Chapter 29
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: A Shoulder Bump
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Two weeks had flown by since the first script reading wrapped up.
Flip.
I sat in my usual spot, flipping through the RUN script.
It was a script I'd flipped through countless times already.
Thanks to that, the pages had lost all their crispness, flipping limply now.
Flip flip.
Whether the pages turned quickly or slowly didn't matter to me anymore.
I'd memorized the whole thing cover to cover.
I'd committed it all to memory before even heading to the script reading.
Then, at the reading itself, I'd observed how each actor brought the lines I'd memorized to life.
Checking that out was fuel for shaping my own take on the grandson role, too.
The group script reading after so long was a blast.
It wasn't all that different from the old days fine-tuning things with the troupe at Oscar Theater.
They usually had reporters at big production readings, but Jessica wanted to keep it under wraps until opening night, so they barred entry to the press.
Thanks to that, we wrapped the first one nice and smooth.
Joey Soo told me later it was because so many of us child actors were involvedJessica had pulled strings ahead of time.
Yeah. The script reading went off without a hitch.
Thud.
I closed the script, fully memorized and analyzed.
I hadn't been reading the words.
Just flipping pages to sort my thoughts.
"Sigh."
I let out a deep sigh, jiggling my legs.
This wasn't Gwanghwamun Cultural Center where I was sitting now.
It was the theater owner's office at Emergency Iron 777, a place I came and went like my own home.
Unlike Emergency Iron 777, Rainbow Pictures strictly enforced child actor protection rules.
I'd overheard the actors saying the U.S. has super tight regulations on child labor.
Which explained why RUN rehearsals limited child actors' practice time.
No matter how early I showed up, after a few hours, they'd send me home saying that was it for the day.
If I tried afternoons, they'd make me leave early, so I dragged myself to the rehearsal room bright and early every morning.
Even then, I couldn't practice as much as I wanted.
Sure, back at Emergency Iron 777, Kim Sangcheol's kindness let me practice whenever I felt like it or rest when I needed.
For People in the Attic House, we had set group practice times we stuck to religiously.
My role wasn't huge, so official practice wasn't too long anyway.
I'd hang around watching others practice or mimicking their acting alone in the rehearsal room.
If something puzzled me, I could always grab Uncle or Director Kang Yonghwi for answers.
If Uncle's practice ran super late, I'd crash in the office for a bit.
Thinking back, it was all possible because Uncle was there.
But at Gwanghwamun Cultural Center, they'd boot me out sharp after a few hours.
The first few days left me stunned.
I'd beg to keep going, say I had energy left, but it didn't sway Jessica.
"Siu, kids your age need lots of food, play, and sleep to grow big and strongthen you can conquer Broadway."
She basically said I could hustle hard once I was older.
When the head honcho Jessica drew the line, I couldn't stick around Gwanghwamun anymore.
It was so unfair.
I was a lead, too.
And all those other actors practicing latewhy did I have to go home?
After a few days like that, I asked Mom for a favor.
After getting kicked out of Gwanghwamun as usual post-rehearsal, I told Mom while she drove.
"Mommy, I wanna go to Uncle's theater."
"Huh? Want me to drop you at Emergency Iron?"
"......Yeah. Is that okay?"
It bugged me making Mom shuttle me everywhere.
As I hemmed and hawed, Mom laughed brightly.
"No need to feel bad. Honestly, I love getting out with you like this way more than being cooped up at home."
"......Weally?"
"You bet. I'll take you right now. It's close to home anyway."
From then on, after rehearsals, I'd always punch the clock at Emergency Iron 777.
On tiring days, I'd text Mom on the cellphone she bought me, and she'd come pick me up.
Other times, I'd time it for Uncle's quitting time and head home with him.
Uncle had snagged a tiny supporting role in this new show too, and he was all fired up about it.
I'd watch his acting, chat with Director Kang Yonghwi, and spend my days sitting in the office reading scripts like this.
"Hmm."
But today, I just couldn't focus.
"Sigh."
Another sigh slipped outwho knew how many that made.
The script I clutched every day didn't appeal today.
"You're gonna wear a hole in my office floor at this rate. Siu, what's got a five-year-old looking so worried?"
Right on cue, Kim Sangcheol walked in, chuckling as he approached.
"Aw, still cute as ever."
Maybe it was my pouty lips.
He pinched my chubby cheeks like they were the cutest thing.
And as always, I shook my head wildly.
"Eek! Don't do that!"
"Wow, you must be really stressed today, huh?"
