"Damn it!!"
Arthur returned to the hotel, irritably unpacked his bags, and ran his hand through his hair.
Today's meeting wasn't all that bad.
The negotiations between the agency and the GH Group went smoothly, and he was set to appear in the drama on very favorable terms.
His role was the 'Male Lead'.
Of course, he wasn't just a simple male lead.
There was an additional role attached to it.
It was obvious that the GH Group intended to use Arthur to the fullest.
"Hey, Arthur. If it's an Eastern action movie, is it roughly like Hong Kong action?"
"…How would I know?"
"Hmm, you've been in a bad mood ever since we came to the hotel. Did something happen?"
Arthur gritted his teeth.
For reference, the man standing there was Oliver Goodman, an actor who was often close to him.
He was also the stunt double who handled Arthur's action acting.
Of course, Arthur was also an actor capable of action, but Oliver always took over for the dangerous or highly difficult stunts.
They had known each other since childhood, and his outstanding stunt skills were highly renowned even in Hollywood.
"…It's because of that woman."
"Joo Seo-yeon? Ahhhh, right. She was completely indifferent to you. A remarkably pretty girl, though."
"Yeah, her looks are passable. But that's it. Everything besides her looks is a complete mess."
"Looks like you got thoroughly rejected."
Oliver laughed heartily.
As he took off his shirt, his well-balanced muscular physique came into view.
"Actors speak through their acting anyway. And Arthur, you probably haven't heard since you weren't there, but it seems the action in *Villain* will be performed by that actress herself."
"What? She's not using a stunt double?"
"That's what I heard from the director. He said that's why they cast an actress capable of action through the audition."
"That's ridiculous."
Arthur sneered.
He recalled Seo-yeon, who had chattered away at him like ChatGPT.
Her slender figure and her not-so-tall stature.
Of course, she wasn't short either.
Exactly average.
Frankly, she didn't look like someone who could pull off action scenes.
"Are they planning to plaster it with CG? What's the level of CG in Korea?"
"Not bad. I tend to like Korean movies, and their CG technology isn't too awkward. Of course, it's not at the level of Hollywood."
"…Hmph, they probably think it's fine to half-ass it since it's an OTT drama."
Since Arthur was getting paid handsomely anyway, he would act as hard as the money he received.
But as for the quality of the work… he honestly wasn't sure.
Even if that four-dimensional girl could act as Stella had said, action was a different story…
"What was the reaction from other agencies?"
"Similar to yours. Most of them laughed, or said this to their director."
"What did they say?"
"'If you don't have stunt doubles, we can provide them from our side.'"
"Ha! They really embarrassed them outright."
It could sound like dismissal.
Normally, Arthur's agency wouldn't have been so aggressive toward the other party.
The only reason they could act like this was because it didn't matter to Arthur whether he did this OTT drama or not.
Of course, since the money received was substantial, the agency wouldn't want to break this contract under normal circumstances.
They would want to maintain it.
But excluding the money, Arthur couldn't care less whether he appeared in some Korean OTT drama or not.
Even if the GH Group was the center of Korea's cultural industry, it was all the same to Arthur.
He didn't care even if he made enemies with them.
Therefore, the GH Group had no choice but to cater to Arthur and his agency as much as possible.
"But, you know."
Oliver, recalling the agencies that mocked the GH Group and Korean actors, opened his mouth calmly.
"It seemed like no one thinks this drama will do well."
"Well, that's to be expected. Were there any Korean dramas that did well in the West in the first place?"
"Romance dramas do quite well."
"Only a specific audience watches them. It's the same for movies."
This would be the general perception of the industry.
Oliver acknowledged that as well.
'But…'
He had felt it when he saw Joo Seo-yeon.
Everyone had laughed at the thought of her doing action, but Oliver thought differently.
'There was no wavering at all.'
Her physical balance was excellent.
He didn't know about her muscle strength, but it was clear her body was trained for physical activity.
Oliver had a history of being a gymnast before becoming a stunt double.
So if the other person had trained, he could tell to some extent.
"I wish our agency would watch their mouths from now on, if possible."
"…You're looking quite hopeful for this drama, Oliver."
"You never know what will happen in this world. A drama that could shake the world might just come out of this small country."
"No way."
"And if such a drama were to appear… it would definitely have an impact on this drama too."
Ultimately, it was a matter of interest.
