A movie that greatly captured people's attention with its third trailer.
Its opening day.
Perhaps because it was a highly anticipated work released after a long time.
All the good seats were already taken.
The remaining seats were mostly ones where the screen wasn't properly visible.
"I knew it would be like this."
One-million-subscriber YouTuber Han Bong-sik muttered as he stepped into the theater.
Even for him, who reviews various visual media, it had been a really long time since he visited a theater for a Korean movie.
This was because there hadn't been any decent Korean movies worthy of being called highly anticipated for a while, and Bong-sik wasn't very interested either.
'But, to think I'd suddenly become interested.'
First, the catalyst was when he reviewed a certain drama.
Namely,
A youth romance drama that had been achieving quite impressive results recently.
Just as Bong-sik had said, the viewership rating for the first episode momentarily exceeded 20%, and because of that, Bong-sik even received reactions like, 'How did you know?'
The number of subscribers increased by a whopping 100,000 from that one review alone!
In other words, Han Bong-sik was now a 1.1-million-subscriber YouTuber.
'Hah, but the viewership ratings have only declined since then.'
He could roughly guess the reason.
The reason
In other words, it was because of the role played by the actress Joo Seo-yeon.
Honestly, until then, because an overly light, or rather, musical drama was unfamiliar to people, the majority of reactions were mocking.
But at least, no one mocked the parts where Jo Ha-rin sang.
Acting that made viewers watching
It was her acting that captivated people from the drama's first broadcast.
But then, she didn't appear properly in episodes 2 and 3 consecutively...
'Still, she'll probably appear in episode 4.'
Today was the day
Since her screentime was small in episodes 2 and 3, there was an expectation that her role would increase in episode 4.
A single actor had made him harbor expectations for a drama.
"I heard she's a teenager now, pretty amazing, right?"
- For real, for real
- Are you trying to watch
- I heard there was an internal preview, but there's no released info at all
- I've been a fan of Joo Seo-yeon since she was a baby ㅜㅠㅠㅠ she really grew up well
Before the movie started, Bong-sik briefly turned on his stream.
It was sort of a certification that he was watching the first screening of
'To think I'd end up watching a movie because of a drama.'
Strictly speaking, it wasn't just because of the drama.
One actress.
The young actress named Joo Seo-yeon had moved him.
"I've heard that an actor is quite important for ticketing power, but honestly, I didn't believe it? I thought the movie had to be fun..."
Bong-sik could no longer bring himself to say that.
Still, it wasn't a bad feeling.
Probably because some of the people who visited the theater today did so after seeing the third trailer, and there would be many such people.
"I'll do a brief review of the movie this evening."
Having too high expectations before watching a movie is not good.
Bong-sik said so to his viewers and turned off the stream.
Then, he entered the theater and took his seat to watch
Commercials flowing from the large screen.
After about 10 minutes of commercials ended and the movie began its official screening, the noisy theater started to quiet down.
Shwaaaaah
The sound of rain, just like in the trailer.
Splish, splash. The sound of footsteps trampling through puddles could be heard.
Screeeech
Along with that, the sound of dragging a heavy object.
Heavy background music played, and Bong-sik watched it.
And it made people feel a sense of tension.
It was a person wearing a yellow raincoat.
A small physique.
However, in that hand, a red fire axe was gripped.
The fire axe stained with blood looked creepy just by itself.
"Sa-save me. Save, please save me..."
The man being dragged along sobbed as he spoke.
Both his arms and legs were already soaked in blood.
Wounds that roughly made one guess what the criminal had done to him.
"Wh-who are you, what did, what did I do wrong..."
Thud
The criminal let go of him as he spoke trembling.
Just as he was squirming, wondering if they were letting him live.
Crunch.
A sound of digging into flesh was heard.
Blood splattered.
As the axe was brought straight down, the man's words were swept away by the sound of the rain.
It didn't exactly show where the axe struck the man.
However, seeing the man instantly fall silent, it roughly made one guess.
"......"
The criminal looked down at him for a moment, then slowly pushed back the hood of the raincoat.
Long black hair flowed down.
Eyes that looked somewhat red filled the screen.
With a pale, and incredibly beautiful appearance.
The audience saw it, momentarily losing their words.
Han Bong-sik was no different.
The third trailer.
To think the scene he saw there would be the very first to appear.
'Is this, really the same actor?'
Jo Ha-rin of
A bright girl full of dreams, yet innocent.
But the woman seen before his eyes now was completely different.
It was true that he came to see the movie today because of the actress Joo Seo-yeon before his eyes.
But that was because his subscriber count increased thanks to
That reason was definitely there too.
A calculative thought that it would be perfect to review
But, at this moment.
Han Bong-sik became not a calculative reviewer, but a single audience member.
"Fuck, what kind of bastard is this?"
"It seems to be the same person as the recent murder cases. The method is identical."
"Ha."
The police appearing next, and the criminal naturally slipping away from the scene.
The heavy background music disappeared, and light music flowed out.
Two detectives riding in an old police car.
Just like that.
The movie began.
Captivating the audience's attention with just 5 minutes.
***
"Ah."
"Ah."
A man and a woman wearing sunglasses ran into each other at the movie theater.
