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Come to think of it, I think there were three major misfortunes.

The first is that my parents passed away in an accident when I was young.

The second is that I couldn’t become a professional player because I punched a senior who kept complaining about being an orphan.

The third is now.

“Your acting was much better than I expected. I’ll have to talk to other people about it, but I like it. Thanks for your hard work.”

There were three more judges, but since it was the evaluation of writer Im Soo-jin who wrote the screenplay, there was nothing more to consider.

I really did this audition, but hearing those words from a star writer made me feel like I was flying.

To celebrate, I bought some chicken and beer for the first time in a while and headed to my studio apartment.

‘If I can do this well, I can move up to a supporting role in the future.’

My steps couldn’t be lighter, as if I could see the end of the long tunnel called anonymity.

As I was crossing the crosswalk when the light turned blue, a car was coming from the other side at incredible speed.

I was at a distance where I could have easily avoided it, but the female student walking in front of me was startled by the sudden flash of light and stopped dead in her tracks.

The moment I saw that sight, I flew without realizing it.

I managed to push the schoolgirl out, but there wasn’t enough time for me to avoid it.

My body was lifted into the air with a tremendous impact.

It may have been a fleeting moment in reality, but for me, it was enough time for the world to flash before my eyes.

“What did I do wrong! Tell me, tell me!”

‘Filming set?’

I saw myself screaming at the veteran actor.

I felt catharsis when I saw the expression on the face of the person who had been consumed by the smoke filled with his soul.

‘I wanted to act like that.’

Then what should I do? I’m going to die soon.

‘But what is this revolving lantern thing?’

That’s a line from the beginning of the drama I auditioned for today.

Wasn’t the flashback just a series of events from the past flashing by?

Why do I see a future that will never come to me?

The battlefield-like filming set faded away and bright light enveloped me.

I guess I’m going to die now.

A few lines will probably appear in the corner of the portal news in the morning.

They say that unknown actor Byun Ha-jin unfortunately passed away in a car accident.

*****

‘Ha, life is so… .’

It suddenly regressed.

“Dandelion classmates. We’ll go in two lines.”

As a 6 year old kindergarten student.

A week ago —

It was dark, but when it got brighter, I thought I had come to heaven.

I don’t remember doing anything bad, so I didn’t think it would be hell.

But when I opened my eyes, a familiar, yet unfamiliar face was looking at me.

“If Hajin doesn’t wake up now, she’ll be late for kindergarten.”

It was my mom.

My mother passed away together with my father in a car accident when I was young.

It was an unfamiliar face because it had been 20 years since I had seen it, but it was a face I could never forget.

“Why is my son so absent-minded? Did he have a scary dream?”

The moment I heard that voice, I burst into tears.

It was something my mother always asked me when I was little and was dazed from not waking up.

“Ha, Hajin! What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?”

In the end, I couldn’t go to kindergarten that day because my fever was so high.

“Status Window!”

I took some fever reducer and lay down staring at the ceiling when suddenly an idea occurred to me and I shouted.

In a web novel, the protagonist who returned to his senses came to his senses and started looking for this, so I tried it too.

“… … .”

Nothing happened.

Then I said yes and tossed and turned to sleep.

But I got something better than the status window.

“Teacher, Hajin wants to sit next to me.”

“No. I’ll sit down today.”

“Ugh, I don’t like that. You were sitting there yesterday too.”

“Come on, guys. Don’t fight… .”

The next day I went to kindergarten and the kids, especially the girls, were making a fuss to sit next to me.

Children are more honest than anyone else.

When I see something delicious, I want to eat it, when I see something nice, I want to have it, and when I see a pretty person, I want to have them by their side.

I was the most ‘pretty person’ in Dandelion class, no, in the entire kindergarten.

“Haa, have you ever seen such a handsome 6 year old? I can’t imagine what he’ll be like when he grows up.”

“That’s right. I understand why girls only want to sit next to him.”

He’s handsome. He’s very handsome.

Unlike his previous life, where his looks were lacking compared to his acting skills, his face has been upgraded dozens, if not hundreds of times.

The first day I returned, I went to the bathroom and was shocked when I saw my own face.

Thick eyelashes and eyes that looked like stars, a nose with a distinct presence, a beautiful face line, and a well-finished chin. The being that sent me back to my childhood had purposely torn my face apart and remodeled it.

The moment I saw the face that had changed like a sculpture, I felt dizzy and it was superimposed on the face in my memory.

As if this was the face he was born with.

‘That’s why my mom didn’t notice that I had changed.’

As I looked at my face in the mirror, the thought of acting suddenly came to me.

I think that if he had this face added to his acting skills from his past life, his life in obscurity wouldn’t have been so long.

‘Come to think of it, what happened to your acting talent?’

This curiosity was soon resolved.

*****

“I’m going to prepare dinner, so watch TV for a bit.”

When I turned on the TV, kindergarten was starting to bustle.

‘Long time no see.’

This is a long-running program on KBC 3TV that any child in Korea would know.

I also liked it when I was little, so I used to run home from playing outside to do this.

