I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

“How far did the styling meeting get? I’d prefer the hair to be a little {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} longer.”

“Team Leader Ryu suggested the same thing, so we’re planning to add extensions. And there was also an opinion that it might look prettier on screen if Seo Eden and I coordinated our outfit moods from time to time and wore similar looks together. What do you think, Writer?”

“Similar looks... good. If we build a light episode around that in the middle part, it could make for a cute story.”

Writer Hwang checked the photos and even designated certain outfits for specific scenes. The meeting time flew by.

“There’s actually a reason I called only you here today.”

Scraping the cream off the paper with his fork, Writer Hwang spoke.

“Sorry, but I can’t place high expectations on Eden’s acting ability. You know that too, right? Overall, for the difficult and emotionally heavy scenes, Nam Pyeonghwa’s probably going to have to carry things.”

“...Yes.”

“But I think very highly of Seo Eden’s freshness and awkwardness. And also your observational ability, Yeoreum.”

The drink that had once been full of whipped cream had somehow already hit the bottom. The more sugar Writer Hwang consumed, the faster his brain seemed to spin.

“You worked together on 〈Youth Disqualified!〉, and you’ve done music show MC work together too... right. Something where you thought, Ah, he’s definitely good at THIS. Tell me one strength Eden has.”

“Me?”

It was the first time I had ever been asked a question like this.

“If you ask the person himself, you never get a proper answer. He still lacks experience, after all.”

“I don’t... really know Seo Eden that well either.”

A top writer at this level.

And he was telling me—a rookie actress who debuted only a few years ago—that he would revise the script according to my opinion.

My heart pounded.

I had participated in pre-production before, but I had never received a question like this.

“Still, I’d appreciate a little hint from you, Yeoreum.”

His eyes were filled with certainty that I absolutely understood Seo Eden’s Jeon Segye better than anyone else.

I had read the 〈Dongdaemun Romance〉 script enough times to memorize it.

Every single line and action direction for Jeon Segye lived inside my head.

Among all of these, what kind of acting would Seo Eden be good at?

What was the one killer trait that could really be pulled out and highlighted?

“Take your time thinking about it. Slowly.”

What had Seo Eden been like in 〈Youth Disqualified!〉 again?

Some of his lines were so awkward they had to be revised on set.

‘Seo Eden....’

When filming scenes where he walked alone, there was always something stiff and robotic about him, to the point where Director So literally pulled up a real Intube video and showed it to him.

Watch this and walk normally, he’d said.

‘Seo Eden shined more as a music show MC than on drama sets...’

Especially when it came to aegyo.

Even I had shut myself in my room and practiced desperately, but I couldn’t even imagine how much Seo Eden himself must’ve practiced.

The essence of aegyo was shameless facial expressions and natural gestures, and compared to filming—

‘...Huh?’

Wait a second.

There were a few things absolutely crucial in romantic comedies.

One of them was what people commonly called “line flavor.”

Depending on how well an actor digested the writer’s dialogue, a character could feel flat or vividly three-dimensional.

‘But Seo Eden doesn’t have the stats to perfectly pull off dialogue delivery.’

Then remove dialogue from consideration.

Next came slice-of-life acting. The actor needed some kind of habitual naturalism ingrained into their body.

‘That’s not something directing alone can create.’

It only came out when an actor seriously studied the character and immersed themselves completely.

‘So scratch that too.’

But there was one thing left.

‘I got it!’

There were exaggerated reactions MCs had to do while introducing new songs. Pretending something flew into their eye, pretending to trip and fall—

“Physical comedy, I guess? He’s REALLY good at stuff like that!”

Seo Eden’s first appearance in 〈Youth Disqualified!〉 had been a scene where he completely wiped out on stage.

Then fainted right there.

The reason he had received the least hate possible despite being an idol-turned-actor shoved into a female-led drama with three actresses—

Was because of the impact of episode one.

The single most important thing in romantic comedies.

Slapstick.

“I think he’d be really good at small scenes where he gets adorably wrecked.”

Seo Eden was better than anyone at acting in ways that allowed himself to look ridiculous.

The staff filming this entire scene exchanged glances.

The editing point for this episode was painfully obvious now.

‘This is gonna do wellll....’

‘If only we hadn’t started filming before Ms. Yeoreum got hereee....’

‘Why did we do that when the editing point is clearly right hereee....’

* * *

The sun was beginning to rise.

Unable to overcome his exhaustion, Byeon Juhwa stared quietly at Han Yeoreum sleeping face-down on the desk.

