OATCG 10

chapter – 10

It was my first audition.

I’d wondered, What if I get too nervous…? — but surprisingly, I wasn’t trembling as much as I thought. Sunwoo had already gone through dozens of job interviews.

Compared to that, acting in front of people he knew was nothing.

Still, there was one thing that really annoyed him.

“Are you ready?”

Backstage.

While he was sitting in a chair, getting into character, someone suddenly spoke to him.

It was Seo Jin-wook.

With the same crooked smirk as always, he stood there looking down at Sunwoo.

“Yes. I’m ready.”

“Oh? Good. Even if you fail, don’t get too discouraged. Stuff like this is all about failing a few times and gaining experience.”

Sunwoo was dumbfounded.

He was pretending to care, pretending to give advice…
but wasn’t he really saying, You’re going to fail anyway, so don’t try too hard?

Sunwoo quietly looked at Jin-wook.

Jin-wook let out a small laugh.

“What. Do you think you can beat me?”

“……”

Sunwoo silently engraved patience into his heart.

How many rude interviewers had he already met in real interviews? Compared to that, this was nothing — absolutely nothing.

“Senior.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you afraid of me?”

It was nothing, really.

Maybe he’d gotten too immersed in Seung-do’s emotions and become sensitive.
Or maybe he just felt like he needed to push back at least once.

Honestly, it was a very emotional reaction.

“…What?”

Jin-wook clearly hadn’t expected that.

He stared blankly at Sunwoo, dumb for a few seconds — then his face twisted.

“You little punk, did you just—”

“Jin-wook! It’s your turn!”

Just as he was about to snap at Sunwoo, someone called his name.

Jin-wook looked toward the stage, then turned back, face contorted.

“…We’ll talk later.”

“Sure.”

Wow. So scary.

This wasn’t the military — why did he keep picking fights with people?

Sunwoo took a breath.

…Calm down first.

He really must have sunk too deep into Seung-do’s dark emotions. It felt harder than usual to hold back anger.

Is this what method actors feel?

If he lost to Jin-wook after coming all this way, it would probably piss him off… but Sunwoo still felt confident.

Because the color orb he saw around Seung-do… had changed dramatically.

It started with one simple question.

Why did Seung-do go to see the priest?

The script never explained why.

People simply assumed. They thought he went there to declare war:

God did nothing while his world collapsed, so how could the church judge him?

At first, Sunwoo agreed.

But the more he felt Seung-do’s dark, horrible emotions… the more his thoughts changed.

He wanted to escape.

Maybe Seung-do was just like him.

Being trapped in constant rage was too painful. Too horrifying.

And the moment he thought that —

the color orb changed.

From the deep, blood-red glow, a faint ash-gray light began to seep out.

Sunwoo instantly understood what that gray meant.

Hope.

A desperate longing to escape the pain.

Everything became clear.

He finally knew exactly what kind of person Seung-do was.

“I’m going to kill the man who killed my family. How will you punish this sin?”

Seung-do wanted only one thing.

A path out of the torment.

A reason not to destroy himself.

Because surely, his family wouldn’t have wanted that.

“How… will you judge me?”

At first, Sunwoo was worried.

This version of Seung-do was so different from the usual portrayals.

But now he no longer cared.

Because he was certain.

This must have been how Seung-do felt.

And when he finished the scene and lifted his head —

he realized he hadn’t been wrong.

The eyes staring back at him were burning with emotion.

The first to speak was Eun-seok.

“…Sunwoo? Seriously, what was that? How did you even think to interpret Seung-do like that?”

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to dislike Sunwoo’s version.
Maybe he even found it interesting.

Sunwoo let out a quiet sigh of relief and replied:

“If I were Seung-do, that’s what I’d want. I’d want someone to stop me.”

Eun-seok gave him a strange look.

Almost as if he were staring at someone a little… unusual.

For a moment, Sunwoo worried — had he said something wrong?

Whatever.

This wasn’t a real job interview. There was no point obsessing over every word.

Didn’t Ye-chan say it himself? At Cheongsong, all that matters is acting.

Then Do-young spoke.

“You know your Seung-do was different from everyone else’s, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you think it’s okay to be different?”

He wasn’t harsh — more indifferent than anything.

But that almost made it scarier. One wrong answer felt like it would get him scolded hard.

Sunwoo hesitated.

If this were a corporate interview, he would’ve answered safely.
But this wasn’t.

This was acting.

“I couldn’t help it. Any other Seung-do didn’t make sense to me.”

So he decided to just be honest.

He’d already seen the color orb change — what else could he do?

“I see.”

Thankfully, Do-young didn’t push further.

Ji-hwan smiled and nodded.

“That’s enough questions. Good work, Sunwoo. Go sit down for a bit.”

“Yes.”

Sunwoo headed to the seats.

On the way, his eyes briefly met Jin-wook’s. He expected anger — maybe glaring — but instead, Jin-wook looked away.

…What was he thinking?

Whatever. Sunwoo didn’t even want to think about him anymore.

He quietly waited for the results, watching Eun-seok, Ji-hwan, and Do-young discuss at the front row.

Honestly, this part scared him more than the acting itself.

Do-young’s expression earlier kept nagging at him.

Maybe I should’ve just acted like everyone else…

He shook his head. Too late now.

All he could do was wait.

“Okay, everyone who auditioned, please come up on stage!”

Ji-hwan called them up with a bright smile.

“No need to drag this out, right? I’ll announce the results.”

“Yes!”

“The person who’ll play Seung-do is…”

Despite saying he wouldn’t drag it out, Ji-hwan paused, looking around.

Sunwoo swallowed nervously.

It felt like Ji-hwan was staring at him a little longer — or maybe he was just imagining it.

“Kim Sunwoo.”

…Wait, was he?

Sunwoo stared blankly.

Maybe there’d be a “But don’t get your hopes up” afterward.

But nothing like that came. Ji-hwan grinned.

“Seung-do will be played by Sunwoo. If anyone has objections, speak now.”

He glanced briefly at Jin-wook.

The old Jin-wook probably would have complained.

But he stayed silent.

Even he could see it clearly.

Who’d given the more compelling performance.

Ji-hwan chuckled and looked back at Sunwoo.

“Guess everyone agrees. Kim Sunwoo.”

“Yes.”

“You can handle it, right?”

Without hesitation, Sunwoo answered:

“I’ll do my best!”

Even if he couldn’t — he had to.

It actually surprised him.

He thought Do-young hadn’t liked his acting… but maybe not.

…Did he like it after all?

“Let’s go with Kim Sunwoo.”

After watching all the auditions, Do-young was the first to speak.

Ji-hwan looked at him, surprised.

“Really? Didn’t you question his interpretation earlier?”

“It caught me off guard. I’d never seen Seung-do played like that at Cheongsong before.”

“And?”

“He said it himself — that any other Seung-do wouldn’t have felt honest. And… that stuck with me.”

Do-young pictured Sunwoo’s Seung-do.

A version he’d never seen — but somehow more alive than any before.

Fine. To be honest—

It moved people.

“It’s going to be fun.”

Do-young’s eyes sparkled.

“Acting with that kid.”