Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 699

Ten years ago.

Jack leaned his chin on his arms on the living room table and stared intently at his friend Seo-jun, who had come to visit for the summer. 

Seo-jun was sitting on a fluffy sofa, gazing at the TV screen with his eyes sparkling.

‘I get that TV is fun, but…’

What’s so interesting about that drama?

Jack liked cartoons on TV, but he didn’t really understand what the adults were talking about.

‘Besides, it’s such a nice day!’

Jack’s head turned toward the window.

Beyond the glass, the breeze blowing from the garden and the sun shining on the lawn made Jack’s butt twitch with excitement.

And the person in front of him was Seo-jun!

He could play with his neighborhood friends, but they were not up to Jack’s (baseball) level.

Only Seo-jun, who was like a younger brother (Seo-jun didn’t think so), could match his amazing baseball skills. He was his, his,

‘That’s right! Rival!’

Rival!

The little Jack grinned as he thought of a difficult word.

Anyway.

Even though Jack seemed ready to run out at any moment, he was quietly watching Seo-jun because of the adults’ conversation in the kitchen.

“Seo-jun really wants to be an actor, huh? Is he like that in Korea too?”

Jack’s mom asked, and Seo-jun’s mom laughed.

“It’s worse in Korea. He’s busy watching Korean dramas there. He can’t watch American dramas easily, so he’ll probably be hooked on TV for a while.”

Jack knew well that Seo-jun wanted to be an actor.

No, he was already an actor. He had a brief appearance in [Shadowman].

‘He’s my friend!’

Jack had bragged to his other friends.

‘So I know I shouldn’t bother him, but…’

A child’s patience was not that long.

Jack’s lips slowly began to pout.

And knowing Seo-jun’s patience from growing up together, Jack became more anxious.

When drawing pictures, or doing kindergarten homework, Jack would drop his crayons and do something else in 10 minutes, but Seo-jun would work hard until he finished. 

Seeing him, Jack had no choice but to sit back and pick up his crayons.

‘Seo-jun would probably watch TV all day if I let him.’

Jack had written down his plans in a notebook when Seo-jun said he was coming to America.

Oh, Jack looked at Seo-jun, who was watching TV with shining eyes, with a serious expression and opened his mouth.

“Seo-jun.”

“…Yeah?”

“Is it fun?”

“…Yeah.”

Jack blinked at Seo-jun’s answer.

What to say.

Seo-jun’s answer was a beat slow. And unlike his usual mature self, he seemed half-distracted.

‘Where have I seen this before…’

As Jack was thinking, his mom’s voice came to his ears.

“Jack! Do you want a snack? Ask Seo-jun too!”

“Okay!”

Snack!

It would be a more delicious snack than usual since Seo-jun came to visit!

Jack’s eyes lit up and he asked Seo-jun.

“Seo-jun! Do you want a snack?”

“…Yeah.”

Seo-jun answered blankly, still looking at the TV. He seemed really into the drama. (Later, Jack found out that it was a drama with a lot of talented actors that Seo-jun liked.)

…Ah!

Jack’s eyes widened.

‘Jack! Stop now and eat!’

‘Just a minute! Mom! Just a little more!’

Just like Jack, who would answer reluctantly to his mom’s call when he was playing baseball.

Jack rolled his eyes and asked carefully.

“Seo-jun. …Isn’t the drama boring?”

“…Yeah.”

An answer that could never come from Seo-jun was heard.

Oh ho.

Jack smiled with a meaningful face and quietly got up from his seat. Then he went to his room and rummaged through his toy box to get a toy.

It was a toy that looked like a microphone, and if you pressed the switch and talked or sang, it would play it back. A kind of recording toy.

Jack pressed the switch on the toy and cautiously brought it close to Seo-jun.

“Seo-jun, do you want to play baseball after watching TV?”

“…Yeah.”

Oh!

Jack’s eyes sparkled.

“Let’s play catch after lunch.”

“…Yeah.”

“And play baseball games in the attic after dinner.”

“…Yeah.”

Jack raised his voice as he got more excited.

“We’re playing baseball tomorrow too!”

“…Yeah.”

“Let’s play baseball until you go back to Korea!”

“…Yeah.”

As Seo-jun was distracted by the drama with his favorite actors, (baseball) promises with Jack piled up.

