Rebirth: King to Superstar

Chapter 109 - Time Skip

San Min nodded and said, "Right, on to the next one. You have become pretty famous after the drama today. Many of the reviews tell about your acting and it won't surprise you if scouts of companies or movies approach you for audition opportunities. I mean, even today, I git a few calls from some small and medium-sized agencies which were interested in you a little but I told them, I'll ask you before I give an answer."

She continued after pausing for a second, "But most of those movies will only give out small roles, which won't give you much exposure. So, I hope you would not consider those opportunities yet. You can directly get some solid roles later when you are ready, so hang in there for now."

Joon-won nodded and understood her thought process. Even if he accepted the small roles coming his way and eventually get an audition offer in a big movie, he might not be selected like before. He would still have to fix his problems to make the leap into the big leagues. 

San Min noticed him accepting her advice and so they changed the conversation. They eventually reached the restaurant and Joon-won got down. He noticed the bus was yet to arrive, but a few people who had cars and bikes were already there waiting for them. San Min and Kar Jung walked into the restaurant as Joon-won stood outside with the others. 

After going in Joon-won mainly ate food, rather than drink. This time, he denied alcohol and only drank a few sips when he was eating. He really loved the food and stuffed himself full. Joon-won didn't want to stay late like last time and miss his shift at the supermarket, so he made his way out. Standing in front of the restaurant, he felt a little sleepy and so decided to just take a cab instead of the bus. 

In the cab, he received a message from Hea-Jung and he ignored it. He didn't forget to mute her chat box so that he wouldn't even see any notification. Joon-won was too tired to talk with a person like Hea-Jung and thought to handle her extra banter the next day. 

Reaching home, he went into the washroom, washed his face a little, and didn't forget to brush. He ate too much stuff and didn't want to risk getting any cavities. Looking at himself in the mirror, he thought about the drama once again and couldn't help but grin a little. It felt very good to act again and be on the stage; he felt a wave of excitement and adrenaline rush after so many decades. 

Taking a deep breath, he decided to get better and go experience what the next step felt like. It was a type of adventure for him, and he couldn't wait to go into the unknown. Getting out of the bathroom, he changed his clothes and jumped on the bed.

Just Like that, days turned into weeks and weeks turned into a month as there were only a couple of days left until the summer vacation ended for the university students. The past month was a rollercoaster ride for Joon-won, especially after the first drama. 

After the first drama, his name really started to reach the ears of people in the industry. Because of how famous the drama house was, there were many directors, producers, and even actors who watched the shows. A few people called the drama house a few times to inquire about him, according to San Min, but nothing more than that. According to Kar Jung, one show wasn't enough for people to give out precious audition opportunities yet. 

So as time went on, after a couple more dramas, an agent of a talent company personally asked him to join them and that they would give him quite some money, provide training and even go out to look for roles for him. But he declined it because of two reasons. One he already told Do Hwan that he would join his agency after the summer ends and the other was he himself felt he wasn't ready yet and felt it would be a waste of time to build connections in a new place again. 

By his 4th drama, the drama house got calls from film sets for auditions for him. San Min didn't forget to tell him about those as she couldn't keep it a secret and it wasn't her place to decline them for him. Joon-won also didn't just decline them outright. After an entire month of drama and honing his skills, he felt he could try a few of them out and so he took a look at the auditions they were offering. 

After going through them, he felt they weren't worth the time. All of them were minor roles worth ignoring and so he just decided to continue honing his skills and completely removing his problems. 

San Min and Kar Jung advised him to get an agent for himself so that he could manage all these offers he is getting and also go out to get him offers later on. Joon-won considered their proposal but quickly shot it down after he realized that he didn't have the money to even hire one. He decided to get one after he became a listed actor and told this Do Hwan. Do Hwan agreed and told him that he would manage these for him until Joon-won hired someone. 

Things around him remained the same throughout the summer. He still went to the gym after his free trial and got into a healthier diet to get into better shape. He also watched a couple of movies over the summer whenever he had some time to spare and took note of some of them. After the apology, he noticed Dokgo Ki trying harder when it came to the auditions and roles. It also seemed like he took his advice, as he wasn't as nasty as before. 

After his first drama, he didn't forget to remind Min-Seok and Yun-hee to watch the drama when he got the information that it was released on the app. Only after 5 minutes, he said that he felt his phone vibrate and noticed it was a message from Yun-hee talking about how cool it was on the stage, and messages like this continued the whole way throughout the entire time they watched the drama. 

There were messages asking him how he could be so cruel to the main leads as if she forgot she was only watching a drama. The messages were like live comments by commentators during a game. After he replied to a few at the beginning, he muted her chat completely. 

He then got a call from Min-Seok after the drama was done and he could hear him crying from the other side about how proud he was. Joon-won, who was new to the whole situation, was quiet the entire time and let the guy on the other side let everything out before he spoke. After Min-Seok finished crying, he encouraged him to do better and go farther, promising him they would see every film or drama he is in whether he was good or bad. They were his No.1 supporters and fans in the world. This made Joon-won a little touched at how much support he was getting and this type of unyielding support was special compared to the other support he received in his previous life. 

After him was Yun-hee, who threw questions at him like a gun. She didn't calm down until she got all her answers and was satisfied with them. According to her, she was so proud that she showed the drama to all her friends and many praised him. Probably because of that his phone rang once again and this time it was old 'friends' who were asking about the drama. A few asked for autographs of their favorite actors as if he was famous enough to get them. After this he wondered if he needed to get another phone number, he didn't want to deal with these kinds of calls and messages every time in the future, so he decided to get a new one after the summer ended, right before the new semester started. 

Speaking of Yun-hee, her exams were finally over, and was resting at home after them. She didn't seem too bothered about the results, which would come in a few days, and already submitted applications to various universities she planned to go to. According to her, the exams were so easy; she slept the last 10 minutes of the exam. When they asked what universities she applied to, she didn't answer and instead told both of them that they'll get to know when she was accepted into them. She will know the results of the applications a day after her results come out. 

Min-Seok, on the other hand, didn't seem as tired and concerned when he first talked to him. He was more relaxed after watching Joon-won's first drama and Yun-hee's exam. Even though he was still a bit anxious about the results for her, it wasn't that concerning. Joon-won felt good after seeing this.

Aside from this, he also watched a few of Jung-hwa's dramas when they were uploaded online. He could see her improve a lot during summer vacation. She seemed more confident on the stage and was able to put herself out there more. But she was never the most dominant person on stage. Her presence was still not enough to catch the attention of agencies and this was not going to get solved easily, it could only get solved through more exposure.