After finishing a few script readings, it was finally the period right before full-fledged stage rehearsals.
Currently, I was deeply focused on analyzing the script, but it was certain to get even busier from now on.
Therefore, I didn't want to miss this opportunity if at all possible.
"I'm coming in?"
"Yeah."
Glancing sideways at Lee Ji-yeon as she took off her shoes and entered, I prepared some tea for us to drink.
Although Ji-yeon and I hung out together frequently at school, she hadn't actually come to my house that often.
We mostly met outside; in fact, I was usually the one going to Ji-yeon's house.
‘Alright.’
I had been hesitating until now, but after seeing the 3rd generation's presentation for Seven Live, I made up my mind.
I decided to at least bring it up once.
Who knows, she might show some interest.
‘It could interfere with her acting career, so I shouldn't expect too much.’
Still, just a little bit, maybe we could do it occasionally?
"……You have a really displeased look on your face."
"That's too much."
As I spoke with a slight frown, Ji-yeon squished my face with both hands.
"Your expression didn't change, but I got that vibe. Are you having bizarre thoughts again?"
"What bizarre thoughts?"
"You come up with truly outlandish ideas sometimes, you know."
It was the kind of remark that could cause a huge misunderstanding if overheard.
I may look like this, but aside from not having friends, I'm an extremely ordinary high school girl... hmm, I am a high school girl, right?
"Oh my, Ji-yeon, you're here?"
"Hello."
"Hehe, right, what would our Seo-yeon have done without Ji-yeon?"
Saying that, Mom hurriedly put on her coat, mentioning she needed to go buy some fruit.
It seemed she was planning to prepare some fruit for us while we hung out.
"Your mom."
"Yeah."
"Seems her chest has gotten bigger."
"……No way."
"And she looks exactly the same as the last time I saw her. My mom would be sad to see that."
"Your mom looks young too, though."
Ji-yeon's own mother looked quite youthful for her age as well.
"My mom put in blood, sweat, and tears for that. I should ask your mom later how she takes care of her skin."
Even though I said that, Mom didn't really do any special skincare.
Just occasionally putting on a face mask before bed?
She really did have a frighteningly youthful face.
Actually, the truly amazing one was probably my mom, wasn't she?
"So, what are we going to do now? Wanna watch a movie like usual?"
Ji-yeon said that while gesturing toward the large TV.
When Ji-yeon and I were alone together, we usually watched movies or dramas.
Rather than just for entertainment, it was an opportunity to observe the actors' performances, debate, or practice acting ourselves.
Since Ji-yeon was genuinely serious about acting, she would ask me about acting whenever she had the spare time.
Even though her acting career was now longer than mine.
"Today…"
I naturally turned on YouTube first.
"……."
And my fingers stopped right there.
Originally, I planned to casually say, 'There's this kind of thing lately,' and subtly show her a VTuber video.
Then Ji-yeon would react in some way, and from there, naturally…
Naturally…
…….
…Hmm.
‘This isn't easy.’
I wiped the sweat forming on my forehead.
I could feel Ji-yeon's stare, blinking blankly at me.
I mean, this is weird, right?
Suddenly playing a VTuber video here would be a bit strange, wouldn't it?
‘Get a grip, Joo Seo-yeon. Are you embarrassed about VTubers?’
A little, it felt like… for the first time… I might be.
That was because Ji-yeon was a through-and-through extrovert who didn't even watch anime or anything like that.
Since I couldn't predict her reaction at all, my hand refused to move easily.
Would my humble wish for Ji-yeon to just show a little interest end here?
"Joo Seo-yeon."
"Uh, yeah?"
"……Why are there so many weird things on your algorithm?"
The YouTube on the TV was, of course, logged into my account.
Naturally, the videos I frequently watched were displayed.
And naturally, among them were VTuber-related videos.
"Oh, it's that thing, VTubers."
Flinch.
Unable to even bring myself to admit it, my body flinched.
But wait, how did she know?
If she already knew, maybe I could bring it up more naturally?
