Mudflat Olympics
The taste of mud filled my mouth. When I lifted my head, everything in front of me was the color of dirt. My baggy pants, my t-shirt, even my entire face—everything was covered in it. I couldn't tell if I was the mudflat or the mudflat was me. My head felt fuzzy.
Park Si-hoo and the VJ were shouting something at me from the side, but I couldn't hear them clearly. It was exactly like this when a grenade exploded right next to me back then.
…Is this a terrorist attack?
Where's my gun? Did I drop it? What about my teammates? Why can't I hear the operator's radio? Did the grenade damage my helmet?
…No. This isn't a battlefield.
I'm an eight-year-old child actress. We're filming Kkureogi Tamheomdae, and I fell flat on my face in the mudflat while running. The memories of my past life and present life overlapped for a moment before slowly separating again. The destructive power of the mudflat was beyond imagination. It was enough to blow my mind away and even summon memories from my previous life.
“Hey… are you okay?! VJ, shouldn't we stop filming?”
“Seo-ah, if you're hurt, we'll stop the shoot. Can you tell me how you feel?”
Park Si-hoo looked worried about whether they should halt filming. The VJ kept asking about my condition. I spat out the mud with a ptoo and stood up with grim determination.
“Ugh, my body's finally loosening up.”
I slung the rope over my shoulder again. Trying to do this with brute force wasn't going to work. The mudflat wasn't about strength—it was about technique. Lower your center of gravity, push off with your toes instead of your whole foot. Lean your upper body forward as if pressing down on the mud and shift your weight onto it.
“Hold on tight. Don't wet yourself.”
“What? Hey! Wait a second!”
“Hup!”
I kicked off the mudflat and ran. This time was different from earlier when I'd fallen right at the start. I took the next step before my foot could sink in. The sled glided across the mud like it was sliding on ice. It wasn't an incredible speed, but it was noticeably faster than when Park Si-hoo had been pulling.
If I could manage this much in the early section where his weight made it hard to accelerate…
There's a chance.
Once we picked up speed, the sled would shoot forward faster than I could pull it. All I had to do was run across the mudflat. Of course, while thinking about the perfect cornering at the turning point.
“Waaaaah!”
Park Si-hoo's scream echoed across the mudflat. The mud fragments kicked up by my strides were probably bombarding the young master on the sled without mercy.
“Keep your mouth shut! You'll eat dirt!”
I charged forward like a runaway locomotive. Our sled had already flipped once. The time we'd lost recovering from that near-explosive concussion was significant. My stamina was reaching its limit too. I'd recover quickly, but… the total strength and endurance an eight-year-old possessed was about the size of an acorn. Realistically, first place had already sailed away—unless all the teams behind us fell over three or four times each.
But I wasn't giving up. There was no way I could lose to something as trivial as a mudflat. I bit down hard on my lower lip.
“Hup!”
I kicked against the mudflat with my small body. The mud that had gotten into my eyes earlier stung fiercely, but I didn't stop. If anything, my speed increased.
“Hey! Hey! Slow down! You're really going to get hurt!”
At this point, the sled was moving more from inertia and acceleration than from my pulling power. Park Si-hoo, riding on it, seemed to sense that too. One wrong move here and the sled would slam right into me.
It's fine. I won't die.
I muttered the last words of countless men in my mind and kept running. By the time we reached the turning point, I twisted my body almost as if sliding. The weight of the sled made it feel like my body was about to lift off the ground. But I gripped the rope tightly and dug my legs into the earth to brace myself.
“Ughhh!”
A groan escaped me involuntarily. My thighs felt like they were about to burst. The rope crushed down on my shoulder. It felt like my delicate skin was tearing. But I didn't stop. The finish line was visible right in front of me. I couldn't accept coming in last.
“Wow… Seo-ah is really something. Tough as nails.”
“Her guts are no joke.”
“Doesn't she need to be an athlete?”
