Chapter 89

89. Taming Master

Shouting impressively, Siu walked steadily to the table inside, his face weary from hunting. The extras at the rest stop couldn't take their eyes off him. Passing by them, Siu sat on a wooden chair and looked at the camera.

Then, Luke, the foreign uncle who had greeted him in the makeup room and had lived in Mapo for 16 years, appeared with a glass full of milk.

Thud.

The moment Luke placed the glass of milk on the table, the director called for a cut.

"Cut-! Luke! Put it down a bit harder. Make it feel like the milk is spilling over."

"Okay! Got it!"

Luke returned to the front of the kitchen, took a deep breath, and got ready. The director called out again.

"Ready, action!"

Luke approached with even more determined, rough steps and placed the glass of milk in front of Siu.

Thud!

Following the director's instructions, the milk inside the glass sloshed and spilled onto the table. Siu, looking up at Luke with his scruffy beard like a Norse Viking, picked up the glass with his small hands and started to drink it greedily.

In one go, Siu emptied the glass and slammed it down wildly.

Thud!

"Phew~!"

Siu wiped the milk from his upper lip with his sleeve. The extras gathered at the rest stop all shouted in unison.

"Wowww~!"

Luke, the owner of the rest stop, stroked his beard and asked the new young traveler.

"First time seeing you in the Frozen World. Who are you? Hoo~ Al~ Youu~"

Adjusting his cap, Siu looked up with his sparkling eyes and spoke.

"I~ Am~ A~ Taming Master~"

"Ooh! A Taming Master~!?"

All the different classes of Frozen Story, who were sitting in the rest stop, gathered around Siu, the new Taming Master, with curious faces. Luke, who had examined Siu, expressed his confusion with his hands and shoulders.

Fluent Korean came out of Luke's mouth.

"But... that's strange. Where is your pet?"

Siu's face filled the screen as he smiled beautifully, then put his thumb and index finger in his mouth and pretended to whistle.

At that moment, the staff waiting outside roughly opened the door of the rest stop.

* * *

Boksil and Nero were waiting in the waiting room, receiving a simple grooming and playing with Dojin while waiting for Siu.

"Boksil and Nero are really getting along well."

A game company employee said.

"Yes. They've been together for a long time, so they've developed both love and hate for each other. At first, they fought a lot over food."

"Food? Haha. Did they fight over who could eat more?"

"Well... I don't know why, but Nero used to try to eat only dog food and not cat food, so Boksil's bowl was always empty."

"That's unusual. Is dog food tastier? Does that not happen anymore?"

"Fortunately, it stopped when they were young. Haha. Now they're obsessed with treats. Nero~! Come to Dad? Nero~?"

Nero, lying on his back and tearing a small mouse toy with his front paws, only moved his eyes slightly at Dojin's call and continued to tear the toy.

"Nero~ Dad's here. Come to Dad. Dad... Cats get so distracted by toys that they don't hear you calling. They don't come easily."

Dojin awkwardly retracted his outstretched hand and said to the game company employee.

"Ah, yes. Dogs come quickly, though."

"That's the difference between dogs and cats. Of course, it varies by cat, but our Nero... is a bit cool and aloof, really. Haha."

"He looks like that just by his appearance. A real cold black leopard, just like the game concept. Haha."

While Dojin and the game company employee were having a private conversation, the door to the waiting room opened.

Siu, who had just finished a group shoot with other cast members, came in.

– Meow~

Nero, who had been playing, suddenly got up and started rubbing his head against Siu's legs.

"Nero, did you have fun playing?"

– Meow~

"Where's Boksil?"

– Meow!

Boksil was reportedly tearing a dog chew behind the sofa.

"Come here. Say hi~"

As Siu extended his hand, Nero stood on his hind legs, rubbed his head against Siu's hand, and then went back down.

"Good job. Let's go."

Nero followed Siu, who was walking towards his father, so closely that he almost tripped over his feet.

"Dad~ I'm here!"

"Ah, ah. Yes."

Dojin, who had been explaining Nero's coolness to the game company employee, awkwardly laughed at the sight of Nero suddenly turning into a puppy.

The game company employee, trying to suppress a laugh, said.

"Siu really is a Taming Master."

A little later, preparations for Boksil and Nero's shoot began.

Boksil and Nero, dressed up by Dojin and Siu, stood in front of a mirror.

Thump thump.

Boksil, who loves changing clothes and taking pictures, looked at her reflection in the mirror with anticipation.

The brown poodle Boksil was wearing a white robe with intricate patterns.

A silver headpiece with an emerald gem in the center was placed on her head.

She looked clean and sacred.

Boksil, now transformed into a priest of pets, slowly stood on her hind legs.

She then clapped her front paws gracefully.

Clap clap clap!

She liked the look.

While people smiled at Boksil's cuteness, Nero was also looking in the mirror.

– ...

The people in the waiting room were now expecting Nero's reaction.

Nero, who had been quietly looking at his transformed appearance, raised his tail.

– Roar... Roar!

"That's you. That's you."

– ...Meow?

Siu's words made Nero's dilated pupils gradually shrink.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed him.

Nero, wearing a silver necklace with a sapphire gem in the center and a light silver armor on his back and shoulders, looked at himself and seemed satisfied, making a purring sound.

While Siu was playing happily with Boksil and Nero in the snow-covered set,

"Come on, Nero~! Here's your favorite creepy chicken~!"

