Chapter 97

97. Siwoo, Standing at the Lectern

Slap—

Siwoo was honestly taken aback.

‘I didn’t expect such a crisp sound…’

He thought about creating a short scene where he would place his hand on the monster’s head a bit firmly and a bit coolly, casting a spell.

In the middle of the Harrywatt series, there’s an episode where Evan carelessly touches a monster and gets bitten, leading to a poisoning incident. Siwoo wanted to give a taste of Evan’s reckless moments that occasionally pop up.

Siwoo saw a male actor squatting in a pose like a green frog in front of him.

The actor, with Siwoo’s hand on his bald head, rolled his eyes and asked, “What’s this hand for?”

“Grrr?”

Siwoo, mimicking the way animal behavior experts give commands on TV, spoke in a strong tone.

“Puppy Force!”

It was a transformation spell that would turn the target into a cute puppy.

According to the setting, the monster that popped out to Evan had terrifying blue light shooting from its eyes and flames flickering from its mouth every time it breathed, acting as a guard dog for the entrance to the dark world, but in its puppy version.

Even as a puppy, it was smaller than other large monsters but still bigger than young Evan.

The adult version was as big as a bull.

As the male actor, who understood Siwoo’s spell, was contemplating whether to act as a puppy, Siwoo continued his performance.

“Puppy Force! Puppy Force~ Puppy Force… Professor~ Why isn’t it working?”

Siwoo looked at the judges with a bewildered expression and said,

“…Is it already a puppy? Huh~ That’s a lie…”

Some of the judges, seeing Siwoo’s blank expression, covered their mouths and chuckled quietly.

Siwoo, who had subtly removed his hand from the bald actor’s head, looked down at him like a primary school student reluctantly trying to make up with a friend.

The male actor, looking up at Siwoo, thought, ‘This kid seems more like Evan than the Evan in the novel,’ and screamed again.

“Kwaaaaaah-!”

Everyone felt it.

The timing for the short ad-lib to end and return to the script.

As expected, Siwoo’s lines from the script flowed naturally from his mouth.

“Aaaaaah! Why! Did I do something to hurt you? Why are you angry as soon as we meet! It was Professor Staubver who called you!”

Siwoo ran to a corner of the audition room and shouted to the judges.

“Professor! This monster has a really bad temper!”

The bald actor, as if trying to show that even a puppy from the dark world is different, barked and chased Siwoo with fiery eyes.

“Grrr! Grrr! Grrr!”

Siwoo, who was comically being chased, regained his senses from the laughter of the other children in the class and cast another spell.

“Redius!”

It was a spell to reduce size.

The bald actor acted out the scene of his body curling up and shrinking.

Siwoo patted his palm and smiled confidently.

“Thinking about it~ Even if I can’t turn it into a puppy, I can make it smaller! How about it? Now, with me….”

“Kwaaaaaah!”

“Aaaaah!”

It didn’t get smaller.

The director, delighted to have found an excellent Evan, read the final line of the script as a bonus.

“Haha~ Evan! You should have practiced magic more often! Okay, cut!”

The judges all applauded Siwoo.

* * *

The number of articles pouring in was incomparable to anything before.

Siwoo, who had exploded in popularity through In the Name of God, successfully debuted as the lead in Sea Eye, seemingly reaching the pinnacle at a young age.

At least in terms of popularity, it seemed there was nowhere higher for a child actor to go, causing a sensation.

However…

Siwoo surpassed expectations, breaking through the ceiling and flying into the sky.

Comments were piling up by the second, just like the endless articles.

– Oh my god!

– I cried and laughed while watching Sea Eye last year… It’s really unbelievable… Harrywatt… wow wow wow wow wow

– If he just acts well, this kid is already a top-tier star. If you take away the Joel protagonist buff, Evan is practically one of the two most popular characters in Harrywatt alongside Alice.

– I’m so happy as an Evan fan in Harrywatt and a Siwoo fan since The King’s Path… I’m just crying… ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Really, it’s like a dream… ㅠㅠㅠ

– Lucy Rylance, who played Alice, and Siwoo were in XOXO together. They were so cute, and it’s exciting to see them together again. I don’t know who the other two kids are, but the one playing Bill is handsome. Siwoo and he are like the representative young handsome boys of the East and West~ ㅎㅎㅎ

– I live in Anaheim, and Koreans here are going crazy. The American girls at my school even asked me who Siwoo is… I’ve been a loner, but suddenly I’m popular because I’m Korean… ㅋㅋㅋ

– Even if your English is a bit lacking, you can do well with the acting skills you showed in Sea Eye. The ending scene where you became sea foam was really touching. I’ll cheer for you! Don’t be intimidated and do your best in America!

Siwoo was browsing through internet articles and comments on his mother’s phone.

In the past, he would secretly play with his mother’s phone in the early morning, but now he was sitting on the sofa, touching the phone with his mother’s permission.

Papapap.

Siwoo’s fingers moved quickly.

Search.

Search.

Siwoo searched for the works he had appeared in after a long time.

Various stories were still being posted by fans.

A blog post caught his eye.

When Siwoo pressed it, the post unfolded.

