Chapter 201

To be honest, there were only three people who expected Seoyeon to deliver an acting performance like this.

Narumi Sora, director Kakeba Hiro,

and finally, journalist Furihata Yuito.

As for everyone else, the image they had of Seoyeon was:

“Isn’t she that ghostly kid we saw on that variety show?”

“She was crawling on the ground.”

The show did hype it up as a ‘secret hidden camera moment featuring a genius actor,’ but just from that, it was impossible to tell how remarkable her acting truly was.

There was no dialogue, and her face or emotions weren’t fully revealed either.

Wasn’t it just about making the other person feel scared? Surely not more than that.

The term ‘genius actor’ is actually quite common. If someone was young and showed even a bit of acting skill, their agency or the television station would casually throw the label on them to promote them.

This situation seemed to be another case of that kind.

At least, that’s what people thought.

However.

“What is it? What’s wrong? Why are you sitting alone? Did someone break up with you?”

Certainly, this was an inconsequential line.

The extras came rushing in, loudly chattering in a group.

The tone of voice was excessively flirtatious compared to the quiet demeanor of the actor a moment ago.

The steps were light, the waist bent slightly as she gazed up at the male lead, Kento.

In other words, a sidelong glance from below.

She seemed without any barriers, or perhaps deliberately so, as she pressed her index finger against the man’s chest.

“I’m soooo bored…”

The tone of her voice was like that of a woman on the street teasing random men—what’s commonly referred to as the ‘minefield girl’, someone you really shouldn’t casually run into on the streets.

This type of character would cause all kinds of trouble to anyone who approached them.

While she might make someone feel uncomfortable if encountered randomly on the street, her presence was different in the drama.

Firstly, her appearance,

and her vocalization.

Her presence naturally drew the gaze.

“M-m-sorry, I’d just like to be alone…”

The actor playing the male lead Kento, Hara Shou, thought that he had practically performed a miracle by even managing to get these words out.

He had intended to respond more coldly, but he was captivated by the girl in front of him, stuttering slightly.

The funny part was, it even felt natural.

“Huh? This is pretty boring. Hey, buddy, why don’t you try talking to him? He’s not responding at all, is he?”

She took a couple of steps back and swayed her body, acting as if throwing a tantrum, grabbing the shoulder of the female companion who had come with her and shaking it.

This action was delightfully lively, dripping with charm, naturally inducing laughter.

“Jeez, what a disgrace. I thought for sure he’d fall for it right away. I’m clearly being treated like a wallflower, aren’t I?”

The tantrums continued, accompanied by the dialogue.

Soon, others joined in one by one, starting their chatter.

They had frozen momentarily, but they also had their lines to deliver.

Almost involuntarily, they spoke aloud their assigned lines.

Roughly four extras were blurting out lines in a frenzy.

In all of that, the so-called minefield girl simply crossed her arms with a hurt expression.

Viewers observing this scene felt an odd sense of detachment.

There were clearly many characters present, yet…

“Only one person is visible.”

Even though Kento, the male lead, was present beside her,

everyone was completely overshadowed by just one extra.

Latecomers who had finally realized this looked toward director Kakeba.

The presence of the extra was excessive in dominance.

It was to the point where it felt as if the scene itself was being overwhelmed.

And then,

almost naturally, a woman appeared between the two.

The protagonist of this drama [First Love Moment], Sato Mio.

The woman who had stiffened in a spot just off-camera finally mustered her best effort and delivered her lines.

“Hold on! What are you guys talking about?! What is it?!”

She pushed the girl away with an exaggeratedly forceful movement.

At least, she was supposed to.

However, unable to naturally appear in the scene, she stumbled on her foot for a brief moment.

Her delivery of dialogue wavered, too.

Ah, it was a mistake.

At that moment,

“Cut, that’s enough.”

Director Kakeba raised his hand to stop the scene.

Clearly, it was an NG, but Director Kakeba looked extremely pleased.

An extremely satisfied look.

Although the flow was disrupted when Mio entered the scene, the part before that had been excellent.

It was clean enough that they could continue filming directly from Mio’s entrance scene.

“This actress has managed her part with a single attempt.”

Director Kakeba smiled as he said this.

There was no need to ask whom he was referring to.

Sooyeon Joo.

She stood there dumbly, adjusting her clothes.

‘Huh? Wait a second.’

‘So, my lines just now were all of it?’

An actor who momentarily forgot she was an extra despite her performance.

One minute.

On reflection, it was probably about a minute’s worth of footage.

The following script detailed how Mio appears and pushes away the minefield girl.

Then, as the girl falls over, her friends step in on her behalf.

