“Zeno is amazing, isn’t he?” Bobby asked, staring outside of the window. However, there wasn’t a cool view, just the worn-out concrete of the next building. However, even then, Bobby felt invigorated.
“He is!” Leni exclaimed, lying on the couch with her head on Sarang’s lap.
Jace, who was lounging on the floor, tilted his head to the two of them. “You don’t have a gig today?”
“Nope,” Sarang answered.
“That’s strange,” Jace said. “You have one almost every week now.”
“Yeah,” Leni smiled. “We have one tomorrow! Since it’s nearly summer, we are killing it. It’s projected that we’ll get more festivals in the summer, especially in the countryside.”
“I didn’t think we would hit it this big,” Sarang added. “I mean, our songs are at 201st on the local charts. The last time we checked, it wasn’t even in the top 10,000!”
“That’s great,” Jace smiled. “Things are finally looking up.”
“I agree,” Leni said. “I think it’s because of Zeno. Since he came to the company, our luck has gone up! We can even pay rent on time now.”
Bobby nodded in agreement. “It’s unbelievable how he achieved all of these in the span of months. He’s truly amazing.”
Jace swallowed and looked at his lap. “He truly is.”
“Do you know who is more amazing, though?” Leni suddenly asked. They all turned their attention toward her.
“Jace,” she said with a teasing smile. “He’s been here the longest, but he’s still the same! Talk about consistency.”
Sarang laughed, and Jace, too, joined her. That was what he always did when they joked about his career and how it remained stagnant until now.
“Yeah, amazing,” Jace muttered, but it didn’t sound as cheerful as he expected.
“Truly amazing,”
***
Daniel Byeon and Yuan were in the set.
It seemed they were offered minor roles, which they still took. Zeno couldn’t believe it.
To be fair, Daniel couldn’t believe it, too. He had taken a small role despite his big pride. However, that same pride couldn’t take not being in this production. It was already the talk of the town and the filming has barely started.
Yuan, on the other hand, wanted to be part of the experience. Where else would he be able to witness so many great actors at once? Aside from that, he could watch Zeno Han—the actor he was recently very interested in—act in real time.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Seoul, Ian Seo was crying to his manager.
“Why didn’t you tell me that Zeno was going to be in ‘The Forsaken Prince?'” he exclaimed.
“You said you wanted to rest. Your premier for Code Black is also near,” his manager answered.
Ian pursed his lips, placing his hand over his chest and looking away at a distance. “Suho Ryu’s role,” he muttered. “That should have been mine.”
Back to the set…
Zeno looked around, looking for a certain person when someone suddenly sat next to him.
“Hi, Zeno,” Risa exclaimed in a way-too-cheery voice. She bit her lip and offered her hand to him.
“Nice to meet you.”
Zeno shook her hand and bowed politely. “We’ve met before.”
“That, we have,” Risa chuckled. “But, we’ve never talked properly.”
Zeno nodded. Risa watched him fondly. “You’re not much of a talker, aren’t you?”
Zeno nodded once more. Then, he continued looking around for another person.
“Well, if you have any questions, you can just ask me. It’s my second-period drama,” she said.
“Thank you,” he muttered, his eyes still focused on the entrance of the pavilion.
“Is he coming today?” some of the staff members whispered.
“He is. We’re filming the scenes with him first so he could go home earlier than the rest of us.”
“It’s his first time coming personally, right?”
“To a group meeting, yes. But then again, he doesn’t have to come.”
Oska Baek, despite his disdain for the situation, was nervous when the staff started talking about ‘him.’ It was strange. Even Hyunbin Lee, an actor for half of his life, bit his lip while waiting for ‘his’ arrival.
Everyone talked about him like he was a deity, and maybe he was.
Just then, a looming presence stood right outside the entrance of the pavilion. They collectively turned their heads, seeing a short, old man with a large presence. He had simple clothes on, but even then, they could tell he had the money to buy the very land they were sitting on.
There wasn’t a smile on his face, and gulps could be heard as he walked past the crew. Daeshim PD smiled shakily as he greeted the old actor.
“Mr. Wang,” he greeted.
The old actor merely shooed him away and sat on the floor with everybody else. “Continue,” he said. “Don’t mind me.”
Still, the others didn’t take their eyes away from him. With a slight glare, they all turned toward the front, except for Zeno.
Zeno stared at the old man, filled with grace, and couldn’t deny his aura. It wasn’t that Zeno wanted to defy his words by fixing his gaze on him, but it was because he couldn’t look away at all.
[S-list Actor with SSS-class talent]
Zeno’s breath got caught in the back of his throat.
No wonder he was entitled as the ‘king’ of actors.
His name, Ryeo Wang, literally meant ‘Majestic King.’ In all of South Korea, ‘Wang’ was a pretty rare surname, with only 25,000 across their population of 52 million. That’s a 0.048% chance of having such a surname.
Yes, Zeno computed it on the spot.
To think that someone with his surname became famous was even more bizarre. It seemed he was born for this. Just then, Ryeo’s gaze snapped toward Zeno, so the latter quickly looked away.
Even though Zeno was technically older than Ryeo, he still felt pretty intimidated.
Not only did he have 87 acting awards from different academies, but he was also the only actor in a different class than the rest.
The Imperial Class.
He was the only one who had that title within this set, so it also meant that he was the only person Zeno needed to impress.
But, even then, Zeno was unsure if the old expert would budge.