Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 629

As Gray cleared away the cold coffee and bread, the table was set with food. It seemed like they had just bought them, as steam rose from the dishes when they opened the lids.

“Let’s eat quickly. I’m hungry!”

“I heard this place is delicious.”

The three people sat around the table and started their breakfast with a smile. The warm food made them feel cozy. In the comfortable atmosphere, Gray Vainy opened his mouth.

“By the way, what’s the reason for this early meeting? Didn’t you say you were going back to LA?”

“I took a vacation.”

Rebecca sighed and said. Gray looked at her with a worried expression.

“Is it your boss again?”

“Yeah, he told me to do his errands while I was in New York. Did I come to New York to do his errands? And it’s not something I can just buy. It’s a limited edition! I have to line up from the day before to get it!”

Wow. That’s harsh.

The staff heard a very small mutter that didn’t go into the sound system. Choi Tae-woo, who heard it, remembered his previous job and sympathized with Rebecca’s anger.

“So I just decided to quit and took a vacation. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t taken a vacation for a long time. I feel like I’m going crazy if I stay here any longer.”

Rebecca chewed the meat in her mouth as if it was her boss. Gray and George looked at her with concern. Rebecca shrugged at their gazes.

“It’s okay. I’m going to take this opportunity to rest and think about how to live in the future. Fashion designer, huh? It didn’t suit me anyway.”

“…Yeah.”

Gray forced a smile, swallowing the words ‘Why don’t you try playing the violin again?’.

He couldn’t say anything when the person herself said so. He felt a bit suffocated, even though he was comfortable a moment ago.

The staff watched the three actors chatting. The staff who had read the script beforehand knew.

10 years.

During that long time, when even the mountains would change, as they say in Korea, Rebecca, who had taught Gray Vainy the violin, had quit playing and started working as a fashion designer (although she was still at the bottom).

They felt a strange feeling, as well as empathy, when they saw the kids who were bright in [Over the Rainbow 1] (of course, they had hardships too) become adults and struggle with reality.

“I have something to tell you.”

George broke the gloomy mood.

Gray tilted his head.

“What is it?”

“There’s a new project that came out, and I got to be in charge of one of the episodes.”

“Really?”

Gray’s expression brightened a bit. Rebecca also exclaimed and congratulated him.

“Well, it’s not official yet. It’s more like a temporary fix. It could be canceled anytime.”

“Still, it’s a great opportunity!”

George scratched his cheek at Gray’s happy look.

“But there’s one problem.”

“Problem?”

“Um… I was hoping you could help me out, Gray…”

Gray nodded with a smile at George’s words.

“I’ll help you if I can.”

“The project is about filming a documentary of the performers. I want you to be in it… Of course, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, Gray.”

“I’m fine with it, but…”

The story of Gray Vainy, the genius violinist, who started with crowdfunding was so famous that even people who were not interested in classical music had heard of it, and his two friends were also somewhat known.

Maybe George’s friendship with him had a big influence on this job.

He felt like he was only being a burden to his friends.

George looked at Gray’s expression and said carefully.

“We’ll mainly film your daily life and preparation for the concert… We’ll be careful not to disturb you.”

If George was okay with it.

He had never done a documentary filming before, but he thought it would be fine if George was the director.

Gray nodded with a smile.

“I’m fine with it. When do you start filming, George? I have a schedule from tomorrow, so I need to coordinate it.”

He thought he should give his manager’s contact information for the future filming.

“Tomorrow.”

Gray looked up at George’s voice, who was putting away his phone.

“Huh?”

“We’ll start tomorrow.”

George smiled and said. Gray blinked his eyes.

“Cut! Okay!”

The three actors laughed at the same time, coming out of their immersion at the director Sara Roth’s voice.

“We had our first filming yesterday and this is our second time, but we’re already in sync.”

Seo-jun said, and Catherine and Paul nodded with a smile.

“Right. It was okay from the first take!”

“It feels more like having a conversation than filming.”

They had fun every moment, as it was their first filming with their friends in 10 years.

“Shall we go monitor?”

“Yeah.”

The three actors got up from their seats to monitor, and the food on the table was prepared again for the next filming.

“We’ll film close-up shots, so you can eat as much as you can.”

Sara Roth said to the three actors who were checking the footage. She was worried that they might be full, as they had to film the eating scene several times.

“I’m fine. I can still eat more.”

“Me too. I didn’t have breakfast.”

“Me too.”

The director just smiled at the laughing trio.

***

August 4th.

The day of the final round of the New York String Instrument Competition.

It was not one of the world’s three major competitions, but it was a fairly prestigious competition, so people who were interested in classical music gathered at the venue to watch the final round.

The final round consisted of 18 violinists, six from each category, from 1 to 3, and the final round of category 1, which was for those under 13, started first, with breaks in between.

It was the break time after the final round of category 1.

“Did you see the article? A 12-year-old made it to the final. His name was Su…Bin Kim, right?”

The number one interest of the people in the upcoming final round of category 2 was Kim Su-bin, a 12-year-old Asian violinist.

“Yeah. He looked just like Gray Vainy, right?”