The moment I opened my mouth with that thought.
"You watch that kind of stuff?"
One of the top three scariest lines to hear from a friend came out of Ji-yeon's mouth.
I shut my mouth.
As I just sat there twitching, Ji-yeon let out an "Ah" of realization.
"Was that a bit harsh? I was just purely curious and asked."
"…Really?"
"What's wrong, your reaction is weird."
Ji-yeon let out a soft laugh.
"Anyway, if there's nothing interesting to watch, can I put on something I want to watch?"
I hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding.
Watching Ji-yeon type something into the YouTube search bar, I squeezed my eyes shut.
‘I failed…’
Well, thinking about it, it was bound to happen.
***
‘Hmm.’
Ji-yeon changed the channel while glancing at Seo-yeon.
Seo-yeon had her eyes squeezed shut, nervously chewing on her lower lip.
For Seo-yeon, who rarely showed facial expressions, it was an extremely rare sight.
Ji-yeon smiled faintly at Seo-yeon's face, then surreptitiously examined Seo-yeon's YouTube search history.
In her own way, Ji-yeon was also curious about Seo-yeon's recent interests.
Seeing that most of the search history was related to theater, Ji-yeon narrowed her eyes.
‘As expected, she seems determined to do this play properly.’
It was hard to understand why Seo-yeon had chosen that play as her comeback work.
Even when she asked about it.
"I have to do this for the next project."
That was the only vague answer she got back.
‘It's Joo Seo-yeon, so she'll handle it well.’
Ji-yeon didn't pay much mind to that.
She would find out later when she watched the play anyway.
So, more importantly.
‘VTubers?’
She saw various videos popping up in Seo-yeon's algorithm.
‘Hmm.’
It seemed like they were somewhat connected.
Ji-yeon was at least aware of their existence as information.
Among Ji-yeon's friends were people she had met at a voice acting academy.
‘This was also a profession that relied on the voice, after all.’
It seemed like a field where you'd fail quickly if you lacked the talent, so she hadn't been interested.
But seeing Seo-yeon react like that… it was a bit amusing.
She knew that Seo-yeon often flinched at her own voice.
Even now, looking like her spirit had completely deflated, she must have failed spectacularly at whatever she was trying to do.
She just guessed it probably had something to do with VTubers.
"Joo Seo-yeon."
"…Yeah?"
Looking at the strangely dejected Seo-yeon, Ji-yeon let out a soft chuckle.
"It's nothing."
She had just thought of something amusing.
***
A few days passed like that.
The full-fledged stage rehearsals had begun.
Seo-yeon had researched a lot of information in advance, but as expected, this felt completely different from a drama.
A mid-sized theater with a total of 600 seats.
Just hearing the number didn't make it seem like that many.
But standing on the stage and looking at it, the scale felt much larger than expected.
‘Acting in front of this many people is my first time… no, it isn't.’
Come to think of it, there was Snow White.
Thinking that, Seo-yeon quietly gazed at the seats from the stage.
"What, are you scared?"
As she stood there quietly observing, a voice laced with amusement reached her ears.
Turning her head, she saw Shim Cheong-seok looking at her with his signature smile.
"No."
"I'm sure you're not."
He said so with a confident grin.
With his sharp features, his smile gave off a beastly, wild vibe.
Judging solely by that appearance, he was a man who didn't suit the role of 'Bae Seong-hak' at all.
‘But his skill is the real deal.’
The acting he had showcased on this stage was certainly remarkable.
They called him the rising star of the theater world.
‘With that level of skill, it made sense that he was cast in an OTT drama right away.’
From not even appearing in a minor drama to becoming one of the main cast of a major OTT drama.
In a way, it was an even bigger leap than herself, who had taken on the role of 'Princess Yeonhwa' in Taesumdal in the past.
At the very least, she had auditioned, but Shim Cheong-seok hadn't even done that.
"I'll tell you beforehand."
Wiping the smile from his face, he spoke to her in a languid voice.
