Los Angeles, USA.
People dressed in glamorous evening wear were gathered in groups throughout a massive mansion, chatting amongst themselves.
It wasn't just the attire that was glamorous.
Every single one of them had an appearance that seemed to radiate light.
"Jimmy, that last movie wasn't bad. Results just about on par with my debut film."
"That's a very pretty way of saying it flopped."
It was only natural, considering the place was packed with America's most recognized actors and entertainers.
Actors whose names alone were instantly recognizable, singers whose voices were identifiable from a single note.
Such people filled the venue to the brim.
That was to be expected.
"Oh, Stella."
A middle-aged man with blonde hair spread his arms wide, welcoming Stella with open arms.
At his gesture, Stella, who had been standing on the balcony, merely smiled faintly.
"My, my. Coming back from Japan has made you quite conservative."
"Oh my, I don't usually accept greetings like that."
"No charm at all."
"My charm is reserved for a select few."
Hehehe. At her smiling response, America's veteran actor, Aaron Campbell, simply shrugged.
The host of today's party, he was also the star of a famous American hero movie franchise.
The countless stars gathered here today had come to celebrate his fortieth birthday.
"But, are you stepping down from the next movie?"
"Haha, who knows about that. I have to hear what the higher-ups say. But I won't die. I'm Su~perman, you know? Get it?"
"Fair point. With revenue that high, they'll bring you back anyway."
"Come on, Stella. That's comic book logic. I'd appreciate it if you didn't take it too darkly."
"Ah~. But I don't read comics. I've been into Marvel lately, so I don't watch DC."
"Of course you don't. You've always been a contrarian child."
He flexed his impressive muscles in front of Stella as he spoke.
Truly, a picture-perfect Superman.
In reality, he was one of America's top action stars, a genuinely elite actor.
One of the rare true action actors who could perform without stunt doubles.
"Speaking of which."
"Yes."
"I saw it too. That Japanese variety show."
"……You did?"
"'You did' is a bit too cold, don't you think?"
Aaron chuckled as he spoke.
This young genius fairy had a tongue as sharp as a blade, regardless.
"That actor you showed interest in, she was certainly entertaining."
"Aaron, that's stalking."
"Call it the pure curiosity of a senior actor exploring a talented junior."
Even as he said that, hearing top actor Aaron speak this way softened Stella's expression.
"Yes, she's an amazing actor. Amazing enough that I'd love to see her in Hollywood."
"I wonder. This market isn't a place you can enter just by being beautiful or having great acting skills. There are far too many walls to climb before that."
"……."
"But honestly, even I grew interested. Bear Rider~. I've never ridden a bear either. She must have nerves of steel. Japan really is something else, taming a bear and riding it."
"Well."
Stella almost mentioned that the bear had been trained by the actor riding it, but stopped herself.
Regardless, the fact that Aaron had a good impression of Seo-yeon was a positive thing.
'Though his goal is probably me.'
Aaron was genuinely interested in Stella.
He wanted to move beyond being just an actor and work as a director as well.
He was hoping Stella would appear in his directorial debut.
"Then, enjoy the party. There are plenty of men showing interest in you like that, don't you find it a shame?"
"Not really."
"Ouch. Really? But that one over there doesn't seem to think so."
Stella glanced in the direction he indicated.
A young man was walking toward them.
"Let's continue that conversation later. I've grown somewhat interested in that actor myself, after all."
Aaron said with a wink before disappearing.
His retreating figure, walking with light steps, possessed a perfect posture like a Greek statue walking away.
"Hey, Stella."
Brilliant blonde hair.
Not quite at Aaron's level, but a firmly disciplined physique.
He was currently the most trending young male actor.
Among his peers, actors more successful than him could be counted on one hand.
"Heard the rumor. You went and played maid to some Asian girls."
"Oh my."
Stella turned her gaze to look at him.
He had the appearance of a prince straight out of a fairytale.
In fact, he had played the prince role in several movies that paid homage to fairytales.
Because of that, he had an exceptionally large female fanbase.
"Arthur."
"Hm? Did I say something wrong?"
Arthur Diaz.
He chuckled and strode closer to Stella.
"Has your petty inferiority complex gotten worse since I last saw you?"
"……Have you lost your filter now?"
"Ahaha!"
At Stella's clear laughter, Arthur's face contorted fiercely.
