I Want to Be a VTuber Chapter 121 (121/718)

Cheonghong Action School.

The cradle of stuntmen created by Kim Hong-baek, South Korea's top martial arts director.

Lately, Professor Kim Hong-baek had been receiving all sorts of contacts for various reasons.

None other than because of a certain variety show he had agreed to appear on.

"They said you just need to come out starting from the next filming."

"Hmm..."

Honestly, he had originally planned to decline.

Variety shows weren't really his taste.

But this time, his interest had been piqued for several reasons.

'Actors who've passed through our school are appearing too.'

Most famous action actors were graduates of Cheonghong Action School.

But this time, it was actresses.

The cast was mainly composed of young actresses, which drew his interest somewhat.

Generally, female actors were often sidelined in this kind of action acting.

But there was no helping it—action acting was ultimately 'acting.'

So when filmed, male actors with grand movements and impact were inevitably preferred.

"Impact, huh..."

The power of acting.

That was what action acting needed the most.

Only when emotion and body moved together did that power come alive.

"But nowadays filming techniques have improved, so stunt doubles are used more often."

As Professor Sung Ho-cheol said, in the past.

That is, during the heyday of Hong Kong films, it was customary for actors to perform stunts themselves.

But who would do their own acting nowadays?

Action could just be left to those who used their bodies better.

That was the trend these days.

However.

"I should probably appear on something like this."

Wasn't this an intention to push a proper action actor after a long time?

"Seo-yeon is appearing too, so I'm worried."

"...That's also a reason."

As it happened, today was the day Seo-yeon was visiting.

Probably because of .

Indeed, most of the recent contacts coming to Professor Kim Hong-baek were because of that.

Participants of this season's Hyper Action Star were urgently visiting Cheonghong Action School to receive acting guidance.

After all, Professor Kim Hong-baek was directly appearing on it as well.

Of course, he had declined most of those calls.

Action acting wasn't something that could be achieved with a day or two of cramming.

'Did they get scared after actually applying?'

While had some actors who requested direct casting, most could apply externally and participate freely.

Of course, they were selected after reviewing profiles, but many also came in through agency influence.

From the start, as a variety show was challenging in many ways, and the industry held a negative stance.

A variety show with a higher probability of failure than success.

An already outdated public audition format.

Moreover, if it was acting rather than singing, there were few elements for viewers to find entertaining.

That must have been their judgment.

So there were many who participated with moderately capable action actors just to raise their profile.

'But, they showed rappel action from the very first meeting.'

A variety show that suddenly started receiving public attention.

View counts refreshing day by day.

Even actors who participated with indifferent hearts couldn't help but become anxious.

The scale had tipped from failure to success, so if they didn't show something proper on the variety show, they would miss that opportunity.

"Ah, Seo-yeon has already arrived and is warming up."

"Really?"

Professor Kim Hong-baek headed to the action school's stunt training ground with now-familiar steps.

Previously, there were many actors who looked at Seo-yeon with critical eyes, but now it was different.

When they encountered Seo-yeon, they were all too busy avoiding her gaze.

That was...

"Is there no actor who can match timing with me today?"

"..."

At Seo-yeon's request, everyone kept their eyes downcast.

There were many parts to learn when acting together.

There were many, but still, when you get thrown several meters, what you've learned flies away with you.

Impermanence of life.

People become detached, and life flashes before their eyes once in a while.

Anyway, that kind of acting between life and death.

Thanks to that, they could smile while doing decent stunts, so there were many satisfactory aspects for them.

'Still, doing it too often is a bit...'

Seo-yeon staring intently in this direction looked like a puppy whose tail was drooping at the front door because it wanted to go for a walk.

So if they accidentally made eye contact, it felt like they'd end up grabbing the leash and going for a walk together, which was why they had to avoid her gaze.

Amidst that strange atmosphere.

"Ah, Master."

Seo-yeon said while looking at Professor Kim Hong-baek.

