‘Finally.’
Seoyeon flipped the calendar, immersed in emotion.
‘I’ve turned seven.’
Joo Seoyeon, 7 years old.
Kindergarten, Year 1.
Actually, turning seven didn’t bring any particular changes.
Just the feeling that her body was growing faster than before?
She would enter elementary school starting next year.
And...
‘Hmm.’
There were many things to worry about in various ways.
In fact, most of it was related to acting.
As she started practicing in earnest, she could see a lot of her own shortcomings.
And she definitely felt that emotional acting was not easy.
‘Most things stop at the level of mimicking emotions, but.’
It’s not like actors always express their emotions at full force.
Even for me, I think mimicking emotions to that extent is sufficient.
At least in this aspect, I’m at a level where there’s no significant difference from adult actors.
‘Well, if you consider my age...’
Originally, emotional acting comes from life experience.
The younger the actor, the more clumsy their emotional acting, which is natural due to the lack of experience.
However, I am filled in that regard by my past life.
*Pat.*
I looked in the mirror and cupped my face with both hands.
‘Facial acting is relatively natural.’
However, the more I studied acting, the more I felt other areas falling behind.
Minor gestures, handling of gaze. Vocalization when delivering lines.
The vocalization part, at least, thanks to my practice so far, is about 4 out of 5.
‘I need time.’
Of course, there was no time to learn anything new ahead of the *The Sun and the Moon* filming.
What I can do now is maximize my strengths to the fullest.
In the past, I was all-in on being a VTuber, so it didn't matter, but now it's different.
Who am I? The Great Actress (True) Joo Seoyeon.
Anyway, I have no intention of wasting my talents.
Since it's a blessing I gained from my past life.
"Phew."
Taking a deep breath, I removed my hands from my face.
Glancing at my palms, I could see they were scratched up in various ways.
My eyes reflected in the mirror were bloodshot red.
Whether it was just my imagination, they looked redder than usual.
As if they changed according to the agitation of my emotions.
‘...Is it really like that?’
Even so, it didn't seem to change dramatically.
Anyway, my body had many peculiar aspects, so I just accepted it now.
The strange physical strength, and the eyes too.
"Alright."
Now that I've somewhat gathered myself, it was time to practice again.
For Joo Seoyeon's first real emotional acting since turning seven.
***
There were two stars at the Arongdarong Kindergarten.
One was Lee Jiyeon.
A spirited child who was working hard appearing in CFs.
Her personality was also very strong, so among the kindergarten kids, there was no one who could defy Jiyeon's words.
Except for one person.
"Seoyeon is so well-behaved."
Hyunyoung, the teacher of the Flower Class, looked at Seoyeon as if she envied her.
It would have been nice if the kids in her own class were as well-behaved as Seoyeon.
"Well-behaved... I guess?"
And Mina, the teacher of the Sun Class where Seoyeon belonged, said with an ambiguous smile.
The second famous star in this kindergarten.
Actually, it's a bit rude to say to Lee Jiyeon, but there was a significant difference.
Especially after the *The Sun and the Moon* audition was broadcast, there were even people peeking into the kindergarten to see Seoyeon.
They've disappeared now, but Mina was inwardly creeped out.
If a dangerous accident had happened then...
"She is well-behaved, but... should I say she's a peculiar child?"
If you ask if she gets along well with the other kids, she does.
But how should I put this.
It didn't feel like she was playing with kids her age, but rather closer to the nuance of 'humoring' them.
She even took good care of them, so as a teacher, it was inevitable that Mina felt complicated about it.
"Come to think of it, when did they say the drama would air..."
The broadcast date of the drama Seoyeon was appearing in, *The Sun and the Moon*, was approaching day by day.
While checking the calendar to confirm the date, Hyunyoung saw a date marked in red below it.
"Ah, come to think of it, the school recital is coming up soon, right?"
"Right. Hehe."
"...Why are you laughing?"
"Heh."
Hyunyoung frowned at Mina's irritating smile.
The school recital was somewhat of a proxy war for the kindergarten teachers.
Of course, calling it a war, it was just giving snacks to the class that took first place.
However, that was among the kids.
For the kindergarten teachers, it was a bit different.
The teacher of the first-place class was given a whole two days off!
Of course, if they used this to force the kids to do something or make them do unreasonable things, they could actually face disciplinary action.
A real sword fight between teachers taking place under the strict watch of the kindergarten principal.
That was the school recital of Arongdarong Kindergarten.
"I'm thinking of visiting Jeju Island this time."
"...We'll see."
But as the saying goes, there's no one scarier than someone who says "we'll see."
Mina's class had two stars.
To compare it to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it meant having both Wolong and Fengchu in one place.
For reference, Fengchu was Lee Jiyeon.
‘The world of competition is ruthless, Teacher Hyunyoung.’
She was confident she could easily crush the competition even if she just prepared a light play.
None other than the lead child actor of *The Sun and the Moon*!
Because Joo Seoyeon was in her class.
"Joo Seoyeon, the teacher is looking at you with weird eyes again."
"What do you mean 'weird eyes' from a teacher, weird eyes."
"Weird is weird."
At Lee Jiyeon's whispering, Seoyeon glanced at Mina.