In truth, while he wouldn't call it an inferiority complex toward Stella, he did possess an intense competitive streak.
Since childhood, he had been called a genius actor.
An artistic family.
The son of an accomplished composer father and an opera singer mother.
An actor born with heaven-sent talent.
That was how everyone praised him.
In reality, whether it was pure acting or action, he excelled.
Even possessing talent in singing, he was swiftly climbing toward the position of a Hollywood top star.
However.
"Shall I tell you something fun, Stella?"
From the moment the girl before her, Stella, appeared, such epithets began to fade.
A female actor five years younger than him.
By the youngest actress who won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival.
"Recently, that Korean drama starring the actor you're interested in. They offered me a role."
"……Hmm."
Stella, who had been standing with an indifferent attitude until now, showed a reaction for the first time.
Arthur found that truly fascinating.
The Stella he had known for a long time was not someone who easily took interest in anything.
Especially not in people.
Wearing a mask for everyone while smiling like an angel, she seemed like a person from another world entirely.
Even to Arthur himself, Stella had never once shown her true feelings.
"And so?"
"It's not quite an 'and so' situation. Obviously, I turned it down. Even the protagonist of that drama is a young girl. A drama that puts an underage actress as its lead can't possibly be any good."
"The fact that you're telling me this means it's not an ordinary drama, right?"
"Probably an OTT drama. It seems they're planning to release it on Nettrix. Well, it's obviously targeting East Asia, right?"
At Arthur's shoulder-shrugging mockery, Stella smiled.
"That's a relief."
"Oh, what's a relief?"
"If you had appeared, you would have faced quite the humiliation."
Humiliation?
For a moment, Arthur pondered what that word meant.
"Are you, by any chance, talking about me?"
"Hm? Who else would I be talking about?"
"Haha, Stella. I'm Arthur Diaz. What humiliation could I possibly suffer in some mere OTT drama?"
"Hmm~. I wonder."
Stella took a step closer and looked up at Arthur from below.
Piercing blue eyes.
In those exceptionally cold, brilliant eyes like Antarctic glaciers, Arthur's face was reflected.
"Arthur, from what I can see."
And she whispered as if singing.
"You're no match for that child."
At those words, whispered like a wicked witch from a fairytale, Arthur faltered and stepped back.
Then, his face contorted fiercely.
"Me? Ha! What do you mean? Are you talking about acting? Or……"
"Everything."
Pulling back the head she had tilted toward him, Stella took two steps back.
"Acting. And that action you pride yourself on. Everything."
"……Are you joking? I'm talking about that young girl who is the lead of that drama."
"Yes, that young girl."
Then, with a bright smile.
"I couldn't even win, so how could someone like you?"
"What?"
Thinking Stella was joking, Arthur let out a hollow laugh.
Anything but that—Stella losing at acting?
Even for Arthur, who disliked her and secretly harbored an inferiority complex toward her.
But precisely because of that, he recognized and highly rated Stella's acting more than anyone.
And yet, Stella couldn't win?
She might be a liar, but she didn't say things that diminished herself.
Her lofty self-esteem was her strength.
"That's exactly why it's a relief. Arthur. You almost became a dog fleeing from a crushing defeat at the hands of a young Asian girl."
"You—"
"Hollywood is a very large birdcage……, but it's not everything. Arthur."
Saying that, Stella whirled around.
"That's all then. Uncharacteristic of us, I've talked too much."
As if she had no intention of continuing the conversation.
At that attitude, Arthur's lips twitched.
"What an unfunny joke."
Arthur glared at Stella's back before violently turning around himself.
Listening to his gradually fading footsteps, Stella shifted her sidelong gaze back to the night sky.
A night sky embroidered with twinkling stars.
"I wonder if it's daytime in Korea right now?"
Stella thought.
Not being able to look at the same stars together was quite a lonely thing.
Anyway, Arthur Diaz was a talented and remarkable actor.
If he joined, it would definitely help.
"I hope it helps, even a little."
That way, they could look at the same stars together sooner.
Thinking that, Stella smiled clearly.
***
"Seo-yeon, an advertisement came in."
"From where?"
"Bear Brand Paint."
"……."
Anyway, Joo Seo-yeon, age 17.
Approaching the threshold of 18, advertisements that would spectacularly burn the last moments of being 17 were coming in succession.
