Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 643

“How do you like this idea?”

Seo-jun lightly played the piece he was going to perform for the shooting. Even with the simple melody, the vibe of the song composed by Professor Benjamin was evident. Professor Benjamin smiled and praised him.

“Good. You seem to have practiced hard.”

Heehee.

Seo-jun grinned widely. Then he met the eyes of Evan Block, Da-ho Ahn, and Tae-woo Choi, who were looking at him. He reflexively waved his hand in greeting.

They waved back with smiles, and Evan and Da-ho hyung made him laugh.

Maybe it was because they had been connected since childhood.

He felt like he was still a child in front of his old friends.

‘Well, Tae-woo hyung looks a bit awkward.’

But he still waved his hand with a happy face.

***

Seo-jun greeted the supporting actor he was going to act with today.

“Hello. I’m Seo-jun Lee. I look forward to working with you.”

“I’m Hanna Wise. The pleasure is all mine.”

Hanna Wise smiled and shook Seo-jun’s hand.

Her face, in her forties, showed excitement and anticipation. It was a thrilling experience to act with Seo-jun Lee, who had won the Oscar for Best Actor and the Golden Globe, and became a star in Hollywood, regardless of age.

Seo-jun smiled back at her eyes full of nervousness. He remembered what Director Sara Roth had said.

‘Since it’s a fake documentary, I cast actors with new faces rather than famous ones.’

Of course, it wouldn’t matter if they acted well, but if the people appearing in the documentary were famous actors like Evan Block, Rachel Hill, or Davis Garrett, they would inevitably attract attention. Director Sara Roth wanted [Over the Rainbow 2] to be a more immersive documentary.

‘But don’t worry, their acting skills have been verified.’

As Director Sara Roth said, there was no problem with the actors’ acting skills in the shooting so far. Hanna Wise, who was standing in front of Seo-jun, was not a famous actor, but she had good acting skills when he looked at her previous works.

He saw her smiling kindly and thought of Johnny Struck.

Hanna Wise also became an actor around the same time as Johnny Struck, and she had been doing various things while not giving up on acting until now.

‘Humans are amazing beings.’

They lived similar lives, but the ends were so different.

‘No. It’s not the end yet.’

No matter how old they were, they wouldn’t know until they died.

Johnny Struck, who came to his senses with Seo-jun’s ability, might also live a new and cool life.

‘It would be hard, though…’

He had become known to the whole world with his name and face tied to him, so it wouldn’t be easy to live hard even if he wanted to.

‘Well, that’s his own grave he dug.’

Seo-jun shrugged his shoulders inwardly and smiled brightly as he talked about the shooting. Hanna Wise listened carefully, not wanting to miss a word. She seemed to have written it down if she had a notebook and a pen.

“What do you think, Ms. Wise?”

“…Me? Me?”

Hanna Wise, who had been nodding her head, widened her eyes in surprise at Seo-jun’s question.

“Yes. We’re acting together, right?”

Together.

Hanna Wise thought. She had been a fan of Seo-jun Lee until now, but she felt like she would become a bigger fan from now on.

“Then, how about doing this here…”

“That sounds good.”

So Seo-jun discussed the shooting with Hanna Wise.

“We’re starting the shooting!”

A moment later.

Emily Jo’s voice filled the set.

The staff moved out of the camera angle, and the actors who were perfectly prepared entered the camera angle. Except for Paul Oden, who was the documentary producer and hardly showed his face.

Since it was a set owned by Whale Studio, there was no set shooting time. Of course, there were limits due to the gloomy weather or the time when the sun shone, but they had more time than shooting in a rented place.

“So let’s shoot comfortably! Ready!”

Director Sara Roth shouted.

Seo-jun, Catherine, and Paul smiled lightly and brought out Gray Viney, Rebecca, and George inside them.

“Action!”

In front of the hotel entrance where they stayed in LA.

“Hmm. Is it okay for me to go?”

