episode_0023

I suffered from a cold for two days starting on the 25th.

Eugene, Sora, and Jungwoo all caught a cold, maybe because they passed it on to me.

Thanks to that, the recording of the bustling kindergarten has come to a complete stop.

A collection of rhythmic exercises and edited versions of previous episodes were aired.

PD Cho Seung-hyun must have been pulling out his hair when he made this.

“Why aren’t you coming to visit me?”

“I got it too.”

Eugene is making a fuss over the phone, asking people to come and visit him in the hospital.

“Hmph, I think I gave Hajin a cold.”

“… … .”

I’m so sorry to Sora.

One day, when I was having dinner with my mom and dad after getting out of the house, my dad brought up the conversation he had with CEO Oh.

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“Are you going to keep making Hajin act like this?”

“If Hajin wants to do it.”

“Then, you must have an agency.”

“What agency are you from?”

“Yes. Of course, if you want to continue your entertainment career, you have to take care of it. Right now, it’s just a children’s program, but dramas, movies, variety shows, and even commercials… My family can’t handle that.”

After hearing Representative Oh’s words, Hajin’s father, Byeon Seonghyeok, became lost in thought.

My wife can take me to the broadcasting station, but as the number of places I appear in increases, that becomes difficult.

As an introvert, being a manager who has to constantly deal with people is really difficult.

“First of all, avoid places that specialize in child actors. There are many agencies that disguise themselves as planning companies, and they only work the kids. You might go to act but end up just being a kid model. Does that mean big planning companies are good? That’s not true either… .”

Perhaps because it was an industry story told by the CEO of a planning company, it went straight into Byun Seong-hyeok’s ears.

The more I listened to it, the more I thought I needed an agency.

“I heard you’re going to appear in director Kim Si-woon’s new film. You’re going to need a real agency from now on.”

Then he hands me his business card.

“He’s still small and not a professional actor, but I’m confident I can raise him properly. If not, feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this.”

The revival of the Waggle Waggle Kindergarten, the sensational TTN commercial, and even being cast in a film by director Kim Si-woon, who is extremely picky about actors, all happened in just a few months.

‘He’s my son, but he’s really amazing.’

Byun Seong-hyeok looked at his son, who was dozing off on the sofa, surrounded by two pretty girls.

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“Did CEO Oh say something like that?”

“Yeah. I think he likes you. Right now, he’s mainly a girl group, but he wants to try growing into an actor too.”

It will later become one of the top three entertainment companies, so there will be huge benefits to getting in now.

Representative Oh’s skills and connections will become wings for my acting career.

But my agency has already been decided.

‘You must be a middle school student now.’

For an unknown actor, an agency is like a pie in the sky.

Who would want to invest in a supporting actor who has no future?

I have a manager who takes good care of me like this.

When I got good audition information, I asked about it right away.

Even though he wasn’t well off, he bought me food every time we met.

[I’ll definitely get this role and pay you back for everything I owe you.]

[Okay, Inma. How much is that? Are you paying your rent?]

He promised to recruit me as his first actor when I became independent.

[If you don’t get a lead role by then, it’s invalid. You have to diligently go to auditions.]

Unfortunately, I returned without seeing the planning company established.

In this life, I plan to find my brother and become the number one actor.

If that doesn’t work out, let’s do it together.

“I’ll think about the agency later. Right now, there’s nothing else I want to do besides Director Kim Si-woon’s movies.”

My dad still doesn’t know that I have a problem with expressing my emotions.

I strongly urged my mother to keep this a secret until the filming was over.

Because of my dad’s personality, if I’m having a hard time, he’ll tell me to stop acting right away.

[I’m trying to work it out with my teacher, but if it doesn’t work out, I won’t act until I’m older. I really want to do this movie, so please keep it a secret from Dad.]

Aside from forming a relationship with director Kim Si-woon, there is another reason why I want to make this film.

Because this film is the only failure among director Kim’s early filmography.

*****

Before becoming a 10 million director, Director Kim Si-woon was evaluated as a director who made cost-effective movies.

This is because, starting with his debut film, Noisy Family, he attracted at least 1 million viewers with a small production budget.

The first work where this cost-effectiveness was broken is ‘Confession of a Pianist’ in which I will appear.

At the time, only the number of audiences in Seoul was counted, and I remember it was a little over 100,000.

After becoming a fan of director Kim Si-woon, I looked for this early work and honestly found it difficult to understand.

The actors’ acting was good, but they used too many esoteric lines that had no meaning, and the past/present time zones changed frequently, making it easy to miss important scenes.

