Stella looked at Seoyeon's video for a while, then returned it to the girl.
The girl, Han Yuna, looked at Stella for a moment, then turned back to Seoyeon and said in a small voice.
"Unni. Are you friends with that angel?"
Friends?
"I don't think we're particularly friends..."
"Ahaha, how cold."
Stella also seemed to hear that and laughed.
As if it didn't really matter whether they were friends or not.
In the first place, today might be their last meeting, so calling them friends was ambiguous.
"T-Then. Unni."
"Yeah?"
Yuna looked like she wanted to say something, but she was hesitating, making it seem hard for her to bring it up easily.
When Seoyeon stared at her, she soon slowly shook her head.
"I-It's nothing..."
"Y-Yuna!"
At that moment, the sound of someone running over with a flustered face was heard.
Seoyeon, who inadvertently raised her head, met eyes with the woman who ran up to Yuna.
A woman with a similar height to Seoyeon.
"I'm sorry, did my daughter bother you?"
The woman speaking with a flustered face.
She bowed deeply to Seoyeon, apologizing as if she was truly sorry.
But that was only for a moment, and soon she gently flicked Yuna's head, who was hesitating, and said,
"You surprised me by suddenly disappearing!"
"But... the magical girl unni was here..."
"Magical girl unni?"
The woman belatedly realized that the disguised Seoyeon was the actress Joo Seoyeon whom she had visited before, and her eyes widened.
She seemed to have never thought she would run into her in a place like this.
"A-Hello. I didn't expect to see you in a place like this."
"Ah, no."
Seoyeon was also flustered.
Well, Yuna wouldn't be alone, so it was only natural for her mother to be with her.
Stella tilted her head at the two's strange appearances.
Because Seoyeon's current appearance was stranger than any other time she had seen her.
Longing.
Panic.
Difficulty.
Joy.
Such complex emotions appeared and disappeared in an instant.
Seoyeon's emotions were relatively simple, so usually only one appeared and disappeared.
But right now, it was strange.
I wonder why.
Stella couldn't know the reason, but it was clear to Seoyeon that the woman was definitely not an ordinary person.
"By any chance... is something the matter?"
"Yes?"
"Ah, well, it seemed like Yuna wanted to ask me for a favor."
When Seoyeon asked softly, the woman made a slightly difficult face.
"That, you don't need to worry about. My daughter was just trying to be stubborn."
Stubborn?
When Seoyeon tilted her head with a questioning face, Stella, who was next to her, took a step closer.
"It's because of the event."
"Event?"
"Look at that."
Stella pointed her finger at the flyer attached to the wall of the store.
The flyer had the event being held at this store today written on it.
It was like the promotional event Seoyeon had participated in before.
Magical Girl Harara's Toys.
'They're doing that again?'
It's even a new product again.
Considering it was only a few months ago that Seoyeon participated in the event, the prize pool was ridiculous.
No wonder they rake in the money.
'Ah, if I participate, I'll obviously win.'
No wonder she wanted to speak up.
In fact, Seoyeon became an issue with that video, and actually participated in the Harara play.
Naturally, if Seoyeon came out, all eyes would instantly focus on her.
'But right now...'
The Seoyeon of that time and the Seoyeon of now had different levels of recognition.
Because of
If she jumped out now, let alone the toys, it wouldn't be easy to get out of this mart.
More than anything, if she, who had participated in the play, came out, there could be rumors of it being rigged.
In that situation, there was a possibility that she wouldn't get the prize and would just cause a commotion for nothing.
"Hmm."
Stella, who was looking back and forth between Seoyeon and the two, smiled brightly and said.
"Shall I do it for you?"
"What?"
"It's difficult, right? Going out right now."
Stella said to Seoyeon with a subtle smile.
"Looking at it, today's event is for a blonde girl, so originally it doesn't seem to suit you?"
"Yes?! The angel will help?"
"...That title is a bit cringey, so could you just call me Unni?"
"Yes, Angel Unni!"
"H-Huuung."
Stella twisted her body as if she was a little flustered by Yuna's words.
She seemed to genuinely dislike the title of angel.
"Is that really okay? J-Just because of our daughter..."
"Of course. It's okay. More than anything..."
Stella said after looking at Seoyeon for a moment.
"I'm not doing this because of your daughter."
At Stella's smile, the woman lost her words and looked at her.
Because it was a truly angelic and beautiful smile, just like her daughter said.
***
"Ah~, that was fun."
Stella said with light steps along the Hangang riverside.
The brief event that took place at the store.
It goes without saying, but Stella won the prize with her skillful magical girl act.