Gray rubbed his neck and said.

He had come this far because of Rebecca’s words, but he wasn’t sure if it was a place he could go.

“It’s okay. He likes the violin too, so he’ll love it!”

Rebecca said with a bright smile, and Gray followed her reluctantly.

They passed by the people walking on the sidewalk and Rebecca stopped in front of a store. Gray and the documentary shooting team, who were walking with her, also stopped. It was a flower shop with various scents.

“What kind of flowers would you like?”

“Do you have yellow flowers? Please make a bouquet with that!”

Rebecca ordered a yellow bouquet with a smile at the owner’s question.

“Gray. You buy one too.”

“Me too?”

“Yeah! He’ll like it if you give it to him!”

Gray scratched his cheek and hesitated for a moment, then ordered a white bouquet. The owner skillfully made two lush bouquets in no time.

Gray, holding a white bouquet, felt a bit strange. He felt a little nervous as he felt some sweat on his hand holding the bouquet.

“…But Rebecca. Who did you say he was?”

Gray, who was walking with Rebecca, opened his mouth.

“A son of someone I know. He’s fifteen years old.”

Fifteen.

It was the age when Gray, who had received help from many people through crowdfunding, had learned the violin for a while.

“Sigh…”

A heavy sigh came out without him knowing.

Rebecca smiled bitterly at his appearance.

“We’re here. This is it.”

Gray slowly lifted his head at Rebecca’s words.

A fence and a gate surrounded by rusty iron. A stone statue of an angel with wings that had turned white in the sun. On the contrary, a well-maintained lawn and a beautifully decorated flower bed. The wind blowing through the trees planted sparsely. The rustling sound of dry petals and the faint scent of fresh flowers.

Ding-dong-ding-dong-

The church bell rang in the distance.

He felt the weight of the white bouquet he was holding getting heavier.

“Let’s go.”

“…Okay.”

This was a cemetery.

***

“Cut, okay!”

At that sound, Seo-jun quickly pulled away from Gray. It was an easy thing for him to do.

“But this place really looks like a cemetery.”

Even though it was supposed to be a set, everything from the dirt to the trees seemed to have a heavy and silent atmosphere. The tombstones had people’s names, dates of birth and death, and words engraved on them, which made it even more so.

He felt unfamiliar with the graves, since he had only seen them on holidays like New Year’s or Chuseok when he went to pay his respects. He also didn’t have any relatives who had passed away.

As he was looking around the cemetery, he heard the voice of Emily, the assistant director, in his ear.

“Okay, let’s go for the close-up shot!”

“Yes!”

It was time to resume filming.

***

Gray followed Rebecca as she walked.

Among the neatly arranged tombstones, there were some that had dried bouquets of flowers, indicating that they had been visited a long time ago, and some that had fresh flowers, indicating that they had been visited recently.

But most of the tombstones were well maintained.

“Here it is.”

Rebecca stopped in front of one of them.

The tombstone was dust-free, as if someone came by often. Rebecca placed a yellow bouquet of flowers in front of it. Her gesture was careful and cautious, as if it was contagious to him.

‘I don’t know this person, but…’

If he was someone Rebecca knew, he must have been a good kid.

Fifteen. His heart had grown heavier at that age. Just as Gray was about to place a white bouquet of flowers in front of the tombstone, Rebecca’s phone rang.

“Ah! Sorry! I have to take this call!”

She ran off quickly.

Gray froze in his crouched position, holding the bouquet. He felt awkward.

“Um. Hi. I’m Gray. You probably don’t know me, but…I’m a violinist. You liked the violin, right? I don’t know if you ever heard my performance.”

What was he doing?

Gray muttered to himself as he put the bouquet in front of the tombstone.

“Oh! You’re the violinist Gray, right?”

A middle-aged woman holding a bouquet of flowers looked at Gray with surprise.

“Ah, yes. Hello.”

“Nice to meet you. I love your music. My son did too.”