The toy company would never have dreamed that their toy would be used like this.

***

[We’re playing baseball tomorrow too!]

[…Yeah.]

[Let’s play baseball until you go back to Korea!]

[…Yeah.]

As he heard the young voices of himself and Jack from the toy, the adult Seo-jun touched his forehead.

“What is this…”

Did I really lose my mind over the drama?

But he couldn’t deny it, since he had a record of doing similar things.

He proposed a play as soon as he read the novel [Mirror], and he followed the scripts of [Flowing] that were lying on the Han River Park walkway and talked to a director he had never met before.

‘Um…’

Seo-jun thought that Eun-chan’s uncle, Da-ho hyung, and Tae-woo hyung would groan and touch their foreheads if they heard this story. They said a verbal contract was still a contract.

“Ha ha ha!”

Jack, who had grown up to be a sturdy man, laughed loudly.

“I told you. I was so smart! I thought of recording it.”

“Indeed. You were smart. Little Jack. You seem smarter than you are now.”

“…Isn’t that an insult?”

Seo-jun avoided Jack’s glaring eyes and quickly changed the topic.

“But I think this is the first time I hear this recording.”

“Oh, well.”

My simple friend.

Seo-jun smiled and looked at Jack Smith, who started to explain.

“After the drama ended, I asked you if you wanted to play baseball while having snacks. And you obediently said yes. You also agreed to play catch after lunch, and baseball games after dinner. I didn’t even need to use the recording.”

Jack recalled that day with a smile.

‘Shall we go now?’

When Jun asked, ‘Yeah!!’ Little Jack answered excitedly and threw his toy recorder somewhere – and quickly brought his baseball glove and bat.

“I forgot about it after that.”

“Take back your smart remark.”

Seo-jun said with a smile, and Jack also laughed in agreement.

***

Seo-jun and Jack, who reminisced about various memories and chatted, headed to their next destination.

“…Is this it?”

“This is it.”

Seo-jun raised his head and looked at the building in front of him, following Jack’s cheerful smile.

It was the LA Stadium.

“I would have been fine with a small ballpark…”

He had enjoyed playing baseball since he was young, and he wanted to show Jack how they could casually toss the ball around, but the place seemed too fancy.

He was worried that it would be a nuisance if they used a place that was shared with ordinary people, so he asked Jack if he could rent a small playground or something. But the LA Stadium appeared.

“They insisted that I use it. The PR team.”

Jack Smith chuckled. Seo-jun also smiled and nodded.

They changed into LA Dodgers uniforms (prepared by the PR team) in the locker room and headed to the ballpark. Some staff members came out to see the superstar. Among them, the scouts’ eyes sparkled.

“They asked me a lot when you did Sita. If you had any thoughts of playing baseball. So I told them you absolutely didn’t.”

Jack said as he brought his glove, bat, and baseball.

“Jun. Do you want to pitch or hit?”

“Both, of course. Help me set up the cameras.”

“Okay.”

Seo-jun and Jack installed the cameras they brought from the car trunk in the ballpark, and then warmed up and took their positions.

Seo-jun Lee, the pitcher on the mound.

Jack Smith, the batter at the plate.

As expected of a match between an ordinary person (?) and a major leaguer, every ball that Seo-jun Lee threw resulted in a home run or a hit.

Ahh…!

The staff members, who seemed to be fans of Seo-jun Lee, sighed regretfully, but the scouts and coaches’ eyes shone.

“He slowed down, right?”

“Yes. He would be amazing if he did it properly, right?”

He had talent as a batter and as a pitcher!

Their eyes sharpened like hawks looking for prey, when Seo-jun Lee and Jack Smith switched places.

Jack Smith, the pitcher on the mound.

Seo-jun Lee, the batter at the plate.

Most of the attention was on Seo-jun, who had shown an extraordinary skill in Sita a few years ago.

“Lee did Sita a few years ago, right? How is he now?”

“Well. Maybe he’s not as good as before?”

But some of them looked at Jack Smith on the mound.

“Did Jack ever pitch?”

“Not since middle school.”

“Hmm. Is there no pitcher today? I want to test Lee properly…”

The scouts and coaches were drinking the soup before getting the rice cake.

Then, Jack Smith took his stance on the mound.

“…Huh?”