The reason Korean dramas and movies weren't getting attention overseas right now was because nothing had really caught on internationally.
It was simply because they weren't known to that extent.
But, in recent years.
Their culture had been spreading little by little overseas.
In a way, the groundwork had already been laid.
If a spark were to catch, it could burst into flames in an instant.
"…If you say so, I'll respect that."
Arthur respected Oliver.
He was deep-thinking and had a broad perspective.
It was just his appearance.
He couldn't work as an actor simply because he suffered facial burns as a child.
If it weren't for that, Arthur thought Oliver would have become a far greater actor.
"Of course, that's assuming she doesn't get crushed by me on set."
"Wasn't her acting acknowledged by Stella?"
"Who knows. That kid is desperate to stimulate my inferiority complex."
Arthur recalled the humiliation he experienced today.
The perfect indifference of letting his words go in one ear and out the other.
In his life, it was the first time a woman had treated him like this.
"Let's see if you can do the same on my home ground."
Arthur twisted his lips into a smile.
Seeing his green eyes gleaming fiercely in the reflected light, Oliver shrugged.
It seemed the fire had truly caught.
Oliver knew.
Arthur was the real deal.
Though overshadowed by Stella, he was the most intense flame he had ever seen.
A man with a flame that could one day even swallow starlight.
'Hopefully, it won't be boring this time.'
Oliver thought so and lay down on his bed.
He said that, but he also didn't have high expectations for the Korean drama.
The Korean dramas he knew were, as he said earlier, all female-oriented romances.
Just in case.
He was just thinking of a truly miraculous "if."
***
After the meeting for *Villain*, Seo-yeon's schedule was empty for a while again.
It was necessary to coordinate with Arthur's schedule before the full-fledged filming began.
Of course, the same went for Seo-yeon.
It was essentially like having two overlapping filming schedules.
On top of that, Seo-yeon was preparing for a meeting regarding the "drama adaptation of a web novel" that she had recently been contacted about.
'There are a lot of meetings lately.'
*Villain*, and *Seoul Escape*.
And the web novel adaptation drama *Flower of the Royal Palace*.
In order, she had to film *Seoul Escape* immediately after finishing *Villain*.
And the last would be *Flower of the Royal Palace*.
Fortunately, the filming schedules wouldn't overlap, but the meetings were all clustered together, making it completely chaotic.
'A drama adaptation of a web novel.'
Web novels.
Seo-yeon had consumed a lot of various creative works.
Web novels were definitely mixed in there.
Of course, since there were many aspects of emotions she couldn't grasp just from reading text, she hadn't read them that much.
The reason Seo-yeon consumed so many creative works was to imitate human emotions.
But there were limits to what she could learn from text.
Therefore, it was the same for the web novel that was the source material for the drama she was contacted about.
Her mother had liked it, but Seo-yeon had never actually read it.
'A modern royal romance drama.'
Just hearing it, nothing could be stranger.
If classified by web novel genre, it would be modern fantasy romance.
'Roughly, it's set in a Korea where the royal family never disappeared.'
Thinking about world history, it might not make sense, but aside from the royal family still existing, it's not significantly different from the modern world.
Perhaps because of that, you could assume a Prime Minister exists instead of a 'President', like in the UK or Japan.
'Well, it's a romance novel, so they don't go into detail about that.'
Seo-yeon read the novel overnight.
Honestly, when Seo-yeon read web novels, she usually preferred the Hunter genre.
She liked the process of easily destroying and winning, or the protagonist getting stronger.
But reading a romance today, it was quite entertaining.
She had appeared in many movies dealing with romance like *Dream Future* and *Gyeongseong Lady*, but the novel had descriptions of emotions that couldn't be understood just through video.
'The protagonist is the only princess of the current royal family.'
Her succession order for the throne was 3rd, which wasn't bad at all.
She had two older brothers, and the only princess was the female lead.
The story begins with talks of the princess's engagement.
'An engagement is discussed with the son of a chaebol family who desires the symbolism of the royal family, but the female lead, Princess Hwa-ryeon, arbitrarily gets engaged to a commoner youth.'
A young man she bumped into by chance at university.
Unaware that she was a princess, the princess puts an engagement ring on the finger of the young man who showed her kindness.
'…Well, near the ending, it's revealed that the young man's father had a grandfather who severed ties long ago. And that grandfather was actually from a chaebol family. And the male lead ends up inheriting that.'
