"I'm definitely getting into the drama club, so please look kindly on me then!"
Around when lunch was ending, Min Ara left those words behind and returned.
Watching Seoyeon gaze at her retreating figure with satisfied eyes,
'Did being told she's good at games make her feel that good?'
Jiyeon tilted her head, thinking that.
For reference, Jiyeon knew that Seoyeon liked Vtubers, but she didn't know that Seoyeon wanted to do that herself.
'She's so serious about it.'
She was well aware that Seoyeon adored Ramiel, separately.
She had thought this for a while, but Seoyeon distinguished Ramiel and Jiyeon as different people.
Just like separately distinguishing a movie character and the actor.
Though she had come to realize Seoyeon's creepy(?) side once again through this recent commercial broadcast, by now she just took it in stride.
Ju Seoyeon being strange was nothing new.
"Ju Seoyeon."
"Hmm?"
"She seriously seems to want to become an actor?"
Those words were referring to Min Ara, who had just disappeared.
"So it seems."
And Seoyeon immediately understood what those words meant.
Splendid blonde hair.
A pretty appearance.
She had probably been asked by everyone whether she had ever considered becoming a celebrity.
If you looked only at her appearance, she certainly had potential, but.
'She's mixed-race.'
Her hair color was even blonde, and her appearance was closer to Western than Eastern.
If so, the roles she could take in domestic dramas were limited.
Since openings were scarce, even roles requiring mixed-race actors would be snatched up by existing mixed-race actors who were already active.
Breaking through that wall and squeezing in was an extremely difficult task.
'Yesterday I went home and carefully traced my memories, but still nothing comes to mind.'
If so, it meant she hadn't achieved anything significant as an actor.
In other words, her skills weren't at a level to break through that wall.
"...Hmm."
As a senior, she wanted to give sound advice, but nothing appropriate came to mind.
It wasn't as if she could tell her to give up because the acting path seemed a bit hard.
Or how about an idol?
But this too seemed difficult to decide on the spot...
"Well, don't think too deeply about it. Who knows what'll happen later, right?"
"Yeah."
Seoyeon nodded at Jiyeon's words, spoken with a shrug.
Those words were certainly right.
'Since I haven't exactly heard what that kid is thinking yet.'
Just from listening, she seemed serious about acting, but who knew.
Since she had been planning to visit the drama club anyway, it seemed good to watch Min Ara's acting then.
If Min Ara was outstanding not just in looks but also in acting skill...
'Then I'll have to think it over again.'
It was something she felt while watching Jo Seohui, but
there was nothing wrong with building a connection with a talented actor.
***
[Who Will Become the Second Child's Game?]
An article that had gone up this morning.
Its views increased rapidly in real time, and comments accumulated one by one.
It showed just how great the anticipation for recent OTT dramas was.
And that was only natural.
For the Korean entertainment industry, it was practically a seismic shift.
Until now, OTT dramas were something the broadcasting industry hadn't particularly felt the need to invest in.
Until now, their image was merely a place where previously aired works could be sold again.
But after
In particular, with the success of
and spared no investment to create a second
"Did you see the Hellbound PV they released this time?"
"Ah, I heard that one's based on a novel."
"
Walking down the street, one could occasionally hear such conversations.
Seoyeon, whose ears were especially sensitive, could hear them even more often when taking the subway like now.
'Both had subtle results.'
It wasn't at the level of saying they had flopped.
But compared to expectations, their performance was quite lackluster.
'And so a year passed.'
Korea spent that time without producing a proper hit,
and the public's interest cooled somewhat.
Until early next year, before
'What about Mine.'
It was a drama unprecedented in the past.
So she couldn't gauge to what extent its performance would be.
A chilly tension.
This was the emotion actors originally felt before releasing a work.
Until now, since she had only filmed works where success was more or less guaranteed, it was an emotion she hadn't been able to feel properly.
'If a movie filmed with such difficulty fails, it must be tearfully sad.'
Now Seoyeon felt like she could understand that.
Even though she hadn't failed yet, it felt as if she had.
As was always the case in the arts and creative fields.
Simply put, a work's degree of completion and a work's success were different matters.
Higher completion increased the probability of success, but it didn't lead to one-hundred-percent success.
For example, Director Jo Bangwoo's
It had a good script and was a good movie, but it had failed.
Actor scandals were part of the reason, but it was also because the public's expectations had dropped after his movies flopped in succession.
That issue remained even now, making it quite a worrisome topic for Seoyeon.
'The easiest method is...'
Continuing to maintain buzz.
In other words, if the actors appearing there were continuously exposed to the public, they would naturally harbor expectations for the next work.
In that sense,
'Mine has to do well for there to be a meaningful impact on
Of course, since it was a different work, the ripple effect might not be huge, but there would definitely be some.
[Netflix OTT Drama
The time remaining until the trailer release, decreasing in real time.
Now 25 hours.
Seoyeon waited for
She was inwardly nervous about what the public's reaction would be, but she was also looking forward to it.
More than anything.
'Seohui's acting.'
She wanted to see Seohui's re-filmed acting.
That was a truly sincere feeling without any falsehood.
***
"You're late because you took the subway."
"...."
Seoyeon sighed and looked at Park Jeongwoo as if he were absurd.
