After taking care of the pressing matter, I stepped back into the conference room, only to find a peculiar atmosphere that wasn’t there before.

Everyone’s expressions had changed.

They all looked at me with friendly eyes now.

Except for one person….

The person who glared at me before, still had an unpleasant expression. He just stared at the floor, lost in thought.

‘Did something happen while I was away?’

“Ahem! If you’re back, take your seat quickly.”

“Yes, understood.”

As soon as I sat down, Director Lee Hansol spoke again.

“Is everyone in agreement now?”

“Haha! We’ve always believed in you, Director.”

“Of course. Where did you even find such a rookie?”

Did something happen while I briefly took Yuna to the restroom? I glanced at Yu Seol-hwa and mouthed my question.

‘What happened?’

She just smiled and gave a small shrug.

‘I’ll have to ask her later….’

I opened the script and observed the room.

We had stopped halfway through.

‘Should we start from here?’

Just as I was about to resume the acting, the director cleared his throat.

“Let’s sync up now.”

Wait, hold on.

I only said one line, and that’s it?

Do I not need to show more?

The director nodded towards a man behind the cast. The young man hurriedly began to speak.

“On a bright spring day, voices can be heard inside a bright red street food stall.”

As he quietly narrated, Yu Seol-hwa, the lead actress, began her performance.

“How did this customer eat to spill everything on the floor? Hey! Stop spilling and eat properly!”

Now the script reading had properly started.

Midway through, it was my turn.

I quickly snapped back to focus and delivered my lines, matching the senior actors.

The only thing I can do now is.

Make sure they fully recognize me.

“Do you think my words are a joke? Huh?”

As I finished my last line, the director raised his hand.

“Let’s stop there…. The first scene seems good. Now, let’s move to scene 15 of Act 2.”

Following Director Lee Hansol’s instructions, everyone turned the pages of their scripts.

And then, the acting began immediately.

“Sis! Stop cursing! No wonder we have no customers!”

“Do you think I curse because I want to? It’s because of these damn customers. Damn! If you mess with me, you’ll get it.”

“Geez, fighting again. Just focus on cleaning up!”

“Mom! Sis is hitting me again!”

“Lee Seok-gu! You little…!”

Yu Seol-hwa, playing the sister, Yoon Mijeong as the mother, and Shin Dong-hyun as the younger brother.

Their family dialogue flowed seamlessly.

They emphasized their lines with a knack for comedic timing, like seasoned actors.

I quietly watched their performance, nodding slightly.

‘They’re all really good actors.’

I need to do my best too.

Inspired by their excellent performances, I steeled my resolve.

“Let’s stop here. Now, it’s time for….”

And then my turn came again.

“This will only make things worse for you.”

“Worse for you!”

At first, I recited my lines.

Then, Yuna followed immediately.

Yuna’s innocent demeanor perfectly matched her character in the script.

Could Yuna have a talent for acting too?

Speaking confidently in front of many people was quite impressive.

“The father and daughter step outside the street food stall.”

With this short narration, the rookie actor Shin Dong-hyun began to speak.

“Sis….”

Shin Dong-hyun’s voice lacked energy.

“I told you not to go near that thug.”

Is that supposed to be acting?

There was no trace of worry in his voice, as if he wasn’t concerned about his sister potentially getting involved with a gangster.

It seemed to be due to the changed script.

“Sigh….”

The director’s deep sigh made Shin Dong-hyun flinch. His face darkened, looking pitifully dejected.

“I’m, I’m sorry. It’s hard to capture the emotion because of the revised script….”

Oh, that’s not good.

Director Lee Hansol hates excuses the most.

Look at Director Lee Hansol now.

“Every actor here is in the same situation. Are you just going to make excuses? And the person most affected by this isn’t you, but actress Yu Seol-hwa.”

As expected, Shin Dong-hyun received a harsh scolding from Director Lee.

“Actor Lee Jun-seo is doing well despite being new…. So what exactly is Shin Dong-hyun doing?”

“……”

After being compared to me, Shin Dong-hyun’s expression grew even darker.

I guess the director is trying to provoke him to bring out a better performance. It’s best if I stay out of this and just watch for now….

“…Let’s move on to the next scene.”

We resumed the reading, but Shin Dong-hyun still struggled to convey emotions in his lines.

Eventually, Director Lee couldn’t hold back and slammed the table forcefully.

“Sigh….”

Shin Dong-hyun looked even more dejected.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

“……”

The director didn’t even glance at the bowed Shin Dong-hyun.

The atmosphere grew heavy.

“Appa….”

Yuna burrowed into my arms.

She seemed frightened by the tense environment.

“It’s okay. Appa’s here.”

“Okay….”

“…Let’s take a short break.”

“Good work, everyone.”

“Thank you for your efforts.”

As the director left the room, the senior actors, who had been watching quietly, gathered around me.

Yoon Mijeong was the first to ask a question.

“Rookie? Your real name is Lee Jun-seo, right?”

“Yes, I work under my real name.”

“And what’s your daughter’s name?”

“I’m Yuna!”

“Yuna, remember what Appa said? You forgot to address her as ‘senior.'”

“Haha! No need to be so formal. Yuna, you can call me ‘unnie.'”

“Oh, do you really want to be called ‘unnie’ at your age? Yuna, isn’t she more like an ‘auntie’?”

“What do you mean ‘unnie’? More like ‘aunt,’ if anything.”

