Superstar From Age 0

Chapter 547

“So Uncle Jong-ho passed the audition too, huh?”

In the office of Ahn Da Ho, the director of Cocoa Entertainment.

Ahn Da Ho laughed at Seo-jun’s words, which were mixed with amusement.

He had received a call last night, and they had exchanged excited congratulations and agreed to have a party in a few days. 

And today, he also got a call from Kim Jong-ho, who was busy with the promotion of [ONE], saying that he had passed the audition.

For a Hollywood movie, no less.

“Are they in the same movie?”

Kim Jong-ho and Lee Ji-seok, both of them had landed roles in the same movie.

“Yes. They’ll start filming next year.”

Seo-jun nodded at Ahn Da Ho’s words.

“Kim Jong-ho and Lee Ji-seok seem to run into each other quite often.”

They had appeared in the same works almost every year, from [One Shot] to [ONE] to the movie they would film next year.

Seo-jun chuckled as he remembered the message from Lee Ji-seok, who had complained about working with him again. But even though he said that, they had good chemistry, and their scenes together would surely turn out great.

“I guess the entertainment industry is small.”

“It shouldn’t be that small if you include Hollywood.”

“Hmm. But even if Hollywood is big, there are limited roles for Asians.”

“That’s true.”

Ahn Da Ho nodded.

It was getting better, but there were still not enough roles for Asian actors, so it was possible that Korean actors would meet each other if there was a suitable role.

“Let’s have a party together when Uncle Jong-ho comes back from the promotion.”

“When is he coming back? You have to go to filming in November.”

“He’ll be back in early October.”

He would probably arrive in Korea in about two weeks.

With the filming of [ONE] and Seo-jun’s trip to Europe, it had been quite a while since they had all gathered together. Seo-jun was excited. Ahn Da Ho smiled as he looked at him.

“How’s the preparation for the movie going?”

Cocoa Entertainment had invested in it, but Seo-jun’s ‘independent movie filming’ seemed like something that students would make together in a noisy way, so Ahn Da Ho had not interfered with anything except for visiting the filming location.

“Yes. The director said it’s going well. She sounded half-dead, though.”

“It must be hard to finish the preparation by early November.”

“Senior Hwang Do-yoon is playing Min-han. So we agreed to meet and practice after class starting tomorrow.”

Ahn Da Ho nodded.

At first, he thought that Hwang Do-yoon was cast because he was the director’s family, but after doing some research, he found out that he had good reviews for both his acting and personality.

‘Seo-jun didn’t say anything either.’

Ahn Da Ho smiled as he watched Seo-jun enjoying the cake he had prepared as a snack.

“Da Ho Hyung. Is the audition for the singer team over?”

Seo-jun raised his head as he suddenly remembered something.

“The first round is over and the second round is in progress.”

“Did you pick both female and male trainees?”

“Yeah. But we told the male trainees that we’re planning to make a girl group first.”

It would take at least a year to debut even after going through the training period.

And it would take quite some time for the boy group to debut after that, so they had told the idol aspirants who were sensitive about their age in advance.

Whether they would go to another agency where they could debut sooner, or wait for a few years and debut at Cocoa Entertainment. It was to let them make a decision.

“But there were a lot of applicants.”

Cocoa Entertainment had achieved great success with every group they debuted, from Brown Black to White, Red Crown, and Blue Moon.

Of course, there was no guarantee that the next group would succeed, but they had faith that they would at least hit the jackpot.

“What about the idols that Manager Choi Tae-woo was in charge of?”

Seo-jun knew well about Choi Tae-woo. He was the manager who had found the plagiarized script, so he couldn’t help but be interested.

Ahn Da Ho grinned at Seo-jun’s question.

He remembered Choi Tae-woo, who had just joined the company as a manager (and that too, in the actor team), and who had avoided the floor where the singer team was or where the applicants were during the audition, as if he was afraid that they might hear something from him.

“All four of them passed the first round.”

“Wow! That’s great!”

Seo-jun smiled brightly.

“They still have the second and third rounds, but Director Kim said they’re all good. He wondered why they hadn’t made it yet.”

Ahn Da Ho’s words made Seo-jun smile bitterly.

There were many entertainers who had given up in the end, even though they had talent and star quality, but luck and timing didn’t favor them.

“But they tried again, they’re amazing.”

“That’s right.”

Seo-jun hoped that they would pass the second and third rounds and become members of the same agency.

“Seo-jun.”

“Yes?”

As Seo-jun finished the cake and put down the fork, Ahn Da Ho opened his mouth.

“I have something to tell you…”

“? Yes.”

Seo-jun tilted his head.

The relocation of the new office was over, and it was still chaotic, but new actors and staff had joined, and the actor team was slowly adapting. And his next work had also ended well despite some incidents, and only filming was left.

‘What else is there?’

Seo-jun rolled his eyes as he thought, but he heard Ahn Da Ho’s serious voice. It seemed a bit grave.

“When are you going to the army?”

…Oh.

Seo-jun’s eyes widened.

The army.

A place where men with Korean nationality had to go unless they had a disqualification or exemption.

Kang Jae-han, Han Jinho, Jeon Seong-min, and Kim Haun also had to think about what to do soon.

