CH13

A terrible day that continuously talked about the nationwide shooting spree as Christmas news.

Even Santa wouldn't glance at the back alley Ian ran through like mad.

"Heave… Huff."

He kept running despite breathing hard as if he was going to vomit blood, with the sound of footsteps and shouting clinging to him like shadows.

It was just bad luck during a time when discrimination against Asians was severe, including encountering a high wall blocking the alley.

"Bullshit!"

It was a dead end.

The menacing approach of the annoying faces left no room for thought.

He powerfully kicked off the ground, grabbed onto a protruding part of the side wall, felt the weight on each finger joint, and then kicked off the wall to hang onto the opposite wall.

Climbing a wall difficult to ascend in one go, a move called "Cat to Cat."

Using the recoil from pulling himself up with his arms one last time, he grabbed the end of the high wall he faced.

Successfully executing a "Dyno" and getting on top of the wall, he saw the person chasing him pulling out a metal object from his pocket.

Thud-

As Ian rolled over the wall and crashed into a pile of trash, someone grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

The homeless man who helped him stand on his limping legs roughly stroked his head and said,

"Turns out, learning parkour can come in handy, huh? You escaped well."

The reason this old memory comes to mind now is probably…

'Because what I learned then was a big help during this audition.'

Ian flipped through a rather thick pile of documents.

What would kids understand? 

The thought naturally came to him seeing the professional terms mixed into the participation contract.

"Thanks to Mr. Roberts, I was able to have a good meal."

"Why make a big deal out of something like this?"

Ben humbled himself in response to Chloe's gratitude.

It was a gathering Ben organized to celebrate the confirmation of a drama role, and although his parents and grandmother were unfamiliar with the expensive course meals, they were extremely satisfied.

Inviting Rachel and Ayla under the guise of friendship was just a cute level of greed.

Ben sat down next to Ian, who was focused on the documents regardless of the conversations around him.

"Do you see anything from looking at it like that? Should I introduce you to an agent to review the contract?"

"It's a standard contract anyway. Acosta Casting isn't dumb enough to hand over a scam contract to a child actor."

Besides, with years spent in Hollywood, there was no way he couldn't properly understand even a thick contract.

He carefully checked it just in case, but it was a clean contract with no problems.

Ben, who was immediately rejected without a chance to argue, poked Ian in the side and whispered,

"I'm sorry about the incident at the party, okay? You're not still upset, are you?"

"Who said I was upset? I really don't need it, that's all."

As if he were really treating him like a child.

With a mischievous smile, Ben took the contract and joked,

"Even if there's nothing wrong with the contract, it's still good to have an agent. Didn't they speak highly of you? It's the agent's job to negotiate a higher fee at times like this!"

Ben, thinking Ian, who knew the ways of the world, would react to the mention of a fee, had to face a nonchalant expression.

"I've already been offered enough, so there's no need to be greedy."

"Ha, how much are they offering you."

Flipping through the contract, Ben was startled when he saw the payment section.

"$30,000 per episode? An additional $1,000 for performing in another language?"

"Is that okay?"

The salary was incredibly high for a newcomer with no experience at all. To be greedy here would almost be excessive.

He was not sure how important the role is, but the producer's determination to not let it slip away was evident in the contract.

"What exactly did you do there to get such a contract? Did you seduce the producer or something?"

"Well, all I did was climb a wall."

He doesn't know about seducing, but the producer seemed a bit crazy, constantly clapping and overusing the word 'good' at the sight of him climbing the wall.

'It's a bit unsettling that I don't remember this drama.'

It might have been during a time when he was in the intensive care unit or moving to an abusive foster home, so he might not have seen it, but it was quite a big drama.

He thought he might have seen it during his acting career, but he doesn't remember it at all.

'Worrying about it now won't give me the answer.'

The drama could have been so uninteresting that it got canceled midway.

"What about the work permit?"

To act as a child actor in the United States, you need a work permit, which requires a birth certificate, satisfactory school attendance and grades, and a health certificate.

Ian smiled broadly at Ben, who seemed to hope there was a problem.

"My school grades were so good that it was easy to get issued."

It was doubtful if this was really his first attempt at child acting, as there was no room for intervention, and Ben looked disgusted.

He had thought he didn't seem like a kid since he first saw him, but there was nothing immature about him.

"Ian."

"Yes?"

After the fierce debate with Ben ended, Rachel, who had been shyly clinging to her mom, asked with sparkling eyes,

"What does it mean to act in other languages? Do you know languages other than English?"

"A bit of this and that. Oh, I guess I haven't told you about this."

Ian borrowed a phone from Dylan and went on YouTube.

Entering a channel with the simple name of "Pryce's Room," Ian's face appeared.

"Ta-da, please subscribe and like."

"Wow! What's this?"

"It's a video I shot myself. Right now, I'm only teaching Korean, but I'll add other languages later."

When the first video started, it was Ian explaining the consonants and vowels of Korean.

Watching the two kids, Ayla chuckled softly as she found it amusing to see Ian teaching, with their grandmother Sophia seated in front of them.

"It's impressive that you've already shot something like this, isn't it?"

"Yes!"

Rachel tugged at Ayla's clothes a few times and whispered,

"I want to try YouTube too."

"Really?"

Ayla was truly surprised. 

She hadn't expected Rachel, who was very shy, to say something like that.

