Chapter 47

47. First Audition

The audition venue was an acting academy in Bangbae-dong.

Since summer, the place had been rented out, and all the auditions for this movie had been held here.

For the child auditions, the schedule was set for the last day because children grow so much from day to day.

Siwoo held his mother's hand and entered the academy.

“What's the child's name?”

“Yun Siwoo.”

“He's number 30. Please put the name tag and number tag on his clothes where they can be seen clearly, and go up to the second floor.”

Hyun-ju and Siwoo climbed the stairs.

“Wow, there are so many people. Siwoo, let's go sit over there.”

Hyun-ju found an empty seat and led Siwoo to it.

“Mom~ Everyone is here for the audition, right?”

Siwoo asked.

An mother, who was taking care of her child in the next seat, opened her eyes wide and said,

“How old are you? You look small, but you speak so well.”

Siwoo showed four fingers.

“Four~ years old!”

“Four years old? Not five?”

“Four~ years old~ just turned.”

“Wow, you speak so well. You even use honorifics.”

The mother asked Hyun-ju,

“Does he read Hangul too? I heard they have to read the script.”

“He only knows a few simple words. He can't read everything yet.”

“Hmm… I see… Yes, try your best.”

The mother looked at Siwoo with a slightly wary expression and turned away.

Siwoo sat in the chair, sucking on the organic sugar-free candy his mother had given him, and looked around.

“Waaah~!”

He could hear crying.

“Again, again! You have to say it properly!”

He also heard a voice that sounded like a mother named Jeong-tae.

“Our baby is so cute, they don't even need to act. They'll pass as soon as they go in."

He heard the warm voice of a doting grandfather.

Overall, it was quite chaotic.

‘About twenty or so? Hmm, some might not have arrived yet…’

Siwoo looked at the number 30 on his clothes.

‘Maybe exactly 30?’

There were certainly more applicants, but many must have been eliminated in the document screening.

– Movie [In the Name of God] Child Actor Audition

Siwoo, who was looking at the sign on the stairs leading to the second floor, bit into the candy.

Crunch.

Crunch.

‘I’ll chew it all up.’

As Siwoo was sitting in the chair, enthusiastically sucking on the candy, Hyun-ju checked the time.

“It's not yet 2 PM, so why don't Siwoo practice the lines he prepared?”

Siwoo had practiced a few simple lines.

When he heard about practicing, the mother in the next seat looked at Siwoo with bright eyes.

She instinctively felt a sense of crisis due to Siwoo's good looks and articulate speech.

“…Huh? You… were you in The King's Path last year…?”

The mother, who had been glaring at Siwoo, changed her expression when she realized who he was.

“Right? Duk-gu! Duk-gu, Duk-gu~!”

A moment later.

Siwoo was sitting in the chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.

He was a bit tired.

The gathered mothers were smiling and subtly throwing sharp comments.

“He'll definitely be chosen. He has recognition.”

“He's so cute! What does acting matter for a child? They'll choose based on looks, right? Our Duk-gu is even cuter in real life~”

“He reads Hangul well too. He's so smart. How nice~”

Hyun-ju, with a red face, was struggling among the fierce mothers.

“Ah, no. I didn’t say he reads well….”

Not all the mothers were like this, but the ordinary mothers were quietly taking care of their children, so the ones who approached Siwoo were all wary mothers.

‘Why don’t they take care of their own kids instead of doing this…’

Siwoo inwardly clicked his tongue.

It happens everywhere.

People who focus more on others than themselves.

The mother sitting next to Siwoo clapped her hands once and, with a friendly smile, handed Siwoo a piece of paper.

“Can you read this? I heard you read well.”

A few lines of dialogue were written on it.

When Hyun-ju tried to stop her, Siwoo took the paper with both hands and read it.

What is this?

‘These mothers are really something. If the kid can't read, how much embarrassment are they trying to cause?’

Siwoo cleared his throat and read aloud.

“I~ will~ say~? Our house~ has~ money….”

The next character is ‘much’.

A character that a child might not easily recognize.

When Siwoo glanced at the mother's face, she was smirking and looking down at him.

Siwoo, mimicking the sneer of the old man caught cheating in the movie [Speed Scandal], opened his mouth.

“Much! A lot! Indeed!”

“…!”

“So~ you guys! Be careful~ or you'll all~ get hurt~!”

Siwoo shouted to his mother, who was as surprised as the mothers.

“Mom~ I can do it~ all!”

Hyun-ju asked,

“Does our Siwoo know ‘much’ and ‘front’?”

“Yes! The teacher taught me at the academy~! I also learned ABCD~! XYZ~~~”

Not only teaching Go, but also manners, numbers, and Hangul… It seems the teacher wasn’t just talking.