“Look at her eyes. That competitive spirit is on another level…”
The staff were murmuring among themselves. Kim Chul-min and Mom were watching with worried eyes. But once we stopped, we couldn't start again. I could probably do it one more time if they asked, but after seeing my condition once filming paused, they'd likely decide—even in this era of romance—that this is too sadistic to make her do again. And that might mean scrapping the entire Mudflat Olympics.
So there would be no stopping. This was one take.
Lost in those thoughts, the finish line suddenly loomed right before me. Final spurt. I just had to squeeze out every last bit of strength and then collapse.
“Uaaaaaah!”
I let out a battle cry that sounded more like a roar and crossed the finish line.
“Five minutes, forty-five seconds!”
Five minutes and forty-five seconds. I had no idea if that was a good time or not. I'd never done mudflat sledding before. But I was satisfied.
Thud.
The moment I crossed the finish line, my legs gave out. Not wanting to get hit by the sled following behind, I threw myself to the side. Of course, the sled shot right past me.
“Waaaaah! The sled! The sled! Catch it! Catch it!”
“Wooooow!”
“Yoon Seo-ah is amazing!”
“Seo-ah is so cool!”
The staff erupted in cheers at my incredible hustle play. I thought I heard a scream asking to catch something, but I must have misheard it as fans cheering for me to hold their hands. TS is invincible and I am a god.
In the games that followed, Yoon Seo-ah recorded respectable times for an eight-year-old girl. But she was still a girl, and still young. She had the know-how from her past life, but she didn't possess the TS Gorilla Superpower or anything like that. In the end, Yoon Seo-ah's final ranking stopped at second place.
The champion of the Mudflat Olympics was Kim Min-jun.
“Cut! Okay!”
With Kim Chul-min's shout, today's filming came to an end. But the heat on set showed no signs of cooling down. The staff swarmed toward Yoon Seo-ah. It was as if they were greeting an athlete who'd just won gold.
The staff poured far more enthusiastic cheers on Yoon Seo-ah than on the actual winner, Kim Min-jun.
“Wow, Seo-ah! You're seriously incredible.”
“Seo-ah, you're not some training camp prodigy from Taereung, are you?!”
“How do you pull a sled with a boy bigger than you on it? Wow… I couldn't do that.”
“She looked like a little national team athlete.”
The staff rushed over with wet wipes and towels, fussing over Yoon Seo-ah. Thanks to that, Seo-ah's mom could only stand behind them, unable to do anything.
“Even though I was running after her with the camera, my breath kept catching. Her fighting spirit is really…”
“I was filming Si-hoo but I couldn't take my eyes off Seo-ah. It was no joke. I finally understand what people mean when they say you can just tell someone's going to succeed no matter what they do.”
Praise rained down from every direction. Yoon Seo-ah's whole body was aching, but her mood kept getting better. Even though she'd missed first place, the main character of this area was Yoon Seo-ah.
“Seo-ah, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Finally pushing through the crowd of staff, Yoon Seo-ah's mom, Chae Kang-hee, half-sobbing, pulled her daughter into a hug. There was no way she wouldn't feel heartbroken seeing her daughter covered in mud after going through such hardship. Especially since the mudflat sledding game had been so wild it looked like she might actually get injured.
“I'm fine, Mom. Being tough is my strong point, remember?”
Yoon Seo-ah answered energetically and brushed the dirt off her mom.
“Still, let's go to the hospital later.”
“Sigh, I guess Mom won't feel at ease otherwise, huh? Okay, okay. Let's go. Let's go.”
Just then, Park Si-hoo, who had recovered some of his stamina, staggered over to Yoon Seo-ah. He'd been rolling around all day too, so he looked just as wrecked.
“Wow… you really…”
Park Si-hoo shook his head in disbelief as he looked at her.
“You'd risk your life for Korean beef? Scary. That's scary.”
“Korean beef? No, it wasn't because of the beef. It was for my pride.”