“The agency said it’s better to go early. They said it’s hard to get adult roles because the image of child actors stays with them when they’re young. So I’m going to go early too.”

“I’m thinking about that too. The place I auditioned for last time said I still had a child actor image.”

Jeon Seong-min’s words reminded Kang Jae-han of the audition he had failed, and he spoke with a gloomy face. Han Jinho also nodded in agreement. Kim Haun shrugged his shoulders and said.

“That’s only for actors who have a lot of activities when they’re young and have an image stuck in the public’s mind. I’m going to do more activities and then go.”

Unlike the three kids who had made their faces known since they were young by appearing in [Escape], [Mirror], and [MOEB-436] with Seo-jun, Kim Haun had started to make his name known after appearing as an extra in [Flowing Away] (in his senior year of high school), so making his face known was his priority rather than changing his image.

“Da Ho Hyung also said I should go early.”

The friends who were eating at the cafeteria were stunned by Seo-jun’s words. They seemed to freeze for a few seconds.

Kim Joo-kyung, who had been listening to the friends’ army stories, asked with a surprised expression.

“Seo-jun, you… weren’t exempt?”

‘…Really? You’re not?’ The friends looked at Seo-jun with disbelief. They all thought he was exempt from the military service.

“I have to go too.”

Seo-jun smiled calmly and shrugged his shoulders. The kids were more shocked and started to chatter.

“No way, you get exempted if you win a medal at the Olympics! That’s why we thought you were exempted since you won an Oscar…”

“Honestly, winning an Olympic medal is amazing, but… winning an Oscar is amazing too! And you’re the first Korean to do that!”

The kids nodded their heads in agreement. Seo-jun scratched his cheek and said.

“That’s the problem. The first Korean. There was no such rule before, so I can’t do it.”

Huh.

The kids gasped in astonishment.

“…That makes sense. Who would have thought that an actor who didn’t go to the army would win an Oscar. And as an elementary school student.”

“Right. We thought only actors with a lot of experience would win awards.”

“Then they would have already finished their service.”

Another sigh-like exclamation came out.

“What about the Cannes Film Festival? You won the Golden Palm Award.”

“That doesn’t work either.”

“Why!?”

“When I won the Oscar, there was some talk about getting exempted once,”

They said they discussed which film festivals and which awards should qualify for exemption.

“But they thought, who else would win an award, and it fizzled out.”

“…Who else would win an award, you won another one…!”

Yang Ju-hee’s words made the friends sigh. They felt more sorry for him.

“So they’re discussing it again now.”

The kids shook their heads in frustration.

“Those damn discussions.”

“They’re too late.”

“Seo-jun, can’t you just wait a bit and win another award and get exempted?”

“That’s a good idea!”

Seo-jun laughed at his friends’ words.

“How would I know when I’ll win an award?”

“If it’s you, Seo-jun, you’ll win someday!”

“Right!”

Seo-jun opened his mouth at his friends’ cheers.

“Awards aside. Since it’s not certain that the rule will be made, Da Ho hyung said it would be better to go sooner rather than later.”

“…That’s true too.”

“Seo-jun, you’ll definitely win an award someday, but…”

Even though he won two amazing awards, the exemption rule was still vague, so they had no confidence that it would be made.

“Ah.”

Kang Jae-han’s eyes widened. The kids’ eyes turned to Kang Jae-han.

“Seo-jun, you’re good at the violin. Why don’t you go to a concours?”

“Right. Some concours give you exemption, right?”

The friends seemed more sincere about his exemption than himself.

“I don’t like that.”

“Why?”

The kids asked with curious faces as Seo-jun shook his head.

“They’re all serious about the violin, but I don’t want to do it just for an exemption.”

Some people prepared for it with their lives, but he didn’t want to go to an important competition with such a light heart.

“Then sports won’t work either.”

Seo-jun nodded his head. They were also training hard for the Olympics, and he didn’t want to barge in.

“There’s no other way.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

The friends gave up.

“But Seo-jun, you’ll do well there, right?”

“Right. You might have fans too.”

“You adapt fast too.”

Even if he didn’t get any special treatment as a celebrity, he was so famous that he would get some convenience here and there. Or on the contrary, since people from all over the country with all kinds of personalities gathered, there might be some people who disliked Seo-jun and made trouble for him.

‘That can be solved with skills.’

There was no problem with other things as long as he had the Library of Life.

If the carrot (good) didn’t work, he could use the whip (evil). Hehehe. Seo-jun laughed like a villain inside.

“But Seo-jun, don’t you think you’ll learn something related to acting there too?”

The kids nodded their heads at Kim Joo-kyung’s words.

That was what Seo-jun expected too.

The war genre had almost disappeared in movies, but sometimes soldiers appeared as characters. He thought it would be better to experience it once than never.

Even though it was a long time.

“Special forces would be nice too.”

“Right. You’re good at English too.”

“So when are you going?”

Park Si-young asked and Seo-jun answered.

“Within 2 or 3 years? It’s not decided yet.”

“You’ll go around the same time as us.”

Jeon Seong-min, who was nodding his head, suddenly remembered something and said.

“But if you go to the army, won’t you be called around everywhere?”