Chapter 182

“Hey, Da-hyun, it’s our day off today. Want to go to Milky Way Park?”

First off, it was a coincidence. Seo-yeon’s class president, Gil Da-hyun, had never been to an amusement park before.

Ever since she was young, her family’s financial situation hadn’t allowed for trips to such places.
Even after things got better as she grew up, she naturally just didn’t go.

So, when her friends suggested the amusement park, she felt a moment of confusion.

An amusement park? Isn’t that just for kids?

“What do you mean? You’ve never been to an amusement park before?”
“Never.”
“Well, of course you haven’t! So let’s go today!”
“But what about studying?”

Did you all do well on the last exam?

Looking at her friends, each one of them avoided her gaze.

But an exam is an exam; stress needs to be released, doesn’t it?

“I heard a celebrity is coming to Milky Way Park today.”
“A celebrity?”
“They’re putting on a Harara play at Milky Way Park, and it seems the reviews have been kind of mixed.”

Da-hyun knew about Harara. It was an animation her younger sisters loved.
But unlike her, her sisters had a few toys, so she had seen products related to Harara.

“But if it’s a celebrity, we see those every day.”
“NO!!! It’s different!!”

Of course, she knew Seo-yeon, who was in the same class, was a great actress and a celebrity.
Honestly, it was still mind-blowing to see her sitting in class naturally.

But seeing a celebrity you know in a different setting feels entirely different.

“President, you may not know, but this is also social experience. Later in life, you might want to hang out like this but won’t be able to.”

Da-hyun was baffled by the serious tone of her friend’s words.
It felt like kids were talking like adults.

“…Well, if that’s the case, I get it.”
Having never been, she felt a little bit of curiosity.

“Oh, so we’re going? Should we call the others?”
“Yeah, I don’t mind.”

She thought this might be fun.
She had always thought her hobbies were limited to watching movies and dramas, but as her friends said, this was an experience too.

*

Joo Seo-hee was poked in the side repeatedly while flailing around, but she was an actress.
And she had a strong sense of professionalism.

When she was younger, she had looked down on Seo-yeon, thinking she arrived by parachute without any actual skills.
… Because of that, she still got treated like a petitioning friend by Seo-yeon.

Anyway.
Even though it was a children’s play, Joo Seo-hee had no intention of just goofing off.

Rather, since it was performed for children, she had to do even better.
Childhood memories linger long.

So, she had to ensure they left with good memories.
Memories that would make them smile when they looked back on them.

“That’s why we can’t do it like last time with the shorts.”
Just in case, Joo Seo-hee said this to Seo-yeon.
Seo-yeon’s eyes widened at the mention of “shorts” but quickly realized it was about the ‘Harara shorts.’

‘Did she see that too?’
Really, if her eyes got that big, not watching would be weird.
After all, there had been some chatter about it in class lately.

Of course, it was hard for her to bring it up.
After all, the Seo-yeon in the video and the one at school seemed so different.

Rather than funny, the feeling was more of a disconnection.

“You’ll know.”
In a play, if the actor feels shy, the audience feels embarrassed too.

That’s because actors are in a position to evoke empathy from others.

They are the people who make fictional characters feel real.

That’s what an actor is; therefore, on stage, they must immerse themselves in their role more than anyone else.

Even if it’s not method acting.

That’s the basic attitude of an actor.

“I think you’ll do well, but you seem too shy in the shorts.”

Of course, being human, actors have their limits.

Jo Seo-hee encouraged Seo-yeon, but she wondered if Seo-yeon was weak in this type of acting.

“If we decided to do it, it won’t happen.”

Seo-yeon was well aware of Seo-hee’s worries.

She’s probably showing that side in the shorts.

Even Park Dong-hwan, who will share this stage with them, was watching with a worried face.

They had received the script earlier.

They had practiced in between other shoots.

‘The Harara from then is different from the Harara now.’

Still, as an older sister, she had to show her younger sister a cool side!

Even though Zero-ro was taken by Seo-hee, if she acted Harara well, her sister might like Harara instead of Zero-ro!

‘Besides, you need to be careful on such a small stage.’

Especially since it’s a stage for kids, parents will come along too.

Parents’ eyes are sensitive.

