Hobbyist VTuber

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“Why, why is my parents’ life worth less than your scratch!!”

There was no mistake in the lines.

I recited the phrase I’d practiced over and over again naturally, without a single stutter.

“Lady! Please!!”

Little Park Joo-ho’s desperate emotions were conveyed flawlessly.

The Kim Min-seong from the past captured the bleak emotions he’d rehearsed countless times today in a slightly more pronounced form for the cameras.

Across from me were the supporting actors playing Park Joo-ho’s two parents.

Except for the fact that their real parents’ faces were overlaid on those actors for greater immersion, there was no difference from the practice.

Yeah, certainly, the way they looked at young Kim Jung-hyun.

The pitiful struggle of trying to withstand the rough hands of the servants trying to pull Park Joo-ho away from Kim Jung-hyun.

Even the despairing expressions aimed at the near corpses of Park Joo-ho’s parents was all there.

“Ah, ahhh!!”

It shouldn’t have been much different from the practices at the acting academy.

-Beeep───!

Why is my ear so noisy?

‘…Oh…?’

Everything around me buzzed, and I couldn’t hear anything clearly.

The dizziness I’d noticed for a while now.

Whenever I saw Park Joo-ho’s lifeless parents slumped on the ground, something deep in my chest tightened painfully.

The real faces of his parents that I imagined for a more immersive performance of young Park Joo-ho wouldn’t fade away.

Kim Min-seong knew that this was all just filming.

He also understood that the scenes unfolding before him were not real but part of the act.

Yet, my reason was slowly fading.

The emotions I’d summoned to play young Park Joo-ho made my breaths gradually sharper.

The hazy view I was starting to see finally settled on the figure of Director Kwon Jae-hyup, who was shouting “Cut!” from afar.

Once Kim Min-seong realized that the take was over, he rushed to find a secluded spot.

If anyone noticed that my condition had suddenly worsened, it would definitely hinder the filming.

In the worst case, the role of young Park Joo-ho could be passed on to another child actor due to health reasons.

Above all, the weighty words that had been lingering in my mind since earlier.

The serious admonition from my mother to successfully complete my first debut as an actor.

“If I do well this time, I can keep acting in the future. Even if I’m a little nervous, I should bear it and act courageously.”

This made Kim Min-seong hide his true self.

Showing others such a sudden deterioration in my condition would undoubtedly have a negative impact on my future as an actor.

Kim Min-seong had to flawlessly portray young Park Joo-ho from the start to the end of the The Sunshine shoot.

No matter the circumstances, I couldn’t show any signs of immaturity.

As I continued to walk toward a secluded area, I ended up at a tiled-roof set.

Once I looked around and confirmed that no one was around, I let out the restrained groan that I’d been holding back.

“Ugh, uhh….”

Even though I was sitting still, the world began to spin.

The already agitated heartbeat showed no signs of calming down.

The image of my parents being beaten to death lingered in my mind.

Even knowing that the whip, which felt so intense, was merely a harmless prop for filming, I kept falling into the delusion that it hurt.

Tears dropped from the strange sensations I’d never felt before in my life.

Even as I bit my teeth to calm my mind, I couldn’t turn the gears of my reasoning back on.

How long had it been?

Perhaps the preparations for the next shoot had already been completed.

Shouldn’t I return to the filming site now?

Anxiety grew from the worries that I couldn’t calm down about anything.

Now I couldn’t even think properly about what to do.

Is that why?

“…Close your eyes. Breathe slowly.”

At some point, I heard a calm voice and found myself lifting my blurry gaze without realizing it.

Almost simultaneously, a soft hand gently began to cover Kim Min-seong’s eyes.

“Don’t worry about anything. You don’t need to care about anything….”

In this completely dark world, only the calm voice remained.

The voice continued to think and decide for Kim Min-seong.

In the end, I entrusted everything to the voice that came to me without thought.

The intertwined fingers were already there before I realized it.

The warmth of the hand that held Kim Min-seong’s trembling hands softly yet firmly began to give him a bit of stability.

Only when the breathing gradually slowed did that hand release.

The dark world began to regain its original light.

However, the sense of reality still didn’t return.

And rightly so.

“It’ll be okay. For sure.”

