Superstar From Age 0

Seo-jun entered the classroom with his violin. On one side, the professor was grading Kwon Se-ah's score with a pen on the paper.

There were piles of papers next to him, probably from the students who had taken the exam earlier.

The lecture on [Advanced Violin] was held in a slightly large practice room in Building C. Seo-jun was the last one to take the exam.

The professor turned his head when he felt Seo-jun coming in. Seo-jun bowed his head and the professor nodded back and greeted him.

The professor took out a new paper and checked the name.

“Lee Seo-jun, a student from the acting department?”

“Yes, I'm Lee Seo-jun.”

“Then let's start with the designated piece.”

The exam content was to play one designated piece and one free piece with the violin.

The designated piece was announced three weeks ago and the professor would compare the first performance and the current performance to see how much they improved, whether they corrected the pointed out parts, and grade them accordingly.

Of course, the basic skills were also considered.

When the performance changed from 1 to 10, the change was well shown, but when it changed from 9.5 to 10, it felt the same, so there were cases where good students did not get good scores.

The professor listened carefully as Seo-jun placed his chin on the violin.

The long bow brushed the strings and a soft melody sounded.

The violin skills of actor Lee Seo-jun were famous among violinists.

Of course, there were people who said that [Over the Rainbow], busking videos, and [Concerto for Two Violins] might have been post-processed because they were all videos, but the professor expected that actor Lee Seo-jun's skills would be good.

‘I didn't know he was this good, though.’

It was good enough to be called an active violinist.

‘And one who is active in the world.’

The sweet performance of the designated piece, which seemed to have come to a concert of a top-class violinist, ended and the free piece began.

This one also had no flaws to point out.

He must have been just a hobbyist, but if he focused on the violin, how good would he be?

As much as he expected, he felt sorry.

‘It would be nice if he worked with Se-ah…’

And even BIN, who played in [Concerto for Two Violins]. It would have been a big wind in the Korean classical music scene.

‘…But it's hard now.’

The exam time, which had become an appreciation rather than a grading, was over. The professor said it was done and Seo-jun, who was packing his violin, was called by the professor.

“Lee Seo-jun.”

“Yes, professor.”

“Thank you.”

Seo-jun blinked his eyes at the unexpected thank you.

The professor smiled faintly at Seo-jun's expression.

A small warmth came to his cold face.

“I heard you gave some advice to Se-ah.”

Seo-jun widened his eyes at the casually used name.

“Professor, do you know Se-ah?”

“Yes, I've been teaching her since she was young.”

I see.

Seo-jun nodded his head and scratched his cheek awkwardly. It was not uncommon for professors to teach young prodigies.

“It wasn't really advice… I just talked to her about this and that.”

“Talking about this and that is the hardest thing to do. And there are many kids who disappear because they can't talk about it.”

The professor smiled bitterly, who was worried that another student would disappear and even brought her to the liberal arts class.

“Thanks to you, se-ah regained her mind. She's preparing for the concours this year.”

“That's good. Oh, but…”

He wondered if he heard that she wanted to be a music director. It must have been a pity for him as a violinist and as a teacher.

The professor noticed Seo-jun's thoughts and smiled softly.

“There are many ways to love music. It's enough that Se-ah didn't let go of music.”

He was not sorry, but when he saw his student smiling brightly, his feelings disappeared in an instant. It had been a year since he saw that bright face.

‘If she had such worries, she would have told me sooner.’

But when he thought about it, he felt like he knew the feelings of not being able to say because he was a teacher, because he was a parent.

The professor looked ahead. He saw Seo-jun, who was embarrassed.

If he hadn't told Seo-ah to take the liberal arts class, if the randomly made team member wasn't Seo-jun, what would have happened to Kwon Se-ah, who was in the midst of a storm?

“Thank you very much.”

Seo-jun didn't know what to do and was flustered and just smiled.

Seo-jun, who finished the exam, left the classroom and took out his phone and sent a message.

[Professor is amazing.

Kwon Se-ah: Our teacher? Our teacher is always the best!

Seo-jun smiled at Seo-ah's reply. He heard that they met when they were young, so they seemed to call him teacher.

***

Going back in time, to early May.

The door of the cafe opened and the college students who came in with the warm wind ordered their favorite drinks at the counter and went inside with the bell.

