“Cheon Saetbyeol! Cheon Saetbyeol! Cheon Saetbyeol! Cheon Saetbyeol!”
The name Cheon Saetbyeol echoed resoundingly in the auditorium.
The enthusiasm of the 1st graders was undeniable.
Who would have thought high school had such a solid backing?
Honestly, it was a hundred times better to have a rich boyfriend who showed off his wealth than one who pretended to be humble.
Some students were already busy bragging that NoName had generously tossed the grass field around.
“We only have one year left until graduation!”
“Can’t we just stay in school for one more year?”
“Come on, that’s a bit much… We have to graduate.”
The 3rd graders sighed late in the game.
But it was precisely them who occupied the sports field the most while saying they needed to prepare for college entrance exams.
“You must have spent quite a bit of money.”
“I wish I had a younger sibling like that when I was in school.”
“Who has a sibling that lays down grass at their school?”
“I was just saying.”
Meanwhile, the teachers, who knew the specifics of the construction plan, chuckled at the heated atmosphere among the students.
The highly advanced material engineering artificial turf is indistinguishable from natural grass.
In fact, there has recently been a trend in EPL stadiums to increase the ratio of artificial grass from 50% to 70%.
“With this much, it might be a shame to step on the grass.”
“It’s not like the grass is gilded. The construction costs are definitely brutal.”
So, the company Na-me contracted was one of the most reputable in Japan.
As expected of an industry leader, they perfectly grasped the elements that customers would appreciate.
Saetbyeol was heading back to class after the opening ceremony.
[🩷Na-me🩷: By the way, Saetbyeol, the construction company said they’d build a free bust for you! Should I ask them to make one of you?]
[Me: Seriously, don’t joke around! Absolutely not! If they build that, I’ll jump off the school rooftop right now!]
[🩷Na-me🩷: Hahahaha, got it, have fun!]
[🩷Na-me🩷: (photo)]
“Phew… You startled me. You were planning to humiliate me.”
Cheon Saetbyeol’s face turned pale.
The thought of a bust of herself being erected at her alma mater’s grass field for the rest of her life was terrifying.
Just picturing it was horrifying.
She shook her head and flipped her phone back over on her desk.
The photo Na-me sent was a selfie from Malaysia.
“Hehe. The suit really doesn’t suit you.”
Cheon Saetbyeol chuckled as she doodled cat ears over Na-me’s picture.
From the background alone, it looked like she had attended something akin to a fashion show.
Especially Na-me, with her neatly tied tie and suit pants, looked more like she was ready for a school play, causing nonstop laughter to break out on Saetbyeol’s face.
*
“Ah… I seriously feel like I’m losing my mind.”
Cheon Saetbyeol, who had been so lively just this morning, was now paled all over.
Her mouth agape meant her soul had clearly taken a vacation.
6:10 PM.
As soon as the bell rang, Saetbyeol’s friends who had dashed for lunch were now back.
“Should I go crazy next month and attend Exiel’s solo concert? What do you think, guys? It’s a great idea, right?”
“Congratulations! As a return gift for the concert, you get 100 M-coin evolution stones for free. No, boss! You could go bankrupt in two weeks!”
“Are you crazy or what!”
“Wow, Saetbyeol is literally dying right now. Is she even alive?”
“Grrr…”
Kim Min-seo lifted Cheon Saetbyeol’s wrist.
Her limp hand was helplessly drawn downward by gravity.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yeah… a lot.”
“Is studying hard?”
“Yeah… too hard.”
“This is the path you chose. You have to endure.”
Saetbyeol swallowed her tears.
In this damned Republic of Korea, to get into a university majoring in drama, one needed exceptional modern dance skills, singing ability, and high SAT scores.
Among all of this, what tortured Saetbyeol the most was this diet.
“Why didn’t Na-me make me a multi-talented body? I just want to maintain 48 kilos by eating tteokbokki and mala soup…”
“Where’s your integrity?”
“I know, my integrity’s gone. But I’m about to starve to death. Hwaam, let’s go!”
Cheon Saetbyeol jumped up and began packing her bag.
