Chapter 361: Chapter 361:

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: AgRoseCrystal

Chapter 361

Seo-jun, who was cold-hearted in front of acting and works, explained to Min Hee-kyung, the director of [Our Neighborhood], the good and bad points of [Our Neighborhood].

“It was six years ago when Over the Rainbow was released. That year, there were many bland movies, so the intense ending left a strong impression.”

He softly explained with examples of the trends and pacing of that time.

Min Hee-kyung nodded as if she was listening to an expert’s lecture.

“I would have acted like this. Then the audience would empathize with the character more easily.”

As if his introduction as an actor was not a lie, he gave an evaluation that balanced the perspectives of an actor and an audience.

Min Hee-kyung looked back at her work six years ago as she listened to his comments.

‘Wasn’t he… an elementary school student back then?’

He knew what she regretted and realized only after hearing people’s reviews of her first work when he was just an elementary school student.

And that was for a failed movie that didn’t even break even or get known.

‘Kids these days are amazing.’

She couldn’t believe that he was still unknown.

‘They say it’s a boom for child actors.’

She had no idea that this level of knowledge and insight was required these days. She was busy with part-time jobs and writing scripts.

How much more would the famous child actors like Lee Seo-jun and Kim Joo-kyung be?

‘Wouldn’t they be incredible?’

Her standards for child actors rose rapidly.

If the active child actors or the so-called golden generation of Mirinae Elementary School’s acting department knew, they would have slapped their foreheads.

Lee Seo-jun is special!

They would have groaned.

Min Hee-kyung, who admired the background knowledge of ‘top actor Lee Seo-jun’, looked at Seo-jun, who was immersed in the script after finishing his explanation.

He read it once and then went back to the beginning, reading it as if he was analyzing every word.

Min Hee-kyung felt tears welling up in her eyes.

No one had ever read her work so earnestly in front of her.

“What do you think from an actor’s point of view?”

She suddenly became curious.

It was a script that would be thrown away when she went home, but what would he think of her scenario as an actor, and a peer of the protagonist?

She decided to quit being a director, so she thought she could accept any review from a third person’s perspective.

‘It’s not the same.’

She felt nervous.

She wasn’t a production company employee who had to stake the movie production on one review.

Min Hee-kyung, who didn’t know at all that the movie production, no, the movie success depended on her words, asked Seo-jun, who scratched his cheek and answered.

“It’s similar to [Our Neighborhood].”

“…Ah…Really?”

Min Hee-kyung’s expression clouded.

“I fixed it, but I guess there are still some left.”

“The director’s delicate and detailed description and the scenery that comes to mind just by reading the script seem better than [Our Neighborhood]. The pacing also seems faster. But…”

“But…?”

“The story is lacking. The development is not twisty but flat… The material is common, so there have been many works with it. So I think the audience will guess the development roughly from the beginning.”

Min Hee-kyung sighed lightly at Seo-jun’s words.

“The story is lacking…”

“It’s boring when the movie progresses with the same deduction as yours. But it becomes special when there is something that the audience never thought of.”

Special.

A movie flashed through Min Hee-kyung’s mind.

“…Like Survivors?”

At Min Hee-kyung’s words, Seo-jun, who starred in [Survivors], rolled his eyes.

“Um…Yes. Survivors started with a clichéd opening, but no one expected Raymond Wish, who was the main attacker, to be eliminated first. And that Lee Hyun-woo, who survived until the end, would help rescue the survivors.”

Min Hee-kyung recalled [Survivors].

She watched all the movies that became hot topics without missing any, even though she was busy with part-time jobs and writing.

She also watched [Survivors], which turned this summer upside down.

“That Ian Weaver was a domestic violence victim was also a special point.”

“I liked that too. There are hardly any supporting characters with such a past in disaster movies. There are sometimes scenes where Mia’s parents run to Mia, who was saved by the protagonist in the last scene, if there is Mia.”

A disaster movie came out of Seo-jun’s mouth in an instant.

Min Hee-kyung nodded at that cliché.

“That’s why the cookie video became a hot topic.”

Seo-jun said with a smile.

“The Director’s Cut is a bunch of exceptions, so it’s better not to analyze it. All of them… Oh, did you watch the Director’s Cut?”

“I did.”

She watched it as soon as it appeared on Plus+.

Seo-jun, who asked in case of spoilers, continued with a smile.

“Ian Weaver died first and Lee Hyun-woo went crazy… And all the characters died, but I didn’t even know it would be released in theaters and do well.”

“That’s true.”

Who would have expected Ian Weaver to die first?

Min Hee-kyung still couldn’t forget that shock.

“So I think it would be good to add some new materials and stories. It doesn’t have to be just one genre. There is also romance thriller.”

“…New story…”

Something.

It seemed to float in her head.

Min Hee-kyung, who was lost in thought, looked at Seo-jun, who took out his vibrating phone from his pocket.

Han Jinho: Where are you? I’m done with filming.

Han Jinho: Are you using invisibility?

Han Jinho: When did you disappear;;;

Seo-jun flinched at the word invisibility. It was similar in the sense that his presence disappeared.

<Already;;;?

<I haven’t seen anything yet?

Han Jinho: Jaehan still has filming left.

<I’ll be there soon.

Seo-jun, who was anxious about the filming that had already passed halfway, got up from his seat.