‘The child actor’s role wasn’t that great.’

He only appears briefly in the introduction, where he curses his talent for the piano due to parental abuse, before moving on to become an adult actor.

After that, all he did was play the piano in flashback scenes.

Why would a visionary like me drag me into such a flop, and such an unremarkable role?

I was curious whether it was just a connection with director Kim Si-woon, or whether my intervention would change the film’s ratings and box office success.

If there is some kind of butterfly effect after the release, you will have much more freedom when choosing works later.

Because I just need to trust my eyes and acting skills when looking at a piece of work rather than my memories from my past life.

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“Why are there so many cameras when this isn’t even a filming location?”

“I guess they’re making a making-of video. They must be filming it while all the actors are gathered.”

Private readings are held several times with a small number of people, but script readings that are held all at once are released with a press release after filming or are included in a making-of video.

“Hello. I am Byun Ha-jin, who plays the younger version of senior Choi Min-ho.”

When I politely bowed and made a cute expression, exclamations came from all directions.

“Wow, you’re really handsome.”

“I want to have a son like that.”

“If it was that big, it would make a lot of people cry.”

“I feel like crying now.”

Director Kim Si-woon stepped in and cleared up the burdensome mutterings.

“Okay, now let’s introduce ourselves and start reading. We have a lot to do today.”

The introductions started rolling in again.

At the end of each session, I clapped my hands vigorously to calm my mind.

[Don’t empathize too deeply with the role, and try to express the role through external acting. The audience wants an actor who looks like a doctor, and they don’t care whether you have a medical background or not.]

I tried to speak and act like the character, but not become the character.

It’s still unclear how effective it will be when sucked into a script.

Because the light never appeared when I practiced with the teacher.

‘If I could have sucked it in whenever I wanted, I could have tried it all.’

If predicting the future is for practice, then reading the script is a rehearsal for the practice.

I asked the director to include my scene here because I thought it would fit into the script.

Now it’s time to see if our efforts so far have been effective.

“Everyone must be curious about Hajin’s acting. Some people saw it during the private reading, but since we’re all here today, let’s start with S#2-1. Hajin, would you like to change seats?”

“Yes, Director.”

I changed my seat to face my mother’s station.

The scene that Director Kim was talking about is the scene where he gets scolded by his mother for neglecting practice.

As I made eye contact and took a deep breath, a light appeared before my eyes.

Light radiated from all directions and instantly enveloped my body.

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He sat at the piano, bowed his head, and sobbed.

There was a venomous look in the eyes of the mother who was glaring at her son.

“Why are you doing that? Mom never told me to rest.”

“My fingers keep getting numb… Can’t you rest for a bit?”

“If that’s the case, I should have practiced more diligently! Do you know how many sheets are left?”

The son doesn’t care about pain.

He keeps licking his lips as if he’s holding back his anger.

I really dislike the way my son keeps getting more and more discouraged.

“Stop whining and raise your head. Put your hands on the keyboard!”

My son, who raised his head with difficulty, had moist eyes.

The corners of the eyes shake, gathering all kinds of negativity.

My fingers tremble slightly, almost touching the keyboard.

“What the heck are you… .”

I hate the feeling of pity that wells up every time I see this kind of thing.

I hate that I don’t realize that I have talents that could surpass me.

I hate that I resemble my husband, the only blemish on my perfect life.

“Press the key…”

This discomfort that envelops my whole body is driving me crazy again today.

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“Haa, haa… .”

Even now, it seems like my mother is glaring at me with evil intent.

The venomous voice still torments my ears.

The aftereffects of going into the script and coming out were not much different from before.

“That’s why the director was impressed. Did you see his eyes when he was about to cry earlier? No, how did his expression change in such a short time… .”

“I guess I’ll hear people say I’m worse at acting than child actors.”

“What kind of kid is so immersed in something? It’s hard for me to watch.”

“But are you breathing okay? Why are you so tired?”

I’m a bit out of breath.

My head is spinning because my emotions are so tangled.

By the way,

‘It’s a lot better than the audition and the last reading, isn’t it?’

It might be thanks to the classes I took with my teacher.

Or maybe I didn’t expend much emotion in this scene.

Whatever it is, it’s good that there’s progress.

As I was thinking this, I noticed someone who was more tired than me.

She was a veteran actress who played the role of the mother.

“What kind of acting are you doing that’s so scary? It’s a reading, so be gentle.”

“No, what is this… .”

“Why are you sweating so much? Does it hurt?”

Why are you so tired?