Chapter: 45
After several rounds of script readings, we finally stood on the brink of actual stage rehearsals.
We were currently diving deep into script analysis, but it was clear things were only going to get busier from here on out.
So, I didn’t want to let this opportunity slip through my fingers.
“I’m coming in?”
“Yeah.”
I glanced sideways at Lee Ji-yeon as she took off her shoes and prepared some tea for us.
We often hung out together at school, but she hadn’t been to my house that many times.
Most of our meetings happened outside, while I usually ended up visiting her place instead.
“Alright.”
I had hesitated until now, but after seeing the announcement for the Seven Live Season 3 participants, I decided it was finally time to say something.
At least once, I should at least give it a shot. Who knows, she might even show some interest.
“But I shouldn’t expect too much; it might interfere with my acting career.”
Still, a tiny bit wouldn’t hurt, right?
“……You’re making a really unpleasant face.”
“That’s too much.”
As I gently squinted my eyes, Lee Ji-yeon began to pinch my cheeks with both hands.
“There’s no change in your expression, yet I still feel this vibe. You’re not thinking some weird stuff again, are you?”
“What weird stuff?”
“You sometimes come up with really out-of-the-box ideas.”
If someone overheard, they would totally misunderstand.
Despite how I looked, I was just an ordinarily boring high school girl—well, I guess I am a high school girl.
“Oh my, Ji-yeon, you’re here!”
“Hello.”
“Ugh, honestly, what would Seoyeon do without you?”
My mom said that while hurriedly throwing on some clothes, saying she needed to go buy some fruit.
She seemed intent on cutting fruit for us while we hung out.
“Your mom.”
“Yeah.”
“I think she’s looking a bit more… um, curvier.”
“……No way.”
“Seriously, she hasn’t changed a bit from the last time I saw her. If my mom saw her, she’d be so jealous.”
“Your mom is still pretty young.”
Still, Ji-yeon’s mom truly looked quite youthful herself.
“Eh, my mom’s got a lot of effort behind that. I’ll have to ask her how she keeps her skin so nice.”
Even though she said that, my mom didn’t really do anything for her skin care.
Just the occasional face mask before bed?
Honestly, it was scary how young she looked.
In fact, isn’t that a bit odd?
“So, what are we gonna do now? Want to watch a movie like usual?”
Ji-yeon said, gesturing toward the large TV.
When it was just the two of us, we often watched movies or dramas together.
Not just for fun, mind you, but to observe the acting and chat about it or practice.
And since Ji-yeon was serious about becoming an actress, she frequently asked me about acting whenever she got the chance.
Even though she had more experience now.
“Today, I…”
I casually pulled up YouTube first.
“……”
And there my finger stopped.
I had intended to casually say, “Hey, look at this cool stuff!” and slip in a virtual YouTuber video to see Ji-yeon‘s reaction.
Then she might naturally engage…
Naturally…
…Hmm.
‘This isn’t easy at all.’
I wiped the sweat off my forehead.
I felt Ji-yeon‘s gaze on me, staring blankly.
This is strange, right?
Suddenly showing a virtual YouTuber video like this would definitely be weird, wouldn’t it?
‘Get a grip, Joo Seoyeon. Are you shy about virtual YouTubers?’
I felt a bit like that… for the first time…
Well, Ji-yeon was a total social butterfly who didn’t have a connection with anime or anything like that.
I had no idea what kind of reaction would come, yet I hesitated to click.
All I wanted was for her to show a little interest—my small, modest wish seemed to be fading away.
“Joo Seoyeon.”
“Uh, yeah?”
“……Why do you have so much weird stuff in your algorithm?”
The YouTube was, of course, logged into my account.
So, naturally, the videos I’d commonly watched popped up.
And of course, there were some virtual YouTuber-related ones.
“That’s that one, isn’t it? Virtual YouTuber.”
I flinched.
I couldn’t even muster the courage to answer. I just stood there, trembling slightly.
