Lee Sang-soo was a method actor.
He had no intention of letting the connection formed during
The reason was simple.
'Director Jo Bang-woo's film.'
The father of Director Jo Min-tae, the director who had formed a connection with Seoyeon when she was young.
His film would begin production next year.
Seoyeon wanted to appear in that film together with Lee Sang-soo.
'Director Jo Bang-woo's film is by no means a poorly made one.'
It had received decent investment, and Director Jo Bang-woo made the film desperately, considering it his last chance.
A rare disaster film.
The subject matter was somewhat fresh, and the protagonist was quite charming... that was the evaluation it received later.
However....
"Tomorrow, episode 14 of
"Ah, really?"
"It's the last episode where I properly appear as Jo Ha-rin."
In other words, it was the episode where she competes against Song So-ha for a spot in the finals.
There, Song So-ha defeats Jo Ha-rin and advances to the finals.
"I'd really appreciate it if you watched it."
"Haha, of course I should watch it. I actually saw it recently and it was passably watchable."
Even that "passably watchable" was quite a statement.
Originally,
He had simply watched it from the perspective of seeing Seoyeon's acting.
"And........."
Seoyeon hesitated for a moment about whether to say it here or not.
But she soon shook her head.
'Even if I try to persuade him with words here, he'll just let it go in one ear anyway.'
Lee Sang-soo's heart had almost entirely left his acting career at this point.
What remained now was merely an ember named lingering attachment.
Seoyeon knew that fanning that ember first was the priority.
"It would be nice if we could meet again later."
"Ah, of course. If you ever want to go fishing again, just say the word."
"Oh my, sunbae-nim. Fishing is something only old men like us enjoy."
"No, why. I'm telling you Seoyeon-ssi has talent?"
Watching such old men's conversation, Seoyeon softly shifted her gaze.
To the young man barely managing his expression amidst the cheerful atmosphere.
***
"Ji-woo-ssi, your acting was good today."
Sim Cheong-seok said so and patted Pyo Ji-woo's shoulder.
Before leaving the theater troupe, they were able to wrap up the play with a not-so-bad feeling.
"But it'd be better to vary the colors of your acting? Right now, all the colors are the same."
"I, I'll work hard."
"Yeah, but you have talent so you'll be able to do it quickly."
Pyo Ji-woo sighed.
Still, Sim Cheong-seok ending with just this much meant today's acting was okay.
If he wasn't satisfied, it was his nature to grab hold and nag for two or three hours.
"Ah. And."
Thinking it was over, Sim Cheong-seok spoke as if recalling something.
Pyo Ji-woo, who had stiffened wondering if there would be more words to follow.
"Someone's waiting for you, so go on out quickly."
"Yes?"
Someone waiting?
It was hard to say this, but Pyo Ji-woo had a very narrow social circle.
As for someone coming to look for her....
"Hello."
"....."
Joo Seoyeon.
The girl who had stopped her from walking a dangerous path was waiting outside the theater.
Unlike the uniform she had seen before, she was wearing a cool summer uniform.
"So...."
Having moved to a nearby café, Pyo Ji-woo gazed at Seoyeon.
An appearance as eerily beautiful as when she had seen her before.
"What's the matter suddenly?"
A quiet gaze turned toward her.
Honestly speaking, even Pyo Ji-woo, who was quite gutsy, would flinch when receiving such a gaze from Seoyeon.
'Was it Cha Seo-ah?'
She heard she also appeared in
At least she had seen
Pyo Ji-woo quite liked thriller movies.
The acting of Seoyeon she saw there was enough to make even Pyo Ji-woo inwardly shrink back.
Perhaps because that image remained.
Seoyeon sitting across from her now felt unnecessarily burdensome.
Why did Seoyeon come looking for her in the first place?
'Hasn't she been doing quite well recently?'
Recently, Seoyeon has been steadily raising her recognition through
Perhaps because of how Seoyeon was doing, Sim Cheong-seok also seemed to be thinking of properly stepping into the entertainment industry, which had been discussed before.
"Ji-woo unni."
"Y-yeah."
"How do stalkers usually target their victims?"
?
No, why ask her that?
She had followed Min Seo-ho for a while, but....
"I don't know much about that kind of psychology, so I wanted to get some advice from an expert."
"I, I haven't exactly done stalker things, you know?"
?
Seoyeon looked at Pyo Ji-woo with eyes saying "What is this person talking about now?"
Pyo Ji-woo felt unjustly accused.
She just wanted to act together, and with pure intentions, she had made some effort to participate in the play he was in.
She hadn't followed and tracked everything about how Min Seo-ho behaved.
'Was she a moderate stalker?'
Seoyeon looked at Pyo Ji-woo and thought.
Come to think of it, for a stalker, she was late to realize that Min Seo-ho had his fingers in many pies.
Of course, saying it was purely an obsession with wanting to act, there were many tenacious aspects too.
'The way of thinking can be a bit different. She's a pro, after all.'
Seoyeon thought so and moved on.
Wasn't she in the position of having come to hear advice anyway?
"Ah, hem. Usually they tend to investigate places the target frequents...."
This was a basic stalker's behavioral pattern that even Seoyeon knew.
"And?"
"There are cases where they try to get close to people on that side, because they need to hear information."
The first thing they find out is the phone number.
If it changes, they find out sharp as a knife and send a text saying "Oppa, your number changed?" to make contact.
