"Dahyun, today's a day off, wanna go to Mirinae Park?"
First of all, it was a coincidence.
Gil Dahyun, the class president of Seoyeon's class, had never been to places like amusement parks.
Since childhood, her family's financial situation wasn't good, so there was no chance to go to amusement parks.
After growing up, the situation improved somewhat, but by then, going just didn't happen naturally anymore.
So when her friends suggested going to an amusement park, bewilderment was the first thing she felt.
Amusement park?
Isn't that a place only kids go?
"No, what do you mean? You've never been to an amusement park?"
"Nope."
"Why 'of course not'? Then let's go today!"
"No, what about studying?"
Did you guys do well on the recent exam?
When she looked at them with that thought, her friends each averted their gazes.
But, an exam is an exam, and stress needs to be relieved, right?
"I heard a celebrity is coming to Mirinae Park today."
"A celebrity?"
"They're doing a Harara play at Mirinae Park, and apparently the reception was more lukewarm than expected."
Dahyun knew about Harara too.
Because it was an anime her younger sisters liked.
Still, unlike herself, her sisters had several toys, so she had seen Harara-related merchandise.
"But if it's a celebrity, we see them every day too."
"No!!! It's different!!"
Of course, she knew that Seoyeon in the same class was a great actress and a celebrity.
Honestly, seeing her come to school and naturally sit at her desk was just amazing.
But still, the feeling of encountering a classmate as a friend versus encountering a celebrity outside was completely different.
"Class prez, you might not know, but this is all social experience. Later on, you won't even be able to play like this even if you want to."
Gil Dahyun was dumbfounded by her friend's somewhat serious words.
Because kids were saying things that adults would say.
"……Well, if that's the case, I understand."
Since she had never been, she did have a little curiosity.
"Oh, you're going? Should I call the other kids too?"
"Yeah, doesn't matter."
She definitely thought this kind of thing was good too.
Dahyun thought her hobby of watching movies and dramas was enough.
But like her friends said, this was also an experience.
***
Though she kept getting poked in the side and fidgeting, Jo Seohee was an actress.
And one with a more thorough professional mindset than anyone else.
When she was young, she had found Seoyeon disagreeable because she thought she had come in through nepotism without any talent.
...Because of that, she was still treated as a friend applicant by Seoyeon.
Anyway.
Even for a children's play, Jo Seohee had no intention of doing it half-heartedly.
Rather, because it was acting for children, she had to do even better.
Childhood memories last a long time.
So, she had to leave them with good memories as much as possible.
So they could smile pleasantly when recalling those memories.
"So, you can't do it like the last Shorts."
Just in case, Jo Seohee said that to Seoyeon.
Seoyeon's eyes widened at the word "Shorts" for a moment, but soon realized it was the "Harara Shorts."
'Did she see it too?'
Well, if it blew up that much, it'd be weirder if she hadn't seen it.
Recently in class too, there were some who seemed to want to bring up the topic.
Of course, they couldn't easily bring it up.
After all, the Seoyeon in the video and the Seoyeon at school had such different images.
Rather than finding it funny, they felt a sense of dissonance first.
"You'd know too."
In a play, if the audience senses the actor feeling shy, they also feel embarrassed for no reason.
That's because the profession of acting is in a position to draw out others' empathy.
A person who plays characters that make fiction feel like reality.
That is an actor, and therefore on stage, one must immerse in their role more than anyone else.
Even if it's not method acting.
That is the basic attitude of an actor.
"I think you'll do well, but still, you seemed too shy in the Shorts."
Of course, since actors are human too, there are things they can't do.
Jo Seohee had egged Seoyeon on, but she wondered if Seoyeon might be weak at this type of acting.
"Once I've agreed to do it, that won't happen."
Seoyeon was well aware of Seohee's concerns.
It must be because of how she appeared in the Shorts.
In fact, even Park Donghwan, the actor who would be standing on the same stage this time, was watching with a worried face.
She had received the script beforehand.
And had practiced in between other shootings.
'The Harara from back then and the Harara now are no different.'
Still, as an older sister, shouldn't she show her younger sister a cool side!
Even though Zeroro was taken by Jo Seohee, if she acted Harara well, wouldn't her sister like Harara instead of Zeroro?
