Episode 19. Special Viewer (6)
Kang Dae-oh, who had been handling store duties with his staff in the morning, urgently checked the current time.
Realizing it was almost 1 o’clock, Kang Dae-oh quickly put on his coat.
“Seo-jun!”
“Yes, boss.”
“I need to take Yebin to the broadcasting station for her filming today, so please take over for me this afternoon.”
“Understood. Don’t worry.”
“Thank you.”
After patting Lee Seo-jun’s shoulder two or three times, Kang Dae-oh quickly walked to his car parked behind the store.
He drove his car towards Sunshine Kindergarten, where Kang Yebin attended.
Kang Yebin, who had to leave about 30 minutes earlier than other children her age due to filming, greeted Kang Dae-oh along with her kindergarten teacher.
Kang Dae-oh bowed his head, expressing his gratitude to the kindergarten teacher who had waited with his second daughter.
“Thank you, teacher.”
“Not at all. Yebin, good luck with your filming today. I’ll be looking forward to it too, okay?”
Kang Yebin nodded her head with a nonchalant expression.
Kang Dae-oh, who had taken his second daughter and was back behind the wheel, checked the route to the broadcasting station on the navigation.
Then, a look of bewilderment spread across his face.
“What? Was traffic usually this bad at this time?”
The entire route was painted red (indicating heavy traffic).
If he followed the route the navigation system suggested, being late was guaranteed.
At this moment, Kang Yebin spoke to Kang Dae-oh.
“Instead of that way, you can take the road towards Songpa-gu. The traffic will be much lighter there.”
“You can go that way too?”
“Yes. It’s a secret route my road manager found before.”
If it was Kang Yebin’s road manager, they must have traveled to and from the broadcasting station numerous times.
Since it was the optimal route discovered by a future experienced professional, Kang Dae-oh decided to try that route this time.
However, since it was an unfamiliar road for Kang Dae-oh, he couldn’t help but get confused at every fork in the road.
Each time, Kang Yebin didn’t hesitate to give advice from the back.
“You can take the exit on the right.”
“Okay, got it.”
He quickly succeeded in changing lanes.
Thanks to the synergy between Kang Dae-oh’s driving skills and Kang Yebin’s road information, they were able to arrive on time for their appointment.
Only then did Kang Dae-oh let out a sigh of relief.
But it was still too early to relax.
This was because the actual filming, which could be called the main game, hadn’t even begun.
Nevertheless, Kang Dae-oh wasn’t too worried.
A master of acting. A professional among professionals. He believed that his second daughter would be able to fully demonstrate her skills on any set.
Kang Yebin took a deep breath.
And then.
“Hello! I look forward to working with you all for today’s recording!”
A reverberating voice, so loud it was hard to believe it came from a child, filled the set.
Thanks to this, PD Jang-seop and the staff, who were engrossed in preparing for the filming, only now realized that Kang Yebin had arrived.
“It’s Yebin! You arrived right on time. Oh, Mr. Kang, you’re here too!”
“Long time no see, PD.”
A young child couldn’t be sent to the filming set alone.
So, it was better for either Kang Dae-oh or Min Seung-yeon to accompany the children.
Today, Kang Dae-oh, not Min Seung-yeon, was going to fulfill this role.
PD Jang-seop, saying it was good timing, gestured for someone to come over.
“Jeong-hyun. Yebin’s here.”
“Oh, really?”
Nam Jeong-hyun, who played the main character in “Memory Bookstore,” immediately stood up upon hearing Jang-seop’s words.
“Hi, Yebin. I look forward to working with you for today’s recording.”
“I look forward to working with you too, sunbaenim.”
“You’re just as mature as I heard. How amazing.”
Looking at her actions, expressions, and gaze, she didn’t seem like a kindergartener at all.
This aspect of Kang Yebin perfectly matched the image of the previous generation that Jang-seop wanted.
PD Jang-seop was already looking forward to seeing what kind of chemistry the young girl would show with actress Nam Jeong-hyun.
“Jeong-hyun, please teach and guide Yebin a lot, okay?”
“Yes, understood. Leave it to me.”
Nam Jeong-hyun was older and had more experience compared to Kang Yebin.
Perhaps because of this, PD Jang-seop couldn’t help but expect Nam Jeong-hyun to take the lead rather than Kang Yebin.
To immediately carry out the PD’s words, Nam Jeong-hyun pointed her script, which she was holding, towards Kang Yebin.
“Do you want to do a reading with unnie? Oh, a reading is…”
She was about to kindly explain for Kang Yebin, who was still just a kindergartener, but…
PD Jang-seop interrupted her first.
“Jeong-hyun. Yebin knows what a reading is, so you don’t need to explain it.”
“Oh my. Really? She’s still a baby.”
“She knows not only ‘reading’ but also terms like ‘close-up,’ ‘fade-in,’ ‘fade-out,’ and ‘stepprinting’.”
“Goodness gracious…”
She couldn’t believe it.
Kang Dae-oh stood behind Kang Yebin and gently placed his hand on his daughter’s shoulder.
“My second daughter has been very interested in movies since she was little. She just studies this and that on her own, so she even knows terms I don’t.”
“Yebin is a movie prodigy.”
The word “regressor” would be more fitting than “prodigy.”
But as always, Kang Dae-oh couldn’t utter these words aloud.
After a brief greeting, Kang Yebin and Nam Jeong-hyun began their reading to make the most of the free time while the staff prepared for filming.
Kang Dae-oh purposely kept some distance so as not to disturb their script reading.
Usually, a reading focuses on exchanging lines and matching dialogue.
