"Miss Jo Seo-hee."
Han Ye-geon stepped outside, calmly placing a cigarette between his lips as he spoke.
"You seem to be shaken lately, which is unlike you."
Unlike his quiet demeanor on set, his tone was relatively light.
Unlike the set where he gave off a sharp yet relatively calm impression, here he gave off an extremely rough, casual vibe.
However, Jo Seo-hee was rather more familiar with this side of him.
The Han Ye-geon she had seen when she was young was roughly like this.
Before he made his debut as a director.
When he was in college, helping his older brother with his work.
Before he revealed his genius.
When he first met the young Jo Seo-hee at the funeral parlor, it was exactly this kind of vibe.
Even though they bumped into each other occasionally after that, they never had a proper conversation.
In the first place, the incident at the funeral parlor was so long ago that she didn't even remember what happened then.
The gaze Han Ye-geon occasionally directed at her contained various emotions.
It should clearly be unfamiliar, yet it felt familiar.
"It probably isn't because of... recent events."
The anniversary of the genius actress Baek Seo-ran's death.
Too much time had passed for her to be shaken by that now.
Jo Seo-hee wasn't that weak of a person.
Rather, she was too strong a child.
So strong that she had never once stopped.
"Or is it a complex worry?"
"...You're quick to notice."
"If you aren't quick to notice, you can't survive in this industry."
Smiling faintly, he stroked his stubbly chin with his thumb.
"Today, you did well acting like a rich family's daughter. But, that's all."
Eyes like a hawk.
Jo Seo-hee felt it as she looked at Han Ye-geon's gaze directed at her.
"It seems you've developed the greed to perform better?"
"Yes."
"Well, filming constantly with actors your own age could naturally bring about such feelings."
A work that might soon reach ten million viewers.
It would be quite a monumental work for Jo Seo-hee as well.
Ever since she was young, Jo Seo-hee's acting was always followed by many words.
And those words were always praise.
Her acting was flawless.
As Amane Michiko, Jo Seo-hee's acting perfectly captured the image that fit the role.
"But the impact was a bit lacking. Both in the recent movie, and on today's set."
She knew it.
Jo Seo-hee's acting is textbook and hard to find fault with.
It had been like that since she was young, and it was the same now.
"But, I thought I needed to change."
"Is it because of Miss Seo-yeon?"
"Yes."
At Jo Seo-hee's words, not bothering to deny it, Han Ye-geon clicked his tongue.
He sometimes thought that Jo Seo-hee's personality was so straightforward there was no avoiding it.
She could at least hesitate a little sometimes here.
But it was visible.
Jo Seo-hee was currently conscious of Seo-yeon's acting.
"And, I also thought about it while watching actor Lee Ji-yeon's acting."
"The explosive power she showed, even if just for a moment."
"That's right. I didn't even have that."
It was a passionate performance on her part, but at that moment, she was definitely inferior to Lee Ji-yeon.
That was why she was even more troubled.
What she should do here to advance further.
"So, you imitated your mother's acting?"
"...You can even tell that?"
"I have good eyes. Me."
Han Ye-geon said, pointing to his own sharp eyes.
"To the point where I can instantly tell whose acting someone is mimicking."
"There's no way someone who can do that exists."
"Miss Ju Seo-yeon should be able to as well, right?"
"...That, might be true."
She thought that if it were Seo-yeon, she could.
She was special.
Simply outstanding physical abilities, acting that holds emotion.
Those were also incredibly important abilities, but Seo-yeon's greatest strength was her excellent observation skills.
...Of course, limited to what caught her interest.
Seo-yeon described her emotional acting as 'copying'.
In other words, it meant expressing it identically, like drawing a picture.
If that was truly the case, it meant she saw the picture once and copied it exactly as it was.
"Miss Seo-yeon does it often. I've seen the works she's appeared in so far. Her interviews as well."
Seo-yeon's acting often learned from the experiences of things she had done in her daily life.
Trivial experiences were reflected so easily in her acting.
Something like that shouldn't be that easy.
"A genius actor."
Han Ye-geon said, looking at Jo Seo-hee.
"The one who can chase that, in the end, can only be the same genius actor."
The 'genius' Jo Seo-hee had watched since she was young would be her mother.
That was why Jo Seo-hee wanted to act like her mother.
At Han Ye-geon's words, Jo Seo-hee let out a sigh.