First, actor Ryu Seung-hyun, who turned twenty this year! I’ve been watching him since he was a little kid, and finally, he’s an adult this year! What a moment! ㅠ.ㅠ I hope he will be more active now that he’s an adult… but… he announced that he will go to the military next year. (Kukuk!) It’s sad, but I hope he comes back healthy. The last work of his teenage years, a drama that aired at the end of last year….

While thinking that the blogger’s tone sounded like a radio DJ, Siyun ran across the living room to the sofa.

Step step step step—

Siwoo put down his phone and called out,

“Slowly~! You’ll get hurt if you fall.”

Siyun slowed down at his brother’s words.

Step… step….

Siyun’s wide eyes and cautious steps made Siwoo laugh.

After watching his mother do laundry in the bedroom, Siyun came out to find his brother. When Siwoo laughed, Siyun ran and stuck to the sofa.

Siwoo helped Siyun, who was struggling to climb onto the sofa, and lifted him up.

Siyun forced his body into Siwoo’s narrow embrace and held out the item in his hand.

“Brother~ Drone~ Drone~”

“Drone?”

“Yup! This is~”

Seeing Siyun call out “drone” while handing over the TV remote, Siwoo tilted his head and then realized.

“Drone?”

“Yup!”

“Okay~ I’ll do it~”

“E~”

“What a cute kid. But why did you bring the TV remote? Ah, Siyun. This isn’t a drone remote. It’s for the TV! TV!”

“…? No~ Drone~! Drone~!”

“Uh, uh.”

While making sure Siyun didn’t fall off the sofa, Siwoo checked where his mother was and called Boksil.

“Boksil, can you bring the drone remote?”

Boksil, who was playing hide and seek with Nero, ran to the living room cabinet.

Boksil tried to open the drawer but couldn’t, so he called Nero.

– Woof!

Nero, with an annoyed look, approached, bent his front paws like hooks, and skillfully inserted them under the cabinet to open the drawer.

Then Nero calmly disappeared behind the TV.

Boksil, who jumped into the drawer, came out with the small drone controller in his mouth.

While Boksil was fetching the drone remote, Siwoo was flipping through TV channels.

‘Right. Uncle Tae Woo said to watch a variety show at home yesterday.’

Siwoo spoke to the TV remote.

“Find it for me, unknown brother~”

The AI speaker next to the TV responded.

Snap!

A black object shot up from behind the TV.

Startled by the sudden AI speaker’s voice, Nero jumped like a bouncy ball and landed loudly on the floor.

Papapapap!

Nero, with his pumpkin-colored eyes wide open as if he had seen a ghost, started running with incredible power.

“…He’s really energetic.”

Siwoo gave the drone remote to Siyun and turned on the variety show.

A password prompt appeared.

“12 years old. Ah, that’s why Uncle Tae Woo said to watch it with Mom. I’ll watch it later.”

Siwoo placed his hand on top of Siyun’s, who was holding the drone remote tightly, and switched the remote to ON.

The mini drone on the display shelf took off powerfully.

“Brother~ Drone!”

Siwoo held the drone remote with Siyun, making it feel like Siyun was controlling it. Siyun, leaning on Siwoo, watched the drone flying in the air and smiled happily.

* * *

“By the way, Siwoo.”

“Yeah?”

“It seems that whenever this brother posts something on SNS, we end up on a variety show together.”

“Hii~”

“It would have been nice if Seung-hyun was here too.”

“Brother Seung-hyun is in London~”

“Right. He’s probably busy with photo shoots in London. It would be nice to do a complete three-person variety show again someday.”

Siwoo and Junyoung were sitting in the waiting room, eating banana kicks and competing to see who could eat faster.

“Puhap!”

Junyoung laughed at Siwoo, whose mouth was full of cookie crumbs.

“…?”

“Come here.”

Junyoung, receiving a tissue from the manager, wiped Siwoo’s mouth, who was looking confused.

At that moment, the waiting room door opened.

A staff member came to find Siwoo and Junyoung.

“Now it’s time to go out. Wait in front of the lecture room, and when we give the signal, please come in.”

“Yes, sir.”

Junyoung, who answered in perfect English, held Siwoo’s hand and went to the back of the set.

The lecture room was bustling.

Laughter could be heard intermittently.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been on a variety show, so I’m a bit nervous.”

Siwoo poked Junyoung’s leg and said.

“Brother~ Just believe in me~”

“Huh? Haha. Okay. I got it.”

Junyoung patted the cute Siwoo’s head.

The staff gave the signal.

Junyoung pushed the door open with a bang.

Siwoo and Junyoung entered the lecture room.

Siwoo, dressed in skinny jeans, a clean two-tone shirt, and a navy cardigan, trying to recreate a professor’s look, climbed onto a step-shaped platform in front of the lectern.

As Siwoo’s height increased, the view beyond the lectern came into full view.

Although the faces of the six students sitting in their seats didn’t look like college students, they were stubbornly claiming to be college students and looking at the new professor.

Siwoo tapped the lectern with his palm.

“Quiet, quiet—!”

Siwoo, with his hands on his hips, put on a stern expression and said,

“Do you know who I am?”

Oh.