Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 706

The appearance of the superstar caused a commotion.

“I’m a fan, Jun!”

“Me too!”

They all shook hands with Seo-jun with excited expressions. 

Seo-jun also smiled brightly and held their hands.

“But what are you doing here?”

They were curious about the lead actor who showed up in a place where only extras were gathered. Seo-jun explained with a smile.

“I thought it would be better to get to know each other a little bit before shooting right away. We’re supposed to be friends in the story, right? And also practice together.”

They nodded in understanding at Seo-jun’s words.

Then the superstar casually took a seat next to the extras, on an empty chair. The extras were impressed by his gesture.

“Shall we start reading then?”

“Uh. Yes!”

That’s how the short script reading began.

The extras could see why ‘Seo-jun Lee’ was a superstar.

***

“Ready,”

The director Jonathan shouted as he looked at the monitor and the set.

“Action!”

It was a weekday morning at Bayron High School.

The entrance was bustling with students going to school.

“Hey! Did you watch the game yesterday?”

“Ugh! We could have won!”

From the ‘Jocks’ who were wearing school jackets with a capital B on them, and talking loudly without caring about others’ eyes, with their well-groomed appearance and athletic bodies,

“This meteorite that fell. It doesn’t seem like an ordinary one, does it?”

“Yeah. It must be something very important. Something that threatens the universe…!”

To the ‘Geeks’ who were walking away from the Jocks and whispering conspiracy theories,

“…”

And to the ‘Nerds’ who were reading books and quietly going their own way.

Just like any other school, various cliques were gathered, and they didn’t cross each other’s boundaries, showing a noisy scene from the morning.

There was one student who appeared there.

“William!”

The leader of the football team, who was throwing and catching a football with his friends, called out the student’s name happily. Then he threw the ball he was holding at him.

Whoosh-!

Unlike a regular ball with a round shape, a football had pointed ends on both sides, making it hard to throw and catch. And since the leader, who was a skilled quarterback, threw the ball, the speed was no joke.

The students’ eyes followed the ball.

The student who had just entered the school, William, caught the brown ball lightly and laughed. His handsome appearance, which seemed to be common in both the East and the West, made the girls scream.

“…Are they serious?”

“Seems like it.”

The staff whispered at the extras who had sincere expressions (?) on their flushed cheeks. Well, he did have a good-looking face.

“What are you doing, Logan. In the morning.”

William Lee said with a smile in his voice and threw the football back to the leader, Logan.

The students’ heads moved again, following the ball.

The destination was the leader of the football team, Logan, who had thrown the ball.

He caught the ball that came flying at a similar speed to what he had thrown, with a perfect motion. He felt a bit bitter.

It was hard to throw a football properly even for beginners who didn’t touch it, let alone the football-shaped ball. But William Lee threw the ball back to him with a casual expression and movement, as if it was nothing.

“You should have joined our team…”

“That’s what I’m saying. Just look at that…”

“Hey! You guys!”

The students of the baseball team ran over and the students of Bayron High School thought, ‘Hmm. Another fight is about to start.’

“William is our team’s ace! Remember that!”

The baseball players growled and surrounded William as if to protect him.

“William, you played football in elementary school, right?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Football is better than baseball, right?”

“Get lost! Will is already in a situation where scouts are coming from the pros!”

The situation was interesting.

Usually, when they heard stories from other schools, the popular athletes, or the Jocks, were hard to approach or didn’t want to mingle with others, but since William Lee enrolled, they sometimes saw them fighting like this, and the students felt that they were just students too.

“Well, not that I want to join them.”

Uh-huh.

The students nodded at one student’s words.

“William has a lot of trouble.”

“He’s good at studying too.”

“And he has a good personality.”

The students said a word each as they watched William Lee calm down his friends who were making a fuss as usual.

It was a peaceful day at Bayron High School.

“Cut! Okay!”

The actors who were acting breathed out or moved their bodies to relax at the director Jonathan’s shout. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Seo-jun monitored the scene.

“There were a few NGs because there were a lot of extras, but it ended faster than I thought.”

“That’s true.”

Seo-jun and the actors appeared on the screen that was shot in full shot. Jonathan smiled at the well-shot scene and said.

“Let’s start the close-up shot right away.”

“Got it!”

Matthew, the assistant director, ran to prepare for the next shoot, and soon the close-up shot began.

***

“Ready, action!”

After the morning classes, it was lunchtime.

The students of Bayron scattered around to go to the cafeteria or eat their packed lunches.

William headed to the cafeteria with his baseball friends, chatting.

“Is the pitcher of the other team that good?”

The topic of the conversation was the baseball game that would take place on Sunday after next week, and the new pitcher who appeared in the opposing high school.

The pitcher nodded at William’s question.

“Yeah. He transferred from LA and he was good enough to become a starter right away.”