However, Nam Jeong-hyun’s style was to deliver lines with emotion, as if it were an actual recording, right from the reading stage.
“What exactly is this ‘Memory Bookstore’?”
She recited the lines, immersing herself as much as possible in the emotion, like a protagonist bewildered by a supernatural phenomenon.
Kang Yebin briefly gazed at Nam Jeong-hyun’s expression.
Then Nam Jeong-hyun smiled faintly and said.
“Yebin, you don’t have to put emotion into your reading like unnie. I’m just used to doing it this way from a long time ago.”
She tried to relax Kang Yebin as much as possible by saying things like, “Just read the lines comfortably, like you’re reading from a textbook.”
However, Kang Dae-oh knew.
Even if Nam Jeong-hyun said that.
Given Kang Yebin’s personality, she wouldn’t just go with the flow.
After a short cough to clear her throat, Kang Yebin’s mouth uttered not a child’s voice, but an adult’s voice.
“Literally, it’s a place that materializes people’s memories into books and, at times, even sells them. Of course, a price must be paid for it.”
She exquisitely expressed even the tone that conveyed profound meaning.
Nam Jeong-hyun was speechless at Kang Yebin’s completely transformed expression and voice.
Even for Nam Jeong-hyun, it was difficult to change her voice so drastically on the spot like Kang Yebin did.
No, it wasn’t just her.
Even reasonably skilled actors would find it difficult.
But Kang Yebin perfectly portrayed the ‘previous generation’ character without a single practice.
Her expressiveness was so remarkable that even after just a few lines of dialogue, one could immediately understand what kind of character “the previous generation” was.
“Wow… unnie is so surprised by Yebin, I don’t know what to say. I mean… you’re so good. You’re really good.”
Only the word “good” came to mind.
Although she had completely overwhelmed her with her skill, Kang Yebin maintained her humility to the very end.
“It’s because sunbaenim set the initial direction so well. It’s all thanks to sunbaenim.”
She even displayed conversational skills that naturally praised Nam Jeong-hyun.
At this, Kang Dae-oh swallowed exclamations of admiration multiple times.
‘She’s my daughter, but every time I see her, she’s amazing.’
Kang Dae-oh even wanted to learn such social finesse.
The filming proceeded smoothly, just as Kang Dae-oh had expected.
Perhaps because only one episode’s worth of a spin-off was being filmed, the recording itself didn’t take very long.
It seemed that if they continued coming and going to the studio like today for a few days, it would be completed quickly.
In addition, thanks to Kang Yebin, who displayed perfect acting skills without a single blooper, the filming ended even faster.
“Good work, everyone!”
“You all worked hard, let’s finish up quickly and pack up!”
At the mention of being able to leave work, the staff’s footsteps quickened.
Before taking Kang Yebin home, Kang Dae-oh approached PD Jang-seop and actress Nam Jeong-hyun to say his final goodbyes.
“Well then, we’ll be going.”
“Oh, you’re leaving?”
“Yes. We decided to eat out with the family today.”
He intended to go home quickly before it got too late.
Before that, Nam Jeong-hyun seemed to have something to say to Kang Yebin, so she bent her knees to meet her eye level.
“Yebin. Let’s work hard together with unnie next week too, okay?”
“Yes, I’ll try my best.”
“Thanks to Yebin, I realized that I still have a lot to learn.”
“I’m much less experienced than sunbaenim, right?”
“To say that, I think I made more NGs (bloopers/outtakes) than you…”
PD Jang-seop said with a small laugh.
“You should try harder, Jeong-hyun.”
“I should. Oh, right. Is there anything you want to ask unnie for? Like how you’d like us to work together next week. Even if it’s not that, just tell me if there’s anything you need. Unnie learned a lot thanks to our Yebin today, so I really want to repay you.”
As soon as she heard the word “repay,” Kang Yebin spoke about what she had already thought of.
“Then, may I ask for an autograph?”
“Suddenly?”
“Yes. There’s someone I want to give it to as a gift.”
Kang Dae-oh already knew who that person Kang Yebin mentioned was.
He already had a feeling.
The day after the filming ended.
Just like yesterday, the Sky Class kindergarteners gathered in one place.
As some time had passed, there were kindergarteners who had already made friends, while…
…there was also a child who still couldn’t blend into the atmosphere.
Yang Ji-yoon belonged to this latter group.
Someone abruptly approached Yang Ji-yoon, who was once again playing with block toys alone today.
“Ji-yoon.”
At the familiar voice, Yang Ji-yoon’s head instinctively turned.
Kang Yebin took something out from behind her and handed it to Yang Ji-yoon.
“This is a gift.”
“What is this?”
She could roughly tell it was an autograph.
But she didn’t know whose autograph it was.
For Yang Ji-yoon, who knew nothing, Kang Yebin replied briefly.
“It’s President Hye-ju’s autograph.”
President Hye-ju is the name of the main character who appears in the main story of “Memory Bookstore,” played by Nam Jeong-hyun.
Kang Yebin deliberately said it this way, thinking that mentioning the character’s name that Nam Jeong-hyun played would resonate more clearly with Yang Ji-yoon than mentioning Nam Jeong-hyun’s name.
Kang Yebin, in her own way, spoke from a child’s perspective.
Yang Ji-yoon’s face brightened.
“R-really? Can I keep this?”
“Yeah. I got it for you.”
“Wooow~! Thank you, Yebin!”
Seeing her first friend smile brightly, Kang Yebin also curled up the corners of her lips.
And at the same time, this thought came to her.
That it was indeed good to have followed Dad’s words.
