Min Seo-ho's active stalker, Pyo Ji-woo.
With only the obsession of getting close to him, she prepared for an acting career for a year.
Not content with just successfully debuting, she eventually made it onto the same stage as him.
True to a newcomer brimming with talent, she even managed to infiltrate Min Seo-ho's team in 'Close Your Eyes.'
As if that wasn't enough? With her aggressive appeal, she ultimately snagged the girlfriend position.
It could truly be called the tear-jerking success story of a stalker.
The problem was what came after.
It occurred when Min Seo-ho's complicated relationships with women were revealed.
'The number of women Min Seo-ho is currently dating is a whopping five.'
Even for octopus legs, there are no octopus legs like this.
At this point, isn't this practically a girlfriend for each day of the week?
On top of that, he practically lived in clubs during his free time with friends.
Pyo Ji-woo knew he frequented clubs, but she never imagined he'd be a five-timing octopus.
The result was exactly as mentioned before—it ended with a Sword Master ending.
"......You're here?"
"Y-yeah."
Even if I say I approached her because she seemed prickable, it's a fact that Pyo Ji-woo had laid her hands on someone.
Naturally, I couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy about it.
I surreptitiously scanned Pyo Ji-woo up and down.
That was because I was worried she might have brought a weapon.
'Fortunately, there's nothing suspicious.'
Come to think of it, Pyo Ji-woo doesn't even carry a bag.
Mostly jeans and an ordinary shirt.
Actually, it's more masculine fashion than feminine.
"Why are you, why are you in a school uniform?"
"Because I came right after school ended."
What kind of obvious question is that?
I'm an active high school girl, so naturally wearing a uniform is obvious.
'......Separately, there's also the fact that my wardrobe at home is limited.'
Mom's hobby is grooming my appearance.
Various appearance management is basic.
Naturally, she pays a lot of attention to clothing as well.
So my closet has quite a lot of bright clothes that I didn't choose.
Because of that, the most reliably wearable outfit is my school uniform.
Joo Seo-yeon, 17 years old, still at the age of wearing clothes picked by parents......
"There's something I've been curious about since before."
"Yes."
"Youu......, do you know you're looking at me with really uncomfortable eyes?"
"You're mistaken."
Anyway, I walked about 1 meter apart from Pyo Ji-woo.
A distance where I could respond at any time if anything happened.
At my words, Pyo Ji-woo swept her surroundings with that characteristically gloomy expression.
"And why here of all places? ......You don't look like a kid who'd come to a place like this...."
"That's."
I considered explaining in more detail, but shook my head.
Showing directly would explain it anyway.
If I needlessly explained with words, she might jump at me claiming it was defamation.
"Let's go first."
The place we're currently at is an entertainment district in Gangnam.
It was a place our lead actor Min Seo-ho regularly frequented.
***
Pyo Ji-woo frowned as she watched Seo-yeon's back walking ahead.
Long black hair.
Extremely few changes in expression, a doll-like beautiful appearance.
'To come here in a school uniform.'
As such Seo-yeon strode through Gangnam's entertainment district at this hour, gazes naturally gathered.
The current time was 10:30 PM.
With a high school girl roaming the entertainment district at this hour, she couldn't help but stand out.
An appearance growing from girl to woman.
At that beauty, men's gazes could be seen moving to chase after Seo-yeon walking carelessly.
An innate aura.
Is that what a born actor is like.
Pyo Ji-woo's appearance is nothing to sneeze at either.
That's why she does acting work.
While there is demand for actors with unique appearances, ultimately being good-looking is better in anything.
Ugliness can be covered with makeup, but the reverse is usually impossible.
In that sense, Seo-yeon was an opponent who thoroughly rubbed Pyo Ji-woo the wrong way.
Because she stimulated her inferiority complex.
Even Seo-yeon herself seemed to feel reluctant about her, but for Pyo Ji-woo as well, she wasn't a comfortable opponent.
Because of that, she was rather curious about 'why' Seo-yeon had called her out to this place.
'Somehow.'
An uneasy feeling.
With such thoughts, Pyo Ji-woo followed behind Seo-yeon.
"Shh."
Seo-yeon raised her hand briefly to signal to wait.
