Chapter 70
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: The Blue Dragon's Wish
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The day of the second performance.
A group of students swarmed the Eunhasu Center. It was Kim Soohan, who had come to the first show, and he had brought his friends.
“I’m telling you, it was seriously amazing!”
“I thought I was going to pass out watching it!”
Watching the two of them express their awe with all sorts of gestures, the other three friends just shook their heads.
“Come on, what’s there to see in a kids’ play?”
“If it’s really boring, I’ll pay for the PC bang!”
“Cup ramen?”
“Deal!”
The students, who had entered gleefully thinking about the free food, suddenly stopped in their tracks. One of them spoke.
“...We can watch this in peace, right?”
The lobby of the Eunhasu Center was packed with children and their parents.
“I want to see the Blue Dragon too! Heeju was bragging about it so much! She even bought a Yeouiju!!”
“Blue Dragon! Blue Dragon! I have to make a wish!”
“Yeouiju!!! Buy me a Yeouiju!!”
The atmosphere among the children in the lobby was divided into three groups.
First, there were the children with bright smiles, constantly showing off the Yeouiju they had bought as a souvenir to their friends who were seeing it for the first time.
These were the kids who had seen the first performance and, now with a Yeouiju in hand, had pestered their parents to come back to the Eunhasu Center to meet the Blue Dragon and make a wish.
Second were the children crying and throwing tantrums. They had come because their friends at kindergarten or elementary school had been boasting. For them, the play was secondary; they were here to buy a Yeouiju.
The last group consisted of children brought by their parents on a friend's recommendation. They had no interest in the play and couldn't care less about the Yeouiju.
Their ears aching from the high-pitched voices of the children, the students covered their ears and headed to the ticket booth. Kim Soohan, looking as if he'd been worn down by the kids, asked a weary-looking employee.
“Excuse me, are there any tickets left?”
“Ah, what are you looking for?”
“The children’s play, ‘Spring.’”
At Kim Soohan’s words, his friends, embarrassed to be watching a children's play at their age, pretended not to see and stared off into the distance. However, the employee, who had seen the play, and Kim Soohan conversed casually.
“Yes. There are still seats available.”
“Then I’ll take five, please.”
“You must have seen the first show.”
“Yes. I even bought a Yeouiju.”
“What? You bought a Yeouiju? Are you a kid?”
“Heheheh. You’ll end up buying one too after you see it.”
With children in the back chanting “Yeouiju! Blue Dragon!” and Kim Soohan, who had already seen the play, admitting he bought one, the three friends were utterly dumbfounded.
“Seriously, what kind of play is this to cause such a fuss?”
* * *
Once everyone entered the theater, the audience seats were about half full. The students, expecting disruptions from the cacophony of chattering children, let out a small sigh.
It seemed the parents were trying to quiet them down, but the overly excited children were in no mood to listen.
In the children’s hands were the blue Yeouijus, sold before the show due to their persistent demands.
Most of the children were grinning from ear to ear, playing with their Yeouijus, but the hands of those who had been dragged along by their parents were empty.
“Are you sure you don’t want one? All your friends have one.”
“It’s just a marble. Buy me a toy car later!”
But the child didn't know that they would come to regret this decision in less than an hour.
A sharp beep sounded, and the theater was plunged into darkness.
Even before the curtain rose, the crash and roar of thunder and lightning echoed through the audience.
“What’s this?”
The audience members who had seen the first show and returned for another turned their heads toward the source of the sound, surprised by the different opening.
Seojun, standing on one side of the stage, smiled slightly and turned on his microphone.
[(Good) Blue Dragon Hatchling’s Weak Fear is activated.]
[Heheheh...]
A sobbing sound could be heard.
At that voice, neither child nor adult, and the strange feeling emanating from somewhere, the excitedly chattering children and the exhausted adults fell silent as if their mouths had been sealed shut.
[My Yeouiju...!]
With that one line, the stage and the audience became one. From then on, the performance was the same as the first day.
The audience, completely captivated, immersed themselves in the play as if they were floating above the stage. They sat tensed, their eyes glued to the performance.
When Spring was in danger, they reacted as if they were in peril themselves, and when Spring cried, they cried with her.
And then, the Blue Dragon appeared.
As the Blue Dragon emerged, seemingly bursting through the screen, everyone sank back into their chairs as if to distance themselves from it. Its large, sharp eyes blinked. The atmosphere was terrifying and sacred, heavy with presence.
[Be quiet!]
The child-like voice of the Blue Dragon shattered it all to pieces.
Seojun, excited by his new character interpretation, continued his performance. Another part of his body was becoming the Blue Dragon, and of his five senses, his hearing, in particular, was amplified several times over. The breaths of the audience members reached his ears with perfect clarity.
Gasp!
Eek!
Phew.
All these reactions were born from his acting. Seojun shouted, as if he had truly become the young Blue Dragon, no, the master of the ability, the Blue Dragon Hatchling itself.
