Brother, Am I Cute? [EN]: Chapter 55

Hyung, Aren’t I Cute? Episode 55 (55/500)

Park Hee-yeol, an exclusive member of Wondae Broadcasting Station, was a fan of writer Song Taek-soo.

He immediately contacted them upon hearing the news of the trailer being made.

Although he couldn’t meet Song Taek-soo in person, he wanted to participate in the project at least once.

Even though the budget for this trailer wasn’t much, he came all the way here because he found significance in participating and supporting his favorite writer.

The voice actor who came with him said,

“I didn’t know Senior Hee-yeol would participate in something like this.”

“It seems like you participated with the same mindset as me?”

“Of course. I remember how everyone passed around the books during middle school, and then everyone bought their own copies because they were so eager to read them.”

“You guys were like that too? Everyone’s the same.”

He was reminiscing about his school days when he came out of the restroom.

“By the way, the English script is being recorded separately, right?”

“Yes. I heard they found an amateur with good pronunciation.”

“If I had known this would happen, I would have brushed up on my English speaking skills beforehand.”

“Haha. It’s already too late.”

The junior laughed and then lowered his voice, leaning in conspiratorially.

“Senior, you know, who are you going to pick for the additional spots [T.O. is likely an abbreviation for ‘Table of Organization,’ referring to the number of available positions]?”

“Haa. That’s what’s giving me a headache. I 괜히 [a Korean expression implying regret or doing something unnecessary] took on the job of judging. I have to pick from the kids who were eliminated in the final interview.”

The public recruitment selected by Wondae Broadcasting Station was originally for one man and one woman.

However, a formal request came down from the mayor asking to increase the number of positions further to reduce the youth unemployment rate and show positive results this time.

This directive went down not only to the broadcasting station but also to other companies in the city.

Small businesses seemed to be racking their brains at the thought of hiring unnecessary new employees.

“It’s a headache to think about who to pick from the kids who were eliminated. I can’t just tell them to come back for another screening.”

“We’re not exactly free either.”

“Actually, everyone’s pretty good these days, no matter who you pick. I have to pick kids with good character…….”

Both of them knew very well that it wasn’t an easy task.

“How about the amateur who came earlier?”

Park Hee-yeol smirked.

“He’s good.”

“Yes? How do you know?”

“He’s one of the kids who was eliminated in the final interview.”

“Yes?!”

“It’s hard not to remember that giant.”

“You eliminated someone who’s good.”

Park Hee-yeol frowned.

“I couldn’t help it. One of the guys stood out exceptionally. He was 넘사벽 [a Korean slang term meaning ‘the wall you can’t climb over,’ indicating someone overwhelmingly superior] good.”

“Hehe. Just looking at his appearance, the kid from earlier stood out the most, though?”

“I admit that.”

He laughed and returned to the recording studio.

After the recording, he waited outside for a while.

“Let’s go take a look. Let’s see how good he is.”

“You said that kid from earlier was good, though?”

“Still, I have to see if he’s good in English too. Maybe this could be an additional interview that could lead to acceptance.”

“You’re just worried that he’ll ruin the work because he’s a fan of writer Song Taek-soo, right?”

Park Hee-yeol avoided his junior’s eyes.

“I’m just curious.”

The recording began.

Baek Dong-hwan’s skills were not bad either.

Even when listening to it in English, his fundamentals were solid.

But…….

“Wait a minute.”

Si-hyuk, who was next to Baek Dong-hwan, stopped the recording.

Then he gave some advice.

‘What’s the problem?’

Park Hee-yeol’s curiosity was piqued.

About five minutes passed.

Si-hyuk requested to record by himself temporarily.

“Can I just record temporarily?”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

Park Hee-yeol felt dumbfounded.

He wondered what Si-hyuk was trying to do.

But……

The moment Si-hyuk recorded, the atmosphere changed completely.

‘What is that monster?’

First of all, his pronunciation was different from Baek Dong-hwan’s.

It was like it was sticking in his ears, so clear and distinct.

Baek Dong-hwan wasn’t bad, but Lee Si-hyuk was superior in terms of pronunciation.

Not only that, but what was even more absurd was…

‘Is his voice acting natural?’

What is usually required of voice actors is voice acting – changing their voice to suit different characters.

Even though the specific qualities that broadcasting stations want when selecting public recruits are different, there are common expectations.

Child, youth, middle-aged, elderly.

One person must be able to express all these ages with their voice to suit each role.

‘That’s the basics, but you can’t change it so quickly like that.’

A serious and heavy voice narration.

