Chapter 6

Surprised, I composed myself and took Kang Suho’s hand.

“Oh, hello. I apologize for not greeting you properly earlier. I’m Lee Jun-seo, the one who got the minor role this time.”

He smiled and nodded.

“No problem. But, I’m curious about something.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“Is this your first time in this industry? I caught a glimpse of your acting skills, and they’re impressive. I got to learn a lot from you.”

Since transitioning from a singer in his fifties to an actor, he had entered a new prime.

His appearance maintained a youthfulness as if he had consumed some elixir, radiating the charisma of middle age.

It was no joke.

There was no awkwardness between us.

It was as if we were brothers.

“Haha… thank you for the compliment.”

“Who taught you to act?”

“I practiced alone.”

Suddenly, Yu Seol-hwa approached, interrupting our conversation.

“What? You mean you didn’t learn from an agency? That’s unbelievable!”

“It could happen.”

“Do you believe what this kid is saying, Senior Suho?”

It was natural for her not to believe.

A rookie who didn’t tremble on his first shoot and adeptly improvised in front of dozens of cameras—how many can pull it off like that? Probably just me.

That’s why she seemed to think of me as an actor groomed by the agency.

Look now.

She questioned me about what I anticipated for.

“So, this junior does not belong to any agency right now?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

She gave me a strange look as I shrugged and answered quietly.

‘Why is she suddenly acting like this?’

Just then, a staff member’s voice rang out.

“We’re about to start filming!”

Hurriedly, Kang Suho pulled out a mirror to check his appearance and cleared his throat nervously.

“Ahem! See you later.”

“I should go too. The junior needs some rest. Let’s have dinner after we finish filming.”

“Yes, good luck with the filming.”

After they left, Yuna finally exhaled the breath she had been holding.

“Haha! It’s really annoying…”

The reason Yuna was acting like that was because she could smell the strong odor of cigarettes from Kang Suho’s body.

“You did well not to say anything.”

“Appa, did Yuna do well?”

“Yeah. Sometimes it’s better not to speak honestly. Is it a bit difficult?”

Yuna blinked her round eyes as if she didn’t understand my words.

“Now let’s go change clothes.”

“Hehehe. Okay!”

***

After removing makeup and changing back into the clothes I originally came in, I wandered around the filming set.

I had promised to have a dinner with senior Yu Seol-hwa, so I couldn’t go home now.

“Yuna, make sure to stay close to Appa because the truck might move suddenly.”

“Can I hold your hand?”

“I already told you last time that you don’t need to ask for things like that, didn’t I?”

“Hehehe.”

I tightly held Yuna’s small hand as we walked alongside the truck.

In a corner, staff members were gathered, chatting.

“Hahaha! It’s nice to have a slow day like today.”

“Yeah, we should leave work early today and grab some beer.”

“Oh, right! Did you see that actor? There’s an adorable kid with him.”

“I thought he was a model. Is he an actor?”

“I saw him during filming, and it was really…”

They whispered as if sharing a secret, I locked eyes with the man.

“Uh, hello?”

My appearance caused the atmosphere to freeze for a moment.

“Feel free to continue chatting.”

As I turned to leave, the staff suddenly stood up.

“Just a moment.”

“Yes…?”

“If it’s okay with you… could you give us your autograph?”

“And can we take a picture too?”

I didn’t expect this kind of reaction.

I was momentarily taken aback, but quickly regained my composure and smiled.

“Of course.”

I took the paper and pen they offered, hesitating for a moment. Unconsciously, I almost signed with the autograph I used in my previous life.

‘Ah, damn. I have to be careful with habits like this…’

After hastily scribbling my name, I handed it to them. Then, I took photos with each of the staff members.

“Oh! Is filming over for today?”

“We have some props that your daughter can play with. Would you like to borrow them for a while?”

“Wow! Yuna loves toys!”

“Are you sure it’s okay? What if she breaks them…”

“Don’t worry. We’ll take responsibility.”

Without waiting for a response, they went into the truck where the props were kept.

They emerged with a bright red electric car. It seemed like they wanted to lend it to Yuna.

As expected.

They placed the electric car in front of Yuna and then stepped aside, looking at her.

‘They’re really kind people.’

After showing Yuna how to operate it, I watched as the staff members busily moved around in the distance.

Should I thank them now?

“Woooow! This is so much fun!”

In the blink of an eye, Yuna let go of both hands and started driving.

No, what is she doing, it’s dangerous.

Startled, I rushed over and called out to Yuna.

“It’s dangerous. You need to hold the steering wheel.”

“Hehehe. I’m fine.”

Dodging the scattered filming equipment on the ground, Yuna increased the speed.

Thankfully, she wasn’t going too fast. Even a slow adult could easily catch up.

How much time had passed?

Playing with Yuna, I hadn’t realized the sky had turned red.

“Yuna, I’m going to rest for a bit, so don’t go too far. Okay?”

“Yes!”

As I sat down and sighed, a shadow fell over us.

I glanced up and saw the staff who had lent us the electric car.

“Hey, just in case, we made a slide too. Not sure if your daughter would like it.”

“She’ll definitely love it.”

“Yeah, feel free to use it.”

Sure enough, in the direction they pointed, there was indeed a slide.

‘When did they prepare that?’

Is that what they were doing earlier?

*Wheeeee!*

Yuna returned from afar, majestically pulling the toy car.

Seeing her face full of smiles, I couldn’t help but feel happy myself.

“Appa! It was really fun!”

“Was it really fun?”

“Yes!”