How come everyone in this production has such similar personalities? Besides Yoon Mijeong, the other actors were also quite senior.

The youngest ones here were Yuna and me.

And the rookie actor Shin Dong-hyun.

Yet, everyone here was eager to be called ‘oppa’ or ‘unnie’ by Yuna.

“By the way, how old are you, Jun-seo?”

In response to Yoon Mijeong’s question, I scratched the back of my head and answered.

“I’m… twenty-five. Yuna is five.”

“When did you start acting?”

Her relentless questions made me uneasy.

“Well… I practiced by myself at home.”

“Appa, lying is bad.”

Yuna, who had been sitting quietly, frowned at me.

“Yuna, lying? Did Appa lie? Do you want to tell this unnie the truth?”

In response to Yoon Mijeong’s question, Yuna chewed her lips and answered.

“Appa used to just lie around the house all the time. He didn’t even play with me…. But now he plays with me a lot.”

“Hmm, really? So, should unnie scold Appa for that?”

Yuna shook her head vigorously.

“Appa is really great now! He plays with me, buys me clothes. And also….”

In the midst of the cheerful atmosphere, I felt a lingering gaze. Shin Dong-hyun, who had been sitting in the corner, nervously walked up to me.

“…Where did you learn to act?”

“I haven’t learned it anywhere.”

There was no need to be polite to someone who was speaking informally from the start.

“Don’t lie. How can I improve my acting skills like you?”

“I’m serious. And I don’t know.”

“Are you saying you can’t teach me… How should I practice and study to improve my acting like you? Is it a lack of research? Then….”

Shin Dong-hyun muttered to himself, moving his lips silently. It was somewhat intimidating.

Just as I tried to distance myself a bit, Yu Seol-hwa whispered quietly in my ear.

“That guy’s always like that.”

“Really? So always been weird… ahem!”

“Hehe. He’s a bit odd, but he’s got a good heart, so don’t dislike him. He always works hard because he thinks his acting skills aren’t good enough.”

Other senior actors began to defend Shin Dong-hyun as well.

“He just wastes his energy for nothing.”

“He’s a strange but fun little brother.”

In that case, I couldn’t honestly dislike him.

“He’ll go on forever. Shall we go out?”

“How about we chat over some coffee?”

“Sure….”

We left the conference room to avoid Shin Dong-hyun, who was still muttering to himself.

***

The script reading was truly enjoyable.

I even gained an unexpected motivation.

“Hehe. I had so much fun with Appa today. Can we play like this again next time?”

“Sure. Next time, we’ll play like this in front of the camera.”

“Wow!”

“Yuna? Where did I say we’re going now?”

“To a place full of toys!”

While chatting with the seniors, I ended up admitting that our home didn’t have any toys for Yuna.

I had thrown away all the old, broken toys while cleaning up.

As a result, I received stern looks and department store gift cards from the seniors.

They insisted that toys were essential for children.

They also asked me to send a video of Yuna playing with the toys…

For some reason, I sensed a bit of personal agenda from the seniors who were pushing me forward.

Well, thanks to that, I ended up getting the contact information of the entire cast of this project, so I guess that’s a stroke of luck?

Before long, we arrived at the department store and went inside.

“I want to ride it! I want to ride it!”

“Hey! If you keep this up, we’ll leave you behind.”

“I want to ride it! Waaah!”

Seeing a child sprawled on the floor, rolling around and crying, I put my hand to my forehead.

What if Yuna starts copying that behavior? I glanced at Yuna.

Thankfully, she was looking at a large, cute rabbit doll.

“Appa! The big rabbit is moving!”

“There’s a person inside it.”

Yuna was startled by my answer.

“The rabbit ate someone? No way!”

She quickly stood in front of me, blocking my path, her legs trembling like aspen leaves, clearly scared.

Did she misunderstand me?

“Haha! Are you protecting Appa?”

“Y-Yes! Yuna will protect you!”

Every action she took was utterly adorable.

I picked her up and gently placed her in the shopping cart.

“That rabbit isn’t scary as long as you don’t bother it. So, let’s go buy some toys with Appa.”

Finally, Yuna stopped trembling.

“R-Really?”

“Appa never lies.”

“But you did earlier.”

The saying, “You’re cute when you’re mute,” suddenly came to mind. It seemed quite fitting for the moment.

“Don’t you want to buy toys?”

Yuna vigorously shook her head, covering her mouth with her small hands. She clearly wanted the toys.

How could I not adore her?

“Alright, shall we go?”

“Yes!”

As we entered the toy store, a female employee in a suit approached us.

“Is there anything you’re looking for?”

“I’m here to buy some toys for my daughter. Do you know which toys are popular these days?”

Usually, I would find having an employee hovering around annoying and send them away, but since I knew nothing about toys, I needed her advice.

“I’d like to purchase within the value of this gift card. Is that okay?”

A whopping 500,000 won worth of gift card. No matter how expensive the toys were, I thought there wouldn’t be anything I couldn’t buy with this money.

“Just a moment. This gift card… Oh!”

The expression on the employee’s face, which had been maintaining a professional smile, changed in an instant.

‘Can’t it be used here?’

Thinking that I might have come to the wrong place, I cautiously called the employee.

“Why is that? Can’t it be used here?”

“Oh! No, sir.”

She waved her hand dismissively.

Returning to her original expression, she showed an even more confident attitude than before.

“Let me guide you to the right place.”