Chapter: 91
Jo Ha-rin was a girl who had just graduated high school, freshly arrived from the countryside.
Ignoring her parents’ pleas to attend university, she came to Seoul all by herself—a true country bumpkin.
Of course, she didn’t come to Seoul thoughtlessly.
While her parents wanted her to have a normal job, she had always dreamed of something else since childhood.
And she didn’t climb up to Seoul without a plan.
“Produce Star 200…”
Jo Ha-rin mumbled this to herself, letting out a tense sigh.
A massive audition program featuring 200 idol hopefuls.
Thousands had applied.
And not just from Korea; there were overseas participants too.
Jo Ha-rin boldly made it through the preliminary rounds filled with those thousands, earning her spot on the main broadcast.
“Yeah, I can definitely do this!”
Nodding her head enthusiastically, she looked a bit silly.
But that lively, sparkly-eyed expression was endearing, igniting a protective instinct in others.
Jo Ha-rin gazed at the pictures saved on her slightly old phone, nodding pensively.
But that didn’t last long.
“However…”
Her eyes fluttered while staring at the pictures.
Her escape from reality had hit its limits.
“Where am I?”
For a girl from the countryside, Seoul was mind-bogglingly chaotic.
These were her thoughts, just two hours before the filming of Produce Star 200.
In the middle of Gangnam, she muttered to herself.
– The girl seems a bit dim.
– Clearly the comic relief!
– Who styled her? Is that even right??
– Must’ve been done that way because she’s a country girl.
As Jo Ha-rin appeared on screen, chat messages from viewers watching the live broadcast started pouring in.
First off, her character’s design was fairly standard.
A girl who idolizes idols and came from the countryside.
It was a common trope but surprisingly well-received.
Currently, Jo Ha-rin sported oversized horn-rimmed glasses.
Her hair was tied up simply.
Her clothing was baggy, further emphasizing her clumsiness.
To viewers familiar with Seoyeon’s appearance, that put-together look felt awkward.
“Oh no!”
The scene shifted briefly to highlight other characters before returning to Jo Ha-rin’s segment.
Episode 1 of Dream Future was primarily focused on introducing the main characters.
Jo Ha-rin had a mere 10 minutes allotted.
There wasn’t much room for her to shine.
In fact, the time left before the drama’s conclusion was also rather short.
The time given per individual was now just around 5 minutes.
However, there was a scene at the end where everyone would appear together, which could extend her screen time a bit.
But then…
– What kind of character is this?
– For real, LOL, she’s like a character from ten years ago.
Jo Ha-rin’s character, by its very nature, was bound to have many detractors.
Many disliked bubbly characters, and her rural origins added to the frustrating aspects of her persona.
On top of that, her unfortunate styling led to a flood of negative comments in real time.
“Are you okay?”
Someone called out to Jo Ha-rin, who was running around, not able to find the filming location.
It was Kim Si-hwan.
Seeing the flustered expression on Jo Ha-rin’s face, he asked cautiously.
“Uh, yeah?”
Jo Ha-rin looked up at him, her face a picture of surprise.
To her country-girl eyes, he appeared extraordinarily handsome, leaving her at a loss for words.
“Oh, um, I’m trying to get to…”
Receiving her first act of kindness since arriving in Seoul, Jo Ha-rin felt her voice tremble as she pointed to the location.
Kim Si-hwan seemed genuinely taken aback.
“Oh, I have to go there too.”
“Really?”
“Shall we go together?”
With a gentle smile, he suggested, but Jo Ha-rin slowly shook her head.
As much as she appreciated the offer, it felt a bit too much.
“Um, that would be too embarrassing.”
“No, let’s go together!”
“?”
Kim Si-hwan, surprisingly insistent, tossed his motorcycle helmet at her.
“Hop on the back!”
“Wait, hold on…”
“Let’s go!”
“…”
In an impulsive moment, Jo Ha-rin found herself forced onto his motorcycle, racing towards the filming set.
In a flash.
Riding a motorcycle for the first time made Jo Ha-rin feel dizzy.
“Looks like we’ll be rivals at the audition now.”
Once they arrived at the filming location, Kim Si-hwan said and seemed ready to dash off.
Almost as if he had done his part and was finished.
Of course, this was understandable—they had just met today.
