Chapter 5
The children seemed interested, so one by one, they sat down on the floor and looked up at the desk.
The basic rule of a puppet show was that the person controlling the puppets shouldn’t be visible.
Gijun cleared his throat and crouched down behind the desk so the children couldn’t see him.
The children’s eyes were fixed on the empty desk.
But only for a moment.
The children soon seemed to lose interest and began to get up.
At that moment—
“I am a powerful tiger!”
The children’s attention immediately turned toward the voice coming from beneath the desk.
“Ta-da!”
A tiger puppet suddenly appeared on top of the desk.
It waved its short arms around wildly, showing off its strength with its whole body.
“No one can beat me if they fight me!”
Its rough voice suited the tiger perfectly.
“But I heard there’s an animal called a lion that’s stronger than me?”
The children shouted as if they had been waiting for that question.
“That’s right! Lions are stronger than tigers!”
“No! If a tiger bites a lion, it’ll hurt!”
“The lion would win!”
“No, it wouldn’t!”
While the children shouted their opinions at one another, Gijun held a lion puppet in his other hand.
“I am a lion! I’m stronger than a tiger!”
The children cheered at the lion’s appearance.
“A lion!”
“Fight!”
Their eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Huh? You think you’re stronger than me?”
“Hmph! Of course! Isn’t the king of beasts the strongest?”
“The tiger is the king of beasts!”
Before long, the children were completely absorbed in the puppet show.
It wasn’t only the children, either.
The nuns, priests, and volunteers who had come to prepare the meal were all quietly watching the performance from behind the children.
Among them was Kim Hyeondeok, who regularly visited the orphanage.
“Looks like there’s a puppet show event today.”
“No, he’s just a volunteer.”
“A volunteer?”
Kim Hyeondeok’s gaze returned to the puppets.
The puppet’s mouth moved precisely every time it spoke.
Its arms moved without the slightest mistake.
And with nothing but his voice, the performer created two completely different characters.
Kim Hyeondeok’s eyes gradually changed.
“He must have worked in puppet shows for a long time.”
It certainly looked that way.
The puppet show he was performing now was good enough to be considered a professional performance.
He deliberately adjusted his speaking speed for the children and simplified the personalities of the tiger and lion.
He led the story in a way that children could understand while making sure they didn’t get bored.
“Who thinks the tiger is stronger?”
“Me!!!”
“Who thinks the lion is stronger?”
“Me!!”
“Me too!!”
He even knew how to get a response from the audience.
Judging by his performance, he definitely seemed to have experience in the entertainment industry.
I should ask him if he’s interested in becoming an actor after this ends.
Judging by how skilled he was, he seemed a little older, but his dialogue and tone were good. If he was trained properly as a middle-aged actor, he seemed to have potential.
“I can’t take this anymore. I’ll show you the power of my fist!”
“Hah! Once you get bitten by my teeth, you’re finished!”
It’s a puppet show for children. Is it really okay to have a fight scene?
The nun seemed to have the same thought, because she got up from her seat.
Just as the tiger and lion puppets were about to fight—
“Time to eat!!”
An elderly woman’s voice rang out, and a small puppet suddenly popped up between the tiger and lion.
It was a puppet dressed in a nun’s habit.
“Ah! It’s the nun!”
“Oh, hello!”
The two animals, which had been growling at each other just moments ago, suddenly spoke in nervous voices as if nothing had happened.
“You two weren’t planning to fight, were you?”
“N-No, we weren’t.”
“We would never fight! Hehe.”
“Good. You shouldn’t fight. I’ve prepared food, so hurry inside and eat.”
The two puppets slowly backed away and disappeared beneath the stage.
Finally, only the nun puppet remained.
“Everyone, you saw that, right? You mustn’t fight!”
The children quickly lost interest, saying that it was boring, but the adults were completely satisfied.
Gijun had started the puppet show just to buy some time.
And now it was time for lunch.
Kim Hyeondeok, who had been watching the puppet show, struggled to hold back his laughter.
There were two reasons for his laughter.
One was because of the sudden appearance of the nun.
The other was because he thought he had discovered a talented person.
He’s good.
It seemed improvised, yet he even had this kind of sense.
Click—
The nun turned on the fluorescent lights and stood in front of the desk.
“All right, you enjoyed the puppet show, didn’t you? You mustn’t fight, okay? The tiger and lion have gone to eat, so let’s go eat too.”
The nun led the children to the cafeteria, and the other volunteers followed behind them.
Only Kim Hyeondeok and Gijun remained in the room.
Kim Hyeondeok took one of his business cards from his wallet and approached the desk.
At that moment, the coat lying on the desk was lowered, and the man who had performed the puppet show turned around and began putting on his coat.
His height is good, too.
Looking at the man’s back, Kim Hyeondeok spoke.
“Hello. I’m Kim Hyeondeok, the CEO of Nabi Actors—”
The man slowly turned around.
Deer-like eyes, red lips, a high nose, and calm-looking eyes.
“……!”
Kim Hyeondeok was speechless.
It wasn’t because the young man was handsome.
Well, he was unbelievably handsome, of course, but that wasn’t the main reason.
