Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 233

Mid-February.

Actor Lee Seo-jun returned to Korea.

[Shadowman 3, filming finished!]

[Actor Lee Seo-jun, back home!]

[When will it be released? Shadowman 3 filming completed!]

-Yeah, when will it be released?

=Superhero movies use a lot of CG, so the post-production will take some time.

=But the Marine CG team is excellent, so it might be faster than expected.

-Seo-jun is back!!

-I’m glad it ended without any accidents.

-There was something like an accident, though.

=I saw someone’s summary of it. The Marine’s response speed was no joke.

=Article without verifying the facts > Marine’s article in less than 30 seconds > Spreading false information? OK, you’re sued > All deleted lol

-It’s reassuring to have a company like that.

=Marine has a trauma from a car accident.

=That’s why Shadowman and Greenwing were born. It’s ironic.

-But I didn’t know that Jin Natra’s stuntman was Korean. And not even a Korean-American.

=222 It’s amazing. He must have been chosen for his skills.

=333 It’s the last part, so they must have paid more attention.

-Ugh. I want to see it soon!

While Seo-jun was enjoying his winter vacation with his friends, the CG team that was in charge of Shadowman 3’s CG work was busy working.

The leader of the Shadowman 3 CG team scratched his chin.

Since Shadowman and Natra’s weapons were shadows, there was a lot of CG work to do.

Besides shadows, there were also wormholes, the scenery inside Natra’s wormhole, the filming of Gyeongbokgung Palace and Paris, and the merging of the set and location shots. 

They also had to work on the spaceship and the scene of its destruction.

“Do we really start working on this scene?”

“Yes.”

“Well, okay.”

The team leader nodded at the firm words of director Ryan and brought up one of the many shots on the monitor screen.

Jin Natra was lying on a pile of rocks in the monitor. 

A runaway black shadow spewed out from Jin Natra and covered the oriental buildings in the sky and the ground. 

It was a scene that showed that.

Director Ryan recalled ‘that thing’ that was still vivid in his memory.

The shadow that spewed out from Jin Natra during the filming at Gyeongbokgung Palace and on the set, filling up the studio. 

And its vivid and realistic movement.

At that time, director Ryan unknowingly moved the camera to capture the swaying shadow.

The movement of the shadow that looked like a fantasy was slightly different from the movement of the shadow that he had only imagined. 

Maybe this is how the ‘real’ Natra’s shadow would move. 

He thought he was half-dreaming at that moment.

When he checked the footage after the filming and the shadow disappeared, there was no trace of the shadow, but he still remembered it clearly when he saw the footage.

Director Ryan wanted to put ‘that thing’ he saw into the movie as it was.

The team leader who was taking notes on the script while listening to director Ryan’s detailed requests stopped his hand at some point.

He didn’t see [(Evil) Marshed’s Shadow Art] like director Ryan did. But as a professional CG artist, he had more imagination than other people.

‘This…’

Seo-jun Lee, who played Jin Natra, was lying on a model pile of rocks on the screen. 

The camera that was filming Jin Natra slowly moved back and showed the palace. 

Director Ryan’s finger moved along with the screen.

He could see a swaying shadow filling up the sky that was clear. 

The team leader’s eyes blinked.

‘It’s too perfect.’

There was no excess or lack of space on the monitor for adding CG shadows.

It was just right.

‘It looks like the camera is moving back to match the speed of the shadow flowing out. As if it was filming a real shadow coming out of Jin Natra.’

As he continued to listen to director Ryan Will’s demands, which were surprisingly detailed, he drew pictures for each scene. 

The team leader could tell what kind of scene director Ryan wanted.

“Please work on this scene first.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“Then I’ll explain the next scene.”

After that, director Ryan Will practically lived in the CG team during post-production. 

The team leader wondered if he should pay director Ryan’s salary.

Director Ryan Will put aside everything else and requested to work on Seo-jun Lee, or rather Jin Natra’s CG first. 

It was something they had to do sooner or later anyway, so the team leader agreed without much fuss.

As they finished working on Jin Natra’s CG, the CG team felt a strange feeling.

“It’s weird. It feels different from the shadows we made in Shadowman 1 and 2, doesn’t it?”

“Senior, you too? I watched Shadowman 1 and 2 yesterday and they looked a bit lacking.”

It was a new feeling of shadow that had never appeared in Shadowman 1 and 2.

It was not a shadow that was intangible and people didn’t care about, but a shadow that could materialize and Natra always cared about, a shadow that had presence.

“I think we can do this for other scenes too…”

As they were working on Jin Natra’s scenes, they felt like they could imitate the feeling of the shadow to some extent.

