First of all, it was a few photographs.
Photos of a movie filming set.
Up to that point, it might have been a typical leak, but...
- Is this a new movie Joo Seo-yeon is filming?
- What's the title?
- Heard it's called *Miss Gyeongseong*
- Ah, is it another Japanese colonial period setting? Then it's obvious
- Didn't they say Joo Seo-yeon is popular in Japan lately? Touching a sensitive setting.
A bit of talk emerged in the community about the actor captured there.
Literally, just a bit.
After all, it wasn't even a properly released movie yet.
Actor fan communities tend to have weaker firepower compared to idol fan communities.
If anything, Joo Seo-yeon had a very thick fanbase "for an actress."
Of course, the reason Seo-yeon became a hot topic wasn't simply because of the movie's genre or subject matter.
"It's intense."
The Korean branch of the French luxury brand Coquelicot.
Tae-hee Jang, the CEO of Coquelicot Korea, nodded her head as she looked at the photos brought up in the meeting.
Recently, the headquarters had sent word asking if there was any figure they would recommend as a brand promotional ambassador in Korea.
In short, it was about the ambassador.
An ordinary level of recognition isn't enough for a luxury ambassador.
After all, it's a face used to sell not just in Korea, but globally.
'For this small country to rank first in the world's luxury market per capita.'
It wasn't for nothing that Coquelicot was trying to feature a Korean celebrity as a promotional ambassador.
Currently, Coquelicot's brand market share in Asia was relatively low compared to Europe.
The request made to the Korean branch this time was likely an attempt to seize the market share held by other luxury brands.
Therefore, Tae-hee Jang was carefully deliberating as she reviewed several candidates.
"The person requested by headquarters?"
"Just X's Lee Hyun."
"That's fine."
Currently, Just X was a K-pop idol with global recognition.
Considering how Korean idols have recently been appointed as ambassadors for multiple luxury brands, it was a fairly sound choice.
At least, if going by the numbers alone.
"They also said they'd review it if there's an additional figure to add."
So-young Hwang, the PR team leader of Coquelicot Korea.
With a composed tone, she scanned the photos of the candidates once more.
As expected of celebrities, they all possessed radiant looks.
But ironically, the most striking among them was the recently leaked photo.
"But isn't it rare for a leaked photo to be included?"
"That just goes to show how striking it was. Furthermore..."
The photo also captured the presence of a filming crew from Japan.
Of course, that couldn't be determined from the photo alone, but it was known because the leaker had explicitly stated it was a "Japanese filming crew."
"They say Joo Seo-yeon is the Korean actress currently drawing the most interest in Japan."
"It's amazing considering she has almost no works out there."
"Pulling up this level of awareness with just her appearance is definitely unprecedented."
Of course, it wasn't just her appearance.
Just one minute of acting.
It was caused by that one minute of footage currently spreading as a meme and continuously replayed in YouTube videos in Japan.
"But selecting her based solely on the Japanese market is a bit..."
"It's not just the Japanese market. You know about the *Sky Garden* craze lately, right?"
"Well, that's..."
At Tae-hee Jang's words, So-young Hwang was left speechless.
The recently concluded *Sky Garden*.
The viewership rating for its final episode was a staggering 33 percent.
It wrapped up achieving a rating deemed "impossible" for recent terrestrial broadcasts.
Measured against 10 years ago, it was practically a figure exceeding even 40 percent.
That was how massive the impact of *Sky Garden* was currently; calling it a mere craze felt almost ridiculous.
The biggest beneficiary first was the chair brand 'A.D.'s'.
Next was Eclat Etoile.
In particular, A.D.'s study chairs for exam students were currently out of stock.
"Right now, actor Joo Seo-yeon's level of recognition... is such that there is no actress to compare her with among her peers."
"In terms of just one year's impact, it's at a level that can overwhelm even Jo Seo-hee or Park Jung-woo right now."
It wasn't that the two actors hadn't had hit works this year.
It was just that Joo Seo-yeon had consecutive mega-hits to an absurd degree.
The entertainment industry, which had initially just laughed it off, was now slowly unable to conceal their shock.
Variety shows, variety shows.
Dramas, dramas.
Even a movie.
It was hard to tell just how many hit works she had churned out in a single year.
She hadn't filmed many commercials compared to her acting credits, but seeing the sheer number of projects she had worked on, it made sense that she hadn't had the time to spare for ads.
"*Sky Garden* and *Dream Future* are currently being exported overseas. Therefore, actor Joo Seo-yeon's recognition will undoubtedly rise even more."
"That is true. The only issue is..."
"Her track record is too short."
No matter how remarkable her achievements, it had only been a year.
There was no telling what the future held.
If this momentum continued into next year, that would be a different story.
'At the very least, judging solely by the image in this photo, there's no actress who would suit Coquelicot this perfectly.'
