Chapter 35

Taking a day off specially, Zhang Chengyuan and Park Byung-yeol came to the audition site for "Autumn Fairy Tale." From the information Zhang Chengyuan had, the director of "Autumn Fairy Tale," Yoon Seok-ho, was an outstanding director with a strong personal style, skilled at shooting romantic idol dramas. In the past two years, the well-received dramas "Family Mystery" starring Yoo Seung-ho and Han Jae-suk, "Cute Guy" starring Kim Min-joong and Kim Hee-sun, and "Who Is My Darling" starring Lee Young-ae and Kim Min, were all his works. Each of these dramas told a touching urban love story, and almost all the lead actors were handsome men and beautiful women.

From this, it can be inferred that the first criterion for Director Yoon Seok-ho in choosing actors is their appearance. This is not surprising, after all, he is shooting a romantic drama, not a realistic love story. If the lead actors have ordinary or even unattractive looks, no matter how hard the actors try or how meticulously the scenes are shot, the romantic drama will definitely not be beautiful, and it will certainly fail to touch the hearts of young men and women across the country.

Zhang Chengyuan was somewhat confident in his appearance, and Park Byung-yeol was even more confident in him. He truly didn't think there was any male actor who looked better than Zhang Chengyuan. Otherwise, during the initial selection of actors a few days ago, he wouldn't have been able to pass the strict screening of the "Autumn Fairy Tale" production team with just a few photos and personal information.

Today, Zhang Chengyuan came here as a candidate for the second male lead to participate in the final selection. As for why not the first male lead? It was because both Park Byung-yeol and Zhang Chengyuan deeply knew that Zhang Chengyuan's current experience was too shallow, and he absolutely could not carry the weight of a highly anticipated drama. Being selected as the second male lead would be very good. Park Byung-yeol even considered that if even the second male lead was not possible, they would then request the director and screenwriter to give him a supporting role with more lines.

In the waiting room, Zhang Chengyuan was engrossed in the script given by the production team. The script was only two pages long, containing a personal introduction of the second male lead, Han Tae-shik, and two plot descriptions. Zhang Chengyuan quickly read through the script, then closed his eyes and, using himself as a template, vividly portrayed the specific image of the second male lead in his mind. With the power of his soul, his imagination was incredibly strong, and the image he constructed was lifelike and vivid, with every detail from head to toe clearly depicted, and every movement was perfectly realistic. Relying on this ability, he saved a lot of time and effort in character creation.

While Zhang Chengyuan was contemplating the character, Park Byung-yeol was quietly asking a few colleagues for information. It was said that the first male and female leads had already been decided a few days ago, to be played by the new generation actors Song Seung-hun and Song Hye-kyo. Moreover, it was heard that the plot would start from their teenage years, so two 13-15-year-old child actors were also needed to play the young versions of the main characters. Today, besides selecting the second male and female leads, they would also select the young male and female leads.

At 8:30 in the morning, the auditions officially began. First, they selected the young actors. Zhang Chengyuan didn't pay attention and continued to study the script. Although the script only had two seemingly simple scenes, they were quite challenging for him, so he kept rehearsing these two scenes in his mind, hoping to find the best way to perform them. After an unknown amount of time, the door to the audition room opened, and a 13-14-year-old girl cautiously walked out, suddenly skipping happily, and ran past Zhang Chengyuan with a smile, but then suddenly stopped and looked at him closely.

Zhang Chengyuan suddenly felt something odd and looked up to see a very pretty and cute little girl looking down at him. Before Zhang Chengyuan could ask, the little girl asked first, "Are you Zhang Chengyuan oppa?"

Zhang Chengyuan nodded and asked, "Who are you? How do you know my name?" Countless people had seen him on TV and in magazines, but very few could call him by name, even some of his fans often called him "Zhang Dong-geun's younger brother" or "Bohu Youth Zhang Lie."

The little girl said, "I'm Moon Geun-young, also an actor here for the audition." She said the word "actor" with particular emphasis, as if the profession of actor was very noble, and she wanted to become a great actor.

As for why the little girl Moon Geun-young knew Zhang Chengyuan's name, the reason was actually very simple: she was his fan.

She debuted a little later than Zhang Chengyuan. Last May, she participated in the filming of the movie "Road to the Face" and made her debut. During the time she was filming the movie, it was also when Zhang Dong-geun and Zhang Chengyuan's Nongshim Shin Ramyun advertisement was very popular. The packaging of Nongshim Shin Ramyun featured their portraits, and with the huge sales of Nongshim Shin Ramyun in South Korea, very few office workers in South Korea didn't know Zhang Chengyuan's handsome face. Moon Geun-young also saw Zhang Chengyuan's exceptionally handsome face while eating a cup noodle during a meal break on the set, and from then on, she became interested in him, gradually becoming his fan and even asking her agent to find out about Zhang Chengyuan.

One could say that Moon Geun-young was one of the many young girls who were captivated by Zhang Chengyuan's handsome face. If there was any difference, it was that Moon Geun-young wasn't completely infatuated with Zhang Chengyuan, as she had seen many handsome men in the entertainment industry up close and had developed some immunity. But this didn't mean she wasn't interested in him.

At this moment, a well-mannered old lady in her sixties walked up to Moon Geun-young, and Moon Geun-young quickly called out softly, "Grandma!" The old lady asked gently, "Is the audition over? How did it go? You didn't come to report to Grandma. Oh, who is this young man?"

Moon Geun-young apologized, "Grandma, I passed the audition, I forgot to tell you, sorry! This is Brother Zhang Chengyuan, he's my idol, and I wanted to ask him for an autographed photo." The little girl was straightforward and not shy, directly stating her purpose, which made Zhang Chengyuan feel both amused and interesting. It was the first time he had been asked for an autograph by a fellow actor, considering he was still a minor actor, and the little girl might even have a higher status in the entertainment industry than him.

Zhang Chengyuan respectfully stood up and exchanged a few polite words with Moon Geun-young's grandmother. He asked Park Byung-yeol for a personal photo, signed it with the celebrity signature designed for him by the company, and then neatly wrote in both Korean and Chinese, "Zhang Chengyuan pays tribute to the lovely and beautiful Moon Geun-young, wishing her all her dreams come true and everything goes well!"

The words were ordinary, but the writing was very strong and beautiful, making Moon Geun-young very happy, and she couldn't stop smiling. Her grandmother also praised, "The Chinese characters are really beautiful, you must have practiced a lot." In South Korea, people who can write beautiful and dignified Chinese characters are rare and always respected, so Moon Geun-young's grandmother felt more favorably towards Zhang Chengyuan.

Zhang Chengyuan humbly handed the signed photo to Moon Geun-young. She carefully took it with both hands, put it in her small handbag, and said, "Thank you, Brother, I will take good care of it. I also wish you pass the audition, then we can act together. Brother, good luck!" Then, Moon Geun-young and her grandmother said goodbye and left. Out of politeness, Zhang Chengyuan stood up and watched them walk away before sitting back down.