The Chaser had relatively few characters in the movie.
Since a significant portion of the film’s budget goes towards casting actors, it had a considerable advantage in that regard.
This meant that the money spent on casting actors could be diverted elsewhere.
From the actors’ perspective, having fewer characters was both a struggle and a blessing.
It meant their scenes could be concentrated among a select few, increasing their screen time.
“Min-ah, you did great!”
“Thanks!!”
Kang Min-ah, who plays Detective Seo Kwang-il’s younger sister in The Chaser, let out a sigh of relief.
As a newcomer and still young, she often found herself quite tense.
‘Don’t let the company down, just work hard.’
Kang Min-ah was signed under Lauren Company, a management agency ranked around the third tier, which actively pushed for her participation in this film.
Though she had merely snagged a supporting role, playing the sister of the main character Seo Kwang-il meant she would get plenty of face time.
This was a significant leap compared to her three previous roles as an extra in dramas.
‘Whenever I face the camera, I don’t even know what kind of face I’m making.’
Still, she felt she finished well without making too many NGs (No Good takes).
Everyone praised her, saying that for her age, she was doing well.
‘Indeed, there’s such a thing as talent.’
Kang Min-ah glanced at the quiet girl sitting nearby.
Two years younger than her.
She had heard that this girl was now seventeen, but she looked around twenty with all the makeup done.
Her posture, sitting quietly with eyes closed, was incredibly straight.
At a glance, she looked like a precious young lady.
Though she had a flower-like beauty, after watching her acting, Min-ah couldn’t bring herself to call Seo-yeon a flower.
Today’s shoot.
Scene #37.
The scene where Han Ye-hwa and Cha Seo-ah meet in an alley.
An important scene where Seo-ah chases and knocks out Han Ye-hwa to kidnap her.
In a typical script, Cha Seo-ah would have killed Han Ye-hwa on the spot, but instead, she drags her to her own house.
A place where she killed her parents and is now all alone.
After watching that scene, Kang Min-ah thought, ‘Isn’t that really Cha Seo-ah herself?’
Her body trembled with such questions.
Especially her gaze.
It felt like looking at something that wasn’t human, disguised as one.
Could it really be acting?
That thought crossed her mind.
A strange discomfort surged within her heart.
She could feel that kind of intensity while doing this scene.
Until now, it seemed like it had only been about ‘showing.’
The inferiority and jealousy towards Han Ye-hwa showed clearly on that unpleasant face.
It was acting Min-ah could never dare to imitate.
‘But.’
When Kang Min-ah glanced repeatedly at Seo-yeon, the convenience store lady character played by Shin Seong-mi stifled a laugh.
“How about getting to know each other since you’re the same age?”
“Huh?”
“You’ll be seeing each other through this whole shoot, right?”
Of course, Shin Seong-mi said that because of Seo-yeon’s potential.
‘She’s definitely going to make it big.’
Especially once this movie releases, her status would surely elevate.
So from Min-ah’s standpoint, now was the only chance she had to get close to Seo-yeon.
There was no need to mention that it was good to have connections with such an actor.
From what Min-ah observed, Seo-yeon wasn’t the kind who enjoyed that kind of talk.
“Uhm, yeah…”
Kang Min-ah nodded.
A fellow actress two years her junior.
They were definitely in the same age range.
Min-ah had plenty of things she wanted to ask and learn from her.
‘What is she thinking?’
Kang Min-ah quietly swallowed her dry saliva as she looked at Seo-yeon, maintaining her straight posture with her eyes closed.
Honestly, there was an aura about her that made it tough to approach easily.
Was she deeply contemplating her performance today?
Or was she too immersed in Cha Seo-ah’s feelings, trying to shake them off?
“…I don’t think I can do it today.”
She shouldn’t interrupt at times like that.
Kang Min-ah shook her head in regret, deciding to try talking to her later when the opportunity arose.
And just as Min-ah thought, Seo-yeon was indeed lost in her own deep thoughts.
‘What should I do about my 400 million won?’
A truly important concern.
The role of Cha Seo-ah was like a life-changing role for Seo-yeon.
She was confident, and she could clearly envision how Cha Seo-ah would be perceived by the audience.
‘The contract didn’t have any restrictions on the role, but…’
Such contracts sometimes do exist.
Due to the image of the product, there are cases where roles or specific variety shows have restrictions.
Fortunately, there were no such provisions clearly mentioned in the contract.
However, if the movie’s image became imprinted too strongly, her image would inevitably suffer damage.
There were indeed cases where actors were unfairly cut, despite having no limitations in the contract, leading them to vent their grievances.
‘If I can improve my image…’
Two things came to mind immediately.
Cosmetics advertisements; it would be better to emphasize femininity relatively.
There was one drama and one movie that fit that bill.
‘But since The Chaser is coming out first, I’ll have to postpone it.’
There’s still time to go for the movie.
Even if she auditions, it would take time until its release.
So what remained was the drama.
“Of all things…”
Hmph, Seo-yeon crossed her arms and hung her head.
She had two immediate concerns.
The first was that the genre was ‘youth romance’ drama.
The second was… it starred Park Jung-woo.
Dream Future. A drama shot with teen actors in their late teens to early twenties.
It was a truly rare youth drama.
For a youth drama, it boasted an average viewer rating of over 15 percent.
The highest rating was around 17.6 percent.
While this could be considered a “fairly good viewer rating,” for a youth drama, it was a viewership that could only be termed a “hit.”
The most important thing was that over half of the teen actors who starred in this drama ended up skyrocketing in prominence within three years.
Seo-yeon had initially contemplated this drama, but she gave it up due to its ‘youth romance’ genre.
Though since the young actors primarily featured in the cast, the romance was somewhat innocent, and there were no risqué scenes.