She only watched a few shorts about Harara on the spot and saw the character's personality, but the sync rate was incredible.
Indeed, if you only looked at her acting, she was a girl who couldn't be looked down upon.
"They were so thankful."
"Yeah."
Han Yuna and Yuna's mother bowed their heads several times saying thank you and left.
Yuna, who got two toys for free by suddenly getting entangled with Seoyeon, had a face that was both very embarrassed and thankful.
Just the fact that she knew embarrassment in the first place made her feel quite mature for a child.
"What kind of relationship do you have?"
At that time, Stella asked Seoyeon that.
Spinning around, she stood with her back to the Hangang.
The starlight shone on the Hangang, giving a sparkling, shining feeling.
Because the weather was clear, various people came out to the Hangang and were looking at the beautiful river.
"Even if you ask... we're probably nothing?"
"..."
"It was a little strange, though."
Stella said so and roughly sat down on the nearby grass.
And, she patted the spot next to her with her palm.
As if telling her to sit next to her.
"Why? Don't want to?"
"No. It's not particularly that."
"Then you can sit, right?"
Well, that's true.
Seoyeon naturally sat down next to Stella.
Rather than Stella being awkward, it was just awkward because it was the first time they were looking at the Hangang together like this, just the two of them.
The day was ending, and the time to part ways with Stella was drawing near.
Already, Stella's phone had rung several times.
It seemed like she could hear the earnest pleas of her manager desperately wanting her to return.
"Today."
Seoyeon opened her mouth in a calm tone.
"In the end, what was the second reason?"
At Seoyeon's words, Stella's gaze moved.
"Was there actually no reason?"
Looking at Stella today, Seoyeon thought about the two reasons Stella had mentioned.
Just to buy souvenirs.
She thought that could be possible.
Because today, Stella really worked hard to pick out various things.
However, she couldn't figure out the second reason.
"I'm surprised."
"At what?"
"Honestly, I thought you wouldn't be curious at all."
Stella murmured as if singing.
"So, I thought if you ask, I should tell you~."
"What if I didn't ask?"
"Then it would have remained a secret."
Her blue eyes looked at Seoyeon's red-tinted eyes and said.
"Why do you only tell me if I ask?"
"Because if you ask, it means you have at least a little interest in me."
"..."
"If you have no interest in me, there's no point in telling you, right?"
It wasn't a wrong statement.
And Stella honestly thought that Seoyeon might not have even a shred of interest in her.
Because she was just a girl who suddenly appeared and talked as she pleased.
Annoying and troublesome.
It could just be like that.
"Jo Seohee said so."
Stella looked at Seoyeon with playful eyes and said.
"You're different from me. So, don't bother me."
"...Seohee said that?"
"Yeah. She's a good friend. She saw right through my heart too."
Stella's heart.
When she looked as if asking what it meant.
"Seoyeon."
"Yeah."
"Aren't you curious why I act?"
That was a very complex statement, she thought.
Was the acting Stella spoke of referring to the mask she usually wore as naturally as breathing in her daily life?
Or was it referring to the acting she displayed as an actress?
Or was it speaking of both?
If she were to ask about that.
"I am... curious."
"Really? Then I'll tell you."
Stella paused for a moment and turned her gaze toward the Hangang.
In her ears, she could hear the bright sound of singing coming from the Hangang riverside.
"I do it for revenge."
"...Revenge?"
"Yeah, revenge."
For the first time, an emotion appeared on Stella's face.
An emotion strangely filled with ecstasy.
"To the father and mother who abandoned me."
Stella's father was a drunkard, and her mother was an Asian prostitute who married such a drunkard.
How would Stella have been treated by such parents?
Her father was incarcerated in a police station.
Her mother, raising Stella all by herself, abandoned her on the streets.
It was probably from then on.
That Stella became unable to properly see people's faces.
"That's why."
Stella brought her face right up to Seoyeon and smiled.
"The better I do, how regretful would they feel?"
Jo Seohee had said Stella's acting was a means.
Seoyeon felt like she finally understood those words now.
And, Seoyeon finally realized why she felt a sense of kinship with Stella.
Simply because she had a special disease?
No.
It wasn't for such a simple reason.
"Because this is the most visible to people's eyes."
In movies, in dramas.
Through TV, through countless visual media.
So that those people can't avoid it even if they want to.
So that they have no choice but to see.
"That's why, it's revenge."
To make them realize how much of a precious thing they missed out on.
Stella said so and smiled.
'It's the same.'
Yes, it is the same.
Stella's purpose was ultimately similar to the purpose Seoyeon had.
