'I want to go back to Korea.'
Narumi Sora thought.
That she wanted to go back to Korea as soon as possible.
Well, honestly, it was nice when she first came to Japan.
It was her hometown, the land where she originally lived, so it was bound to be comfortable.
However, separately from that, having to constantly follow Seoyeon's schedule was an ordeal.
During the first hidden camera prank, she fainted alone and had to be carried away, and after waking up, she was treated like a timid child.
'No, anyone would faint if they saw that, right?'
The actors who participated in the hidden camera at the time just glanced and ran away immediately, but Sora had to be chased by Seoyeon the entire time.
When Sora expressed her grievance about it,
"I kept reaching out my hand asking for help, but you coldly refused. On top of that, you tried to close the fake wall when I hadn't even gone in yet."
Seoyeon sulked.
After filming the hidden camera, her cheeks were puffed out so much that it was visible.
Of course, given her personality, it was a short sulk lasting less than two hours, but it seemed Seoyeon didn't know what she looked like at the time.
From Seoyeon's perspective, she was desperately running away from the ghost, while this side got scared on their own and shut the door.
'Still, that got better after the broadcast aired.'
After watching the variety show that aired yesterday, she quietly avoided Sora's eyes and slinked into her own bed.
She covered herself up to her head with the blanket, so I don't know what expression she's making, but she seems quite embarrassed.
Still, it was a relief that her grievance seemed to be resolved.
Anyway, the reason Sora wanted to go back to Korea wasn't specifically because of what happened during the hidden camera.
Stamina.
She purely lacked stamina.
For reference, Seoyeon's manager, Park Eunha, had already passed out.
Therefore, Sora, who had relatively better stamina, had no choice but to always accompany Seoyeon.
"It's okay, it's not that dangerous for me to go around alone."
Seoyeon expressed her opinion like that, but Sora couldn't bring herself to nod.
Naturally, neither Park Eunha nor Sora thought Seoyeon would encounter any danger.
The dangerous one wasn't Seoyeon, but the other people.
'I don't know what she'll cause if left alone.'
Sora was gradually grasping Seoyeon's character.
To put it simply, Seoyeon was unpredictable.
Normally, just like her appearance, she was a girl who was simply cool and aloof, but given a trigger, she would instantly launch into overdrive.
Besides, Sora needed to become close with Seoyeon.
There was the
'Jo Seohee, Park Jungwoo.'
They were figures considered the top among their peer male and female actors, respectively.
So to learn a lot, it was beneficial in many ways to become close to Seoyeon.
Therefore, it was right to follow her around as much as possible, but...
"J-Just rest a little before moving."
She had never thought of herself as physically weak since she was born.
She had stamina and physical abilities that never lost to not only girls her age but also boys, but she couldn't even dare to compare herself to Seoyeon.
To Sora's words,
"You need to exercise a bit."
Seoyeon offered quite a serious piece of advice.
It seemed like Sora's stamina had weakened significantly compared to during
Of course, Sora was lost for words at Seoyeon's remark.
***
Since coming to Japan, Seoyeon had been roaming around literally bursting with excitement.
She roamed in all directions, to the point where she barely spent any time at the expensive hotel she had booked.
Of course, most of her moving space was limited to Akihabara, but honestly, that didn't really matter.
However, after wandering around for about a week until the variety show aired, there was nothing left to see.
'I bought too many things, I'll have to ship them as cargo.'
Actually, these weren't just Seoyeon's things.
Sua's things were strictly there too.
Sua, who was an otaku that once captivated a generation, hadn't exactly stopped her fangirling even after becoming a mother.
When Seoyeon said she was going to Japan, she quietly requested a whole bunch of things.
Since most of them were not sold in Korea, Seoyeon had to sweep those up first.
On top of that, buying anime or VTuber goods and figures she occasionally watched, her luggage was already full.
In case she might buy more things elsewhere, she had stopped buying things for now.
'And besides...'
Seoyeon hadn't gone outside yet today.
That was because she watched the variety show she appeared in broadcast in Japan just yesterday.
With the blanket pulled over her head, Seoyeon couldn't help but groan.
Carefully, in case she reflexively kicked the blanket off.
No matter what, she didn't want to tear the blanket and have to pay for it.
'What if I get a weird image?'
It seemed she even ranked 1st on the Japanese Twitter trends.
Now, if she went out carelessly and someone recognized her...
'Especially since people often ask actors to show them famous scenes they acted in.'
It's a common occurrence.
Sometimes, fans who come for autographs say to the actor, "I really enjoyed OO movie! Please show me the OO scene from that movie!"
Of course, most of the time, it's simple lines.
Seoyeon also had a few experiences showing something similar to fans in Korea.
Mostly, they asked her to say Cha Seoah's famous line.