Anyway, it felt a bit off.
‘If I were to step in…’
But now, Seo-yeon couldn’t just gloss over it as ‘a bit off.’
In a situation where she needed to survive, her options were pretty limited.
‘In any case, if the role does exist, there aren’t any romance scenes, so it should be fine.’
On top of that, the male lead was Park Jung-woo.
Of course, since the main heroine would be someone else, it shouldn’t be a problem.
After all, the role Seo-yeon planned to audition for was a cute character, almost like a mascot.
The cute opposite of a ‘murderer.’
While it might not completely erase the impact, it could offset it to some extent.
‘That should be enough.’
Moreover, the actress who played that role had received bad reviews for her acting, yet managed to film quite a few commercials regardless.
Of course, that was the extent of it.
‘Romance can wait a bit longer.’
At least for now, she felt she wasn’t ready.
Someday, who knows, but definitely not today.
*
Yeonhwa High School’s school festival.
It’s said to be quite a large event, to the point where external guests are given tickets.
Depending on the success, additional rewards might even be given afterward.
That’s why many students actively participate.
‘…First, I should at least try auditioning. Luckily, it’s on a day when there are no shoots, so that’s a relief. If it overlapped, I would have needed to notify beforehand.’
Of course, this had nothing to do with Seo-yeon.
Today as well, she was sitting in her isolated spot lost in thought.
‘…’
Is this really it?
This isn’t what I envisioned high school life to be like.
Suddenly, she felt a little melancholic.
Watching her classmates bustling with excitement preparing for the festival stirred strange feelings within her.
‘…If I actively participated in the festival…’
It’s not only the image improvement for the ‘Cha Seo-ah’ role that matters now.
Surely, Joo Seo-yeon herself should also do something about her image?
“Excuse me, Seo-yeon.”
At that moment, someone called out to her.
A girl with round glasses.
It was the class president of this very class.
“Yeah?”
“I think you might not have heard about our festival booth.”
Class president Gil Da-hyun gulped nervously.
Seo-yeon’s gaze, fixed on her, held something that was quite overwhelming.
For Da-hyun, who had only focused on studying, it was an enormous pressure.
‘No wonder everyone avoided talking to her.’
She had heard she was an actress.
The shock from her previous role in Looking Back at the Past was so great that Da-hyun still rewatches the replays.
In the video, Seo-yeon was truly beautiful like a flower.
And that hadn’t changed.
But where ‘Princess Yeonhwa’ was a flower, Seo-yeon bore the resemblance of a blade.
People are indeed stunning like this, huh.
“We’re going to run a horror booth.”
“Horror booth?”
At those words, Seo-yeon tilted her head in thought.
She had an idea of what it would be like.
In her past high school, she had seen a similar booth set up.
Basically, they’d darken the space with blackout curtains from the hallway to the classroom, and decorate it scarily enough inside.
Costumed students would hide inside to surprise entrants—nothing more.
‘To be honest, it wasn’t really scary.’
It felt like it was all about atmosphere.
For her, being strong against fear didn’t make that much impact.
As a reference, the jumpscares from games were what genuinely startled her.
Truly.
“The principal said we can use the old building behind, so we decided to go for it.”
“Huh?”
The old building?
“It hasn’t been well-maintained, but we’ll check it out with the teachers, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
“Ah, right.”
Seo-yeon nodded.
So they were going to use the entire old building.
“…”
After all, it’s just a high school horror booth.
Still, it might look quite atmospheric given it’s an old building.
She recalled hearing about the old building at Yeonhwa High School.
An empty teacher’s room that had been unused for a long time.
There hadn’t been any particular accidents, but the new buildings were added as students decreased in number, leaving this building behind.
‘The atmosphere should certainly be fitting.’
Actually, the idea of using an empty classroom sounded good.
While Seo-yeon was nodding along, the class president turned back to the students.
“Oh, by the way, we have one ghost role available. Is anyone interested?”
“Ghost role? Where?”
“Oh, by the old science lab on the second floor.”
“Ah…”
Some students showed subtle reactions.
Seo-yeon pretended not to hear, opening a book she wasn’t reading, and tuned in with her ears.
“Is there anyone who wants to do it? The student who was supposed to do it suddenly backed out.”
“Well, that’s understandable.”
“Still, it’s an important part, right? We decided to feature that heavily…”
The students hesitated with their words.
Seo-yeon briefly pondered.
It seemed they were indeed short on one ghost role.
‘…’
Her mind raced quickly.
If she joined in naturally here, wouldn’t that provide a chance to get close to the others?
“I’ll do it.”
As soon as Seo-yeon spoke, all eyes turned to her in unison.
For some reason, the looks of shock on their faces made Seo-yeon flinch momentarily.
Did I say something wrong?
No, they hadn’t heard her yet.
“…Is it okay if I do the ghost role?”
“Huh? Really?”
At Seo-yeon’s sudden boldness, the eyes of everyone sparked with interest.
The active involvement of a current actress as a ghost.
And considering Seo-yeon’s looks…
“But are you really okay with it? The second floor might be a bit scary since there aren’t many students up there, and it’ll all be covered with blackout curtains.”
At the class president’s words, Seo-yeon nodded.
After all, it’s just a high school horror booth operating in daylight.
Honestly, there was no way it could be scary.
Things like these usually rely on atmosphere to shock people.
“I’m fine.”
Seo-yeon stated confidently.
The class president slowly nodded in response.
If she wanted to do it, that was fine by her.
More than anything, she was secretly looking forward to Seo-yeon’s performance as a ghost.
If a current actress performed as a ghost…
‘This might get a better reaction than expected.’
If they achieve good results in this festival, it would reflect nicely in the school life record.
The class president was filled with motivation.
Of course, that wasn’t what Seo-yeon had intended.
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