When Stella first arrived at the forest, what she witnessed was truly a disastrous sight.
To be honest, at first she thought they were corpses.
Well, anyone would think that if they saw people sleeping in the grass.
It was questionable how they could even sleep like that in the first place.
'Isn't that a tent?'
What truly appalled Stella was what they were lying on to sleep.
The cloth four women were lying on.
At first, she thought it was just ordinary cloth, but looking closely, it was a tent.
Sleeping on an un-pitched tent instead of setting it up—what a novel idea.
"Can't you just sleep inside the tent?"
Normally, Stella would have laughed brightly in surprise, but today, she couldn't bring herself to do so.
Should she say she didn't even have the mental energy to act, faced with a situation so far beyond common sense?
"Because none of us can assemble it."
"...Assemble a tent."
Looking at the girls staring blankly at her, Stella was at a loss for words.
Truly, the faces of people who had never been camping in their lives.
Even so, shouldn't anyone be able to pitch a tent without having to learn how?
Stella felt her common sense wavering.
Is this normal in the East?
"More importantly, food."
"Food?"
"Make us food, food."
Seoyeon said quite desperately.
It probably wasn't just Seoyeon.
Before the filming of this variety show began, there was one request from the Japanese PD.
[For the sake of realism during filming, please restrict meals the day before.]
She wondered why, but since the filming period was three days, it seemed they said that with empty stomachs in mind.
Frankly, it was just something they could endure.
However, by the time they had already starved for two days, it was visible that everyone was exhausted from hunger.
It wasn't for nothing that everyone gave up while trying to pitch the tent.
They were tired and struggling, so setting up the tent or whatever became too much of a hassle.
At their reaction, Stella stared at them for a moment before smiling brightly.
"Yeah, no."
"Why?"
"Because that's more fun, right? I ate a hearty meal before coming, so I'm fine starving a little longer."
Wouldn't it be more fun to tease them like this?
Thinking so, she smiled brightly.
[Reika, catch her.]
Jo Seohee said, pointing at Stella.
Then, Reika, who had been quietly approaching, swiftly caught Stella from behind so she couldn't escape.
"Eh? W-who is this person?"
Stella wasn't good at distinguishing faces in the first place.
Seeing three of them gathered, she guessed it was Ju Seoyeon, along with Yi Jiyeon and Jo Seohee, but the last one was entirely out of her awareness.
Since she was cautiously approaching from nearby, she just thought she was a staff member.
But to think she would suddenly hug her from behind.
'Reika? Goto Reika?'
It was the same name as the actress her father, Asher Baldwin, kept pushing as the female lead.
In other words, from Reika's standpoint, she had to raise Stella's favorability somehow.
[What are you doing? Is this okay? Wasn't your goal to get close to me?]
[I don't know, I don't know! I need to survive first!!]
[This much won't kill you. What are you talking about?]
As Stella said that in bewilderment, while Reika held her, the three women surrounded her.
Seeing them this close, she could somewhat distinguish their faces.
"W-what are you doing?"
Stella asked in bewilderment, but the three approached stealthily and placed their hands on her sides and the nape of her neck.
And.
"Ahaha, s-stop, stop. Stop! Don't tickle me. Seriously! O-okay. I said I give up!!"
Since ancient times, tickling has been an excellent method of torture.
After roughly five minutes of being tickled, Stella had no choice but to surrender.
***
'...I shouldn't have come.'
Stella sincerely regretted appearing on this variety show.
She was smiling brightly, but seeing the three women lying around nearby, she couldn't help but think so.
"First, we're going to make the tent."
"Yeah."
"Hold that, and fix it on top. Then hammer the pegs next to it."
"What's a peg?"
"That nail-like thing."
"Do I just press it down with my hand?"
Yi Jiyeon said, holding an object similar to a long nail.
"How are you going to do that with your hand?"
When Stella said it with a look of dismay, Jiyeon's eyes turned sharp.
"Hey, Ju Seoyeon, come here and press this."
"No, pressing it with your hand won't work..."
As Seoyeon casually approached and pressed down with her palm, the peg drove into the ground.
Does that work with sheer strength?
While Stella stared blankly, Jiyeon was smiling proudly as if she had done it herself.
"Hmph, hng, whatever, you just have to drive it in."
Anyway, under Stella's lead, the troublesome items they had brought yesterday.
In other words, the tents were properly set up into their proper shapes.
