Scene number 17 was the first meeting between Gil Soo-jin, the mistress of the Lee Hyuk-soo family and practically another protagonist of the work, and Lee Yoo-ju.
If the story had been progressing from each of their perspectives until now, it was from this point that their stories began to interlock like gears.
A son's successful academic achievement.
The mother, Gil Soo-jin, who wanted him to walk a successful path in life.
And Lee Yoo-ju, who held the answer sheet.
In a way, it was no different from a chase.
The one seeking, and the one being chased.
However, the difference from a typical chase was:
'The one being chased holds the upper hand.'
Seo-yeon and Im Yi-ran, who played Gil Soo-jin, knew that well.
Gil Soo-jin wanted Lee Yoo-ju's college entrance plan, that portfolio.
To be exact, she needed the perfect portfolio that allowed Lee Yoo-ju's older brother, Lee Seok-chan, to achieve the top spot at Baekyeon University.
Gil Soo-jin wanted to claim Lee Yoo-ju, who had perfectly memorized and possessed it, before anyone else.
That was precisely her goal.
'I feel like we started off with something too intense from the get-go.'
The middle-aged actors who had been acting for a long time thought so.
It wasn't a scene with any special action or strongly expressed emotions.
Because of that, it was even harder to act.
If there were exaggerated emotions, she could just immerse herself in them and pour out the lines.
However, this scene was quiet.
Endlessly silent yet cold, and in a way, a fierce emotion had to be revealed.
A very complex scene.
Also, it was the part that revealed the theme and everything of this work.
The two protagonists leading the drama.
Given that one could see the conversation between the two, it was appropriate to start the script reading with this, but...
'It's difficult.'
'Indeed, it's difficult.'
There was no actor in this room who hadn't seen
From the young actors who watched it out of simple jealousy, to the actors who watched it with expectations for the recently rising star.
They watched the two's acting in different ways.
And.
Im Yi-ran, facing Seo-yeon, smiled softly to herself.
'Good momentum.'
Seo-yeon's atmosphere changed.
One couldn't help but notice it with goosebumps.
Perhaps others might not be able to clearly know the difference between the existing Seo-yeon and the current Seo-yeon.
Because Lee Yoo-ju and Seo-yeon had many overlapping aspects in many ways.
An indifferent expression, a calm tone.
The fact that their overall movements were not large was similar.
However, there was clearly a difference.
'Lee Yoo-ju is an extremely pessimistic character.'
Since childhood, she received education close to abuse from her parents.
Along with her older brother, Lee Seok-chan.
The moment she saw her younger brother by one year being discriminated against for not being able to keep up with that education.
She lived thinking she had to unconditionally achieve it.
Like that for several years.
By the time she became a high school student, academics were merely an achievement that had to be accomplished for Lee Yoo-ju.
Future goals.
Things she wanted to do.
She had none.
She was just a being who would follow her parents' words and restore the glory of her father as a 'college entrance coordinator.'
Therefore, the adults who coveted her.
A female student who hated the students who devoted themselves to studying mechanically.
'That disgust.'
Lee Yoo-ju's face was extremely indifferent, but her eyes revealed intense disgust.
The intense disgust contained within her quiet pupils was felt deeply.
It wasn't just a feeling.
With minute changes in her facial muscles, it naturally gave such an impression.
Slightly furrowed brow.
Slightly narrowed eyes.
Slightly twisted lips.
Those made it look like a sneering impression.
No, in a way, there was also a feeling of self-mockery.
Because the disgust Lee Yoo-ju harbored was not only towards the other person, but also towards herself.
Therefore.
"Miss Lee Yoo-ju. It's nice to meet you."
Im Yi-ran, harboring expectations, welcomed her as Gil Soo-jin.
"Please get along well with our Min-seo. If you're high school classmates, you'll be seeing each other for the rest of your lives."
Scene number 17.
By entering Taeyang High School, Lee Yoo-ju, who came to the dormitory of Taeyang High School, was paired with Gil Soo-jin's daughter, Lee Min-seo.
Because they had the same surname, they ended up sitting next to each other.
Gil Soo-jin thought of it as luck.
It was like the target she desired ended up sitting right next to her daughter.
So she asked her daughter to invite Lee Yoo-ju to their house.
To win Lee Yoo-ju's favor and probe her true intentions.
To somehow obtain the portfolio of Lee Yoo-ju's older brother, Lee Seok-chan, which she possessed.
"Well."
At Gil Soo-jin's words, Lee Yoo-ju smiled radiantly.
It was a smile like a painting.
A smile drawn in a picture, not a human expression.
"I'm not sure about the rest of my life."
