Chapter 56
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: The Villain and the Tooth Fairy
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“Whoa…”
Everyone felt their energy drain away, remaining motionless even after the lights came on.
They had come expecting a fun, lighthearted movie, but it had been surprisingly emotionally taxing. Not that they disliked it. They couldn't tear their eyes away for a single moment.
Park Seongwon shifted, trying to loosen his tense body. The other audience members began gathering their belongings and rising from their seats.
“A cookie…”
“What?”
“…Is there a post-credits scene?”
Someone’s words echoed through the quiet theater. Jolted back to their senses, the people who had been packing up sat back down obediently.
What kind of shocking post-credits scene would they show this time? Park Seongwon also stared at the screen with anticipation.
White letters scrolled slowly upward. Then, just as everyone expected, the screen changed.
[So? It’s tough to do it alone, isn’t it?]
Redbone extended a hand. A moment later, a black glove grasped it. There was no mistaking the costume they had just seen! The audience’s jaws dropped.
[I’m counting on you, Shadowman!]
A confident Redbone and an exhausted-looking Shadowman stood facing each other.
“…What?!”
It was a trailer for *Assemble*, the team-up of Marine Company’s superheroes.
As Park Seongwon was leaving the theater, he suddenly glanced back. He was the last one out, and the theater was empty, but he remembered the child who had been standing there. A shiver ran from the tips of his toes to the ends of his hair.
“L-Lee Seojun?!”
For real?! Did I see wrong?! Mumbling incoherently, Park Seongwon ran home.
[Title: I think I saw Lee Seojun at the movie theater!]
A post about spotting Lee Seojun was up.
“Wow. That’s a shock.”
“You didn’t know, Seojun?”
“Nope. Nope.”
Unaware of this, Kim Heesang and Seojun were casually leaving the theater.
“I had no idea!”
“If even the actor who was in it didn’t know, security must have been incredibly tight!”
“I never imagined it! Shadowman, gasp!”
“Seojun. No spoilers outside.”
The two had already exited the theater and were standing in the bright sunlight.
* * *
“Hello, this is The Moviegoer.”
The Moviegoer waved at the camera. Two weeks had already passed since *Shadowman 2* was released.
It felt like everyone who was going to see it had, as comments were flying by too fast to read.
“It seems Marine Company has decided to just shock people with their post-credits scenes now. Wow. To think they’re making a movie where the superheroes, who we’ve only seen in comic books, team up! So I looked up the title.”
A brightly colored logo appeared on the monitor.
[ASSEMBLE]
“*Assemble*! The title of the next movie is *Assemble*. The only superheroes confirmed to appear so far are our heroes, Redbone and Shadowman. I’m excited to see which other heroes will show up.”
The *Assemble* logo faded from the screen.
“Next, as the title of this stream suggests, I’ll be talking about *Shadowman 2*.”
- Wrong again, weren’t you?
- Oh no. Lee Seojun the villain!
The Moviegoer shook his head.
“Yes. I was wrong again. Why is it that everything I predict turns out the opposite? Honestly, setting aside the Central Park photos, there’s this picture, isn’t there?”
The Moviegoer displayed a photo. It was the picture of the baby angel, Lee Seojun.
- The angel! The up-to-one-million-won angel!
- My friend found 100,000 won too. He picked up what he thought was a cigarette butt to throw away, and there were two 50,000 won bills inside!
- We have one in our house too lol. I pray to it every day lol.
“We have this in my house too. The day I saw this picture, my mother won a 1-million-won gift certificate. We printed it out large and framed it. And my little sister stuck pictures of Brown Black around it. They’re causing quite a stir lately with their contract renewal, right?”
The Moviegoer showed a picture of his living room. Seojun’s photo was surrounded by pictures of Brown Black.
It had been a little over six years since Brown Black’s debut. The contract renewal for what was undeniably South Korea's top idol group was approaching. The Moviegoer shrugged.
“Well, that’s enough of a tangent. Just looking at this picture, doesn’t he look like a hero? Honestly, I thought the Central Park filming was just bait. But this photo was so powerful that I thought it would be really awkward if he turned out to be a villain.”
Another picture appeared on the screen. It was an image cut released by Marine Company. It showed Seojun staring at something with cold eyes.
“This villain with his incredible aura! It was actor Lee Seojun. Ah, he’s not a villain yet, is he? He hasn’t done anything bad. The invasion of Earth this time was the work of those baaad guys targeting Jin Natra. But you all know, right? That feeling that he’s going to become a tremendous villain!”
- Yeah, he’s really scary.
- He was scary, but also sad.
- Watching the movie, I felt Jin’s emotions so strongly that I got depressed and scared.
“But if it were me, I think I’d resent everyone too. According to the official lore, the time on planet Natra and Earth flows at a 5:1 ratio. So while it’s been one year since William disappeared on Earth, five years have passed since William landed on planet Natra. If William was around four or five when he disappeared, Jin Natra would be about nine or ten years old now.”
