Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 559

“Ready, action!”

The sun was shining brightly.

“Minhan, bring it over here.”

“Yes!”

The mansion was busy since morning.

On one side of the sunny yard, Minhan, Mr. Lee, and Mrs. Ko were carrying something in their hands and moving back and forth. It was chilly, but they were sweating.

“This should be enough for this winter, right?”

“Well, I don’t know. We might run out if we have new guests…”

Minhan and Mrs. Ko looked at the pile of pickled cabbages and said.

It was November, when the weather got colder.

It was time to make kimchi.

Cabbages, garlic, peppers, radishes. The three of them and the young master were busy making kimchi for the winter.

“Phew!”

Minhan put down the last pile of garlic and sat next to Mr. Lee. The three of them had small knives and garlic in their hands.

“But how did you two do it when I wasn’t here? There’s so much.”

“We used to have guests help us.”

“They all enjoyed it.”

Minhan moved his hands as he listened to Mr. Lee and Mrs. Ko’s stories.

He cut off the stems of the garlic covered with dirt and peeled off the outer skin. He peeled off the skin again and a shiny garlic came out. It was transferred to an empty barrel in a clatter.

He was fast and skilled, thanks to his experience of helping the villagers.

“I heard that there’s an epidemic of smallpox in Hanyang now.”

“We should be careful too. Come to think of it, we don’t have much emergency medicine…”

“Let’s ask someone to send us some next time.”

They exchanged stories about what happened in the upper regions, what they brought from abroad, and what amazing things there were in the world. Minhan listened to Mr. Lee and Mrs. Ko’s voices.

The village was so remote that they had to cross the mountains, so the villagers were ignorant of the outside news. Sometimes they saw the guests who came to the mansion and felt that the world was changing.

“Shall we have some fresh kimchi and boiled pork for dinner?”

“That sounds good. Do we have any rice wine?”

“We have some from the village. They said it turned out really good this time.”

Minhan swallowed his saliva.

He thought it was a good decision to come to this mansion, just by looking at the three meals that Mrs. Ko prepared.

He quickly finished peeling the garlic and straightened his sore back. He looked up at the sky and his eyes naturally went to the second floor where the curtains were drawn.

He wondered if he would get sick from staying in the room all the time, breathing the stuffy air, even in the cold winter.

“By the way, how did the young master get into a carriage accident?”

At Minhan’s question, Mr. Lee and Mrs. Ko stopped cutting the radishes and looked at each other. Mr. Lee cleared his throat and opened his mouth at Mrs. Ko’s gaze.

“…Well…he got into an accident while trying to save someone.”

“Oh…”

“…He’s a great person. He’s so young…”

Mr. Lee nodded at Mrs. Ko’s words.

Minhan agreed.

He didn’t know he had such a story. He felt both admiration and pity that he got hurt while trying to save someone else. He couldn’t help but worry about the sight he saw the other night.

“…Is his arm still…shaking?”

“…Yes. They said he could reduce the tremors if he did rehabilitation, but…it’s hard to do delicate work like painting.”

Minhan didn’t know why his heart sank at Mr. Lee’s words.

He quietly looked up at the second floor, where the curtains were closed.

The young master, right now.

Did he regret saving that person then?

***

“Cut! Okay!”

Hwang Jiyoon’s voice echoed in the studio. Hwang Doyoon, Kim Seongsik, and Jeong Eunmi put down the knives they were holding.

“Wow. I think my hands smell like garlic.”

“But you peeled it well.”

“I practiced at home. I took the peeled garlic to my grandmother’s house and she liked it.”

Hwang Doyoon’s words made Seo Joon laugh.

“We’ll end the shooting here today!”

It was early, but Hwang Jiyoon decided so.

It was because they had to deal with the pickled cabbages and kimchi ingredients that they bought from a nearby city yesterday. They couldn’t throw them away, so they decided to eat them while filming.

“I never thought we’d make kimchi in the studio.”

“Me neither.”

Seo Joon nodded at the words of the second-year acting student.

He sometimes helped his grandmother make kimchi, but it was his first time doing it in the studio. He thought even Uncle Jongho and Hyung Jiseok wouldn’t have done this.

The [Fire] team members spread a mat next to where the actors were sitting and acting. The kimchi director was actress Jeong Eunmi.

“We have a lot of people, so it’ll be quick, right?”

“Oh! Really?”

“Then, let’s boil some pork first?”

The [Fire] team members cheered at Jeong Eunmi’s words. They looked at each other and laughed. Seo Joon also laughed.

Jeong Eunmi came back after putting soybean paste, various vegetables, and pork in several pots.

She divided the kimchi into parts.

Seo Joon grabbed a knife in the divided kimchi.

Unlike making or spreading the seasoning with their hands, they had to handle sharp knives, so the team members who were good at cooking were chosen.

“Cut it to this size.”

“Yes!”

As Seo Joon and the team members were familiar with cooking, Jeong Eunmi glanced at them and quickly moved on to the seasoning part. The seasoning part was quiet because they just had to mix what they were told.

Thud. Thud.

The sound of the knife hitting the cutting board was heard. The white radish that would become kimchi was cut into uniform sizes. The various ingredients filled one barrel and moved to the next part to mix with the seasoning. Then, they spread the red seasoning on each leaf of cabbage.

“We’re taking song requests!”

They listened to upbeat songs as they worked, and the kimchi was finished in no time.

“This is the last one!”

Kim Seoyeon raised her hand with a plastic glove on it. In her hand was a cabbage kimchi wrapped in outer leaves, like a scene from the animation [Lion King].

