Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 327

“Cut. Okay.”

As the director Jeffrey’s okay echoed in the set, the chaotic set became lively in an instant. 

The staffs moved busily for the next shooting. 

They sent the extras back to their original positions and checked the lights and cameras.

They had filmed the overall scene, and now the cameras went up to the set to capture the actors’ faces closely.

The cameras were supposed to move according to the planned routes, so the extras had to ignore the camera movements that reached Seo-jun Lee while moving along the same routes as before.

“Then we’ll start shooting!”

Everyone stood in their places as before. 

The director Jeffrey’s action sounded, and

Bang!!

An explosion sound came from the speaker.

****

After finishing the shooting and coming down from the set, Seo-jun asked Jeffrey.

“Director. Where are we shooting the next scene?”

“Here.”

Jeffrey smiled faintly and said.

The next scene was supposed to be a shopping mall collapsing from a bomb attack and people fleeing in panic.

‘But isn’t it too clean here?’

There was no sign of damage in the neat and clean set. 

Seo-jun wondered if they would replace it with CG.

Meanwhile, the staffs in charge of the extras checked their current positions and sent them down from the set. 

Kim Jong Ho and other actors also frowned as they didn’t hear any instructions to move.

“/It seems like they’re installing chroma key here and shooting./”

“/Really?/”

The actors who were puzzled by the situation saw Jeffrey checking the people who left the set and sending a signal.

At that signal, five cameras went up to the empty set. 

Everyone tilted their heads at the cameras that went up to the set without any actors.

The five cameras that went up to the set were not filming people but objects. 

Large pillars, wide walls, shelves with products displayed, etc.

Seo-jun blinked his eyes at the incomprehensible situation.

The director Jeffrey said something to the assistant director.

“‘South Shopping Street Collapse 5’ shooting begins!”

At the assistant director’s voice, Seo-jun blinked his eyes again.

He had no idea what was going on. 

There was no green chroma key installed, but they were shooting.

Then, the floor of the set where the cinematographer and staffs were standing began to shake.

“…Huh?”

Seo-jun covered his mouth with both hands as he let out a voice unknowingly.

But he was not the only one who made a sound. 

Kim Jong Ho and Korean-American actors also sighed in admiration.

The cinematographer and staffs seemed to have expected this movement and balanced themselves well.

The change was not only in the shaking floor.

A black line appeared on the wall painted white.

From that line, cracks appeared disorderly on the wall, ceiling, and pillars. 

The cracks spread from the cracks to all directions.

As if the ground was splitting from an earthquake, chunks of wall cracked and paint flakes fell to the floor.

Following that ominous crack, the end of the set began to collapse.

The intact wall was cut in half and a sturdy pillar tilted sideways. 

The display rack rolled weakly due to the shaking of the floor.

Seo-jun’s eyes followed those ‘remnants of explosion’ that piled up irregularly here and there on the set, adding realism.

“It looks real, but it’s made of special materials that are light in weight.”

Seo-jun admired Jeffrey’s words. 

The broken pillars and rebar looked real, but they seemed to be fake.

“We shot previous scenes here too.”

Of course, they changed the order, direction, size, and weight of falling objects for each shooting.

“The big things like pillars or walls are moved by these machines, and display racks have rails installed underneath so they won’t move beyond a certain distance. And small props like flower pots will be thrown or rolled by staffs so that they won’t be caught by camera angles. The floor will also shake during shooting, so remember that well.”

It was planned that it would shake strongly near where the bomb exploded and feel a slight vibration far away.

Seo-jun and Kim Jong Ho nodded at Jeffrey’s explanation.

That’s how a certain section of the set collapsed from end to end. 

The set after ‘South Shopping Street Collapse 5’ looked like it had really collapsed from a bomb.

Wow!

As soon as shooting ended, people who had been holding their breath exclaimed in awe.

Seeing their reactions and Seo-jun Lee’s expression that couldn’t take his eyes off until the end, Bearound’s planning team leader shrugged his shoulders and said. 

He had seen it four times already, but he liked this reaction.

“We’re going to do some CG work too, but we tried to make it as realistic as possible.”

‘It seemed easier and faster to blow up a real building.’

But it was better to have this set now that they could restore it and reshoot it.

The planning team leader and art team staffs who had worked hard to make this set smiled with satisfaction at the sight of Seo-jun Lee and the actors who were amazed. 

That was captured by the making film camera.

“Now you just have to act up there. Do you like the set?”

“Yes! It’s going to be really fun!”

Seo-jun’s eyes sparkled.

‘A real collapsing set!’

He could act well in a set full of green chroma key, but he liked it better to act in a set with such devices. 

His heart was pounding with excitement.

“The other actors liked it too. We’ll rehearse and shoot before restoring the set. The places close to the actors will be processed with CG, but we’ll use this effect for the rest, so you have to follow your routes exactly.”

“Yes!”

Meanwhile, the set was slowly restored. 

They operated the machines backwards to put the pillars and walls back in place and moved the display racks to their original positions. 

When they cleaned up the props that fell on the floor, it looked like the original set except for the cracks on the wall.

Seo-jun and Kim Jong Ho exclaimed again at the restored set.

“/That’s why Hollywood is Hollywood./”

“/I’ve never seen anything like this before. Uncle Jong Ho./”

Admiration was only for a moment.

Seo-jun, Kim Jong Ho, and Korean-American actors checked their routes again on the set that was working again.

The extras who had relatively simple routes also received several warnings from the staffs in charge.

After confirming all the routes, the ‘complete restoration’ of the set began and the art team staffs ran around busily.