It was textbook. And it looked somehow familiar.

He never pitched, did he?

Question marks appeared over everyone’s heads, when

the white baseball flew out of Jack Smith’s hand at a fast speed. Then it hit the bat that Seo-jun Lee swung with a clang and flew out with force.

The scouts and coaches, who were staring blankly, jumped up. They seemed to hear the sound of the baseball hitting an empty seat far away.

“Wh, what’s the speed?!”

“Could Jack Smith pitch too?!”

“Was that a home run?!”

Amidst the noisy staff members, Jack and Seo-jun turned their heads and shrugged their shoulders.

“Let’s go again!”

“Yeah!”

They were having fun (?) as usual.

***

That evening.

After having dinner and leaving, Jack Smith was replaced by Jonathan Will, the director, who came to Seo-jun’s place.

“Did you come. Director.”

“I’m sorry for coming every day.”

“No. It’s okay.”

Jonathan Will said awkwardly to Choi Tae Woo, who greeted him at the entrance.

Jonathan had been coming almost every day since Seo-jun came to LA. 

It wasn’t to revise the script, but because he was anxious. He thought it would be like this until the crank-in.

“Did you have dinner?”

“Yes. I did. How about Jun?”

“He’s editing what he filmed today in his room.”

“Really?”

He knew that Seo-jun was going to film a vlog for his fans.

‘He was good at editing.’

That was Jun’s college practical skill, right?

He couldn’t see the practical video because it was private, but he remembered that Seo-jun had filmed and edited [In the Name of God] in the practice room by himself.

“Can I go and see?”

“Yes. It should be fine.”

At Choi Tae Woo’s words, Jonathan Will headed to Seo-jun’s room on the second floor.

Knock knock-

Here is my attempt to edit and translate the text into English. I have made some changes to the sentence structures, words, and paragraphs to make them more suitable for web novels. I have also added some punctuation marks and quotation marks where needed. I hope you find it helpful.

A voice told him to come in after he knocked.

“Jonathan, is that you?”

Seo-jun greeted Jonathan Will calmly, without pausing his editing work. He saw him almost every day.

“Yeah. Are you editing?”

Jonathan Will pulled a chair and sat next to Seo-jun.

“Yes. I’m cutting the scenes by location and then fine-tuning them.”

“What about the subtitles?”

“The first team said they would do it for me. They will also check for any problematic parts.”

Jonathan Will nodded at Seo-jun’s words and clicked the mouse, watching him edit.

On the monitor, there was a video editing program that Jonathan Will was familiar with. Seeing the video editing program, his hands felt itchy.

‘Is it an occupational disease?’

He chuckled to himself. He was Jonathan Will, the director.

His complicated mind calmed down, wondering if he could do well. He wanted to film and edit [Shadow and Knight] as soon as possible.

“Jun, can I see what you edited?”

“It’s a bit messy, but… yes. I’ll send it to your FinePad.”

Seo-jun scratched his cheek, feeling a bit embarrassed to show it to a movie director.

“Please feel free to give me any advice, Jonathan.”

It would be good if the video got better with the director’s advice.

He hoped that the sprouts would enjoy watching it, and sent the first edited version to his FinePad. Then he handed the FinePad to Jonathan Will.

“Okay.”

Jonathan Will turned on Seo-jun’s FinePad and played the video.

Since the vlog showed Seo-jun’s usual appearance, he thought that a friendly editing style would be better than a flashy one.

While Jonathan Will watched the first edited version, Seo-jun clicked the mouse and typed the keyboard, busy with his editing work.

‘It would be hard to finish it in a day.’

Besides, he had to attend school classes as well, since he started the semester on Monday.

‘Well, it’s cyber lectures, so I have some leeway.’

But he had already thought of what scenes to focus on for editing, so he thought he could finish it quickly if he edited it whenever he had time.

“…Jun.”

“Yes?”

He stopped clicking and turned around at the voice from the side.

He saw Jonathan’s face, who was looking at the FinePad with a troubled expression. He glanced at it, and it was the video from the LA Stadium.

“About our baseball game scene.”

“Yes.”

Seo-jun nodded.

There was a baseball game scene in [Shadow and Knight].

“What if we call Jack Smith as a cameo?”

…!

Seo-jun’s eyes widened at the director’s words.