“The coach said he got the video of him playing in his previous school, so let’s analyze it together after class today.”

William, who was the ace and the fourth batter of the team, and had to know the information about the pitcher for sure, nodded seriously at the words.

“There are also other players we need to watch out for. I brought the data I analyzed until yesterday, so you can see it then.”

“As expected, Will!”

The graduating class of the baseball team was having a serious meeting about their future after high school, even while eating lunch. The baseball team of Bayron High School had a good record, so they expected some scouts from the pro league to come.

‘Most of them would be here to see William, though.’

They felt a bit envious, but they also admired William’s talent and effort. Even now, they saw him talking earnestly while having lunch. The baseball team students laughed and said.

“Huh? Why are you laughing?”

“No, it’s just that you’re so like yourself.”

Study, exercise, friendship, etc.

He did his best in everything and never slacked off. One friend said to him.

“Can you give me your autograph, Will?”

“? What autograph?”

“I think I should get it before you go to the major league.”

“Oh! Me too!”

“That’s a good idea.”

William took their words as a joke and laughed. His friends also said with a serious expression mixed with laughter.

“We’re not kidding.”

“Yeah. We mean it.”

As they were talking and laughing, William suddenly stopped moving. He slowly turned his head and looked at one side of the cafeteria.

William’s gaze was directed at the corner of the cafeteria, where two students who looked like nerds and weirdos were sitting, having a heated but quiet conversation with their lunch in front of them.

“I’ll be right back.”

William Lee, who was staring at them, got up from his seat. He walked towards them.

“I feel like I’m getting PTSD…”

The staff who were nerds in high school nodded at the words of one of them.

A jock approaching a nerd in the cafeteria.

In real life or in a typical high school teen drama, that would be a trigger for something to explode.

“Usually, the nerd would be the protagonist in this situation.”

“Our William is the jock…”

If the audience who knew the clichés of high school teen dramas saw this, they would be shocked and say ‘Our William would never do that!!’

To make that shock even bigger, Jonathan, the director, deliberately filmed this scene with a lot of tension.

The ends of the cafeteria.

William Lee approaching the nerds.

The other students who stopped eating and watched him.

When editing later, there would be tense music playing.

The nerds and weirdos who were talking felt the ominous atmosphere and looked up. William Lee, the popular guy of the school, was coming towards them.

Uh-oh!

The words flashed over the faces of the freshmen nerds and weirdos. Did we do something wrong?!

Their legs and hands trembled involuntarily as the popular guy approached them.

The cafeteria became quiet.

William Lee, who didn’t notice that, opened his mouth slowly with a stiff expression.

“…You saw…”

The nerds and weirdos swallowed their saliva.

“…Shadowman?”

And then,

He relaxed his stiff expression and said with a flushed face.

“Really?! Where did you see him?! How was he in real life? I want to meet Shadowman too, but I never did! The videos that the witnesses took were too fast to see well. Wow! But I can’t believe I met someone who saw Shadowman! He can control shadows, right? Did you see that too?”

The baseball team friends facepalmed. Some of them splashed water on their faces.

The other students who were watching William quietly also chuckled.

“The word Shadowman sounds like a ghost…”

“That’s William for you.”

That was right.

William Lee, who was coveted by the football team, belonged to the baseball team, and was the popular guy of Bayron High School, was a fan of the superhero Shadowman. And not just any fan, but a huge fan who almost everyone in the school knew!

“Can I sit here?”

The freshmen nerds and weirdos, who were slow to catch up with the news, didn’t have time to nod before William sat next to them. 

He seemed to have decided to eat his lunch here, as he had a sandwich in his hand.

“Ye-yes.”

“Where and how did you meet Shadowman?”

William asked with sparkling eyes, and the nerds and weirdos told him their story reluctantly.

“We didn’t see him up close, but from afar…”

Oh! Oh! Really? 

He reacted sincerely, and the nerds and weirdos got excited and told him everything they knew. 

William also talked enthusiastically about Shadowman and superheroes.

It was a strange sight to see the popular guy, the nerds, and the weirdos sitting at one table. 

It was probably a scene that could only be seen at Bayron High School.

“What’s with them?”

“Leave them alone. He’ll come to his senses when lunchtime is over.”

The pitcher, who knew that William couldn’t focus when Shadowman was mentioned, shook his head and said. 

The baseball team friends also nodded and started eating their lunch.

The football team leader, Logan, who came to persuade William to play one game with them, saw the table where William, the nerds, and the weirdos were, heard the story from a student, and shrugged his shoulders and went outside.

Maybe it was an illusion that they looked familiar.

“Of course, Redbone is the best hero!”

“No way! Shadowman is!”

Study, exercise, friendship,

And Shadowman geeking.

William Lee did everything with passion.