"...Baek Seo-ran's daughter."
Words she had heard sickeningly often since she was young.
"That I must have inherited my mother's talent. The expectation that I would show such incredible acting always follows me."
In reality, Jo Seo-hee met those expectations to some extent.
Her career proved it.
"...So, I'm thinking of trying it this time."
She had thought of it after seeing Lee Ji-yeon's acting.
That it wouldn't be bad to try that.
Like her mother.
That she wanted to act like starlight.
Only then could she stand by Seo-yeon's side.
Like Stella.
As an equal.
"Hmm..."
Han Ye-geon exhaled cigarette smoke and spoke.
To be honest, it didn't seem like a very good method.
More than anything.
"Let's not practice on set."
"...I didn't particularly practice."
"The set is a place to do what you do well."
At those words, Jo Seo-hee had nothing to say.
However, in the end, all attempts had to be made on set.
Would Jo Seo-hee not practice at other times?
In the end, what you practiced had to be used in actual combat.
But from a director's standpoint, he wouldn't want that.
"...Yes, I understand."
At Jo Seo-hee's words, Han Ye-geon nodded slowly.
'I didn't specifically tell her not to do it. Though she probably didn't hear it that way.'
He wasn't particularly telling Seo-hee not to try anything new.
It literally meant to 'do what you do well'.
If she does something new well, who would say anything?
It's because she can't that he said that.
'I'll have to tell the investors in advance.'
That it might take a little more time.
Somehow, he had that premonition.
***
"You look fine compared to what I expected?"
As soon as filming ended, Seo-yeon arrived at the hospital where Sim Cheong-seok was admitted.
She had rushed over, but fortunately, he didn't seem to be severely injured.
"Phew, it's thanks to Ji-woo. ...And what do you mean compared to what you expected? I might look like this, but I'm aching inside."
As he slightly lifted his hospital gown, bruises could be seen here and there.
Seeing that, Seo-yeon's eyes darkened.
"...Can you explain what happened?"
"It's not difficult. Well, it was yesterday evening."
"Yesterday? Then why today..."
"I was out of my mind yesterday."
Sim Cheong-seok calmly continued.
Yesterday evening, late at night.
It was after finishing filming and heading back after having a drinking gathering together.
"Miss Ji-woo, your house isn't too far from here, right? I'll give you a ride."
"I-is that so? Then thankfully..."
Pyo Ji-woo answering with an awkward face.
At her appearance, Sim Cheong-seok felt a bit complicated.
She didn't seem to dislike it.
But it also didn't seem like she thought particularly highly of him.
"You've had a complicated expression all day today, did something happen?"
"Huh?"
"We're having a company dinner, and your face has constantly looked unwell."
"Ah, is... that so."
Pyo Ji-woo let out a sigh.
Looking at her face reminded him of when he had seen her in the past.
A woman with a relatively haggard and gloomy image.
Recently, Pyo Ji-woo felt similar to that time.
'Is it because of that guy Row.'
That was the only way he could think of it.
He had briefly heard before that his birthday was not far away...
'Hmm?'
When he thought so and came down to the underground parking lot, he saw a strange group.
People loitering around his car.
"Miss Ji-woo. Wait here for a moment."
Saying that, he approached the people around his car.
And then.
"Hey, what are you doing there..."
Just as he was saying that, he felt an impact on the back of his head.
Losing his balance, he collapsed onto the floor just like that.
Beating being inflicted along with the noisy chatter around him.
Sim Cheong-seok explained the events of that time quite vividly.
Including the curses they spat at the time.
"So I ended up like this."
"...Did it end with just you getting beaten?"
"I don't know."
"What?"
"I really just got beaten and that was it."
Seo-yeon narrowed her eyes and looked at him.
But what could he do when several people jumped him?
Wasn't he rather quite tough to only have this much damage?
"You said earlier you were okay thanks to Ji-woo unnie."
"I'm not okay, it's thanks to Miss Ji-woo that it's only this much."
Sim Cheong-seok didn't remember the events of that time well.
He was getting beaten like a dog, then he heard something like a scream, and the number of people hitting him gradually decreased.
Somehow protecting his face, when he opened his relatively fine eyes.
"A-are you okay?"
"Ah, yes, th-those guys?"
"I-I chased them away. I... used to do kendo, you see."
