Chapter 6

‘……Huh?’

Ruri’s eyes lit up sharply.

Come to think of it, this was an uncle she had seen on TV before.

‘He’s the genius actor uncle!’

He was the uncle who had sparkled brightly at award ceremonies. Unlike Ruri, he was already famous enough to be called a genius actor, with even distant relatives of distant relatives coming to seek connections with him.

‘This handsome uncle is Mommy’s friend?’

And he might even be Ruri’s father!

Ruri, who had been blinking at him, suddenly jumped to her feet.

“Uncle! You see……!”

She was just about to ask if he knew her mother when Ruri realized there was a critical problem.

‘Ruri doesn’t know Mommy’s name!’

She didn’t even know her mother’s name, let alone what she looked like. There was no way she could simply ask, “Do you know my mom?”

But still—

Her heart began pounding again.

Whatever the case, the uncle standing in front of her was an extremely important person to Ruri right now.

‘Ruri absolutely can’t let this uncle go……!’

Her little head began spinning rapidly.

She had to come up with something.

‘But how?’

Gnnng.

Ruri was furrowing her brows and thinking as hard as she could when—

“Ow, my neck. How could you drive like that?”

“What are you talking about? Weren’t you the one who suddenly cut in front of me?”

“Ah, whatever. Just give me your number for now. I’ll contact you later.”

Suddenly, Ruri remembered the minor accident they had gotten into on the way to the broadcasting station.

‘The man said he was hurt, so Teacher gave him her number!’

And Teacher was still on the phone with that man even now.

Ruri’s eyes sparkled as she found a solution.

“Ughhh. It hurts.”

Just like the uncle she had seen earlier, Ruri grabbed the back of her neck and began groaning.

Jin-young’s eyes widened.

‘This is it!’

Feeling that her plan was working, Ruri raised her voice a little louder.

“Ow, ow. Ruri hurts so muuuuch.”

Ruri rolled around on the floor with the most agonized expression she could manage.

The man’s face became flustered at the child’s dramatic performance.

Not knowing what to do, he hurriedly knelt down on one knee to meet Ruri at eye level.

“Uh, are you badly hurt? Should I go to the hospital with you?”

“Yes……!”

Ruri was just about to answer when she hurriedly changed her response.

“……No!”

A hospital?

There was no way she could get a shot just because she had fallen on her bottom.

Besides—

‘Ruri has an audition!’

She had briefly forgotten because she was so excited about finding one of Mommy’s friends, but Ruri had come to the broadcasting station for an audition.

If she wanted to receive the reward and find her father as soon as possible, she absolutely had to take the audition.

“Huh?”

“Y-You don’t need to go to the hospital…….”

Ruri avoided his gaze slightly and rubbed her eyes with her tiny, fern-like hands as though wiping away tears.

Then, looking straight up at the man with the most harmless and pitiful expression in the world, she revealed her true intentions.

“Ruri…… give me your number, Uncle.”

The child suddenly asking for his number left Jin-young staring blankly at her.

“What? My number?”

A brief silence followed.

Soon, Jin-young burst into hearty laughter.

The little girl who had suddenly grabbed the back of her neck and complained about being hurt was now asking for his phone number.

There had been plenty of people who had tried all sorts of tricks to somehow get his number over the years, but this was the first time a child this young had done it.

Jin-young looked at the clear, innocent eyes staring up at him while her little fingers fidgeted.

He gave a faint smirk and said,

“Do you think you won’t be hurt if I give you my number?”

“Yes! Then Ruri won’t hurt at all!”

The harmless face with its sparkling eyes made him unable to stop laughing.

“Then, shall I give you my number, little one?”

He had no intention of actually giving her his number, but teasing the child was amusing.

And just as Jin-young playfully reached into his pocket—

“Ruri!”

So-yeon’s voice came from a distance.

“Ruri! Where did you go?!”

She came running over, gasping for breath, and grabbed Ruri as though she were screaming.

Her eyes were even brimming with tears. It seemed she had searched the entire broadcasting station.

Only then did Ruri realize what she had done.