[I said be quiet!]
“Blue Dragon! Please help us!”
[I can’t help you! I don’t have my Yeouiju!]
Though the Blue Dragon’s voice sounded like it was throwing a tantrum, its divine and otherworldly aura strangely remained. It was the power of [(Good) Blue Dragon Hatchling’s Weak Fear], which made one feel a distinct difference in stature.
“Here! This is a Yeouiju!”
[My Yeouiju! Thank you! I’ll grant you one wish!]
“My wish is...”
And that sense of immersion moved the children who had been watching the stage in a daze. A few kids, still struggling to distinguish reality from the story, shot up from their seats, held their Yeouijus high above their heads just like Spring, and shouted.
“Please let me get a big allowance!”
“Let me eat pizza tomorrow!”
“I want to go to the amusement park!”
The sudden turn of events caused a stir in the audience. Choi Soyoung hesitated, wondering if she should continue with her lines. In that brief pause, Seojun, with his enhanced hearing, smiled and said.
[Alright! Does anyone else have a wish?]
At the playful voice of the Blue Dragon, the quick-witted music director lowered the volume of the background music.
Soft music filled the theater, and the children, emboldened by the Blue Dragon’s words, held up their own Yeouijus and made their wishes.
The children who hadn't bought a Yeouiju could only stomp their feet in envy as they watched their friends excitedly shout out their wishes.
“Please let my mom get well soon!”
“Please let me not go to the academy tomorrow!”
Children’s wishes could be heard from all over. Interspersed were the murmurs of adults, which also reached Seojun’s ears.
Once the children’s chattering subsided, the Blue Dragon’s gaze turned to Spring.
[What about you?]
“I have a wish too! Please, make it rain!”
[Alright! I’ll grant them all!]
Ahahaha! With the Blue Dragon’s bright laughter, rain began to fall.
The curtain fell, and Director Park Jisu, the staff, and the other children all rushed over to Choi Soyoung and Seojun.
“You both did great! Wow! That was amazing!”
“I never thought you’d say that! Both Soyoung-nuna and Seojun! I thought the show was ruined!”
“It was all Seojun, really.”
Amid the praise from the adults and her friends, Choi Soyoung deflected the credit to Seojun. After all, while she had been flustered by the unexpected situation, it was Seojun who had carried the play forward with his ad-lib.
“Nuna, you matched my timing perfectly.”
Seojun shook his head. The fact that she had understood his intention, paused the story, and responded appropriately to his ad-lib was truly incredible.
“You both did a great job!”
Starting with Director Park Jisu’s applause, everyone backstage gave the two actors a round of applause. Seeing his colleagues celebrating with one heart and mind, Seojun beamed with a happy face. His chest felt ticklish.
Ah, this feels so good.
After removing their makeup and changing their clothes, the children gathered in the practice room. They decided to hold a meeting to review what had happened on stage and prepare for the next performance.
“For the next show, should we just add a time for making wishes?”
“That’s a great idea!”
“Let’s tell the director and the music director!”
“Should we change our lines a little too?”
And so, based on the children’s suggestions, the dialogue between the Blue Dragon and the other characters was slightly altered.
Sometimes the Blue Dragon was childlike, sometimes like a grandfather, and sometimes like a true god. A variety of Blue Dragons emerged from the children’s mouths.
Contrary to the warm and friendly atmosphere backstage, the lobby of the Eunhasu Center was even more boisterous than before the performance.
The children who had carelessly passed by the merchandise stand before the show now began to throw tantrums the moment they saw the sparkling blue Yeouijus.
“Yeouiju! Buy me a Yeouiju!”
“I want to make a wish too!”
After their parents gave in and bought them a Yeouiju, the children ecstatically held them up. Among them was the child who had asked for a toy car.
“Blue Dragon! Please grant my wish!”
“Please grant it!”
“Let’s come see it again! I have to make a wish!”
Thanks to the children's enthusiasm, the sea-blue Yeouijus sold out in no time. Among the buyers were the three friends who had earlier chided their friend for buying one. As if possessed, each of them picked up a Yeouiju.
“Hey. I seriously don’t know what this feeling is.”
“I know, right? You know it’s a made-up story, but it somehow feels like it could be real.”
“I don’t know if it grants wishes or not, but if dragons existed, I bet they’d feel just like that.”
It seemed none of them could get the Blue Dragon’s voice out of their heads. Just thinking about it made their bodies ache, a sign of how tense they had been.
“By the way, did you see this?”
“What?”
Kim Soohan held up a pamphlet. It listed the photos, names, and ages of the actors, from Choi Soyoung who played the lead, Spring, to the actors playing the woodcutter and the hunter. He pointed to one of them. Under a picture of the Blue Dragon, it read:
[Blue Dragon, Na Jin / Age 8]
“...?”
“What the?”
“That was an 8-year-old’s voice?”
It wasn't just the students; the adults who saw the pamphlet looked back and forth between the theater, where the divine Blue Dragon resided, and the pamphlet.