The protagonist’s monologue.

The slow tempo suitable for an old man’s voice.

The protagonist, a voice in his 30s.

He changed between the four voices in an instant as the video played.

Usually, they record in cuts, but that kid recorded it all at once without any problems.

‘It’s absurd.’

If he took the public recruitment exam at a foreign broadcasting station, that kid would definitely pass.

Talent is talent, but the most important thing in voice acting was breathing and technique honed through effort.

It is not a world of voice acting where you can survive with talent alone.

Where to cut off the words, where to add more breath to bring out the emotion.

This was a matter of experience and a matter of technique.

Unless you hone these things, they won’t pick you even if you have talent.

“Senior. He’s good, though?”

“Yeah. He’s good. But the kid next to him is even more absurd.”

“Yes? Why?”

Park Hee-yeol looked at the recording studio with narrowed eyes.

Inside, Si-hyuk was playing the recorded voice over and over again.

Baek Dong-hwan was seen moving his mouth diligently, trying to follow along.

“When we recorded earlier, the voices of two people overlapped in one line.”

“Yes? I didn’t notice?”

“No. I heard it properly.”

At that time, the engineer nodded.

“That’s right. The two waveforms overlap.”

The junior looked at Park Hee-yeol as if he was surprised.

“Wow. Senior, your ears are so good. You heard that little sound?”

“Yeah. The problem is that the pronunciation was corrected in an instant. But I think it’s not just that.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s see. It seems like the practice is all over there.”

This time, a proper recording began.

The voice led by Baek Dong-hwan came out.

The engineer in front of him nodded in satisfaction.

Park Hee-yeol laughed in vain.

‘His learning ability is crazy.’

There was another monster next to the monster.

His body was already more than a monster.

‘He not only absorbs the pronunciation but also the nuances of putting emotion into English for sure. If I put him in as a public recruit, it would be easy to train him.’

In fact, the exclusive contract is for two years.

It was a time when they learned a lot while recording with their seniors for two years.

How well they follow along was important in their company life.

Now, Park Hee-yeol unexpectedly saw such a promising aspect.

‘The male additional passer has been decided.’

He thought it was a good thing to choose today’s recording.

“Ah, hyung!”

At that time, Siha, who was sitting quietly on the sofa, blinked at Hyung.

Park Hee-yeol greeted Siha.

“Hello. Baby.”

“Ah, Anyeong [Korean for hello].”

“Oh. Are you drawing a picture?”

Siha was drawing a picture on the tablet while waiting for Hyung.

“Ah.”

“You’re good at drawing? Is that the bird that came out in the video earlier? It looks a little different, though.”

“Ah.”

“Do babies draw this well these days?”

Park Hee-yeol tilted his head.

A baby monster among monsters.

He was seriously contemplating whether artistic sense is influenced by DNA.

“Ah. Hyung. Siha.”

“Huh?”

“Hyung. Siha.”

Park Hee-yeol looked closely at the picture Siha was pointing at.

“This is?”

His junior next to him said.

“LSH? What is this?”

“More than that, this whole picture is made up of letters…….”

“Huh?!”

The two voice actors thought that the baby in front of them was more of a genius than the people in the recording studio.

So they couldn’t help but be captivated.

“Ah?”

Siha is just using what he has learned and seen.

LSH is Lee Siha, Lee Si-hyuk.

The initials of the two people.

It was what he had recently learned from Hyung.

***

It was very busy when I came out after finishing the recording.

‘What is it?’

I scanned the surroundings.

Everyone’s eyes were glued to the tablet that Siha was drawing on.

“Siha.”

“Ah. Hyung!”

“Were you bored alone?”

Dori Dori [Korean onomatopoeia for shaking one’s head].

I stroked Siha’s head at the sight of him.

“Did you draw hard today too?”

“Ah.”

“Wow. You drew well.”

“Ah. Hyung. Siha.”

“Huh? Oh? That’s right. It’s Hyung and Siha.”

I picked up Siha.

I saved the picture and put the tablet in my bag.

Now I was going to play with Siha to my heart’s content.

“Excuse me.”

Park Hee-yeol called me.

“Yes?”

“The child is very cute. He also draws very profound pictures.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you. My brother is a genius.”

“I think it’s to the extent that other people would be surprised if they knew for sure.”

“Of course. This is a secret from other people.”

“No one will believe it even if you tell other people.”

“That’s true.”

“Haha. And I listened to the recording well. You were really good.”

“Ah, thank you. It’s my first time, so I’m glad.”

“The first time?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

Park Hee-yeol was slightly embarrassed and then shook his head.