"This way."
What Seo-yeon guided her to was an alley near a certain club.
Seeing people lining up to enter, it seemed to be quite a famous place.
'Why a place like this?'
While having such doubts, she quietly waited.
Feeling her heart beating restlessly.
And then.
As if proving that anxiety, a group appeared.
Two men, three women.
They seemed to be acquainted with the staff guarding the club entrance, even raising their hands in greeting.
At first she didn't recognize him.
His outfit wasn't what he usually wore, and he had on a black mask.
"......!!"
However, the moment the man pulled down his mask toward the entrance staff.
Pyo Ji-woo covered her mouth with both hands.
Because it was none other than Min Seo-ho.
He was laughing with his arm around one woman's waist.
Furthermore, another woman was clinging to Min Seo-ho as well.
A sight that clearly didn't look like ordinary relationships.
Click.
What awakened Pyo Ji-woo, whose mind had gone blank, was the small sound of a camera.
When she turned her head, she saw Seo-yeon taking pictures of Min Seo-ho.
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you......! K-k-knew?"
"Yes."
"H-how?"
Pyo Ji-woo knows most of Min Seo-ho's lifestyle patterns.
How could Seo-yeon know about Min Seo-ho's secret private life that even Pyo Ji-woo didn't know?
"Hmm, by chance?"
She couldn't say she knew because of her past life.
How could she say that this very club was the one Min Seo-ho frequented and where Pyo Ji-woo had rampaged.
"G-g-g-g-grrrrr!!!"
Pyo Ji-woo, who had been dazed for a moment, tried to burst out of the alley.
No, tried to go out.
If Seo-yeon hadn't grabbed Pyo Ji-woo's waist and pulled her back.
'W-what s-s-strength!'
She'd felt it before, but no matter how she tried to shake her off and go, she didn't budge.
Having given up, Pyo Ji-woo screamed.
"W-why did you show me something like this!! Why, why are you doing this. To me!"
It would have been better not to know.
Tears flowed naturally.
She could see Min Seo-ho entering the club.
She wanted to direct that anger at Seo-yeon......, but with the strength holding her waist, she couldn't bring herself to say anything.
If Seo-yeon threw her with a whoosh, she felt like she'd fly into the air.
So Pyo Ji-woo could only struggle to speak rebelliously.
"Why, why are you doing this to me."
And so Pyo Ji-woo felt the tears streaming down again.
As she watched Min Seo-ho entering the club entrance with tears flowing.
Seo-yeon let out a low sigh.
"......Actor Min Seo-ho was your goal, wasn't he?"
"S-so what's wrong with that?"
"It's not wrong, but can you still think that way after seeing that?"
"......"
This is what Seo-yeon was saying.
Later, even if things worked out well, if you learned this truth, would you be able to stay still?
Besides, Pyo Ji-woo originally started acting because of Min Seo-ho.
If she didn't know, she would continue to waste time in vain.
At the very least, her acting purpose shouldn't become Min Seo-ho.
'And that incident too.'
Actually, if it weren't for the Sword Master incident, she wouldn't have thought of going this far.
This wasn't for Min Seo-ho.
It was entirely for the talented actor, Pyo Ji-woo.
"Uwaaaah!"
While Pyo Ji-woo was crying with wailing sounds.
"Hey."
A man who looked quite burly approached the two.
He alternated his gaze between the crying Pyo Ji-woo and Seo-yeon holding a smartphone, then spoke.
"Miss, you took something earlier, right? I saw it. Let me see your phone for a moment."
At the man's words, Seo-yeon briefly scanned the surroundings.
It wasn't a situation where attention had particularly gathered yet.
It seemed club guards were on standby because such incidents were frequent around here.
"Ji-woo unni."
"U-uuh??"
"When I give the signal, run."
A signal? What does that mean?
While having such thoughts. The man who appeared to be a club guard strode over.
The club guard belatedly saw Seo-yeon's appearance and opened his eyes wide.
'A celebrity?'
She had the looks to make him think that.
If she hadn't been wearing a uniform, he would have told her she could enter for free without paying.
However, separately from that, it was certain she had filmed the entrance just now, so he needed to confirm.
"Right, just quietly hand over the phone......"
