Ju Seoyeon, eighteen!!
Of course, the new semester hadn't started yet, so she wasn't quite a second-year high school student.
'Next year, I should act a bit more like a proper senior.'
This year, even she felt she'd been running around rather frantically.
She hadn't been like this in middle school; maybe the reins had come loose now that she was a high schooler.
"How's the filming for *Mine* going?"
Sua asked as if curious.
An OTT drama that GH Group was pouring all its efforts into recently.
It could be said that it was a drama currently receiving considerable public attention.
Naturally, Sua seemed quite interested as well.
She'd heard that Sua had recently binge-watched *Child Game*.
"Couldn't Seoyeon also hit it big like *Child Game*?"
"Somehow, I think that might be difficult."
Honestly, even half of that would be an unprecedented success.
In the case of *Mine*, there was much that even Seoyeon couldn't gauge regarding its performance.
Well, after all, in her previous life, it was a work that had never even made it out into the world.
The initial plan was a movie.
But it was a plan that had naturally fizzled out as its release was postponed.
'The works I'm appearing in this year all seem to be in similar situations.'
The works she had previously appeared in had small problems, but they were works with enough potential to soar once those problems were resolved.
No, they weren't failures to begin with.
Because all of them had achieved a certain level of viewership ratings.
*The Chaser*, of course, and *Dream Future*, *Sky Garden*.
And finally, *Gyeongseong Lady*.
They were all works that hadn't exploded as 'blockbusters,' but had at least scored moderate hits.
Since she'd filled in the gaps with her own presence, she could more or less predict that they would do better than in the past.
Not because she was so great, but because she'd prevented problems that had occurred in the past beforehand.
But the works scheduled for this year were different.
*Mine* was a work that hadn't even made an appearance to begin with.
*Seoul Escape* was the worst kind of work, one that had even taken the director's life.
*Flower of the Imperial Palace* was a work that the adaptation writer had completely ruined, landing it the spot of worst drama of the year.
'At least with *Flower of the Imperial Palace*, if it's improved, the results will change greatly.'
What about *Seoul Escape*?
The script over there had been good too.
But since the results were literally smashed to pieces, she felt there might be other problems.
At least, since she was appearing alongside Park Jeongwoo, she thought the two of them might be able to do something about it.
After all, it was true that Park Jeongwoo had a good eye for projects.
She just hoped he hadn't agreed to appear in *Princess Yeonhwa* because he'd been swayed by it.
'He's suspicious, that guy.'
Hmm.
Seoyeon crossed her arms and fell into thought.
Why does someone so weak to *Princess Yeonhwa* treat her like this?
Sometimes when she thought about it, it felt like he was treating her like a yellow mutt kept in the yard.
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"Can our yellow mutt do this too?"
"Wow, it catches chickens too. It can even hunt."
Isn't that the feeling?
No matter how much it was Seoyeon, anyone would have their pride hurt at that point.
'Anyway.'
Since she had two projects scheduled with Park Jeongwoo this year, she thought they might be able to cover for things somewhat with star power.
She had that thought too.
'I suppose this is the mindset ordinary actors have when joining a project.'
To begin with, no one can know a project's performance.
Just having a certain amount of information, as she did, was a huge advantage in itself.
"But what about Suyeon?"
"She went to play with Yuna."
"Is that so?"
Hearing the name Yuna, she nearly flinched for a moment. It wasn't that she disliked her, but she found herself becoming self-conscious upon hearing the name.
That side too, come to think of it, this year…….
'I'll know when the time comes.'
Compared to her previous life, Han Yuna was practically a different person.
Unlike her previous life's mother, 'she' looked very happy now.
And Yuna was the same.
So probably, the kind of things she worried about wouldn't happen.
"Anyway."
Seoyeon roughly shoved food into her mouth and spoke.
"Seohui seems to have a lot of worries lately."
"Seohui? What should I say about that child. Isn't she not the type to waver easily?"
"That's what I think too."
Sua had seen Seohui once before.
As a friend, she'd come over to Seoyeon's house once.
Once after *Gyeongseong Lady* was released.
How much she'd cared about her image then.
Sua remembered that appearance well because it had been rather cute.
'She was a really spiteful child when she was young.'
Incidentally, Sua also remembered her first meeting with Seohui.
Sua had been at the recording set back then.
Because young Seoyeon had scurried over to her mother upon hearing the 'parachute' remark.
"Mom, she called me a parachute."
"What?! How could she do that to my daughter!! Mom will go give her a piece of my mind!!"
Seeing her mother speak so majestically, Seoyeon had been satisfied by that sight and stopped her mother moderately.
"Seohui has already achieved so much, but isn't she pushing herself too hard?"