Actually, Seoyeon roughly guessed why Mina was looking at her with those eyes.
‘...Hmm.’
It was a bit sorry to say, but Seoyeon didn't particularly plan to do anything at the school recital.
*The Sun and the Moon* was her immediate priority, and she thought it would be a bit strange for her or Lee Jiyeon to participate in a kids' school recital.
"No, I'm going to be the princess at the recital."
"...Do it if you want to."
"I'll do it even if you tell me not to."
It seemed Lee Jiyeon was full of determination to do it.
‘But for a kid this motivated, why can't I remember what she did later?’
Seoyeon had that thought occasionally whenever she saw Jiyeon.
Lee Jiyeon was a child with a lot of ambition for acting.
Right now, filming CFs was all she did, but she was steadily preparing to audition for dramas too.
She definitely had the talent, so she could have easily taken on a few child roles, but...
"Come to think of it, what agency are you with?"
"Me?"
At Seoyeon's words, Jiyeon looked at her with wary eyes.
It was a look asking if she was perhaps trying to invade her sanctuary too.
"...I was just curious."
"Heung, well if it's just that."
And then Jiyeon told me her agency.
Eunha Entertainment.
Only after hearing that, Seoyeon could roughly guess.
The reason Lee Jiyeon didn't appear on TV later.
***
The filming of *The Sun and the Moon* progressed smoothly.
As if the previous stuttering due to Seoyeon's issues was a lie, they were already rushing towards the final scenes of episode 2.
Practically, it meant there were fewer than 10 shoots left until episode 3.
"We've been filming continuously for a while... but Seoyeon doesn't look tired at all, right?"
"Right. I was planning to take it a bit easier."
The staff exchanged such conversations while looking at Seoyeon, who had just finished her acting.
Despite filming all the backlog episodes in one go, her face was full of energy.
Rather, Park Jungwoo, who filmed with her, looked more exhausted.
Even considering the number of takes, Seoyeon had more than Park Jungwoo.
"Director, wouldn't it be better to put a little gap? It feels like we're rushing the shoots too much lately."
Director Kong Jungtae nodded at the camera director's words.
Honestly, he also felt that he had been rushing the scenes related to Seoyeon too much recently.
"But, well... the person in question actually wants it."
"Well, that's true."
So, about two weeks ago.
Seoyeon sneaked up to Kong Jungtae and hesitantly brought up a topic.
"Um, Director."
"Yes, go ahead, Seoyeon."
"If it's okay with the others..."
With a truly apologetic face, Seoyeon brought up one thing to Kong Jungtae.
To summarize, she wanted to film the delayed episodes quickly.
It was a very commendable remark, but at the same time, it crossed the line.
It was not common for an actor, especially a child actor, to make such a suggestion to the director.
However, since Seoyeon wasn't a child to make pointless requests, Kong Jungtae decided to hear her reason first.
Then, Seoyeon began to explain calmly.
"Looking at the script, there seem to be two scenes with a rather deep emotional line."
"You're talking about S#24 and S#32, right?"
"Yes."
Listening to Seoyeon speaking clearly, Kong Jungtae once again felt if this child was really seven years old.
He didn't have children yet, but compared to his cousins' kids he saw during the holidays, the difference was truly like heaven and earth.
Both in attitude and vocabulary.
Anyway, Kong Jungtae could roughly guess the reason from Seoyeon's words.
"Seoyeon, don't tell me..."
"That's a secret. So I might need some rest before the next acting then..."
The way she hesitated showed she knew she was in the wrong.
Especially since one of those scenes was to be filmed with Jung Eunsun.
Since there had been a major trouble with her before, Kong Jungtae wasn't very keen on it.
‘She hasn't said anything since then, but.’
Well, maybe she thought it was fine after seeing Seoyeon act well afterwards.
Although a subtle emotion was constantly felt on her face, she didn't say anything separately.
‘This is why the older generation is so difficult.’
In recent years, the treatment of child actors has improved, but there was a lot of talk for a while.
It was because there were often people who exploited or verbally abused child actors on filming sets or performance venues.
So there were even people specifically managing the children, like chaperones and such.
Of course, it wasn't that Jung Eunsun was like those people, but he knew that she wasn't good with words and her tone was sharp, making her unsuitable for disciplining a child.
‘Still...’
Naturally, it was right to reject Seoyeon's proposal.
Honestly, there was no need to push herself to act; Seoyeon's current acting was sufficient enough.
However, if this child was requesting it to this extent, he was also curious about what kind of acting she would display.
"Then, let's decide after seeing it once."
"Huh?"
"To put it simply, you're saying this... for the sake of acting, right, Seoyeon? So, I can only review it after seeing what that acting is like."
It was his job to set the filming schedule anyway.
Whether it was Seoyeon's request or whatever, if he decided on it, all responsibility would fall on him.
Nevertheless, Kong Jungtae wanted to see Seoyeon's acting once.
"...I understand."
As soon as Kong Jungtae finished his words, Seoyeon exhaled deeply and closed her eyes.
Because it still took time for her to grasp the emotion.
And.
"...Hah."
After Seoyeon's acting came to an end.
Kong Jungtae had no choice but to be convinced.
That this was worth a try.