'Besides, the smaller the stage like this, the more careful I need to be.'
Especially if it's a stage for children, the parents would definitely come too.
Parents' eyes are sensitive.
If something goes wrong, and they think their child is having a bad experience, they're highly likely to strike back immediately.
If she shows bad acting in such a place, bad words would definitely come out.
"Big sis, big sis! Do I just need to stay with Seohee's manager ajumma?"
"...Ajumma?"
Seoyeon glanced at Jo Seohee's manager, Shin Yoogyung, standing behind Seohee, who was smiling calmly.
But Seoyeon didn't miss the trembling of those smiling lips.
"Sooyeon, you should call her 'unnie' not 'ajumma'."
"But she's older than you unnies."
"Ugh."
"...No, there are lots of people older than you unnies."
"Hmm, okay then."
Sooyeon looked up at Yoogyung with innocent eyes.
As if saying, is it really okay to call you 'unnie'?
At that gaze filled with such thoughts, Shin Yoogyung was seen flinching.
Shin Yoogyung's age was late twenties, so from Sooyeon's perspective, calling her "ajumma" wasn't completely strange, but she was still at an age where "unnie" would be appropriate.
Should I say she was on that ambiguous borderline.
'I hope Manager Shin Yoogyung doesn't say anything to Sooyeon while I'm not around.'
Such a worry crossed her mind a little.
Seoyeon couldn't dare to guess how much resentment there might be from being called "ajumma."
"First, let's do a light rehearsal. There's still about four hours left before the stage starts."
Part of the reason they came early was to get in sync.
During those four hours, Sooyeon was planning to play in the amusement park with the manager.
Seoyeon and Jo Seohee planned to lightly sync up for the upcoming play.
"Zeroro!! Aren't you sick of it, yet you're doing bad things again!!"
When the rehearsal started, Park Donghwan, sandwiched between the two actresses, let out admiration.
'Honestly, I thought it wouldn't suit her at all.'
That probably wasn't just his own thought.
The other actors here would probably feel the same.
Even though it's a children's play, the total number of actors performing together was six.
Of course, this number included Seoyeon and Seohee.
Four of them were actors who had previously participated in this play
There were some complaints about two celebrities suddenly joining the play, but since the play's performance was lower than expected, it couldn't be helped.
But those complaints also relatively subsided at the news that Joo Seoyeon and Jo Seohee were coming.
'I heard rumors that Jo Seohee is from the Newlike Group family, seems like it's true.'
'They have the same surname. But that was just speculation.'
'Are Joo Seoyeon and Jo Seohee friends? They often appear together, right?'
'They appeared together in
They figured they got along well since they were the same age.
But, separately from that.
'Both have strong impressions, not sure if they'll fit Harara well.'
Zeroro would suit anyone who played it.
But Harara seemed like it wouldn't suit anyone.
That was the common thought.
Honestly, just looking at both their impressions, it wasn't easy.
One side had an impression like a cold block of ice, the other had an appearance like an arrogant noble young lady.
Honestly, they thought they wouldn't suit the lively Harara.
But, once she actually held Harara's magic wand and started the play, such worries completely disappeared.
"Ouch~. You can't just throw cars around!"
"No, it can't end with just pain. You just got hit by a car."
The conversation between Harara and Zeroro continued.
Seeing the lighthearted comedic dialogue being exchanged, Seoyeon's Harara holding the magic wand perfectly matched that lively Harara from the animation.
The most important thing was that she could feel the effort to imitate the voice actor's voice from the animation as closely as possible.
"Seoyeon-ssi, have you ever done voice acting?"
"Huh? I learned it."
"Ah, maybe because actors also do voice acting these days?"
After the rehearsal ended, the actors each came to Seoyeon to ask.
For Zeroro, since it fit Seohee's image perfectly, they weren't worried from the start.
The important thing was Harara.
The previously awkward image had also completely disappeared with Seoyeon's acting.
Thanks to that, Seoyeon had a slightly flustered face.
'As expected, I do have a more approachable impression than Jo Seohee.'
Not many people approached Seohee.
Because of that, Jo Seohee, who was approaching Seoyeon, was seen flinching and hesitating for no reason.
