Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 731

“How can that actor keep acting without looking back? If it were me, I would have been startled and ruined the scene.”

Someone said, looking at the actor who played the role of a First agent and continued to act without any NGs despite Seo Jun-ri’s performance. 

A voice answered from somewhere.

“He was in the Shadowman series. He was a subordinate of Jin Natra back then.”

Oh.

No wonder he could act smoothly next to ‘Jin Natra’, he was an experienced actor.

“Hmm. We’re pretty familiar with him too.”

“His charisma is still the same after all these years. Jun’s acting is amazing.”

The staff who had worked on the [Shadowman series] together felt more proud of Seo Jun-ri’s acting than the others who admired him. Kim Jae-yeon chuckled softly.

“By the way, Jae-yeon hyung, you were the stuntman for that villain, right?”

“Well, I just imitated him a little bit.”

Kim Jae-yeon shrugged his shoulders at the sparkling eyes of Philip Yoon.

“I can’t match the real one.”

On the monitor.

‘Jin Natra’ was walking.

***

The day he lost his hero, Shadowman, right in front of his eyes.

Only a few days had passed since then.

He tried to be strong with his parents, Jay, and his partner who knew nothing, but it was too short of a time for William to overcome his sadness and frustration.

No, even after months or years, William would not forget his powerlessness and despair at that time. 

He would just hide it in a corner of his heart, and whenever he had a chance to miss Shadowman, he would quietly shed tears or rage.

That’s right.

William had anger towards the villain in his heart.

That was why he participated in First’s operation.

Half of his motivation was to stop the alien parasite ‘Arodo’ from devouring the Earth where his precious family and friends lived. And the other half was… to avenge Shadowman.

William did his role as a bait well according to First’s plan.

If he had evacuated without encountering the villain, maybe this story could have ended with a happy ending.

But the villain arrived at the destination faster than First’s plan, and William saw his face there.

The villain.

The human, Jeff McKay, and the alien parasite, Arodo.

For some reason, the still green-black slime and the grotesque face of its host man were imprinted on William’s eyes. It was the same face he had seen in the dark.

He was the man who killed Shadowman.

Anger surged.

But even if he thought about his role as a bait earlier, William, who could not yet control his inherited power, the shadow, had no ability to avenge that man. 

He was powerless. 

He was helpless. William was angry, resentful, and furious at himself.

He hid that thought in a corner of his mind and evacuated.

Behind him, there were explosions, blood, and gunshots, and he was running away alone again, helplessly.

William looked back.

The green-black tentacles turned into blades like they did that day at the abandoned factory, and attacked the First’s fighters in the sky and the agents on the ground. 

The images were captured in William’s head like photos. 

At the same time, he remembered the green-black tentacles that had mercilessly pierced Shadowman’s body.

Anger eroded William again.

Kwaang!!

The car spun sideways with a sound. A crashed fighter was visible. 

The fighter was burning fiercely with an explosion. He could not tell if the pilot was alive or not.

Just like Shadowman, who had gone cold.

That was the trigger.

The anger that had accumulated since that day, the emotions that he had blamed, despaired, and lost hope in his head and heart many times, and the frustration he had felt until today about his powerless self.

They devoured everything of William Lee.

Bang!

The boy kicked the car door with his anger.

“Lee!!”

He did not hear the voice of the First agent calling him.

The boy got out of the car and walked.

The burning and broken park, the noisy gunshots, the fighters that were hit by the tentacles and exploded and crashed, the hot heat.

He felt nothing of it.

Only anger.

And revenge.

-William! Snap out of it!

He heard the voice of Director Taylor.

The boy raised his hand and turned off the communicator and kept walking forward.

His destination was where the villain was.

Black flames like shadows remained thickly with every step of the boy.

Squeak-

It seemed like he heard some sound.

It was not a real sound that he heard with his ears, but the sound of a box containing ‘forgotten memories’ that was deep in the boy’s heart opening a little.

From that box, shadows like black smoke began to flow out.

Thud-

The boy accepted the shadow with his heavy steps filled with anger.

It felt familiar somehow.

It felt like a missing puzzle piece was fitting in.

But the boy realized. He still had many puzzle pieces to fit.

Slowly, the puzzle pieces that came out of the box containing ‘forgotten memories’, no, ‘Jin Natra’s memories’, began to fill the empty spaces of ‘William Lee’.

Thud- Thud-

The boy’s gait gradually changed.

It was a rather formal gait, but unlike ‘William Lee’, who was inexperienced because it was only a memory left in his body, it was a perfect gait.

Along with that.

The shadow under the boy’s feet flickered like flames.

The black shadow, as dark as pitch, shook as it grew to the height of the boy, whether the villain saw it or not.

“…Shadow…!”

The villain could not miss the black shadow that showed no sign of hiding.

Jeff McKay attacked the fighters and agents while targeting the shadow and the boy in the center with the rest of the tentacles.

Swoosh!

The sharp tentacles shot at the boy like arrows.

But the shadow easily blocked and repelled the tentacles. 

The boy was not hurt at all. He was not injured or in pain.

“This is power…”

The boy clenched and unclenched his fist.

His whole body felt full of energy and strength.

The boy lifted his head.