But how did she know?
If she recognized it, might it have been easier to pop open the conversation?
Just as I was about to say something, Ji-yeon interjected.
“Do you actually watch that?”
It was one of the top three scariest lines you can hear from friends, and it slipped from Ji-yeon’s lips.
I quickly shut my mouth.
Then there I was, just twitching in place, and Ji-yeon let out a soft “Ah…” of realization.
“Did I say something wrong? I just asked out of pure curiosity.”
“……Really?”
“What’s with your reaction? It’s kinda weird.”
Ji-yeon chuckled.
“Anyway, if there’s nothing you want to watch, feel free to watch what you like.”
I hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded.
I shut my eyes tight as I watched her type something into the YouTube search bar.
‘Epic fail…’
Thinking back, it was a given, really.
*
“Hmmm.”
As Ji-yeon flipped through channels, she sneaked a glance at Seoyeon, who had her eyes tightly shut and was biting her bottom lip.
It was a rare expression for Seoyeon, who usually didn’t change her expressions much.
Ji-yeon couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, then subtly peeked at Seoyeon‘s YouTube search history.
Naturally, Ji-yeon was curious about her recent interests.
Among the search results mostly related to theater, her eyes narrowed.
‘So she’s seriously getting into theater now.’
It was hard to understand why Seoyeon would choose that play for her comeback project.
Even if she asked about it, the response would likely be:
“I need to do this for my next project.”
It’d be a vague reply, at best.
‘It’s Joo Seoyeon, so she knows what she’s doing.’
Ji-yeon didn’t fuss about it; she figured she’d understand once she saw the play later on.
But beyond that…
‘Virtual YouTuber?’
She noticed various videos related to virtual YouTubers in Seoyeon‘s algorithm.
‘Hmmm…’
There seemed to be some kind of connection happening.
Ji-yeon had heard about it from one of her friends who met voice actors at the academy.
‘Still, that’s a job that revolves around voice, right?’
In many aspects, it felt like you could crash and burn quickly if you didn’t have talent, so she’d largely stayed away.
But seeing Seoyeon react this way was just… a bit amusing.
Ji-yeon knew Seoyeon had a tendency to flinch at her own voice.
And she looked utterly defeated now, as if she’d just bombed something.
Probably related to virtual YouTubers in some way… Ji-yeon merely speculated.
“Joo Seoyeon.”
“……Huh?”
Seeing Seoyeon walk around with a peculiar sulking face, Ji-yeon couldn’t hold back her chuckle.
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Just a silly thought popped into her head.
*
Days trickled by.
The stage rehearsals had kicked off in earnest.
Seoyeon, who had done plenty of research beforehand, quickly realized this was nothing like working on a drama.
In a medium-sized theater with 600 seats,
It didn’t seem that daunting until she actually stood on stage, and it felt much grander than anticipated.
‘I’ve never performed in front of this many people… well, not really.’
Thinking back to all those performances as Snow White, though…
Seoyeon looked at the seats quietly, reflecting on her thoughts.
“Why? Are you scared?”
While she stared ahead, she suddenly heard a voice tinged with laughter.
Turning around, Shim Cheong-seok was looking at her, grinning widely.
“No, I’m not.”
“Of course, not.”
He replied with a glinting smile.
With such a sharp look in his eyes, that grin came off almost beastly.
Just by looking at him, you’d never think he was suited for the role of Bae Seong-hak at all.
‘But his skills are legit.’
The performance he delivered on this stage was undeniably incredible.
He was hailed as the rising star of the troupe, after all.
‘With that level, it makes sense he’d land a role in an OTT drama straight away.’
He hadn’t even participated in small dramas before this, yet here he was, one of the main actors in a large OTT drama.
In some respects, it felt like he had surpassed even her own past role as Princess Yeonhwa in The Sun Hidden by the Moon.
Even considering the fact that she had at least auditioned for it, Shim Cheong-seok hadn’t even needed to do that.