Of course, Seoyeon didn't intend it.
It was just that she subconsciously realized there was such a reason too.
In the end, Seoyeon's acting was also, in a way, to show herself.
To her parents from her past life.
That she was doing this well.
To let them know that she was living happily.
Of course, they wouldn't know at all.
She just wanted to show them.
So it's the same.
However, while Seoyeon wishes for the happiness of her parents from her past life.
Stella only wishes for revenge.
She just wants them to look at her and feel regret, to feel bitter about it.
That was why Jo Seohee disliked that Stella's acting was a means.
"Me, you know. That's why I was quickly adopted by someone else. America has a really good foster care system..."
"Stop."
"Hmm?"
"I don't really want to hear that."
Seoyeon cut off Stella's words sharply.
Stella, who was just about to talk about her past, pouted at Seoyeon's attitude.
"Hmm, you're so cold. Even though I helped out quite hard today."
"That's because."
Seoyeon said to such a Stella.
"Even if I listen to that story, there's nothing I can do for you."
Slowly, Seoyeon's red eyes stared directly into Stella's face.
To be honest, Seoyeon didn't like it.
It wasn't because Stella used acting as a means like Jo Seohee.
Whether she used acting as a means or not had nothing to do with Seoyeon.
"Come on, you could at least give me some cliché comfort."
"Of course, if that was what Stella wanted, I would have done so."
Just as Stella kept looking at Seoyeon, Seoyeon also kept looking at Stella.
It was clear that she had been constantly conscious of the strange sense of kinship.
Always smiling.
Not knowing what she's thinking.
A dubious woman in many ways.
"I don't think cliché comfort, commonly hypocritical comfort, is bad. But, you should give it to someone who wants it."
Stella is a strong person.
That's not because her heart is solid.
She just became strong because she had to live like that.
Her essence is weak.
Because she is weak, she wears a mask.
She has no choice but to live reading the room and being cautious.
"But you're not like that, Stella?"
At those words, Stella's pupils dilated slightly.
Seoyeon leaned her upper body slightly closer to Stella.
As if trying to look into those blue pupils.
"When you would just mock me if I gave you such comfort. When you would sneer, asking what do I know about you."
Saying that in her heart.
Belittling the other person.
Protecting herself like that.
As if she would collapse if she didn't bring the other person down.
Filling her self-esteem like that.
Such a defense mechanism.
Stella was, so to speak, a hedgehog.
A hedgehog with very many spines.
"That's why I won't do it. Because I don't want to be mocked."
"...So you were watching that. Hmm, that's a bit unexpected. But I still want to hear some cliché comfort."
This was also sincere.
Even if it was the same cliché comfort, Stella wanted to hear it a little from Seoyeon.
It wasn't a simple joke.
Sincerity.
'Why?'
Maybe it's because Seoyeon was the only person whose face Stella could see.
Because she was the only one, she might have wanted to hear even cliché comfort from her.
Yeah, definitely.
"I don't really want to do that."
"Really, you're too much. You could at least humor me a bit."
For the first time, a crack appeared in Stella's mask, and words popped out as if sneering.
It meant she was genuinely upset by Seoyeon's words right now.
Her appearance like that... sorry to say, but Seoyeon found it a bit amusing.
"That's because, even if I listened to Stella and comforted you, it wouldn't contain any sincerity."
"Hmph."
"You know, right? We are sensitive to emotions, so if there's no sincerity, we'll definitely be able to tell."
Seoyeon said up to there and chose her words for a moment.
And she looked into Stella's blue eyes.
Before she knew it, they had gotten this close, and it felt like her own face was reflected in Stella's pupils.
"Although I can't comfort you for what has happened so far."
Saying that, Seoyeon pulled out a phone from her pocket and held it out to Stella.
The phone they hadn't exchanged numbers with until now.
"If something as difficult as that happens in the future, please contact me."
"...Why?"
Stella said that a bit blankly.
Because she didn't understand Seoyeon's sudden action of holding out her phone.
To her question.
"That way, I can help you, right?"
Seoyeon's face saying that was not her usual expressionless one.
Revealing white teeth, grinning.
A rather uncharacteristic smile.
Seoyeon thinks.
She doesn't know what kind of things have happened to Stella so far.
Honestly, she doesn't want to know.
Because even if she knew, there was nothing she could do.
Therefore.
"I can just help so that things like that don't happen in the future."
Triumphantly.
A quite confident tone of voice.
At those words, as if saying that she could definitely do that, Stella was dumbfounded.
So.
"You..."
And tried to say something.
Nonsense.