Of course, unlike back then, now that Seohui had become her daughter's friend, Sua too had things she worried about regarding her.
Unlike her steel-like daughter, Seohui was an ordinary girl.
She worried that pushing herself so hard might make her fall ill somewhere.
'Achieved so much.'
Jo Seohui.
A genius actress at seventeen.
Before Seoyeon appeared, that modifier had belonged to Seohui.
Now that modifier had transferred to Seoyeon, but there were still many people who placed Seohui above her.
After all, Seohui had won the Best Actress Award at an age younger than Seoyeon.
And even now, when walking around the city, there were more of Seohui's ads than hers.
Compared to her previous life, the situation was already far superior.
'What was Jo Seohui like in the previous life……?'
She hadn't been bad then either.
Though she'd received terrible reviews in *Taesumdal* and couldn't promote properly for a while, she'd eventually made a comeback.
Even so, she hadn't reached the level of being called the best among her peers as she was now.
'At least she was active until a year ago.'
That 'year ago' was until the time of her death in her previous life.
Thinking about it that way, there was a one-year blank period.
She'd found it a bit odd that an actress who'd been promoting hard had rested for a whole year, but at the time she hadn't thought deeply about it.
It wasn't such a strange thing for an actress to take a year or two off.
Back then, Seohui's age had probably been early or mid-twenties?
At that age, she might have wanted to rest a bit.
"Come to think of it, didn't you say Seohui is the daughter of actress Baek Seoran?"
"Ah, yes."
"Hoho, Mom didn't really watch Korean dramas, but there was one drama I watched in high school."
"Is that the drama actress Baek Seoran appeared in?"
"That's right. She was really amazing back then."
At that time, Baek Seoran had been an actress around the same age as Sua.
The entire nation had been mesmerized by that actress's performance.
The highest ratings had exceeded 40 percent.
A time when the whole school had been abuzz with talk about it.
An era when Baek Seoran would pop up every time you changed the channel.
"Having such a mother…… I think Seohui would be ambitious."
"Ambitious, you say."
"Wouldn't she think she wants to become such an actress too? Children usually take after their parents."
"That's true."
"Actually, Seohui resembles actress Baek Seoran a lot."
"Is that so?"
This was rather unexpected.
Because it wasn't something she'd heard often, that Seohui resembled Baek Seoran.
"Especially her appearance. Her face is practically a carbon copy of actress Baek Seoran's overall."
"I see."
"Her confident personality is similar to Baek Seoran's too."
Having said that, Sua looked at Seoyeon and let out a light sigh.
"I wish our daughter took after her mom's personality, but she took after her dad……."
Wait, saying she took after her dad here?
Seoyeon glared at Sua with a sharp gaze.
She did think her frantic demeanor was definitely influenced by Yeongbin!
But hearing it directly was another matter.
Her original self had been someone calm and composed in everything.
'……Anyway.'
As Sua said, Seohui had seemed a bit impatient lately.
Ever since *Gyeongseong Lady* ended.
To the point where an obsession to show more of herself was visible.
'Hmm~.'
Seoyeon crossed her arms and worried.
And arrived at one answer.
Of course, it wasn't such a great answer.
***
The filming set of *Mine*.
Now the filming was almost two-thirds finished.
It could practically be called the latter half.
At this pace, they could wrap up within two weeks and release it immediately once the special effects work was finished.
If it had been a TV drama, they would have set the broadcast date right now.
Since an OTT drama was new to Seohui too, she couldn't help but click her tongue at the fast progress.
"Seohui."
Just as she finished her makeup and came out, Seoyeon spoke to her, having arrived at some point.
A pitch-black dress.
Her eyes were still a brown with hints of red, but they'd turn red once filming began.
And at her waist hung a red firefighter's axe.
"Hmm, so this is the look from the poster? Not bad?"
"So there wasn't much makeup to do."
"……I suppose so."
Overall, Jin Yeonseo's image was similar to Seoyeon's usual image.
A cold and cynical feeling.
From outward appearance alone, a girl with a cold impression that made the character difficult to approach.
So without much makeup, just wearing the clothes made her look exactly like the character Jin Yeonseo.
"Seohui, your image has changed a bit?"
"Hm? Ah, this?"
Seohui touched her face.
Compared to before, she probably had a stronger melancholic impression.
"Well, the character Hong Seha becomes more haggard as things go on."
"That's right. A character obsessed with revenge."
"So I asked them to reflect that aspect."
Thicker makeup too.
Perhaps because of the eyeliner, her eyes gave a slightly drooping feeling.
If she tilted her lips a bit, the melancholic impression came alive.
"Like this."
And she made an expression fitting the makeup.
It was an expression she'd practiced several times in the mirror before Seoyeon came.
Recalling the face of the woman who had looked so wronged in her dream, Seohui had tried to imitate it.