"It's just an expression. But Min-seo told me various things about you, Yoo-ju."
"Is that so? I haven't had that many conversations with Min-seo, though."
"If you haven't talked much, that's fine. You can get to know each other from now on."
"That's true."
A calm conversation.
A conversation shared by both sides with smiling faces.
"So if you need anything, tell me. As a friend's mother, I'll help as much as I can reach."
"Thank you. But, I'm fine."
"No, you have a lot of things you need and want. You have something you want, right? I can make that happen."
Having said that much, Gil Soo-jin looked at Lee Yoo-ju confidently.
A father who was a famous college entrance coordinator but failed.
What could her father gain by getting Lee Yoo-ju admitted to Taeyang High School?
Publicity.
As her daughter, the perfect college entrance plan and curriculum he possessed.
He wanted to express and show those things.
Therefore, Gil Soo-jin was confident.
She had merely reached out for a product on sale.
No, this side was rather helping the other.
Taeyang High School.
Because she had generously extended a hand to those who were far from fit to enter this
"That's a grateful thing to say."
Even with such pressure from Gil Soo-jin, Lee Yoo-ju just smiled and replied.
As if she had no interest at all.
A strange tension was felt between the two.
'Eyes.'
The young actors participating in
They hadn't shared many conversations yet, but they couldn't help but feel tense at the deep acting that couldn't be considered just a script reading.
'The eyes of both sides are not smiling.'
Gil Soo-jin's eyes were sharp, as if trying to pierce through Lee Yoo-ju's inner thoughts.
Conversely, Lee Yoo-ju was ignoring her with eyes filled with disgust.
Spear and shield.
An offense and defense that looked like that existed between them.
"Ah, that's right."
In that quiet exchange of glances, it was Gil Soo-jin who changed the subject.
"I heard your older brother was the top of Baekyeon University. And at the medical school, too."
"Yes."
"You must be proud. It's truly an amazing thing."
At Gil Soo-jin's words with a bright smile, emotion filled Lee Yoo-ju's eyes for the first time.
'Discomfort' beyond simple disgust.
It was clearly revealed.
However, that was only for a moment.
"It is amazing."
Lee Yoo-ju replied with a matching smile.
"Truly."
Her voice was different from before.
A strange anger was clearly contained in it.
Her slightly trembling voice seemed to show Lee Yoo-ju's emotions.
It gave a tension like a fuse to a bomb had been lit.
A tension as if Lee Yoo-ju would commit something against Gil Soo-jin right at that moment.
A hair-trigger situation.
That was the scene that fit more than anything.
"Min-seo."
Lee Yoo-ju, looking at Gil Soo-jin who was staring at her, wiped her smile away.
"I'll get along well with her."
She answered dryly.
Even so, there was clearly an emotion that couldn't be hidden.
But even after facing that, Gil Soo-jin just smiled with satisfaction.
"Yes, please take care of her. Miss Lee Yoo-ju."
Like that, their conversation stopped.
"……."
Until the moment they put down the script and sat down.
A strange silence flowed.
"Wow."
It was the director, Kim Il-soo, who belatedly let out an exclamation.
He looked at the two actresses who had just performed passionately with a very excited face.
"This is good. Wow, honestly I thought there might be some acting tone or emotion to newly adjust... but there isn't."
At his words, everyone agreed inwardly.
He was right.
There were no flaws in the scene just now.
There was a neatness like an edited drama scene had been transplanted as it was.
Even Seo-yeon's outfit was a school uniform, so it suited the scene perfectly.
As if this place was a filming set.
"Thank you."
At such rave reviews, Seo-yeon bowed her head.
But she didn't show a big reaction.
As if gathering her emotions, she just stroked the corner of her eyes with her fingers.
Seeing that figure.
"How is it."
Han Sung-jin said, looking at his friend Kim Hyun-suk sitting next to him.
"Crazy, right?"
"……."
At those words, Kim Hyun-suk looked at Han Sung-jin with sharp eyes.
Crazy?
'Damn it.'
He felt like spitting out a severe curse.
He didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't help but instinctively feel a sense of crisis.
The role Kim Hyun-suk took was the twin brother of Lee Min-seo, who becomes Seo-yeon's partner.
Unlike the quite lacking Min-seo, he was an outstanding figure in many ways, so he had many scenes intertwined with Lee Yoo-ju in various ways.
"Do you think you won't get eaten alive when you appear together?"
Getting eaten alive.
He had never even thought about it.
He had always been proud of his own acting skills.
Because the surrounding actors and his agency had hyped him up like that.
However, seeing that acting just now, those words all felt like lip service.
Probably, he wasn't the only one who felt this way.