Typically, Jo Ha-rin would have bowed and said goodbye to him.
But here she was, impulsively pulling at his collar as he turned his back.
“Um…”
“Yes?”
“Why did you help me today?”
Jo Ha-rin was genuinely curious.
To him, it was probably just a casual act of kindness, but for her, it was her first since arriving in Seoul.
He was the first person to extend a hand in this strange and foreign world.
Kim Si-hwan chuckled lightly at her question.
“Well, I thought it might bring good luck.”
“Pardon?”
“It was just a feeling.”
That was all he said.
It was a ridiculous answer, but Jo Ha-rin watched him walk away, a soft smile creeping onto her face.
Underneath her horn-rimmed glasses, her eyes sparkled brightly.
Her lips parted slightly as she struggled to contain her excitement, her cheeks flushed, and her gaze shaky.
“I see…”
“Yes, that’s right.”
With a cool, collected response, Kim Si-hwan replied, but Jo Ha-rin understood.
He was merely making excuses.
There was no deep reason behind his act of kindness; it was pure innocence.
She found his clumsy excuse laughable.
Then, suddenly, the chat exploded.
– Whoa!
– OMG!
Viewers momentarily forgot to type in their astonishment, watching Jo Ha-rin.
There were no words left to convey their thoughts.
But it was clear: Jo Ha-rin’s emotions leaped through the screen.
The moment of falling in love.
Or the initial spark of infatuation was felt by the viewers without a single line of dialogue.
The moment of falling in love.
Jo Ha-rin and Kim Si-hwan’s relationship began somewhat awkwardly.
In essence, Jo Ha-rin’s crush would bloom after receiving help from Kim Si-hwan.
So, if that scene looked silly or failed to resonate, it would come across as sheer absurdity.
The drama’s rating would inevitably plummet.
Director Kim Pil-seok said,
“Still, doesn’t it feel a bit lacking in plausibility?”
“Isn’t it natural for someone to fall in love at first sight?”
The cameraman retorted with this to Pil-seok’s comment, but he shook his head.
“It’s a created work.”
Therefore, it needed to be more plausible.
Sure, many outrageous things happen in life, but in a script, feasibility was all the more necessary.
Plausibility.
The laws needed in fictional stories.
“Seoyeon. I can make it visually appealing, but acting is crucial.”
“Right.”
“The dialogue between Jo Ha-rin and Kim Si-hwan is at best a few lines, and their screen time is less than 2 minutes.”
Within that time, Jo Ha-rin’s feelings must be conveyed, along with the plausibility of her infatuation with Kim Si-hwan.
The gradual shift in her emotions needed to be visible, not simply scripted.
“Can you do it? Or should I talk to Writer Lim?”
At Director Kim Pil-seok’s words, Seoyeon shook her head.
“I’ll try first.”
“Hmm.”
Honestly, Lim Jin-ha’s script was childish.
But it wasn’t that the story had no appeal.
One hit production under his belt.
It was nothing divine, but there was a reason for that career.
“Got it.”
It’s in Director Kim Pil-seok’s nature to trust his actors if they say they can do it.
And he genuinely wondered what this young actress could deliver.
With that, Seoyeon made her way through the filming, fumbling through several NGs.
This might have been the most NGs she’d ever recorded in her life.
For sure, this role was unchartered territory for her.
She was replicating unfamiliar emotions.
Affection.
Love.
When one asked if she had ever experienced such a feeling for another, she’d be unsure.
Sure, there’s friendship and affection, which skims the surface.
But from the number of films and related visual media she had watched, it felt distinctly different.
Love was an intense emotion.
And the moment one falls into it is even more special.
She didn’t know this feeling.
She wasn’t ready yet.
So Seoyeon struggled to connect with it.
Thus…
“Sometimes, imagining it can be more beautiful.”
Actress Jeong Eun-seon spoke.
“Your vague longing for love, Seoyeon. Merely embellishing your envisioned beautiful form may even be better than reality.”
She noted that this situation sometimes occurred.
There are cases where writers or actors, accustomed to tackling romance, struggle to express those emotions properly.
Having tasted the bitterness of love, they found themselves incapable of depicting it through acting or writing.
“That’s how it is.”
Jeong Eun-seon smiled down at young Seoyeon.