They tried their best to disguise themselves, but it wasn't hard to recognize them at a glance.
Because it was the exact same disguise as when they ran into each other before.
"...Do high schools end early these days?"
"It seems you don't have any filming lately, Sunbae-nim."
The woman with a fox-like impression laughed softly as she spoke in an irritating way.
At Jo Seo-hee's words, Park Jung-woo clicked his tongue.
"You really don't look good in a school uniform."
"......"
At Park Jung-woo's words, Jo Seo-hee glared sharply.
Her eyes were so fierce that Park Jung-woo flinched for a moment.
"More importantly, our seats... ah, they're different."
"Thank goodness. I almost wouldn't have been able to immerse myself in the movie."
They were only in the same theater, but their seats were far apart.
Originally, Jo Seo-hee's was a very expensive individual seat called a skybox.
"You have a lot of money."
"My, why did you book a regular seat?"
"Things like this need to be seen from a general audience's perspective for it to resonate."
"......"
At Park Jung-woo's exemplary words, Jo Seo-hee felt awkward for no reason.
What is this. It's a seat she paid more for and struggled to get, but somehow she felt like a nouveau riche.
'More importantly.'
'Anyway.'
One way or another, it seemed this
Both Park Jung-woo before her, and Jo Seo-hee herself, were very interested in Joo Seo-yeon's 'murderer' acting.
Especially Jo Seo-hee, who couldn't easily contact her due to the 'Gyeongseong Lady' incident in the past, was thinking of casually reaching out again through this movie.
'Probably, we aren't the only ones interested.'
Park Jung-woo saw the numerous people who visited the theater.
Of course, there were no recognizable faces among them.
But since she had shown impressive acting in
There would be many who came to properly recognize the actress named Joo Seo-yeon through this
Movie and drama directors.
Various advertising sponsors.
Or fellow actors.
It was an excessive amount of interest for someone who had only filmed one drama.
Probably, those in the industry would have felt it vaguely.
'Being drawn to a shining presence is a realm of instinct.'
Park Jung-woo thought so and sat in his theater seat.
And.
Just as Park Jung-woo thought.
"You look like you're really looking forward to it."
"Ah, do I?"
"Of course. It feels like it's been a really long time. That kind of face."
At those words, a smile hung on his slightly wrinkled face, unlike in the past.
"That's because it's a connection I've been waiting for a long time."
"If the Director says so, I'm even more looking forward to it."
At the words of the PD he had been cherishing lately, the man called Director smiled.
Then he looked at the movie screen showing a rainy scene.
The face of the convenience store part-timer reflected on it.
'Joo Seo-yeon.'
Looking at her, Ha Tae-o, the Drama Director, smiled calmly.
Anticipating what kind of acting she would show this time.
***
The first-day screening of
Among them, the most mentioned was...
[What is the alexithymia that made Cha Seo-ah a criminal?]
[Plot twist! A completely different image transformation from Jo Ha-rin of
[Two veterans, and one rising star]
Unquestionably, it was the articles about Seo-yeon, who played the murderer Cha Seo-ah.
Articles pouring out unstoppably as soon as the movie was released.
"Did you see it, Jin-ha?"
"This, there's some talk from above..."
Of course, Lim Jin-ha didn't have the leisure to look for articles about it.
Because she was too busy being dragged around here and there.
The viewership ratings for
But it was too early to rejoice.
Because the reason was clear.
"This is a momentary rebound created because of Joo Seo-yeon. Writer Lim knows it too, right?"
Baek PD, who was acquainted with her, also carefully brought it up.
It was to the point that even he, who had nothing to do with
"620,000. The first-day audience for
Judging solely by the first-day audience, it was the second-highest number this year.
Even including foreign films.
For a thriller movie, this was an appalling number of viewers.
Honestly, from Lim Jin-ha's perspective, it felt like the world was screwing her over.
Did this really make sense?
"You know, right? And it even opened on a Tuesday. I can't even guess how much it'll pull in over the weekend. On top of that..."
Baek PD said to Lim Jin-ha, who had tightly shut her mouth.
"The mentions of that actress, Joo Seo-yeon, are not normal."
"I, know."
Because she was the main force who single-handedly raised the viewership by a whopping 5 percent.
Even though she hadn't appeared much.
"Keep the script revision firmly in mind."
"Huh?"
She never expected Baek PD to say this to her, so Lim Jin-ha opened her eyes wide.
Baek PD, reading Lim Jin-ha's thoughts, shook his head.
"I can't stop it. It's a word from way up high."
"The higher-ups?"
"I'm saying this because I'm close with Writer Lim, but if you want to have a long career as a writer... it's good to have some flexibility. The higher-ups all know about it right now. I'm saying this out of concern."
They all know.
She could roughly guess what that meant.
Lim Jin-ha had no choice but to nod quietly with a dazed face.
No matter how many hit works she had, there were many writers with that level of experience if you looked for them.
No matter how much power she had, if the higher-ups were speaking up, she couldn't fight back.
Especially if Baek PD was saying this much.
'Just what kind of movie is
It rather made her curious.
And.
The actress who brought about such an impact.
Seo-yeon...
"......?"
Returning to school after two days.
What greeted Seo-yeon as she opened the classroom door with light steps was...
Indescribable gazes.