Seo-jun and the kids, who sat in a corner that didn't catch the eyes of others, spread out the list of travel destinations they had each researched on the table.

The destination was Europe.

Starting from Spain, where Park Ji-ho was, they planned to travel around Europe for a month during the summer vacation.

“I want to go to these restaurants.”

Mina's eyes sparkled as she brought the list of restaurants she had asked her friends, seniors, and professors about, which she had to visit if she went to Europe. Seo-jun, Ji-yoon, and Ji-woo looked at Mina's list with admiration.

“I thought there would only be restaurants, but there are small diners too?”

“We can't miss the local diners!”

From starred restaurants to small local diners, cafes, and dessert shops. It was like seeing the European version of the restaurant map that Seo-jun and the kids were using.

“I want to go here.”

Ji-yoon, an aspiring novelist, brought out a list of European castles that seemed to give her ideas, famous tourist attractions that appeared in the works once or twice, and tourist attractions where the traces of old writers remained.

“Ah, I also want to go to the bookstores. And if I can, I want to see musicals or plays too.”

“You're similar to me.”

Ji-yoon's words made Seo-jun smile and he handed over his list. There were musicals that had been performing for a long time and received good reviews, and new plays that had no reviews but interesting contents.

“I knew you would do this, seo-jun.”

“Me too.”

As Mina and Ji-yoon smiled at the predictable list, Ji-woo asked curiously about one place that caught her eye.

“A concert? You want to go to a concert?”

“It's just that Jason is having a concert in Europe.”

I see.

The kids nodded their heads as they heard a lot of stories about Jason Moore from Seo-jun.

“Then should we go see it too?”

“But isn't Jason Moore's concert already sold out?”

“There will be invitations. Five seats will be fine.”

“I think Park Ji-ho will fall asleep…”

The kids laughed at Ji-woo's words.

“Where do you want to go, Ji-woo?”

“I want to see the universities there. If possible, I want to take classes too.”

“Class?”

“Yeah. I want to take it if I can. So I'm going to send an email first.”

Wow.

As her friends exclaimed, Ji-woo shrugged her shoulders.

“I don't know if I can do it since I'm only a freshman. Other than that, I'm just planning to visit some famous tourist spots.”

“I thought Ji-woo and Ji-ho had nothing in common except their looks… but maybe they have this drive in common.”

“Right.”

Ji-woo frowned at Mina and Ji-yoon's words. She didn't like being compared to Park Ji-ho.

“I’d rather be like Seo-jun.”

“Seo-jun?”

‘Me?’

Seo-jun blinked as he was drinking orange juice.

Ji-woo smiled faintly and continued her words. The ice in the glass rattled as Ji-woo stirred it with a straw.

“I didn't have any particular place I wanted to go. I just wanted to see how Park Ji-ho lives and check out some famous tourist spots, but then I saw a college that caught my eye.”

She remembered seeing people taking pictures with famous foreign universities as backgrounds. She suddenly wondered what kind of classes they took and how they were conducted.

“I was going to just pass by with some curiosity, but then I thought, what would Seo-jun do?”

Seo-jun, Ji-yoon, and Mina blinked their eyes.

What would Seo-jun do?

“He would probably ask them anyway, even if they rejected him. He would say he wanted to audit the class for this and that reason.”

It would be the happiest thing if they agreed.

“Even if they rejected him, it wouldn't be that hard to send an email.”

Ji-woo grinned and Ji-yoon muttered softly.

“…Should I try sending one too?”

Ji-yoon also wanted to take a literature class in a foreign country. It would be hard to understand everything because of the language barrier, but she wanted to feel the atmosphere of the class.

“A foreign acting class…”

“I wonder if cooking school would work.”

Seo-jun and Mina also took out their phones and started looking for information with curious faces.

***

“…You said it was a trip?”

Ahn Da Ho's expression became subtle and Seo-jun laughed.

“If they don't reply, I’ll just go on a trip.”

“And if they do, you'll take the class?”

“Yes.”

Ahn Da Ho brushed his hair back at the sight of Seo-jun's cheerful face.

‘Are you trying to get the most out of your trip to Europe?’