The voice Kim Hyeondeok had heard earlier sounded like that of a seasoned middle-aged man who had worked in theater or puppet shows for many years.
But the person standing before him had a youthful face that looked no older than his early twenties.
And when he looked more closely, the young man seemed to have a thousand different faces.
His face was gentle and innocent, yet from another angle, his eyes seemed to carry a hint of sadness.
“Yes? Did you call me?”
His voice was clear as well.
When Kim Hyeondeok had only heard the tiger and lion voices earlier, they had definitely sounded rough.
That entire voice was acting?
“How old are you, by any chance?”
“I’m twenty-one.”
This was a lifeline sent down by heaven.
Thinking that, Kim Hyeondeok firmly grabbed Yeon Gijun’s hand.
“Are you interested in acting?”
“Acting?”
He looked bewildered—or rather, he pretended to look bewildered—as he accepted the business card.
“Nabi… Actors?”
“Yes. You have a great face for an actor, and your voice is excellent. I’d like to offer you a chance to join our company.”
Kim Hyeondeok softened his intimidating expression as much as possible while making the offer.
“Uh…”
He seemed to think about it for a moment.
Why is he hesitating? Does he already have an agency?
Finally, Gijun spoke.
“I’m currently taking entrance exams for an acting department. I don’t have an agency, and I’ve never properly learned acting, so I’m not sure if I can do well. I don’t think I can give you an answer right away.”
A student preparing for an acting department?
Kim Hyeondeok’s lips curled upward.
“Really? If that’s the case, then that’s fine. Even if you haven’t received any formal training, you already have a good foundation. And I’m sure there are things I can teach you as well. I graduated from the directing department of Korea National University of Arts.”
“Oh, I recently took an entrance exam for that school too.”
“Then you’ll be my junior.”
“I’ve only taken the first exam, so I don’t know what the result will be.”
“Oh, really? I hope you get a good result.”
“Thank you. But I’m not confident in my abilities.”
Huh?
“I haven’t even been accepted yet, so I think signing a contract would be difficult.”
This was a first for Kim Hyeondeok.
Most people came to auditions full of confidence. This young man was actually refusing.
“I’ll get going, then.”
Just as he turned around to leave—
Grab.
Kim Hyeondeok caught Yeon Gijun by the shoulder.
“Then let’s do this. Come to our company tomorrow and audition. If you’re really not good enough, we’ll forget about the contract. The address is on the business card, right?”
Worried that the young man might refuse, Kim Hyeondeok firmly placed the business card in his hand before leaving.
“I’ll be waiting, so make sure you come.”
Not only was he good at acting, but he also had a good personality.
He must have been busy taking entrance exams, yet he had still come here to volunteer.
What kind of luck was this?
Kim Hyeondeok headed toward the cafeteria.
And Yeon Gijun was left alone.
Only after confirming that nobody was around did he quietly smile.
“It went so exactly according to plan that I almost laughed.”
The Day of the Audition — Nabi Actors Office
When Gijun knocked, CEO Kim Hyeondeok personally opened the office door and welcomed him.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Yes. Hello.”
I entered the office.
“It’s a little shabby, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not shabby….”
I was supposed to say that it was fine, but it was too dirty to say that.
There were sleeping bags, piles of empty cup-noodle containers, and convenience-store ready-made food scattered around.
“This is more than enough.”
The company would grow enormously in the future, so I decided not to worry about it.
“I’m younger than you, so you can speak comfortably.”
“Should I? You said you took the exam a few days ago, right?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll learn a lot at university, and your skills will improve a lot too, so it would be good if you get accepted.”
“I think so too.”
“What did your acting teacher say?”
“Oh, I don’t have an acting teacher.”
Since I would be working with Kim Hyeondeok for a long time, if we talked enough, he might eventually catch me in a lie.
From now on, it would be better to be honest.
“Then how did you practice acting?”
“I practiced by reading various books.”
Kim Hyeondeok ran a finger over his lips.
He had only seen my puppet show, so perhaps he thought I was simply good at voice acting like a voice actor.
There was no need to raise his expectations too much.
“All right, then. Shall we see your acting?”
Kim Hyeondeok removed a cushion and gestured for me to sit on the sofa.
“Usually, auditions use lines from dramas or movies, but you used a theater script for your acting department entrance exam, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then are you more confident with theater lines?”
“No. I’m more familiar with lines from video productions than theater.”
The theater lines I had performed at the entrance exam recently were lines I had used when I used to audition for plays.
But over the past several years, I had gone to more movie auditions than theater auditions, so I was more familiar with movie dialogue.
“So what kind of scene are you going to perform?”
Hmm.
Suddenly, I had an interesting idea.
Should I do that scene here?
“I’ll perform a scene I wrote myself.”
“Something you created?”
Disappointment appeared on Kim Hyeondeok’s face.
How much could a scene written by a twenty-one-year-old possibly show?
“Yes. I’ve prepared a pretty good scene.”
The scene I was about to perform was from a movie Kim Hyeondeok had created.
He would eventually become a successful agency CEO and later return to directing, where he would make a movie.
It would receive great praise at the Cannes Film Festival.
What kind of reaction would Kim Hyeondeok have if he heard dialogue from a movie he would make in the future?
With anticipation, I began acting.