Surprisingly, it matched the vision from her dream quite well, so she was satisfied.
"How is it? Not bad?"
As she spoke and asked, for some reason Seoyeon tilted her head and rested her chin on her fist, falling deep into thought.
"What's wrong?"
"No, it just feels like I've seen it somewhere."
"Well, it is my face, so of course it feels familiar."
"No, that's not it……."
Seoyeon said so and reached out with both hands, suddenly grabbing Seohui's head.
At that sudden action from Seoyeon, Seohui flinched.
It was natural, since Seoyeon of all people had grabbed her head.
"Hmmmm."
"Wh-what are you doing. Let go and speak."
Seoyeon slightly pulled down the corners of Seohui's eyes with her thumbs and touched her nose and lips this way and that.
As if checking something.
"……I didn't get plastic surgery."
"Of course you didn't."
Just what was she doing.
Seoyeon said so and removed her hands.
Seohui recalled the moment when a bear's front paw had been placed on her shoulder.
It was exactly the same feeling.
Would people know that those small two hands were as dangerous as a bear's front paws?
"Don't be too nervous during today's filming."
"Hmph, I'm not nervous."
At Seoyeon's words, Seohui replied petulantly, her pride secretly hurt.
No matter what, it wasn't to the point where she'd hear that from Seoyeon yet.
'……It's a lie though.'
She knew herself that she'd been shaken lately.
Even knowing there was no need to push herself, she was getting strangely impatient.
She wanted to do like the other actors around her.
Even knowing she hadn't been born with star-like talent, she wanted to become that way.
'Lee Jiyeon showed it too.'
Right now, Lee Jiyeon was practicing to perform the acting she'd shown for that one moment as part of her daily routine.
Then she'd surely become a frightening rival.
As if she'd found her path, Lee Jiyeon was improving day by day.
While training hard in secret from Seoyeon.
She probably intended to show Seoyeon properly the next time they filmed together.
In that way, as Seoyeon stared intently at Seohui.
And as Seohui composed herself in her own way.
Filming began in earnest.
"Today we have two main parts to film. The chase scene and the conversation part between Hong Seha and Adam."
American superpowered individuals raid the stronghold where Hong Seha was staying.
They'd realized that it was Hong Seha who had been helping her until now.
And Jin Yeonseo, who belatedly learned this fact, hurriedly turned back to where Hong Seha was.
In that process, the American superpowered individuals followed in pursuit.
"And immediately after that chase scene, the conversation part between Hong Seha and Adam."
A man who had worked at Korea's superpower research institute in the past.
Adam Lowell.
Son of Henry Lowell, a superpower expert dispatched from America.
And the one who became a researcher to help him.
Now, having obtained the mighty power of superpowers in his hands, he stood as the strongest enemy blocking them.
"It's an important scene. Both parts we're filming today are important. But among them, Hong Seha's part is a bit more important."
An important scene.
Han Yegeon put strong emphasis on those words.
If he said it was important, it was truly an important scene.
For this scene, Hong Seha's passionate performance was needed.
Because it was, in effect, the scene where her narrative arc was completed.
The chase scene was an important part that showcased the drama's entertainment value, but the Hong Seha part was a section directly connected to the drama's overall quality.
"Hong Seha has been chasing the group that killed her parents. At that time, the group of superpowered individuals that attacked her parents who were investors. Hong Seha asks Adam who they are."
And Adam says.
"'What, so that's what you were looking for…… So that's what it was. You've certainly come a long way.'"
While saying the lines, Han Yegeon explained the general feeling of how Arthur should act.
A scornful feeling.
However, the ridicule shouldn't be solely directed at Hong Seha, but had to reveal a twisted emotion that was also directed at himself.
It was only natural.
"'It was my first mission. So, I got a bit excited.'"
This reveals that it was Adam who killed Hong Seha's parents.
"And it's at this moment. Hong Seha, who has frequently shown a calm demeanor until now, explodes emotionally."
What sort of reaction would Hong Seha show, having found the enemy of her parents whom she'd searched for so long right before her eyes?
Naturally, she rushes at him in fury.
That explosion of emotion was what Jo Seohui had to show in this filming.
'……Will she.'
Han Yegeon, having explained up to that point, looked at Jo Seohui, who was now steadying her emotions.
The makeup was quite decent, but he was a bit worried whether she could pull off the acting, which was another matter.
Deep emotional acting had originally been a somewhat weak area for Seohui.
Her strength lay in clean acting, but this kind of emotional acting didn't come alive through cleanliness alone.
Seohui surely knew that fact too.
So she must have devised her own methods.
'I see.'
He recalled how she'd been trying to perform her mother's acting on set recently.
He felt he roughly knew the reason.