Chapter 4

The Giant Radish

The Giant Radish was a Russian folk tale.

One day, an old farmer planted a radish in his village. But the radish grew so enormous that the farmer could not pull it out by himself.

So, the villagers, along with the farmer, a cat, and even a mouse, all joined forces. Only after everyone worked together were they finally able to pull the radish out.

It was a story with the lesson that things that cannot be accomplished alone can be achieved when everyone joins forces.

“Now that Ruri has been assigned the role of the radish, which is the main character, shall we decide on the other roles? Okay, who wants to be the farmer?”

“Me! Me!”

“I’ll be the mouse!”

“I wanna be the cat!”

The roles were decided one after another without a hitch.

Fortunately—or unfortunately—no one wanted to play the radish that Ruri had been assigned.

“R-Ruri is really going to be the radish……?”

She was supposed to act as a radish and receive thunderous applause.

Ruri fell into despair.

But So-yeon, unaware of how Ruri felt, handed out pieces of paper to the children.

“Okay, I’ll hand out the scripts. Everyone has to memorize the lines assigned to their role! If you can’t read the words, come to me and I’ll help you.”

“Yes~.”

Following the other children, Ruri also received a script.

Since the children were only around four or five years old, the script was nothing more than a single sheet of A4 paper.

The lines written on it were simple.

But—

“T-This can’t be!”

Ruri scanned the paper in disbelief.

“The…… radish…… doesn’t have any lines.”

The radish, supposedly the main character, didn’t have a single line.

Ruri looked up at the teacher with a devastated expression.

So-yeon smiled gently and answered.

“Ah, the radish doesn’t have any lines.”

The teacher’s words made Ruri’s heart sink once again.

“B-But the radish is the main character……”

“Of course it’s the main character. So all Ruri has to do is be pulled out magnificently.”

The main character radish had no lines at all.

Its only role was to let its friends pull it out.

Ruri was devastated.

But she quickly pulled herself together.

“Ruri can’t be a radish that just gets puwwed out like this.”

There was no way her first work as a future genius actress could have not even a single line.

Ruri’s eyes gleamed as she grabbed the teacher’s sleeve.

“Teacher. Ruri wants to be the best radish!”

She would perform the most amazing radish acting on Earth.

Ruri clenched her tiny fists.

Sky Orphanage Auditorium

The auditorium was packed with people who had gathered to watch the Sponsorship Night being held that day.

Among the many guests, one man stood out in particular.

He was Cha Do-hyeok, the president of Taeseong Electronics and chairman of the Taeseong Foundation.

“Oh my, Chairman, it’s been a long time. I heard the Chairman himself was coming as well.”

“My father suddenly had another engagement, so I came in his place.”

Dressed in a pristine suit, Do-hyeok took his seat at the head table.

His black hair and even darker black eyes were striking.

His chiseled features and cool smile were flawless, without a single hint of disarray.

His manner appeared polite at first glance, but the stiff angle of his head and his downward gaze revealed an unmistakable arrogance.

He carried the relaxed yet intimidating air of someone born into privilege, as though it were only natural for everyone else to remain beneath his feet.

“What was this year’s theme again?”

“Ah, yes. They’re putting on a play. Last time, they held an art exhibition.”

“A play.”

Do-hyeok opened the pamphlet with an indifferent expression.

A play performed by children who weren’t even seven years old.

No matter how much they dressed it up, it would ultimately amount to nothing more than a childish talent show.

There could hardly be a greater waste of time.

“They say the children have been preparing very hard. It would be nice if we discovered another outstanding child this time.”

“I agree.”

He answered with a businesslike smile, but there wasn’t the slightest bit of anticipation in Do-hyeok’s voice.

Although he had taken over the position of chairman of the Taeseong Foundation, he had never been interested in supporting children’s talents in the first place.

Children are the future.

That was the old-fashioned maxim left behind by Taeseong’s first chairman.

In accordance with those words, the Taeseong Group had been supporting children in orphanages for a very long time.