After setting up the tents like that, Stella gathered the remaining ingredients that had become a mess.
'I should just make a meat stew or something.'
Looking at the remaining ingredients, that was the limit.
Moving around holding the pot like that, Stella met eyes with a bear looking at her with naive eyes.
When she first saw that bear, Stella was so startled she almost fell backward.
"Hey, Seoyeon."
"Yeah."
"Is that, um, bear someone brought for filming?"
"Right, I brought it."
"?"
At Seoyeon's triumphant answer, Stella tilted her head.
What did it mean that she brought the bear herself?
Did she go along to bring it from the zoo?
But no matter how she looked at it, it didn't seem like a managed bear.
"Anyway, I need to cook so... is there no one to help?"
At Stella's words, everyone subtly averted their gazes.
Even Reika.
'Didn't you come to get close to me?'
Stella genuinely wanted to ask.
She didn't know about the others, but Reika was in a position where she had to win Stella's favor and get into Asher Baldwin's good graces.
But she was making a face like, 'Ah, I don't know anymore.'
'In Korea, they call something like that Dooly.'
When Stella was studying Korean and searching the internet about Korean culture, she saw a meme.
A green dinosaur scratching its butt saying "Give me food," and a man venting his frustration saying "I can't stand this anymore!"
Right now, Stella felt like she had become that man.
The sight of the three sitting blankly and staring at her was exactly like the green dinosaur looking at her with a face saying "Give me food."
Watching them, a crack appeared in Stella's ever-bright smile.
"I-if you make food, I'll grant you one favor later in return."
Perhaps feeling unnecessarily sorry, when Seoyeon said that, Stella's cracked smile returned to its original form.
Rather, with a slightly interested face.
"Hng, really? That's not bad."
A smile that strangely seemed to have ulterior motives.
At that smile, Jo Seohee narrowed her eyes and asked.
"That's a very meaningful smile."
"Huh? I'm not trying to make any grand request."
Holding a pot with vegetables and meat to make stew, Stella spoke.
"I'm returning to America the day after tomorrow anyway, so how big of a request could I possibly make?"
"Hmm. Is that so."
Jo Seohee unfolded a relatively neat fan and covered her mouth quite elegantly.
With a face that seemed to be thinking.
She wondered if she really had to open a fan to do that.
'Is it a habit?'
Seoyeon thought so and tilted her head.
Come to think of it, she seemed to have done something similar when they went to the upper-class party last time.
Thanks to that, she could see Reika, who was sprawled out nearby, hurriedly opening a fan to cover her face.
Did she not want to lose the lady concept?
"...."
When Seoyeon took her eyes off Seohee and looked back at Stella, she felt her looking at her with a subtle gaze.
Sometimes, Stella looked at her with those eyes.
As if trying to peer into Seoyeon's inner thoughts.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Hmm? No? Just because."
Stella, having regained her original composure, smiled like an angel and said.
"I'm just looking forward to tomorrow."
Tomorrow, when the filming ends.
Stella was genuinely looking forward to that day.
***
Anyway, the subsequent filming was neatly wrapped up as if the previous chaos had been a lie.
However, it was slightly different from what the production crew had expected.
"I thought Stella would be more naive."
"Right?"
The public image of Stella was mostly angelic.
Of course, she didn't have any rough edges with the staff either.
But there was no telling how she would be when mingling with peer actors.
Also, they thought she might cause a bit of trouble in the extreme environment of Aokigahara.
She seemed like a natural lady character, after all.
But who would have thought.
"It's like... she's very used to this kind of situation, should I say."
"Hmm."
Cooking well with scarce ingredients, pitching tents.
Sleeping well even in a quite barren environment.
An unexpected appearance in many ways.
Thanks to that, the filming, which they thought might slowly become dangerous, was moderately well sorted out.
"We can give you missions again now."
The camera captured Seoyeon and Stella together.
Either way, the two had visuals that worked very well in Japan.
Just being together made a great picture.
The staff, who were looking at the five ladies with satisfied faces...
"But, how long are we keeping that bear over there?"
"Ah."
...ran off in a hurry to solve the problem that came to mind belatedly.
Of course, since they couldn't just get rid of the bear right away, the parting of the bear and the group happened after all the filming was over.
"They say its ribs are cracked."
"...."
"There are also signs of significant assault on its face and arms."
"...."
"It seems it was chased out of a fight with other bears and came all the way here."