At those words, when Seo-yeon extended her hand, the moment he thought she was naturally giving the phone.
He felt Seo-yeon's palm touch his chest.
"Huh?"
Then, the scenery changed in an instant.
The club guard belatedly realized his body had been pushed back and fallen.
Seo-yeon had forcefully pushed him with her palm.
With merely that action, the nearly 190cm tall man was pushed back several meters.
Though he had let his guard down, it was impossible strength from a girl.
It felt like being forcefully shoved by a man of a similar weight class.
"Now."
And Seo-yeon immediately grabbed Pyo Ji-woo's hand and ran.
Actually, Pyo Ji-woo was closer to being dragged along.
While the club guard was flustered and getting up.
Seo-yeon and Pyo Ji-woo were already putting distance between them.
"Hah, hah."
Pyo Ji-woo, who had unexpectedly cried and sweated, panted as she sat on a nearby bench.
Seeing Seo-yeon without a single drop of sweat, Pyo Ji-woo found it absurd.
'What is with this kid?'
Are all high school girls these days like this?
Surely that can't be.
Because of what had just happened, she wanted to say something, but now no thoughts came at all.
She was just blank.
"Wha, ......what do I do now?"
Though her intentions were impure, she had sacrificed a year to do acting work.
She mostly had nothing she was good at, but she thought perhaps she actually had a talent for acting.
If things had worked out well with Min Seo-ho, she thought it would be good to continue this work.
But now she didn't even have that motivation.
"Why, why did you show me this?"
She asked again.
The reason Seo-yeon特意 told her the truth about Min Seo-ho.
Seo-yeon glanced at the dazed Pyo Ji-woo.
Her original intention was because she didn't want Pyo Ji-woo to commit the same acts as in the past.
And the reason she thought that was.
"......It's a waste."
"Huh?"
"You said you did it for a year."
Pyo Ji-woo is an actress overflowing with talent.
The time she had spent to act in a play with Min Seo-ho was one year.
Yes, merely one year.
"I thought you had incredible talent. So......"
Surprisingly, it took only one year for her to be cast in a movie.
She was an actress with that much remarkable talent.
"I thought it would be a waste to quit over something like this."
"......"
"Because something bad might happen over a p-person like that."
At Seo-yeon's words, Pyo Ji-woo looked at Seo-yeon without a word.
Somehow an awkward face.
Looking carefully, she seemed to be embarrassed to say such things.
Because she was normally so expressionless and had thin emotional expression, that part stood out even more.
"That's just, all there is to it."
With those words, Seo-yeon left.
Pyo Ji-woo could only watch Seo-yeon's retreating back until the end.
Silently, without a word.
***
"So."
Lee Ji-yeon asked with a fascinated expression.
"So what happened to Actor Min Seo-ho?"
"He stepped down."
Of course, Seo-yeon hadn't separately reported to the police.
A few days after that, Seo-yeon received a call that she had passed the audition.
After that, at the meeting with Jo Do-yul, she casually brought up what had happened then.
"......This, photo. Is it real?"
"Yes. Someone I know, an unni took it and showed me."
"Ha......"
Jo Do-yul shook his head as if his head ached.
Generally, plays have two to three actors even for the same role.
Performances scheduled in a day are usually two to three times, and it's impossible for the same actor to perform all of them.
It was the same for 'Close Your Eyes,' so there were three actors for the role of 'Bae Seong-hak.'
For reference, this audition was to cast the role of 'Hong Jeong-hee' for the part where Min Seo-ho was the lead.
Since the previous two teams were conducted with the remaining ones among those who participated in the original production.
Because one team was short, it was an audition that placed Min Seo-ho, who had played Bae Seong-hak, as the lead, and recruited the rest.
"We'll have to find a new actor for the Bae Seong-hak role too......"
A sigh came out.
Actually, they didn't greatly touch upon actors' private lives, but it was a period right before the play's opening.
If rumors circulated pointlessly at such a time, it could become a big problem.
Furthermore, with two women in tow......
'Why did it have to be caught by a kid of all people.'
Joo Seo-yeon.
The ripple effect of the name she possessed was by no means light.
Jo Do-yul could only sigh at his aching head.