Chapter 134

RY’s Row of Just X.

Among the members of Just X, who had an unusually high crime rate, his influence was uniquely prominent.

Especially because the club “Shine Moon” he would later run got South Korea buzzing due to drug-related affairs.

Even when other celebrities involved with him were embroiled in controversies, he was quickly acquitted.

I remember the online community was seething with anger at that time, so this memory stands out rather clearly.

“Even if this bizarre memory didn’t exist, wouldn’t I have remembered it anyway?”

To that extent, it was one of the representative incidents in the entertainment industry.

“Ah, when is it? It still has some time left. The opening is next week, after all.”

Next week.

That meant the club where the incident happened hadn’t opened yet.

‘So this is where he gathers people.’

Seoyeon narrowed her eyes at Row, recalling a similar place associated with “entertainment” in her past life.

Naturally, the people gathered there didn’t appear favorable to Seoyeon.

“What are you looking at like that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

As Seoyeon’s gaze followed, Seohui Jo turned around to look and frowned upon seeing Row.

She lightly sighed and said,

“It would be best if you didn’t get involved with him.”

“Is that so? Still, Just X is a pretty popular idol group these days.”

“They’re doing well, but rumors about them aren’t good.”

While covering her mouth with a fan, Seohui Jo quietly spoke in a tone that only Seoyeon could hear.

“…I heard that Row has multiple ties to the head of RY. There are rumors that RY’s capital will be going into this club that’s opening.”

“How do you know that?”

“Hmph, everyone knows one way or another.”

Her cheerful demeanor suggested she genuinely didn’t like Row, which made it clear that she didn’t feel like her peers at all just by observing her now.

‘But who exactly are Seohui Jo’s parents?’

By this point, curiosity had arisen.

It seemed she wasn’t just your average rich kid.

Being invited to such places meant she was undoubtedly the offspring of a prominent family.

‘She really is a villain in a drama.’

I nodded quietly.

This explained why she was so adept at betrayal.

As I thought that, Seohui seemed startled under Seoyeon’s gaze.

“A-ah, well, why are you staring at me like that when I gave a perfectly fine answer?”

“…Just, something about your variety show popped into my head.”

“T-that’s a variety show, isn’t it? Just a variety show.”

That act Seohui put on definitely shone on variety shows.

Seoyeon didn’t have any intention of saying anything about it anyway.

The viewers liked it after all.

Still, aside from that…

‘Being tricked twice is frustrating.’

Because twice, she was misled by Min Do-ha, feeling like a prey drawn in by bait.

Looking at Seoyeon with a haughty gaze, Seohui felt a cold sweat.

‘Does she think it’s scary when you stare at her like that?’

She became famous as Cha Sooah for no apparent reason.

Strangely, due to her lack of apparent emotions in appearance, staring at her like that made people feel uneasy, and her incomparably beautiful looks only made her appear more inhuman.

‘I finally understand why people find me intimidating.’

That’s why they say ‘put yourself in others’ shoes.’

Seohui Jo got a bit of what it was like for others to find her scary.

In any case,

‘There are people from various professions in the entertainment industry too.’

There were internet broadcasters and athletes among them.

And while some approached Seoyeon just like Seohui said,

clang!

They all stepped back in surprise as her fan was swiftly spread open.

It seemed approaching her beyond Seohui Jo’s presence was difficult.

Of course, there were those who breached even the fan’s barrier.

“Ah, Sister Seohui, you’ve come?”

The young girl who hosted this birthday party.

She was a year younger than us, if I’m not mistaken.

She was elegantly dressed, carrying a luxury handbag.

“I thought you weren’t coming.”

“Something came up.”

“And this one over here is… Ah! Cha Sooah?”

“She’s Su-yeon Joo… uh… Erm, a, friend of mine.”

Saying so, Seohui nervously glanced at Seoyeon, who only stared at her impassively without saying anything else.

She doesn’t seem to mind being called a friend!

At this thought, Seohui felt secretly pleased.

“Hello, I’m Min-young Choi.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Seoyeon accepted her greeting with a tranquil demeanor.

Her simple and composed response devoid of surprise made Min-young Choi wrinkle her nose.

“My parents currently run the Hyo-young Group.”

“Ah, I see.”

Seoyeon just let out a small gasp of admiration.

At this mechanical exclamation, Min-young Choi frowned, clearly because it wasn’t the reaction she had expected.

“Don’t say things like that to her.”

This time, Seohui Jo shuddered with a response.

“She really looks like someone who doesn’t know.”

“Chh! J-just thought you might not know and told you! ”

Min-young retorted, then shrieked,

“And, sister! If we ever do business, our group will have absolutely nothing to do with you! I’ll tell my dad!”