"I-is that so."
"Yes, we were lucky. The bear's wounds were deep, so it seems it couldn't act properly."
"That's a relief..."
Afterwards, countless police and special personnel appeared and took the bear away.
They couldn't just chase it away because the bear's behavior was strange.
Seoyeon, who received the story later through a Korean-speaking staff member, nodded mechanically.
She thought it was well-behaved and listened well, but it was groaning in pain.
Still, it wasn't severely injured.
Seeing it eat its meals so heartily, it was a bear that fit in quite well with the group.
For Seoyeon, who rode the bear around until the filming was almost over, it was a bit disappointing.
"Its personality is gentle, so it might go to a zoo. It seems to be quite a rare species."
"I-is that so?"
"It's a bear that appeared on a variety show, and a bear that Miss Seoyeon rode, so it'd be a waste to just release it."
For some unknown reason, the bear sent to the hospital listened very well to people with black hair.
Thanks to that, it was easy to treat.
"Phew, still, the filming ended safely."
Having come out of the Aokigahara forest after all the filming was over, Jiyeon sighed like that.
After Stella arrived, the desperate feel disappeared, but instead, they were able to carry out missions, so it felt better for a variety show.
On the first day, there was the bear, and they struggled with the tent and cooking, but on the second day, there was nothing at all.
If Stella hadn't come, they would have just lain down and spent two days.
Thinking about it, it might have been a bit dangerous.
"But Seoyeon is really weak against scary things, huh?"
Jo Seohee said, looking at Seoyeon as if she found it fascinating.
In the bus returning after the filming ended, she said, recalling the last mission that took place yesterday.
Yesterday evening, Seoyeon carried out the final mission with Seohee.
Namely, finding and bringing back the red ribbons the staff had hidden in the Aokigahara forest.
Going to the mission location, Seoyeon couldn't even make proper eye contact with Seohee.
'Do I look that scary?'
Jo Seohee slowly started to care a little about that part.
Now that everyone called her Tomie, Tomie whenever they saw her, it bothered her.
'Hmph, I don't look that much like her.'
The face she looked up on the internet was definitely scary and pretty.
What a wicked-looking girl.
"But when is the broadcast?"
"They probably have to edit it, and there's a lot to do, so it seems like it'll air in about a month."
Seoyeon nodded at the staff's words.
A month was quite long.
'By then, the filming for Gyeongseong Lady will be all over, so we can all watch it together.'
However, if the filming for
The movie Seoyeon was considering next was Director Jo Bangwoo's
The audition for that was scheduled for around December.
'I hope I pass the audition.'
If she passed, she would have to film
There was no word yet, but if it overlapped with
She absolutely couldn't miss it.
"We have arrived."
Leaving Aokigahara, they arrived in Tokyo.
The group that came together got off the bus and each said their goodbyes.
Things like "Great work on the filming," those cliché remarks.
"Ah, it was so hard."
"I'm going straight to sleep when I get back."
[Me too.]
[...Do you understand Korean?]
[Ah, no. Just by the nuance.]
Reika thought.
What Asher Baldwin movie filming?
She should just go back and sleep.
She would just tell her agency it was a bust, too.
Reika came to that conclusion.
"Then Stella, we part ways here too... What are you doing?"
"Hmm?"
Under the gazes of Jiyeon and Seohee looking at her, Stella stuck by Seoyeon's side.
"Ahaha, I said it yesterday, right? In exchange for making food, Seoyeon would grant me a favor."
"...And?"
"I'm going to ask for that favor now."
"What?"
Saying so, Stella turned around to face Seoyeon.
Seoyeon's gaze looking blankly at her.
There was neither favor nor disfavor in that gaze.
Stella liked that extremely plain gaze very much.
And Seoyeon's face, clearly visible before her eyes.
"You know I'm returning to America tomorrow, right?"
"Ah, yes."
"Then~."
Then, after glancing at Seohee and Jiyeon, she smiled brightly.
A mischievous smile.
The moment Seohee's eyes narrowed at Stella's smile.
Her mouth opened.
"Keep me company today."
"Pardon?"
Wondering if she had misheard for a moment, Seoyeon looked at her with slightly flustered eyes.
Then.
"I'm asking you out on a date."
Taking one step closer to Seoyeon.
"Do you not want to?"
Stella said in a subtle tone.
With an angelically beautiful smile.