"After home invasion, stealing the personal seal to try to fill out a marriage registration... or throwing oneself in front of a moving celebrity's van to get hit...."
"....."
"Ah, no. I didn't go that far!"
"That far," she says.
Seoyeon narrowed her eyes and looked at Pyo Ji-woo.
No, she does know well after all.
Anyway, the information Seoyeon was hearing from Pyo Ji-woo was about stalkers who cling to celebrities.
Information about so-called 'sasaeng fans.'
The starting point that drove Thunderst to catastrophe.
'Actually, it's not simply the sasaeng fans that are the problem, though.'
She recalled Liam, whom she had seen a while ago.
The idol whose spirit was crushed in everything.
This was evidence that the agency hadn't been able to care for him much either.
Thunderst.
Sasaeng fan attacks.
Discord among members.
Such information flashed through Seoyeon's mind.
Liam.
Kim Ho-seung.
She didn't know the idol name, but she knew the real name.
Because he was a person who would later quit being an idol and debut as an actor.
And quite spectacularly at that.
'However, it took a very long time until that happened.'
Roughly in her previous life.
She remembered him hitting it big roughly a few months before that life ended.
Thinking of the timing, it was more than 5 years from now.
"I don't know what it is, but you shouldn't carelessly meddle in such things."
Pyo Ji-woo said, looking at Seoyeon who was lost in thought.
Pyo Ji-woo had already had the experience of being meddled with once, but she was still worried.
"Well, we're short on actors right now."
"Huh?"
To Pyo Ji-woo wondering what this meant now, Seoyeon didn't bother to say more.
There was no point in saying more anyway.
'Since Hwang Min-hwa left, Nova Entertainment would stagger this way and that for a while.'
She could have said that she would just fill that position herself, but.
'It would be good even if just one talented actor came in.'
Nova Entertainment needed to grow for Seoyeon to have many benefits when doing future projects.
Above all, even when Nova Entertainment grew in her previous life, it was still second-tier.
'If I'm going to do it, I should aim for first-tier.'
The reason Seoyeon specifically chose Nova Entertainment was not for another reason.
No matter where she went, she was confident she could raise it to first-tier eventually.
In that sense, Nova Entertainment, where Seoyeon could have a voice, was rather better.
'At least to the level of RY Entertainment.'
She hoped it would grow to at least that extent.
Because Seoyeon's desire to win was very strong.
***
"Y-you stay still. It's dangerous."
"I don't want to."
"I'll look into it, so just wait."
"Alright then."
Anyway, since Pyo Ji-woo, having listened to Seoyeon's words, decided to step forward personally, she decided to wait quietly.
It would be better for an expert to step forward than herself, a novice.
'It's not something that will explode right away anyway.'
At least there was some time ahead.
She could possibly be mistaken about something.
It was right to be cautious about such matters.
And just in case.
"This is a wooden sword."
?
"Because if you stab someone with an iron sword, they die."
"You can die from being hit with a wooden sword too. No, I have no intention of fighting in the first place?"
Well, Pyo Ji-woo would know how to use that much properly.
Even if there was a situation where she had to fight a sasaeng fan, Pyo Ji-woo with a sword wouldn't lose.
Thinking such thoughts, when she went to the convenience store she visits on Tuesdays.
".....?"
The part-time worker's reaction was different from usual.
For a while, perhaps due to the influence of
"Ah, hello."
The reaction had strangely softened.
Rather, there was a sign of strangely wanting to have more conversation.
And it was the same at school.
"Ah, hi?"
"You came early again today?"
Rarely, classmates had greeted Seoyeon.
Just as she was thinking she should go to Lee Ji-yeon and ask why.
"Dream Future yesterday was so good. I was hoping you'd advance, it's such a shame."
The class president, Gil Da-hyun, had spoken to her with a bright smile.
Only then did Seoyeon realize.
'Ah, because of
The episode where Jo Ha-rin competes with Song So-ha.
If excluding the ending part, the last episode where Seoyeon appears in
What she had intended to be satisfied with just improving 'Cha Seo-ah's' image.
Brought a much bigger reaction than Seoyeon had expected.
"...Drama OST work?"
Mainly in a direction Seoyeon hadn't expected at all.
***
"Hah, that damned
Drama director Kim Il-soo tossed the materials he received today and sighed.
When
It seemed they also wanted to use that novice writer, Min Se-hee, for the script.
However, Kim Il-soo found this whole situation unpalatable.
Originally, he didn't fit with soft dramas like
The dramas he shot were generally cynical and often socially accusatory.
"The protagonist is a high school student again? Dream Future was just lucky."
There was a lot he wanted to say.
But it seemed the high-ranking official of the drama department liked that girl.
"Was it Joo Seoyeon...."
The young actress who had been making headlines recently for various reasons.
She certainly possessed the qualities that would make high-ranking people take interest.
"Episode 14, right. They said she only appears until today."
He planned to watch all the backlogged
He had stopped after watching up to episode 4 so far.
Episode 1 was okay, but after that it was an unremarkable drama.
So he hadn't watched after episode 4.
But for his drama that he would film in the future.
She might be an actress who would appear in
The actor's side also said they were reviewing it positively....
"Well then, shall we take a look at what kind of person she is."
Recalling the intense image of Cha Seo-ah from
Until the sun rose the next morning.
Without resting even once.