“Hah. She really is different, huh?”

Byeon Juhwa spoke to Hwang Boseok, who was still awake.

Truthfully, she had suspected from the beginning that this time Hwang Boseok would choose Han Yeoreum instead of Hong Suryeon.

It wasn’t only the public who talked about celebrities.

Whenever directors and writers gathered together, they too endlessly gossiped about actors.

And among those discussions, Han Yeoreum had become a regular topic.

The girl who made Director Gong tear apart a fully completed script.

The actress who understood the meaning behind Writer Ahn’s pear blossoms.

Han Yeoreum’s script analysis ability had already become famous throughout the industry.

Watching Han Yeoreum talk about the project tirelessly for hours on end was almost awe-inspiring.

Especially when she answered Hwang Boseok’s questions without long hesitation.

At moments like that, Byeon Juhwa felt like she had lost.

It even hurt her pride a little.

Because this wasn’t supposed to be an area for the lead actress to dominate.

This was supposed to belong to the director.

“Still, you could’ve asked me first about Seo Eden’s acting.”

At Director Byeon’s words, Writer Hwang answered calmly.

“If I’d asked you, I would’ve gotten an answer too. But right now we don’t exactly have time to waste, do we? We need to move as quickly as possible. Kehahaha.”

Hwang Boseok smiled while staring at the whiteboard.

“You know when you all wanted to change the title?”

As though imagining the background where Nam Pyeonghwa and Jeon Segye’s lives would melt together.

“Only Yeoreum insisted we shouldn’t change it.”

〈Dongdaemun Romance〉 was only a temporary title.

Hwang Boseok had shown them several candidate titles separately, and both Lee Saerok and Byeon Juhwa had strongly pushed for 〈Cinderella in DDP〉.

“She understood it, I’m telling you. She understood who I was thinking of as Cinderella while writing this.”

“...Isn’t it obviously Nam Pyeonghwa?”

At present, the acting gap between Seo Eden and Han Yeoreum was practically heaven and earth.

So naturally, they needed to direct the audience’s attention toward Han Yeoreum as much as possible.

Changing the title to 〈Cinderella in DDP〉 would naturally focus interest on Nam Pyeonghwa’s Cinderella story.

It was the sort of title the public would eat up.

“Looking at the current script... the Cinderella I’m imagining isn’t Pyeonghwa. But if we change the title like that, won’t it affect Segye and Pyeonghwa’s characterization and episodes?”

After hearing those words relayed back to him, Director Byeon blinked.

“My Cinderella is Segye.”

In a romantic comedy drama, the idea that the male lead could be Cinderella had never even crossed his mind.

Byeon Juhwa had spent many years in this industry before finally debuting as a director.

The number of scripts he’d read was impossible to count.

‘....’

But he had never once thought in this direction.

Once again, he realized the extent of Han Yeoreum’s talent.

“Ah, this is embarrassing.”

He felt ashamed.

Hwang Boseok split a cookie in half and answered.

“Juhwa. Becoming a director isn’t the end of it. You have to keep studying endlessly. Didn’t you once brag about crushing Yeoreum because the first-love card was unbeatable?”

“...Where did you hear that?”

“The people at the broadcasting station have always had loose lips. If you fail this properly now, those words are gonna follow you forever.”

“....”

* * *

I left the meeting room with a heavy heart.

Because while checking over the character interpretation again after taking a short nap, I had finally asked the question I’d been curious about the entire time.

“Um, Director Byeon. I don’t know if this is something I should ask... but we’re on the same team now, at least.”

“What’s with the long introduction?”

“Do you think Hong Suryeon has any weaknesses in her acting?”

She was still human.

Surely there had to be at least one thing she couldn’t do.

Since we had decided to spotlight Seo Eden’s strongest point directly, I planned to target Hong Suryeon’s weakness in return.

“Hmm....”

After thinking briefly, Director Byeon answered cheerfully.

“Nope.”

Writer Hwang nodded too.

“Suryeon’s good at everything. Physical comedy, facial acting. Especially scenes where her dignity gets destroyed.”

“Hah. When you see her on set, it genuinely feels like she was born for romantic comedy. She’s lovable just by existing there. Regardless of the character.”

If I had to face an actress without weaknesses, then what exactly was I supposed to aim for?

I couldn’t figure it out.

Just by existing, she felt lovable.

I had never realized the word “just” could carry this much weight.

An actress who instinctively made people feel something without needing any reason.

‘A senior acknowledged by both top writers and the public....’