It would be typical of Koreans to start sightseeing at dawn. But why did that lead to taking classes…? Ahn Da Ho wondered if the word ‘yuyusangjong’ was appropriate for this situation.

“Ji-woo's chances are slim, though.”

“Because she's in medical school.”

And she had just finished her first semester of freshman year. There was no way that Park Ji-woo, who was a blank slate, could audit a foreign medical school class.

“Well, the chances of them not reading the email are higher.”

They were likely to be treated as spam, so Seo-jun and the kids were looking for other options.

“We’re looking for classes that anyone can audit. We’re also thinking about paying some tuition.”

It didn't have to be a college class. There were various programs offered by different organizations and associations. There were classes that lasted for a week or a month, so Mina and Ji-woo, who wanted to enjoy the trip and take classes, were carefully choosing.

“Mina is thinking about studying abroad, so she's more careful. But there aren't many acting classes.”

Seo-jun said regretfully and Ahn Da Ho smiled slightly. There were probably fewer people who wanted to take acting classes than writing or cooking.

“Are you starting from Spain as planned?”

“Yes.”

“Then how do we do the security…”

It was okay to go to the US, where they had a system in place, but they had never been to Europe except for traveling. And they had to prepare everything from scratch. Besides, this was a trip that the kids were going on by themselves, and Ahn Da Ho was not going either.

‘I can't just sit back and do nothing.’

Ahn Da Ho opened his mouth as he pondered.

“What's Ji-ho's agency's contact?”

Of course.

It was best to ask someone who was local.

***

And it was the end of June, when they decided to leave for the trip.

The parents, who were worried about the kids going on a trip to Europe by themselves, came to the airport to see them off. The airport was crowded, probably because it was the start of the summer vacation.

“Why don't we have dinner together since we haven't seen each other for a long time?”

“This place is good, what do you think?”

The parents, who had built friendship as long as their children's age, chatted and laughed.

“…Doesn't it feel like they didn't come to see them off?”

“Yeah.”

“Right.”

The kids, who were dragging their suitcases that their parents had packed for them, nodded at Ji-woo's words. The parents looked like they were using their children's departure as an excuse to have fun.

“Then let's go in now.”

“Okay.”

The kids said goodbye to their parents and headed to the departure hall. They checked their tickets and passports and boarded the plane.

They put their small luggage in the overhead bin and sat in their seats. The seats were filling up one by one.

“How long does it take?”

“About 13 hours.”

“Wow…”

The kids buckled their seat belts with bored faces as they heard Seo-jun's words. They already felt stiff from sitting for 13 hours.

“How are we going to sit for 13 hours?”

“It’ll pass quickly.”

And 13 hours passed.

**

Spain, barcelona International Airport.

Inside the crowded airport, some people started to appear at the gate, as if a plane had just arrived. Among the people who came out with bright faces and suitcases, mostly tourists, there were also some young students.

“It feels like we’ve been caged.”

“Right. Eat, sleep, eat, sleep.”

Seo-jun and the kids looked around and stretched their stiff bodies after sitting for 13 hours.

“Ji-ho said he would pick us up, right?”

“Yeah. But I doubt he came on time…”

The kids laughed at Ji-woo's words, who had always taken care of Ji-ho as his twin brother.

There were some people who came to greet them at the gate, and Seo-jun smiled brightly as he found a familiar face. The other person also seemed to have noticed Seo-jun and the kids, and waved his hand brightly.

“It's Ji-ho.”

“That's surprising. Oh, tae-ju hyung is there too.”

The kids’ eyes moved to Ji-ho's side as Ji-woo said. Park Ji-ho's agent, Kim Tae-ju, was standing there. He must have been in charge of driving today.

The kids dragged their suitcases and headed to where Ji-ho and Kim Tae-ju were.

“Ji-ho, I brought you some snacks…”

Ji-woo, who was going to give Ji-ho some Korean snacks that she had bought for him, saying that there were no new snacks at the Korean mart in Barcelona, stopped in her tracks. The paper bag with the snacks fell to the floor with a thud. Seo-jun, Ji-woo, and Mina also fixed their eyes on one spot and couldn't move.

“…Are you hurt?!”

Ji-ho laughed sheepishly at the surprised faces of his friends. He had a bandage wrapped around his right foot.