"If you can't properly adapt to the stage, you won't even show half your skill. I've seen it plenty of times—kids who soar during readings completely crash and burn on stage."
Saying that, he added as if he'd just remembered something.
"Of course, I'm not talking about you. You definitely have a different scent."
…Scent?
At that peculiar expression, I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"If I were to give you a tip: treat the real thing like practice."
"Like practice?"
"Dramas can be re-shot, but plays can't. So I'm telling you to loosen up."
Saying that, he took large strides toward me.
"If you put too much raw effort into your acting, it can actually backfire."
"But isn't that the norm? Putting in the effort and acting with everything you have."
"Well, yeah. It is the norm."
He came right up to my face, looking down at me as he spoke.
"If you can pull it off."
This was…
He was telling me to do it.
Seo-yeon stared back at him.
Meeting his gaze, she tried to read his intentions behind bringing this up.
A provocation?
Or interest?
She sensed emotions she couldn't quite read.
While Seo-yeon was dense with her own emotions, she was sensitive to the emotions of others.
Of course, that was mostly the result of compiling 'information' she had experienced early on.
"The role of Hong Jung-hee is crucial."
He looked down at Seo-yeon and said.
"Because she's the villain?"
"Yeah. A villain with no presence is worse than having none at all."
Shim Cheong-seok said with a shrug.
"At least, from what I saw in the script reading, that won't happen. And..."
Glancing at the other actors making their way onto the stage, he whispered quietly into Seo-yeon's ear.
"I want to try acting it out properly, just once."
Act it out properly?
At those words, when Seo-yeon shot him a questioning look, he merely offered a faint smile and walked away.
…He was truly a hard man to understand.
***
Yeonhwa High School.
A private high school with roughly 800 students.
It had many students confident in the arts and athletics, making it somewhat lacking as a college-prep school.
Still, it was a high school that maintained an average standard.
"We received a request from a production team wanting to film at our school this time."
"Filming?"
That was a sudden agenda brought up during the faculty meeting.
Filming?
Were they filming a drama or something?
Looking at the principal with such thoughts, he cleared his throat and continued speaking.
"It's a program called
Was there such a show?
It was a variety show most of them were hearing about for the first time.
A variety show with low recognition and popularity… but.
"Ah, I know that. It's that variety show airing at 5 PM on Sundays, right?"
Since the broadcast time was in the weekend golden slot, there were quite a few who recognized it.
At that reaction, the principal let out a sigh of relief.
Realizing that it had some degree of recognition.
"If we do this right, it could be good publicity for the school, right? I heard that this time, they're coming to reenact a drama that aired in the past? Is that correct? That's what they'll be doing."
"Yes, yes. From what I know, the concept is students recreating old variety shows or dramas."
However, the teachers who knew about the show wore ambiguous expressions.
‘Would that even count as good publicity?’
Honestly, it wasn't very entertaining.
It was only slightly entertaining when a student with incredible acting skills appeared, or when it was a total trainwreck… but otherwise, it was questionable.
"Ahem! On top of that, fortunately, a guest actor will also be appearing during our filming. To assist the students with their acting."
"A guest actor?"
If they were appearing on this kind of variety show, it was obvious they wouldn't be a hugely famous actor, so someone asked.
"It's the actor Park Jung-woo. You all know him, right?"
"Wow, really?"
"Park Jung-woo is coming to our school?"
The title of 'Great Actor's Son' had been shed long ago.
Now, he was the number one actor that Korean teens and those in their twenties wanted to meet the most.
The actor who proudly held that spot was Park Jung-woo.
"Therefore, the teacher in charge of the drama club… is Song Da-yeon, correct?"
"Ah, yes, that's right."
"They asked us to pre-select around ten students to participate in the filming. Is that possible?"
"Of course!"
Teacher Song Da-yeon was confident.
That was because the drama club currently had Lee Ji-yeon, who was appearing in a cable drama.
Even if it was just in name, she was definitely a member of the club.
‘If it's Ji-yeon, she'll definitely want to go on it, right?’
Knowing that girl, who had a huge appetite for acting.