"No, are you really crazy."
Park Jungwoo, a complete wreck, sat in a cafe and sighed.
Seoyeon, who had kidnapped Park Jungwoo, had loaded him into a van as he was and brought him to a cafe a bit further away.
And she had prepared thoroughly, having sunglasses and a mask ready to cover Park Jungwoo's face.
Of course, there was no one in the cafe, so there was no need to use them.
'So this is how people get kidnapped.'
Jungwoo had seen those so-called kidnapping videos a few times, where people get dragged into vans in an instant and disappear.
He used to think there was no way it could happen that easily, but having experienced it himself, it felt entirely plausible.
"I didn't answer your calls first, sunbae."
Seoyeon said in a sullen voice.
With her hair tied up high in a ponytail and wearing sunglasses, Seoyeon gave a different impression than usual.
Should I say she looked more lively?
Perhaps it was because her eyes weren't visible that it felt especially so.
"Calls? You mean that?"
Originally, Jungwoo and Seoyeon didn't contact each other much.
Ah, of course, it wasn't that they never did.
It was more accurate to say they didn't have 'proper communication.'
The contact Seoyeon made with Park Jungwoo was—
A few days ago:
- ARAM at 10?
Three days ago:
- 10
Yesterday:
- ARAM
And today:
- Go go
At first, he thought it was some kind of code.
Of course, he knew well enough now.
He'd seen that "ARAM?" message so many times that he couldn't not know even if he tried.
Originally, Park Jungwoo wasn't good at that type of PC game.
He only ended up playing it because of Seoyeon.
'She definitely just wants to keep playing with me.'
Park Jungwoo knew.
The reason Seoyeon called him like that was because among the people around her, he was the only one worse at games than her.
Lee Jiyeon was originally much better than Seoyeon, and Jo Seohee seemed to have a bit of skill too.
"Hohoho!! I hit Platinum this time. Amazing, right? Isn't it incredible~?"
Having found some interest in streaming, Jo Seohee's VTuber broadcasts had increased in frequency on her days off.
Park Jungwoo had started watching because Jo Seohee kept telling him to.
In truth, whether Jungwoo watched wasn't particularly important; it was more like she wanted someone to check if she was doing it properly.
'Why did she put on cat ears?'
VTuber Alice.
Probably taken from Alice in Wonderland.
The cat ears must be from the Cheshire Cat.
Cat ears with an evil young lady concept... The funny thing was that it actually suited her.
Anyway, watching Jo Seohee's streams, her skills were increasing terrifyingly fast despite having started the game not long ago.
Jungwoo didn't know much about the game either, but he could roughly tell from the viewers' reactions.
Above all else—
- No way
The person who had sent that superchat to Jo Seohee was none other than Joo Seoyeon, who was sitting right in front of Park Jungwoo now.
Thanks to receiving Seoyeon's nickname? ID? from Lee Jiyeon, he roughly knew.
Anyway, Seoyeon was feeling fear(?) toward Jo Seohee, who had instantly surpassed her.
Therefore, whenever it was time to play games, Park Jungwoo would inevitably get dragged out.
Is she unable to accept someone stronger than herself?
Somehow, that thought occurred to him.
"You ask me to play games every day, so of course I ignore you."
At those words, Seoyeon's gaze narrowed.
At that sharp look, Jungwoo flinched and drank the green tea in front of him.
'That glare is terrifying.'
Now I know why she only plays villain roles.
Come to think of it, Jo Seohee and Lee Jiyeon, who hung around with Seoyeon, also made quite an impression.
He'd seen the three of them walking together once, and he could see the surrounding students slowly moving out of the way.
Normally, when you recognize celebrities, don't you try to get closer?
They clearly recognized them, but kept their distance and just clicked away on their phones.
No one had the courage to actually speak to them.
Of course, Seoyeon's gaze like that was just a pouty look.
Was this really the same person as the girl in that Short from not long ago?
Seoyeon in the magical girl Short was so cute that even Jungwoo had rubbed his eyes and checked if it was really her.
He wanted to tease her about it, but teasing her probably wouldn't end with just a glare.
He would definitely get the finger poke that Jo Seohee suffered every time.
Since he was a guy and she thought he was a bit sturdier, she sometimes hit him with her elbow instead.
When he got hit without thinking much about it before, he almost fainted.
"Gaming is also a social activity, you know."
"Why don't you play Ranked?"
"Got sick of it."
Sick of it, my foot.
She just couldn't climb ranks so she played ARAM instead.
Jungwoo didn't bother arguing with that.
Because Seoyeon was holding a fork in her hand today.