I was dragging my feet toward the exit when suddenly light flashed across my vision and made me squint.

There was a strangely familiar face down at the first-floor café.

‘Huh?’

Wasn’t that Han Yohan?

* * *

“It really is you, senior? At first I thought it wasn’t because seeing you at MBS was so unexpected.”

“Ah... it’s been a while.”

Han Yohan greeted me solemnly as always.

And beside him—

“A monk...?”

There was a monk.

Ah, so he was the one who had blinded me earlier.

His head was gleaming brilliantly.

The monk also greeted me solemnly.

“Greetings.”

I bowed politely.

For some reason, the atmosphere surrounding the two of them alone felt oddly serene.

“We came because the monk had a dawn radio schedule today. Guest appearance. But... are you worried about something?”

“Huh?”

“You look very pale... could it perhaps be because you ended up doing a project with me...?”

Han Yohan asked gloomily.

So he really was secretly bothered by the nickname Romance Quicksand.

I shook my head.

“I’m actually on my way back from 〈Dongdaemun Romance〉 pre-production right now. But there’s a part where I’m kind of stuck.”

“If your heart feels troubled, you are always welcome at Bulhyang Temple....”

The monk smiled warmly.

Though honestly, was it even okay to go to a temple and pray Please let me beat everyone else?

‘There’s no way I can empty my heart of attachment toward the project.’

A romantic comedy embodied entirely by Hong Suryeon.

Just thinking about her made my chest feel heavy.

That was when it happened.

The basket sitting beside the monk suddenly started shaking violently.

“You’re getting a phone call, I think.”

“That is not a phone vibration....”

“Please don’t pay it too much attention.”

Both Han Yohan and the monk shook their heads.

What?

And why did it sound like something impossible should be coming from inside the basket...?

Ziiik....

‘Ziiik?’

At the café entrance, someone who met my eyes opened their mouth wide.

That person who looked exactly like a celebrity was, surprisingly, Han Yohan’s agency CEO.

‘So today he’s wearing a hot-pink suit.’

But why was he pointing at me while sprinting over here?

Ziiiiik—.

“Nooooooo—!”

At the same moment as the scream, some unidentified creature burst out of the basket.

Han Yohan’s agency CEO shrieked in horror.

Huh?

Warm, fluffy, light—

“A puppy?”

An incredibly tiny and adorable puppy leaped into my arms.

The puppy opened its mouth and said,

“Ang....”

The three people nearby all recoiled in shock simultaneously.

“Look at this damn dog pretending to be innocent!”

Among them, the one most horrified was Han Yohan’s agency CEO.

* * *

I hugged Beopsun tightly.

“How can you be this gentle and sweet....”

Han Yohan’s agency CEO shouted beside me.

“You’re being deceived! That thing’s a vicious beast!”

No matter how anyone looked at it, this puppy was about as far from a vicious beast as possible.

Why was he acting like this?

There was no way a tiny puppy like this could be dangerous.

I looked directly into Beopsun’s eyes while it curled up in my arms.

“Aaang....”

Its face looked utterly wronged, like it was begging me not to believe those lies and trust only this humble puppy.

‘Right. Some people are scared of tiny puppies too.’

I gently patted Beopsun.

“Hey! Han Yohan! Say something already! Testimony! I need testimony!”

“Connections between beings... differ from person to person, perhaps.... I do not wish to brand Beopsun as an evil dog....”

“Aaagh!”

Beopsun wagged its tail as though it liked me and snuggled deeper into my arms.

Meanwhile, I rapidly ran calculations through my materialistic little brain.

Think about it.

Any advertisement people couldn’t stop staring at always had puppies in it.

‘Why?’

Because they were cute.

It was instinctive. Humans couldn’t resist it.

Puppies dominated the screen with explosive presence.

“Monk. If you believe Beopsun and I are connected by fate....”

If my romantic-comedy power lost against Hong Suryeon’s, then all I had to do was add another option.

Baby Melon Bread plus baby puppy?

That combination couldn’t possibly lose.

Wasn’t a puppy the very definition of something that was “just” lovable?

As though agreeing with my thoughts, Beopsun licked my cheek.

“I’d like to cast Beopsun in our project... and I’m confident nobody in the world would treat him better than we would....”

A fashion-related project becoming a hit because of a puppy?

There were too many examples to count.

I felt certain the synergy would be incredible.

“Even if he is merely an animal, if Beopsun’s heart truly leans toward you....”

“Ang.”

Beopsun answered before the monk could even finish speaking.