Become a Star

“Isn’t that Park Min? He sure has guts for someone with those acting skills.”

“Still, he has improved a lot recently. But Park Min even speak English well enough to pass this audition?”

Even though Park Min was older and had been in the industry longer than these actors, they didn’t bother to address him respectfully. Furthermore, Park Min was known for disregarding actors who joined the entertainment industry as idols, so the two actors didn't have a good impression of him.

“I don’t know. His pronunciation in his first few dramas was not that good, but it’s something that can be easily solved by taking some private lessons. To be honest Do-Ya, regardless of how much Park Min has improved, his acting seems to be worse than yours?”

Even though he was a fellow competitor today, Do-Ya from Village grinned after receiving a compliment from his friend that was sitting beside him.

The truth was that Park Min had nothing going for him except for his appearance, but he was no longer the same person he used to be. He had taken good care of himself, so he didn’t look like someone who was in his thirties from a glance. Still, his good looks couldn’t be compared to the vitality and youthful look that actors in their twenties had. One could learn a lot about things that mattered to an actor just by looking at Park Min.

“In fact, I’d rather be in the same group as Park Min. At the very least, I can destroy Park Min with just my acting skills. Today’s audition will be a success.”

Despite naysayers dissuading him from pursuing a futile dream, Do-Ya took up the challenge and auditioned for a role, which gave him the chance to break into the Hollywood scene. His character barely had a few lines to begin with, but many people thought the script was revised as he couldn’t act. It was extremely difficult to break preconceived notions about how idol-turned-actor celebrities were bad at acting.

Thus, even if Do-Ya didn’t get his desired outcome today, he wanted the judges who happened to be the major figures within the film industry, to acknowledge and recognize him as a good actor. At the very least, he wanted them to acknowledge that he was a better actor than Park Min.

“Next candidates, please standby. Number 257.”

“Here. I’m number 257.”

Do-Ya raised his hand and answered after hearing his number being called out by a staff member who was in-charge of the roll call.

“Number 258. Number 258, are you present?”

Regardless of how many times they called the next number after Do-Ya’s, there was no response. Thus, the staff member crossed out number 258 with a pen. There were surprisingly a lot of no-shows, especially for foreigners who had given up because of a conflict in their schedule.

“Number 259.”

When Do-Ya saw Park Min raising his hand abruptly after his number was called, a peculiar smile crept across his face. He even said a short prayer to thank the god that helped him. As they exchanged glances for a brief moment, the disregard for the other party, as well as relief, was apparent in their eyes. They both viewed each other as easy competition.

“Number 260.”

When the last number of the person in their group was called, Do-Ya and Park Min turned around and looked at the same time. After taking a look at the person who raised his hand after his number was called out, both of their faces contorted.

Only a few seconds had passed since Do-Ya said his prayer of gratitude, and now he had to plead with the god whom he prayed to. The three actors were escorted to the waiting room before entering the audition hall.

“Number 257, Mr. Yang Do-Ya.”

“Yes!”

“Pff!”

When Do-Ya’s legal name was called along with his number, Park Min couldn’t hold himself back and burst out laughing. Do-Ya glared at Park Min after his clear display of mockery. Park Min remained unfazed by Do-Ya’s glare, and responded when his name was called.

“Number 260, Mr. Chae Woo-Jin.”

“Yes.”

This time, Park Min became the one who was glaring at Chae Woo-Jin. For some reason, they seemed to have a dog-eat-dog relationship.

“Please come forward and pick one each.”

The staff member pointed to a box with a hole on top that was big enough for a hand to fit in. According to the explanation, L. Dmitri wrote three new scenes for the audition this time around. Each scene was numbered, and the actors would receive the script that corresponded with the number they picked, and they would be given ten minutes to memorize the script.

They were also told that if they were to pick the same number, they would be judged based on the same script. Do-Ya prayed that he would pick a different number from Chae Woo-Jin; he picked number three, while Park Min and Chae Woo-Jin both picked number one.

After seeing the outcome, Do-Ya smiled, while Park Min’s face stiffened. Meanwhile, Chae Woo-Jin sat still with an expressionless look.

Even before the battle started, tension was high in the air . They were each given exactly ten minutes to study the script that corresponded with the number they picked. Do-Ya had read Confession of White ten more times; he confidently flipped to the first page after receiving the script.

Even though the scripts were newly written, since the story was still the same as the original novel, Do-Ya expected himself to be able to memorize the lines without much difficulty, as the lines should have been similar.

“Oh?”

Do-Ya looked at the cover of the script and looked at its contents again. ‘Confession of White’ was clearly written on it, but the lines were totally unfamiliar. L. Dmitri didn’t write new scripts based on the book –– the contents were completely new. It was even more difficult because there were absolutely zero stage directions.

The script only contained the name and lines of the characters; Do-ya was flustered. It was difficult for him to comprehend the situation without understanding the context in addition to the lack of stage directions. However, reading the original novel did help as he could roughly guess the story.

“Ten minutes is up.”

As soon as time was up, the staff member promptly collected the scripts from the three of them. Since there were no stage directions, the lines were short. It was easy to memorize the script, but it was difficult to grasp Lloyd’s psychology and behavior. It was a big ask for them to understand the contents and memorize the lines in just ten minutes.

“You may enter.”

After their ten minutes was up, the previous group had finished their auditions. As soon as the staff member led them into the audition hall, they could see five judges waiting for them, apart from the staff member overseeing the auditions and the cameraman.

“We’ll start with number 257, Mr. Yang Do-Ya. Scene number three.”