You, me?
Arrogant.
Or things like that.
But, as if her words were suddenly blocked, her voice wouldn't easily come out.
She just opened and closed her lips like a carp.
I wonder why.
Stella closed her eyes that were looking at Seoyeon.
Closing her mouth and quietly catching her breath, Stella's lips opened the next moment.
"...Yeah, that's right."
Answering so, when she opened her eyes, for some reason she couldn't see Seoyeon's face well.
She didn't know the reason, but her eyes were full of clear starlight.
***
Incheon Airport.
Before the flight to the US, Stella smiled bitterly at the people looking at her.
"Already, you chased me all the way to Korea?"
"We don't know what you might do."
"What about filming?"
"It starts again in two days."
"Then did you come all the way to Korea just to see me?"
She never expected Jo Seohee and Lee Jiyeon to come all the way to a Korean airport.
Stella thought the two were really extreme.
'Or was it that they hated me and Seoyeon being alone together that much?'
That could be it.
Stella laughed lowly.
She didn't know they would be this obsessed when they were parting ways anyway.
"Stella."
"Yeah?"
Right before going inside the airport like that.
Seoyeon hesitated for a moment and called out to Stella.
She originally intended to give it yesterday, but Stella suddenly cried, so she couldn't give it.
"Take this."
"Heh, what's this?"
"It's a bracelet."
Seoyeon said.
Stella didn't have any accessories on her body.
But, she had a watch on her wrist, so she thought it would be fine.
"Because you seem to dislike necklaces and earrings."
It was a guess, but she thought it was probably because of Stella's home environment.
Perhaps wearing accessories on her face drew unwelcome attention.
Or, when she was hit, it could cause a big scar.
Considering the situation of moving from home to home several times, it was a fairly plausible guess.
"...A bracelet. Why does this look exactly like a star?"
"It matches your name."
"Hehe, definitely."
Stella, who opened the box, looked at the bracelet inside and smiled meaningfully.
A brief silence like that.
Stella wore the bracelet on her wrist and held it up to show Seoyeon.
"How is it, does it suit me?"
"Yes, it suits..."
The moment she was saying that.
Stella took a big step toward Seoyeon.
At that sudden action, Lee Jiyeon was momentarily flustered and her eyes widened.
Jo Seohee was also startled and reached out her hand, but.
"...You're fast as expected."
"W-What are you doing suddenly?"
Stella's face thrust right in front of her nose.
At a distance close enough to hear her breathing, Seoyeon pushed that face away with her palm.
Then, Stella's playful face was seen.
What kind of behavior is this.
When Seoyeon frowned and looked at Stella.
"Don't play pranks like this."
"Prank?"
At those words, Stella smiled brightly for a moment.
As if she had heard something really fun.
And then.
"Seoyeon."
"Yeah."
"Come to Hollywood."
With a rather relieved face, Stella said so and smiled.
Seoyeon's eyes grew a little wider when she saw that face.
Because the smile Stella was making now somehow didn't seem like acting.
"Why?"
"Come on, normally you'd say 'Why?' from there?"
But, Seoyeon thought.
She likes Korea.
She didn't really want to go all the way to the bothersome US.
"Well, I guess."
Her grumbling was only for a moment.
Stella stood facing Seoyeon again.
The distance was so close that she flinched for a moment.
"To put it this way."
And then, she brought her face close again with a swoosh.
This time the direction was a little different, so Seoyeon also momentarily tried to stop her but halted.
Because it wasn't the front, but a little to the side.
"I'm hitting on you."
Stella whispered in a small voice by Seoyeon's ear.
"W-What?!"
The flustered Seoyeon grabbed her ear and stepped back.
An extremely flustered face.
Seeing that face where her usual expressionless face was completely broken, Stella put her palm to her mouth and laughed.
"Ahaha, it's a joke. A joke."
"P-Please don't make such jokes."
"But, telling you to come to Hollywood is sincere. If you come, I'll help you a lot."
"...I-I'll think about it."
The flustered Seoyeon from Stella's words just now said so.
Stella now took a step back and smiled sweetly at Seoyeon.
"But you know."
"Yeah."
"Unexpectedly, Seoyeon, you're quite conservative?"
Stella said so.
"Since it's a trend in America..., want to study up on it beforehand?"
"W-What?"
At Seoyeon's question, Stella smiled brightly.
At the same time, looking at the two girls frozen behind Seoyeon, she winked once.
"This time, it's not a joke."
And turned her back and disappeared.
"..."
The three women could only blankly stare at her figure.
Until the moment the plane Stella boarded left Korea.