Especially on YouTube, where many people would watch.

"Not this, but singing."

"Really? Then, shall we do it with mom?"

It would be a golden opportunity for anyone else, but Rachel gently shook her head.

"…I want to do it with Ian."

Ayla looked at Ian, asking with her eyes if it was possible, and Ian nodded graciously.

He could join them anytime there was no shooting.

Ian looked at the script placed next to the stack of contracts.

Shooting the poster for "Invisible Children" and doing the script reading was the start of the official filming, unlike the "Sucker Punch" set where he was merely a spectator. 

It was a step towards becoming a real actor, filled with excitement.

He smiled brightly with excitement.

***

His hair was disheveled, and Ian's face, covered in dirty, rag-like clothes, was smeared with black makeup.

"Ha-ha, suits you well!"

Now, who should be saying that?

Ian shook his head as he watched the lively laughing children in the dressing room cum waiting area.

Even the kids running around in a homeless shelter looked better than this, yet they found it fun to bounce around.

"Alright, the called kids come over here. Henry, Owen, Carter…"

The children called out for the poster shooting left.

In the drama, the children belonged to various survivor groups and were leaving together by groups, leaving Ian alone in the waiting room soon after.

A staff member called Ian, was frequently looking over his well-worn script.

"Sorry, did you wait too long?"

"No, it's my turn, right?"

It was evident from the staff's face that managing kids for a poster shoot wasn't easy.

Upon reaching the shooting set, Ian saw children positioning themselves for the last bits of shooting.

"Is this how it should be?"

"Could you pretend there's a scary zombie over there?"

Acting in front of a green chroma key seemed awkward.

Even adult actors struggled to act imagining the CGI that would be added later. 

Doubts about pursuing acting crept in.

The photographer, scratching his head in dissatisfaction, prompted Ian to move subtly.

"Huh?"

"Watch this, kids."

He stiffened his shoulders and turned his toes inward.

A grotesquely twisted mannequin-like stance.

Ian arched his back like a bow, flashed his eyes wide open, and screamed towards the children gulping down their saliva.

"Kyaaaak!"

"Aaah?!"

Click!

The children's screams of surprise mixed with the shutter sound.

"Good job! That expression was perfect! Like you're about to be bitten by a real zombie?"

Jokes and laughter erupted from all sides, and the photographer gave Ian a thumbs-up.

Being a zombie was a familiar act for Ian, who had spent a significant part of his acting career in such roles.

"It was really scary. You could've warned us!"

"Yeah! Just wait, we'll get our revenge someday!"

"Come on, be thankful the shoot ended quickly. What do you say?"

Ignoring the children's complaints, Ian stood in front of the photographer.

"Let's see how well you can do other than just being a zombie."

"Anytime."

A woman watching Ian under the bright lights asked the assistant director, "That's the kid, right? The one the producer was making a fuss about."

"Yes, that's him."

"He indeed has the talent, just like in the videos. Perfect for the role of Noah."

The head writer, who unifies the tone and story across various episodes written by multiple writers, along with having the final say in hiring, editing, music, and post-production effects in drama production, is the showrunner.

Such a showrunner, Caitlin Nelson, internally gave her approval.

"The producer and casting director didn't make him pass first without reason."

Even just by looking at the poster shoot, it was evident. 

The detail was different from the child actors who had shot before.

"See how the leg is slightly bent? That usually happens when you're overpowering someone bigger than yourself."

Filling in the gaps for CGI was a marvel in itself, how to make it seem as if the CGI parts were actually there.

"Let's try acting out an angry scene last. Just grab the pole prepared over there and shoot."

"Should I make a face as if I'm about to kill someone?"

"Yes!"

Ian swung a steel pipe, sharpened like a spear, a few times before opening his eyes. 

His metallic black eyes flowed with a chilling coldness and a sinister feeling as if he had experienced numerous deaths, harboring a cold sneer that seemed ready to gouge out throats at any moment. 

The playful face seen moments ago seemed to have been erased from everyone's memory, painted over with ink. 

The sense of precariousness and strength in his posture was magnetically compelling.

"…Our main poster is that one."

With the click of the shutter, the showrunner's comment spread across the set.

***

In front of the old store named Price's Diner, a line stretched out. 

This place, drawing a crowd unlike the other surrounding stores, caught the attention of a group of Asians.

"Is this the place, PD? The one that was even on the news?"

"Yes, that's the one. It's still all over the internet, you know."

The reason why a potato hot dog unexpectedly found its way onto a national pride poster, featuring kimchi and sports stars, was this very store. 

Though it had been several months, a photo of Ben Roberts eating a corn dog was still circulating online.

"More than that, it's definitely different here. In our country, there would have been a row of hot dog shops by now."

"And then a hot dog street would have been born?"

To the main writer's question, the PD shrugged and continued.

"Doing that here might get you shot, you know. In big American stores, they don't even catch shoplifters because they're afraid of getting shot."

Blatant theft was often unchecked by security in the U.S., fearing the consequence of confronting an armed thief. 

With this thought, the joke seemed to carry an underlying truth.

"Whether it's a hot dog street or whatever, I just hope we get the permission."

The PD glanced at the photo on his phone – a boy handing a hot dog to Hollywood star Ben Roberts. 

Securing this boy as a guest was essential for the upcoming reality show shoot.

TL/n - 

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