I regressed to the age of 6 and it seems like my point of finding fun has also gone back to that time.

It’s amazing to see people so excited about a children’s program.

Unfortunately, the excitement was shattered in just a few minutes.

‘Why is it such a mess?’

It was weird from the beginning, but ‘I’m Curious, Teacher Tiger’ was so weird that it made me frown.

This is the most popular corner in Waggle Waggle Kindergarten.

It is a story about a tiger teacher who appears and answers questions that children and puppet animals have.

He is famous for creating stories based on what children are curious about.

When I was young, I also made my mom send an email to the broadcasting station.

Children who can’t hide their awkward expressions and miss every movement,

The child actor’s acting next to the animals was also full of holes.

If there are gaps between the acting or lines, it becomes awkward for the viewer.

Beginners and aspiring actors ruin their acting because they fail to fill in the gaps properly.

An experienced actor can fill in the gaps with appropriate reactions or ad-libs.

But there are actors who don’t create that hole at all.

It’s instinctively getting rid of the parts that are awkward, or rather, the parts that seem like they might be awkward.

Only actors like this can be recognized for their acting skills.

It’s something I heard over and over again while taking acting classes in my past life.

Of course, since he is a child actor, we cannot expect smooth acting without creating any holes.

Even so, if you feel like there’s going to be a hole, don’t stutter and move on quickly to the next line or action. This will reduce the awkwardness.

This is one of the most basic things taught at acting schools and agencies.

Even if he is young, if he is here, isn’t he a proper actor?

These kids these days don’t even have those basics.

‘I wonder if anyone would say I’m an actor, I’m watching a children’s show and thinking this.’

I don’t know about his acting skills, but at least his mindset as an actor hasn’t gone anywhere.

As we moved on to the children’s rhythm, the hole got bigger.

Not to mention the children following behind, the child actors’ movements continued to be creaky.

As I looked at the screen, I couldn’t help but sigh.

If I were there, if I were among those broken robots, if I had stepped forward instead of making meaningless gestures and footsteps, how would the stage have been different? This thought suddenly occurred to me.

At that moment, everything before my eyes went white and a dazzling light appeared, enveloping me in an instant.

‘What what what what!’

The surroundings are all white, so it is difficult to tell whether it is a large square or a small room.

I walked slowly inward, wondering if there was anything there.

After walking for a while, I saw something that looked like a stage in the distance.

I saw a shadow of a person and was happy so I ran towards it.

‘Isn’t this a bustling kindergarten?’

It was the bustling kindergarten recording studio that I had been watching on TV until just a moment ago.

As I was hesitating behind them, not knowing what to do, someone came running out of breath.

“You were here. I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Hurry up and go back.”

“Uh uh uh… .”

I was led up to the stage by that person.

The place I stood was slightly away from the center of the stage where the spotlight was shining.

“Hahahaha! If it’s a problem like that, Mr. Tiger can solve it all!”

Teacher Tiger, who received questions from children, laughs heartily and beats his chest.

‘Really… a tiger?’

It wasn’t a doll mask.

A real tiger is standing on two legs and talking.

It wasn’t just the tiger.

Giraffes, rabbits, lions, hippos… Animals that had been resized to fit children were playing on the stage.

In the meantime, I clapped my hands and followed the rhythm with the other children.

The rhythm and movements I hear for the first time are engraved in my head.

The camera offstage is drawn out like a blueprint, showing which direction it will turn and who it will film.

My body moves on its own when it’s time to shout and change positions.

The entire corner is followed through the eyes of the camera director or producer.

‘What the heck? Why am I learning this program from start to finish?’

It was a sense of realism beyond imagination.

I couldn’t help but get immersed in the show as I ran around the stage with real animals.

There was no need to say anything about the acting skills of the child actors who appeared.

The children’s movements, clapping their hands and following the rhythm, were also very natural.

I was wondering what the stiffness I had seen on the screen earlier was.

“Okay, guys. See you next time!”

The stage disappeared before our eyes along with Mr. Tiger’s closing comments.

And then I came back to reality, sitting on the couch watching TV.

‘Wow, this is real.’

It was perfect acting, perfect rhythm, and perfect stage.

Compared to this, the things visible beyond the screen looked so shabby.

Before I knew it, I got up from the sofa and started following the lines and movements.

It breathed a naturalness completely different from the screen into the facial expressions and fingertips.

Teacher Tiger’s commands and lines flowed out of his mouth.

The cheers and various exclamations that erupted from time to time were a bonus.

Melodies you hear for the first time and movements you have never learned become second nature.

I really don’t know how many roles one person plays.

‘Turn around here and stretch out your arms.’

My improvisation ended with the applause that signaled the end of the rhythm.

I recreated the perfect stage I saw in the light all by myself.

‘This works.’

As I take a deep breath and catch my breath, the house is strangely quiet.

In the kitchen, my mom was frozen, holding vegetables.

I can’t close my gaping mouth.

“Hajin, you… why are you so good at this?”

Looking at my mother’s expression, it was clear that my acting skills had improved as much as my face.

It’s never easy to surprise people with improvisation.