If something goes wrong, and they feel the child has a bad experience, they will likely retaliate immediately.

If she showcases poor acting in such a setting, bad remarks will surely follow.

“Sis! Can I stay with the manager auntie Seo-hee?”

“……Auntie?”

Seo-yeon subtly observed Jo Seo-hee’s manager, Shin Yu-kyung, standing behind her, calmly smiling.

But Seo-yeon didn’t miss the twitching of those smiling lips.

“Su-yeon, you should call her unnie.”

“But she’s older than you guys.”

“Ugh.”

“……Well, there are plenty of people older than you.”

“Uh, okay, I got it.”

Su-yeon looked up at Yu-kyung with innocent eyes.

As if wondering, can I really call her unnie?

That gaze, filled with such thoughts, made Shin Yu-kyung flinch.

Yu-kyung was in her late twenties, so from Su-yeon’s perspective, calling her auntie isn’t entirely strange, but she is still of an age to be called unnie.

Should I say she’s caught in that ambiguous line?

‘What if, while I’m not around, Shin Yu-kyung manager says something to Su-yeon?’

That thought crossed Seo-yeon’s mind for a moment.

She couldn’t even guess how upset Yu-kyung might be hearing “auntie.”

“Now, let’s do a light rehearsal first. We still have about four hours before the show starts.”

They had come early to get things set up.

During those four hours, Su-yeon was supposed to be playing at an amusement park with her manager.

Seo-yeon and Jo Seo-hee were planning to synchronize a bit for the upcoming play.

“Zero-ro!! You’re still not tired of doing bad things!!”

As the rehearsal began, Park Dong-hwan, caught between the two actresses, couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

‘Honestly, I thought it wouldn’t work at all.’

That thought was probably not just his alone.

Other actors present were likely feeling similarly.

Although it’s a children’s play, there were a total of six actors participating.

Of course, this number includes Seo-yeon and Seo-hee.
Four of them were actors who had previously participated in the play [Harara].

There were some complaints when it was announced that two celebrities would be joining the play, but with the performance not doing quite as well as expected, it couldn’t be helped.

However, those complaints faded relatively when they heard that Joo Seo-yeon and Jo Seo-hee were coming.

“I heard Jo Seo-hee is from the New Like group family, I guess that’s true.”
“Since they’re both from the same family. But that was just a rumor.”
“Are Joo Seo-yeon and Jo Seo-hee friends? They appear together a lot, right?”
“They were together in [Hyper Action Star] as well, so maybe?”

Since they’re the same age, they seemed to fit well together. But aside from that,

“They both have a strong presence, I’m not sure if they fit Harara.”
“Zero-ro would suit anyone well. But it feels like Harara wouldn’t fit anyone.”

That was the common thought. To be honest, just looking at both, it wasn’t an easy task.

One side had a chilling ice-cube-like impression, while the other resembled an overbearing noble young lady.

Honestly, I thought they wouldn’t match with the lively Harara at all.

However, once Joo Seo-yeon grabbed Harara’s magic wand and started the play, those worries melted away.

“Ouch~! How can you carelessly throw a car!”
“No, it can’t just end with you being hurt. You just got hit by a car.”

The conversation between Harara and Zero-ro continued. Seeing their light-hearted comedic exchange, Seo-yeon’s portrayal of Harara with the magic wand matched perfectly with that cheerful Harara from the animation.

The most important thing was that it felt like she was trying to mimic the voice of the anime voice actress as closely as possible.

“Seo-yeon, have you ever done voice acting?”
“Huh? I studied it.”
“Oh, is it common for actors to do voice work these days?”

After the rehearsal, the actors each approached Seo-yeon to ask her. Zero-ro’s character fit so well with Seo-hee’s image that there was no worry at all.

The key was Harara. The uncomfortable image from before had completely vanished thanks to Seo-yeon’s acting.

Thanks to that, Seo-yeon had a slightly flustered expression.

“After all, I do have a more approachable image than Jo Seo-hee.”

Not many were approaching Seo-hee. Thus, Jo Seo-hee, who approached Seo-yeon, hesitated, feeling awkward.

She wanted to say something, but since others were showing interest in Seo-yeon, she couldn’t easily come over.