The woman said that as she placed a small bouquet of flowers next to the yellow and white ones.

“Ah…”

Gray had a feeling he knew who her son was.

The woman smiled with a longing expression as she looked at the tombstone. Whenever he saw the cold name engraved on it, he felt a wave of sadness.

“Whenever I feel that way, I listen to your music. It reminds me of the times I listened with my son.”

“Thank you…”

He didn’t know everything, but he knew a little.

The day he lost his violin because of a scammer. And now, when he felt like he was going to lose his violin because of his slump. He couldn’t compare his sorrow to the one of losing a son, but when he thought of his own greatest sorrow, he could somewhat understand how she felt.

“Would you mind playing something for me?”

She asked him, and Gray hesitated.

She looked at him with a sorry expression on her face.

“My son was always in the hospital, so he never got to go to your concert. He really wanted to…Any song would be fine. Just one song, please.”

She spoke with a heart full of love for her son, who had spent his painful days in the hospital, but who had always been bright enough to comfort his parents.

Her sincerity touched Gray’s heart. He wasn’t a stranger to her, and he knew Rebecca too. He was about to nod, but then he stopped.

“That’s just…I don’t have a violin right now…”

“Here you go.”

George, who was behind the camera, handed him a violin case. It was Gray’s.

Gray blinked in surprise as he took the violin.

“Why do you have this?”

“I brought everything, just in case.”

“Okay…”

He had sheet music with him too, so a violin was nothing.

Gray put the case on a bench in the cemetery.

“What song would you like?”

“Anything you’re comfortable with.”

She said that, but then hesitated a bit.

“But if possible, could you play a lullaby?”

“A lullaby?”

Gray looked at her as he took out the violin and the bow.

“Yes.”

The mother who had sent her son away first smiled softly. It was a smile full of sadness. This sadness would stay by her side forever.

“So he can sleep peacefully, without any nightmares, and with good dreams.”

Oh.

Gray nodded slowly. He rested his chin on the violin.

He closed his eyes and flipped through the scores in his head, looking for a suitable lullaby among the many he knew.

Ding-dong-

The church bell rang in the distance. He smelled the grass and the flowers. It was similar to the park he had been to before, but it had a different feeling. He opened his eyes. He saw the cold stones with the names of the precious ones engraved on them.

Six feet under.

The precious ones were sleeping there.

For a very long time. Sleeping a sleep they couldn’t wake up from.

Ah.

Gray breathed in and out as usual.

Unlike the explosive melodies of [Good Afternoon] and [Good Evening], it was like a fog, like a sadness. But also like a warm warmth. It slowly seeped into Gray’s head.

Slowly. Quietly.

Calmly. Peacefully.

Gray lowered his bow slowly.

It was [Lullaby], composed by Professor Benjamin Morton and played by Gray Vainy.

***

“Cut! Okay!”

The actors and staff who were quietly listening to [Lullaby] woke up at the shout of Director Sara Roth. And then, there were exclamations everywhere.

“This song is really good too, don’t you think?”

“It has a different vibe from Good Afternoon and Good Evening, but how does it feel like it was composed by the same person? It really feels like Gray composed it!”

“Really amazing, right? Jun-do, and Professor Benjamin too.”

‘Yeah. Yeah.’

Tae-woo, who was nodding and admiring the conversation of the staff in his mind, looked at Seo-jun. He was a manager who didn’t forget his main job, even if [Lullaby] was great. But he wasn’t worried. Seo-jun would get out of ‘Gray Vainy’ as he had done so far…

“Huh?”

Tae-woo blinked as he looked at Seo-jun.

Usually, he would go to Director Sara Roth’s side and monitor with her, but this time, he was still standing in the place where he had played, looking down at the violin in his hand.

And the atmosphere he felt was a bit strange.

Not this or that, but a bit confused.

“Seo-jun…”

Who was standing there?

Was it Seo-jun, or Gray Vainy?