He had to go and watch the filming now that he had read the script he was curious about.

Min Hee-kyung, who was lost in thought, woke up from her thoughts at Seo-jun’s movement and got up from her seat awkwardly.

Seo-jun, who organized the script he was holding, handed it over to Min Hee-kyung.

“My friends are looking for me. Here’s the script. I enjoyed reading it.”

She felt strange seeing the papers that would be thrown away in the trash can when she went home being treated preciously by someone.

Min Hee-kyung, who took the crumpled script, looked at the unknown child actor with a black hat.

“Then I’ll go and see. Director.”

He bowed and moved his steps. Min Hee-kyung blankly looked at his back.

She suddenly remembered that he called her ‘director’.

She decided to quit being a director, but her heart felt heavy at his words.

That heaviness, the weight of the paper, no, her script in her hand, the new story that floated in her head, stirred Min Hee-kyung’s heart.

Before she knew it, her voice came out first.

“Excuse me!”

Seo-jun, who was about to walk away, turned around at Min Hee-kyung’s call.

“Are you filming over there? Can I go and watch?”

***

Han Jinho: He said it’s okay!

Han Jinho: Can he ask for advice?

Seo-jun got a reply from Han Jinho. He looked at Min Hee-kyung next to him and asked.

“Director. Can I ask for your advice?”

“Well… If you don’t mind a failed director…”

Min Hee-kyung felt embarrassed and moved her steps with Seo-jun, who was tapping his phone.

“Shall we sit here where we can see well?”

“Sure.”

Seo-jun and Min Hee-kyung, who returned to the filming site, sat down a little away so as not to disturb the filming. ‘Han Jinho, who finished filming and rolled up his sleeves to help the staff, waved his hand when he saw Seo-jun.

“I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere…”

Seo-jun answered with a smile at Min Hee-kyung’s words.

“I was in Escape. As Go Ju Won’s friend.”

“Oh!”

Han Jinho had also appeared in many works, but the easiest one to explain was [Escape].

The students at the filming site looked at Seo-jun’s side when they saw Han Jinho. They were a little nervous at the sight of an adult sitting next to him. The children who bowed politely whispered quietly.

“She’s a director.”

“I don’t know where he meets such people.”

[Our Neighborhood] was a movie on the portal site even though it failed.

And it was a commercial movie.

The children were amazed and impressed by a director who might make another commercial movie someday.

“Focus on filming!”

The one who stopped the noisy atmosphere was the third-year director who might be the most burdened.

He didn’t seem to care what Min Hee-kyung, another director, would think of him, or that he was making a movie for the first time instead of a video.

He continued filming as if he didn’t care.

He groaned inwardly at that sight.

‘I’m already burdened enough by Seo-jun…’

How could he not be nervous when an actor who knew more about movies than anyone else came to watch the filming?

He took a stomach medicine this morning and came to the third-year director who tried hard to ignore it.

‘If a good work comes out thanks to Seo-jun and the director’s advice…’

He vowed to endure any burden for this.

The third-year director who shouted action had an attitude that could not be anything but a great artist.

***

“Cut! Okay!”

“NG!”

“Let’s go one more time!”

Min Hee-kyung’s heart fluttered at the shouts she hadn’t heard in a long time. She didn’t feel it when she saw the students preparing for filming earlier.

Min Hee-kyung, who decided to quit being a movie director, turned her eyes away from fear of realizing that feeling.

At the end of her gaze was ‘actor Lee Seo-jun’.

The eyes that looked at what he loved most in the world.

She felt like she had never seen such shining eyes before.

Min Hee-kyung couldn’t take her eyes off Seo-jun’s face even as she apologized for watching the filming.

Seo-jun, who didn’t notice Min Hee-kyung, didn’t take his eyes off either.

He moved his eyes quickly and analyzed every aspect of the actors while also showing his excitement.

That excitement spread like paint to Min Hee-kyung.

In the end, ‘movie director’ Min Hee-kyung gave up on ‘actor who loves acting’.

‘I want this actor to star in my movie’ filled Min Hee-kyung’s head and heart. The new story that floated in her head and the boy’s face merged. The ‘boy’ who pushed out the ‘actor Lee Seo-jun’ that she had wanted so much in her image grew in an instant.

She was really curious what kind of movie an actor who loved acting so much would act in.

Really.

She didn’t understand why he was still unknown.

Min Hee-kyung opened her mouth without knowing it.

“Why don’t you film?”

Why didn’t he film when he introduced himself as an actor and liked acting so much?

He had to appear in many small movies and make his face known so that he could appear in big movies later.

‘…Ah…Can’t he act?’

She regretted it.

He might like acting and have a good eye for works, but expressing that with his body and lines was a completely different thing.

Min Hee-kyung had seen actors who couldn’t express as much as they analyzed.

Seo-jun, who didn’t notice Min Hee-kyung’s apology for watching the filming, answered in a low voice.

“Um. The script is not good enough to make me want to act.”

The third-year director would have cried if he heard that.

But Seo-jun didn’t want to compromise on anything when it came to acting.

He was curious how the movie would turn out, but there were some parts of the script that he didn’t like.

To fix them to his liking, he had to rewrite the whole script.

‘Then it’s not his work.’

She didn’t expect such a reason.

Min Hee-kyung, who had looked at Seo-jun pitifully until a while ago, opened her mouth wide.