Do-Ya was first based on numerical order . The clapperboard in front of his face slammed down before disappearing. It was suffocatingly quiet; while everyone’s gazes were on Do-Ya, he started portraying the Lloyd he had been studying.

{Huff puff!}

Do-Ya struggled as he gasped for air, as though he had been running non-stop. He wiped his dry lips, and his eyes gleamed when he raised his head. The glint in his eyes suggested he was an intelligent person. His eyes darted around and after confirming that nobody was chasing him, he heaved a sigh of relief.

{I gave you the happiness you wanted.}

Do-Ya lifted his fingers and looked at them at eye level. His long and slender fingers chose to paint instead of playing the piano. It was the hand that held a brush, instead of the hand that was pressing down on the piano keys. That was what his mother, or third adoptive mother to be precise, once wanted him to do. And he just painted a portrait of her with this hand.

{My mother always said I have to be a nice person when I grow up, but frankly, I don’t know what it’s like to be a nice person. So, why are you crying so much when I gave you what you always wanted?}

Do-Ya talked to himself and laughed maniacally. This scene depicted Lloyd’s first murder, which was not in the original version of Confession of White. The first person he ever murdered was his third adoptive mother.

Lloyd was a painter who made a living by painting portraits. His works were popular because of his dynamic and realistic painting style. As he became fairly well-known and famous, he received more and more requests from wealthy people to paint portraits. And he ended up crossing paths with his mother in one of these mansions.

Because of the sickly Lloyd’s hospital bills, she was in so much distress that she wanted to give him up for adoption. However, her plans fell through because her husband was adamantly against it. And then one day, as soon as her husband turned blind due to an accident, she couldn’t take it any longer and asked for a divorce. Just like that, his mother left the house, and ended up living happily in a luxurious mansion with an ugly husband with a belly, and children that looked as awful as him.

The moment she found out Lloyd was the painter who came to paint their family portrait, her trembling face was truly a sight to behold. However, in an elegant voice, she quickly pretended not to know who Lloyd was and turned a blind eye; she took care of her husband and children, and showed off how much of a happy family they were in front of Lloyd.

Lloyd’s complicated thoughts, and the act of him painting that scene before his eyes on the canvas wasn’t described in detail in the original novel –– it was merely glossed over with a few lines.

This time, Ilya took special care in writing this script for the audition. Only those who had a deep understanding of the novel could act it out naturally, so it was a great script to judge the actors with.

{Hahaha, it looks as though my hands are covered in red paint. What a relief.}

Lloyd looked down at his hands and laughed in a deep voice, sounding just like a beast.

Do-Ya took notice of Lloyd’s lunacy that was obvious after the murder, even though the latter was normally weak. He also highlighted that the character was smart enough to thoroughly clean up after the murder. Thus, Do-Ya’s version of Lloyd was a character that was an exquisite combination of cold rationality and lunacy. Do-Ya had managed to express the process of Lloyd’s killer instinct awakening, as well as how he fell into lunacy after murdering his adoptive mother, very well..

When Do-Ya finished acting out his part, the judges were busy evaluating his performance and gave him a score without saying a single word. It was a discouraging scene for the nervous Do-Ya, as he thought the judges would have asked him questions after he was finished.

He felt like it was a pity he didn’t get to put the answers he had ambitiously prepared beforehand, but he had to leave after being directed by the staff member. Nevertheless, in order to leave a good impression on the judges, Do-Ya bowed to each and every one of the five judges even when they weren’t looking. And then, one of the judges lifted his head and gave him a slight smile.

“Number 259, Mr. Park Min. Please get ready. Scene number one.”

After Do-Ya’s scene was over, Park Min’s name was called as he was next in line. Park Min had been sitting on the chair on the side while watching Do-Ya as he acted. With a confident look on his face, he stood in front of the clapperboard. As soon as he heard the sound of the clapperboard slamming, he opened his eyes.

Park Min and Chae Woo-Jin both picked scene number one. The scene was an event that happened earlier before Do-Ya’s scene, in which a moment of conflict arose between Lloyd and his adoptive mother when they met.

{How can you be smiling like that?}

People usually told Park Min that he had bad English pronunciation, but he was very different today. The first scene had the most lines, yet he memorized it entirely in ten minutes. He recited his lines smoothly and accurately.

Park Min portrayed Lloyd as a pitiful person who was tired of living. Previously, Do-Ya portrayed a cold and lunatic Lloyd. This time around, Park Min portrayed a pitiful and fragile man. Perhaps that was why one of the judges teared up while watching his performance.

As soon as Park Min had finished acting out his part, none of the judges asked any questions, just like what happened with Do-Ya. The judge that was wiping her tears away hesitated for a moment, but she quickly lowered her head and gave her evaluation.

“Next, number 260. Mr. Chae Woo-Jin. Scene number one.”

As soon as Park Min stepped down, the staff member called out Chae Woo-Jin’s number and name. Do-Ya and Park Min simultaneously thought that Chae Woo-Jin was a lucky person. Even though they were each given ten minutes to read the script, the extra time that was given why the previous person was acting couldn’t be disregarded. And since he could watch and refer to the other actors’ performances, they felt it was natural for the last person to act to have the biggest advantage.

Because of that, they couldn’t help but feel resentful towards applicant number 258 who was absent today, even if they didn’t know who it was. The two people had absolutely no idea that Woo-Jin was so busy worrying about his own acting that he didn’t have time to pay any attention to them. Unlike Woo-Jin, who ignored them earlier, the duo focused all their attention on him and watched him like a hawk as soon as he started acting.