While Stella's statement had served as a breakwater, Bear Rider Joo Seo-yeon hadn't died.
Because it was far too intense a scene to die from just that.
If this had simply aired quietly on Japanese variety shows and ended, it would have been fortunate, but…….
[Joo Seo-yeon transitions to mixed martial arts. Eun Ga-nu "Korea is committing a crime right now"]
[International Animal Association, "Bears are our friends, stop the violence" A dramatic request sent to an actor!!]
[A Korean actress who trampled Japan's veteran actor and used America's fairy as a maid.]
All sorts of reaction channels on YouTube spread the clips, and rumors began to spread at once.
Bear Rider had become a sort of meme, so it was only natural that Seo-yeon riding a bear was composited into all kinds of places.
For example, composited next to Putin riding a bear.
Or sightings of Seo-yeon riding a polar bear were also frequently spotted.
Z2dKbDJFSCtSbEo3WFlpUEN0eDQxZTJLWWlRb1JVQmh6bGRWRFd4QW1PRnE1M1RnVjZGencvRXZlb2lFQWJ0Wg
At this point, even in the interview variety show she appeared on to promote
"Seo-yeon-ssi, weren't you scared when you rode on the bear's back?"
"I was scared. It just kind of ended up happening……"
"For someone who was scared, you sure hit the back of the bear's head pretty hard."
"……."
With the footage being what it was, Seo-yeon's excuses didn't gain any traction.
But if she didn't appear on broadcasts, she couldn't just play around while Lee Ji-yeon and Jo Seo-hee were filming hard in Japan.
Out of consideration for Seo-yeon, since her appearance segments had been filmed first, she ended up taking charge of promotional activities she could do in between.
'Well, whatever. It's not all bad.'
Conversely, at school, this bear-riding Seo-yeon seemed to be quite popular.
Should I say it felt much more familiar than other dramas or movies?
Furthermore, as Bear Rider gained fame, the ghost appearance of Seo-yeon crawling around in Japan also started spreading along with it.
Some male students noticed that she was the female ghost crawling down the stairs backwards at the school festival.
"Joo Seo-yeon, she seems like a much more fun person than she looks."
"Right. Honestly, I didn't think she'd do something like this because of her image."
"Being an actor isn't easy."
"But I heard she likes gaming too. She's been spotted in the e-sports room often?"
"Really?"
Such conversations came up occasionally at school, and the number of students who spoke to her in class gradually began to increase.
'……With only two months left of first year.'
Only now was Seo-yeon's high school life beginning, but there were only two months left of her first year.
When she becomes a second year, she has to start all over again from the beginning, right?
Being in a different class from Lee Ji-yeon again then.
If they're not even in the adjacent class like now, Seo-yeon might genuinely cry.
'The Viol advertisement, when! Please release it quickly!!'
Seo-yeon could only think that was the only way to cover up the Bear Rider image.
Princess Yeon-hwa, Joo Seo-yeon, who struck Park Jung-woo's heart and made Young-bin tremble in fear!
It felt like the two weeks until its supposed reveal had already passed, but there was still no news.
On the contrary,
"Arthur Diaz."
Manager Park Eun-ha said to Seo-yeon, opening her mouth with an excited face.
"That Arthur Diaz is going to appear in Seo-yeon's drama
"Is he the male lead? Or something else?"
"Probably not the male lead. A villain? I'm not really sure."
At Park Eun-ha's words, Seo-yeon tilted her head.
'The representative said it was the male lead.'
Maybe it hadn't been definitely decided yet, or maybe they were dispersing information appropriately.
But the male lead and a villain are complete opposites, aren't they?
'Ah, maybe.'
Seo-yeon had one general guess.
Of course, they would have to start filming to know for sure.
'But why would Arthur Diaz be in a Korean drama…….'
He was an American actor with soaring pride.
At least as far as Seo-yeon knew, he had never once appeared in an Asian movie or drama.
His standing overseas was overwhelmingly lower than Stella's, but in Korea, Arthur was much more famous than Stella.
That was because the fairytale-based movie he starred in was a massive hit.
For a while, when you said 'prince,' Arthur was mentioned.
Two days after Seo-yeon heard the news that Arthur Diaz's appearance had been confirmed.
Viol's advertisements began to be hung in department stores in earnest.
Along with the