Chapter 83

83. Counterattack

While focusing on the smoke to attract the fish, Seo inadvertently let his true abilities slip a little.

He seemed to have gotten too into method acting.

Seeing the school of fish approaching him, Seo quickly and clearly signaled for them to go away.

A few of the more intelligent fish understood Seo’s intent and turned to leave.

However, those that couldn’t understand continued to circle around him, driven by instinct.

A particularly large shark approached Seo.

Director Lee Sang-cheol’s eyes widened as he frantically pointed at Seo.

"Film! Film! Film it well! Don’t miss anything!"

That was his meaning.

‘What’s happening? If this goes well, we might not even need CG processing.’

Of course, it was probably a coincidence, but for some reason, all kinds of fish, even sea turtles, were cutting through the water to come in front of the camera.

People often say that the entertainment gods have descended, but this felt like the video gods had descended upon Seo.

Director Lee Sang-cheol was worried that Seo might stop acting if he got scared by the shark.

But it was a groundless worry.

Facing the shark that seemed to be staring at him, or perhaps just looking at him but appeared to be staring due to its appearance, Seo put on his most serious expression and did his best.

In the giant aquarium tank, the shark that approached as if communicating with Seo, and Seo’s adorable appearance combined to create a very mysterious and beautiful scene.

Maintaining the dreamy expression of a mermaid prince, Seo inwardly shouted.

‘Go away. Just go. Shark, go away! Why aren’t you leaving?’

According to the script, a stingray CG was supposed to appear here.

But with the shark stubbornly staying, Seo was a bit confused.

Should he ignore it and stick to the script with a stingray, or adapt to the situation with the shark…?

‘Sigh, really. I can understand the ones that can’t understand, but there are always those that understand but don’t listen. Alright! Let’s go with the shark!’

They could always reshoot according to the script later.

Having made his decision, Seo opened his mouth and delivered his lines with precise diction.

"Finally found you. You’ve turned into a shark. Your teeth are really cool!"

Since things had come to this, instead of telling the shark to go away, Seo conveyed that it should stay.

He wanted to create a scene without CG by syncing with the shark.

"How do you want to do this? Do you want to come out? Or should I go in?"

The lines of the opposite mermaid, as written in the script, came to Seo’s mind.

– A prince who lacks the qualifications to be king, yet dares to come here!

Seo asked the shark.

‘Do you know what laughing is? If you could laugh here… sorry, that’s too much to ask.’

Seo came to his senses when he realized he was asking a real shark to laugh.

The shark, of course, couldn’t laugh.

Instead, it seemed to want to hear Seo’s incomprehensible words more clearly and approached even closer, its nose almost touching the tank’s glass.

Director Lee Sang-cheol jumped up from his seat.

He couldn’t believe it.

The shark was acting with Seo as if it understood him, creating a scene without any CG.

‘What is this shark? We should pay it an appearance fee!’

Seo slowly backed away towards Dong-hoon and Su-hyun, gesturing provocatively for the shark to come out.

Imagining the scene where the transparent shark would pass through the tank and leap out, and other mermaids would appear from other tanks, Seo turned and started running cutely backward.

Director Lee Sang-cheol gave the sign with an excited voice.

"Cut! Okay!"

At the same time, surprised voices from the staff erupted everywhere.

"What’s with the fish? Why are they all gathered here? They must have come when they saw Seo, right?"

"Unbelievable… Could Seo be an Aqua Boy!? Haha. What’s going on? Is this a sign of a natural disaster…?"

"Stop saying that. Can we keep the shark without using CG from earlier?"

"We have to. How can you compare a real shark to CG?"

As Seo left the main tank, the fish dispersed as if their business was done.

The shark also looked at the humans in the tank once and then swam away gracefully.

The actors and staff, except for Seo, watched with amazed expressions.

"Actors, come to the monitor!"

At Director Lee Sang-cheol’s call, Seo rode Dong-hoon’s horse and headed to the camera.

He felt the chemistry with the shark was quite good, but he was curious to see how it looked on screen.

"Great job! Great job! Everyone did an amazing job! Especially Seo! Changing the line from a stingray to a shark was really well done! For a seven-year-old to have such good sense! That’s why you’re the lead! Hahaha!"

Director Lee Sang-cheol praised the actors and started monitoring together.

And—

On the screen, Seo, who had spit out the milkshake straw, frowned and delivered his line.

Dong-hoon took the next line.

Director Lee Sang-cheol, noticing the mistake, quietly stopped the screen.

