I Want to Be a VTuber Chapter 55 (55/718)

The article that surfaced in the morning.

Lee Hui-rok, Head of the Actor Management Division at RY Entertainment, scowled deeply as he read it.

It was just the day before yesterday.

When the words to proceed with signing Joo Seo-yeon came out.

And by the next day, even going directly to her school.

"And yet they said she already signed."

The place she turned down RY Entertainment for was Nova Entertainment?

A scoff escaped his lips.

It's not a bad place.

But compared to RY, well...

'Seems they stupidly signed first and missed out.'

He clicked his tongue, but that was all.

He thought she was a good catch, but wasn't this all about one's own luck?

'She's still a kid, so she's hasty.'

It was a bit dismaying, but she wasn't an actress that RY would desperately cling to or obsess over.

A lottery ticket with slightly high odds of winning, that's about it.

"As expected, a person shouldn't look at the tree, but must know how to see the forest."

He smirked, then closed the internet article.

Deciding to forget about the actress named Joo Seo-yeon.

***

Around the time Lee Hui-rok was checking the internet article.

Seo-yeon had finished her play and was exchanging greetings with Director Bae Jin-hwan, the director of , at a nearby cafe.

"Seo-yeon, you made a good decision. Opportunities like this are rare."

Jo Do-yul, who was in charge of introducing Seo-yeon, said with a beaming face.

'It would be nice if she occasionally showed her face in theater too, but...'

Jo Do-yul felt a little regretful after seeing Seo-yeon's performance this time.

Considering the buzz she had, it would be possible to grow the theater scene even more.

However, he didn't want to make Seo-yeon miss the opportunity to go higher as an actress.

It wasn't to say that the position of a theater actress was low, but an opportunity to make her face known to a larger audience.

Who knows?

With the OTT market gradually becoming more active, her name might even spread overseas.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Bae Jin-hwan, the director of 'The Chaser' this time."

A middle-aged man with a friendly impression offered a handshake as he said that.

Seo-yeon, who was momentarily flustered, hastily took his hand.

"I'm Joo Seo-yeon from Nova Entertainment."

"Ah, I saw the article that you found an agency. Nova Entertainment is a good place. Hwang Min-hwa is also a great actor, so I'm sure you'll be able to learn a lot from her."

Hwang Min-hwa.

The actress who starred in the ten-million movie , which Seo-yeon had also recently watched.

Even before , she had appeared in prominent movies and dramas, contributing greatly to the growth of Nova Entertainment.

Hearing that name, Seo-yeon smiled awkwardly.

'She probably leaves this year, doesn't she?'

She didn't remember the exact timing.

What she roughly remembered was that she left Nova Entertainment before was released.

Thinking about it, there probably wasn't much time left.

The agency Hwang Min-hwa moved to was Horizon Company.

It was an agency classified as Tier 2, in its own way.

Put differently, it was an agency a step above Nova Entertainment.

"Yes, I will do that."

"That's good. Always the attitude of an actor."

Of course, Bae Jin-hwan, who had no way of knowing Seo-yeon's thoughts, gave a dry laugh.

He really liked Seo-yeon.

Her calm and composed atmosphere.

The talent shown on stage by a girl who looked like a young lady from a noble family.

A presence that captured one's gaze at first sight.

"Have you heard a bit about 'The Chaser'? I think it's already become quite a topic."

Actually, the production announcement for The Chaser was made quite a while ago.

Was it a few months ago?

During that time, they gathered actors, refined the script, and took their time.

Except for just one person: they couldn't find an actor for the villain role of 'Cha Seo-ah' in The Chaser.

It was at a stage where they could start filming as early as tomorrow if they just set their minds to it.

"I've heard of it. It's a thriller movie. I also heard that the GH Group invested in it..."

"Yes, that's right. It's a highly anticipated work invested by GH."

Bae Jin-hwan said after taking a sip of his Americano.

He looked quite confident.

A movie ambitiously prepared with investment from the GH Group.

So he couldn't help but be confident.

He was a director with proven abilities, and the budget was overflowing.

If the GH Group backed it, there would be no need to worry about promotion or the number of screens the movie would be shown on.

Practically, there was a certain level of certainty about its box office performance.

It only depended on how big of a hit it would be, or not.

'However.'

Seo-yeon knew.

Originally, doesn't achieve great box office success.

It's because the actress playing the main villain, Cha Seo-ah, caused a huge scandal.

Pyo Ji-woo.

The incident where she stormed into a club alone and engaged in a knife fight.

Because it was heavily publicized in all media outlets, gathering people's attention.

An actress who received a sentence for attempted murder.

What kind of evaluation would a movie receive where that actress actually plays a murderer?

The release was postponed, and it received all sorts of curses.

Of course, conversely, there were people who took an interest, but their numbers were small.

They urgently cast another actress for Pyo Ji-woo's parts and re-shot them.

Afterward, to at least recover the investment cost, it was released in theaters, and until it was taken down, the total audience number was 2.5 million.

Considering all the bad news and the small number of screens it was shown on, it was a surprisingly high figure.

And Seo-yeon was one of those 2.5 million audience members.

'The hastily cast actress was very disappointing.'

It fell far short of Pyo Ji-woo's villainous acting seen in the trailer.

But the movie's story was good.

She thinks it was probably one of the rare cases where her past self felt the emotion of 'it was good.'

And that was.

There were several reasons for Seo-yeon.

The reason she absolutely wanted to appear in this movie.

"The Chaser is a thriller movie. It's a story about a detective chasing a psychopathic murderer."

After saying that, he added with an "Ah."

"For your reference, she's not exactly a psychopath. The detective in the play thinks so and chases her, though."

"Yes, I know."

Yes, she knew very well.

