Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 530

On Sunday, Incheon International Airport was bustling with people leaving and entering Korea.

“Isn’t it time for them to arrive?”

“I think they’re coming out now.”

Among them were the parents of Seo-jun and his children, who had finished their month-long trip to Europe.

They waited for a while in front of the gate, and then the name of the plane that Seo-jun and his children were on appeared on the screen. And after a little more waiting, the gate opened and people started to come out with their luggage.

The parents’ faces lit up as they stretched their necks to find Seo-jun and his children among the crowd.

“Ji-yoon!”

“Mi-na! Over here!”

“Park Ji-hoo! Ji-hoo!”

They spotted Seo-jun and his children coming out of the gate with their luggage. Seo-eun-hye and Lee Min-joon, who had a famous son, waved their hands vigorously without making any noise.

“Mom! Dad!”

They had video calls and phone calls occasionally, but they had never been apart for a month, so the children’s faces were also happy to see their parents’ faces after a long time.

Of course, Seo-jun and his wife were used to being away from each other because of Seo-jun’s overseas filming, but

“Did you have a good trip?”

“Yeah.”

They were happy to see each other.

Seo-jun hugged his parents with a smile as they hugged him tightly.

Seo-jun relaxed as he returned home after a month.

“Ah. Home is the best place to be.”

Seo-eun-hye and Lee Min-joon laughed at their son’s words as he lay on the sofa and groaned.

“Do you have any laundry, Seo-jun?”

“Yeah. Just a sec!”

Seo-jun got up to unpack his luggage at Lee Min-joon’s words. Seo-eun-hye, who was preparing lunch in the kitchen, asked.

“Seo-jun, do you want to eat lunch? Oh, maybe you’re not hungry because you had the in-flight meal?”

“I’m fine. I want to eat.”

Seo-jun took out his clothes and towels and put them in the laundry basket, and he also put his laptop and charger back in their original places. He also placed the gifts he brought for his family and friends so that the wrapping wouldn’t get wrinkled.

He finished unpacking and came out of his room, and lunch was ready.

The menu was bibim-guksu, a light dish of spicy noodles with boiled eggs.

Seo-jun and his parents ate the noodles and talked about the things they couldn’t talk about on the phone for a month.

“Are you still in school, or rather, college?”

Seo-eun-hye said with a smile.

“There’s about a month left until the semester starts. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to choose the next work to film, check out the new Cocoa Entertainment building, and see what kind of people the new actors are.”

Seo-jun’s expression was bright as he listed his plans with his fingers.

He enjoyed choosing his works, and he was looking forward to the new practice room in the new building, and he was curious about the people who would become his colleagues.

“Is the new building still under construction?”

“Eun-chan said it would be done by mid-month. So they’re moving on the 23rd.”

“It must be busy to move. Oh, by the way, don’t you have a lot of scripts, Seo-jun?”

Lee Min-joon suddenly remembered something and said.

He thought of the scripts and synopses that Seo-jun had read and stored in the Cocoa Entertainment archive, like a squirrel storing food before hibernating.

“Yeah. He said he was going to sort them out. Da-ho hyung.”

“Weren’t there a lot of them? It’s no joke to sort them out.”

It was a lot of scripts that he had collected for almost 12 years, even if he had sorted them out from time to time.

“But Seo-jun must be sad. When he sorts out the scripts.”

Script lover, Seo-eun-hye, who knew Seo-jun very well, said with a smile, and Seo-jun nodded his head with a regretful expression.

“But I have to sort them out when I can. There are works that have been made into videos now, and roles that don’t fit my age. So I’m going to help sort out the archive too.”

“Are you trying to find interesting scripts?”

“…Both?”

Seo-jun rolled his eyes and smiled sheepishly, and his parents laughed, feeling like the empty space that had been empty for a month was filled up.

***

“I’m here!”

Monday morning.

The staff of the 2nd team in charge of actor Lee Seo-jun, who came to work as usual, greeted Seo-jun with a bright smile. They all knew Seo-jun since he was young, so they treated him comfortably.

“Wow! Seo-jun! Did you have a good trip?”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“You said it was just a trip!”

“Haha! It just happened that way.”