The actors of Cheonghong Action School all called Kim Hong-baek 'Master.'

There was no particular reason.

It was work that used the body after all, and he thought of them as his disciples.

"Today, I got a contact about the mission."

"Mission?"

"The mission for Hyper Action Star."

Professor Kim Hong-baek nodded.

It seemed they delivered a general outline of the mission to the cast before filming.

'So that's why there were so many contacts lately.'

Since they knew what they'd be filming, they just needed to learn that part intensively.

Of course, Professor Kim Hong-baek had no intention of going out of his way to help with that.

'But shouldn't they tell me what they're filming too?'

Such a question arose, but it could also be that they trusted him.

Since he was merely in a demonstration role, he thought that might be the case.

"What kind of mission is it?"

"Gunfight, they said."

Seo-yeon muttered as if a bit unsure.

Of course, it wasn't that she had never fired a gun.

Not in this life, but in her previous life.

A soldier with a similar condition had committed a firearms rampage, so she couldn't go to the military.

In a word, exempted.

But she had at least received 6 weeks of military training, so she had experience firing a gun.

'That's still different from active duty, though.'

Honestly, it had been so long that she didn't even remember exactly how to do it.

Among her memories of her previous life, there were definitely things that were gradually fading.

"Gunfight...!"

Professor Kim Hong-baek's eyes widened.

'Then it'll be safe.'

What if it had been a brawl or something like that?

The genre might have changed a little.

"They said the acting will be done with guns containing paintballs."

Like a survival game arena.

But of course, this filming wasn't a survival game.

It was strictly about acting.

Action acting, among other things.

"So shooting at the face is prohibited. We need to see the acting."

Only minimal protective gear like goggles would be worn on the face.

That way they'd be able to see the acting.

'Action and acting as one.'

Seo-yeon's specialty was emotional acting.

Mixing in a gunfight didn't quite fit in many ways.

There was no narrative to the scene either, so she had to squeeze out a character on the spot.

"Seo-yeon probably knows this to some extent. First, we need to think about what to show in this gunfight."

"What to show... you mean the character?"

"That's right. This movie is a superpower action film. It's a gunfight, but we mustn't forget that."

That was definitely correct.

Just having superpowers greatly expanded the room to add 'acting' to a simple gunfight.

'My superpower is regeneration.'

It wasn't a power she chose after much deliberation.

It seemed easy to handle.

And because she thought it was a superpower suited to Seo-yeon's personality.

Honestly, she had debated with physical enhancement.

'Physical enhancement would have been too much.'

It was a sudden rappel action.

To jump down while performing acting in that state, she instinctively had to choose the easier option.

Out of a hundred participants, no less than thirty actors had stated physical enhancement as their superpower.

Naturally, with thirty people having the same superpower, the competition was bound to be fiercer.

So Seo-yeon chose a similar but slightly different regeneration ability.

An ability that could handle most of the actions a physical enhancement user could do, while making it easy to give separate points and impact.

'But does this carry over to the movie filming?'

She was curious about that.

If the protagonist's superpower wasn't specifically determined in the movie, the superpower chosen at this audition could carry over directly.

To Seo-yeon who was pondering that, Professor Kim Hong-baek spoke.

"If it's regeneration, there's a lot of action that viewers want to see. However, it'll be tricky from the acting perspective."

"Because if I don't get hit, the ability has no meaning."

"That's right. You have to show that even in the gunfight. Acting where you must get hit."

It was not an easy acting for a female actor to do.

If another actress had chosen such an ability, Professor Kim Hong-baek would have stopped her.

He would have told her to ask the production team about changing it to something else.

'Hmm, it shouldn't matter.'

Professor Kim Hong-baek nodded.

Seo-yeon's skin wasn't fragile enough to be scratched by paintballs.

He had never even seen her get hurt in the first place.

When he asked Seo-yeon about it.

"Uh... it's because I use good cosmetics."