A mother, who had been muttering to her child with her mouth open, said,

“Is he a prodigy? A language genius? What do you mean he’s only four….”

Siwoo shrugged.

‘Is this all that impressive? I’m trying not to stand out too much now, but back then, I mastered the Thousand Character Classic and read the Three Classics at four.’

When he was a baby, he held a brush and studied to become a scholar, but one night, he woke up to find himself captured by an old man from a cult and taken to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

The best boneless in the world, or something like that.

‘…That was a life I had too.’

Siwoo puffed his pale cheeks and reminisced.

“Pfff~”

Just then, it was 2 PM.

The staff closed the door to the waiting room.

“The audition is starting! At the director's request, parents cannot enter. When called, please send only the child. We will take them to the audition room.”

Some parents protested.

“Our child needs their mother to perform well.”

“I prepared the script, and I was going to be the opposite role. Is that not allowed?”

“Can’t we just watch quietly from behind?”

The staff firmly replied,

“No. Only the children can enter. If there’s anything necessary, please let us know. Opposite role? The staff will do it. For children who can't read the script, we will help them.”

The staff clapped several times to calm the atmosphere and called the first child.

“Number 1! Jeong Seong-min!”

A boy who looked about six years old stood up.

The audition began.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Director Choi Min-cheol was gnawing on his lip while tapping a white pen.

Director Choi, who was flipping through the tablet to check the profiles of several children, asked the casting director sitting next to him,

“I don’t like any of them. Are these the ones who passed the first round?”

The casting director, a man in his mid-40s and currently the most successful commercial film director in Korea, awkwardly smiled.

“They… are all good. They will improve with more training.”

“Hmm, they seem to have received a lot of training already….”

“Maybe we should have given them more time to practice the script.”

“Alright. Then the mothers will turn their children into parrots. I need someone with a natural, living character… There’s no one like that. Only those who have been forced into a role.”

Director Choi’s hand moved faster, and the tablet screen stopped at the last profile, number 30, Siwoo.

The casting director snapped his fingers.

“What about this one? Duk-gu’s dad~ He was popular last year. If we look at his career, he’s the best….”

Director Choi had a reluctant expression.

“Duk-gu’s character and this character are very different. I need to see him in person. I think he might be cute, but he might not fit this role….”

“Ah… Yes… He’s been praised so much… Ha ha.”

The staff announced,

“Number 26, Kim Seong-wook.”

A four-year-old child entered.

The casting director greeted the child with a wide smile.

“Hi~ Seong-wook. Are you nervous without your mom? Don’t worry. We’ll have fun with the uncles. This is the director. Why don’t you say hello to the director?”

When the four-year-old Seong-wook met Director Choi’s eyes…

“Waaah! Mom!”

Director Choi laughed and said,

“No~ I’m not that scary. I just look scary.”

“Waaah~!”

“It’s okay. Is our Seong-wook missing his mom~?”

“Waaah~”

“Is it because you’re scared of the uncles~?”

Nod.

“Ha ha! That’s it!”

Director Choi told the staff,

“Bring the next child. Let’s hurry. I’m tired.”

He felt a sense of unease, thinking he might have to reshoot today.

Was the character too difficult from the start?

It needed to be cute, adorable, and lovable, yet not childlike.

Something like that.

A child who exudes presence just by existing.

‘If it were just about being cute, adorable, and lovable, we could choose Yun Siwoo…’

Director Choi tapped the pen again and said to the casting director,

“If we can’t find one today, we’ll have another audition. I won’t settle for just anything. I need to feel it! A… cute child with a managerial aura… Is there anyone like that?”

“Ha ha ha.”

The casting director lightly laughed and thought,

‘…Is there such a child?’

He sighed at the thought of having another audition.

‘Why did they include the setting that the older the soul, the younger they look…? Well, thanks to that, charismatic actor Ha Seung-seok became a junior new soul reaper.’

After that, number 27 entered the audition room.

Acted and left.

Number 28 entered.

Acted and left.

Number 29 entered.

Cried and left.

And the last child—

Siwoo was listening to various instructions from the staff in front of the audition room.

“Siwoo, do you want to read the script again?”

“No~ I’m fine~”

“First, greet the director and don’t cry. Even if the director looks a bit scary, he’s not. …”

“Yes~”

“Right. Even memorizing the script. You’re really smart. But that’s not the most important thing. When you go in… do what you prepared with your mom at home first~ and then what your older brother taught you. If you forget, your older brother will be standing behind you, so you can ask him. It’s okay.”

“Yes~ Thank you~”

Siwoo smiled at his older brother and stood in front of the audition room door.

The staff slowly opened the door and called out,

“Last one! Number 30~ Yun Siwoo!”

Siwoo’s cute smile suddenly changed.

Oh.