Joo Seo-yeon, 7 years old... with one week left.
The drama had just begun preparing to shoot a new scene.
'They can't put it off any longer now.'
The staff thought so as they glanced at Seo-yeon.
Seeing Seo-yeon standing there blankly, she looked perfectly fine, but considering what had happened during the shoot two weeks ago, they seemed to be paying extra attention to her in many ways.
Since it was none other than the veteran actress Jung Eun-sun who had pointed her out like that.
'It seems she didn't say anything.'
Seo-yeon felt a little puzzled as she watched the staff glancing her way.
The atmosphere of them being considerate in various ways was comfortable, but she wondered if it was really okay.
The conversation she had with Soo-ah and Director Gong Jung-tae that day had been kept a secret.
Because of that, Actress Jung Eun-sun had become the person who criticized a six-year-old child actress for no reason.
Well, they did have their own guessed reasons.
Because Seo-yeon, not Jo Seo-hee, had taken the role of Princess Yeon-hwa.
Because of that, the other staff and actors couldn't help but worry about the upcoming shoot between Seo-yeon and Jung Eun-sun.
The person who worried the most was the filming director, Gong Jung-tae.
'The remaining shoots are mostly scenes with Seo-yeon.'
And the number of shoots was not small either.
The role Seo-yeon took, Princess Yeon-hwa, was the lead of the drama.
The young Princess Yeon-hwa only appeared in 3 episodes.
If you only look at the episode count, one might think it's small, but in terms of the number of shoots, it was absolutely not small.
Generally, when filming a 16-episode drama, the number of shoots is roughly 100.
In other words, the number of shoots to film 3 episodes is a little over 6 per episode.
'And that's assuming they film without any mistakes.'
The number of shoots Seo-yeon had to film had to be estimated at around 20.
On top of that, the number of shoots Seo-yeon had currently filmed was just one.
She had to go through a whopping nineteen more shoots.
Even if they filmed other scenes in between, it was clearly going to be quite exhausting.
"Seo-yeon's mother, will it be okay?"
"..."
Soo-ah saw Seo-yeon stretching vigorously at the filming set a little distance away.
Look at that calm appearance, not even thinking about how worried we are.
Just looking at the outside, she really looked perfectly fine.
...No, is she really perfectly fine?
It reached the point where the ones worrying looked strange instead.
"She... seems fine... right?"
"...Hmm."
"Hehe, honestly, I'm not really sure."
Seo-yeon was her daughter, but honestly, she thought she was a peculiar child.
From the time she was a baby, she rarely showed tears, and she had never said she wanted to do something herself.
Right off the bat, starting acting was Soo-ah's suggestion.
However, this time was a little different.
"This time, Seo-yeon said she wanted to do it first."
Her daughter speaking so confidently was really cute, but with a mother's heart, she couldn't help but worry.
Rather, she was just grateful to Director Gong Jung-tae for caring so much about Seo-yeon.
"So you don't need to worry too much. I'm already grateful that you've been this considerate."
Usually, it's rare for a filming director to care this much about a single child actor.
Because taking care of an actor is ultimately the individual's responsibility.
"Well, a talented actor is always a benefit to the director too."
Even if there were some shaky parts right now, Gong Jung-tae believed that Seo-yeon's talent was real.
The real talent acknowledged by Actress Jung Eun-sun.
She held an ocean of emotions so vast that she couldn't handle it herself in that small chest.
Gong Jung-tae was by no means a rookie director.
He had several hit works, and in the process, he had seen many actors.
Among them, there were actors who were like shining stars.
Just like Seo-yeon right now.
'Director Jo Bang-woo didn't keep an eye on this child for nothing.'
Thinking so, Gong Jung-tae nodded when it looked like the set was roughly prepared.
"Alright, today's scene is now the scene where the young Yun Seo-il and the young Lee Hye-wol meet in earnest."
Like that, Gong Jung-tae began acting coaching for this scene to the young actors who would take responsibility for the future of South Korea.
He explained in detail how they should act and how to express the scene.
And.
The filming began in earnest.
***
The role of the young Yun Seo-il.
Park Jung-woo was inwardly fascinated by the girl in front of him.
'She's not nervous.'
Park Jung-woo was the only son of the method actor, Park Sun-woong.
His age was ten.
But with 5 years of acting experience, he was somewhat of a veteran child actor.
Even Jo Seo-hee, the princess of the daily drama, was just an ordinary young child actor in front of Park Jung-woo.
At least in the same age group, it had to be said that there was no child actor with a career greater than Park Jung-woo's.
To such a Park Jung-woo, Seo-yeon had been a fascinating kid from the start.
It was like that at the audition, and it was the same now.
"Then, here we go back to the cue. ...Action!!"
The filming started with Gong Jung-tae's shout.
The acting of the young Yun Seo-il and the young Lee Hye-wol.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the child actors' acting unfolded.
The meeting between Yun Seo-il, the son of the Grand Scholar of Sungkyunkwan, and Lee Hye-wol, who had secretly slipped out of the palace.
「Your Highness, are you perhaps Princess Yeon-hwa?」
「Y-You've got the wrong per-person!」
At the words of the composed young Yun Seo-il despite his young age, the young Lee Hye-wol ran away as if fleeing.
Even biting her tongue in the middle of speaking was extremely natural.
Gong Jung-tae examined the script.
The part 'Surprised, messing up pronunciation' was clearly written.
It wasn't different from the script, but it felt like it was interpreted even more naturally.
