* * * *

Although he felt unlucky when he picked the number four, he never realized that he would be one of the first to be picked. Thinking about how numbers 1, 2, and 3 would be sighing in relief and laughing at him, he felt a headache. Unlike his name, Gwangseok, which was a manifestation of his parents’ wishes for him to grow up brightly like the light (Gwang, 光), and sturdily like a rock (seok, 石), Moon Gwangseok’s expression was very dark.

‘Since it’s like this anyway’, Gwangseok decided to think positively about it and opened the door to the audition room. What he saw were two men sitting behind a long table, as well as a monitor and a camera that stood next to them. He was expecting that much, but the people behind the two men weren't something he expected at all. There were people who were staring at him with their lip sealed.

‘Wasn’t there supposed to be two judges?’

“Number four, step forward and the rest of you may wait behind, “ Hoyoung, who introduced himself as the film director, spoke. He gave off a heavy pressure. Junmin, who spoke softly outside the room, also looked very serious. Gwangseok felt his legs go limp.

“Stand on top of the x mark and get ready.”

He stood on top of the spot marked x with duct tape. He felt like going crazy right now. This was the first time he stood in front of so many people in an audition. Gwangseok’s first audition was more of self-introduction for someone else’s graduation project, and the one after that was for a short film and only the director was present during the audition. However, over...