Does doing kendo make that possible?
Such a question arose, but anyway, it seemed she actually did chase them away.
In fact, even when asked, Pyo Ji-woo said she didn't know well either.
She just screamed and swung wildly, and the guys who attacked her ran away.
Hearing it, it didn't sound like a lie, and it seemed it really happened like that.
'...Shouldn't Ji-woo unnie become an action actress?'
Seo-yeon suddenly had that thought.
If she fought Sora with weapons, who would win?
With a sword, at least Ji-woo unnie would win, right?
"However, this is the important part."
"There's something more important than this?"
"Yeah, there is."
Sim Cheong-seok said he heard Pyo Ji-woo talking to someone on the phone outside the hospital room earlier.
From what he heard, it was presumed to be the person who hired the group that attacked Sim Cheong-seok.
"It's Row."
"Probably."
"What did Ji-woo unnie say?"
"Hmm, her eyes were quite murderous. Similar to when she glared at that... guy before."
She looked ready to swallow a person whole.
In Sim Cheong-seok's opinion, the men ran away out of human instinct upon seeing the 'real deal'.
"She said she would go on 'that day' if she wanted to."
"That day..."
"I'm thinking it's probably that guy's birthday."
At those words, Seo-yeon fell into thought for a moment.
Seo-yeon hadn't received any separate contact from Row.
However, considering that Jo Seo-hee had been contacted, the probability that 'that day' meant Row's birthday was high.
'It's a guess, but the probability that this attack is also related to him is high.'
Probably, Pyo Ji-woo kept refusing to go to the birthday.
Since Sim Cheong-seok had said that she was suspicious of Row.
So, Row likely jumped to the conclusion that it was because of Sim Cheong-seok, who was sticking by her side.
Therefore, he tried to beat him up and deal with him when he was alone.
Having learned that fact, Pyo Ji-woo went to negotiate with Row so this wouldn't happen again.
Or, she went because she was threatened.
'...'
However, something bothered her a little.
Did they really just intend to beat up Sim Cheong-seok and threaten him?
Or else.
"...Ju Seo-yeon?"
Sim Cheong-seok, who was watching Seo-yeon quietly lost in thought, swallowed dry saliva.
'Isn't her eyes turning red?'
Sometimes that happened when she was acting.
But now, it was different from then.
Seo-yeon's face, which was usually expressionless, was colder now than ever before.
Honestly, considering Seo-yeon's personality, he thought her emotions would definitely show on her face.
'Because she's surprisingly a child full of emotions.'
What Sim Cheong-seok had felt while watching Seo-yeon was that her emotional expressions were clearer than one might think.
She was just expressionless because she was awkward at expressing her emotions herself.
Seo-yeon was pure, and a child who revealed her emotions very clearly.
Because of that, he couldn't help but know within this coldness.
This emotion that pierced like an awl.
"I understand."
"...What?"
Sim Cheong-seok asked in a tone mixed with tension, uncharacteristic of him.
It was pointless to say this, but Seo-yeon right now was scarier than the guys who attacked him back then.
"What it means to be truly angry."
Seo-yeon had found it difficult to empathize with Jin Yeon-seo in
Because she was a protagonist of the type she disliked.
She was different from Cha Seo-ah.
Because she didn't know.
Because she had a condition called alexithymia, she thought it was acceptable to do evil things.
Perhaps, because she had the thought that she might have become like that too.
But Jin Yeon-seo was different.
She could feel emotions perfectly fine, and she learned unfamiliar emotions one by one as she lived.
Even though she had a bad childhood, weren't the ones who raised her proper parents?
But her actions were cruel.
She absolutely didn't leave alive anyone who attacked her.
From the start of the movie to the end, Jin Yeon-seo was constantly angry.
Yes, constantly.
'Except for the moments she met her family.'
And now.
Seo-yeon felt like she understood why Jin Yeon-seo acted that way.
Very occasionally.
She realized that there existed a breed of people to whom common sense and laws did not apply.
***
"I heard Shine Moon is holding an event today?"
"It's Row's birthday, so it seems there are a lot of events and such."
The street in front of Shine Moon was dominated by a considerable crowd.
The members of 'Just X' were outside, lightly exchanging greetings with people.
Well, it was their leader Row's birthday.
It was impossible for them not to be here.
'Damn it.'