- He definitely looks a lot older than when he was William.
- Still, I recognized him as Lee Seojun right away in the Central Park scene. I’ve seen that photo so many times haha.
- What do you eat to grow so big, Seojun?
“Everyone. Think about it.”
The Moviegoer reined in the conversation, which was starting to drift.
“William grew up well from that young age without his parents. He was even bullied by some people, but until he went to the memorial, he was a normal, smiling, chattering child.”
- Back then, I really thought he was a hero.
- His smiling face was just like the angel picture!
“Yes. I thought so too. But then that kid found out that the father he loved most was the one who had thrown him into a world of pain. He learned that his real parents were desperately waiting for him, and that all the everyday moments in Central Park he had watched with envy were the life he could have had instead of his suffering. That brilliant child.”
The Moviegoer and the viewers recalled how Jin Natra, with just those small clues, had instantly realized he was the boy in the photo.
- That expression was so sad ㅜ
- I almost cried right there. It was sad, but the sudden change was also terrifying.
“But, a thought occurred to me.”
- What kind of thought?
“Think carefully. Mac is a character from Natra who ended up on Earth. Jin is a character from Earth who ended up on Natra. Mac had a lot of good people around him. He was an orphan but grew up loved. But what about Jin? He lived unhappily, with no one to rely on.”
- What about Bel Natra? Isn’t he okay?
The Moviegoer’s brow furrowed.
“I won’t say for sure because it’s not confirmed, but Bel Natra doesn’t seem like a very good person either. Anyway, Mac and Jin have completely opposite pasts.”
- So is it Hero vs. Villain?
“Yes. That’s right. This movie feels like a turning point for both Shadowman and Jin Natra. If they overcome this crisis, they become a hero; if they don’t, a villain. And this is where the two diverge again.”
Pictures of Shadowman and Jin Natra appeared on the screen, and another photo appeared beneath Shadowman’s.
“A helper appears for Shadowman!”
- Redbone!
- Assemble!
It was Redbone, smiling confidently.
“Mac really has good luck with people. On the other hand, what about Jin, who returned to Natra?”
A large question mark appeared below Jin Natra’s picture. Anyone could guess. Jin Natra not only lacked a helper but had no one he could even rely on. And that was one of the reasons for becoming a villain.
- ㅜㅜㅜㅜ
- ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
The comments filled with tears. Everyone remembered the first scene. The cold, mocking voice. And the father who had made him miserable.
The Moviegoer nodded.
“Since you all seem to have guessed, I’ll stop here. In my opinion, the most important thing in this movie was actor Lee Seojun’s performance. The reviews for *Shadowman 2* all said it. That from the memorial scene, it felt like actor Lee Seojun’s character was headed down a dark path. Of course, I felt that too.”
- Yeah, me too.
- It got super serious from there!
“That scene hinged on actor Lee Seojun. The evil blooming amidst sorrow. The seed of evil that would one day grow immense. If actor Lee Seojun had portrayed a ghostly, unfamiliar yet kind atmosphere, we might have thought Jin Natra could become a hero in *Shadowman 3*. But actor Lee Seojun thoroughly crushed our hopes. With a perfect performance!”
- No matter how I think about it, he’s just a villain in Shadowman 3…….
- He’s gonna be a villain no matter what…….
- When Shadowman saved that kid……. so scary.
“I hope *Shadowman 3* comes out soon! Of course, I’m looking forward to *Assemble* too!”
After The Moviegoer’s live stream ended, articles began popping up everywhere.
[A Transformation in Acting! How is Such a Performance Possible at This Age?]
[Evil Hidden in Sorrow. Is This Delicate Acting the Secret to His Hollywood Success?]
[A Real-Life Situation! A Child Raised by the Hands of a Kidnapper?!]
[What are the Limits of Lee Seojun's Acting?]
[So When is Shadowman 3?!]
[The Superheroes Assemble! Assemble!]
- I was so sure he was a hero. I still have the angel picture.
- It’s a shame, though. Why didn’t he stay on Earth?
= His heart must be a mess. His current father did wrong, but he still loves him. And he has no memory of the biological parents waiting for him.
= He’s grown so much, which makes it even more so. It’s only been a year, but he’s shot up so much ㅠ
- But Lee Seojun is a really good actor. The close-ups were breathtaking. An actor who even acts with his eyes.
= I got total goosebumps there too. Scary and sad at the same time.
- I got so emotionally invested in Lee Seojun while watching that I started blaming Shadowman. Why didn’t you save him!
= Me too lol. I know it’s not Shadowman’s fault but I blamed him anyway lol.
- But is that sighting real?
= Doesn’t seem like it. There are so many people at the theater. No matter how disguised he was, there’s no way no one would recognize Lee Seojun.