“Hmph, do whatever you want. It’s scary.”

Despite what seemed like a threat that wasn’t, Choi just smirked at Jo, making Min-young tremble and turn away… only not fully.

Still, she bowed her head in a respectful goodbye to Seoyeon before leaving.

“At least she knows her manners.”

She’d just entered high school.

For that reason, Seoyeon thought inwardly,

“She’s kind of cute.”

“…This?”

As if saying ‘What’s wrong with her?’

Jo looked at Seoyeon with such an expression.

Not to mention that she’d never said such words to me.

“Su-yeon Joo, you.”

Just as Seohui Jo was about to say something about it,

“Ah, I see you here.”

Row, who was energetically promoting his club, walked up towards them.

He seemed to have seen Seoyeon and approached her, casually waving his hand.

“Is this our second meeting? Or the third?”

“Not sure.”

And no interest either.

At her cold reply, Row’s expression slightly tensed but quickly softened.

“This is fate, isn’t it? If you ever are interested, feel free to drop by.”

Saying that, he extended a small business card.

The address of the club “Shine Moon” he was about to open was written on it.

Seohui Jo’s eyes sharpened considerably at the sight of it.

“Are you crazy? We’re minors!”

“Huh? What? Is that so? I just thought that was the concept?”

“Such a concept?”

Seoyeon was inwardly shocked. While Seohui Jo was frequently mistaken for an adult, this was the first time Seoyeon had been.

“Ah, seeing mature isn’t about what you look like. It’s about the aura you project. I just assumed you were already an adult.”

He paused for a moment, checking Seohui Jo’s reaction, then leaned closer to whisper softly to Seoyeon.

“And anyway, just because you’re a minor doesn’t mean you can’t visit a club. If you’re interested, feel free to let me know.”

“….”

Seoyeon narrowed her eyes at his words.

Though receiving that look from Seoyeon, Row flinched momentarily, but then…

“Oh, it’s a joke. A joke.”

Saying that, he quickly left. With Seohui Jo next to her, he figured further conversation would be meaningless.

“…He’s seriously out of his mind.”

Seohui Jo laughed hollowly at the sight of Row.

There are some jokes you can make, and some you shouldn’t.

Bringing up a club to a minor?

Especially a young actress, at that.

It was enough to raise doubts.

“Throw that away.”

“Okay.”

Seoyeon looked at the Shine Moon business card in her hand.

She didn’t intend to throw it away, though, as Seohui Jo had suggested.

Who knows? There might be a use for it later.

‘And…’

Seoyeon observed Row making his way over to Min-young Choi and her group at some distance.

Not just being an idol, but the way Choi and her group greeted him with screeching excitement…

‘Is he a fan?’

No other explanation seemed plausible.

As he exchanged pleasant smiles and conversed kindly with Min-young Choi, Seoyeon’s eyes narrowed.

An odd sense of discomfort.

A strange emotion that clung to her feelings.

Fundamentally, it was the feeling of confronting someone entirely different from herself.

It was… loathing.

Yes, this must be loathing.

Seoyeon breathed out softly.

Through all the emotions she’s experienced so far, this one was particularly unpleasant today.

***

After that, nothing out of the ordinary happened at the party.

Meeting several upper-class individuals was indeed a rather unusual experience.

Also,

“How do we go about initiating contact?”

“The presence of Seohui Jo… makes it a bit hard.”

It was also an opportunity to gauge her level of recognition.

In reality, a lot of people attempted to approach Seoyeon.

Mostly because Seohui Jo kept them at bay.

One has to wonder about the kind of family Seohui Jo comes from when they all retreat at the sight of her fan.

“She invited a lot of nouveau riche, so it didn’t really help me network. Sometimes there are quite decent parties.”

On their way back home, Jo said that.

“When entertainers host, people from this industry often come.”

Most of these parties are supposedly hosted to manage and form connections.

Not merely for a birthday party, but to create special days to enjoy lightly.

“Sometimes, you can establish a connection with someone important through such events.”

Though it wasn’t related to her, she still suggested they talk if Seoyeon ever becomes interested in the future.

Seoyeon simply nodded, not particularly keen on attending more.

After all, her scripts didn’t depend on this for now.

‘Row of Just X.’

There was this lingering doubt about him.

The way he interacted with Min-young Choi.

Even if I wanted to brush it aside as coincidence, handing her that business card left the possibility open.

“…Should I tell Hyu-yeon?”

By the way, when Byo Ji-woo wiped out that club all by herself, it was bigger than this “Shine Moon”.

It became such a big deal because the club had a security team of thirty guards.

If Byo Ji-woo could break through them all and dismantle her target, surely she could resolve this as well.