But what should she show in Japan?
'Do I have to crawl around?'
No, even they wouldn't ask her to show them exactly how she crawled around.
But since she hit 1st on the trends, there would definitely be people who recognized her.
Indeed, Seoyeon's appearance on the broadcast yesterday was intense even in her own eyes.
In Korea, Seoyeon's fan cafe had already produced all sorts of photoshopped memes because of it.
- Seoyeon, Seoyeon... you went too far today..
- Hahaha I thought Joo Seoyeon would show something, but this is beyond imagination lol
- I knew she flew around whenever she was on variety shows... but now she's crawling lol
- But how did Joo Seoyeon pierce the mannequin with her hand?
- If she couldn't pierce that, would she be Joo Seoyeon?
- Ah.
- But is the crawling Joo Seoyeon acting? Or is it real?
- Joo Seoyeon is easily scared, isn't it real?
- No no, I have a friend who goes to Yeonhwa High, and they said Joo Seoyeon did a haunted house during the school festival. Probably acting?
Just as Seoyeon was about to deploy her sub-account for image management, such a comment was posted.
Yeonhwa High?
No way, was there someone who saw that?
As Seoyeon held her breath and watched that,
- For real???? Ah, so she used what she learned there lol They said she crawled around then too?
- Yeah, but they said at that time she flipped her body upside down and crawled in a bridge posture.
- ?????? What does that mean?
- Am I understanding this right??? Are you talking about the Dragoon posture?
- Yeah, but they said that was also so fast it wasn't easy to run away.
- I want to say that's nonsense, but since it's Joo Seoyeon, it seems possible, which is the funny part lol
- Come on, honestly that's a lie.
- I won't believe it without a video.
At that series of situations, Seoyeon swallowed dry saliva.
Could there be someone who has a video?
At that time, she was so excited about scaring people that she went a bit overboard.
She was stopped in the middle by Jiyeon and stopped, but by that point, there were more than one or two people who witnessed Seoyeon's appearance.
Fortunately, since she was keeping an eye on the situation, no video was uploaded, so she was relieved.
'Come to think of it, that's right.'
Seoyeon realized one fact.
Come to think of it, she was an active high school student.
Naturally, among the students attending Yeonhwa High, it was plausible that there would be someone who joined Seoyeon's fan cafe.
No, rather, it would be strange if there wasn't.
From a fan's perspective, what would Seoyeon be like at school?
Thinking about that, she felt unnecessarily concerned.
'...I should attend school diligently.'
She had originally been firm about image management.
But making up her mind to be more careful in the future, Seoyeon poked her head out of the blanket she had pulled over herself.
'Still sleeping.'
Quietly moving her eyes to survey the surroundings, she saw two people lying in bed.
Sora and Park Eunha looked completely exhausted and unable to get up.
It seemed they were completely worn out from the week-long trip.
For reference, there was still another week left, though.
'I'll have to go around alone today.'
In Japan, she hadn't ever disguised herself to hide her face.
But today, just in case, it seemed better to disguise herself.
After all, a variety show like that aired yesterday.
***
Immediately after the variety show aired, general broadcasters were considerably shaken.
That was because Seoyeon achieved 1st place on the real-time trends in Japan with just one variety show appearance.
Not only 5ch, but also Futaba and personal sites.
Various internet communities dealing with the entertainment industry.
On top of that, an article was published on the main page of Yahoo Japan.
Now, a day later, if you search on Twitter, posts are still continuously going up.
==
@naer3234
Ehh~ Another Korean actor~? I thought while watching, but I watched it without realizing www
At first I thought she was just an actress with a pretty face, but she's no joke~~
@tqerk_noya
At first, when they called her a genius actress, I thought 'that's a fancy title again,' but her passionate acting was amazing. Roaring laughter at the actors playing the ghosts running away in a panic!!!
@kakeba_hiro
Miss Joo Seoyeon. I looked at her with prejudice as a young Korean actress, but I reconsidered.
Her passionate acting on the variety show was impressive. If there's an opportunity, I'd like to work with her.
@fuzio_rei
How did she break the mannequin wwww And the crawling speed is seriously terrifying wwww
I want to see her on other variety shows too.
Above all, she's so pretty wwww This is an appearance that comes around once in a thousand years www I definitely want to see her in person
==
Of course, the majority were favorable reviews.
Occasionally, even industry officials could be seen.
In particular, the person who said they wanted to work with her was 'Kakeba Hiro', a recently rising young director.
He was a figure who focused on creative filming with the motto of targeting overseas rather than domestic.
A single variety show appearance.
Honestly speaking, the response was so excessive that industry officials were bewildered.
Especially the most confused ones were the reporters.