“Just a heads up.”
He wiped the smile off his face and spoke to me lazily.
“If you don’t properly adapt to the stage, your skills will only shine about half as brightly. I’ve seen it countless times; some player who aced the reading could crumble on stage.”
Then he paused, seemingly recalling something mid-sentence.
“Of course, I’m not talking to you. You, definitely have a different vibe.”
…What vibe?
When I gave him a puzzled look, he lazily waited for an explanation.
“A tip: treat the actual stage like a rehearsal.”
“Treat it like a rehearsal?”
“Dramas can be re-recorded, but theater can’t. So just relax and go for it.”
He edged closer to me as he spoke.
“If you try too hard, you might end up messing things up.”
“But isn’t it normal to give it your all? That’s what acting is about.”
“Well, yeah. It’s common.”
He leaned forward, looking down at me.
“If you can.”
This was…
A challenge.
Seoyeon faced him, attempting to read the intent behind his words.
Provocation?
Or perhaps curiosity?
There was a certain emotion she couldn’t quite decipher.
While Seoyeon was indifferent to her own emotions, she was quite sensitive to those of others.
This was something she’d gathered from her past experiences.
“The role of Hong Jeong-hee is very important.”
He looked down at her as he spoke.
“Because she’s the villainess?”
“Exactly. An insignificant villain is worse than no villain at all.”
Shim Cheong-seok said, shrugging his shoulders as if to emphasize his point.
“From what I’ve seen in the script reading, that won’t be the case. Plus…”
He gazed at the other actors arriving on stage, then leaned close to Seoyeon and whispered just for her ears.
“Honestly, I want to see what you really can do.”
You want to see my acting in its full glory?
When Seoyeon looked at him curiously, he simply smiled slightly and turned away.
…He was truly an enigma.
*
At Yeonhwa High School,
It was a private institution with roughly 800 students enrolled.
There were plenty of students confident in their arts and talents, though academically speaking, it wasn’t exactly top-tier.
Regardless, it was an average school overall.
“We’ve received a request to shoot at our school.”
“Shoot?”
This sudden news popped up during a staff meeting.
Shooting? Like for a drama?
As I looked at the principal, he cleared his throat and continued.
“It’s for a program called Past, Looking Back at Memories.”
Was there such a show?
It sounded like something most probably hadn’t heard of before.
Being so low-profile and unpopular made sense…
“Oh, I know that one! Isn’t it the variety show that airs on Sundays at five?”
Given its placement in the prime weekend time, many people were familiar with it.
The principal sighed, relieved.
“At least there’s some recognition.”
“This could be beneficial for the school’s promotion! I hear they’ll be reenacting a drama that aired a long time ago?”
“Yes, that’s how I understand it. It’s about students re-enacting older shows and dramas.”
But the teachers who knew about that show wore ambiguous expressions.
“Will that really promote us?”
To be honest, it wasn’t that entertaining.
It was only fun when there were exceptionally talented students or when it was a complete disaster… but still, who knows.
“Cough! Luckily, we’ll be hosting a guest actor during the shoot, as well, to help the students.”
“A guest actor?”
If someone accepted to be in a variety show like that, it probably meant they weren’t very famous.
But then…
“It’s Park Jung-woo. You all know him, right?”
“Wow, no way?”
“Park Jung-woo is coming to our school?!”
Having shed the label of ‘the son of a famous actor,’ he was now in the spotlight, ranking first among the most sought-after actors in their twenties and teens today.
“So then the drama club… it’s Song Da-yeon, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I’ve been asked to pick about ten students for the shoot. Is that alright?”
“Of course!”
Song Da-yeon was confident about that.
And rightly so, considering that Ji-yeon, who was currently starring in a cable drama, was a member.
Though technically, she was more of a side character, being a full member was still true.
‘If it’s Ji-yeon, I’m sure she’ll want to participate.’
That girl was ambitious when it came to acting.
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