“Then how about we try the slide this time? The gentleman over there made it for you.”

“Wow! A slide!”

Yuna quickly jumped off the toy car and ran towards the slide.

“Haha… thank you.”

I didn’t expect them to be so accommodating for Yuna.

Meanwhile, the staff gathered around, watching Yuna play with warm smiles on their faces, capturing the moment with their phones.

‘Is my daughter really that cute?’

I slowly lowered my raised shoulders and discreetly pulled out my ancient phone from my pocket.

‘…Should I take a picture too?’

SHUTTER!!

The sound of the shutter surprised me, so I quickly hid my phone.

I still felt embarrassed about using such an old phone.

‘Hopefully no one saw that.’

Luckily, everyone seemed too captivated by Yuna’s cuteness to notice.

I put my phone back in my pocket and captured Yuna’s image with my eyes, thinking that someday I would upload her photos to my account to show off to everyone.

***

While I was playing with Yuna, the staff started to come out of the blue tent.

It seemed like filming was over.

“Yuna, let’s go and thank the director for today.”

“Yes!”@@novelbin@@

As I welcomed Yuna, who was coming down the slide, a sigh of regret emanated from the surrounding staff.

“Ah, I wanted to see more…”

“It’s really a shame. We have to part with Yuna now.”

The staff here had already become fans of Yuna.

I chuckled softly.

“Yuna, did you forget anything?”

“Huh? I don’t think so?”

“Ahem! You should thank the staff members. They lent us the toys and the slide.”

“Oh!”

Surprised, Yuna covered her mouth and approached the saddened staff.

*Du du du du*

“Thank you.”

With a brief thank you, Yuna quickly ran over to me, then reached out her hands, signaling for a hug.

‘You want a hug?’

Unable to resist Yuna’s cuteness, I hugged her tightly around the waist.

“Thank you for today. Well then, let’s go…”

After greeting the staff around me, I headed towards the filming set.

Wandering around the roughly organized set, I spotted the director in a corner.

I rushed over, let Yuna down, and raised my voice.

“Director, thank you for today.”

“…This actor worked hard too.”

As expected.

I couldn’t help but laugh at his usual blunt response to my greeting.

If only he could be a bit more honest.

“Yes, I hope to work with you as the lead actor next time, Director.”

I said sincerely, but the director showed an unexpected reaction.

He was staring at me intently.

“…Director?”

Pat. Pat.

I was taken aback by the director calmly patting my shoulder, a gesture he rarely made due to his usually gruff demeanor.

For someone like him to pat my shoulder meant a lot.

Even though I had only shown brief acting, even though I was just a minor role.

As I stood there stiffly, the director’s gaze became sharp. It seemed like he was telling me to leave now, that the conversation was over.

“Ah, thank you for your hard work.”

I politely bowed to the director and quickly left my spot.

As I stepped out of the tent and let out a sigh, I heard Yuna’s voice from behind.

“Appa! Slow down…”

Yuna was running towards me, gasping for breath. Startled, I hurriedly ran to her.

“Oh, sorry. Did Appa walk too fast?”

“You walked very fast.”

As Yuna struggled and took a break, a small shadow cast over the ground, and someone tapped my shoulder.

“What are you doing here? I’ve been looking for you, you know?”

It was Yu Seol-hwa who called me.

Perhaps because of her different attire from when we first met, I didn’t catch the piercing scent from her.

“I greeted the director and came out to rest with Yuna.”

Yu Seol-hwa’s brows furrowed slightly.

After crossing her arms as if displeased, she reached out her hand.

“Hey, give me your number first.”

I couldn’t understand the meaning behind her sudden request for my phone.

“My number? Why…”

“It’s just convenient to contact you.”

“Oh. Then let me enter my number into your phone, senior.”

“Hmm, you sure about that?”

I felt embarrassed to take out my phone.

I had no choice but to arrogantly ask for Yu Seol-hwa’s phone.

Fortunately, she didn’t criticize my behavior. I inwardly sighed with relief as I took her phone and wrote down my phone number to hand it back to her.

Why would the lead actress be trying to befriend me, a minor actor?

I couldn’t understand.

“Hmm…”

“Is there a problem?”

Ringgg!

Her mouth formed a slight frown as my phone in my pocket rang.

“I thought you were giving me someone else’s number. But no?”

“Haha… Of course not.”

She shrugged with a playful smile.

“If you ever need an agency, just let me know. I’ll recommend you to the CEO.”

I nodded.

“Just your thoughts are enough.”

“Look at this. I’m trying to help, and you’re drawing the line. Anyway, if you ever need anything, just say it. Got it?”

I nodded again and lifted Yuna up, throwing a question to the senior.

“Where are we having dinner? It’s not just the two of us, right?” I asked.

Yu Seol-hwa blinked, then laughed while holding her stomach. “Ahaha! Did you think I was asking you out? Even if it’s a small role, we worked together. It’s just the cast gathering for a dinner to become familiar with each other.”

She continued, “And you said you were twenty-five? That makes us twelve years apart.”

“That makes us zodiac siblings.”

“Appa, Appa. What’s ‘zodiac siblings’?”

Yuna, who had been quiet, covered her nose with her hand and made a nasal sound.

It seemed she thought Yu Seol-hwa still emitted the strong scent.

“You wanna know…”

Suddenly, Yu Seol-hwa stepped closer and leaned her face towards Yuna’s.

“What it means is…”

She paused as she grabbed Yuna’s hand, which was covering her nose.

Then, she let go of Yuna’s hand, which was desperately trying to block her nose.

“Ah, no!”