“Anyway.”

The voice acting training wasn’t necessarily learned for acting purposes. But in the end, it’s become helpful like this.

Thus, it made sense to learn anything and everything.

“Seo-yeon is better at voice work than Lee Ji-yeon.”

I thought about coaxing Lee Ji-yeon to participate in the Harara play later.

I thought it was a brilliant idea.

Then I wouldn’t be able to mock myself with shorts like before.

*

“Wow, Dahyun! There are so many people!”
“It’s a children’s play, but it’s not just kids here?”
“Why are there uncles here?”
“Look at that uncle wearing a Harara t-shirt, it’s hilarious!”

Dahyun’s friends, with bunny ears or mouse ears on their heads, were noisily chatting away. They had already ridden several rides but still showed no signs of tiring, overflowing with energy.

“I guess we can see quite well from here.”

Thinking that, as I settled in, I saw a man dressed in a penguin costume coming onto the stage.

Curiously staring at him, my friend Minji chimed in.

“That penguin is the Harara mascot.”
“…Is that so?”
“What’s that?”

“That’s just someone in a costume. It’s cute in the animation. On stage, it’ll just be a shaking board with a penguin on it.”

Min-ji’s words made Da-hyun glance at her.

“How does she know so much?”

“Have you seen Harara?”

“Kids! Are you ready to have fun with Harara today?!”

At the penguin’s shout, Da-hyun could see the kids cheer, “Yes!”

Seeing those kids made Da-hyun smile.

Just so you know, uncles wearing Harara T-shirts also shouted along.

That was a bit unsettling.

“But the kids are cute.”

Da-hyun generally likes kids.

But then, she realized there was someone oddly noticeable among them.

“Huh? Isn’t that Seo-yeon’s little sister?”

Seo-yeon’s sister, who became super famous after “Golden Duckling.”

Her name was probably Joo Su-yeon.

Next to Su-yeon stood a woman who was neither Seo-yeon nor Seo-yeon’s mother.

“Who is that?”

As her mind swirled with questions, the bright atmosphere turned dark, signaling that the play was about to start.

“Oh no, what should I do? If I fail again, the Demon Lord will be mad at me.”

A bright light flickered on, and the play began with a girl in black clothes talking to herself on stage.

The moment she appeared, a strange gasp came from the front row of the audience recognizing her face.

“That’s Jo Seo-hee, the one playing Zero-ro.”

“Jo Seo-hee? Really?”

“Why didn’t they say which celebrity was coming? They just announced one was coming!”

“They said they’d reveal it after the first performance.”

They did say a celebrity would come, but didn’t specify who.

Clearly, they planned to create a buzz after the first performance and then start promoting it heavily.

Because that’s what the flyer said.

It was exclusive for the first performance.

Plays usually do events during the first show, and they utilized that tactic.

“Harara’s punch hurts the most. Why do I carry this magic wand around?”

That grumbling had a cute yet oddly posh young lady-like tone.

Da-hyun secretly admired it.

She had already seen movies with Jo Seo-hee several times.

But seeing her in a play felt different.

It was a completely fresh experience.

She thought to herself, “I’m glad I came to the amusement park.”

“Oh right, this is going to be tough!”

As she clenched her fists, the fire around Zero-ro extinguished.

Soon, the lights brightened, illuminating the stage.

A girl standing with a small penguin doll perched on her shoulder appeared on stage.

The moment she saw that…

“Whoa.”

“No way, really?”

Da-hyun couldn’t even speak. Instead, her other friends muttered in mixed surprise.

I mean, anyone would be shocked if a classmate suddenly popped up on stage.

“Joo Seo-yeon?”

Seo-yeon is playing Harara?

Da-hyun simply couldn’t imagine Seo-yeon portraying Harara.

“Ah~, the weather is nice. I should have hit Zero-ro more yesterday.”

But that image shattered quickly.

Joo Seo-yeon, or rather Harara’s voice, was nothing like the girl she knew.

Her wide-open eyes, once so composed, now wore a big smile.

An energetic girl stood on stage.

“Right~?”

As if seeking agreement from the kids in the audience, Harara turned and looked around.

And then, they locked eyes—Da-hyun and Harara.

It happened in an instant.

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