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“Ugh…”
After enduring a flight that lasted well over twelve hours, we finally arrived at London Heathrow Airport.
I had reached London, the homeland I had longed for, but I had no room to feel moved.
“Siwoo, are you okay?”
“Mhm…”
They said Heathrow Airport was the largest airport in England and the third busiest airport in the world…
There really were a lot of people.
Among the crowd where people of different ethnicities were mixed together, I barely managed to take staggering steps forward.
“You took motion sickness medicine, but I guess it didn’t help. Should we buy one more and have you take it?”
“How long did they say it would take to get to the lodging?”
“I’m fi…ne…. I’m much better than before.”
“Are you really all right?”
Mother asked again with a worried face, and I waved my hand, saying we should sit over there for a little while before going.
The two of them quickly nodded at my words, and we sat on a bench for a moment.
The problem was that Uncle had said if it was my first time riding a plane, I had to sit by the window and look at the clouds, and I had excitedly done just that.
I had not noticed it when riding in cars, but since the plane shook so much, motion sickness came over me all at once.
On top of that, the plane rose so far away from the ground that I could no longer see it.
As I watched that, I felt dizzy and ended up collapsing back into my seat.
I had not known, but apparently, I had a fear of heights.
In the end, for twelve hours, I could barely eat anything, and even though I was not sleepy, I had to force my eyes shut and endure it.
Thanks to that, even though I had stepped onto English soil for the first time in ages, I had no chance to properly take it in.
Once my feet touched the ground, I did feel a little better, but…
The floor still felt like it was swaying.
“Shall we go now? Yisu-hyung will be waiting.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Should I carry you on my back?”
I wavered a little at Uncle’s words, but soon shook my head.
I was going to reunite with Jo Yisu after so long. I could not let him see me like that.
After sitting on the bench for a while, the crowd seemed to have thinned a little.
Since I was still short, being among such a large crowd made it hard to see properly, which felt frustrating too.
We quickly finished immigration screening, and the three of us exited through the gate.
“Siwoo!”
“Oh! Yisu!”
Maybe because I was in England, I naturally called out to Yisu as if speaking English.
Jo Yisu welcomed me with a very bright smile, as if he had seen a savior.
“Thank you for coming, Yisu-hyung.”
Jessica was not there yet.
Realizing that Uncle and Mother were with me, I spoke in Korean.
“Goodness, Siwoo. That’s what I should be saying. Of all things, for him to go completely off the radar. Jessica was already having a hard time casting because you raised her standards so much.”
“I’m glad I happened to have time.”
That was the reason Jessica had suddenly called me to England.
Following the performance in Japan, Jessica was going to stage RUN in England, but the child actor playing the lead role had failed to adjust and eventually disappeared.
With only a little over a month left until the actual performance, Jessica had urgently called me.
“Exactly. Shall we go? I’ll take you to your lodging.”
“Thank you.”
The three of us followed Jo Yisu out of the airport.
The gate had been incredibly long, and Heathrow Airport was especially difficult to navigate.
We followed behind him, saying over and over that it was such a relief Jo Yisu had come to meet us.
“We need a trustworthy actor right away, but what are the chances there’d be an actor like that in England? And we can’t pull the lead actor who’s performing in America either.”
“You and Jessica must have had a hard time, Yisu-hyung.”
“That’s right. But it’s okay. Siwoo came all the way to England for us.”
It seemed I had not imagined the desperation I heard in Jessica’s voice during our call.
She had tried to sound calm and carefully asked me not to feel too burdened, but her urgency had still come through.
Still, in the end, I was glad things had worked out.
It was Jessica’s request too.
And since I was going to England anyway because of the variety show, I thought it might be fun to perform there once.
It also felt newly moving to act again in my old homeland.
“Up we go. Is that all the luggage?”
“Yes. Oh, I’ll carry it.”
“No, it’s all right. Siwoo came all this way for us. I’ll load it into the trunk, so please get in first.”
Uncle tried to help, but Jo Yisu was firm.
After loading all of our family’s luggage, Jo Yisu got into the driver’s seat and explained the next schedule.
“As you’ve probably already heard, our schedule is a bit tight. It’s late today, but I think we’ll just introduce Siwoo to the troupe members first, then go straight into rehearsal tomorrow.”
“That’s fine!”
At Jo Yisu’s apologetic tone, I raised my hand high and said that.
At my cheerful reply, Uncle and Mother laughed too.
They seemed relieved that I, who had been wilting from motion sickness, had come back to life.
“As long as Siwoo is all right with it, we have no problem.”
“Yes. I’ll drop the two of you off at the hotel we reserved first. Once the introductions are done, I’ll bring Siwoo back to the hotel too.”
“Thank you for taking such good care of us…”
Mother spoke with sincere gratitude for Jo Yisu’s thoughtful consideration.
At that, Jo Yisu shook his head vigorously.
“Not at all. We’re the ones who asked Siwoo for help. I’m sorry, Siwoo. You must be tired after such a long flight.”
“I’d rather start rehearsing soon too. I’m curious what kind of actors the England team has.”
“Haha, that’s just like you, Siwoo. Then we’ll get going.”
We rode in Jo Yisu’s car and headed to the rehearsal room.
Bzzzz.
I lowered the window and felt the English wind.
The wind blowing in through the window was damp.