She wanted to talk, but with others showing interest in Seoyeon, she couldn't easily approach.
'Anyway.'
What she learned regarding voice acting wasn't specifically for acting work.
But didn't it end up being helpful like this?
That's why one should learn anything they can.
'Lee Jiyeon is better at voice acting than me.'
Should I tempt Lee Jiyeon later to appear in the Harara play too?
It sounded like a really good idea.
Then she wouldn't be able to tease her with Shorts like before.
***
"Wow, Dahyun. There are so many."
"It's a children's play, but it's not just kids?"
"Why are there ahjossis here?"
"Look at that, there's an ahjossi wearing a Harara t-shirt, so funny."
Dahyun's friends, each wearing bunny ears or mouse ears on their heads, were chattering noisily.
Despite already riding several rides, they seemed tireless, overflowing with energy.
'Still, from here we should have a pretty good view.'
As she thought that and sat down in a suitable spot, she saw a man wearing a penguin suit coming up on stage.
When she stared wondering who that was, her friend Minji who came along opened her mouth.
"That penguin is Harara's mascot."
"...That thing?"
"That's because they're wearing a mask. In the animation it's cute. In the play, they'll just shake a board with a penguin drawn on it."
At Minji's words, Dahyun glanced at her.
Why does she know so well?
By any chance, do you watch Harara?
"Children friends! Are you ready to play with Harara today too?!"
At the penguin's shout, the children could be seen shouting "Yes!"
Dahyun looked at those children and smiled with satisfaction.
For reference, the ahjossis wearing Harara t-shirts also shouted together.
That was a bit unpleasant.
'Still, the kids are cute.'
Dahyun tended to like children.
But among those children, she realized there was a strangely noticeable figure mixed in.
'Huh? Isn't that Seoyeon's younger sister?'
Seoyeon's younger sister who became too famous after
Her name was probably Joo Sooyeon.
Next to such Sooyeon was not Seoyeon or Seoyeon's mother, but another woman.
'Who is that?'
With such questions, the bright surroundings darkened, and the play began in earnest.
"Ugh, what do I do. If I fail again, the Demon King will scold me."
A bright light turned on, and the play began with a girl in black clothes talking to herself on stage.
The moment she revealed herself, a strange admiration came from the front row of the play where people recognized her face.
"It's Jo Seohee, Jo Seohee is playing Zeroro."
"Jo Seohee? Really?"
"They only promoted that a celebrity was coming, why didn't they say who?"
"They said they'd reveal it after the first performance."
They said a celebrity was coming, but didn't promote who was coming.
It was clear they were trying to create a buzz after the first performance, and then promote it in earnest afterwards.
Because it was written like that on the promotional materials too.
That only the first performance was private.
In plays, the first performance usually has events, so they used that.
"Harara's fist hurts the most. Why do you carry around a magic wand?"
Such grumbling, cute yet oddly like a noble young lady's vocalization.
Seeing that, Dahyun inwardly admired.
She had already watched movies featuring Jo Seohee several times.
But seeing it in a play like this was different.
A completely fresh feeling.
To the point where she thought it was a good idea to come to the amusement park.
"Ah, right. That would be good. This time it won't be easy!"
Clenching both fists tightly, the fire that had reached Zeroro suddenly went out.
Then, the lighting brightened and the stage was illuminated brightly.
And, a female student with a small doll-like penguin perched on her shoulder stood on stage.
The moment she saw that figure.
"Gasp."
"No, really?"
Instead of Dahyun who couldn't even say anything for a moment, her other friends muttered words mixed with astonishment in small voices.
Well, anyone would be surprised if a classmate suddenly appeared on stage.
'Joo Seoyeon?'
Seoyeon is Harara?
Dahyun couldn't imagine Seoyeon's Harara acting at all.
"Hmm~, the weather is nice. I should have hit Zeroro more yesterday."
But that imagination was quickly shattered.
Joo Seoyeon, no, Harara's voice was completely different from the person she usually knew.
Opening her once-demure eyes wide, and a gentle smile on her mouth that used to maintain a stiff line.
A lively girl was on stage.
"Right~?"
As if seeking agreement from the children in the audience, Harara spun around and looked across the stage.
Then, she made eye contact exactly with Dahyun.
That truly happened in an instant.