Dressed in a butterfly kimono, holding an antique pipe in her hand, Seo-yeon looked exactly like a character straight out of a movie.
Miss Butterfly.
An appearance that perfectly suited the title of the leaked photo.
Butterfly—it matched perfectly with Coquelicot, which means red poppy in French.
"It seems a bit difficult right now... let's keep an eye on her for a bit."
"What about Lee Hyun?"
"Let's look into that side a bit more. There's something about Just X that's bothering me."
To be precise, Just X's leader, Row, had been the subject of various rumors lately.
Of course, they weren't bad rumors yet.
Yes, "for now," at least.
"But if we do that, someone else might snatch up Just X. Lee Hyun has been actively pitching himself for these kinds of brand ambassadorships, after all."
"Then tell them they can take it."
Tae-hee Jang smiled faintly as she said that.
True, right now, Lee Hyun had far greater recognition and would yield higher profits as a model.
'But who knows about later.'
It was an instinct she had developed from watching this industry for a long time.
It had only been her first year of activities.
Comparing Joo Seo-yeon, who could still be considered a fledgling, to Lee Hyun, who was already on an established trajectory, was frankly laughable.
Their recognition was literally as different as heaven and earth.
But the future was unknown.
An actress who was currently drawing interest in Japan.
The Japanese market had clearly shrunk significantly compared to the past.
However, its underlying strength and prestige as a nation hadn't vanished.
For better or for worse.
It was a country that had once led trends in Asia.
Its influence was still far from negligible.
'*Miss Gyeongseong*, huh...'
She had a vague premonition that once that movie was released, a lot would change.
For some reason.
***
"Wow..."
In the darkness, a woman was completely engrossed in the drama playing on her large TV.
On the screen, a beautiful girl with long black hair was giving a passionate performance.
Fair skin, which made her deep black hair stand out even more.
Along with mysterious red eyes.
The scene was flowing towards the climax.
The latter half of *Sky Garden*.
Lee Yoo-ju, who had merely run along the path set by her father.
Was finding a new dream under the influence of her friend, Song Ga-yeon.
"I'm scared."
Lee Yoo-ju said, grabbing Song Ga-yeon's arm.
The girl who had helped her without asking for anything in return on the day she fell from the cliff.
YW9peUx5cktZYXhyU2hzY1VsMkQ0Yk96RlF0emZBZW9QRktVc2RuaG5BRko5UTJrR1RUMGZ2ZXRlanQxdGJZTA
"The fact that I have to be the one to decide everything."
Her past self wouldn't have even given her a second glance.
A lacking background compared to others.
An overly nice personality.
On top of that, her academic skills weren't anything impressive, either.
But Lee Yoo-ju began following Song Ga-yeon as if bewitched.
She had refused and pushed her away countless times.
Repeating to herself that her path wasn't something so shabby, she had desperately mocked Song Ga-yeon.
But perhaps that was why.
The adults of *Sky Garden* reaching their hands out toward her.
And the children being manipulated by those adults seemed bizarre to her.
Like marionettes attached to strings.
Thinking that she was just like them made her shudder.
"I've already made a mistake once, after all."
Lee Min-seo.
The second child of the Lee Min-hyuk family.
A stepping stone she had used to climb higher.
However, she had refused to become a stepping stone.
Right before Yoo-ju reached out to her older brother, she had pushed her off the cliff.
And then, upon seeing Lee Yoo-ju return alive, she had attempted suicide.
Looking at Yoo-ju with resentful eyes.
"You wouldn't understand."
Min-seo said in a low voice.
"For the first time in my life, my parents' attention was focused on me. It was an attention I barely obtained. A love I regained with such difficulty. But... but if you do the same thing to my brother as you did to me... I'll just end up going back to how I was before."
Min-seo said in a sorrowful voice, and then jumped off the school building.
"But you survived."
Recalling that incident, Song Ga-yeon said with a smile.
"That wasn't your fault. The one who made the mistake first was Min-seo. She was just rationalizing her own wrongdoings."
Min-seo had fallen from the school building, but fortunately, she didn't die.
However, she was in a coma and had yet to wake up.
Song Ga-yeon partially empathized with Min-seo's words, but she knew very well that it wasn't Yoo-ju's fault.
"Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes it's unintentional, like this time."
Min-seo's incident became the catalyst that changed Yoo-ju's mindset.
Having harbored "doubts" about the path she had to take, she could no longer walk the same road as before.
In other words, she had lost her way.
"Yoo-ju. You have talent, don't you? I think it's just too much of a waste to throw everything away over a single mistake."
A small word of comfort.
It was the first words of comfort Yoo-ju had heard in this *Sky Garden*.
No, it might have been the first in her entire life.
Because no one had ever said such a thing to Yoo-ju, not even once.
Could she do it?
Yoo-ju took a deep breath.
She hadn't yet decided what it was she wanted to do.
But before that.
"...There is something I need to finish first."
