Rebirth: King to Superstar

Joon-won got back into the room and closed the door before he jumped onto the bed. He wanted to take a quick, peaceful nap before anything, so he did exactly that. He didn't forget to silence his phone too for that. The wonderful sleep went on for 2 hours as he woke up due to hunger. So he used the hotel landline and asked the people to send him some food.

After that, he took out the script once again and practiced. He already was good after the morning practice, but some more wouldn't hurt him. As he went through the script a couple of times, the food he asked for came and he went right into it. He wasted no time as the guy who brought it told it was actually local snacks and Joon-won was always up for trying new food.

Only after finishing the snacks did he check the phone for any messages and, as he expected, there were a few from Yun-hee and Jung-hwa regarding the replies he sent earlier. He didn't have the energy to talk with both of them so he just kept the phone aside. 

As soon as he did, his phone rang, and it was actually from Min-Seok. Joon-won contemplated for a second if he should accept the call or not as it might be Yun-hee who was actually calling him. But ultimately he just answered the phone and unlike what he expected, it was actually Min-Seok on the other side. 

"Joon-won, what are you doing? How is the weather there? I couldn't call you after we talked in the morning because I got busy. Are you ok?" 

"Yes, I am completely fine. It's ok if you don't have time to call. You still have a job to go to. Did you just reach home?" As he sat on the bed. 

"Yes, I just reached home and Yun-hee was going on about how you didn't answer her messages or calls the last 2 hours. So I called to see what happened and there is also something important." 

"Oh, nothing really happened. I came back to the hotel after checking out the set for the shoot and everything. I was tired so I slept while my phone was on silent mode. That's all. I noticed her messages and thought to reply later. Anyway, what is important?" He briefly explained and asked Min-Seok what was so important. 

"Oh, you slept? That's good, take some rest often. The important thing is actually about Yun-hee's exam results. We expect them to come tomorrow afternoon during lunchtime. I think she lost all hope. She is always going out with her friends these past few days. Students are generally very nervous during this time. I mean, my friends talk about how their children are so nervous they don't even come out of their rooms, even you were nervous during the entire week. This girl is actually like she gave up all hope on the exam. I'm worried a bit. Do you want to talk to her a bit and encourage her? She won't take mine that seriously, so she might take yours." 

Hearing him Joon-won didn't know whether to cry or laugh out loud. He already observed this trait in Min-Seok quite a few times after talking to him and found it hilarious. Min-Seok always had a tendency to keep his expectations low and think about the worse in situations like this. He already told him multiple times about this so that Min-Seok won't think like that, but it didn't change anything. 

Joon-won just responded with a small smile on his face, "Dad, you are thinking too deeply once again. Don't think about the worse in situations like this and if Yun-hee actually knows that you are thinking like this, she would really feel sad. She probably is just very confident in her exam that she is taking it lightly and having some fun in what's left of her holidays. Who knows, she might get a top score in the school. Only those who are scared about the result and knew they didn't write that well would be nervous. Yun-hee isn't like that and you know that better than me."

Min-Seok, on the other hand, went silent before laughing a bit and replying, "Yeah, what you said is probably true. Yun-hee is a very confident and intelligent girl, so she must have written her exam pretty well to be like that. I'm just overthinking stuff, like always. If it weren't for you, I probably would have flipped everything to find her something to gain her confidence." 

Joon-won just hummed in response. He knew Min-Seok would do exactly do that. If they both didn't talk just then, he would have probably had a talk with Yun-hee and told her to be more confident about her result while telling her that there was always next time.

"Alright then Joon-won, you continue to take some more rest. I heard from Yun-hee that your shoot is at night? Don't feel nervous about it and just do what you can. If anyone says something bad about your acting, just ignore it." And as the Yun-hee's topic was over, Min-Seok turned to him and started to worry about him again. Joon-won just hummed in response and after another minute of Min-Seok's worries, he said goodbye and just the call.

Joon-won didn't have the heart to tell Min-Seok not to worry too much about him as a guy who didn't have parents this type of sudden love was a bit too much for him. In the memories he received from the old Joon-won, he also noticed that Min-Seok was actually always like this since their childhood. As a single parent, he also took on the role of the mother for both him and Yun-her and gave them all the love and care they would have received if they had a mother.

After the long call, Joon-won just continued to practice a little longer before he took a long bath and got ready. He just wore his costume, as it was a pretty simple and plain one. By the time he got ready, he noticed it was already 7:30 and so he just decided to go out and have dinner before he made his way towards the shoot. 

He didn't plan to take a cab and instead asked at asked the receptionist in the hotel's lobby for any local restaurant recommendations for dinner. The receptionist seemed to be asked regularly as she started to give out a long list of places and how long it would take him to reach. 

After hearing all the places, Joon-won decided to take the one which was actually on route to the shoot and was also pretty near. So he took a walk towards the restaurant to only see it was almost packed full. Luckily, Joon-won was able to find a free spot on a table with people who were willing to share the space. The people on the table seemed to be locals and also pretty chatty as they introduced themselves and asked where he was from after he told them he wasn't a local. Joon-won just replied that he was a tourist who wanted to look at the Jade mountains.

The dinner continued as Joon-won paid for his food and got out of the restaurant. He waved down a cab and made his way towards the set. He checked his phone at noticed it was 8:15 and as he did; he received a call from Hea-Jung asking if he started and ate dinner. He replied yes to both and cut the call. 

As soon as he reached the restricted area, he got down and made his way inside after showing his ID to the security staff. As he went closer to the set, he noticed unlike earlier in the morning, the small set was jam-packed with people. There were various vehicles, lights, and people around the small shop. 

As he got closer, he also noticed that the director and other people actually didn't arrive and it was mostly the assistant directors who were taking care of everything. He noticed the assistant director Hea-Jung talked to earlier in the morning and asked what he had to do. 

The assistant director looked at him for a second before asking him to sit aside for a while before they called him for make-up and other stuff. Joon-won just went and sat under a tent meant for the actors before he took out his headphones and listened to music. 

After a while, he felt a tap on his shoulder and opened his eyes to see it was Hea-Jung.

"Are you ready? The shoot will begin soon, so the assistant director asked us to complete our make-up. The director also arrived, so come let's go to the make-up station."

Joon-won just nodded and both of them made their way to the make-up station. Joon-won just sat in front of a large mirror and rows of products as the specialist got to work. After a while, the slightly handsome face he had became completely normal and plain to the extent that no one would actually notice him in a crowded area. 

After both their makeup was done, a guy came to them with miniature wireless microphones and attached them to their dress. After he was done, the director called both of them to talk before the shoot began. The rough director sat on his chair, looked at Joon-won and Hea-Jung who were ready, and asked.

"Alright then, shall we go over the scene one last time?"