Of course, all of them are overwhelmed by the tenacity of Mio’s character and flee with their tails between their legs.

In the subsequent scenes, there was nothing much left for Seoyeon to do.

Just lying fallen, pretending to be in pain.

Observing from a distance as her friends fight while standing behind,

and then later running away in terror.

“Still, considering the brief spotlight she was given at the very start, that alone would be sufficient for a cameo.”

Before filming, it was “a minute’s worth,”

But now the phrase “only a minute” comes to mind first.

What should one say?

The acting style was different.

The essence of acting in Korea and Japan is entirely different. In Korea, Japanese acting often feels like a school drama. This is because Japanese acting tends to be overly emotional.

There’s lots of dialogue, and acting that borders on animation or musical elements.

“However, Director Kakeba’s work is on that edge.”

This was said by journalist Yuito who had been observing.

To be honest, it was closer to Korean drama.

Though the sensibility and material were Japanese, the acting style was similar to what’s seen in Korea.

Of course, since there were Japanese elements too, Seoyeon acted to match the tone of acting that Director Kakeba sought.

“But, did actress Seoyeon actually know Japanese that well?”

“Seems like she memorized all the lines, and tone-wise, it felt like she was directly mimicking what the other person said.”

In a strange turn, the lines that Seoyeon had just delivered had the exact same tone as what Sora had mentioned earlier. She had just added a bit more color to it.

Given Seoyeon’s fondness for animation, it probably wasn’t too difficult for her.

The memory of Seoyeon’s acting from [Hyper Action Star] surfaced.

‘Ah, yes, it was like this.’

Sometimes, this gets forgotten.

Seoyeon was truly someone who deserved the label of ‘genius actress’.

But Seoyeon simply stood there with an air of aloofness.

Just like someone from another world entirely.

Sora was probably not the only one to think that.

But Seoyeon herself,

“Honestly, I have no idea what everyone’s talking about. Someone should really explain this to me.”

She glanced at Sora.

It was a desperate gesture asking for a quick explanation of the situation.

But all Sora did was sit there looking at Seoyeon and clap, instead of interpreting.

Of course, Seoyeon’s desperate plea did not reach Sora.

While Seoyeon remained lost in her solitude,

“Indeed.”

Filming was momentarily suspended as the staff gathered to review the scene they had just shot.

“This is true. It’s not a mistake—she almost completely overshadowed the scene by herself.”

As the camera director said this, the other staff members also nodded in agreement.

“But it doesn’t seem strange. It just feels like this is supposed to be this kind of scene?”

“Actually, the coloring feels right too, don’t you think?”

The staff looked at Director Kakeba with a hint of suspicion in their eyes.

After reviewing the scene a few more times, he smiled.

“There was a possibility of something like this happening, which is why I slightly adjusted the scene and the script. Of course, actress Seoyeon was originally meant to be filmed purely as an extra, but it seems she understood my intentions.”

“So, it’s going in that direction?”

Something vaguely clicked into place.

Still, it was confusing, so they would probably have to watch it on TV to fully understand.

“This minute, it might be more impactful than anticipated.”

“Is it relevant for our drama?”

“Well? Yes, of course, it’ll have an impact on the drama too.”

Of course, just because an actor playing a cameo makes a remarkable appearance doesn’t mean the drama’s ratings will increase.

There will be brief buzz and that’s that.

“However, for actress Seoyeon…”,

it feels like she is showing far too much in the few days she’s been in Japan.

It might be just a minute in the drama, but on the internet, it’s probably not the same.

In a world where one’s life can change in just five seconds instead of one minute, a certain idol’s life was changed by just one picture, earning the name ‘Thousand-Year Stone’.

“I should prepare another project, preferably something that might attract her.”

Something that can draw Seoyeon in.

I don’t think it’ll be easy. She seemed uninterested in Japanese movies or dramas.

To move such a Seoyeon, it won’t happen with just ordinary means.

‘For today, I’m content with the connection we’ve made.’

With that thought, he clapped lightly twice.

Yeah, filming wasn’t over yet.

***

“Hey!”

After the filming concluded, someone called out to Seoyeon, who was just about to change her clothes.

Her innocent appearance belied a rather high-pressure demeanor.

‘Her name is probably…’

The female lead in [First Love Moment], Actress Koto Reika, who played Sato Mio.

What should one say?

It’s such a traditional name.

‘Somehow, this brings to mind a situation with someone else.’

Of course, the original person was much scarier in appearance.

The situation was somehow similar.

They had met each other the moment one came out after changing clothes.

“Just now, during the filming, was that on purpose? Didn’t you try to bury my presence? That kind of acting was hard to fathom unless it was intentional, wasn’t it?”