He picked up on my extra-fierce head-shake right away.
I glanced at the script again and let out more heavy sighs.
"Look at this beat-up script. How many times you been through it?"
"A hundred."
"A hundred...?"
Kid's got some serious practice grind...
I swallowed the truththat it'd been way more than a hundredwithout saying it to his muttering.
No, as a lead, a hundred was the bare minimum.
No stage would welcome a lead who'd skimmed rehearsals.
Shakespeare would've booted me on the spot.
He had zero mercy for unprepared actors, even on opening night.
Huh?
Come to think of it, I'd heard Kim Sangcheol used to act.
And running Emergency Iron 777, he'd seen tons of actors.
Hey now?
He might be the perfect guy to bounce my dilemma off.
I turned away with a huff for a second, then looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
"Theater Owner."
"Yeah? What's up?"
"Sigh, I got a pwoblem. Got a minute?"
"Uh? Haha, sure. Plenty of time. Tea?"
"Yessir. The usual."
I nodded weakly and made my request.
Kim Sangcheol cheerfully agreed and stepped out.
"Sigh, what happened this morning..."
He brought two steaming cups quick, and we sat across from each other.
He blew on his coffee and nodded like "go ahead."
"I was in the wehearsal woom..."
I started my story slow.
It happened this morning.
Like always, I greeted everyone loudly and entered the rehearsal room.
It'd been two weeks since we finished script reading and dove into full rehearsals.
"Today we'll practice with mics on, just like on stage."
At Jessica's announcement, all the actors donned headsets.
With staff help, I tried a headset mic for the first time.
"Ah! Wow!"
"Haha, cool, right? Say your lines with this on, and even the biggest theaters hear you fine."
As I marveled at the mic, Jessica came over and chatted first.
"Amazing. Tech like this... what a wow world."
"Whoa, Siu, you sounded like a grandpa who's lived decades just now."
My 400-year-old soul inside flinched, so I steered the talk quick.
"It's my fiwst time evew with a mic like this. Lightew than I thought."
Fiddling with the receiver on my waist, Jessica nodded pleased.
Gonna wear this every day from now on, she said.
"Good, glad it works. I asked for the lightest onessince you're so tiny."
"I'll gwow tall fast."
"That's whyhome early, bed early."
"Sigh, how do ya beat Jessica?"
I was about to nod "okay" to her ironclad stubbornness when odd whispers came from nearby.
"Ugh, he's talking English with Jessica again."
"If he's Korean, talk Korean. Now my mom's on me to study English cuz of him."
"Same. Exhausted at homehow am I s'posed to study English?"
Childish voices.
Murmurs from the child actors in supporting roles.
Jessica was always extra friendly to me.
No helping it.
I was the lead kid who handled English best.
Problem was, their moms saw and started nagging them to study.
Sigh, couldn't exactly say I was British.
No choice.
I waved to Jessica and approached the group of child actors, all one to three years older than me.
"Big bwuddas, you evew wowen mics befowe?"
"Uh, huh?"
"O-of course! We've done shoots undew those long boom mics too!"
No clue what boom mics were, but they'd all done it before.
"Wow, fiwst time fow me. So, um..."
Even if they were hostile, approaching friendly had them shrinking back, ears perked.
They're hooked, they're hooked.
As I geared up to chatter more, one kid strode up.
"What? Get lost. You're no Nam Yeon-su... don't act all buddy-buddy. Annoying."
The other kid double-cast as the grandson role with me cut between us.
Damn, what's his deal now.
Sung Ji-hoon, was it?
He'd been pulling stunts like this lately.
"Uh, Ji-hoon..."
"We were just minding our own, and he came over..."
Weirdly, the other kids glanced nervously at Sung Ji-hoon and backed away from me!
Another fail at bonding.
Nam Yeon-su?
Who's that?
First I'd heard, but she must be big among these kids.
They all flinched at the name and scattered.
Even if she'd been here, they'd probably stick with me.
I tilted my head and sighed big.
Just trying to calm my frustration a bit.
"Haha! Siu, was that a sigh?"
"So cute, seriously."
Perfect timingmy sigh boomed through the speakers into the whole room.
A cute-fest uproar ensued, tabling Sung Ji-hoon's antics for the day.
But,
Tap
Brushing it off too lightly was my mistake.
During break, Sung Ji-hoon "accidentally" shouldered past me.
Thud
"Ow."
Three whole years between us.
Kids this age grow wildly different.
The five-year-old me hit by the eight-year-old flew harder than expected, and the room's vibe turned ugly fast.