“Today, there is a participant who will be auditioning for Director Kim Joon’s film. I couldn’t find the waiting room, so if anyone knows…”
The woman’s words trailed off. The reason was evident from her gaze.
“Oh, you’re Director Kim Joon? Right? Oh, what should I do… Hello. It’s truly an honor to meet you here. Since you’ll be judging the auditions, it’s even more of an honor for me.”
The round face instantly came to my mind.
“No, it’s not. Nice to meet you. Since you mentioned being an audition participant, we would have met soon anyway. I’m more honored to be in charge of the judging.”
In a situation that seemed not to be the first time, Jun smoothly greeted her with a warm smile, displaying no signs of awkwardness. She seemed to find it impressive as she responded with a faint smile.
“The waiting room for audition participants is on the upper floor. If you go straight to the right, there are stairs, so head in that direction.”
It was clear that she had hoped to hear this response when she grabbed the handle of the office glass door. However, once Myeongyi accurately conveyed the answer, a deep sense of regret flickered on her face. It felt like she was expressing a silent protest, wondering why Myeongyi didn’t answer right away.
“Well then, I’ll see you again soon.”
She drew a circle near the office door and quickly greeted us with her eyes, as if we had waited for her. After completing a full circle of greetings, she slowly moved towards the right. When she did, Jun turned to me as if he had been waiting.
“Writer, shall we go now? It might be somewhat refreshing for the judges to be late for once. I’m not sure if the other judges will think the same.”
In Jun’s voice, I could feel my gaze shifting from her, who had lingered around the office door handle, back to Jun.
“Huh? Oh, yes. Hyunsoo, Myeong-a, then we’ll go. If Jeongeun comes, tell her I went to the audition venue without being late today.”
Myeongyi waved goodbye, saying something about picking up a pretty actress like this writer, and Hyunsoo turned away, saying that if you judged by the live sync ratio, it would be impossible. They bid farewell to Jun and me. We walked to the audition venue on the same path as yesterday. Jun adjusted his steps to match mine, making our footsteps overlap.
In the corridor, with just the two of us, the sound of footsteps echoed loudly in my chest. In a small voice that seemed to easily lock away in the footsteps, I spoke.
A little while ago, thinking of that girl who resembled Doraemon from Jun, and the way you warmly greeted her also came to mind.
“You smiled so nicely at her.”
“…Huh?”
I deliberately raised my gaze that had been pressing against the floor. My eyes met Jun’s in an instant. Jun was making a face as if to say, ‘What did you just say?'”
With our eyes meeting, it was a silent and awkward moment that seemed to flow forward. Jun, as if he now understood what I meant, looked at me intently and started to smile.
“I’ll be careful.”
“No, I didn’t mean that you shouldn’t, just saying it’s like that.”
“I see, I know what you mean. Be careful.”
Immediately understanding the meaning and responding with a soothing tone as if to ask if it bothered me, Jun’s actions raised a bit of warmth on my cheeks.
“No… You’re teasing me again, aren’t you?”
“That too. Because you make such expressions, I feel like teasing you even more, didn’t I mention that before?”
Jun gently stroked my cheek with his palm and opened the door to the audition venue. I lifted my lips slightly, holding back a smile, and followed Jun inside.
“Oh, Director Kim. Oh, the writer came too.”
As soon as the door opened, Kang PD’s voice came flying through the crack like a doorbell. Jun’s and my heads bowed one after another in response to the welcoming words that came out in order.
Jun and I went to the seats next to Kang PD and Jin CEO, who were examining profile pictures. Jin CEO continued the conversation he had been having with Kang PD a while ago in a quiet manner.
“Today, the overall number of participants seems to have decreased compared to last time.”
Even so, everyone knew that the number of participants for this audition was unprecedented. With Jin CEO’s last words, a faint, amused laughter conveyed that it was mostly said as a joke.
Even though the number had decreased from yesterday, if they didn’t diligently proceed with the auditions, the number of participants was still too high to digest in a day.
As soon as Jun and I settled in, the auditions started a little earlier than the scheduled time.
All the judges constantly watched the actors’ performances. It felt like riding a train passing the scenery outside quickly. Thanks to that, I had one certainty.
Regardless of whether the number of auditioning actors was large or small, there was no guarantee that meeting actors who delivered ‘better’ performances would increase or decrease.
In this audition, we were looking for only two actors.
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