When Yoon Seo-ah replied with a grave expression, the staff nodded as if they understood. Impressed by her answer, they didn't hold back their applause and cheers.
However, Yoon Seo-ah was the one who became scared of Park Si-hoo.
How did he know it was because of the Korean beef…?
The insight Park Si-hoo had just shown was almost on Yoon Ji-ah's level. Goosebumps threatened to rise on her skin, but Yoon Seo-ah tried hard to act casual.
“Or maybe not. You just looked like you were disappointed about missing out on the beef.”
Park Si-hoo chuckled and held out his hand.
“Anyway, good work. Thanks to you, it was fun. I think we got some good footage too.”
“Well, that's what pros do. You worked hard too, sunbae.”
Yoon Seo-ah took Park Si-hoo's hand. A thirteen-year-old and an eight-year-old were both pretending to be quite mature. The staff watching couldn't hide their smiles. It was such a beautiful and adorable sight. The only shame was that they couldn't put this on air.
Coincidentally, the red light on Camera 1 was on. But no one knew that yet.
Afterward, the cast and staff washed up at the accommodations that had been reserved in advance. The real charm of a business trip was the dinner. The PD went all out for the cast who'd worked so hard. Of course, it was still production expenses.
Tables were set up in the wide yard, and clams were opening their mouths with crisp sounds as they cooked over the charcoal. Razor clams, scallops, large shrimp, and even pork belly and sausages. It was a moment that made the first-place prize seem unnecessary.
“Let's eat well!”
Yoon Seo-ah's eyes began to change. They sparkled just like Yoon Ji-ah's did when she spotted something that could make money. She planned to eat an enormous amount to replenish the energy she'd burned on the mudflat during the day.
“Seo-ah… eat slowly, slowly… No one's going to take it from you. You can eat it all even if you go slow.”
Chae Kang-hee worried that Seo-ah's voracious appetite might damage her image among the staff, but Seo-ah was already in full gear. Fortunately, all the staff adored her.
“Wow, she eats so well! It's cute.”
“If only my daughter ate like that, I wouldn't have any wishes. She always just picks at her food… Sigh.”
“Seo-ah's mom must be so happy! I want to have a daughter like Seo-ah too.”
Park Si-hoo, sitting across from Yoon Seo-ah, shook his head.
“You really eat a lot… It's like you haven't eaten for days.”
Yoon Seo-ah, who couldn't understand why he was suddenly picking a fight, verbally beat him down.
“We're in our growth period. Aha, so that's why sunbae's height isn't growing? I need to eat well.”
“…I am growing, you know?”
In reality, Park Si-hoo was taller than the average for thirteen-year-olds, but to Yoon Seo-ah, he was just a little kid. He still looked small.
“You need to grow more. What if you stop here? Stop talking and eat quickly.”
Yoon Seo-ah gave him some unasked-for advice and popped an entire shrimp that her mom had peeled into her mouth.
“S-Seo-ah, you should cut it and eat it, cut it.”
Mom watched nervously, flustered, but the staff just laughed heartily, saying, “Just watching Seo-ah eat makes me feel full.”
When the meal was mostly finished, Kim Chul-min PD stood up with a sly smile.
“Alright, wouldn't it be a shame to end the day like this?”
When Kim Chul-min snapped his fingers, the assistant director rummaged around and brought something out.
“Kkureogi Tamheomdae nighttime mission! Courage training!”
“…Ugh?”
Yoon Seo-ah, who had been demonstrating the feat of inhaling an entire strip of pork belly, stopped chewing. It wasn't because she was scared of the courage training.
It's about to be night soon.
In 2002, strong legal protections weren't in place yet. Child actors frequently had to pull all-nighters filming just like the adult actors to keep up with their schedules. Therefore, nighttime filming with children was still possible in current variety shows.
Damn it, they're not even paying night differential.
For Yoon Seo-ah, who had been looking forward to eating until full and sleeping warmly, the additional filming was like a bolt from the blue.
No wonder no one was drinking alcohol.