Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: AgRoseCrystal
Chapter 530
On Sunday, Incheon International Airport was bustling with people leaving and entering Korea.
âIsnât it time for them to arrive?â
âI think theyâre coming out now.â
Among them were the parents of Seo-jun and his children, who had finished their month-long trip to Europe.
They waited for a while in front of the gate, and then the name of the plane that Seo-jun and his children were on appeared on the screen. And after a little more waiting, the gate opened and people started to come out with their luggage.
The parentsâ faces lit up as they stretched their necks to find Seo-jun and his children among the crowd.
âJi-yoon!â
âMina! Over here!â
âPark Ji-woo! Ji-woo!â
They spotted Seo-jun and his children coming out of the gate with their luggage. Seo Eun-hye and Lee Min-jun, who had a famous son, waved their hands vigorously without making any noise.
âMom! Dad!â
They had video calls and phone calls occasionally, but they had never been apart for a month, so the childrenâs faces were also happy to see their parentsâ faces after a long time.
Of course, Seo-jun and his parents were used to being away from each other because of Seo-junâs overseas filming, but.
âDid you have a good trip?â
âYeah.â
They were happy to see each other.
Seo-jun hugged his parents with a smile as they hugged him tightly.
***
Seo-jun relaxed as he returned home after a month.
âAh. Home is the best place to be.â
Seo Eun-hye and Lee Min-jun laughed at their sonâs words as he lay on the sofa and groaned.
âDo you have any laundry, Seo-jun?â
âYeah. Just a sec!â
Seo-jun got up to unpack his luggage at Lee Min-junâs words. Seo Eun-hye, who was preparing lunch in the kitchen, asked.
âSeo-jun, do you want to eat lunch? Oh, maybe youâre not hungry because you had the in-flight meal?â
âIâm fine. I want to eat.â
Seo-jun took out his clothes and towels and put them in the laundry basket, and he also put his laptop and charger back in their original places. He also placed the gifts he brought for his family and friends so that the wrapping wouldnât get wrinkled.
He finished unpacking and came out of his room, and lunch was ready.
The menu was bibim-guksu, a light dish of spicy noodles with boiled eggs.
Seo-jun and his parents ate the noodles and talked about the things they couldnât talk about on the phone for a month.
âAre you still in school, or rather, college?â
Seo Eun-hye said with a smile.
âThereâs about a month left until the semester starts. What are you going to do?â
âIâm going to choose the next work to film, check out the new Cocoa Entertainment building, and see what kind of people the new actors are.â
Seo-junâs expression was bright as he listed his plans with his fingers.
He enjoyed choosing his works, and he was looking forward to the new practice room in the new building, and he was curious about the people who would become his colleagues.
âIs the new building still under construction?â
âEun-chan said it would be done by mid-month. So theyâre moving on the 23rd.â
âThey must be busy having to move. Oh, by the way, donât you have a lot of scripts, Seo-jun?â
Lee Min-jun suddenly remembered something and said.
He thought of the scripts and synopses that Seo-jun had read and stored in the Cocoa Entertainment archive, like a squirrel storing food before hibernating.
âYeah. He said he was going to sort them out. Da ho hyung.â
âWerenât there a lot of them? Itâs no joke to sort them out.â
It was a lot of scripts that he had collected for almost 12 years, even if he had sorted them out from time to time.
âBut Seo-jun must be sad. When he sorts out the scripts.â
Script lover, Seo Eun-hye, who knew Seo-jun very well, said with a smile, and Seo-jun nodded his head with a regretful expression.
âBut I have to sort them out when I can. There are works that have been made into videos now, and roles that donât fit my age. So Iâm going to help sort out the archive too.â
âAre you trying to find interesting scripts?â
ââ¦Both?â
Seo-jun rolled his eyes and smiled sheepishly, and his parents laughed, feeling like the empty space that had been empty for a month was filled up.
***
âIâm here!â
Monday morning.
The staff of the 2nd team in charge of actor Lee Seo-jun, who came to work as usual, greeted Seo-jun with a bright smile. They all knew Seo-jun since he was young, so they treated him comfortably.
âWow! Seo-jun! Did you have a good trip?â
âAre you hurt anywhere?â
âYou said it was just a trip!â
âHaha! It just happened that way.â
Seo-jun smiled and put the snacks he brought on the snack table set up on one side of the office, and gave the gifts he brought to each staff member. They were not very expensive, but they suited each personâs taste.