"But, I mean it."
"About what?"
"...It was because of the movie."
What was she talking about?
What did ARAM have to do with movies?
When Jungwoo stared at her blankly, Seoyeon's grip on the fork tightened.
Could it actually bend?
As he watched with curious eyes—
"I can't just suddenly contact you and keep asking if you're really going to appear in the movie you previously agreed to, can I?"
"Ah, that."
Come to think of it, when Seoyeon asked him to play games, she did seem to ask about that.
He just hadn't thought deeply about those questions because he was focused on the game.
'Wait, it really was a social activity.'
Who knew she had such delicacy.
Jungwoo looked at Seoyeon with an admiring expression.
"You're talking about Director Jo Bangwoo's movie, right? I heard it's a disaster movie."
"That's right."
At Seoyeon's answer, Jungwoo felt a bit puzzled.
He had heard it from Jo Mintae, Director Jo Bangwoo's son, but how did Seoyeon know?
They had a connection through
"
"The title isn't decided yet."
"...That's what I came up with. Sounds plausible, doesn't it?"
"It does sound plausible."
At Jungwoo's reaction, Seoyeon quietly averted her gaze.
It was an action Seoyeon typically showed when she had done something wrong.
That point was a bit puzzling, though.
'A disaster movie, huh.'
Jungwoo thought about Director Jo Bangwoo's new work.
Of course, if asked whether he would appear or not, he would definitely appear.
Because he had promised Seoyeon.
The reason he hadn't thought deeply about Seoyeon's words probing him about it during games was also because he already intended to appear, so he hadn't given it much thought.
"The audition for that is at the end of this year. You're really going to come, right?"
"I said I'm going. I haven't even received the script yet."
"I figured you'd go."
It was a statement filled with strange certainty.
However, Seoyeon tapered her words under Jungwoo's gaze.
She had no intention of making the same mistake as just now.
'Originally, sunbae Jungwoo refused to appear in Seoul Escape.'
Of course, that wasn't the case now.
In the 'past life' that Seoyeon remembered.
There, Park Jungwoo had definitely declined to appear in
With no actors willing to star in Director Jo Bangwoo's consecutively failed films, they had sought to leverage connections.
Not even his own, but his son's connections.
There was no need to mention how miserable Director Jo Bangwoo must have felt then.
'Of course, after receiving investment, actors did come in.'
But there was no one you could call 'the real deal.'
Director Jo Bangwoo picked and chose among them and cast one as the lead.
And that became the fatal mistake.
'Kang Daehwan, was it? That actor.'
The person who played the lead in
He had a reputation for decent acting skills, but in
As if that wasn't enough?
A scandal broke out at the worst time, plastering all sorts of negative perceptions onto
The result was a massive box office failure.
Since it was the last film he received investment for, it became the movie that put a period on Director Jo Bangwoo's career.
'Come to think of it, sunbae Jungwoo also had all sorts of rumors in my past life.'
None of them were outright bad.
It was because the actors who came out on variety shows kept saying Park Jungwoo was arrogant.
In fact, articles and news about 'Arrogant Park Jungwoo' frequently appeared.
But strangely, there was nothing like that now.
Was there some difference?
'Because of me?'
Even thinking that, it honestly felt strange.
What had she done for Park Jungwoo to change?
Well, for now, being ARAM buddies was enough.
"Honestly, the problem isn't me."
At that moment, Jungwoo opened his mouth.
It seemed like Seoyeon really wanted a definite answer today about whether Jungwoo would appear in this movie.
Of course, Jungwoo had every intention of going.
Even though she sometimes did ridiculous things, separately from that, as an actor, he really wanted to act with her.
Like
He wondered if he could feel a sense of nostalgia in
So, this
A chance to properly show Seoyeon his improved self, different from the past.
However.
"You have two appearances scheduled as far as I know, right?"
Neither of them were easy projects.
Plus, given Seoyeon's personality, she wouldn't rest from dramas or variety shows while filming a movie.
No matter how sturdy Seoyeon was, he couldn't help but worry.
He had seen countless people who worked passionately like that and quickly burned out.
"And both are villain roles, right?"
"One of them is the protagonist."
"Huh? Was Gyeongseong Lady the protagonist?"
"
"That is?"
Jungwoo recalled
From what he remembered, he only recalled her beating up a Japanese actor.
And the one who howled like a supercar.
Anyway, just from seeing her running wild with an axe then, anyone would think she was a villain.
"It was an audition to determine the protagonist in the first place?"
Saying that, Seoyeon looked at Jungwoo sideways and pressed down on the plate with her fork-wielding hand.