'I felt it in her acting back then too, but...'
It felt like she read the script her own way and grasped the feel of it.
This kind of interpretation felt like another talent of Seo-yeon, different from emotional acting.
'On top of that.'
Gong Jung-tae quietly watched the acting.
Their acting truly had no flaws to pick at.
Not to mention the lines, even the light gestures and movements were exactly those of the young Yun Seo-il and Princess Yeon-hwa.
The staff watched as if bewitched.
The actors were smiling with small admiration.
They seemed surprised by the acting of the growing sprouts.
'The range of emotion has decreased a bit compared to before, hasn't it?'
It had less of the 'Princess Yeon-hwa' feel like the acting seen at the audition and when she matched with Jung Eun-sun.
If deep emotional acting is expressed as submerging the body deep in water.
This feels like kicking the surface of the water from above it.
'The funny thing is, thanks to that, it actually fits better.'
I don't know if it was intentional, but.
Thinking about it carefully, this was an extremely correct interpretation.
In the first place, Princess Yeon-hwa, Lee Hye-wol, becomes 'Princess Yeon-hwa acting as a commoner' at the point she escapes the palace.
Therefore, it's normal for her behavior or way of speaking to be somewhat awkward or her emotions to be disorganized.
Just like Seo-yeon right now.
"Cut! Both of you did really well! Perfect."
When Gong Jung-tae raised his hand and shouted, the two child actors finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In particular, Park Jung-woo, who played the young Yun Seo-il, looked at Seo-yeon with inwardly surprised eyes.
'She's become a little more natural than before.'
There should have been lacking parts in her actions, but now they were fainter than that.
Park Jung-woo had also skimmed the script for the young Lee Hye-wol.
Honestly, he thought it had some difficulty, but she perfectly matched with him.
"You're amazing."
"Huh?"
Seo-yeon, who was wiping the sweat from her forehead, felt a little embarrassed at Park Jung-woo's admiration.
'To be praised by a ten-year-old.'
Well, honestly, acting is something I pulled straight from my past life, so of course I'd be good at it.
But honestly, this time I shook it up a little gently, and it seems that actually worked naturally.
'It's harder to go ambiguously than to describe it strongly.'
It was the first time I learned this.
Seo-yeon's emotional acting aimed for 'perfection' at all times because it described real emotions.
So lowering that level and placing it in the awkward, uncomfortable valley was harder than she thought.
She reflected on herself for inwardly thinking it would be simple.
'Definitely, the future young method actors are different.'
It wasn't that the child actors who acted with Park Jung-woo so far had their presence eaten up.
Of course, Seo-yeon didn't want to be pushed back.
No, she shouldn't be pushed back. He's a real ten-year-old.
When Park Jung-woo looked at Seo-yeon, who was burning with such will, with a puzzled gaze.
"What were we doing at that age?"
"Still, we're supporting actors in our own right, let's have a drink."
To the other actors, they just looked like monster-like child actors.
Especially Seo-yeon, whose acting career was less than a year old.
On top of that, her first drama filming.
It was essentially a level of talent that was hard to believe.
Even if she had memories of her past life.
Seo-yeon herself was not well aware of such parts.
"Then we'll continue on to the next scene!"
After a short break, Director Gong Jung-tae's shout was heard.
It was a much lighter voice than before.
Of course, the staff could guess the reason too.
'Today's filming will end quickly.'
For anyone, it's good to get off work quickly.
***
"Our daughter, how was today's filming?"
Joo Young-bin knocked and entered his daughter's room as soon as he got off work.
When he opened the door and went in, for some reason, she was sitting with a very serious face in front of the robot toy and the Puni-ping doll he had bought her before.
"...What are you doing?"
"I was thinking about something."
"About what?"
"Puni-ping and Tobot. Who is stronger."
Joo Young-bin also struggled a little with those words.
Between a boys' anime and a girls' anime, which one is really stronger.
It was a serious topic he had never thought about before.
'Cough, sometimes she's really peculiar.'
She seemed completely uninterested in girls' toys, but played with them well when given.
But when they actually went to the mart, she naturally tossed robot toys into the mart cart.
Furthermore, she decorated the robot toys quite properly, like an expert.
"Hmm, well, it's a relief if nothing happened."
Anyway, Young-bin was relieved that his daughter seemed fine.
Because his wife, Soo-ah, had been worrying about her in many ways recently.
"Then don't play too late."
"Yes."
When Young-bin said that and closed the door to leave, Seo-yeon, who caught a glimpse of it, flopped back down.
'Umm, I don't know.'
Of course, it didn't mean she didn't know who was stronger between Puni-ping and Tobot.
'Real emotional acting.'
Can I do it, or can't I.
If you ask that, I probably can.
However, how far I should go, and whether I can control that myself is another problem.
On this part, Actress Jung Eun-sun's words were right.
I've always been confident in describing emotions, but going further from there is an unknown territory.
In the first place, facing my own emotions is an unfamiliar thing to me.
As the saying goes, it might hurt my fragile child's mind.
My TS body may be invincible, but hormones and mind might be different.
There was nothing wrong with being careful.
"Hmm."
Seo-yeon picked up the script she had put beside her.
There, there was a scene number checked in red by Seo-yeon.
'There are two places where real emotional acting is needed.'
Scene numbers S#24 and S#32.
She wanted to act these parts with all her heart.
Because these scenes were none other than.
The climax of the young Lee Hye-wol.