She hurriedly stuffed in her pencil case, math workbooks, hair rollers, a tail comb, powder, and hand mirror.
“Today I’ll be off! Adios!”
Even so, Cheon Saetbyeol showed a smile at the last moment and confidently stepped out of the class.
Her friends knew it was time for her to go to the acting academy.
But…
“She looks tired.”
“Yeah, Saetbyeol keeps pouring out her sorrows.”
*Hwaam, it’s tough. If I were NoName, I’d just eat tteokbokki and mala soup all day long.”
“?”
“What? You guys don’t think it’d be that way?”
Cheon Saetbyeol rode the bus, leaving her friends behind.
Yawns escaped her as English words refused to stick in her mind.
“I’ve just played around for the past three years.”
Cheon Saetbyeol was reflecting deeply.
She regretted not studying while in virtual reality.
After all, even after she got a physical body, there were many excuses.
Since she had to catch up on sleep during school after doing V-tube broadcasts until dawn.
“To be honest, I was just playing all day, day and night. I don’t want to admit it, but…”
Cheon Saetbyeol had about three times better memorization skills than others, so studying shouldn’t be too overwhelming.
Yet, the absolute lack of study time made her feel urgency that was unavoidable.
“Huh, I missed a stop…!”
Cheon Saetbyeol dashed down the road.
Ding-dong—
“Sorry for being late!”
The large acting academy Cheon Saetbyeol attended had ten students per class.
While the entrance exam students practiced individually, there were two acting teachers taking turns for one-on-one lessons.
Maybe that’s why seven female students were gathered in the dance room, stretching with exercises like splits.
‘The rest must have already started their lessons.’
Cheon Saetbyeol grabbed a foam roller and found a spot.
Until she opened the door, the dance room was filled with a lively atmosphere.
Zzap—
Suddenly, a piercing stare pierced Cheon Saetbyeol from behind.
No need to look back; she could confirm it through the full-length mirror installed in the room.
She clenched her fist.
“Hey everyone! Did school start for you all? Our school delayed the start by a week, haha. By the way, does anyone know when the two-person lesson starts today?”
The large academy’s motto was “Quickly, quickly.”
You had to be waiting in advance when it was your turn.
If you stepped out to the bathroom then, everyone would be in trouble time-wise, so she managed to ask.
“Your lesson time got delayed to the last. Don’t worry about it.”
“I guess that’s the case? Thanks for letting me know!”
The awkward silence dissipated, and the female students resumed their laughter.
‘Sigh… I guess I’ll go home at 11 PM again. Luri, you’re better off. I’d rather be you.’
Memories reset during an overseas trip came flooding back.
The subtle ostracization among the female students at the academy.
The background was simple.
In the elite audition class receiving special care from the director, Cheon Saetbyeol’s existence was undeniably out of place.
Originally, there was fierce competition even within the same art high school to get into the director’s class.
Yet here was Cheon Saetbyeol, a “totally amateur actress with only three months of self-study,” who moved up from the lower class and ended up occupying a spot in the director’s class in just two months.
As a result, all sorts of gossip circulated in the closed school community.
Like how she paid ten times as much to get in.
Or how NoName used connections to slot her in.
Or how the academy director selected her just to leverage her reputation, even if she wasn’t that skilled.
And just because the lesson room wasn’t visible from the outside, there were also nasty rumors that were too dirty to even mention.
Of course, not everyone at the acting academy believed such nonsense.
However, once the atmosphere settled, it wasn’t something anyone could easily change.
“Hey, Saetbyeol! Did you have a good trip?”
“Hello, teacher!”
“What kind of overseas trip does a senior in high school have? You were late, so I tended to the other kids first. Seunghwa, you were supposed to go first today anyway, so come back in 30 minutes, okay?”
“Okay…”
“Uh… Do I go first?”
“Yeah, go ahead. Oh right, I watched V-tube, your acting was amazing!”
“Oh really? Hehe, I’ve improved a lot, right?”
“Seriously, it was incredible… NoName is a god of acting! Did you see those intricate emotions? I was in awe multiple times while watching. I’m so curious what the secret is at such a young age. Emotion aside, her technique is better than expected.”
“Ah, teacher! What about me!”