The one speaking in front of Kim Min-seong was Kim Jung-hyun.

Not as a young child like Kim Min-seong, but as Kim Jung-hyun, who deserved to be called “Lady.”

Soon, a gentle touch wiped away Kim Min-seong’s tears, and words escaped him.

The silent gaze that had been fixed on Kim Min-seong’s eyes soon spoke a kind of permission.

“It’s okay to be okay.”

Instead of being disappointed in himself or angry, the calm observation made Kim Min-seong tear up again.

There were so many things he wanted to ask and say, yet he lowered his head.

The difference from before was that what was gleaming in his eyes now were tears of relief.

This single difference allowed Kim Min-seong to gradually dispel what had been consuming him all this time.

It was quite a while before a cautious question about Kim Min-seong’s struggles emerged in his ears.

After hearing that it was okay not to say anything if he didn’t want to, Kim Min-seong began to share the reason he had been alone.

“My mom would worry if she saw me. I just thought I shouldn’t cry in front of others….”

In a cracking voice, he began to explain why he’d chosen to be alone.

Afterward, Ha-eun’s lips didn’t open until Kim Min-seong’s words completely finished.

Thus, only after Kim Min-seong had said everything he wanted did the voice start to speak again, asking just two things.

“I personally think it would be good if you went home and rested now. Don’t you want to go home?”

“…Yes. There are still scenes left to shoot.”

“Then, really… is it okay to go back like this?”

“Yes.”

And so, the moment Ha-eun realized Kim Min-seong’s will was firm.

After a moment of silent contemplation, she gave her first and last ‘instruction’ as a senior to her junior actor.

“When it’s tough, don’t run away to a secluded place, go to the nearest adult. No matter what.”

“But, I’ll get scolded….”

“No one will scold you for this, Min-seong. It’s not even something to be scolded about. What adult scolds you for being troubled….”

Was the slightly choked voice a brief illusion?

Kim Min-seong quickly nodded at Ha-eun’s shadowy face he had seen for the first time and stated he would follow her advice.

It was afterward that Ha-eun, who had been facing Kim Min-seong while bent over, finally straightened her body.

After a moment of hesitation, as Ha-eun extended her hand again, Kim Min-seong hesitated for a bit but ultimately grabbed her hand again.

Thus, they walked back along the path that Kim Min-seong had just come alone, side by side with Ha-eun.

Finally, they returned to the busy filming site.

“Please, please save me, Lady. If I go back to that house, I will die…!”

I managed to finish the filming scene where young Park Joo-ho hides in a missionary’s house to escape the persecution he faced.

Fortunately, unlike during the first shoot, my condition didn’t suddenly deteriorate.

It was later that I locked eyes with Ha-eun, who was still at the filming site, watching Kim Min-seong’s acting.

Soon, Ha-eun approached Kim Min-seong again.

“…Good job.”

She patted Kim Min-seong’s shoulder for just a moment and handed him a small pack of banana milk.

Afterward, Kim Min-seong found himself saying “thank you” for the banana milk he unknowingly received from Ha-eun.

And then.

“Can I watch you act, senior? My acting academy teacher said it would be a lesson to watch you act….”

Just as Ha-eun had watched Kim Min-seong’s performance until just now, Kim Min-seong asked if he could watch Ha-eun act as well.

Ha-eun nodded without a moment’s hesitation, replying that it was fine.

Not long after, Ha-eun’s first scene finally began.

The scene that reveals what kind of character Kim Jung-hyun, the heroine of The Sunshine, is started to be captured by the camera.

However, for Kim Min-seong.

“Oh dear, Miss. If the lord finds out you’re reading foreign texts, there will be a great uproar!”

“Is there a separate study for the Yangban and the Joseon people? It’s said that a person learns from another; why is there such a fuss?”

The awkwardness was as non-existent as a grain of sand.

Ha-eun’s performance was a kind of goal for him.

“I might have no hesitation in teaching this alphabet to the nanny. Does the nanny have any meaning?”

Kim Min-seong gazed intently at Ha-eun, who cast a gentle glance at the supporting actress playing Kim Jung-hyun’s nanny.

He dreamed of one day being able to perform like the acting Ha-eun was doing over there.