headed for the spaceship. The ship’s ramp lowered to the ground, and from within, armored Natra soldiers poured out.
“Wait!”
Mac shouted. The pair walking towards the ship paused. Only Belle turned her head toward Mac. With a contorted face, Mac cried out.
“They might understand, they might! They love you so much!”
“…”
Jin Natra looked at the wide-open spaceship, then up at the sky. It was dazzling.
His eyes, slightly moist, remained fixed on the ship's interior. He never once looked back.
Mac pleaded desperately.
“Come back! William!”
“I am Jin Natra.”
And the spaceship door closed.
-Cut! OK!
* * *
“A stuntman!”
Seojun’s eyes sparkled. Evan Block and his stunt double were standing side by side in front of him.
“You look exactly alike.”
Not only were they the same height, but their silhouettes were similar too. With both of them in the Shadowman costume, it looked like there were two Shadowmen.
The filming of the fight scene began. The hero battles were Marine Company’s most spectacular and essential scenes.
The most capital and technology were poured into the combat sequences. They also took the longest to film.
Director Ryan Will and the stuntmen started filming. The staff, more on edge than usual, focused intently on their tasks.
Seojun and Richel Hill, who had come to watch, sat with Evan Block, who had to occasionally appear in the fight scenes to deliver his lines.
It wasn’t as glamorous as what you see in the movies, but the stuntmen’s coordination was so perfect that it was thrilling.
“I want to try that too!”
Seojun mimicked Shadowman, throwing a punch. Evan Block and Richel Hill let out a small laugh at his short reach.
“It’s better if we avoid filming dangerous scenes as much as possible.”
“Why?”
“Do you know why the release of *Red Bone 2* was delayed?”
“Because the actor from *Red Bone* got injured.”
Evan Block and Richel Hill nodded.
“It might be fine if there’s a replacement actor available, but for actors in a planned series like ours, we have to be extra careful with our bodies. The audience loves us in our roles, so imagine how disappointed they’d be if another actor took over.”
“I see.”
Still, Seojun watched the stuntmen fight with a look of longing.
Shadowman swiftly dealt with an enemy and mimed throwing something. After the CG work was done, a spear made of shadows would be in his hand.
“Still.”
Evan Block stood up. He had spotted Jonathan coming to relay a message from Director Ryan.
“As long as it’s not a dangerous scene, I can film as much as they want.”
Following Jonathan, Evan Block went to film, swapping places with his stunt double.
Filming resumed. Watching the fight scene, Seojun tilted his head and asked.
“That’s not a dangerous scene?”
Evan Block was darting around, coordinating his moves with the stuntmen playing his enemies.
It was certainly less flashy than the previous scene, but the action sequence still looked like one wrong move could lead to a serious injury.
“Evan has been going to action school since he was young. He’s mastered various martial arts. Now he’s better than most stuntmen. Plus, he knows how to film as safely as possible. Look.”
Just as Richel Hill said, Evan Block was checking the floor for anything that could cause injury, talking extensively with the stuntmen he was fighting against, and even doing a light run-through of their moves.
“Those kinds of scenes can get really dangerous if someone makes a mistake. To be honest, Evan probably wants to film everything himself. He likes to perfect his performance from start to finish. But if a major accident happened, it would affect everyone here, so he doesn’t.”
Seojun’s eyes fell on the hardworking staff.
The stuntmen moving diligently. The actors. The makeup artists, and even the employees who would handle the CG. So many people were working for this movie.
“Jun, if you want to be more involved in movies, you should learn some kind of sport. If you start training hard now, you’ll be able to participate in even more action scenes than Evan.”
Seojun nodded. *I’ll go to a Taekwondo academy as soon as I get back to Korea!*
* * *
From the scheduled filming to additional shoots. The filming for *Shadowman 2* wasn’t over, but all of Seojun’s scenes were complete.
On his last day of filming, a staff member from Marine Company’s PR team asked if he would attend the premiere in the United States. After hearing the date, Seojun shook his head.
“Good luck with the rest of the shoot!”
“You take care too, Jun. If you ever come to the States, be sure to call!”
“Here’s my phone number and email address. Keep in touch, even if there’s nothing special.”
“Oh, me too!”
Evan Block handed Seojun a piece of paper with his contact info written in neat handwriting. Richel Hill quickly found a piece of paper and scribbled down her email address.
Seojun took both papers and smiled brightly.
“Be careful during filming. The fight scenes are dangerous.”
“Don’t worry! I may not look it, but I’m super tough.”
“Let me know if you film another movie or drama. I’ll definitely watch it.”
The three actors, who had been inseparable throughout the filming period, couldn’t seem to say goodbye. In the end, Evan Block and Richel Hill only left the hotel when it was Seojun’s bedtime.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
The father and son lay side by side on the large bed, talking.
Lying on his side to prevent [(Good) A Summer Bear’s Winter Sleep] from activating, Seojun recalled his time in America, from filming in Central Park to the studio shoots.
He had also gone out to have fun with his dad whenever they had free time.
