Become a Star

{Oh, oh, your prince is over there!}

A video of Genie wearing a traditional Korean costume, dancing with a sword, was playing on the billboard. A movie trailer appeared shortly after.

{What is that fluttery outfit he’s wearing? It looks like a skirt, but it’s not feminine. It’s exquisite and stylish, though? Is that black thing on top of his head a hat?} As Rayford continued asking questions, he couldn’t take his eyes off the trailer. He didn’t know anything about the movie itself, but the graphics and composition of the video looked so good that it was attention-grabbing even though it was short. He didn’t know if they were dancing or fighting with a sword, but it was so intense and sharp that it was breathtaking. It was very fast-paced as well, and the composition of the video was ever-changing.

{It’s Korea’s traditional costume. I heard he was shooting a historical movie, so I guess that must be the one. Hey, look over there.} As Hugh answered, he pointed at their surroundings. Quite a number of people had stopped in their tracks on the streets to watch the trailer with a dreamy look in their eyes. Their gazes were full of love and admiration for Genie.

{He must be very popular in Korea.}

{He hasn’t exactly done much to promote himself or boost his popularity, but it seems like he’s starting to build a fanbase in China and Japan these days as well.}

He didn’t go out of his way to act in productions or promote himself overseas for the sake of becoming a Hallyu star. Still, recently, his popularity was increasing in East Asia. It wasn’t forced either. And judging by the fact that the majority of his fanbase was created naturally without any help from external factors, it was a sign that he would explode in popularity soon. This was a result created by an actor who had debuted only a year ago.

{You know a lot, huh?} While Rayford was preoccupied with focusing only on Actor Chae Woo-Jin and nothing else, Hugh looked into the other external factors and forecasted his potential.

{Ray, I bet my life and death on this movie as much as you did. Did you think I picked just any random actor for this movie?} Hugh chanced upon the video on YouTube and fell in love with Genie, but that was not the only reason why he picked him. He would not be qualified to be a producer if he hadn’t taken marketability as well as various conditions into consideration, just like Rayford.

{Is he currently shooting that movie?} While listening to Hugh’s response, Rayford felt disappointed that the trailer had ended.

{It will be released in a few days.}

{You truly know everything, huh.}

{I think you’re more incredible.} Hugh mentioned why Rayford didn’t have any other plans or contingencies for their trip and sighed. Impromptu planning was Rayford’s greatest forte, but in truth, he wouldn’t have been as successful as he was today without the calm and collected Hugh by his side.

{Let’s have dinner first. We’re currently on vacation.}

{Yeah, we’re on vacation,} Rayford replied cheerfully and blindly walked forward.

{Not that way.}

{Yes!}

As soon as Hugh said that while looking at the Maps app on his phone, Rayford turned around and walked back to his friend. There were a lot of customers at the bulgogi restaurant listed in the tour booklet, and the quantity of meat was little for its price. It would have been nice if it was delicious, but the meat was tough, and they had served them wilted greens. On top of that, their customer service was terrible.

{I’m worried.}

{About what?}

{I guess I’m just wondering if my prince will be like this too. There are only a lot of rumors about him, and I think I’d be very disappointed if I find out he’s nothing more than a pretty doll on the outside.}

{Just disappointed?}

{I’d be sad too.}

After watching Genie’s commercial, Rayford’s love for him solidified. Looking at Genie’s ensemble — a suit with a sword on his back, his appearance was exactly what Rayford had always imagined Jin to be. In their upcoming movie, their character, Jin, would be wearing a suit as well. He was a cold-hearted, and rational swordsman who wore glasses with his bangs swept neatly to the back. However, he couldn’t help but fall in love with Genie’s appearance despite the absence of glasses.

In truth, the Japanese actor that Rayford secretly had in mind was not very tall. Additionally, he was of mixed-race, so he didn’t exactly look very Asian, so Rayford had been feeling conflicted about it the entire time. And on the other hand, Genie was slim and tall with beautiful Asian facial features. Now that Genie had come into the picture, it was meaningless to fret over the Japanese actor. More importantly, Genie could speak English.

After hearing him speak English with a foreigner on a variety TV show that he made a guest appearance on, he learned that he had a more accurate English pronunciation than Rayford and Hugh themselves, who went to Ivy League schools. This meant that they didn’t have any issue working with him right away. In fact, most of the Asian actors they had considered for Jin’s role had some problems with communication. So being able to communicate well with one another would change their depth of understanding of the production, allowing them to save a lot of trouble when working together.

After gradually learning more and more about how perfect Genie was, his expectations kept growing and growing. In the case of English-speaking Hollywood actors, they could grasp their abilities and limitations to a certain extent, so there was no difficulty casting the right roles for them. However, Genie looked so glamorous and perfect that it made Rayford somewhat uneasy. It was frustrating because he couldn’t estimate his actual skills based on his appearance.

More importantly, he didn’t understand Korean, so he had some doubts about whether he was indeed a good actor. He couldn’t help but be doubtful if Genie could still maintain the same level of acting if he were to speak English instead of Korean. Hence, Hugh proposed they organize an official audition for Genie for the part, but the doubtful Rayford had rejected it.

{We’re just trying to cast one person, you don’t have to dig so deep and make it so complicated.}

{You know better than me that auditions aren’t a good way to gauge an actor’s skills. There were many cases where an actor prepared and practiced the same part to the death and acted it out perfectly at the audition but failed to live up to expectations when acting out the other parts during the production.} Hugh was speechless after hearing Rayford’s argument, and then he proceeded to argue with him.