If they could give this feeling to the other Natra’s shadows as well, they might be able to make more impressive CG than Shadowman 1 and 2.

‘Is this why he asked us to work on Jin Natra first?’

The team leader admired director Ryan’s foresight, while the youngest member of the CG team asked his senior who was sitting next to him.

“But senior. Don’t you sometimes see something black on the monitor?”

“…You too?”

“It’s similar to what the director asked for, so it’s easy to work with, but… Isn’t it creepy? It disappears when you look again.”

“Ugh. I hate ghosts…”

Soon, in Korea, the story of the second ghost spirit, Shadowman 3, which would be known as a ghost story, began to spread slowly.

***

Friday, March 9th.

It was a day like any other.

Seo-jun, who became a third-year student, went to school with the sparkling eyes of the first-year students, attended school classes with his friends, and wondered about the end-of-year performance with his friends who asked him to join them. 

It was an ordinary day.

But there were people who had been waiting for this day only.

They woke up in the morning, went to work, worked, ate lunch, worked, and went home.

It was an ordinary day, but they were waiting for midnight.

-It’s 8 o’clock!!

-If I watch Working Man and One Step and Over the Rainbow, it’ll be 12 o’clock.

-I’m going to watch the edited version of My Doctor!

-I’m going to watch Reverse and Escape again.

-Anyone going to watch Shadowman 1 and 2?

Actor Lee Seo-jun’s fan cafe, [From Sprouts], was buzzing. There were always a lot of posts on [From Sprouts], but today there were so many pages that they scrolled down every time they refreshed.

-It’s not a lot of money… Is it okay?

=The amount doesn’t matter! The message is enough!

-Is there a format for the message?

=No! Just write whatever you want!

Some people watched movies, some watched dramas, and some spent time. The entertainment reporters who joined Seo-jun’s fan cafe also kept an eye on the situation.

And time passed, and it was 11:59 p.m. on March 9th.

-3!!

-2!!

-1!!

March 10th, 00:00 in Korean time.

Not only Seo-jun’s fan cafe, [From Sprouts], but also SNS was flooded with a single message.

[Happy birthday, Seo-jun!]

[Happy birthday! JUN!]

Not only the Korean fan cafe, but also the overseas fan cafes started to post congratulatory messages.

SNS was filled with overwhelming messages that became news articles. 

The reporters moved quickly to catch up with the late-night topic.

[Today, March 10th! Actor Lee Seo-jun’s birthday!]

[Seo-jun, happy birthday! The congratulatory messages that fill up SNS!]

[The protagonist of the worldwide congratulatory messages?!]

-It’s not a lot of money… Is it okay?

=The amount doesn’t matter! The message is enough!

-Is there a format for the message?

=No! Just write whatever you want!

Some people watched movies, some watched dramas, and some spent time. 

The entertainment reporters who joined Seo-jun’s fan cafe also kept an eye on the situation.

The next day.

Seo-jun woke up from his sleep and reached for his bedside table. 

He tried to check the time on his phone, but there was something that caught his eye first.

“…Huh?”

He blinked his eyes a few times at the huge pile of messages and tapped on Banana Talk. 

They were all messages from his acquaintances.

Evan: Jun, happy birthday.

Rachel: Look at this! It’s crazy here too!

Rachel: (link)

Kim Jong-ho: Happy birthday.

Lee Ji-seok: Happy birthday! Hollywood stars have a different scale lol

Park Do-hoon: There are a lot of articles too!

Lee Da-jin: !!Happy birthday!!

Ji-hoo: Already asleep?

Mina: Seo-jun goes to bed early.

Ji-o: Happy birthday!

Ji-yoon: We also posted at 12 o’clock lol

Joo-kyung: Happy birthday!

Jae-han: Wow. Seo-jun’s fans are amazing!

Ji-ho: I know. There are still posts coming up (link)

Joo-hee: There are a lot of articles too! (article)(article)(article)

His friends sent him congratulatory messages along with articles and links to [From Sprouts] fan cafe. 

Seo-jun exclaimed as he checked the articles and posts one by one.

“Oh my god.”

He opened his eyes and saw that Seo-jun’s fans from all over the world were celebrating Seo-jun’s birthday.

***

“Look at this. ‘Thank you for giving birth to Seo-jun.’”

Seo-eun-hye laughed cheerfully as she looked at her phone.

“I’ll recommend an audition for you. There are also posts thanking me for that.”

Lee Min-joon, who was sitting next to Seo-eun-hye and looking at the comments, was also immersed in the fans’ congratulatory messages.

It was already a few hours later, but the internet was still buzzing with Lee Seo-jun’s birthday. 

Along with Shadowman 3, it showed no signs of cooling down.