Seo-yeon knew better than anyone what kind of person the main villain 'Cha Seo-ah' was.

"To explain what kind of person Cha Seo-ah, the role you will be playing, Seo-yeon, is..."

Bae Jin-hwan looked at Seo-yeon and organized his thoughts for a moment.

Because Cha Seo-ah was a character with that much complexity.

"You probably don't know, Seo-yeon, but there is a condition called 'Alexithymia'."

He said so and continued his explanation calmly.

"It's a condition where one cannot properly feel or express emotions. Can you imagine? Not being able to properly laugh or cry."

Seo-yeon nodded slowly.

Actually hearing it like this, she felt an emotion that was hard to describe.

Right, emotions.

"That's why Cha Seo-ah was abused in her childhood. She is a broken woman like that."

Cha Seo-ah's motive in the play was very simple.

When she sees people who look happy, she feels a pain in her heart as if stabbed by a sharp knife.

So, she chases and kills such people.

Without discriminating between women and men.

"The scary thing about Alexithymia is that it doesn't mean you can't feel emotions at all."

That statement is correct.

It's not that she can't feel them at all, but rather that she can't recognize them.

She doesn't know what kind of emotion she is feeling right now or expressing.

Therefore, she feels pain, and depending on the case, also feels joy.

It's just that her brain can't judge it properly.

So it took a really long time for her past self to express everyday emotions.

Even that was expressed through acting.

"That's why she killed. With anger and jealousy that she herself couldn't properly recognize. Cha Seo-ah is that kind of villain. And although she's a villain... she's a somewhat sad person."

Bae Jin-hwan said so and looked at Seo-yeon.

"I think it's a very difficult role to express. But after watching this play, I felt it. I wondered if you, Seo-yeon, could express this Cha Seo-ah well."

At his words, Seo-yeon looked at the glass cup with cold water droplets on it.

She held it with both hands and cooled down her slightly heated mind.

"Yes."

Seo-yeon said, looking at Bae Jin-hwan in a calm tone.

"I'm confident."

Just as Pyo Ji-woo expressed the role of Hong Jung-hee in better than anyone else.

Seo-yeon was confident that she could express Cha Seo-ah in better than anyone else.

She was, her past self.

"I'll take the role. I really want to do it."

Because she was her past self, who had never met kind parents.

***

"Unnie!"

Upon returning home, she heard pitter-patter footsteps.

Joo Soo-yeon, her seven-year-old younger sister.

I grabbed Soo-yeon with both hands, lifted her up, and spun her around.

"Hahaha, high, high!"

Looking at Soo-yeon laughing childishly, I smiled faintly.

My state of mind was complicated in many ways today, but seeing Soo-yeon made me feel a little relieved.

"Oh, Seo-yeon is back? You're late today?"

"I had a meeting regarding the movie."

"Ah, right."

Mom, holding a ladle, made an awkward expression as she saw me lifting Soo-yeon up.

"O-our daughter is strong..."

Soo-yeon's weight easily exceeds 20kg.

Lifting that vertically with both hands and spinning around, it seemed Mom was dumbfounded.

Isn't it about time I adapted to my physical strength anyway?

"But, from what I remember hearing before, it was a villain role. Are you okay with that?"

As if she had been waiting for it, Mom put dinner on the table.

It was a meal prepared in advance to give to her daughter who would return late.

When I sat in front of the dining table, my younger sister crawled up softly onto my lap and asked, blinking her large eyes.

"Unnie, are you playing a bad person again?"

'Again', she says.

But it was true that I had taken on such a role twice in a row after Princess Yeon-hwa.

'Besides, Soo-yeon hasn't even seen Princess Yeon-hwa.'

Did it look like I was only taking on bad roles to my sister?

I suppose it could look like that.

"So, I'm thinking about doing a drama or entertainment show together with it."

"Wouldn't that be too busy?"

"If I start after the movie filming is over, I can roughly adjust the timing."

Generally, a movie's filming period is about three months.

If I go straight into drama filming after finishing it, the drama would air roughly around the same time as the movie's release, or a little faster.

'I'll have to think about what to do for that, though.'

Certainly, considering this time, there was a possibility that the image of a villain would be deeply imprinted.

In my past life, the actress was replaced midway so it didn't receive good reviews, but the weight of 'Cha Seo-ah' in the work was enormous.

If I show just a little bit of good acting, it would definitely affect my image as an actress.

"Then, how about a romance drama?"

"...Pardon?"

"Oh, why are you looking at me like that? If you're worried about your image because you acted as a villain, wouldn't it get better if you do some lovely acting? Our daughter is too blunt, so Mom is worried."

Is that so?

Does it work like that?

I took a sip of cold water.

Hmm.

I thought about it for a moment. Romance acting... that's.

'I don't think I can do that right now.'

I'm really sorry to Mom, but it's impossible right now.

Seriously.

Anyway, even if it's not romance acting, I should calmly think about whether there are any good roles.

"And stop watching YouTube when you're eating."

"Yes."

Looking casually at the smartphone placed on the dining table, I soothed my complicated mind.

With The Chaser and future roles, there were many things to think about in many ways.

'In my past life, I used to heal by watching Lamuel's channel at times like this.'

I didn't know the exact emotion, but I think it was probably healing.

Because it gave me a comfortable feeling.

Lamuel used to counsel viewers, and I had received it a few times too.

'Sigh.'

Longing for the one who wouldn't appear, I firmly typed the name 'Lamuel' into the YouTube search bar.

Something strange popped up.

"Huh?"

An unseen channel with that name had been created.

"Huhhh???"

There were no videos, nothing at all, but.

I had no choice but to bury my face in my smartphone and stare at it.

'No way, right?'

Until Mom told me to sit up straight and hurry up and eat my meal.