âBy the way, noona. Whereâs Da ho hyung?â
Seo-jun asked, holding the gift for Ahn Da Ho.
âTeam leader Ahn is in the conference room.â
âIs there a meeting today?â
âNo, not that. Heâs trying to select actorsâ¦â
Ring!
The staff member who was eating a snack quickly answered the phone.
âItâs noisy here. So heâs using the team leaderâs office as a conference room.â
âI see. Then Iâll go see Da ho hyung.â
âOkay. Thanks for the gifts, Seo-jun!â
âIâll enjoy the snacks!â
Seo-jun said goodbye to the staff and headed to the conference room where Ahn Da Ho was.
Knock knock-
Yes. Come in.
Seo-jun opened the door of the conference room at the calm voice of Ahn Da Ho from across the door.
âYou came early? I thought youâd come in the afternoon.â
Ahn Da Ho, who was looking at the documents piled up on the table, smiled brightly as he saw Seo-jun coming in through the door. Seo-jun also smiled back.
âYes. I wanted to look around the archive while I was here.â
âSure. Itâs uneasy to leave it to someone else. They might throw away a good work.â
âHahaha.â
Seo-jun laughed as Ahn Da Ho hit the nail on the head and sat down.
âIt might feel different from what I read when I was young and what I read now.â
âThatâs true, but there might also be works that you donât like the child character, but you like another character.â
As expected of Da ho hyung.
He knew his mind well.
There were times when Seo-jun liked the child character he was supposed to play, but the work itself was below his standards. And there were times when he liked the work as a whole, but not the child character he had to act.
In those cases, young Seo-jun had no choice but to close the script with regret, even if he could meet attractive adult characters.
But now it was different.
He had become an adult who could open the scripts he had closed with disappointment back then, and choose the role he liked.
âStill, most of the works have already been made since we have similar tastes.â
âThatâs okay. There are still some works left.â
âYeah. If you look carefully, youâll find a work that suits your heart, Seo-jun.â
Seeing Seo-jun who seemed ready to run to the archive room at any moment, Ahn Da Ho said.
âBut itâs hard for you to sort out the archive room by yourself, so Iâm going to use some people.â
âTeam 2?â
âTeam 2 will help, too⦠But Iâm thinking of entrusting it to the new actor team staff.â
Oh.
Seo-junâs eyes sparkled.
âDid you hire all the staff, Da ho hyung?â
âNo, I have to interview them now. Iâm reviewing the documents right now. This is the staff resume.â
Ahn Da Ho pointed to one of the stacks of documents on the table. There were three such stacks.
âThis is the manager applicant document, and this is the actor document Iâm looking at right now. This side is failure, this side is pending, this side is pass. Iâm going to interview them later.â
Ahn Da Ho put the document he was holding on the far left, the failure spot.
âManagerâ¦â
At that word, Seo-jun and Ahn Da Hoâs expressions became gloomy. It was a matter that had already been settled, but they couldnât help feeling sorry.
Ahn Da Ho sighed lightly and said.
âSince itâs an actor team, they should have an eye for works. During the probation period, I can see what kind of personality they have by how they spend their time in the archive room. How about making someone who chooses works similar to yours as your manager candidate?â
Ahn Da Ho wanted to teach them various things and send the best person as Seo-junâs manager.
âIâll leave that to Da ho hyung. Oh, this is a gift. I bought it in London.â
Seo-jun nodded and handed a gift to Ahn Da Ho. Ahn Da Ho smiled and thanked him.
He carefully tore the well-wrapped wrapping paper and found a round pocket watch in a small box. There were stems and flowers engraved on it like a crescent moon.
âIs this a pocket watch?â
âNo. Itâs a compass.â
âA compass?â
Ahn Da Ho opened the lid with wide eyes, smiling at Seo-junâs words. As Seo-jun said, there was a needle pointing north and south, spinning around.
âI bought it for you, Da ho hyung, so that you donât lose your way to your goal. Itâs handmade.â
It had no effect on me, but I hope it would show its full potential to Da ho hyung.