“Seo-jun’s fans are really amazing. They said they would donate at 12 o’clock.”

The couple, who planned to rest at home on the weekend, received an unexpected gift.

Seo-jun, who had just posted a thank-you message on the fan cafe, also laughed at the sight of his mom and dad smiling brightly.

-Seo-jun posted a message!

-Seo-jun said thank you

-He said he never had such a happy birthday Our Seo-jun

-But our gift is not over yet!

-Seo-jun! Look forward to the second gift!

At noon, when the sun was at its highest point in the sky.

Lee Seo-jun’s fan cafes from all over the world sent donations to their respective charities in Seo-jun’s name. 

Proof photos were posted everywhere.

[Congratulatory messages from fans around the world!]

[Congratulatory messages, traveling around the world!]

[Fans’ congratulatory gifts for Lee Seo-jun!]

[A mountain made of sand grains. Lee Seo-jun’s fans’ donations!]

-Seo-jun, happy birthday!

=22 Please keep acting in the future!!

-Seo-jun Lee’s fans… scary… no, amazing.

-It seems like there’s nothing but Seo-jun Lee’s birthday messages on SNS.

=No, there’s something else.

=?

=Thank you for giving birth to Seo-jun!

=Lol, true. Without them, there would be no Seo-jun.

-There are also messages for Aunt Nara. They thanked her for taking Seo-jun to the audition. They said they would go to King’s Market today as a sign of gratitude lol

=222 Today is the day to shop at King’s Market haha

-You guys are so funny lol It’s funnier because it’s sincere lol

=222 We are all sincere (calligraphy)

-Hey… have you seen this? [link]

=…What is this??

=!!!

Seo-jun and his parents, who were enjoying the comments, found a [link]. 

They clicked on the link without saying anything, following the surprised replies. 

A shocking article title appeared.

Seo-jun shrugged his shoulders after quietly looking at his phone screen for a moment.

“Well, I didn’t think I’d never know.”

“Me neither. But I didn’t expect it to be revealed today.”

“Eun-chan has more work to do.”

Seo-jun, Seo-eun-hye, and Lee Min-joon laughed at Seo-eun-hye’s words.

Seo-jun Lee’s fans’ donations were not in one place. 

They donated to reliable organizations everywhere and a reporter who interviewed those organizations uploaded an article.

[(Exclusive) Seo-jun Lee donated his entire fee for Over the Rainbow! “For the Grays of the world!”]

The shocking article was quickly spread around the world as the world’s attention was focused on Seo-jun Lee’s birthday.

-Oh my god… He did this and he didn’t say anything until now?

=222 It was four years ago. It would have been buried forever if it wasn’t for the reporter.

-He’s an angel! My favorite actor is this amazing!!

-If it were me, I would have written that I donated this much on my forehead and walked around.

=222 He would have been interviewed by the world-class media.

-Fans donate, actors donate. Why are you all so nice?

=It’s not that we’re nice, it’s that Seo-jun doesn’t accept any gifts so we can only donate

=He doesn’t accept anything?

=He accepts letters I’m sending them diligently.

The ‘Seo-jun, happy birthday!’ that filled up SNS died down after the 12 o’clock donation. 

Of course, posts continued to appear on [From Sprouts].

[I’ve been a fan since Shadowman 1!]

[I became a fan after watching the children’s play Spring!]

[Thank you for filming Over the Rainbow!]

[I hope Shadowman 3 has a great ending!]

Seo-jun forgot about reading his favorite script and read every congratulatory message that poured in.

The congratulatory messages, no, congratulatory letters on [From Sprouts] were long.

How they became fans of Seo-jun, their favorite movies, movie reviews, how Seo-jun’s movies changed their lives. Each post was filled with the fans’ hearts and Seo-jun felt overwhelmed.

Seon-gi flowed out of Seo-jun’s body as he stared at his phone. 

He seemed to be too happy to care.

Seo-eun-hye and Lee Min-joon could tell that Seo-jun was happier than ever, even though they couldn’t see his seon-gi.

“I can’t keep this to myself!”

Seo-eun-hye smiled and picked up her camera at the sight of Seo-jun shining brightly.

[Title: Seo-jun reading congratulatory messages]

The photo of Seo-jun taken by his mom and dad was so bright that it made the fans’ hearts ache. 

The photo alone showed how happy and grateful Seo-jun was.

The comment section of the post became a sea of tears.

Seo-jun’s photo became the main screen of [From Sprouts] and Seo-jun’s fans had to hold their hearts every time they entered [From Sprouts].

-Today is Seo-jun’s birthday but why do I feel like I got a birthday gift?

-It’s too good… my heart is…

-I have to take a deep breath every time I enter the cafe lol

-But I love it so much