Become a Star

{You look very displeased.}

{I’m curious about your intentions.}

{Wouldn’t it be more meaningful if the role was earned after struggling for it? If we say that we held an audition and decided on the actor who would be portraying Lloyd, will those idiots acknowledge him? In my experience, they will never accept our choice.}

Out of everyone, Ilya suffered the most at the hands of L’s fans; he was well aware of what they were like. No matter how reasonable and honest they were, L’s fans would never trust them, nor would they be satisfied with any choice they made. Ilya could confidently say that even if they were to immediately cast whoever the fans recommended, they would change their tune in an instant and nitpick the actor’s flaws, finding fault with everything.

{There’s no guarantee they will acknowledge the outcome of the auditions.}

{Who wants their acknowledgment? I want everyone else’s recognition except for theirs. Their thoughts and feelings don’t matter. On the contrary, the more stubborn they are, the more we need to find a perfect cast for them to see.}

Even though they were his fans in a sense, Ilya was cold towards them. However, Ilya Turner’s fans weren’t treated any differently. He was fair and treated people equally by being indifferent and frigid to everyone.

{In that case, did I do something unnecessary?}

Selena pointed out that the draft of shortlisted candidates was now pointless, but Ilya shook his head. After all, he was the one who told her to find actors to portray Lloyd in the first place.

{No, the list you provided was very useful. It played a significant part in making me waver. It’s just that I’m suddenly curious about whether or not he can compete for Lloyd’s role with several other actors under the same conditions and emerge victoriously.}

{As expected, you must have already had an actor in mind.}

Selena guessed that the actor Ilya had in mind was either Edwin Rucker or Chae Woo-Jin. After looking at the list of actors, they were the only two people that caused Ilya to show a reaction and attract his scrutiny.

{In any case, that doesn’t mean anything changes as a result.}

As Ilya had mentioned before, he had no intention of showing favoritism to anyone. Instead, he stripped Woo-Jin of the opportunity and put him to the test.

{You closed off the easy way out and opened up an arduous path for him, huh?}

Selena wondered what Ilya was thinking, getting the people who had already won half the battle to go through a difficult test.

{This is how you raise children to be strong.}

Selena was momentarily speechless after hearing Ilya’s response. Ilya had never loved anybody enough to start a family, and he wasn’t a huge fan of children either. His view on education didn’t seem like the best idea. Selena briefly felt sorry for Edwin and Chae Woo-Jin, but ultimately, it had nothing to do with her, so she soon forgot about it.

Selena was constantly reminded of her father whenever she spoke with Ilya. She came to a new realization and smiled bitterly. Both Ilya and her father couldn’t love others deeply; she realized they were leading different yet similar lives.

{Do you still have no intention of letting him know the password to that place?}

This was the first time she had asked Ilya about the password ever since her father proposed a wager with her. In the past, she had asked the same question casually several times before. Yet, now that she was actively thinking about it, it was difficult for her to bring it up to him. She wanted to ask him calmly, but she was strangely concerned about the anticipation in her voice.

{Isn’t it funny for me to agonize over whether or not I should tell him when he hasn’t even formally asked me about it?}

Selena smiled awkwardly because he had a point. Selena played the middleman, telling both sides of the story to the two of them, but her father had never formally asked Ilya for the password as if he was going to look for the answer alone. Ilya didn’t bother dealing with that arrogance.

Although it was her great grandfather’s property, Selena had no authority over this matter. Thus, her question couldn’t be regarded as a formal request. Despite the fact that they weren’t at the level of pleading with Ilya, her father hadn’t even formally asked him for this favor, so Ilya had no obligation to come forward and take the initiative to tell him the password. Needless to say, Ilya himself wasn’t too enthusiastic about it either.

{You haven’t been there ever since great grandpa died, have you?}

{I’m not that shameless to go in and out of a place whenever I want without its owner present.}

{Still, you have a lot of memories there. Don’t you miss that place?}

{The building itself isn’t what I’m longing for. It’s probably the same for your father.}

This was why Giorgio wasn’t that desperate to figure out the password to the safe house.

After hearing Ilya’s words, the look on Selena’s face suggested she didn’t seem to agree with him. If it weren’t that important, he wouldn’t have told her he would give her permission to marry Dustin if she were to get ahold of the password.

Today, Ilya was kind towards the doubtful Selena.

{Longing comes from the heart; we just need an excuse. This excuse is a channel that allows us to long for something to our hearts’ content without feeling ashamed. It can be a house, a collection, or a person. As long as we don’t uncover it, we can always enjoy imagining what’s on the inside.}

{I don’t know. I feel that both you and my father are overthinking this and making it more complicated than it is.}

Selena didn’t really know what it felt like to long for something. She knew the meaning of the word and the general feeling, but she had never been caught up in that emotion. Selena never lost sight of who she wanted to see, and she also never parted ways with the person she cherished. In that sense, not knowing how it felt to long for someone was a blessing.

However, judging from her father and Ilya’s situations, longing didn't necessarily seem to equate to sadness. Although they would miss that particular individual for countless years, there was a time when things were splendid for them, and they were certainly happy back then. Nevertheless, Selena felt it was a little sad that their hardened hearts couldn’t long for something or someone as much as they wanted.

Recently, however, Ilya wasn’t his usual self. He seemed energetic and cheerful. Perhaps that was why he’d become more active when it came to the movie production of Confession of White, in addition to being easier to converse with as well. Before this behavior change, he used to chase Selena away whenever she came to see him, but nowadays, he enjoyed getting ahold of Selena and was more than happy to talk with her.