It was true that the girls didn’t think much of Cheon Saetbyeol either.
Nothing was more undermining to one’s self-esteem than the path of becoming an actor.
*
“Definitely improved compared to before. That mechanical acting of the past is nearly gone. Cheon Saetbyeol, you can definitely do even better from here. I was tough with the feedback, but I’d never say you can’t do it.”
“Yay, of course, you’d say that. But what good is it for me, I’m just a talking potato.”
“Still, you should think of it as a blessing. While the others are wasting time on dance, you can practice one more monologue. Some people are struggling with their balance because they didn’t diet during break.”
“Ugh, stop nagging! I’m going to practice individually! Thanks for your effort today!”
“Alright, good job! See you the day after tomorrow!”
Cheon Saetbyeol stepped out of the lesson room with a faint smile.
The only solace she found at the acting academy was that her acting was rapidly improving.
There was nothing more motivating than visible results.
“I just need to hold on a bit longer. Such good lesson opportunities are hard to come by.”
As the new semester began, a few new faces were seen in the director’s class.
Unfortunately, all of them were friends with the existing female students, so Cheon Saetbyeol had no chance to strike up a conversation.
So, she wandered between the dance room and monologue practice room, finishing her two hours of individual practice.
“9:50 PM. If I go home, it’ll be 10:10. A bit vague, should I practice just 20 more minutes before heading back?”
Now that she was accustomed to the atmosphere of the academy, thoughts of Luri began to weigh heavily on her.
She resolved to return home after Luri’s bedtime.
“Cheon Saetbyeol, hi?”
A new female student approached her, warmly initiating conversation.
“Hi! What’s your name, friend?”
“I’m Ha Ji-hu.”
“Wow, Ji-hu, what a pretty name!”
Cheon Saetbyeol’s eyes lit up with joy.
“Yeah! Let’s gradually clear up misunderstandings starting with acquaintances. They’re not necessarily the ones who tormented me.”
Ha Ji-hu touched her nose tip lightly.
“The teacher praised you a lot while you were away.”
“Really? No way, they never do that in front of me. But I was really bad back then, I’ve improved but I’m still lacking.”
“Didn’t you do V-tube before?”
“You know about V-tube?”
She hit the jackpot in the double event of excitement and joy.
Ha Ji-hu nodded ambiguously.
“Well, V-tubers aren’t exactly mainstream.”
Cheon Saetbyeol, who was grinning, noticed Ha Ji-hu narrowing her eyes.
“You know, recently, streamers and V-tubers have been coming out as leads in dramas often. Could you maybe do a sponsored reaction like that for us?”
“Oh, of course! How much should I do? 10,000 won? 100,000 won? 1,000,000 is even possible!”
“Then let’s go with 1,000,000 won?”
“That’s an over-the-top offer! Wait a second, stay here.”
Cheon Saetbyeol jumped up and stood on her hands.
Recently, her body had become so flexible she could even bend while upside down.
“Hoita! Thank you so much for the 1,000,000 won sponsorship, deng deng deng!”
“Hahaha!”
“Seriously, what the heck?”
“Spending 1,000,000 won just to see one little thing? Really, what a mad world.”
“Getting paid to do it is even worse for me.”
“Ah…?”
Cheon Saetbyeol lightly landed on her feet.
The sounds that had distinctly reached her ears from afar vanished like cockroaches.
She could only watch as the back of Ha Ji-hu, who dashed away to join her group of female students, disappeared.
“…”
Cheon Saetbyeol clenched her teeth.
Without looking back, she shouldered her bag and left the academy.
Outside, a heavy shower was beating against the window.
*
“What’s going on with you… How did you get here? What’s with the outfit?”
An unbelievable scene unfolded before her eyes.
NoName’s maid, Luri.
She had come with a yellow umbrella right in front of Cheon Saetbyeol’s acting academy.
“What’s up?”
“Why are you in a maid outfit…? Did you really come all the way here dressed like that?”
Luri glanced at the huge red ribbon on her chest with a tilt of her head.
“Cheon Saetbyeol, you have trampled on my pride as a maid. Let me show you what I can do.”