âThat flower is called peony, and it was used as a talisman in England since ancient times.â
âThank you. It would look nice as a decoration on my desk.â
Ahn Da Ho looked around the compass as if he liked it. He felt good about the meaning, and he thought he would never lose his way no matter what happened. Seo-jun looked satisfied at that sight.
Ahn Da Ho carefully put down the compass and opened his mouth.
âAre you going to the archive room now?â
âNo. I also bought gifts for the singer team. And for the Blue Moon members. They said theyâre at the company, so Iâm going to give them.â
âI donât know why theyâre at the company instead of the dorm on their day off, though.â
âOkay. You know the password for the archive room, right? Donât skip lunch because youâre reading scripts.â
âYes!â
Seo-jun left the conference room and headed to the singer team.
The singer teamâs office looked very busy after the relocation. Seo-jun greeted them briefly and put the snacks he brought on the snack table, then headed straight to the practice room where Blue Moon was.
As he opened the door to the practice room, he was greeted by a cool air conditioner breeze and five people who were lying down. They jumped up like students who were caught reading comics during self-study time.
ââ¦What? It was Seo-junâ¦â
Park Ee-deun flopped back down on the floor.
âHi. Seo-jun.â
âHello. Hyungs.â
The Blue Moon members welcomed Seo-jun.
âEuropean snacks!â
â¦They seemed to welcome the snacks.
The Blue Moon members and Seo-jun sat down in a circle on the floor of the practice room and chatted with a smile. They talked about how exciting the festival stage on the beach was. That was exactly when he had released [(Line) Orchestra Conductorâs Connection].
âDid anything change?â
âChanged? Not at all?â
âWhat about you, hyungs?â
âWell?â
What changed for us?
As they looked at each other with question marks, Seo-jun realized once again how amazing Jasonâs genius was, who had noticed the difference in just 10 minutes.
And he also realized that it would take more time for the Blue Moon members to feel the difference between when they had the ability and when they didnât.
âIf I think positively, it means that their skills are similar whether they use the ability or not.â
They didnât notice, but their skills had improved.
Seo-jun swallowed his disappointment and shook hands with the Blue Moon members. The Blue Moon members looked puzzled by the sudden handshake, and numbers appeared over their heads.
âWhen will they growâ¦â
Like the Brown Black hyungs, about five years?
No, itâs been a year, so maybe itâll take four years.
With the intermediate [(Line) Orchestra Conductorâs Connection], it would be a lot of help, so he wished they would become great idols.
Seo-junâs handshake was only a moment of surprise.
The Blue Moon members chattered excitedly.
âWhat did you give to the team leader 2 as a gift?â
âA compass. It looks like this.â
Seo-jun showed them a picture and explained.
Jung Eun-sung suddenly exclaimed, looking at the peony engraved on the silver lid.
âA talisman⦠In movies, thereâs always something like this when they get shot.â
âAh! I know! Thereâs always a bullet stuck here and they say, âOh! I survived thanks to the gift from my parents!ââ
âThatâs a cliché.â
âHey. Thatâs a movie. Jae-won hyung. Thereâs no chance of getting shot in Korea.â
Seo-jun paused for a moment, laughing at the Blue Moon membersâ words.
âWait a minute. I sometimes shoot in the USâ¦?â
And Da ho hyung also comes along.
âNo way⦠right?â
Seo-jun looked at the compass in the picture. To be exact, he looked at the [(Line) Golden Mermaid Parvitaâs Compass] that turned crisis into opportunity in the compass.
He felt uneasy.
***
Flap-
The paper turned.
Ahn Da Ho looked at the actorâs document with a serious face.
What he was looking at now was the data of the actor who passed the first document review, which included personal information such as photo, name, age, and the works he had appeared in, as well as the evaluation of his acting in the works and the evaluation among the staff, which were investigated by Team 2.
âHis career and evaluation are goodâ¦â
Thatâs why he made it to the second round.
But since Seo-jun was the representative actor of Cocoa Enter, it was not a matter to contract an actor carelessly.
âWhat to doâ¦â
As Ahn Da Ho sighed, saying it was a difficult matter, the needle of the compass he had left on one side of the table spun and stopped.
[(Line) Golden Mermaid Parvitaâs Compass points the direction.]
After deliberating, Ahn Da Ho put the actorâs document he was holding on top of the failed documents.