Chapter 67

67. The Director's Choice

How could a child have such an expression?

Even adult actors found it difficult to perform with such eye acting.

However...

At five years old...

His eyes alone captivated not only the characters in the movie but also the audience, leaving them unable to move.

"..."

Director No Jin-hee's mouth slightly opened.

From the screen, the child exuded an aura as strong as that of the real ruler of the underworld, King Yama.

From the back row, a male audience member's voice was heard.

"Is this kid eating the camera all by himself?"

Director No Jin-hee nodded in agreement.

She couldn't wait to see the child's next performance.

King Yama, played by Si-woo, screamed with his palms pressed against his face, much like the young actor Kevin in the Christmas movie "Home Alone" that No Jin-hee had seen long ago.

'Cute, so cute...'

No Jin-hee, who had initially thought that a five-year-old King Yama might be too much of a stretch, changed her mind within the first 20 minutes of the movie.

The audience burst into laughter at the unexpectedly charming lines delivered by the five-year-old.

Si-woo looked at the underworld officials with a truly pitiful expression and sighed deeply.

Si-woo's face filled the screen in a close-up, revealing his incredibly beautiful appearance, which mercilessly captured the audience's hearts.

"Kyaa..."

From behind No Jin-hee, someone let out a small scream, barely managing to suppress it.

Everyone was in an uproar.

'Too cute! I'm going crazy! This kid's face is insane!'

'Just thinking about what he'll look like in ten years makes me want to faint!'

'I want to jump into the movie and hug him! What do I do?'

No Jin-hee could hear the whispers of the college girls in the back row when she entered the theater.

Si-woo, whose face filled the large screen, glared at the camera, expressing his anger.

Dori dori dori dori dori.

The line of underworld officials shook their heads violently.

'Even his angry face is adorable.'

No Jin-hee was captivated by the charm of baby Yama Si-woo.

The movie moved into its middle part.

A scene where King Yama temporarily visited the human world to inspect the work of the investigation team.

Si-woo approached the undercover location of the evil spirits' investigation team, hiding his aura.

In front of a cafe that occupied the first floor of a building, Si-woo tilted his head.

Looking through the cafe window, he saw Seung-hyun busily moving among the many customers.

The youngest charsa, Seung-seok, was clearing a table left by a departing customer.

Their eyes met through the cafe window.

A moment later—

In an empty cafe, Si-woo and the five underworld charsa sat around a large table.

Seung-hyun was passionately explaining to Si-woo.

Si-woo sat quietly, blinking as he listened to Seung-hyun's explanation, which was part apology and part justification.

Laughter erupted from various parts of the audience as Si-woo, with his small hand near his mouth, expressed his confusion with his entire face.

No Jin-hee had been smiling automatically every time Si-woo appeared on screen.

Seung-hyun, sitting close to Si-woo, spoke.

When the audience smiled at Si-woo's cute question, Seung-hyun whispered his answer.

Seung-hyun laughed confidently, using the example of how cats go wild with excitement when they smell catnip.

Seung-hyun was showing a different side in this movie compared to the serious roles he had played before.

Si-woo smiled and gave a thumbs up.

Si-woo patted Seung-hyun's head with his hand.

The unbalanced scene of a small child patting the head of a grown man was funny, but to the audience who remembered the double-decker bus, it just looked incredibly warm and beautiful.

Right then.

Clang!

Someone knocked on the door of the cafe.

Si-woo and the investigation team members turned their heads to see several people of different ages standing outside, loitering.

The audience, startled by the knocking, held their breath and focused on the screen.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A woman in her early twenties continued to knock on the door.

Seung-seok asked.

Seung-seok scratched his head and answered.

While the other team members, who were familiar with various types of difficult customers from running the cafe, pondered what type of difficult customer this might be, Si-woo and Seung-hyun looked at each other and smiled.

Si-woo, who had been sitting, climbed onto the chair and stood up, speaking.

The team members looked at Si-woo.

Seung-seok said.

Ignoring Seung-seok, Si-woo finished his statement.

Boom!

As Si-woo released his energy, the world in the movie shook violently like a wave.

With a cute smile, Si-woo kicked the chair.

Whoosh!

Si-woo's body shot towards the cafe entrance.

No Jin-hee clenched her hands, watching the scene.

A child... a child can do anything.

No Jin-hee's preconceptions had long been shattered.

As Si-woo flew through the air and waved his hand, the locked cafe door opened wide.

The evil spirits, drawn by the scent of the incense tree, began to reveal their true forms under the influence of Yama's energy.

The evil spirits leaped back, fleeing to the road.

Si-woo raised his hand high and brought it down forcefully.

At the same time, a massive, invisible subspace fell from somewhere, covering the heads of the evil spirits.

The space where the evil spirits were located was instantly separated and isolated from the human world by Si-woo's power.