Kim Soohan and his friend, who had witnessed both the majestic Blue Dragon performance and the quirky, cheerful one, made an even more bewildered expression and said.
“...Is he a genius?”
“...There are a lot of talented kids these days.”
“But it was a little different from the first day’s show.”
“The first day, the Blue Dragon seemed a bit like a grandfather, but this time it was like a kid.”
“There was that, but I also liked how it pulled you in right from the start.”
“It’s definitely different from movies or dramas that are done once they’re edited. A play has this kind of charm.”
“I wonder if the next show will be different too?”
Hearing the conversation between the friends who had seen the first show, the other three decided to come to the next performance. And they brought even more friends with them.
Juyeong High School students, who were looking for a cheap and decent play for their vacation homework, began to flock to the Eunhasu Center.
* * *
“It’s so much fun!”
Seo Eunhye and Lee Minjun burst out laughing at Seojun’s words.
These days, Seojun was eagerly waiting for performance days. He had marked the dates on a large calendar and would cross them off one by one, waiting for time to pass.
The other children were the same. Whenever they gathered in the practice room, it was a chaotic scene of giggles and laughter.
“Dad liked the grandfather Blue Dragon.”
“Mom liked the child Blue Dragon.”
“I like them all!”
The play ‘Spring,’ which changed subtly with each performance, had many repeat viewers. There were even some who had diligently attended every show from the first day to this week, the final week of the performance.
How did he know? Because one such audience member had sent Seojun an autographed paper with tickets from all seven performances attached, passed on through a staff member.
He had sent back Na Jin’s autograph for now, but he hoped to one day send them an autograph with the name Lee Seojun.
“I hear the audience is packed these days.”
“Yeah! There’s not a single empty seat!”
After the third performance, which included a dedicated time for the audience to make wishes, a review was posted online.
[Title: You must see the children’s play ‘Spring’!]
You have to see the children’s play ‘Spring’ at the Eunhasu Center!
It’s a really wonderful play.
Especially after watching it, if my child does something good, I give them one piece of the Yeouiju we bought as a souvenir—it splits into 3 pieces!
I told them that if they collect all 3, the Blue Dragon will grant their wish, and they're working harder at it than they ever did for praise stickers.
Thanks to that, my child is eating well, cleaning up their toys, and reading diligently. Lately, they only look for books with the Blue Dragon, but there aren’t many.
Of course, for wishes that are too difficult to grant, I just use the Blue Dragon as an excuse, saying, ‘I don’t think even the Blue Dragon can grant that.’ My apologies, Blue Dragon.
I highly recommend this for kids who are no longer motivated by praise stickers!
Perhaps thanks to the review on the mom cafe, there were many children, but for some reason, word had also spread among students, so many teenagers and adults were coming as well.
Excited by the continuous sold-out shows, the Ministry of Culture distributed materials to reporters.
[Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Children’s Play ‘Spring’ a Sold-Out Success!]
[Veteran Child Actor Choi Soyoung Leads ‘Spring’!]
[A New Generation of Can’t-Miss Child Actors Has Arrived!]
[Na Jin, Age 8. A Talented Voice Actor!]
[The Second Lee Seojun of the Voice Acting World! Na Jin!]
-Lately, if anyone gets a little popular, they call them the ‘second Lee Seojun.’
-They should compare things that are actually comparable. It’s just a play put on by kids. It’s obviously going to be childish.
=The kids are working hard, give them some credit. The reporter wrote that headline.
With the final performance just around the corner, the Ministry of Culture hoped for an extended run, but the ‘Spring’ team all shook their heads.
The children had to go back to school soon, and the adults wanted to reveal Lee Seojun’s identity as quickly as possible.
* * *
And so, the day of the final performance arrived, marking the end of the three-month-long run.
The end.
That single word weighed heavily on the actors of ‘Spring.’ Seojun looked at the faces of his hyungs and nunas sitting in a circle in the practice room.
We won’t gather to eat snacks anymore, and we won’t change the lines for the next performance together anymore.
Someone sniffled. At that sound, one by one, their eyes began to turn red. Seojun’s eyes turned red too. His vision blurred with tears.
It had been such a joyful, exciting, and happy three months that parting was incredibly hard and sad. It wasn't as if they would never see each other again, but he doubted there would be another day they would stand on stage as this team. That made Seojun even sadder.
“Don’t cry! Your makeup will smudge!”
Choi Soyoung shot up to her feet. For someone who said that, the tip of her nose was also red.
“Let’s cheer up! It’s the last one! Let’s give the best performance ever!”
At Choi Soyoung’s words, everyone nodded. Just as they had always done for the past three months, they reached out their hands without anyone having to say a word.
Everyone placed their hand on top of a nuna's hand, on top of a hyung's hand. One by one, they looked into each other's faces, their eyes welling up.
“Spring!”
“Spring!!”
“Fighting!!”
The children, and Seojun, shouted loudly.
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