“Still, it would never come to that.”

Of course, it was half a joke.

No matter what, such things shouldn’t happen in modern society.

It would definitely become a big news story.

In any case.

‘I somewhat understand now.’

At the [Sky Garden] reading, Seoyeon felt she now understood the emotions protagonist Yoo-joo experienced.

Her cynical disposition.

And this sense of loathing towards others she harbored.

To her, people fixated on academic prestige, including herself and her parents, must have all appeared the same way.

So.

“Today, we’ll be reading the script.”

Seoyeon held the script in her hand.

It was the first script reading of the day, and the gazes directed at Seoyeon were sharper than usual, as though examining the capabilities of the “protagonist.”

‘First lead role.’

Gripping the script firmly, Seoyeon recalled the many significant roles she had taken on and believed she’d delivered more than what was expected.

Villainous roles, and lead-level supporting roles.

Every role had had some weight, yet…

Ultimately, none truly qualified as a “main character” in the full sense of the word.

Just like the feelings she had experienced at today’s party.

“Isn’t Su-yeon Joo the one playing Cha Seo-a?”

“Really? I watched ‘The Chaser.'”

Generally speaking, people still remembered Seoyeon as ‘Cha Seo-a.’

Although mentions of ‘Dream Future’s’ Joo Ha-rin occasionally surfaced, they were nowhere near the recognition of Cha Seo-a.

Perhaps because Cha Seo-a was a pivotal antagonist in the narrative.

Currently, if asked for Seoyeon’s representative work, everyone would point to ‘The Chaser.’

Other works might just be regarded as side projects.

‘In that sense, Sky Garden is different.’

Main character.

Factually, it was the stage where Seoyeon would be truly tested as an actress.

The pressure that fell on the lead was incomparable to other roles.

‘If you fail, everyone fails.’

Factually speaking, that exact sentiment.

True enough.

Because, in any creation, if the audience can’t immerse themselves in the protagonist, the work will fail.

One must immerse themselves in their role and guide the audience to follow, for that’s what truly deserves the title of ‘main character.’

“Everyone should treat the mood of the scene as if we’re making a thriller.”

Everyone should already be aware of the content.

Director Kim Il-soo looked around at everyone before continuing.

“It’s crucial to get the mood right in this production. The tone of the acting must match.”

After saying this, he turned his gaze to Seoyeon.

She appeared calm, even holding the script.

Young actress.

Director Kim Il-soo didn’t doubt her acting abilities.

After all, she’d already shown too much.

Young actors might be discontent seeing her cast beforehand, but he had no such feelings.

Of course, if an actor without acting chops was forced in like an parachutist, that would be frustrating.

But not with Seoyeon.

Drama Department Head Ha Tae-oh wasn’t the type to enforce such baseless decisions either.

‘His eye for talent is precise.’

A person who reached his position without a single failure.

He never arbitrarily inserted someone into a drama role like this before, unless we talk about someone other than Seoyeon.

So, he was instead looking forward to what Seoyeon would deliver.

“Shall we start with scene number 17?”

“Yes, that seems like a good place to start.”

“Alright, understood.”

Director Kim Il-soo’s remark was answered by a middle-aged actress.

She was playing the mistress of the “Lee Hyuk-su household” in ‘Sky Garden’.

The wife of Lee Hyuk-su, actress Lee Mi-ran.

‘They say her forte is emotional acting.’

Quietly observing composed Seoyeon, Lee Mi-ran thought.

Perhaps her skills might suit this role well.

When she announced she’d be participating in ‘Sky Garden’, she met actor Kim Dae-heon, who had acted in ‘The Chaser’.

“Underestimating her will lead to trouble.”

“I’m not underestimating her.”

“I mean, it’s unconscious when you interact. First off, she’s young, right? And her career, in reality, isn’t long.”

Counting from her child actor days, ten years.

Most of that was a hiatus period, so her actual credited roles still consisted of only two.

Purely in terms of career length, it’s understandable to doubt her skills.

But.

“You’ll understand if you meet her.”

The renowned acting powerhouse Kim Dae-heon spoke with certainty.

And it was just as he said.

“Hmm.”

As Seoyeon took a breath, her previously calm demeanor changed dramatically.

No, it wasn’t just her presence that seemed to shift.

Everyone there for the script reading should have noticed it.

Her eyes, filled with intense loathing, told another story.

In fact, she was no longer ‘Seoyeon’.

The character she was playing.

‘Yoo-joo.’

She was right there in front of Lee Mi-ran’s eyes.

Her skin crawled.

So unsettling was this transformation that actress Lee Mi-ran involuntarily let out a hollow laugh.

It wasn’t something a young actress could possibly pull off.

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