They operated the machines backwards to put back the large pillars and walls, and moved the display racks and props to their original places. 

They painted over the cracked paint on the wall with a quick-drying special paint.

Finally, they replaced the broken props with spare ones and cleaned up the dust that was created by the collapse, and it returned to the original set.

“/Amazing…/”

In just 20 minutes.

Seo-jun and the actors exclaimed at the restored set.

***

“Ready, action!”

Bang!!

Lee Hyunwoo snapped out of his daze when he heard another loud noise.

The first thing that came to his mind was his mom and dad. 

He didn’t know if he wanted to rely on them because he was scared, or if he wanted to save them. 

He only had one thought: he had to find his mom and dad.

“Mom, Dad…!”

They were not far away. Lee Hyunwoo ran towards the south gate.

Unlike him, the other people ran away from the south gate. 

The noise came from that direction. 

Black smoke slowly spread and thuds of something falling echoed.

The Galleria Mall’s announcement system started to broadcast.

[Please stay away from the south gate…!]

Lee Hyunwoo pushed through the people coming from the opposite direction. 

He was anxious because he couldn’t run because of the people.

The screams of people, the cries of children, the sounds of things breaking, the shouts of “Run!” And the urgent voice from the speaker swirled around Lee Hyunwoo.

He felt suffocated by the deep anxiety.

“…Mom! Dad!”

It was not a long way, but he bumped into this person and that person. 

He didn’t even feel the pain when he was hit or stepped on. 

Lee Hyunwoo only thought about getting to his parents.

***

The shock of the loud noise lasted only for a moment.

His mom and dad also started to move. 

They moved towards where the people were heading, even though they were pushed and shoved by the people behind them.

But the building collapsed faster than the people could run away.

Boom!

A pillar fell in front of them. 

His mom fell to the ground in surprise and his dad lifted her up. 

A red stain remained on the floor. 

He heard a child’s cry. 

Everything was chaotic. 

They had no time to care about other people.

[Please stay away from the south gate…!]

His mom came to her senses when she felt his rough but big hand holding hers tightly.

“Ho-honey. What about Hyunwoo? Our Hyunwoo?”

“He’ll be fine. The amusement park is on the north side. Let’s just get ourselves out first…!”

Then.

They saw their son running alone through the crowd of fleeing people.

He looked like a lost child, sobbing as he came towards where they were.

He smiled brightly when he met their eyes.

Their hearts sank at their son’s relieved smile.

They saw the darkness behind them, opening its mouth and coming closer.

And their son running towards them from the front.

Their limbs went cold and their vision turned white in an instant.

“Lee Hyunwoo!!”

His dad shouted with a twisted face.

Lee Hyunwoo flinched at his dad’s scream. But his feet didn’t stop moving towards them. 

He had to go quickly and help his dad get his mom out of there. He had to help them.

Something big fell from the ceiling. 

It blocked their way completely. 

People crawled over the debris and ran away. 

Thud! 

Another one fell. 

A scream was heard. 

It seemed like it would crush Hyunwoo any moment. 

His mom, who couldn’t move, screamed like a banshee.

“Hyunwoo! Don’t come this way! Go back!!”

“Mo-mom…”

“Lee Hyunwoo! Get out of there! Go!”

His dad, who lifted up his mom, gestured frantically at Lee Hyunwoo with his hand.

Lee Hyunwoo felt a bad feeling at his dad’s desperate gesture and moved his feet faster. 

He was almost there with his parents.

He heard a scream from behind him. 

The sound of collapsing was ominous.

He didn’t know when a shard pierced his leg and his mom whimpered. 

The blood gushed out onto the floor.

Hyunwoo, don’t come here. Please don’t come this way.

Honey, please save Hyunwoo. Our Hyunwoo…

His mom let go of his dad’s hand that was holding hers tightly, trying to send him away.

His dad grabbed her hand again and shouted. His dad’s hand was also shaking with sweat.

“Lee Hyunwoo! Go! Don’t come this way!”

Behind his mom and dad,

the darkness was coming closer with its mouth open.

Lee Hyunwoo bit his lip and ran faster. 

He heard a scream. 

The speed of collapsing was not normal. 

Just a little more, just a little faster.

“Go–!”

Boom!

With a terrible sound, his dad’s reddened eyes and his mom’s immobile face were completely hidden by a fallen pillar. 

The stone that blocked his way completely made Lee Hyunwoo feel like he couldn’t breathe.

**

“Kim.”

At Jeffrey’s call, Kim Jongho went to Jeffrey’s side. 

Kim Jongho, who was called by Jeffrey for the first time during the shooting, was nervous without knowing it.

“When you say ‘/go/’, can you say it with an accent on the ‘go’?”

He couldn’t get used to the Korean that came out of a foreigner’s mouth. 

Kim Jongho, who didn’t understand Jeffrey’s intention even after Seo-jun’s interpretation, asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I heard it earlier and it sounded like ‘go’ as in ‘GO’.”

Kim Jongho and Seo-jun nodded at Jeffrey’s words.

“I guess from an American’s perspective, Korean is a foreign language, so they can’t understand the other words, but,”

Jeffrey smiled and said.

“GO! They would understand that word.”

And if you add the father’s sorrowful emotion to that, they would feel closer to the Korean family’s emotion that felt distant.

Oh.

Kim Jongho and Seo-jun nodded as if they understood.

“/It sounds like a wordplay./”

“/Yeah, it’s used a lot in ads./”

Go play GO have fun.

They remembered an ad copy that looked familiar and laughed.