Chapter 22
Actor Kang Seong-chan was a popular celebrity, known for his impressive acting skills and refreshing, handsome face.
He was the top choice for casting in “The Moon Hidden by the Sun,” and true to his reputation, he had garnered a lot of buzz.
What about the actress Hae-ye Seo?
With her pure beauty and the recent romantic film she starred in attracting 7 million viewers, she could be considered one of the hottest actresses of the moment.
However, there were whispers that her acting skills might be slightly lacking for her level of fame.
That said, when compared to seasoned actors, she just had some minor shortcomings; her acting wasn’t bad enough to be a topic of controversy.
And then there were the two supporting actors.
Han Tae-won and Shin Yeon-mi were also frequent faces on various media outlets, like spices in a dish.
Particularly, Shin Yeon-mi had a significant role as the caretaker of Princess Yeonhwa in the drama.
So, it was rather noticeable when a child actor was sandwiched among them.
To be honest, from the journalists’ perspective, this was a rather puzzling selection.
“If a child actor is included, I expected it would be Park Jung-woo, the son of Park Sun-woong.”
“That kid has been causing a stir since that making film.”
“True, but being popular from a making film and actually being in a drama are two different things, right?”
“That’s true. Hmm, I’m not sure. But he definitely has the looks…”
“He definitely has the visual appeal. Honestly, he’s the best-looking child actor I’ve seen recently.”
Being experts in the entertainment industry, the reporters had enough background knowledge about the actors involved.
They could talk quite a bit about the kid who had recently seized attention with the making film.
“Memorizing or not, he appeared in just one CF up until now. I heard he shot another CF recently, but he’s only been in two ads total.”
“Right. But still, the acting skills he showed in the audition were pretty solid.”
“Are auditions and actual dramas the same?”
“Well, there’s a point there.”
Reporter Lee Byung-hoon nodded absently as he listened to them.
Even just counting the cameras pointed toward different actors, he could tell where the focus was.
‘No, wait. If I think about it, it’s actually kind of a lot, isn’t it?’
At the photo zone, reporters greeted Kang Seong-chan and Hae-ye Seo— the leading actors.
Meanwhile, Joo Seo-yeon stood a bit apart, next to the supporting actors.
After all, she portrayed the young version of Princess Yeonhwa, standing somewhere in between the leads and support roles.
Honestly, considering her level of fame, it wasn’t surprising that Seo-yeon wasn’t drawing attention.
However, surprisingly, the cameras of the audience and reporters occasionally turned toward her.
Perhaps there were those who thought similarly to Lee Byung-hoon.
‘Director Gong Jeong-tae isn’t a fool.’
Common sense dictated that if a child actor appeared, it would be easier for attention to gravitate toward Park Jung-woo, the son of the great actor Park Sun-woong.
The mere fact that they chose to showcase this kid implied something significant.
‘Alright then.’
Having thought this far, Byung-hoon raised his camera and aimed it at Seo-yeon.
His instincts as a reporter, honed from ten years in the field, were guiding him.
*
‘Thank goodness.’
Seo-yeon secretly sighed in relief that the cameras were not aimed at her too much.
No, to be precise, she was glad that the reporters weren’t approaching her too aggressively.
If they had completely ignored her, that would have been a different kind of awkward feeling.
Just an ambiguous response?
Whether it was good or bad was hard for Seo-yeon to discern.
“Seo-yeon, if you smile a bit towards the people, that would be great~.”
“Yes.”
At that moment, Shin Yeon-mi, who played the caretaker of Princess Yeonhwa, spoke up, and Seo-yeon slightly nodded.
After all, this was a photo zone, and standing there with a stiff expression wouldn’t do much good.
‘Since all the attention is on the leads anyway.’
With that thought, Seo-yeon gave a cheerful smile and waved her hand.
After all, putting on a fake smile was one of her well-honed skills!
“Oh, she smiled.”
“I thought the kid was frozen with nerves… But now she matches her appearance in the ads perfectly.”
Once Seo-yeon smiled, the number of people showing interest increased.
While her lack of expression had made her seem insignificant, the mere act of smiling brought a brightness around her.
‘That kid…’
Seeing all this, Kang Seong-chan, the lead of “The Moon Hidden by the Sun,” couldn’t help but reflect, smiling.
Honestly, he hadn’t actually met Seo-yeon many times.
Since their shooting schedules didn’t overlap, he had only seen her a few times during greetings.
Besides, as the child actor only appeared in episode 3, he thought he just needed her to act well enough.
Unless, that is, he’d seen the video Director Gong Jeong-tae showed him two days ago.
“How is it? Looks alright, right?”
“Wow.”
“If they added some music, it would enhance the atmosphere.”
“True. But even without music, there’s some effect, isn’t there? Like with the eyes.”
“A bit, but… they aren’t eyes. Isn’t that fascinating?”
Not eyes, he said?
Kang Seong-chan rewound the footage.
What he was watching was the edited footage from the shoot.
Most of the work was done, except for the music.
So, he thought some natural CG elements had been added.
‘It was quite good when I watched episode 1 too.’
When Kang Seong-chan first watched the first episode of “The Moon Hidden by the Sun,” his impression was ‘Much better than expected.’
He felt there wouldn’t be many viewers dropping out by the end of the first episode.
After watching the second episode, his feeling turned to surprise.
‘Compared to the unedited footage, there are definitely some lacking parts in the acting.’
It was said that she hadn’t learned proper acting techniques.
Even so, at this level, calling her a genius wouldn’t be out of place.
The insignificant parts were hidden thanks to editing, making her nearly perfect as a child actor.
‘But mainly, the eyes!’
If they said they hadn’t applied CG, that would have been even more amazing.