The young actors who passed the audition and participated in the drama this time would all harbor similar thoughts.
Previously, there was jealousy in the gazes looking at Seo-yeon.
Or there were those with mixed doubt and contempt.
When only seeing her on a screen or TV, one could think 'I can do that too.'
But facing this directly, the pressure itself was completely different.
In the first place, the actor who played Gil Soo-jin just now, Im Yi-ran, acted seriously.
As if letting one's guard down would result in having the opponent's presence chewed to the bone.
But Seo-yeon accepted that intensity far too calmly.
As if it was natural.
That difference made the young actors feel a sense of defeat.
'Furthermore, I'm not even in her eyes.'
As if she couldn't care less about what other actors thought of her.
Seo-yeon was just leisurely looking over the script.
Even without directly competing, Kim Hyun-suk bit his lower lip at the intense sense of defeat he felt.
Then.
"?"
Seo-yeon, feeling that gaze, moved her eyes towards Kim Hyun-suk.
Kim Hyun-suk, meeting those eyes, hastily lowered his gaze.
"What's wrong? She's looking at you."
"……No."
Anyway, it was jealous and infuriating.
He had a complicated state of mind in many ways, but it was difficult to show vague hostility like before.
'……That coin from back then.'
That coin was still in his pocket.
Perhaps because of that, he couldn't easily send a hostile gaze towards Seo-yeon like before.
He didn't know what that coin meant, but.
Kim Hyun-suk's instincts naturally led his body.
That it was better to avoid her as much as possible.
At his strange reaction, Han Sung-jin tilted his head.
But soon, he nodded.
Ah, he must be worried about the thought of acting together with Joo Seo-yeon. He thought.
"You're already worried about the filming, right?"
"……."
At Han Sung-jin's words, Kim Hyun-suk slowly nodded.
Of course, the meaning was completely different.
***
'It's definitely difficult.'
Seo-yeon, who returned after finishing the script reading today, let out a sigh.
She didn't know how it was for others, but for Seo-yeon, it was a very difficult script reading.
She wasn't specifically criticized for her acting, and there were no particular points to revise in the script.
Looking externally, Seo-yeon was the one who acted most comfortably today.
However.
'My stomach is churning.'
Acting out hatred towards others is difficult.
In her past life, it was an emotion she didn't know in the first place, and in Joo Seo-yeon's life, there wasn't much room for hatred to intervene.
Good parents.
Good friends.
Things she probably considered the greatest fortune given to her.
Therefore, there was a part of her that struggled more with the emotion of hatred.
If.
If she hadn't chased after Jo Seo-hee and participated in the upper-class party.
And if she hadn't met 'Rou' there, it would have been just a vague emotion.
The emotion Seo-yeon felt back then was much deeper than now.
She could feel something much more intense than simple anger.
Something intolerable.
The feeling when seeing a being fundamentally different from herself.
She wanted to express that through acting, but it didn't go as well as she thought.
Everyone praised her, but she was personally dissatisfied.
She could have done better.
That kind of feeling, roughly.
"Huuuu."
Sighing, Seo-yeon turned on the computer.
She saw the recently purchased new graphics card flashing as it operated.
'I originally had no intention of replacing it.'
Her father, Young-bin, kept nagging her saying graphics cards were cheap these days, so she ended up buying it with him.
Actually, this was quite a rare occurrence, so she obediently gave it as a gift.
Seo-yeon's parents didn't want her to do anything for them with the money she earned.
What Seo-yeon earned was all Seo-yeon's.
If she wanted to do what she wanted to do, they always supported her.
If she had a hard time, they listened to her.
……Of course, there were many times she wanted to beat her dad in many ways.
Roughly that kind of feeling.
So maybe it's harder for her to immerse herself in the role of Lee Yoo-ju.
Because if she empathized, it would be too hard.
Even more than the murderer Cha Seo-ah, who reminded her of her past life.
'Maybe it's because it feels strangely realistic.'
Seeing that it approaches more intensely than murder, it might be because the immersion through imagination didn't end.
"Alright."
Seo-yeon barely gathered her mind.
Let's heal this gloomy feeling by watching Ramiel's broadcast.
Thinking that, she entered the channel.
"I think I'll be able to introduce a new friend soon. Ta-da~!"
"?"
But suddenly, a black silhouette appeared on Ramiel's channel.
Introducing a newly debuting VTuber on the indie VTuber Ramiel's channel???
What in the world is going on.
And who are you again.
"I want to introduce them quickly! My new friend!"
At the sight of Ramiel talking with a sweet smile.
Seo-yeon felt the terrible emotion that had disturbed her heart until just a moment ago burning into another emotion.
Burning fiercely, indeed.