It was an error that no one had noticed during filming.

Seo puffed his cheeks and covered his head with his hands.

Ji-seok, who had been peeking from behind, spoke up.

"Huh? It wasn’t Su-hyun… but Eun-soo."

In the script, they were supposed to call the character’s name, but both Seo and Dong-hoon had called Su-hyun’s real name.

It was a common type of NG in the filming process.

"Sorry…"

Seo’s slightly dejected face as he apologized was so cute that Su-hyun couldn’t help but laugh.

Always seeing the confident and bright acting genius, seeing Seo after an NG made him look very cute and lovable.

A protective instinct welled up.

Su-hyun gently placed her hand on Seo’s head and said,

"It’s okay, Seo. You barely make three NGs a day. We’re the ones with the problem."

"Okay."

As Seo sighed, thinking about the reshoot, Dong-hoon, who had also made an NG, laughed and hugged Seo’s small body tightly.

"You’re so good that you keep trying to be perfect. If you make three NGs a day, how about Ji-seok, who makes thirty NGs in one scene? I also called the name wrong. It’s okay."

Ji-seok also spoke to cheer Seo up.

"Bro, I have a recording of ‘Sorry, I’ll do my best.’ I carry it around. Saying it every time I make an NG hurts my throat. Haha. Next time I make an NG, listen closely. It’s recorded…."

When Ji-seok’s eyes met Director Lee Sang-cheol’s, he realized he had gone too far.

It was just two days ago that he had made thirty NGs in one scene.

"…Sorry, I’ll do my best."

"Good. You’re so positive. Good. Hahaha."

As Director Lee Sang-cheol laughed, Dong-hoon, Ji-seok, and Su-hyun also laughed.

Seo, who had made an NG for the first time in a long while, smiled in the warm atmosphere of the set.

"The fish and shark scenes can be cut and used. Let’s reshoot the conversation on the bench. Let’s go! We’re doing great! Keep it up!"

"Okay!"

The actors responded energetically.

This teamwork was another strength of [Sea Child], which was achieving high ratings with only child actors and newcomers, without any big-name stars.

* * *

September.

Ji-yeon was watching the drama on a tablet in the Rien Entertainment practice room.

The female trainees, who had finished preparing to go home, sat on the floor with Ji-yeon and couldn’t take their eyes off the screen.

"…Is this shark CG? It’s strangely realistic."

"It’s not just the shark, but the school of stingrays… Wow! Look at the detail in the sea turtle’s head movement!"

"Wow, is this the level of CG technology in Korean dramas?"

After laughing for a while, Ji-yeon spoke.

"No, it’s all real. I heard from Seo. They suddenly swarmed. He said unedited footage might be uploaded later."

The female trainees’ eyes widened.

"Are you kidding… Is Seo really a mermaid?"

"He must have become a mermaid because he acts so well. Hey, everyone, be quiet!"

"Your voice is the loudest, though."

The female trainees jostled each other with their elbows to get a better view of the drama and tried to get closer to [Sea Child].

In the drama, Seo’s small body, which had jumped out of the aquarium, was gradually growing and transforming into Ji-seok.

In power mode, or more accurately, back to his true form, the sea was holding Eun-soo’s hand and running hard.

The mermaids, now transparent, were freely passing through walls and pillars to chase them, but the sea, being with human Eun-soo, was running honestly along the corridor, drawing the attention of the humans.

"Sir! Don’t go alone, come with us!"

The fisherman, who was transparent like the chasing mermaids, was quickly escaping through the wall.

The fisherman, who had run ahead, called out confidently.

"Prince! I’m guiding the way! Just follow me!"

The fisherman led the sea and Eun-soo to an empty lot behind a building he had seen before entering the aquarium.

"I… I’m thinking of quitting college… and doing track… I think I have a talent for it…."

The sea and the fisherman stood guard in front of Eun-soo, who was panting heavily.

Papapap!

A dozen mermaids in suits burst out from the outer wall of the aquarium.

"…More than I thought."

The fisherman replied to the sea.

"There are only two or three strong ones, and the rest are weaklings. I’ll take care of the weaklings, so you take the strong ones."

"No, I’ll take the weaklings. You’re a mermaid who always charges up in the West Sea and occasionally comes to land, while I’m a mermaid who guards Eun-soo constantly and bathes in tap water. Who’s stronger?"

"Still, the prince should be a bit more…."

"I also have to protect Eun-soo."