“Maybe one day, Seoyeon, you will have a wonderful love. Save that emotion for that time.”
Though it might have seemed trivial, it struck a chord deeply with Seoyeon.
“The mimicry of emotions.”
This action had become quite familiar to her.
So, she knew how someone in love would behave and smile.
But there was a sense of dissatisfaction in merely reproducing that.
“Ah, so you’re number 178, Jo Ha-rin?”
Faced with the five judges, Jo Ha-rin stood on stage.
The preliminary audition for Produce Star 200.
Thanks to Kim Si-hwan’s help, she was about to set foot on stage without being late.
“I heard you came from the countryside; that must have been a tough decision.”
“Yeah.”
Jo Ha-rin smiled as she answered the judge’s question.
“A little.”
“Is that so?”
The judge, a fierce-looking man, nodded.
“Well, let’s see what you’ve got.”
Although the judges were all smiling, their attitude conveyed a lack of expectation.
Images of other idols flashed by.
Among them were the main characters, such as Song So-ha and Park Min-yul.
Finally, Jo Ha-rin grasped the microphone.
Before she could dance, she had to sing for the judges.
– Oh, not again.
– Seoyeon, please refrain from singing.
Since audiences had already caught a glimpse of Seoyeon’s singing through variety shows, the chat exploded.
She didn’t necessarily sing poorly.
That was the general feedback she received, but in a drama, even just doing okay felt more challenging.
However, this wasn’t Seoyeon.
This was Jo Ha-rin.
The girl who had just fallen in love.
“I don’t know what that feeling is…”
She experienced it through countless media.
Even if it sometimes emerged in grotesque forms, the essence was mostly beautiful.
An emotion that might lead one to a longing they wished to experience someday.
Seoyeon’s singing lacked emotional depth.
And that made it feel even more awkward, as everyone noted.
Especially the magician, Han Da-young, whom she had met through Ji-yeon.
“Infusing emotion is quite natural.”
Seoyeon believed she was too conscious of that aspect.
“Come on, Seoyeon, you’re not a robot! When people speak, emotion naturally seeps through without deliberate thought. The same goes for singing.”
To consciously think about the emotion in words.
For a moment, Seoyeon thought that wasn’t true, but maybe it indeed was.
Since this was something more than just words—it was singing.
“Singing is ultimately just an extension of speech. If you aim to embed emotion deliberately, you’ll miss a lot.”
Just like with Seoyeon’s current singing.
Han Da-young aimed to convey that to her.
How to sing naturally.
“Jo Ha-rin’s feelings…”
It wasn’t something she could easily define.
In a way, Seoyeon merely sketched that emotion out vaguely.
Not in methods but closer to emotional mimicry.
Drawing what was visible in the scenery and adding Seoyeon’s imagination and longing.
– Huh?
The chat reflected confusion.
A delicate voice spread across the stage.
The initially tiresome judges now had their eyes wide open, focusing on Jo Ha-rin.
The audience watching the broadcast did the same.
It was a love song.
The song Jo Ha-rin was now singing on stage was a relaxing ballad.
Her soft voice lacked some technical flair, but it stood out nonetheless.
Smoothly twinkling eyes accompanied a beaming smile as Jo Ha-rin sang.
A girl lost in love.
As if she was illustrating that very feeling, Jo Ha-rin swayed lightly to the rhythm, blooming like a flower.
Bright and beautiful emotions spilled over the screen.
The judges’ expressions and finally, Kim Si-hwan and Song So-ha’s faces reflected this moment.
From Song So-ha’s position as a lead character, it hinted at the emergence of a strong rival.
Simultaneously, this scene was more pronounced than originally scripted.
Initially, Jo Ha-rin was meant to awkwardly sing and dance just enough to scrape by.
But Kim Pil-seok chose to adapt it a little.
Of course, after meeting with the writer.
This was the scene playing out now.
At about two-thirds of the way into Episode 1, it was now Jo Ha-rin’s highlight.
And this very choice led to:
“Dream Future is not just a simple gag drama! Ratings hit 15 percent for a solid start!!”
“Is singing poorly acting? Joo Seoyeon’s surprise appeal!”
“Instantly, ratings surged to 21 percent! Signs of a hit for Dream Future!”
An explosive reaction ensued.
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