Seo-jun smiled and put the snacks he brought on the snack table set up on one side of the office, and gave the gifts he brought to each staff member. They were not very expensive, but they suited each person’s taste.

“By the way, noona. Where’s Da-ho hyung?”

Seo-jun asked, holding the gift for Ahn Da Ho.

“Team leader An is in the conference room.”

“Is there a meeting today?”

“No, not that. He’s trying to select actors…”

Ring!

The staff member who was eating a snack quickly answered the phone.

“It’s noisy here. So he’s using the team leader’s office as a conference room.”

“I see. Then I’ll go see Da-ho hyung.”

“Okay. Thanks for the gifts, Seo-jun!”

“I’ll enjoy the snacks!”

Seo-jun said goodbye to the staff and headed to the conference room where Ahn Da Ho was.

Knock knock-

Yes. Come in.

Seo-jun opened the door of the conference room at the calm voice of Ahn Da Ho from across the door.

“You came early? I thought you’d come in the afternoon.”

Ahn Da Ho, who was looking at the documents piled up on the table, smiled brightly as he saw Seo-jun coming in through the door. Seo-jun also smiled back.

“Yes. I wanted to look around the archive while I was here.”

“Sure. It’s uneasy to leave it to someone else. You might throw away a good work.”

Hahaha.

Seo-jun laughed as Ahn Da Ho hit the nail on the head and sat down.

“It might feel different from what I read when I was young and what I read now.”

“That’s true, but there might also be works that you don’t like the child character, but you like another character.”

As expected of Da-ho hyung.

He knew his mind well.

There were times when Seo-jun liked the child character he was supposed to play, but the work itself was below his standards. And there were times when he liked the work as a whole, but not the child character he had to act.

In those cases, young Seo-jun had no choice but to close the script with regret, even if he could meet attractive adult characters.

But now it was different.

He had become an adult who could open the scripts he had closed with disappointment back then, and choose the role he liked.

“Still, most of the works have already been made since we have similar tastes.”

“That’s okay. There are still some works left.”

“Yeah. If you look carefully, you’ll find a work that suits your heart, Seo-jun.”

Seeing Seo-jun who seemed ready to run to the archive room at any moment, Ahn Da Ho said.

“But it’s hard for you to sort out the archive room by yourself, so I’m going to use some people.”

“Team 2?”

“Team 2 will help, too… But I’m thinking of entrusting it to the new actor team staff.”

Oh.

Seo-jun’s eyes sparkled.

“Did you hire all the staff, Da-ho hyung?”

“No, I have to interview them now. I’m reviewing the documents right now. This is the staff resume.”

Ahn Da Ho pointed to one of the stacks of documents on the table. There were three such stacks.

“This is the manager applicant document, and this is the actor document I’m looking at right now. This side is failure, this side is pending, this side is pass. I’m going to interview them later.”

Ahn Da Ho put the document he was holding on the far left, the failure spot.

“Manager…”

At that word, Seo-jun and Ahn Da Ho’s expressions became gloomy. It was a matter that had already been settled, but they couldn’t help feeling sorry.

Ahn Da Ho sighed lightly and said.

“Since it’s an actor team, they should have an eye for works. During the probation period, I can see what kind of personality they have by how they spend their time in the archive room. How about making someone who chooses works similar to yours as your manager candidate?”

Ahn Da Ho wanted to teach them various things and send the best person as Seo-jun’s manager.

“I’ll leave that to Da-ho hyung. Oh, this is a gift. I bought it in London.”

Seo-jun nodded and handed a gift to Ahn Da Ho. Ahn Da Ho smiled and thanked him.

He carefully tore the well-wrapped wrapping paper and found a round pocket watch in a small box. There were stems and flowers engraved on it like a crescent moon.

“Is this a pocket watch?”

“No. It’s a compass.”

“A compass?”

Ahn Da Ho opened the lid with wide eyes, smiling at Seo-jun’s words. As Seo-jun said, there was a needle pointing north and south, spinning around.

“I bought it for you, Da-ho hyung, so that you don’t lose your way to your goal. It’s handmade.”

It had no effect on me, but I hope it would show its full potential to Da-ho hyung.

“That flower is called peony, and it was used as a talisman in England since ancient times.”