He saw the villain who killed Shadowman.

This was the power that could avenge him.

The boy smiled faintly, as if he despised his former self who was powerless. Then he walked forward with a thud.

With every step he took, a black shadow slowly rose from his feet.

As if he was being stained by the darkness.

His white sneakers turned black from the soles, becoming hard like military boots. After the sneakers changed completely, the hem of his pants followed. The lower part of the jeans that William wore turned into black uniform pants.

“Damn…”

Director Taylor, who was watching the boy, spat out a curse at his ominous appearance.

“Shadowman… Maybe you made the wrong choice.”

What should he do now?

The director of First, Taylor Warren, was confused.

That was when.

-Director! Lee has stopped moving!

At the report, Director Taylor looked at the boy.

As the agent said, the boy who was walking towards the villain without any hesitation stopped in his tracks. But it didn’t seem like it was his own will. It looked like someone was holding him back.

As Director Taylor thought, the boy’s feet were tied up by force.

Who dared.

To stop his revenge.

With his feet still, he would not let anyone interfere. The boy looked down with a stern face. Then he unexpectedly relaxed his expression.

“…Jay? …Partner?”

Jay and Partner had wrapped the boy’s feet with shadows.

They held him back with all their strength, with desperate gestures, so that he could not go any further.

No, that was not forward.

It was darkness, despair, loneliness, emptiness… a path that he could never return from.

No way…!

Partner knew Shadowman’s heart well. Shadowman felt sorry for Jin Natra and wanted to save him. 

And he was happy to see William back. Partner liked William too. Besides, Shadowman told him to protect William.

Jay was a self that was created by combining the loneliness of Jin Natra and the shadow of Tul Natra, whom Jin Natra loved. 

That was why Jay’s first priority was William’s happiness. But even without that reason, Jay liked William.

So,

they had to protect him.

The boy, who was momentarily flustered, spoke calmly with sunken eyes.

“Jay, you know how much I liked Shadowman and wanted to meet him. Partner, you’re sad that Shadowman died too. This is a chance to avenge Shadowman.”

Squeeze-

Even with the boy’s words, Jay and Partner’s grip on his feet got stronger.

They knew.

They were sad.

But this was not the way. It was a way to ruin the boy.

“…Why? Why are you stopping me?!”

The boy clenched his teeth.

The bastard who killed Shadowman was right in front of him! Why!!

“No matter who you are, I can’t tolerate any more interference.”

The boy flashed his black eyes and moved the dark shadow to shake off the two shadows that were attached to his feet.

Before that, Jay and Partner moved. It was a movement full of desperation.

Soon, a long shadow appeared on the park floor. The boy paused when he saw it.

-You are Hero –

It was the hero name that Shadowman gave him, which he had forgotten blinded by revenge.

-Knight JIN –

The boy’s eyes widened.

Memories from his childhood when he first saw Shadowman to now flashed by. 

The times he had talked with Shadowman too. He let out a deep sigh without knowing.

“…Ah…!”

The boy wanted to be like Shadowman, his hero.

When he was young, and now.

Hero Hero.

Knight Knight.

The one who protects people.

The boy’s heart, which had gone cold, began to warm up.

‘Why did I forget.’

The boy, no, William’s eyes shone.

Then the dark shadow that had risen from his knees to his thighs began to disperse like smoke, and the uniform and boots turned back into ordinary jeans and sneakers.

William bent his knees and spoke to the two shadows on the floor.

“I was… crazy for a moment. Jay, Partner. I’m sorry.”

Kwooang-

Jay and Partner hugged William, who spoke kindly with tears they couldn’t see. The boy’s cold tone was too, too scary.

Meanwhile, the box containing ‘Jin Natra’s memories’ that had been sending out dark shadows closed its mouth quietly. 

Waiting for the day when it would open again.

Kwaang!!

Then, a loud explosion was heard.

Green-black tentacles were wreaking havoc everywhere, and explosions and gunshots were heard. 

In between, the voices of First’s agents were heard. 

The voices and sights of living people that he had not heard or seen, buried in the emotion of revenge.

The tentacles also rushed towards William. 

The shadow made a shield to protect William. 

While he was crazy(?), the ‘inherited’ shadow had become stronger and more skillful in control. With that, William clenched his fist.

“Jay, Partner.”

William looked at Jay and Partner who were looking up at him.

His heart still hurt when he thought of Shadowman, but now was the time to save people rather than revenge.

William smiled and said.

“Now is the time for Knight Jin to step up, right?”

Jay and Partner nodded their heads eagerly with sparkling faces.

William got up and stood straight.

The wind blew.

William’s shadow flickered like flames.

Not the terrifying flames like before, but the black flames that gave stability and trust. It looked like the shadow of William Lee’s hero, Shadowman.

The flame-like shadow rose from the sneakers, jeans, and shirt that William was wearing. 

And with that, the clothes that William wore changed.

Different from before, military boots and black pants, a shirt and uniform that fit his body, and a cloak appeared along with the shadow, and a mask that covered his lower face from his neck, chin, lips, to the tip of his nose.

The black hair and black cloak fluttered in the wind.

The black eyes that were filled with warmth, friendliness, and calmness were reliable.