“No. Ah, you’re Baek Dong-hwan, right? I listened to you really well too. Your skills are still the same.”

Baek Dong-hwan bowed his head in thanks.

They seemed to know each other.

I was bewildered because he had never said such a thing to me.

‘Well, I knew his name…….’

I thought it was strange from the moment he said he knew the name of the broadcasting station’s exclusive member.

Maybe he’s someone I saw at the voice actor public recruitment exam.

‘Anyway, it’s friendly. I have to take care of Siha.’

I looked at Siha.

“Siha. Shall we go then?”

“Ah.”

“Is there anything you want to play today?”

“Ah. Siha. Pepe.”

“Huh? Pepe?”

“Monster~”

“Ah~ Do you want to watch cartoons?”

“Ah.”

“Okay. Then. Let’s go watch cartoons.”

“Ah.”

At that time, Baek Dong-hwan came to me after finishing the conversation.

“Hyungnim [a Korean term for ‘older brother,’ used to show respect and closeness]!”

“Huh?”

“It’s all thanks to Hyungnim.”

“What is?”

“I don’t know what happened, but there will be good news at Wondae Broadcasting Station.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes. Haha. They said they will announce the additional passers later.”

“Aren’t you getting picked?”

“Well? They said they would give additional passes to the people who went to the final interview, so there’s a possibility. But I heard it from voice actor Park Hee-yeol now, so wouldn’t there be bonus points?”

“That person?”

“Yes. Actually, he was the final interview judge.”

“Aha. Then I hope it goes well. You worked really hard.”

“Haha. Yes. It’s all thanks to Hyungnim.”

“What are you talking about? Then shall we watch Penguin Monster together and eat chicken?”

“That’s good.”

We were able to finish the recording safely and return home in a good mood.

And I had fun watching Penguin Monster with Siha.

***

-Siha’s painting. Pixiv upload.

[Title: Under the sky.]

1. A bird picture drawn only with the letters LSH.

[Like] [Heart] [Share] […]

[siha.pepe.] [List of works]

#bird #LSH #Typography

Hearts and comments poured in on the picture I uploaded after a long time.

This time, it was a picture with a bird that anyone could see.

That’s because Siha creatively added more to the bird in the video he saw.

But it seemed different to other people.

-Sihapepe!!

-I’ve been waiting for a long time! But what does this mean again?

-What does LSH mean?

-LSH is luteinizing hormone!

-You idiot. Even if it’s an abbreviation, that’s not it.

-That’s right. Sihapepe basically writes in English in all his posts. That means it’s an English-speaking country.

-What does that have to do with it?

-LSH is an abbreviation for Lake Superior Hall!

-What is that?

-I’m talking about the largest of the Great Lakes of North America!

-!!!

Not at all, LSH was just an abbreviation for Lee Siha and Lee Si-hyuk.

-The evidence is too weak. There’s no way that just because you use English, that’s it.

-Am I just going to say that? Overlap that bird upside down with Lake Superior.

Really, by coincidence, it matched the shape of the lake.

-!!!

-Wow. Crazy?!

-It’s really a lake?!

-Ah. I thought it was a bird and was deceived.

-As expected, Sihapepe!!!

-But why did you turn it upside down and make it new?

That’s right. It was a question that should have come out naturally.

-That’s because he broke the stereotype of Siya by turning it upside down.

But there was another rebuttal there.

-No. I think differently. The hint is in the title! Under the sky!

-Why is that?

-The picture of Lake Superior is a picture taken from a satellite in the first place. Right under the sky!

-!!!

-Wow. Crazy!

-What animal can see that?

-It’s a bird. Wow~

-That’s right. It’s a picture drawn through the eyes of a bird that can be seen under the sky. That’s why the lake is upside down.

-?!?!

-You thought that far and drew it?

-As expected, it’s Sihapepe. His ideas are different!

The title was just written by Si-hyuk to look good.

-I knew it with this. Sihapepe is Canadian.

-Lake Superior is in Canada.

-Wow. Sihapepe. He was Canadian.

-I’m a Canadian broadcaster, and I’m going to invite Sihapepe to the upcoming broadcasting art competition via DM.

-Wow! Is Sihapepe becoming famous now?!

-Then I think I’ll be really sad. It feels like I’m having a treasure that only I know taken away from the public?

The next day.

A DM request came from the broadcasting station to the Sihapepe account.

Si-hyuk, who saw it.

“Canada? Art broadcast? What is this again? There’s no way Siha can go out.”

He ignored the DM as it was.