Top Star By Luck [EN]: Chapter 10

Episode 10

Jam Acting School.

A prestigious acting school located in Mapo-gu [a district in Seoul].

It has achieved outstanding results comparable to those of prominent theater and film departments.

[Unfold your dreams of becoming an actor with Jam Acting School!]

[Join Jam Acting School with thousands of alumni!]

You can find Jam Acting School alumni wherever you go.

Thanks to their strong bonds, they even have their own network.

The reason why a mere academy could achieve such great results was thanks to its thorough winner-takes-all structure.

[Full scholarship for outstanding students!]

[Let’s make the debut preparation class stand out too!]

The head of the school, Director Park, had been feeling anxious lately.

‘Is he really going to make it?’

It was because of Lee Min-ki.

Not long ago, Director Park made a bet with trainer Kim Ah-sung.

They wagered a prize on whether Lee Min-ki would pass the Daon Entertainment audition or not.

In fact, he never thought he would pass.

Why?

Because Lee Min-ki’s skills were among the worst!

[Pfft]

[He fell again]

[Why is he so awkward?]

Although he was in the debut preparation class, no one really believed that he could debut.

At best, a minor role.

If he was really lucky, maybe a supporting role in a web drama.

Lee Min-ki was that kind of person.

If you had an eye for acting, you couldn’t help but look down on him.

But he had changed a bit recently.

“Ugh.”

Director Park watched the practice room from the hallway for a moment, then sighed deeply.

‘Indeed, his skills have improved tremendously.’

He realized it as soon as he saw Lee Min-ki’s acting.

His skills had improved to the point where they couldn’t even be compared to what they were just a while ago. The awkward acting had gained vitality, and the mistakes had been greatly reduced. His once clumsy body now had a small edge to it.

It was a change that came in just one month.

‘I know that acting skills develop in stages, but how can this be?’

He was in the middle of watching Lee Min-ki’s acting.

“Oh? Director?”

Flinch.

Director Park was startled by the voice from behind.

A man dressed casually was smirking as he turned around.

“Ah, good morning.”

“What’s going on from this ‘good morning’?”

He chuckled and glanced at the practice room, saying.

“Ah, could it be?”

“……!”

Director Park frowned, trying to hide his pricked conscience, and said.

“I just came by. Just came by. Can’t I walk around as I please in my own school?”

“Hey, of course. It’s your school, Director. Who cares who does what, where?”

Director Park’s blood pressure soared.

Trainer Kim Ah-sung seemed to be enjoying Director Park’s reaction and chuckled, saying.

“He’s good, right? Min-ki is.”

“…….”

“He’s incredibly diligent. Every morning, he comes out one or two hours earlier than others to practice something. I heard he’s been going to the gym lately. Wow, you don’t often see someone as hardworking as him, even among the pros.”

“…….”

“I don’t know how he does it. He’s a real workaholic.”

“……Ahem!”

Director Park couldn’t bear to listen any longer and moved away, saying.

“I don’t care!”

“Yes, yes. Please go in carefully.”

As he walked away quickly, as if running away.

Suddenly, a thought crossed Director Park’s mind.

‘Lee Min-ki, is he really going to pass the Daon Entertainment audition?’

It was something the school should be happy about.

Daon Entertainment was a prestigious agency renowned throughout the industry, and producing a successful applicant to such a place would be a great achievement for the school.

But he had made a bet with trainer Kim Ah-sung.

He had agreed to pay him a scholarship.

It wasn’t about the money.

It was just that he couldn’t explain the strange feeling in his heart.

‘What should I call this?’

Director Park didn’t know.

That within him, a feeling of supporting Lee Min-ki was gradually taking root.

It was just hard to accept because he had ignored him for so long.

And on top of that.

‘That guy, he’s going to be thrilled to death, isn’t he?’

He couldn’t stand Kim Ah-sung’s smirking face.

He was passing by like that.

“Oh, it’s the Director.”

He happened to run into one more person.

This time, it was Kim Tak, a man with yellow-dyed hair.

‘This student.’

He was a student who usually didn’t put in any effort and often skipped classes.

Frankly speaking, he was lazy.

He seemed to have talent, but he was the type who didn’t put in the effort.

I heard his family was quite wealthy.

Recently, however, he hadn’t missed a single class and had been coming to autonomous practice every morning.

“……Work hard.”

“Oh! Thank you!! Have a good morning, Director!”

Unnecessarily energetic.

* * *

Did you know that?

Time spent diligently passes strangely quickly.

Ten hours feel like one hour.

A week feels like a day.

A month ago feels like yesterday.

As the most enjoyable time is said to pass in an instant, the time Lee Min-ki has been spending lately has been like that.

Autonomous practice in the morning, school in the afternoon, and the gym late in the evening.

While repeating these three routines, the day he had been eagerly waiting for finally arrived.

‘Today is the day.’

Endorphins surged through Lee Min-ki’s head as he opened his eyes in the morning.

‘5 hours until the Daon Entertainment audition. I’ll wash up, eat, warm up, and go.’

The audition starts at 11 a.m.

But Lee Min-ki woke up at 6 a.m. as always.

This is because it takes time for the body, which has been relaxed during sleep, to regain its elasticity, and it is also possible to respond smoothly to any emergencies.

He had been adjusting his biorhythm to Daon Entertainment’s schedule.

Swish!

As he was hit by the pouring water, Lee Min-ki reviewed the acting he would perform today in his head.

‘What I’ve done so far isn’t bad. But let’s do it a bit more slyly.’