Was it the effect of the candlelight? It almost looked as if they were glowing.
The essence of Seo-yeon’s emotions shone through that gaze.
Even without deep emotions, the atmosphere changed significantly due to her expressions.
‘And then there’s episode 3.’
If his feeling after watching episode 2 was surprise, after watching episode 3, it turned to pressure.
It would be embarrassing if they compared his acting to that of a child actor.
After all, wasn’t he an aspiring actor himself?
He never imagined there would come a day in his acting career when he’d be compared to a child actor’s acting.
“This is a bit burdensome, haha!”
“Oh dear, I know Kang Seong-chan’s skills well. You’ll do great, of course.”
“Haha…”
Director Gong Jeong-tae said this while smiling.
That wasn’t just flattery; it was pressure to deliver, stating, ‘At least this level of performance is expected in the main story.’
That was two days ago.
Kang Seong-chan was confident that this drama would do well.
And to make it even better, he believed that they should focus the spotlight on whoever could create early buzz.
This event was just the kind of opportunity.
Typically, the first three episodes of a drama are the most scrutinized.
However, the production team of “The Moon Hidden by the Sun” was confident that they could draw in every viewer for those three episodes.
‘Seems like there’s not much interest right now; it looks dull…’
Kang Seong-chan briefly glanced at Seo-yeon.
As the reporters’ attention was focused on him, she appeared somewhat bored.
‘Isn’t it up to the senior to help out here?’
Thinking this, he gave Seo-yeon a light wink.
‘Eek…!’
Thanks to that, Seo-yeon jumped in surprise.
No, why is he winking at me?
Sure, she was now in a female body, but she still remembered her past life.
If it had been her past self, she would’ve just thought, ‘What’s going on?’ but now it felt strangely unsettling.
Was it because of the age difference rather than the past life?
Anyway, she wasn’t quite sure.
“Ahem, thank you all for showing so much interest.”
During a brief interview, numerous questions were exchanged between Kang Seong-chan and Hae-ye Seo.
While holding the microphone and looking at the gathered reporters and fans, Kang Seong-chan realized the time was right.
“Today, I’d like to share some shocking news: there will be a preview screening for ‘The Moon Hidden by the Sun’ a month before its official airing. It will feature content up to episode 2, and I’ll be re-connecting with the cast then.”
A preview screening?
Both reporters and the audience here thought this was just a minor teaser event that would wrap things up.
But who would have thought there would be an actual screening planned?
It was rather rare for dramas to hold consecutive offline events like this before they even began airing.
“By the way, I’ve seen it beforehand… and I was quite amazed. You can definitely look forward to it.”
The preview clips indicated that child actors would be featured until episode 3.
Still, the way Kang Seong-chan spoke made people’s interest shift.
Especially toward Seo-yeon.
‘Oh.’
He could feel the collective gaze of the reporters turning toward her.
As Seo-yeon, still unaccustomed to such stares, froze with her smile.
She was confident in her ability to express emotions, but she was weak in unexpected situations.
“Especially to our Joo Seo-yeon today. It would be wise to capture plenty of shots of her today.”
Amid Kang Seong-chan’s continued comments, beads of cold sweat formed on Seo-yeon’s forehead.
“You might regret it later on.”
Kang Seong-chan, the accomplished actor, confidently said this while also giving Seo-yeon a thumbs-up.
In response to his words and actions, Seo-yeon’s trembling hand managed to return a thumb-up.
She tried to smile brightly, but she wasn’t quite sure if she was genuinely smiling.
Either way, if she didn’t react at all to her senior’s words, it would likely warrant some criticism, so she did her best.
‘Honestly, there wasn’t any need to go this far…’
People tend to prepare for something, right?
As soon as Kang Seong-chan finished speaking, he felt the gaze of reporters and the public directed toward them.
A questioning look seemed to linger, as if wondering whether his words were genuine or fabricated.
Some were intensely clicking photos.
In that moment, Seo-yeon felt a very tangible sense of “burden.”
*
If there was anything fortunate, it was this.
After the drama’s teaser event concluded, no one had called for her.
Producer Ha Tae-o had said that this was sufficient.
The major articles would come out after the preview screening.
“Ugh, ughhhh.”
This burden—well, it was something she would eventually have to face, but it felt larger than expected.
Once again faced with the confident figures of actors in front of numerous viewers.
And then the VTuber stars seemed incredible as well.
‘Wait, are VTubers and actors really that different?’
In any case, the attention of people could indeed feel burdensome.
Seo-yeon found this emotion quite unfamiliar and nearly rolled around on the ground in distress.
“What are you doing, Joo Seo-yeon?”
“…Can’t you tell by looking?”
“Are you seriously not going to do your best for the role of the mirror?”
“I’ll give it my all!”
“You better!”
Lee Ji-yeon crossed her arms and said.
Currently, they were practicing for the arts festival at the Arongdaron Kindergarten.
“Goodness.”
By the way, this wasn’t even in the kindergarten.
It was somewhere comfortable where Lee Ji-yeon could practice without any fuss.
In other words, Seo-yeon found herself at Ji-yeon’s house right now.
“Our Ji-yeon really likes Seo-yeon a lot. I never expected it to turn out like this~.”
“Uh, ahaha. I suppose so.”
Seo-yeon’s mom awkwardly replied to Hong Jin-hee, who was smiling brightly.
‘I was aware of it all along.’
Seo-yeon looked at her mom with a sympathetic gaze.
Mom, Soo-ah had pretty poor communication skills.
Thinking back, she didn’t have many friends she kept in touch with.
‘Mom, you got this!’
She wanted to find a way to help her mom out, but there was nothing she could do.
This was something her adult mom needed help with.
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