“The seasoning is gone!”

“Ah!”

That’s how the last cabbage turned red and went into the kimchi jar.

Seo Joon opened his mouth as he looked at the kimchi jars piled up on one side.

“I thought there were a lot of cabbages…but it was really fast.”

“There are thirty-two of us. We’ll eat that in no time.”

“That sounds plausible.”

Seo-jun nodded at Hwang Do Yoon’s words, who had been peeling garlic all along.

Even if they filled the fridge to the brim, it seemed like the kimchi they made would disappear into the team members’ stomachs before it even ripened, considering how quickly they ate.

“Let’s take some out for the shooting, and eat the rest ourselves.”

“The pork belly is done, right? Wouldn’t it be better to eat it at the lodge?”

“Pork belly!!”

“Should we boil some ramen too?”

“Ramen!!”

…Maybe they would eat it all today, he thought.

After filling their stomachs with pork belly, ramen, and kimchi.

The shooting continued the next day.

“…Wow. I’m going crazy…!”

“It’s okay. You’ll do well.”

Today, a new character appears.

“Extra…It’s so nerve-wracking.”

“Do you want me to get you some water?”

“Ah, thank you.”

The fourth-year student of stage art (team leader of the props team) who participated as an extra drank the water that Seo-jun handed him and exhaled deeply. But his legs were still shaking.

“I was prepared, but I’m more nervous than I thought.”

“Maybe it’s because it’s a work that Seo-jun is in, and your acting will be known to the world…Ack!”

The fourth-year student of stage art, who was laughing and talking, hit his friend’s leg. The team leader of the props team, who had sighed deeply again, got up from his seat at the call of the makeup team.

A moment later.

The shooting began.

“Ready, action!”

Min Han, who was helping Mr. Lee clean the yard, looked at the gate.

He saw a merchant who was carrying a lot of luggage talking to Mr. Lee, who had entrusted all the chores of the mansion to Min Han.

He thought it was an excuse when he said he was busy working in the mansion with only four people, but it really looked busy. Well. Unlike the idle farming work in winter, the merchants must be busy traveling around even in winter.

The merchant bowed and left.

Min Han approached Mr. Lee and said.

“Sir. Is he someone from the top?”

“Huh? …Oh. I wanted to buy some antler powder. But they don’t sell it around here, so I have to go to Hanyang. I asked him to send me some other things as well.”

Hanyang.

A place he wanted to visit once. There were many Westerners there, so there must be amazing things that were not here.

Ah.

Min Han suddenly remembered someone and ran out to the gate.

“Wait a minute!”

The merchant turned around at Min Han’s shout. He looked sturdy enough to beat up two or three bandits easily. He hesitated for a moment at his imposing appearance and put out his request.

“I heard you’re going to Hanyang, can you do me a favor? I’ll give you money!”

The merchant seemed to think for a moment and nodded.

“I don’t know much about these things. So I’d like you to buy them for me instead…”

Min Han continued his order at the merchant’s attention. The merchant nodded soon. The reliable merchant turned around and started walking again.

At that sight, Min Han, who had said it, but was restless with his empty wallet, shouted.

“…That! …The cheapest one, please!”

After a brief silence, Hwang Ji Yoon shouted.

“Cut! Okay!”

The merchant, the team leader of the props team, staggered. He felt like he had lost all his strength.

“I didn’t even have any lines, why is it so hard? I’m sorry. I made a lot of NGs, right?”

The team leader of the props team’s words were met with shaking heads from Hwang Do Yoon and the team members who were shooting with him.

“No, you didn’t. You didn’t make many NGs.”

“It’s your first time acting, but you’re doing great.”

“You did really well.”

When Seo-jun also said that, the team leader of the props team’s expression relaxed.

“Then I’ll go to the next shoot!”

At Kim Se Yeon’s shout, the team leader of the props team went outside, and the first-year students of the acting department, who had been preparing in advance, entered the camera angle with a slightly nervous face.

***

Two days later, in the afternoon.

Leaving the team members who were shooting for a long time at the mansion, the art team and the props team, and Seo-jun boarded a 9-seater van and moved.

The destination was the place where they would shoot the climax part.

“It looks like a rat ate it.”

Everyone nodded at the props team leader’s words. The flat part where nothing grew because of the fire and the part where the trees stood tall contrasted sharply.

The art team leader, Yoo Seo Young, and the art team members stepped back and checked if there was no change from the pictures taken by the scouts and took pictures with the camera.

“Do we have to draw the picture on the left?”

“Yes. Leave the margin on the right.”

-/Then we have to get rid of the wooden pillar on the right./

The fluent English from the laptop made the props team shrink their necks without knowing it. Is there anyone here who can speak English? The props team leader’s eyes met the props team members who quickly shook their heads.

“/Matteo. Do we have to get rid of everything?/”

At Seo-jun’s question, Matteo, who was in France, looked at the pictures taken by the art team and said.

-/It might not matter if there is a lot of snow, but it would be better for the completeness of the picture to get rid of it completely. It’s not good to have dots or lines on a pure white margin. It only catches the eye./

As he spoke, Matteo stopped.

-/Of course, it’s okay if the dots or lines are intended./

“/No. We think it would be better to have none too,/”

Yoo Seo Young answered, and Seo-jun agreed.

“/This scene is a bit artificial, but that’s okay. The director said so too./”

-/Then we have to get rid of it. Cleanly./

Seo-jun and Yoo Seo Young nodded at Matteo’s words.