Since they dealt with gossip, they knew how unusual this atmosphere was.
"Wow, an actress who hasn't even promoted yet being at this level is honestly amazing. It's the first time, right?"
"Yes yes, so the side that brought The Chaser is apparently trying to hurry up and pull forward the release. They want to take this buzz."
"But why on earth is a Korean actor..."
Japanese entertainment reporter Furihata Yuito tapped his lips with a pen while talking with a fellow reporter.
The name most frequently written in his notebook lately.
Joo Seoyeon.
That wasn't just because she came to Japan this time.
Furihata Yuito had already seen
Yuito smiled faintly at his colleague who was looking at him with a puzzled face.
"She's pretty."
"...Haa, just because of that?"
"And young."
"That, I can somewhat agree with."
"Actually, in many ways, she's like a girl who jumped right out of anime, right?"
"Definitely!"
Black hair.
And the hottest topic in recent threads was Seoyeon's eyes.
Saying the camera light shone on them, or that she was a psychic.
Various stories were going around to the point where there was talk about her red eyes.
It was covered once on a Korean broadcast, saying that upon examination, they were surprisingly normal eyes.
The reason they shine red is unknown.
Is there really something fantasy-like going on?
It was information that naturally made one think that way.
"Black hair, red eyes, white skin. On top of that, a genius child actress... an active high school girl actress with great physical abilities."
"Wait, wait, no, that's too much character setting. Huh? You put in way too many. Hehehe."
"But it's the truth."
Well, it was roughly because of those complex reasons.
She showed a quite shocking appearance on the variety show yesterday, but to the Japanese who were already infatuated, it seemed to be accepted as the passionate acting of a genius actress.
Rather, it was praised that she noticed the hidden camera prank and skillfully handled it with her acting skills as an actress.
Above all, because it was fun.
In recent dokkiri shows that only had cookie-cutter reactions, a reaction came out that even Japanese people had never seen before.
"Everyone is looking for actress Joo Seoyeon right now."
"Of course they are. But when she first came, nobody was interested... so it seems no one knows where she's staying."
Yuito chattered as if talking about someone else's business.
At his calm reaction, his fellow reporter Muroga Ouki narrowed his eyes.
"You know, right?"
"Pardon?"
"You were interested in actress Joo Seoyeon even before she came to Japan."
At his colleague's words, Yuito grinned.
That was true.
Yuito knew.
At the point when filming was already over, he had visited the filming set once.
Of course, he didn't meet Seoyeon.
Knowing she wouldn't even meet him, he asked the actors who filmed the variety show together and could hear her approximate destination.
"She said she'll sightsee in Akihabara from Tokyo. Probably a hotel around there, right?"
"Heh, Akihabara?"
"Yes, maybe she's interested in cameras or electronics?"
Roughly, such a commercial district was formed around there.
It didn't occur to him that an actress would go to Akihabara for otaku sightseeing.
Anyway, recalling what happened then, Yuito opened his mouth toward Ouki.
"First, if we ask around at hotels near Akihabara, we'll find her quickly. There are a lot of nice hotels around there."
"Ah~, I know."
"Since we're in Shibuya right now, it's the perfect time to start moving."
It's not far from Shibuya to Akihabara.
Thinking like that, it was the moment he was slowly getting up from the cafe he was sitting in.
"Y-Yuito-san!!"
Then, Ouki pointed somewhere with a flustered face.
That place was the crosswalk.
There was a strangely noticeable person there.
A woman who was strangely hesitating, while quietly checking herself with her cellphone.
However, her outfit was a bit peculiar.
Should I say it was a strangely flashy Gothic-style outfit.
"Wow, her face is covered, but she gives off the vibe of a pretty girl. But?"
"It's Joo Seoyeon."
"Pardon?"
"Earlier, she took off her mask for a moment and stood by the glass of the cafe we're in. Probably, she was briefly looking at her reflection in the glass."
"Whaaaat???"
Ouki, who was just getting up from his seat, had coincidentally seen that.
"Is it real?"
"I swear. In the first place, how could you mistake an appearance like that?"
"Why in Shibuya? Was Narumi Sora-san next to her?"
"As you can see, no. She's alone!"
Why is someone who's supposed to be in Akihabara in Shibuya?
And what's with that outfit???
But, if it's really Joo Seoyeon...
'We have to catch her no matter what.'
Especially if the trending person is walking around the streets like that?
No, on a street like this, couldn't we even get an interview?
"Ah, the crosswalk signal is on!"
"What are you doing? Let's chase her!"
"Of course, let's go!"
Like that, the two frantically chased after Seoyeon.
Of course, Seoyeon, mixed in the huge crowd, walked a bit hesitantly, unlike usual.
'I shouldn't have worn this.'
Harboring such profound regret.