She could have ended up with a normal person, but was it really necessary to make him a chaebol upon finding out?
Thinking about the main reader demographic being women, she figured it could be like that.
Furthermore, though the young man didn't remember, Princess Hwa-ryeon and the young man had met in childhood and were childhood friends.
He had forgotten, and only Princess Hwa-ryeon remembered.
That's why she could so readily put the engagement ring on him.
'I'm doing two projects back-to-back with Jung-woo sunbae.'
Conversely, Jo Seo-hee was also in *Villain*, so right now it felt like she was filming back-to-back twice with Jo Seo-hee.
Jo Seo-hee had originally declined to appear in *Villain* because she was busy.
"I'm going to do it."
"Didn't you say you were busy?"
"I, I feel like I have to."
It seemed she felt her position as a friend was threatened because of Stella's recent meteoric rise.
Thanks to that, Seo-yeon felt strangely like she was frequently appearing alongside the people around her.
"A princess…"
Park Jung-woo muttered with a somehow somber voice.
Today's meeting place was a cafe inside the broadcasting station.
The people they were meeting were the original web novel author and the scriptwriter.
And the director.
And the two lead actors.
Excluding Seo-yeon and Jung-woo, the rest hadn't arrived yet.
"Why?"
"T-that, it's nothing."
"Isn't it good because it's familiar?"
"…I'm not that familiar with it."
Seo-yeon tilted her head at Park Jung-woo's words.
Of course, Park Jung-woo sighed at Seo-yeon's reaction.
Seo-yeon probably didn't know.
What kind of interrogation he went through after the Viol commercial aired.
First, Jo Seo-hee and Lee Ji-yeon.
As soon as they returned from Japan, the two stormed into Park Jung-woo's agency.
"Tell me."
"The reaction was highly suspicious. If you spill your true feelings now, I'll let it slide."
Jung-woo felt wronged.
They would have shown the exact same reaction as him if Princess Yeonhwa Joo Seo-yeon appeared, yet they only interrogated him.
"No, our reaction would be different from yours."
"Lee Ji-yeon, well said. Right, we're different."
"How are you different?"
"We're her friends."
"There's also Stella's case."
"C-can you not compare her to such a brazen girl?"
"Right, Jo Seo-hee. I only realized I was a Confucian prude the moment she said that to Joo Seo-yeon."
Since when did Stella become a brazen girl?
Jung-woo sighed at the harsh evaluation of a famous overseas actor he had never even met once.
Anyway, he had to suffer for a long time at the hands of his younger female juniors.
And when he returned home.
"Ahem, Jung-woo. The commercial was quite a sight."
"Oh my, Jung-woo. Surely not? If it's like that, you have to tell Mom, you know?"
"…"
At home, the reactions were so painfully obvious.
It was sad.
He thought he had taken good care of himself, but did they really have so little faith in him?
"I think acting as a princess somewhat suits my taste."
"It doesn't."
"Why are you denying it, sunbae?"
"What actress says she fits the role of a princess well?"
Jung-woo was flustered by Seo-yeon casually spouting words that anyone hearing would think she had princess syndrome.
Sometimes, it felt like she had no sense of shame.
"Then does it not suit me?"
"…"
At Seo-yeon's question as she tilted her head, Park Jung-woo squeezed his eyes shut.
As an actor, he couldn't lie in a place like this.
"…It does, suit you well."
"See?"
Seeing Seo-yeon instantly look triumphant, Park Jung-woo grabbed his forehead.
I must be crazy.
To accept acting alongside Joo Seo-yeon in this drama.
But since his agency also received very positive reviews for the recent Viol commercial, they seemed to want him to act in a historical drama with Seo-yeon.
They said it had the effect of evoking memories of *Tae-sum-dal*.
There were also so many fans who wanted the two to appear in a historical drama together, so it ended up like this.
Of course, it couldn't be called a pure historical drama, though.
'…My head hurts.'
Thinking so, Park Jung-woo sighed again.
About 10 minutes passed like that.
"Ah, hello."
A woman with shrugged shoulders appeared first.
Seeing her, Seo-yeon immediately realized that she was the author of the web novel being adapted into a drama this time.
Because, in the high school photo of Young-bin and Su-ah that Seo-yeon had seen.
She looked exactly like the woman standing next to Young-bin with a faint smile in that photo.