Rebirth: King to Superstar

Joon-won stood up and made his way out of the room. Walking up to Kar Jung he asked, "We are going to your house?" 

Kar Jung looked at him by the corner of his eye and replied, "Yes we are. My wife didn't want me to eat outside and told me to bring you home for dinner. So just follow me and come." 

Joon-won just nodded and followed him down the hallway. After reaching the main entrance, Kar Jung asked him to wait at the front while he brought his car out and walked away. Joon-won shrugged and walked to the front and waited for a few meters away from the road. After waiting for a few more minutes, he heard a car horn and looked up. 

It was Kar Jung in a car wearing sunglasses coming towards him. The car wasn't a super-luxury model or basic model. It was in the middle. He got in the car and asked, "Why are you wearing sunglasses? I mean it's already getting dark." 

As soon as he heard that, Kar Jung rebutted immediately, "Hey don't say that. It's for the style. Let this old man feel a bit more youthful." And continued to drive. 

Joon-won didn't bother even thinking about that statement as he leaned back on the seat and looked out the window. The more he saw the inner city, the more he felt amazed by how different the two worlds were. So many tall buildings and even at night the area was bright. 

The car eventually entered into a housing society. Every house had one extra floor. The car came to a stop before one of the houses with a small garden in the front. There were a few well-kept flowers making the environment peaceful. 

"Alright, get out." He heard Kar Jung and got out. 

Both of them walked up to the front of the house and before Kar Jung even knocked, the door opened and a middle-aged lady smiled at both of them. She took the bag Kar Jung had on him and said, "Welcome home. You guys came earlier than I expected. Welcome, I'm Kar Mani, Kar Jung's wife. Please feel free." 

Joon-won smiled back and nodded while Kar Jung said, "You don't need to be so nice to this young man. I just met him today, and he is already in my house." 

As he walked in Kat Mani slapped his back and scolded her husband, "Don't talk like that. He wanted to ask for your help and you should be polite. You are making such a poor impression. Be nice." 

"Alright alright. I'll be nice. You go and continue with your cooking. We both will be in the living room." He waved his hands and walked inside. 

Kar Mani shook her head helplessly at how free-spirited he was and said to Joon-won, "Please don't mind him. He must be tired." 

Joon-won shook his hands and replied, "Oh no. It's ok." 

Kar Mani nodded and said, "Alright, please go to the living room. It's down the hallway. You both can talk about something while I continue to cook dinner." And walked into the kitchen. 

Joon-won looked around and removed his footwear before walking. The stairs to the first floor were to the right adjacent to the wall, and the hallway leads straight to the living room. He walked to the living room and saw Kar Jung with a bottle of wine in his hands. 

"Ah, how long were you going to take to just walk a few feet? Come in and take a seat quickly so we can talk." He waved his hand and patted the seat next to him on the sofa. The living room was very simple, with pictures on the wall, a huge TV, an enormous sofa to sit on. It looked luxurious, yet simple. Joon-won made his way and sat beside Kar Jung. 

"Now tell me. What is your problem? It better be something good." 

Joon-won nodded and said, "I need help with my acting." Looking at the man as he took a sip.

"Alright, since I already promised you that I'll try my best to give you advice don't hold back. Quick shoot your problem." He waved the bottle and urged Joon-won. 

Joon-won took a deep breath and began to tell the story, "It started with an audition I gave for a movie the day before yesterday. After my audition, every person who was judging my acting told me I acted really well and even better than a few actors in the industry. But they denied me the role and said I was not 'ready' to act in movies yet. This is where I need your help. What are the common mistakes people who are used to acting in dramas make when it comes to movies? To be honest I do not even have a clue why I am rejected to work on the problem." And waited for an answer.

Kar Jung took another sip of his wine and said, "There are many things that drama actors make when they try to make that transfer to movies. Even I had a few problems. But I don't know which problem you are facing to give you a hint on how to solve it." 

Joon-won went into deep thought and asked after a few seconds, "Do you want to see my audition clip?"

Kar Jung looked at Joon-won and said, "What?" 

"I asked if you want to see my audition clip. I have it on my phone. You can watch it and see what my problem is." He took out his phone and tapped on his folder before opening it. 

'This was what I was waiting for, young man. Those two idiots didn't give me this recording when I asked. Even though I am their friend I am also their senior but they said to ask you myself.' Kar Jung thought back to his conversation with Do Hwan and San Min. He asked for the audition clip but Do Hwan said he should talk with Joon-won and solve it together. He planned to just go straight to Joon-won after watching the clip and telling him what his problem was but because of Do Hwan, he had to change his plan. 

"Don't open the video on the phone. It's such a small screen that I can't even see properly, much less judge your acting. Just screen share it on the TV." Kar Jung pushed the phone aside and took out the remote before turning the TV on. 

Joon-won followed his orders and screen shared the video onto the TV. He looked at Kar Jung and started the video after getting a nod. The video started out normally with him standing before the judges and Hea-Jung on the mini-stage. 

Not before long, he started acting out the first scene. It was a very deep and depressing scene where he had to sit on the chair and act out all the feelings of a person who lost everything in his life. 

Both of them continued to watch the entire video until the end. None of them talked and just watched the audition tape. After both acts ended and it was time for the judging part, Kar Jung said, "Alright, let's stop it here. I don't need to see what they said about the audition." 

Joon-won nodded and paused the video before looking at Kar Jung. The man seemed to be thinking about something and it looked like he figured out the problem and the reason for rejection. 

After a few more minutes of silence, Kar Jung said, "No wonder you got rejected for that acting. It is obvious for any director or actor with some experience to notice the flaws your acting has. As they probably said, your acting was made for the theatre. You would be the biggest hit ever, even in the history of this world, to act in a theatre with how you are doing right now. But if you want to go a bit ahead and change your style, it's almost like you need to destroy everything you had previously before and start again but this time intending to get into movies."

Joon-won was stunned to hear what he had to say. He waited patiently for this man to watch his whole audition and to hear what he had to say and give an outlook on how to solve it quickly so he could get going. But this man just simply told him he had to start all over again?

Did this guy think he did not think of this 'solution'? This was the last thing he even wanted to consider. There was no way even in hell that he would just simply abandon all the hard work he kept into perfecting his acting skills. This acting he had was not the result of one or two years, it was decades worth of hard grind. He would rather not go into movies and just start going for theatre rather than throw all he had away to start again.

"Of course that is the most generic way to answer this question. But that is hard and no one would be willing to put in years of effort again. That's why we should try different ways." Kar Jung interrupted his thoughts.