“Thank you. It would look nice as a decoration on my desk.”

Ahn Da Ho looked around the compass as if he liked it. He felt good about the meaning, and he thought he would never lose his way no matter what happened. Seo-jun looked satisfied at that sight.

Ahn Da Ho carefully put down the compass and opened his mouth.

“Are you going to the archive room now?”

“No. I also bought gifts for the singer team. And for the Blue Moon members. They said they’re at the company, so I’m going to give them.”

I don’t know why they’re at the company instead of the dorm on their day off, though.

“Okay. You know the password for the archive room, right? Don’t skip lunch because you’re reading scripts.”

“Yes!”

Seo-jun left the conference room and headed to the singer team.

The singer team’s office looked very busy after the relocation. Seo-jun greeted them briefly and put the snacks he brought on the snack table, then headed straight to the practice room where Blue Moon was.

As he opened the door to the practice room, he was greeted by a cool air conditioner breeze and five people who were lying down. They jumped up like students who were caught reading comics during self-study time.

“…What? It was Seo-jun…”

Park I-deun flopped back down on the floor.

“Hi. Seo-jun.”

“Hello. Hyungs.”

The Blue Moon members welcomed Seo-jun.

“European snacks!”

…They seemed to welcome the snacks.

The Blue Moon members and Seo-jun sat down in a circle on the floor of the practice room and chatted with a smile. They talked about how exciting the festival stage on the beach was. That was exactly when he had released [(Line) Orchestra Conductor’s Connection].

“Did anything change?”

“Changed? Not at all?”

“What about you, hyungs?”

“Well?”

What changed for us?

As they looked at each other with question marks, Seo-jun realized once again how amazing Jason’s genius was, who had noticed the difference in just 10 minutes.

And he also realized that it would take more time for the Blue Moon members to feel the difference between when they had the ability and when they didn’t.

‘If I think positively, it means that their skills are similar whether they use the ability or not.’

They didn’t notice, but their skills had improved.

Seo-jun swallowed his disappointment and shook hands with the Blue Moon members. The Blue Moon members looked puzzled by the sudden handshake, and numbers appeared over their heads.

‘When will they grow…’

Like the Brown Black hyungs, about five years?

No, it’s been a year, so maybe it’ll take four years.

With the intermediate [(Line) Orchestra Conductor’s Connection], it would be a lot of help, so he wished they would become great idols.

Seo-jun’s handshake was only a moment of surprise.

The Blue Moon members chattered excitedly.

“What did you give to the team leader 2 as a gift?”

“A compass. It looks like this.”

Seo-jun showed them a picture and explained.

Jung Eun-sung suddenly exclaimed, looking at the peony engraved on the silver lid.

“A talisman… In movies, there’s always something like this when they get shot.”

“Ah! I know! There’s always a bullet stuck here and they say, ‘Oh! I survived thanks to the gift from my parents!’”

“That’s a cliché.”

“Hey. That’s a movie. Jae-won hyung. There’s no chance of getting shot in Korea.”

Seo-jun paused for a moment, laughing at the Blue Moon members’ words.

‘Wait a minute. I sometimes shoot in the US…?’

And Da-ho hyung also came along.

No way… right?

Seo-jun looked at the compass in the picture. To be exact, he looked at the [(Line) Golden Mermaid Parvita’s Compass] that turned crisis into opportunity in the compass.

He felt uneasy.

***

Flap-

The paper turned.

Ahn Da Ho looked at the actor’s document with a serious face.

What he was looking at now was the data of the actor who passed the first document review, which included personal information such as photo, name, age, and the works he had appeared in, as well as the evaluation of his acting in the works and the evaluation among the staff, which were investigated by Team 2.

“His career and evaluation are good…”

That’s why he made it to the second round.

But since Seo-jun was the representative actor of Cocoa Enter, it was not a matter to contract an actor carelessly.

“What to do…”

As Ahn Da Ho sighed, saying it was a difficult matter, the needle of the compass he had left on one side of the table spun and stopped.

[(Line) Golden Mermaid Parvita’s Compass points the direction.]

After deliberating, Ahn Da Ho put the actor’s document he was holding on top of the failed documents.