{You were the one who selected those actors in those cases that you’re currently talking about! I told you not to rush and look at the other actors too before finalizing them, but what did you say? There wasn’t any need because they were good enough, didn’t you? But why are you being particularly strict when it comes to Genie?}

{I know, that’s why I’m being careful! I’m not going to make the same mistake this time around. Do you want me to make the same mistake again?} Hugh sighed after hearing Rayford’s justification and replied, ‘That’s why I came here with you.’ His friend was finally being careful after such a long time, so Hugh wasn’t planning on objecting to that.

{How are you going to verify Genie’s acting skills? Is there a way for ‘ordinary travelers’ like us to meet a top celebrity? And even if we do get to meet him, how will we put his acting skills to the test?} After hearing Hugh’s question, Rayford looked as though he was faced with an unexpected problem and simply blinked. Unfortunately, after rejecting Hugh’s proposal to request an audition with Genie from his agency, he scheduled a flight to Korea out of the blue, so he currently had no thoughts or plans for their next step.

{About that… Hmm… I’m not sure?}

{I seriously resent my parents for moving into the house next to yours 30 years ago.}

{I think of your parents as my lifelong saviors.} Rayford blinked and tried to act in a cutesy manner as Hugh was about to explode in anger. However, the aegyo of the man in his late thirties absolutely had no effect on Hugh, the victim of Rayford’s antics over the past 30 years.

{Gross. Turn your head away from me.}

{Yes!}

After their disappointing dinner, just like that, their first day in Korea came to an end. Fortunately, the hotel bed was soft, and the breakfast they had the following day was to their liking.

They had given up on looking for famous, popular restaurants among tourists and settled for a moderately crowded restaurant for lunch. Their meal turned out to be much more satisfying than the bulgogi they had the day before. After that, on the pretext of sightseeing, they went to the school Woo-Jin attended — Korea University.

{He’s not here.}

{He’s not here, huh.}

Hugh found the building where Genie had his classes and went to check with Rayford, but they couldn’t find him. Since they didn’t know Korean, they couldn’t ask around for his whereabouts, so it was pointless for them to keep waiting for him outside the building for hours. It happened to be Friday; Woo-Jin had no classes that day.

{He’s not here.}

{Yeah….}

The day after their fruitless trip to Korea University, Hugh turned to the internet this time around. He found some information about Genie on the websites used by foreign tourists in Korea. As soon as he saw a post that had been uploaded in real-time by tourists who happened to see Genie at a department store, making a huge fuss about it, they headed there. And they did see him, someone who looked a lot like Genie.

However, he was just a copycat who wore similar makeup as Genie and dressed in similar clothing. He wasn’t Genie himself.

{Don’t tell me the Genie they were referring to was him? It’s so obvious that it’s all makeup and plastic surgery, though?}

{I guess….}

There seemed to be some misunderstanding and confusion. If it was any consolation, they had seen quite many people approach the man in question, thinking he was Genie. They weren’t the only idiots here.

{What exactly did you search for?}

{It’s always better to get more information. I pieced it together, and to get the best results….}

{Shut up!} It was Hugh’s turn to shut up this time around.

Feeling thirsty, they bought the coffee Genie had done a commercial for and then sat on a bench on the street and drank it.

{I didn’t know it would be this hard to meet an actor. I usually see one or two actors within five minutes after leaving the house….} Hugh nodded vehemently and agreed with Ray. It had been a while since he shared the same sentiment with Ray. If they could speak Korean, they might hear rumors about what Genie was currently doing, even if it was not in real-time.

{Shall we take the opportunity to learn Korean?}

{Fighting![1]} Ray welcomed Hugh’s suggestion. He chuckled and told Hugh that they finally agreed on something together.

{Yeah, let’s fight!} Hugh said quietly.

After wasting two days just like that, Ray and Hugh looked less stressed as they walked down the streets. They didn’t forget to comfort and repeat to themselves that they were merely sightseeing right now. However, for some reason, everywhere they went, whenever they turned their heads, Genie was right there. They passed by a store with a life-size cardboard cutout of Genie; they watched a trailer for Genie’s movie on a billboard down the street, and they ate while watching Genie’s commercial at the restaurant.

{I can’t do this!}

Rayford refused to walk around anymore and searched for a place to rest and plan for Operation ‘Casting Genie.’ And there wasn’t any place more suitable than a cafe to sit down and draw up a plan for hours.

{Dinky cafe?}

Rayford pointed to a cafe and dragged Hugh there. Unlike its name, the cafe seemed to occupy the entire building. Unfortunately, the first floor was already filled with people so they couldn’t find a table to sit at. Normally, they would have just left the place, but they looked around the cafe from a tourist's perspective. Most of the people in that spacious cafe were locals. Meaning it was popular among locals, unlike those places recommended in the tourist brochure. They didn’t want to miss out on a place like this again.

{Excuse me, are there any other seats available?} Hugh shared the same sentiment as Rayford and grabbed one of the employees passing by. As soon as the employee looked at the foreigners, they widened their eyes and answered.

“I don't speak English!”

{I understand your English well enough, though? Your pronunciation is good too.} Despite Hugh’s remark, the employee shook their head and walked away.

1. In this context, it means ‘let’s go!’ It's a term Koreans use to cheer someone on or wish them good luck. It is used to express encouragement and show support for a person’s actions. ☜