According to what she had heard from her father, Ilya used to appear almost elated whenever he was around her great grandfather, so she wondered if this was how he looked back then. Clearly, Selena couldn’t be compared to her great grandfather, but she was hoping this moment would be something Ilya would reminisce about and long for in the future. And Selena gladly accepted this moment as something she would yearn for in the future after years had gone by.

***

The dream audition for existing actors, or those who were dreaming of becoming an actor, was about to take place. Midas Agency was in charge of overseeing the auditions. They’d sent an official letter to their various branches located all over the world, asking each of them to nominate one actor as a candidate. In the letter, the most critical point was that candidates who passed the first round got a chance to participate in the final round of auditions in the United States.

Within Asia, Midas Agency had branches in Korea and Japan, and they each quickly scheduled auditions and started preparing for them. The auditions held in each branch didn’t take nationality into consideration, but the auditions in Korea and Japan would be held on the same day to prevent people from applying twice.

It was also announced that both branches would be sharing the applicants’ information with one another, so people who applied to both places would be eliminated upon discovery. Hence, apart from those within Korea or Japan, actors from other countries started calculating their odds, contemplating which branch to apply to.

The statistics that were announced after the application period ended were rather unexpected –– more than 300 people applied to the branch in Korea, while more than 1,000 people applied to the one in Japan.

It seemed as though there was an unexpectedly high level of competition in both places, but the number of applicants was no more than any regular movie’s casting call. In reality, the quantity could be seen as low for the first round of auditions, considering it was for the main character of a sensational Hollywood movie.

Most of the people auditioning in Asia were actors from Korea, Japan, and China. There were plenty of male actors in these three countries, but surprisingly, only a small number of them took up the challenge and signed up for the audition. There were several reasons, but ultimately, the biggest obstacle was language. In order to make the movie as accurate to the original novel as possible, Lloyd had to speak English. Many actors had no choice but to give up on their dreams because of that prerequisite.

Furthermore, there was an age restriction –– actors who were not in their twenties or thirties were ineligible. In addition, only experienced actors who had been in more than one production were allowed to apply; it did not matter if they played the main character or a supporting character. Aspiring actors weren’t given the opportunity. Although there was backlash about how these people were deprived of this chance, it was inevitable, as the filmmakers wanted a seasoned actor instead of a fresh face.

Several actors felt pressured because the high expectations surrounding the movie were too much for them to bear. As a result, there were cases where actors didn’t even bother making an attempt and simply gave up after analyzing and evaluating their acting skills. It was a decision made to protect their ego, as they didn’t want to feel disheartened because of the other prominent actors around them. As such, some of the actors who were expected to apply failed to do so as well.

However, what was truly surprising was that quite a few Korean actors had chosen to apply to the branch in Japan for the audition. In hindsight, there were significantly fewer applicants in Korea than in Japan, thereby breaking the initial expectation that there would be approximately the same number of applicants at both branches.

There were a few rumors that this was because some of these Korean actors were trying to walk on eggshells around each other and decided to go to the other side, while others said the phenomenon occurred because these actors were trying to avoid a strong contender in Korea.

In fact, most of the applicants weren’t even hoping they would get to the final round. Many of them simply wanted to get through the first round of auditions at the branch they applied to because that alone would give them the opportunity to be recognized as a young male actor with unrivaled acting skills in Asia.

Hence, those who would do whatever it took to pass were on the edge of their seats. They were quick to act, and they tried to maintain their advantage over others. As soon as they received the information that the top contender had applied to the branch in Korea, they immediately applied to the branch in Japan without hesitation.

The vast disparity between the number of applicants in both Korea and Japan was the result of actors from other countries sharing the same thoughts. They were only trying to avoid one person, but they ended up facing more intense competition.

***

The audition was conducted over the span of three days in numerical order, with an applicant’s number being assigned randomly. Three people would step forward at a time and stand before the panel of judges. They would be tested on their acting skills, and a screen test[1] would be conducted as well.

For this audition, a script would not be given to the applicants in advance. So, the actors didn’t know what they would be tested on until they stood in front of the judges. In that sense, people assumed that the actors who auditioned on the first day would be at a disadvantage, but that was just speculation.

The competition was fierce, so the actors that had gone first didn’t give the others any details about the audition. Even if an actor from the same agency had an audition the next day, they kept their mouths shut despite the pleas and threats from the CEO of their agency. That was how desperate and ambitious everyone was.

Woo-Jin’s audition happened to be on the third and final day. Throughout this time, he had been waiting for his turn in the waiting room with the other applicants, lacking any information about the audition. The people around him merely threw one furtive glance after another at him, and nobody spoke to him directly or greeted him.

Chae Woo-Jin was the main culprit behind the low number of applicants in Korea. Having to audition on the same day as him was a great burden for these actors. Even the most famous actors wouldn’t be happy in a situation like this.

“Damn it. Of all days, why do I have to audition on the same day as him? Won’t I just embarrass myself by being compared with him?”

“Please don’t let me be in the same group as him; I’m begging you.”

“Ack! I didn’t even think about that! Do you know what Chae Woo-Jin’s number is?”

“I wouldn’t be this nervous if I knew. It’s going to be my turn next. What should I do?”

The other actors couldn’t go up to him and ask, and as their number approached, their anxiety grew, and they felt like they were going insane. Every time a number was called, everyone’s eyes would turn to Chae Woo-Jin. If he stayed still, those whose number was called would rejoice while the rest grew even more nervous.

1. A screen test, otherwise known as a camera test, reveals how the actor will look on-screen. It typically involves filming shots of the actor performing scenes from a script in front of a movie camera. ☜