And during his grandfather’s generation, their efforts expanded beyond basic living assistance to focus on discovering children with exceptional talents in the arts and athletics.

In particular, this event had been created for children from orphanages who had virtually no opportunities to receive arts education.

It had already been held for twenty years.

In fact, more than a few people had blossomed into talented figures in the art world thanks to the Taeseong Foundation’s full support.

That was precisely why Do-hyeok, one of the key figures of Taeseong Electronics, was sitting here today.

His grandfather, the current chairman, tolerated many things, but he would never allow Do-hyeok, as chairman of the foundation, to miss the Sponsorship Night.

Before long, the lights in the auditorium gradually dimmed.

The moment the spotlight fell onto the stage, Do-hyeok completely erased the artificial smile from his lips.

A deep sense of fatigue and cynicism flashed through his eyes as they disappeared into the darkness.

He was simply tired of this hypocritical and boring event.

The small auditorium was packed with people for the first time in a long while.

Behind the red blackout curtain, the children were whispering among themselves.

“Teacher…… hic. I can’t go out there……. Hic.”

“M-Me neither!”

“W-What were Jaemin’s lines again? I can’t remember……!”

The children were in complete chaos before the performance.

Some suddenly started crying because they didn’t want to go onstage, while others had forgotten what roles they were supposed to play.

The teachers were busy calming them down.

Watching everyone rush around in confusion, Ruri pulled up the corners of her mouth.

‘Everyone must be nervous.’

But future genius actress Ruri was different.

“Ruri isn’t nervous!”

Ruri spoke in a confident voice.

But Mirae, who was standing beside her, pointed at Ruri’s legs and said,

“Teacher, I think Ruri is sick. Her legs are shaking.”

Just as Mirae said, Ruri’s legs were trembling violently.

“Ruri must be really nervous, too, huh? Once we get onstage, let’s count to one hundred in our heads. By then, everything will be over. You can do it, right?”

So-yeon comforted Ruri and taught her a way to get through the performance.

“D-Don’t worry. R-Ruri can’t…… can’t be nervous!”

But contrary to her words, her body continued to tremble helplessly.

‘A-Actually, Ruri is super, super nervous!’

She kept telling herself not to be nervous, but when she looked at the audience filling the seats, she felt like she wanted to collapse right where she stood.

It was unbelievable that a future genius actress could be this nervous.

But—

‘Ruri isn’t a genius actress yet!’

As the children’s frightened cries continued to come from every direction, So-yeon finally clapped her hands and encouraged them.

“Okay, everyone, don’t be nervous. It’s okay if you make mistakes, so let’s just do our best until the end.”

“Y-Yes…….”

Encouraged by her teacher, Ruri barely managed to move her trembling legs and took her position in the center of the stage.

Before long, the curtain rose, and the spotlight focused on Ruri.

Once she was onstage, she was even more nervous than before.

Her mouth became completely dry, and sweat began forming on her hands and feet.

The other children were the same.

“The radish…… the radish…… radish…… Oh no, I can’t remember…….”

Jaemin, dressed as the old farmer, looked like he was about to cry.

The teacher standing backstage picked up the microphone and said,

“The grandfather who couldn’t pull out the radish called for the grandmother.”

She had turned the line Jaemin was supposed to say into narration.

Soon, Suji, who was playing the grandmother, came out.

But instead of saying any lines, Suji suddenly grabbed Ruri’s radish leaves and tried to pull her out.

Seeing this, the teacher once again picked up the microphone.

“When the grandmother couldn’t pull out the radish either, she grabbed the grandfather around the waist and suggested that they pull the radish out together.”

Hearing this, Suji remembered what she was supposed to do and grabbed Jaemin around the waist.

“Heave-ho!”

But Ruri the radish didn’t budge.

Next came the cat.

But instead of delivering its lines, the child suddenly burst into tears.

It was a complete disaster.

In the end, every part of the children’s performance was carried out through the teacher’s narration.

The play was a mess, but since the performers were all children under five, the audience simply watched them with affectionate smiles.

And finally, it was Ruri’s turn.