Ma Yeon-woo smiled and greeted the people while cursing inwardly.
'This isn't right.'
The place he belonged was always the stage, not a place like this.
Greeting fans was fine, but something felt off.
Among those coming to the club today were plenty of VIPs.
When that time came, it would feel like becoming a clown.
His head already hurt.
'Did they say the birthday party starts at 10 PM today?'
His exact birthday was tomorrow.
But since they were holding a big event right at midnight, the admission time itself was 10 PM.
Probably, the VIPs would arrive around that time.
The people in the club right now were the staff busy preparing for the event.
And a large number of people who were acquaintances of Row.
'I think she was called Pyo Ji-woo.'
The woman who entered the club earlier with a murderous look on her face.
Because her face looked exceptionally bad, Ma Yeon-woo remembered her too.
There were still four hours left until the event, yet she arrived early.
'Sigh, she must have gotten on Row hyung's bad side.'
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Shouldn't he stop her?
Should he go in later and sneakily pull her out?
He was having such thoughts when.
"Huh?! What's that?"
"Whoa!!! No way, is it real?"
The murmuring voices of people could be heard.
Wondering what they were saying, he turned his gaze and saw a girl walking towards them.
A black dress.
A familiar look, as if he had seen her somewhere before.
'The Villain poster.'
Yes, she looked exactly like the girl from the poster.
It couldn't be otherwise.
Because the person who played Jin Yeon-seo, the protagonist of
"Ju Seo-yeon?"
Flustered, Ma Yeon-woo accidentally blurted out his inner thoughts.
Thanks to that, Ri-hyeon, another member of Just X who was nearby, lightly whistled.
"Wow, Row hyung is impressive. He even called Ju Seo-yeon?"
True to his womanizing nature, Ri-hyeon's gaze looking at Seo-yeon was already not good.
Ma Yeon-woo glared at Ri-hyeon like that, then approached Seo-yeon.
Anyway, Shine Moon was a club, so there was nothing good about being seen by people's eyes.
However.
"Hello. We have a shoot for
Saying that, Seo-yeon walked in, pushing through the crowd.
The people who heard that exchanged glances and tilted their heads in confusion.
"At Shine Moon?"
"Well, her outfit is exactly like the poster."
"But what about the other actors?"
"Did she come first?"
"But didn't they say there's an event today?"
"Well, she's a minor. Maybe she just dropped in for a quick greeting."
"Right, if it's Just X, that could happen."
It was a bit strange, but given her outfit, people only took pictures and no one really tried to stop her.
Actually, before anyone could grab her, Ma Yeon-woo had run out to stop her.
"Hey, what are you doing? Are you crazy? What shoot? I haven't even heard such a thing!"
When he whispered to Seo-yeon in a small voice, she looked at Ma Yeon-woo with a gaze that seemed to find him unexpected.
"You don't look like you're in a very good mood."
"How could I be! More importantly, hurry up and go back, seriously. If you stay here, you'll just get tangled up with bad guys for nothing."
"No, it's fine. Please tell Row that I'm here."
"...What? Were you invited?"
"No."
Seo-yeon wasn't invited.
However, if she said she was here, Row would definitely tell her to come inside.
Because he was that kind of man.
"...You're not planning to cause some kind of accident inside, are you?"
Ma Yeon-woo said to Seo-yeon out of worry.
He knew to some extent that Seo-yeon was quite strong, but that was about it.
He couldn't even imagine she could do anything beyond that.
At those words, Seo-yeon quietly looked at Ma Yeon-woo.
"It's fine."
"...Really?"
"Yes."
Seo-yeon smiled brightly.
A soft, yet strangely chilly smile.
"Because being famous can sometimes be safer instead."
There were various reasons.
The name value of Just X.
And if she, a minor, openly walked inside, there would be fewer people who would suspect her.
'I also told Seo-hee.'
Of course, because of that, she was getting constant calls right now... but this was just an insurance policy.
'More than anything.'
Whatever happened inside wouldn't leak outside anyway.
Since they didn't know what problems would arise if such information was left behind, there probably wouldn't be any means for information to remain in the first place.
Row was that kind of guy.
Actually, it was the same when the Shine Moon incident broke out.
The police who investigated said.
Except for one suspicious place, there were no records left inside.
'Because I plan to resolve it as peacefully as possible.'
Yes, as much as possible.