Was he telling her to take a taxi?
Of course, he probably didn't mean it that way.
In other words, why had she taken the subway instead of running?
'Just what does he think I am?'
Even being Seoyeon, if the distance was far, she used public transportation.
It wasn't as if she could fly.
And she wasn't about to run on the roads either.
Generally, running might be faster, but if it was too far, the subway was obviously faster.
"Senior Jeongwoo."
"Hmm?"
"I'm thinking of learning some self-defense. Do you want to learn with me?"
"...What?"
"Since I'm going to do it anyway, I thought it'd be nice to learn with someone I know."
Something like mixed martial arts.
Or kickboxing.
It was something she felt while doing action acting these days—learning one or two of those would be quite useful.
Furthermore, if she did it with Park Jeongwoo, she could hit him a few times under the guise of sparring.
"Ju Seoyeon."
"Yes?"
"Do lions train?"
"?"
"For the strong to train is cowardly."
"Is that so."
"You need to know that."
Park Jeongwoo said this in a quite serious tone.
It seemed the manhwa Seoyeon had recently lent him had been quite impressive.
'I shouldn't have lent it to him.'
Seoyeon tended to keep physical copies of manhwa and novels she liked.
For reference, she read them as e-books.
Park Jeongwoo preferred physical copies over e-books, as his stubborn personality suggested, so she had lent him the manhwa directly, but...
"Anyway, I'm going to sign up, so you should sign up too, Senior Jeongwoo."
"Why me of all people."
"I can't ask my friends, can I?"
'What? If friends get beaten up it's not okay, but if I get beaten up it is?'
Park Jeongwoo felt cold sweat form on his back at Seoyeon's strange words.
'Well, if she asked them to join, they would all run away.'
Jo Seohui probably would have joined her even while trembling, but Seoyeon wouldn't have wanted that.
"...I'll think about it if my schedule is clear."
"Got it."
Seoyeon nodded with a quite generous expression.
Seeing Seoyeon like that, Park Jeongwoo thought he shouldn't tease her too much for the time being.
"By the way, is there any actor from the
"There is, but it overlaps too much."
"Right, you already filmed twice in a row with Jo Seohui. If it's an actor you're close to... Narumi Sora?"
"There's no suitable role."
"Right, what we need now is a male actor."
The cast of
Director Jo Bangwoo had scraped together what he could through begging, but only a few supporting roles were filled.
Even if it was a work where the weight was dumped entirely on the protagonist from the start, this was quite serious.
'Wait, a male actor?'
Seoyeon suddenly thought of an actor worth bringing in.
A man who was resting after a recent injury.
His currently airing drama had recently ended, so his schedule was open.
"More importantly, what is today's Viol meeting for? Looking at the time, it doesn't seem like they intend to talk for very long."
"They probably want to see us once more before going to France."
For reference, the reason Seoyeon and Park Jeongwoo had met today was because there was something to discuss regarding the Viol official model contract.
The appointment time was six in the afternoon.
Roughly three hours from now.
The reason they had met three hours early was because they had matters regarding
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But when they actually met, there was one more thing to do.
Namely, buying clothes.
"At least prepare some clothes beforehand."
"Did I know an important figure was coming today?"
'Even so, you don't usually come in a school uniform.'
Park Jeongwoo swallowed those words.
He felt that if he said it unnecessarily, the number of sparring sessions would only increase by one.
'What good is a manager even for?'
Of course, the manager was currently swamped with Seoyeon's advertisement work.
So she had sent a separate text to Seoyeon.
'I didn't think she wouldn't even check it.'
Whether she had forgotten to check or was too lazy to look.
Anyway, Park Jeongwoo couldn't help but sigh at Seoyeon, who had come in her school uniform as always.
"Well, let's roughly organize our opinions and move then."
"Yes."
Fortunately, there was a department store near Viol's Korean headquarters, so shopping wasn't difficult.
"I can bring in roughly ten actors through my request."
"Isn't that too many?"
"Isn't it because you have too few?"
"I'm a high school student."
Only using age as a shield at times like this.
Park Jeongwoo clicked his tongue at those words.
'It's not exactly wrong, though.'
Honestly, he hadn't expected much.
Just how many people in the entertainment industry would Seoyeon know?
In this case, it was closer to relying on Jo Seohui's connections rather than asking Seoyeon.
'Since she'd refuse with a scoff if I asked.'
Jo Seohui was infinitely docile to Seoyeon, but to others she was an infinitely arrogant noble young lady.
Especially toward Park Jeongwoo, who was like the heir to a grand ducal house, she had a peculiar sense of rivalry and was even less inclined to listen.
"Still, there are two actors I can think of."
"'Can think of,' not that it's actually possible."
"The chances are high that they'll listen if I ask."
"Who?"
"Arthur Diaz."
"...."
At the all-too-familiar name, Park Jeongwoo's eyebrows twitched.
"No."
"Why?"
"There's no way he'd grant a request like that."
"I think it'd work if I asked Stella to put in a word."
"Don't think everyone is like you."
"...."
At those words, Seoyeon's face turned expressionless.
'Oops.'
At that moment, Park Jeongwoo realized the number of sparring sessions had increased by one.
Truly, his mouth had run away with him.