Siu, who had run across the snow, threw the creepy chicken toy he had brought from home into the air. Nero's eyes lit up.

Plop!

Nero launched himself like a gust of wind.

With incredible jumping power, Nero soared high and pinned the creepy chicken with his front paws as he landed.

Squish!

The creepy chicken, pinned by Nero's front paws, let out a scream.

While Nero was playing with the creepy chicken, Siu threw a frisbee beyond Boksil.

The frisbee flew quickly like a UFO.

Boksil ran hard to the expected landing point of the frisbee.

The camera, running on a rail, captured Boksil's sprint across the snowfield to save her teammate.

Boksil and Nero followed Siu's commands, creating various scenarios and happily relieving stress.

'Nero! Lie down! Lie down!'

– Meow~

'I'll give you a belly rub if you lie down~'

Thud.

Nero, who had been using his hunting instincts to find and attack catnip-infused toys hidden in the snow, lay down on the snow.

'Boksil, wake Nero up~'

Boksil opened her mouth.

The soft ball she had been holding in her mouth fell onto the snow.

Boksil, thinking that outdoor play is the best, went to Nero and slowly lowered her head to the beat Siu had taught her.

The director and staff saw Boksil using a healing spell reverently on the fallen Nero.

In fact, although Boksil and Nero didn't have many activities, they were quite famous in the animal modeling industry, and today they were living up to their reputation.

'Nero, very slowly~ extremely slowly~ open your eyes and get up, okay? No~ don't wag your tail.'

Nero, who had become a master of acting through years of filming with Boksil, slowly got up as Siu had instructed.

It was perfect.

The commercial director, forgetting that they were shooting freely, almost shouted "Cut! Okay!"

Siu, who was not an ordinary seven-year-old, was working with animals that were not ordinary either.

The director, who had gotten a lot of footage of Boksil and Nero, checked his watch and decided to move on to Siu's hunting scene.

"Boksil and Nero, go to the waiting room and rest. Siu, let's practice archery a bit? Your form needs to look good!"

Siu stood in front of a blue wall next to the snowfield with the staff.

It was a blue screen for background CG processing.

"Let's try shooting an arrow from the quiver. If Siu can shoot the arrow a certain distance, we'll do it for real; otherwise, we'll shoot without the arrow. Either way, the form is important. Did you practice at home?"

"Yes!"

"Great. Let's try it."

The arrow was made of sponge, so it was not dangerous, but the bow itself was a real one made to fit Siu's age.

The staff, who had been told that the arrow would fly if shot properly, looked at Siu with some expectation.

'Can he do it? From what I've seen of his physical abilities, he's really good at sports.'

Siu, under the gaze of some staff members, placed the arrow on the bow.

"Uncle~ Where should I shoot?"

The staff member looked around the set and pointed to a suitable spot on the blue chroma key wall.

"Let's shoot at this wall? Siu, come here. I'll stand where you are and shoot. If the arrow reaches the wall, we'll do it for real in the shoot. If it doesn't... we'll use CG."

Siu asked.

"What if it goes over the wall?"

"Hahaha!"

The staff member laughed heartily.

Children were cute in such moments.

"Let's try it first. The toy bow you used at home is a bit different, so it might not be easy..."

Whoosh!

Siu's hand pulled the bowstring with a light snap.

The arrow soared into the air...

It drew a parabola and disappeared over the high chroma key wall.

"..."

The staff members watching were surprised, their eyes wide open. Siu, seeing this, raised his hands in victory with a smile.

"Home run~ Yes~"

"Ready, action!"

As the director's signal fell, Siu slung the bow over his shoulder and ran up the snow-covered artificial hill.

Siu, tightly closing his mouth, looked down at the bottom of the hill and quickly took an arrow from the quiver, pulling the bowstring.

The bowstring touched Siu's pale cheek.

It was an incredibly cute sight, but when Siu's eyes sharpened as if aiming at a virtual target, the atmosphere changed.

Siu's right hand pulled the bowstring even tighter.

* * *

Whoosh!

Taming Master Siu shot the arrow beautifully from his hand.

Instantly, Siu's face was close-up, and the screen switched to slow motion.

The hat was blown off by the recoil of the bow, and Siu's hair fluttered in the wind, slowly flowing out.

He looked like a mysterious elf child.

The arrow Siu shot cut through the wind, flying at high speed towards the snowfield. Midway, it began to glow white and started to split as if exploding.

Whoosh!

Surrounded by light, the arrow split into a dozen pieces and fell precisely onto the bodies of a dozen monsters fighting on the snowfield.

Boom!

The screen returned to the top of the hill.

Siu, holding the bow, looked down at the hill where the battle was taking place, then put his thumb and index finger in his mouth.

Whistle!

Behind Siu, the pet priest Boksil and the hunter Nero appeared like shadows and dashed down the hill in a flash.

When they reached close to the monsters, Boksil and Nero had grown several times larger, matching the size of the monsters.

Nero, leaping into the air like an angry tiger, pinned a monster with his front paws.

– Roar!

Boksil cast healing spells on the characters struggling against the monsters.

The face of the enlarged brown poodle Boksil glowed reverently.

Siu smiled and slid down the hill like he was on a snowboard, firing arrows in rapid succession.

The scene ended with the arrows flying in a beautiful trajectory, and the 15-second commercial came to an end.

Siu's voice was heard.

Oh