He didn't know since when cosmetics had such effects, but he just let it be.

What could he do even if he denied it?

"Let's practice first. There are model guns with paintballs here too."

Anyway, Professor Kim Hong-baek planned to guide Seo-yeon seriously.

He knew how sincere Seo-yeon was about acting.

'If.'

If Seo-yeon could elevate her acting skills and handle action as well...

'The success of this movie could be said to depend on Seo-yeon.'

Professor Kim Hong-baek didn't think Seo-yeon would drop out of this .

If she did drop out, it would be because Seo-yeon couldn't properly adapt to action acting.

But even so, there would be no director who wouldn't use Seo-yeon in a movie.

If she didn't become the protagonist, at least a character with comparable weight.

Such a role would definitely be given—he was certain of that.

'No.'

Professor Kim Hong-baek shook his head.

He erased the assumption of her dropping out from his mind.

This time, the protagonist without exception.

He wanted to see Seo-yeon leading the drama as the lead, not a supporting role.

Quite sincerely.

"Now then, let's start with shooting first."

Therefore, Professor Kim Hong-baek intended to pass on everything he had to Seo-yeon.

South Korea's top action star.

Seo-yeon possessed the potential to make that possible.

***

The audition for was basically conducted live.

From the preliminaries onward, all of it.

With each round progressing, twenty people would be eliminated.

And in the semifinal round, ten would reportedly be eliminated.

The one actor selected after the battle of the final ten would become the protagonist of the movie that GH Group was newly preparing.

- Episode 1 airing today?

- Group A preliminaries

- Simultaneous internet broadcast ㅇㅇ

- Does Joo Seo-yeon appear?

- But they're pushing Joo Seo-yeon too hard

- ㅇㅈ

- It's not even acting, she just jumped downㅋㅋㅋ I could do that much

- Making a big deal out of something everyone does in the military ㅇㅈㄹ

Because Seo-yeon was so emphasized in the preview, various forms of backlash were also noticeable.

Of course, those who defended her cited that she jumped without safety devices and so on.

There were also many who ridiculed that, saying there was an air mattress so what lack of safety devices.

Anyway, amid such buzz, the person most talked about was Seo-yeon.

Words about other figures occasionally surfaced too, but only to the extent of passing mentions, matching their brief screen time in the preview.

At most, Cho Seo-hee was the one who got some mentions.

That was because she came down an elevator by herself.

"Now then."

Lee Ki-tae said while looking at the gathered members of 's Group A.

Twenty.

The people who came in comfortable clothing each spoke with tense faces.

As the camera swept by.

"...Huh?"

Seo-yeon stood out.

She couldn't help but stand out.

"Uh, Seo-yeon-ssi?"

"Yes?"

"Why, the school uniform?"

Seo-yeon was wearing a cool short-sleeved school uniform, standing on the filming set.

Among those in comfortable activity wear, an outfit that stood out uniquely.

At Lee Ki-tae's words, Seo-yeon answered as if it were obvious.

"The setting is a high school girl."

Ah, so that's the setting.

Those around chuckled, but Cho Seo-hee beside her immediately understood Seo-yeon's intention.

'Character.'

Lee Ki-tae's flustered eyes.

That was because he hadn't expected her to come in a school uniform.

But he was flustered because it was a 'school uniform.'

Unique outfits were originally intended by the production team.

'Outfits were free from the start.'

A clever actor would have realized that intention.

Clothing was the most basic way to visually express a 'character.'

In a state where scenes and scenarios weren't specifically determined, there was nothing better than clothing to imprint what kind of person the character was on the viewers.

In other words.

The instruction to prepare one's own costume meant to come dressed according to the character one had set.

That was why Cho Seo-hee had also come in rather flashy attire.

An outfit covered in designer brands.

'...The school uniform is much better than designer brands.'

Cho Seo-hee let out a short laugh as she looked at Seo-yeon, who was subtly excited.

She was already monopolizing everyone's attention from the very start.