Because of his young age, excellent violin skills, and being Asian, he made headlines as [The Real-Life Gray Vainy Appears?] when the filming and promotion of [Over the Rainbow 2] overlapped. Even in Korea, where there was not much interest, some articles came out.

“He’ll be big later, seeing that Cooper said he was a promising newcomer.”

When he heard his name, Cooper, a classical music journalist, turned his head briefly and then lowered it again. He read the information of the violinists who made it to the final round on his finepad again.

‘The awards are up to third place.’

If the performers were in good condition, the winners would be decided as Cooper guessed. Category 1 was also as Cooper expected. Well, assuming that there was no connection between the officials.

‘Kim must be one of them.’

Cooper scratched his chin as he thought. He expected Subin Kim to rank at least second, if not first, in the category 2 finals.

The finals were about to start soon.

He had been watching some of the violinists under 18 for a long time. They were all talented and experienced, having performed in various countries around the world since they were young.

He knew they were excellent in both skill and experience.

‘But to think that Kim would beat them all…’

He wondered who his teacher was. He must be very proud of him.

“Cooper!”

“Huh?”

“Did you see? Professor Benjamin is here.”

“Professor Benjamin?”

Cooper looked up at his colleague’s words.

Benjamin Morton, who had retired from being a violinist but still continued to compose and teach, was still one of the pillars of the violin world. One of the reasons was that his disciple was ‘that’ Jason Moore.

“Jason Moore?”

Jason Moore.

He was the most famous and popular violinist among the active ones. He was also known for being friends with the Hollywood star Seo-jun Lee.

“He was here. He seemed to come with him.”

“What are they doing here?”

It was not uncommon for maestros and professional violinists to attend the concours, but it was rare for the two violinists who lived in LA to come all the way to New York.

‘And at this time.’

The finals that were about to begin were for category 2.

Maybe they were curious about the future violinists.

“Do you think we can interview them?”

“No.”

His colleague shook his head.

“They seemed to come with someone they know.”

“I see…”

It was a pity, but he couldn’t help it.

He could have gone up to them and asked for an interview, but it was not a spacious place.

He didn’t want to get a bad reputation from not only Professor Benjamin and Jason Moore, but also the violinists who were close to them.

“Let’s just focus on the concours for now.”

“Yeah.”

***

“Where are you sitting?”

“Over there.”

Subin’s parents waved their bouquets of flowers as they made eye contact with Seo-jun, Professor Benjamin, and Jason. Seo-jun, who was wearing a hat and holding three bouquets of flowers (he wanted to buy bigger ones, but he thought they might be in the way, so he bought smaller ones), pointed to a spot in the audience.

“Do you want to join us?”

Jason Moore asked Seo-jun, who shrugged his shoulders.

“I think it would be better not to. If I sit with you and Professor Benjamin, people will find out that he is your disciple. And then I will be involved too. I don’t mind in the US, but I have to live in Korea too. He is still young, so it would be better for him to be less famous.”

“You weren’t like that, were you?”

Jason asked, and Seo-jun, who had been famous since he was seven months old, scratched his cheek.

“I was an exception. I was a special case who liked being in the spotlight.”

“Kim doesn’t seem to be that weak…”

Jason Moore had a good idea of why Subin was friends with Seo-jun after spending a few months with him. He was fearless and spirited.

“Well, I’ll tell you when Subin says he’s okay.”

He had already prepared enough skills to be ready to be known at any time.

As they chatted, the category 2 finals began.

The order of the finals was based on the scores of the second preliminary round, and Subin seemed to be the last one.

“They are all good.”

“Yeah.”

They couldn’t clap because it was a competition, but Seo-jun listened carefully to each and every performance. Professor Benjamin and Jason Moore did the same.

Soon, the fifth performer came down and the last finalist went up.

It was Subin.

He looked smaller than the previous finalists, and Seo-jun felt a smile forming on his face. He looked proud of him, standing calmly in front of many people at such an important moment.

Without even looking around the audience, Subin bowed and placed his chin on the violin and began to play.

He focused on every note, showing everything he had practiced so far.

He recalled the teachings of Professor Benjamin and Jason, understood the composer’s thoughts written on the score, and tried to express his own emotions as well.

The long bow smoothly slid down and up the strings of the violin. His left fingers, which held the strings, moved quickly to match.

The judges let out a sigh of admiration.

They were supposed to evaluate the finalists’ skills objectively, but for this performance, they just wanted to listen to it wholeheartedly.

And the families and friends who came to cheer for the finalists, the reporters who came to cover the event, and the curious spectators who came to watch, were all immersed in Subin’s performance.

A smile lingered on the lips of Professor Benjamin and Jason Moore. He was playing as well as he had practiced, no, even better, without any nervousness.

Seo-jun also listened to Subin’s performance with a big smile.

He felt the [Melody of the Goblin Violinist] and the [Basic Practice of the Violin Dream Fairy], and the higher-level abilities that he had engraved on his body while acting as ‘Grey Vainy’, enjoying themselves. He felt a slight itch in his hands, wanting to play with him.

‘He is amazing. My Subin.’

Impressed by Subin’s concentration, which did not waste a single note until the end, Seo-jun regretted that he couldn’t clap because of the concours, and sent him a huge applause in his heart.