At these words, Seoyeon looked at her calmly.

‘I don’t speak Japanese, though.’

It wasn’t exactly that she couldn’t.

She could roughly infer words.

‘But I recognize the anime-style words…’

There’s no way she could have a conversation with just that much.

The fact that the words ‘onna’ ‘damare’ were all she could come up with was problematic.

‘Something feels like she’s accusing me.’

Since she didn’t know the reason, she had no way to respond.

The tone was accusatory too, but it was interspersed with unclear expressions.

This felt like a case where knowing a bit too little Japanese was actually problematic.

“…Seriously, are you unfamiliar with Japanese?”

“Excuse me?”

At that, Reika wrinkled her brows and awkwardly spoke Korean.

What was going on?

Why could everyone here speak two languages so easily?

Even someone like Seoyeon, trained by animation, couldn’t speak Japanese, yet others effortlessly spoke both Korean and Japanese.

Then Reika, after some contemplation, typed something on her smartphone and showed it to Seoyeon.

It looked like a translation using Google Translate of what she had said earlier.

‘She’s probably not as skilled as Sora.’

Relieved by this, Seoyeon looked at what Reika had typed.

It was roughly saying how it wasn’t right for an extra to overstep like that.

The language was very gentle, but the meaning was clear.

‘Huh, could it be that you don’t know?’

But there was also the thought that she might not know.

After all, it was a scene that was newly added pretty recently.

[There was no need for so much worry since the connection between scenes was well established.]

When Seoyeon typed this, Reika finally seemed to understand something.

She probably felt that Seoyeon’s performance, based solely on what was seen during the acting, seemed excessively dominant.

But if viewed on TV, she wouldn’t stand out too much.

That could be easily deduced by recalling the situation at that time.

The scene at the time had already set the stage with the conflict between the protagonist Mio and the male lead Ken.

Given the atmosphere already laid out, even if Seoyeon dominated the screen to an extent, it wouldn’t be problematic as it would convey that Ken was currently feeling overwhelmed.

Actually, that’s even better.

If Ken seems overwhelmed, it communicates that to the viewers.

Then when Mio enters the scene, her presence naturally diminishes as the situation had already shifted.

The script also makes it very clear; the minefield girl has no dialogue after Mio arrives.

It’s likely what Director Kakeba had intended.

The minefield girl was created to reinforce Ken’s acting in the first place.

[Yes, I knew about that too.]

At that moment, Reika sent back a response like that.

Looking at it quietly, Seoyeon thought,

‘Is she perhaps a bit slow?’

Suddenly, she felt a little better.

There was something about the response that made her feel that way.

It was a rather uncommon type among Seoyeon’s circles.

Because everyone around Seoyeon had always been sharp, whenever something was explained,

‘Ah, it was this, wasn’t it?’

‘Totally understood.’

‘So this is how it works.’

The situation usually flowed like that.

Like Jungwoo Park, Seohui Cho, and even Jiyeon Lee.

Known from childhood, but everyone was just too clever.

So hearing things and rejecting them rather than readily agreeing seemed somewhat refreshing, as in the case of this contemporary girl Reika.

She felt a bit like Cho Seohui in terms of being slightly naive.

Seoyeon thus concluded Reika’s image.

[Will you be returning to Korea now?]

Embarrassed, Reika added,

[Yes. Now that filming is done, I need to go.]

She had taken a fairly long break and needed to return and start filming [Gyeongseong Yeong-nyeo] properly.

‘Also…’

She needed to prepare for her appearance in Jo Bang-woo’s movie.

It seemed she was going to be quite busy.

[Next time, there won’t be any mistakes like this.]

Saying that, Reika widened her eyes dramatically.

She really tried to glare but to someone like Seoyeon, who was used to Jiyeon’s and Seohui’s looks it just seemed like a little chick.

Her attitude and actions were just like Jo Seohui Mark 2, but her appearance was very gentle.

[You just wait.]

Anyway, Reika turned around dramatically, trying to look cool in the ultimate show of a proud actress.

“Ah.”

Now that he thinks of it, there was something she wanted to ask.

‘That actress who called Sora something like ‘maid’ or whatever.’

Seoyeon, who was always sensitive to criticism, had been eavesdropping even though this time the insult was directed at Sora.

‘If only I could have given her one good slap!’

She wanted to point out that saying bad things was not okay, but the timing was missed.

‘Anyway, it’s probably better if Sora handles it herself.’

After all, after the release of [Mine], Sora was going to be famous enough.

Thus,

the long Japanese sojourn came to an end.

– What? Wasn’t that Ju Seoyeon in that Japanese drama?

– ??

A small ripple began to form.

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