= True. He’s grown a lot, but his face is still as handsome as ever. I recognized him at a glance in the movie.
- But what’s really strange is that there are very few sightings of Lee Seojun.
= Is he in the US? No. If someone saw him in the US, a picture would have surfaced.
= Maybe the people around him are protecting him? Since he’s still young.
= That makes sense. Good people. But now that he’s in elementary school, that’s probably going to be difficult.
= Out of all those kids, one or two are bound to post something.
- But. Since he’s only in movies, people who don’t watch movies probably don’t know him.
= He was on the news, though?
= My parents know that a Korean child actor named Lee Seojun is super popular abroad, but they don’t know what he looks like. But they have the angel photo lol. And I have to tell them that’s Lee Seojun lol.
= There are probably a lot of people like that lol. They know he’s famous but don’t know his face lol.
= If he appeared on TV, he’d probably get famous in no time lol.
* * *
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“My tooth is wobbly.”
Seojun wiggled his front tooth with his finger. Wiggle, wiggle. He ran over to his mom and moved his front tooth back and forth as if to say, “Look at this.”
It was really loose. Seo Eunhye, who was preparing dinner, froze.
“Looks like you’re losing a baby tooth!”
“A baby tooth?”
“The baby tooth falls out, and a strong permanent tooth grows in.”
“This is uncomfortable. Can’t I just pull it out?”
The feeling of something dangling was unpleasant. Seo Eunhye shook her head.
“If you wait a little longer, it’ll fall out on its own.”
“But it’s uncomfortable.”
“It’ll fall out soon.”
Seojun was uncomfortable but left it alone. He didn’t want to think about it, but his tongue kept flicking at the dangling front tooth.
A few days later.
“It fell out!”
His front tooth was gone, leaving an empty space.
Seojun kept looking in the mirror. With one front tooth missing, there was a gap. His mom and dad, calling it cute, were busy taking pictures.
The feeling of his lips and tongue touching the empty space was strange.
“Mom, I sound weird.”
Moreover, his pronunciation was a little off, like air was escaping. Finding even that adorable, Seo Eunhye smiled and said.
“It’s because the air is escaping through the gap where your tooth was. It’ll be fine again once your permanent tooth comes in.”
“Um. Can you still understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes. It’s fine.”
“I’m glad it fell out after we finished filming *Shadowman*!”
“Wouldn’t they have fixed that with CG?”
“Oh, right!”
The next day, he went to elementary school, conscious of his pronunciation, only to find that most of his classmates were also missing teeth.
One friend was missing two front teeth, and another was missing a bottom tooth. They all looked at each other’s faces and laughed.
“You lost one too, Seojun?”
“Yeah. It fell out yesterday!”
“Mine fell out the day before. You have to throw it on the roof so a new tooth will grow.”
At Jiyun’s words, Seojun and his friends tilted their heads. We live in an apartment. They all lived in the same apartment complex.
“Where’s the roof of an apartment building?”
“Isn’t it the rooftop?”
“We’re not allowed on the rooftop!”
Everyone nodded at Seojun’s words. Then they all tilted their heads again.
Their homeroom teacher, who had been listening to the children’s conversation, smiled and told them another way.
That night, Seojun wrapped his fallen tooth in a tissue and placed it under his pillow. Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun asked about it.
“My teacher said the tooth fairy will come and leave a coin. She said since we can’t throw them on the roof these days, people do this sometimes.”
“Your teacher is very global.”
Seojun quickly lay down on his pillow.
He planned to look up the tooth fairy in the library. He usually skimmed books that had nothing to do with acting, and he forgot many of them because there were just too many.
She has to be in there somewhere! What on earth does she do with all the teeth she collects?
When he opened his eyes, he was in the Library of Life.
The fourth door had opened on his birthday. By now, even reading the books was fun. Thinking of them as dramas or movies seemed to help with his acting practice and made it easier to get into character.
“Tooth fairy. Tooth fairy!”
He searched the library and found it.
In the Library of Good and Evil.
It was a fairy who stole a child’s lost tooth, used the tooth to transform into the child, and lived among the family in the child’s place.
“An evil tooth fairy!”
He shot up in bed and saw his dad holding the tissue-wrapped tooth in one hand and a pouch of coins in the other. His mom was standing behind his dad. In the faint sunlight filtering through the curtains, Seojun just blinked at his parents’ faces.
“…Seojun. You’re up early.”
“See, I told you we should have done it at night.”
His mom and dad smiled awkwardly and handed the pouch of coins to Seojun.
When he got to school, all his friends were holding coin pouches.
Seojun’s eyes narrowed. Seeing the similar-looking pouches, it seemed all the parents had planned it together.
Well, whatever! After school, Seojun and his friends went to the snack shop in front of the school and bought delicious tteokbokki.
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