She tightly shut her mouth and nervously watched So-yeon’s expression.

“R-Ruri…… wanted to go to the bathroom……. I’m sorry, Teacher.”

“Ruri, you can’t disappear without telling your teacher from now on, okay?”

“Yeees…….”

Ruri fidgeted with her fingers before sneaking a glance at Jin-young.

Immediately understanding the situation, Jin-young smiled gently and stepped in between them.

“I’m sorry. I accidentally bumped into the child.”

Only then did So-yeon look at Jin-young, her face filling with surprise.

“Oh my, Mr. Seo Jin-young?”

Jin-young gave a silent acknowledgment with a smile before continuing.

“It seems the child got a little hurt when she bumped into me…….”

“What? Ruri! Where are you hurt?”

Startled, So-yeon hurriedly checked Ruri’s arms and legs.

‘Oh, dear.’

Ruri sighed inwardly.

Now that Teacher was here, she couldn’t use the excuse of being hurt anymore.

“Ruri thought she was hurt, but now she doesn’t hurt anymore…….”

Ruri mumbled in a tiny voice.

Just then, Jin-young’s manager, who had been looking for him from a distance, came rushing over.

After exchanging a few words with Jin-young, the manager stepped forward and handed So-yeon a business card.

“Hello. I’m actor Seo Jin-young’s manager. I’ve heard what happened. If there are any problems later, please contact us here.”

With the arrival of the manager and So-yeon, the situation was brought to an end.

Ruri had met one of Mommy’s friends, yet she was leaving without learning anything.

Ruri waved at Jin-young as he walked farther away, but inside, she was burning with frustration.

‘Ruri can’t let handsome Uncle go……! Ruri has to ask him something…….’

That uncle must know something.

Having missed what seemed like a perfect opportunity, Ruri’s lips jutted out into an enormous pout.

With a sulky expression, Ruri was led by So-yeon to the location of the drama audition.

After waiting in the waiting room, they entered the audition room.

The drama’s writer, Min-young, and director Hyun-wook were sitting side by side at the judges’ table.

“Hello. My name is Lee Ruri, and I’m here for today’s audition. I’m the child’s guardian.”

At So-yeon’s introduction, Hyun-wook, who had been sitting in his seat, narrowed his eyes and glanced at Ruri.

‘Is that the child?’

A few days ago, he had suddenly received a call from Taeseong.

They had asked him to audition a child sponsored by the foundation.

To watch a mere four-year-old act?

When he first heard it, he couldn’t even bring himself to laugh.

However, he couldn’t simply ignore Taeseong, which was funding the drama’s production.

He intended to play along with Taeseong’s wishes just enough to get it over with.

Min-young looked at Ruri and whispered quietly to Hyun-wook.

“I was worried, but she doesn’t have a bad image for Yoo In-a’s younger role, does she?”

He gave a dry nod.

“Well…… visually, I suppose so.”

But still, she was only four years old.

Hyun-wook had little expectation of Ruri.

He didn’t think a child that age could possibly pull off complex emotional acting.

Besides, they had originally been planning to cast an eight-year-old child actress who looked a little younger for the role.

‘It’ll be enough if she can just recite her lines properly.’

What kind of acting ability could a four-year-old possibly have?

Feeling as though he was wasting his precious time in the middle of his busy schedule, Hyun-wook absentmindedly flipped through the documents with an uninterested expression.

“Ruri, you can do well, right?”

At Min-young’s gentle question, Ruri confidently nodded.

“Yes! Ruri can do it!”

“Really? Shall we look over the script again?”

Ruri accepted the script Min-young handed her.

The drama Ruri was auditioning for was called The Sea of Mom.

It was a drama about a mother named Hae-in who abandoned her young daughter for the sake of success, and the events that unfolded when her daughter, Yoo-ra, grew up and eventually reunited with her mother as a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

The role Ruri would be auditioning for was young Yoo-ra.

It was only a brief scene lasting a few dozen seconds in which Yoo-ra was abandoned at a marketplace, but it was a very important scene for establishing the protagonists’ backstories.

Ruri skimmed through the script Min-young had given her.