“It was so much fun. I wish Mom could have come too.”
“I know. Let’s come back with your mom during summer break after you start school.”
Seeing the joyful, satisfied expression on his son’s face, Lee Minjun, who was lying opposite him, chuckled softly.
“Okay. Ah, I want to act again.”
“You just finished filming so much, and you want to do it again?”
“Yeah! I should ask Eunchan Samchon if he has any good scripts!”
“Alright. Let’s do that.”
Lying on his back, Seojun’s eyes slowly closed.
“Tomorrow, I have to play with Jack…”
… Lee Minjun carefully tucked the blanket around his sleeping son.
The next day, Jack Smith, a boy one year his senior, burst into tears, shocked to see that Seojun was now taller than him. When his parents scolded him, saying, “It’s because you don’t eat your meals properly!” he threw himself on the floor and sobbed his heart out.
Soon enough, however, he forgot why he was crying, and he and Seojun had a great time at a nearby amusement park.
After returning to Korea, Seojun started attending a Taekwondo academy.
When Seojun came to register at the academy closest to his house, the instructor tilted his head in confusion. He wasn't very interested in movies.
The adult and middle/high school classes were at different times, and many of Seojun's kindergarten friends also attended the academy, so the other parents were already used to him. He was able to attend without any trouble.
“I learned this today!”
Seojun threw a punch into the air. “Hyah! Hyah!” Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun couldn’t stop smiling at Seojun’s face, full of fighting spirit.
“How is it? I’m really good, right?”
“Seojun, you’re the best!”
“You’re amazing! You could be a Taekwondo athlete!”
And that actually happened.
“You should train Seojun to be an athlete! Seojun’s mother!”
In less than two weeks, the Taekwondo instructor was practically begging. On the wall of the small consultation room hung medals the instructors had won at national competitions.
“An… athlete?”
“Seojun is incredibly talented. He’s amazing! He masters any move I teach him in a single try.”
“Well, Seojun is a bit smart.”
The instructor shook his head vigorously.
“It’s not just a bit smart! Strength, agility! And he’s still young, so his flexibility is a given!”
Seojun sipped the orange juice the instructor had given him.
[(Good) The Hwangbo Family’s Youngest Son’s Pet Dog - Low Grade]
You can see the flow of martial arts to a very small degree.
You can reproduce the Hwangbo family’s martial arts.
Restriction: Dog
They say a dog at a village school can recite poetry after three years, right?
Seojun had lived for a full ten years as the pet dog of the Hwangbo family’s youngest son.
He followed the youngest son around, strutting through the Hwangbo estate, and at some point, he was able to go anywhere the youngest son’s authority reached, even on his own.
Who would dare mistreat the one and only pet dog of the youngest son, who received all the love of the Hwangbo family!
The most entertaining thing to do in the boring Hwangbo estate was to get snacks near the kitchen. The second most entertaining thing was to munch on those snacks, reeking of deliciousness, right in front of the family members who were training.
Most of the family members were annoyed, but they couldn't do anything about the young master’s pet dog.
And on those days, the young master would apologize and give him tasty treats, so soon the family members even started to wait, wondering, *Will the young master’s dog come today?*
But that all ended when the youngest son of the Hwangbo family turned fifteen.
There was a surprise attack. At the time, the dog didn’t know who the enemy was or how it all ended.
Seojun only found out after reading about it in a book. The enemy was the Demonic Cult, and the Hwangbo family barely survived.
The dog, who had blocked the enemies using the Hwangbo martial arts it had learned by sight, ultimately died saving its master.
The youngest son, now the young lord after all his brothers had died, ordered the dog that saved him to be buried next to his own future grave. And he swore revenge against the Demonic Cult.
*So I can’t use the Hwangbo martial arts unless I’m a dog. Figures, for a low-grade ability.*
Still, he realized how important it was to have a discerning eye.
To fix one's mistakes and correct them, one first had to understand the difference between the standard form and one's own.
Using his ability, Seojun could assume a more precise posture than even the instructor demonstrating the moves.
To the instructor who was trying to persuade her with a long-winded speech, his mother said that he was still too young and they had no such plans.
Leaving the disappointed instructor behind, Seo Eunhye and Seojun left the academy.
“I knew you were good, but I didn’t realize you were talented enough to become a professional athlete.”
“I’m super good!”
This was Taekwondo, learned with an eye sharpened in a world full of true martial arts. He could learn whatever the instructor taught him with great ease.
Seeing the triumphant look on her son’s face, Seo Eunhye gently probed.
“Then. Seojun, do you want to be a Taekwondo athlete?”
“No! No! No!”
Seo Eunhye finally burst out laughing at the sight of her son shaking his head so vigorously it looked like he’d get dizzy, rejecting the idea outright.
“After I learn all of Taekwondo, I’m going to learn Kendo! And Hapkido too!”
“Then I guess I’d better start looking for academies.”
She couldn't have known.
Seo Eunhye never imagined that at every academy Seojun enrolled in, the instructors would beg her to let him become an athlete, insisting that an Olympic gold medal was only a matter of time.
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