Naturally, Jungwoo's gaze went to the fork.
Could she possibly pierce the plate with the fork?
As he watched with inner curiosity, Seoyeon lifted the fork from the plate.
"Sunbae."
"Yeah?"
"Sometimes you look at me like I'm some strange animal."
"...Ahem."
Jungwoo tapered his words.
But the more Seoyeon did extraordinary things, the more curious he became about how far she could go.
She had even pierced a coconut with her fingers before; if she went all out, how far could she pierce things... That was Jungwoo's recent curiosity about Seoyeon.
Of course, he couldn't ask because he was afraid his own body might actually get a hole in it.
"Ahem, anyway, I thought you had two villain roles, but I guess the images won't overlap."
"Because of image consumption, right?"
"That's right. If you appear too much... consumption happens that much faster."
That was why many actors controlled the number of works they filmed per year.
Of course, there were also actors who filmed several with the determination to do everything while they were popular.
'That's especially faster for lead roles.'
Seoyeon was a bit ambiguous in that regard.
Since her most frequent roles were villains.
Of course, villains also had surprisingly heavy image consumption.
The fact that she had offset that was honestly just impressive to Jungwoo.
Honestly, Cha Seoa alone was a movie significant enough to determine Seoyeon's image for the next few years.
'That became a magical girl...'
Honestly, it was just astonishing.
Rather, for younger people, Seoyeon's image as the magical girl actress was stronger than as Cha Seoa.
That was how intense the Short had been.
A celebrity's image could sometimes be overturned by a single intense scene.
There was a case where a female actress who appeared on a variety show about military units blew up in popularity with just one display of aegyo.
It was a scene that had such a huge impact that she was called the very synonym for aegyo for a while.
Seoyeon's magical girl was, in a way, similar.
If it had been on a public broadcast network, the impact would have been twice as strong as now.
"Anyway, you're going to appear, right?"
"I said I am."
"Answer like that from the start."
"Stop calling me for games and just ask normally about things like that."
Saying that with a sigh, Jungwoo changed his expression to a serious one and opened his mouth.
"And let me tell you, the problem isn't me. It's you."
Jungwoo spoke in a serious tone and looked at Seoyeon.
He meant it.
Because he knew all about the troubles that had arisen with
"You said the key actors dropped out? If the schedule isn't sorted out properly, that could get seriously tangled up."
"It's fine."
Seoyeon answered like that and briefly checked her phone.
Because the message that had just come in was related to what Jungwoo had said.
"That's actually going well."
"...?"
To Jungwoo, who was looking at her with a puzzled face, Seoyeon smiled.
Of course, the fact that Jungwoo was startled by that smile was another story entirely.
***
"I heard you found an actor for the role of Gotou Isamu."
"Hmm, it's an important role, so we shouldn't cast just any actor."
The production team of
It was because actors who had promised to appear had dropped out due to recent issues.
They had signed contracts only to pay the penalty fee and cancel them, so nothing could be said.
Such cases were quite common.
It was just that the number was a bit high this time.
"I heard they're appearing in the movie that Director Shin Hocheol is sharpening his blade for this time."
"Ah, that? Surely they're not trying to appear in that?"
"Who knows. But at the very least, they'll have much more money than us."
This
Investment obtained using Director Baek Min's name value.
But since it wasn't a large investment firm, the available funds were limited.
'No wonder they paid the penalty fee so readily.'
'Since it was before filming, it wasn't that high to begin with.'
Furthermore, 'Gotou Isamu' could be called the main villain in the work.
The acting had to support it to properly bring out that flavor.
Actor Kang Seohyuk, who was originally supposed to play that role, had been thought perfectly suited for it, so the blow was twice as hard.
"Is there an actor who can replace Kang Seohyuk?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure. There are some, but I don't know if they'll accept the script."
"Plus, there are many senior actors who avoid Director Baek Min's films."
From the standpoint of senior actors, Director Baek Min's films often had unique colors and didn't align with their values.
Take this
"Seoyeon-ssi."
At that moment, Director Baek Min came inside and greeted Seoyeon.
At the sight of Seoyeon appearing at the audition venue, the production team felt puzzled.
'Why is Actor Joo Seoyeon here?'
'Weren't we seeing actors for the role of Gotou Isamu today?'
Honestly, they thought they should see the acting first and then decide to cast.
But for Joo Seoyeon to suddenly appear.
Puzzled gazes turned toward Seoyeon.
"They said they'll be here soon."
Seoyeon said that and smiled at the people gathered here.
Because finally, it was time for this film's secret weapon to appear.