"…Understood."

After a brief argument about who would take the weaklings, the sea and the fisherman stepped towards the mermaids.

When the sea raised his finger towards Eun-soo, a waterfall-like wall of water appeared around her.

"Don’t come out. Stay inside nicely. I’ll be back after dealing with the fish."

The sea and the fisherman became transparent.

It was a technology that had been developed to help mermaids avoid human eyes in the sea for a long time.

"Don’t get hurt! If you get hurt, I’ll really be angry!"

Eun-soo, who could see the transparent mermaids despite being human, called out worriedly to the sea.

"Will you be angry if I get hurt? Then what if I don’t get hurt? What will you do for me if I don’t get hurt?"

The sea turned back to Eun-soo, showing his best visual.

Eun-soo, momentarily stunned by the sea’s smiling face, argued.

"What, what… what do you want! Not getting hurt is good. What can I do for you? Are you an idiot?"

"If I don’t get hurt! I’ll do anything you want! It’s a promise!"

"Who, who said that! I didn’t say anything! Hey! Stop talking nonsense and focus on the fight!"

The sea returned to the fisherman’s side.

The fisherman asked.

"Anything? What do you want from Eun-soo?"

The sea, who was now constantly ambushing Eun-soo, glared at the mermaids with a terrifying look.

"I’ll go to Noryangjin Fish Market and eat everything."

The sea, with his handsome face, calmly said the terrifying words.

The spectacle of CG and action continued.

The sea, who had always been ambushed by the mermaids in the neighborhood, finally launched a counterattack with the help of the fisherman and fought desperately.

Even if they defeated the ones in front of them, the mermaid assassins who wanted to kill Eun-soo would keep coming, and there was no end in sight. But if they didn’t fight, the Eun-soo he had saved as a child would die again.

After fighting for a while, the sea and the fisherman leaned back to catch their breath.

The sea said,

"Ah, I wish I could go into the sea for 24 hours and rest for a day."

"Huff huff. Do that. I’ll guard Eun-soo, no problem."

"You can’t stay on land all day. You’ll be found out. You’re not pretending to study abroad like me. Is that guy studying hard in the Mediterranean for me?"

"He loves studying. He’s doing a great job imitating the prince. You know what will happen if we’re found out, right?"

"Let’s worry about the heads that will fly now, not later. Sir."

The fight resumed.

After several intense exchanges, the situation began to turn.

The mermaids were losing their lives one by one to the sea and the fisherman, turning into bubbles.

As the tide turned, the sea and the fisherman fought even harder, and the fight quickly came to an end.

The sea shouted,

"Sir, leave one! We need to ask some questions!"

Seeing the fisherman dragging a mermaid by the neck, the sea, who seemed to be exhausted, crouched down and naturally switched to power-saving mode.

As he transformed back into a young sea, the water barrier protecting Eun-soo was also released.

Swoosh!

With a splash, Eun-soo ran out.

"Are you okay!?"

"Yep~ It was tough, but I didn’t get hurt at all! You have to grant my wish!"

"Wish!? I never said I would…."

"I worked hard not to get hurt!"

"…Alright. What do you want? Let’s hear it."

"I want to go to Noryangjin Fish…."

The fisherman called out to the sea.

"Prince! Come and interrogate him!"

"Got it! I’m coming!"

The sea, who had started to speak, stopped and ran over.

Eun-soo, watching the young sea’s retreating back, muttered to herself.

"Noryangjin Fish… What is this intense feeling…."

The sea, who had terrified Eun-soo with just one word, went to the surviving mermaid to uncover the other mermaids’ activities and their background.

"I have a few questions. Of course, you don’t want to answer, but it would really help if you did."

"Will you let me go if I tell you?"

"Hmm~ Maybe. First, it must be tiring, so let’s turn off power mode like me and get comfortable…."

"Hehehehehe."

"…Why are you laughing?"

The sea’s eyes changed as he looked at the man.

"Hey, I’m letting you live!"

The mermaid was condensing its life into energy.

The mermaid’s body, tightly bound by the fisherman’s net, began to glow brightly.

"Prince!"

The fisherman, who was with Eun-soo, leaped towards the sea.

The sea’s hand moved.

Pfft!

The fisherman, who had tried to protect the sea, was blown away like a paper boat by a wave and fell back to Eun-soo’s side.

In an instant, the young sea and Eun-soo’s eyes met.

Then, the captured mermaid’s body exploded in front of the sea.

Boom-!

Oh