The matters of the Lee Hyuk-soo family.
And the matters concerning her father.
Lee Yoo-ju made her decision.
She would no longer run away; she would face them head-on.
And as the screen faded to gray, the drama came to an end.
The woman, who had held her breath through the entire sequence of scenes, finally let out the breath she had been holding.
"Wow, what would I have done if I had been watching this in real-time~"
At the same time, it was incredibly disappointing that there were only three episodes left.
Lee Yoo-ju, who had been wandering due to Min-seo's incident, had finally pulled herself together, and now everything would be over once she resolved the final matter she had put off.
"The script is so good."
The woman nodded, savoring the script of the drama she had just watched.
As expected, watching a good piece of work before creating really was a source of stimulation.
She had finished her previous work and practically slacked off for a year, but now it was about time to slowly start on her new piece!
"...Well, is there really a need to rush?"
Of course, being stimulated was one thing, but that didn't mean she would jump straight into working.
You see, she needed a little time to relax.
Novels were extremely delicate, reacting very sensitively to one's mental state and physical condition.
In other words, it meant she needed a bit more rest.
"Joo Seo-yeon..."
The woman repeated the name of the actress who had just appeared in the drama.
Truth be told, she didn't watch dramas often.
To be precise, she rarely consumed visual media like TV or movies.
Maybe just occasionally browsing YouTube?
That was why she only watched *Sky Garden* after it had ended, rather than while it was airing.
And even then, she hadn't planned on watching it, but did so because of a single actor in it.
"Jealous, so jealous. I'm jealous of Sua... If only I had been a bit more diligent. If only I was a bit faster..."
The woman pounded her bed furiously with her fists.
Late with her serializations, late with her love life.
There was absolutely nothing fast about her.
Why bother writing a new piece? Wouldn't it be better to just die in this room like this?
Living as a singleton forever like this, it felt like that would honestly be the better option.
As she was writhing under her blankets like that.
Bzzzz.
The woman's phone rang.
Assuming it was yet another insurance call, the woman looked at the screen with a listless expression.
"Yaaah, Editor-nim, hellloo. You're doing well, right? Actually, I've just finished the manuscript for the new work up to chapter 5, so I was planning to send it to you along with the proposal~."
[Author-nim, I know you haven't written a single chapter.]
Wait, how did she know?
She was already feeling down, and hearing the editor's voice only made her feel even more depressed.
But she couldn't just ignore it.
The editor in charge of her wasn't a regular publishing house editor, but a manager belonging to a massive web novel serialization platform.
In other words, the platform's direct employee.
Naturally, if she acted out, it would directly impact the promotion of her work.
Of course, if she asked, they would just smile and say that would never happen, but there was always that underlying vibe, you know?
'The contract said I was Party B.'
How was this Party B?
The woman felt miserable all over again.
'I'm never going direct again.'
So what if her novels sold well?
She couldn't even speak her mind.
If it were a normal publishing house, she'd be walking shoulder-to-shoulder with the CEO or directors by now with her seniority.
For her next work, she'd change her pen name and go somewhere else.
Would she really stay here when she felt this miserable?
[Author-nim, I brought some good news.]
"Wow, really? I'm so looking forward to it."
Even so, whatever news came back wouldn't be much.
At best, a promotional event?
Webtoon adaptations had already been done a long time ago, and there were no other works to adapt.
On top of that, for her next work, she planned to produce it herself instead of entrusting it to the platform.
She needed to take a bigger cut for herself, after all.
[Author-nim, your work is getting a drama adaptation.]
"?"
The woman pulled the smartphone away from her ear for a moment.
Then, after staring at the screen for a second, she pressed the call record button.
"Ah, I didn't hear that properly. Could you say that one more time?"
[Author-nim, your work is getting a drama adaptation on a major cable network.]
"Whoa, this is insane!!"
[?]
The woman shouted without even realizing it.
Yeah, this is why being a direct author with the platform is the best. It's really insane.
A drama adaptation?
Not a web drama, but on a major cable network?
As expected of the strongest platform in the universe.
I knew I could trust you.
This truly is the place I'll dedicate my life to.
'Sua, you're living happily, right? Keep living happily with Seo-yeon from now on. I think I'll be living happily from now on, too.'
Her depressed mood vanished in an instant.
A new work? Why would I need to prepare something like that?
Web novel author?
From now on, you can call me a drama writer.
With that thought, the woman flopped back onto her bed.
Due to her excessively hyper state, she ended up losing all her strength and collapsing.
And.
Having received a blessing from somewhere she didn't even know about, Seo-yeon was...
"Then I'll be going in."
"Uh, yeah. Come in."
...facing Yeo-hee, who was greeting her with an awkward expression.
'In the next shoot, I'm going to knock them both out in one blow.'
The humiliation she had suffered during the previous shoot.
She had to undergo special training to get her revenge.