Si-woo, who had left the cafe, walked slowly into the space where the evil spirits were trapped, his hands behind his back.

Information gathered while posing as a human was racing through his mind.

A giant, flaming black blade emerged from Si-woo's fingertips.

No Jin-hee, watching the movie, was no longer surprised.

For a five-year-old, he was doing well?

The child was quite impressive?

It was more than that.

How could a five-year-old express such a cold, piercing gaze?

What about that overwhelming presence and the expression that made your legs tremble just by looking at it?

Genius?

Could it be described as a genius?

If it's a genius... can it do this?

No Jin-hee stared blankly at the screen.

Most of the audience, except for a few who were watching for the second time, felt the same way.

The child's presence was, to an absurd degree, tremendous.

With a terrifying aura, Si-woo not only shocked the evil spirits but also the audience as he casually swung his black blade.

Si-woo struck the ground forcefully with the large sword in his hand.

Red, blood-like characters began to rise continuously from where the sword was embedded.

Si-woo, with an icy face, stared coldly at the fat, soul-eating evil spirits.

* * *

After leaving the theater, No Jin-hee sat in a cafe on the first floor of the movie theater building, sipping a warm latte while trying to clear her mind.

It was a shock.

The scale of the movie was shocking, and the direction by Director Choi Min-cheol and the performances of the actors were also shocking.

She had heard that in such action movies, the characters' performances often took a back seat to the CG, but everyone was giving their best to portray new characters different from what they had shown before.

She had never imagined that an actor like Ha Seung-seok, who was always getting hit in the back of the head and kicked in the shins by children, could do this.

Ryu Seung-hyun, who had mainly shown serious and upright performances, was now showing a more playful and sometimes exaggerated side.

Han Yoo-ri—

She felt like she was watching a passionate, young actor who had just started growing after turning thirty.

Her acting career might just be beginning now.

"Ha..."

But even combined, all these shocks couldn't match the impact of that young child.

"Yoon Si-woo."

Si-woo, who had been laughing, talking, and moving in the movie, wouldn't leave her mind.

He was like Mozart.

His talent was shining infinitely.

With a jolt, No Jin-hee stood up with all her strength.

Her mind, which had been rigid and stuck in a rut, was now shattered, and she had to start writing immediately.

Blaming herself for not bringing her laptop, No Jin-hee hurried to her office.

Opening the door, she entered her own space, filled with well-worn books.

She sat in front of her laptop and began writing, as if possessed.

A few hours later—

No Jin-hee called her agency.

"Yes. I'm working on a new piece right now."

She got straight to the point.

"No, something else."

"I want to write a fantasy piece."

"Hello?"

"I've decided to stop disliking it. You know the child who played King Yama in 'The God's Name'? Yoon Si-woo. I want to cast him."

"No, of course not immediately. I've written a synopsis and the beginning. Could you read it and, if possible, start preparing to cast him early...?"

"Is it because of his price?"

...No.

She wanted to say that a high price means he's in high demand, and it's doubtful that he would want to appear in a work by No Jin-hee, who had only managed a 5% rating in her last series, but she decided to phrase it more tactfully, considering the writer's pride.

"Yes, I understand that. I'll do my best, so please give me the opportunity to cast him. I definitely want to work with him."

She also decided not to mention that this was the fourth writer who had asked to cast him.

"I'll send you the synopsis file."

No Jin-hee hung up the phone and sat back in front of her laptop with a determined look.

* * *

Morning sunlight shone through the window of the cabin's bed, illuminating Si-woo's face.

Si-woo yawned and sat up.

"Should I sleep more...?"

He had gone to a Go site to play one more game before going to bed at midnight, lost to an 8-dan Japanese user due to overconfidence, and then played two more games to seek revenge, ending up going to bed very late.

Rolling around.

Tumbling.

Rolling out of bed had become a habit.

To start the day with energy, Si-woo headed to the bathroom.

He planned to wash his face first.

"Meow meow~ Our gloves are gone~ What should we do~"

Singing a children's song in a pink plushie voice, Si-woo arrived at the bathroom just as his mother was coming out.

"Hey? Si... Si-woo, you're up?"

Her tone was a bit strange.

"Yup! Did you sleep well, Mom?"

"Y-Yes, I did."

"..."

Si-woo looked up at his mother curiously.

Hyun-ju kissed Si-woo's cheek and said,

"Si-woo, I'm going to call your father. Play in the living room, okay?"

"Okay~"

Hyun-ju left Si-woo, Bok-sil, and Nero in the living room and went into the bedroom.

Worried by his mother's unusual demeanor, Si-woo looked at the bedroom door.

A small voice from the other side of the door was heard.

"Hey, are you busy now? Is everything okay? No... Yes... Our Si-woo... seems to have a younger sibling."

Si-woo, who was preparing to play with Bok-sil and Nero in the living room, dropped the soft ball he was holding.

Oh.