Still the same, aren’t you, English October?
After dropping Mother and Uncle off at the hotel first, the two of us went straight to the large building where the rehearsal room was located.
As we entered the rehearsal room, Jo Yisu glanced at his watch and scratched his forehead as if troubled.
“Mm, I guess Jessica is still in a meeting. These days, there’s a lot to discuss with the English production company.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but it should be just about over. It’s been nearly two hours since she went into the meeting room. Even Jessica won’t be able to torment them any longer than that.”
Seeing Jo Yisu exaggerate as if to say I knew what Jessica’s personality was like, I swallowed the laughter that escaped with a snicker.
“Hehe. Then should we go in first?”
“Let’s do that. If we greet the troupe members first, Jessica will probably come.”
I followed Jo Yisu across a long corridor.
So this was the rehearsal room I would be coming to countless times from now on.
I followed him while looking around at the facilities on the way to the rehearsal room, such as the lounge, cafeteria, and water dispenser.
“This is the rehearsal room.”
With that introduction, Jo Yisu threw the door open.
Then a large space appeared, similar in structure to the rehearsal room at the Gwanghwamun Cultural Center in Korea.
The difference was that the space itself was a little wider, and everyone inside was a foreigner.
The troupe members, most of whom were white, all turned their eyes toward us at once as soon as we entered.
“Everyone’s heard, right? Our lead actor has arrived from faraway Korea. His name is Siwoo Han. He’s six years old this year, ah, five by English age, I suppose. In any case, he won’t disappoint you. He may be young, but he has both experience and skill.”
Jo Yisu finished introducing me, but the response that came back was lukewarm.
It felt like they had all heard about me already and were nodding reluctantly.
“Haha, five years old… Even younger than I thought. Nice to meet you.”
“His skin’s paler than I expected. But isn’t he too small? More importantly, can he even speak English?”
What was this atmosphere?
I thought they were being quite rude, but I still smiled brightly and was about to introduce myself.
If not for a certain person’s voice suddenly cutting in.
“Five years old? Isn’t five going too far, no matter what? And you’re putting some Asian kid in an English performance? Just because his skin’s a little pale doesn’t make him white. Guess even Rainbow Pictures had no other choice?”
“Gordon! What are you saying? In front of the child. Apologize right now.”
As one of the people in charge, Jo Yisu became furious and demanded that Gordon apologize.
But the man only shrugged once and did not look like he had any intention of apologizing.
“I’m the father, but my son is Asian? That doesn’t make sense, does it? Can he even speak English? Honestly, did Jessica make one kid cry and drive him off, then bring in some little Asian kid this time so he won’t understand even if we hurl abuse at him?”
At Gordon’s mocking words, several actors busied themselves snickering.
Apparently… Gordon was not the only one dissatisfied with my joining.
“Gordon! If you keep talking like that,”
“It’s all right, Yisu-hyung.”
I deliberately spoke in Korean and stopped him.
Seeing that, Gordon whistled and stared at me, while the people who had been giggling whispered to each other, asking what language that was.
Now, shall I make that mouth shut?
Shutting that mouth was not Jo Yisu’s job. It was mine.
I quietly watched them, then looked at Gordon and opened my mouth.
“You came from a cold place.”
Perfect British English pronunciation.
On top of that, I deliberately brought out an accent that sounded like something aristocrats might use.
Considering how shocked Jessica and Lucas from Rainbow Pictures had been when I used this pronunciation in front of them, there were probably very few people in England these days who spoke this way.
“H-how… how?”
Just as expected.
At the words I had spoken, all the actors, including Gordon, were shocked.
“Well. I don’t think I need to explain that much.”
Then, when I continued speaking smoothly in English, everyone in the rehearsal room fell silent.
Once the situation had more or less settled, Jo Yisu hurriedly spoke to me.
“I’m sorry, Siwoo. I should have prevented this kind of situation in advance…. I think I made you have an unpleasant experience. I wasn’t prepared.”
“It’s all right. You don’t need to apologize, Yisu.”
I deliberately glanced at Gordon, who had hurled rude words at me, as I answered Jo Yisu.
Then I looked at Gordon, whose white face, which he had been so proud of, had turned bright red from embarrassment, and said,
“But Yisu… Nixon, my father, isn’t supposed to be from Scotland, is he? Will this be all right as it is?”
Nixon was the father of Jonathan, the role I played in RUN.
I was pointing out the setting from the original work, where he dreamed of becoming an American rocker.
At my tone, as if I were genuinely worried, Gordon’s face burned even hotter.
“Puhaha!”
“Hey, Gordon! You just took a serious hit!”
At my words, all the actors except Gordon burst into loud laughter.
Perhaps because he was from Scotland, Gordon had a distinct Scottish dialect mixed into his accent, and he could not refute me at all. He clamped his mouth shut.
Of course he could not say anything.
If he opened his mouth now, his Scottish accent would come spilling out just as it was.
“I’ll have to ask Jessica seriously when she gets here. Right, Yisu?”
At my final added comment, Jo Yisu turned his head away, holding back his laughter.
As time passed, Gordon’s face, standing in front of me, turned red and blue with anger.
He looked ready to snap back with something at any moment.
Okay. Come on. Try me.
Just then,
“Siwoo!!”
The rehearsal-room door flew open, and Jessica appeared, smiling even wider than the door had opened.
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