An actor must be able to monitor himself.

Like a skilled engineer analyzing the parts of a car, Lee Min-ki constantly pondered what strengths and weaknesses he had.

He supplemented his acting every morning.

[7:30 a.m.]

Waking up, Lee Min-ki tied his shoelaces tightly.

‘It’s a leisurely 1-hour walk from home to the Daon Entertainment audition venue. It’s a distance worth running.’

Since when was it?

Jogging to the destination after waking up has become Lee Min-ki’s morning routine.

He no longer worries about spraining his ankle while running.

He’s not anxious.

Instead, he can enjoy the subtle muscle pain.

‘I’ve changed a lot too.’

Squeak!

Opening the door and running diligently along the riverside, Lee Min-ki thought.

‘I have a good feeling.’

Unlike the busy roads from the morning, his two legs running smoothly and coolly are so good.

The morning air filling his lungs seems to promise him a bright future.

The intuition that he will pass the Daon Entertainment audition.

What he had only vaguely hoped for now felt like a reality that was just around the corner.

‘I’ve done my best.’

He spent a month faithfully under a good teacher.

Kim Tak and Yoo Seon-ah, who were uncomfortable at first, became good yardsticks to keep him from losing his tension.

‘Okay, it’s almost here.’

He ran for a long time in a trance.

Before he knew it, he was right in front of his destination.

“Hoo.”

Lee Min-ki stopped, breathing heavily.

The uphill road from the riverside promenade, it sparkled like a road to the future.

Again, he had a good feeling.

* * *

Daon (多溫) Entertainment.

Daon for short.

A leading agency that has firmly established itself in the Korean entertainment industry.

This place, which any aspiring person would dream of at least once, had one characteristic that those who knew knew and those who didn’t know didn’t know.

What is that.

-Daon Entertainment? Do they even hire people there?

They don’t hire people easily.

It was a company known as a small elite group among industry insiders.

-Daon only has the best of the best

-I heard they don’t even do contracts well?

Of course, there are many companies that claim to be small elite groups.

But the reality was a little different.

As there are only a small number of star actors, expansion itself is difficult, so it is often inevitable that they become a small elite group.

But according to rumors, Daon Entertainment was different.

They truly pursue a small elite group.

They respect the freedom of actors more than the profit-making activities themselves.

A company whose existence in a capitalist society is questionable. Fans would throw a word about the identity of this company.

-They hardly do open recruitment, and they only recruit famous celebrities through personal connections.

-It’s their own league

-My sister works at an agency, and Daon Entertainment doesn’t seem to hire employees well either. You can only get in through introductions.

-Can the company even operate like that?

All sorts of good rumors are circulating.

But to tell the truth about this company, it was a little different.

-The boss is a gangster.

The boss was a thug.

A gangster boss who scraped together money based on loan sharking and entertainment operated a real-life actor training game with cash, that was the truth of the company called Daon Entertainment.

Why don’t they increase the number of actors?

Because the boss collects actors to suit his taste.

It was a simple reason.

It’s not about bringing them in because they have a high price tag. It’s not about bringing them in because they’re popular.

Everything depended entirely on the boss’s mind.

-Daon Entertainment? It’s really picky there

-The boss has created his own kingdom

-Why hold auditions? They don’t hire people

-Daon is the first place I’ve ever waited 2 hours for a meeting appointment

As a result, it was chewed like gum by industry insiders who knew the real situation.

But no matter what the situation, this company is doing well.

Because the boss’s foresight was surprisingly good.

It’s luck if it’s luck, and it’s skill if it’s skill.

As a result, the winning streak continues, so the rumors are only good.

That’s how information in this industry originally was.

Since everything circulates in secret, there was a limit to collecting information if you couldn’t join the mainstream society.

If you were a supporting actor at best, like Lee Min-ki, or usually a minor role, there was no need to say anything.

For that reason, Daon’s employees were dying.

“Has the president not arrived yet?”

“Ugh, what are you doing somewhere!!”

It was because the president was acting as he pleased.

The man who was the judge of today’s audition, Director Kim Jong-hyuk, was also screaming without wanting to.

“When did the audition start! How can you leave your seat like this without saying a word!”

“Can’t you reach the president?”

“The phone is off! He doesn’t even answer KakaoTalk [a popular messaging app in Korea]! I’m going crazy!”

Today’s audition was scheduled to be judged directly by three judges.

Director Kim Jong-hyuk, the president, and the management team leader.

But the most important president has left his seat.

Wouldn’t it be okay if the remaining two people somehow picked them, but that wasn’t the case.

‘People are hired or not depending on whether the president likes them.’

This was because Daon Entertainment’s structure itself was running abnormally.

In other areas, they respect the discretion of employees as much as possible, but contracts with affiliated celebrities are separate.

If you bring in a talent that the president doesn’t like, you don’t know what kind of criticism you’ll get later.

‘You’re coming out like this, right?’

Even this audition, the president was lukewarm, but he pushed it through, saying it was a necessary task.

If the results are not satisfactory even a little, he will try to find fault.

Still, the audition must proceed.

I can’t bear to feed the people who came all the way here.

After much deliberation.

“Raise the bar.”

Director Kim Jong-hyuk came to a conclusion.

“Pick only two people who are really good and drop the rest.”

“Wait a minute. Only pick two people?”

Director Kim Jong-hyuk replied in a cold voice to the voice that seemed unbelievable.

“It’s better not to pick someone than to pick the wrong person. Unless they’re exceptionally outstanding.”