Free Web Novel“What should I do if I can’t see any hope no matter how hard I struggle, Bohyung?”
Tears welled in Harin’s eyes.
After hearing about Harin’s situation from Bae Ok-jin and seeing how deeply Bohyung cared for her character, Yoomyeong felt his chest tighten.
She was only twenty-two years old, still closer to a girl than an adult. Using Bohyung’s gentle touch, Yoomyeong softly patted her small shoulders.
Then, borrowing Hana’s honesty, she unexpectedly revealed her innermost feelings.
“...Our company only has four celebrities... I’m the only actress, and the other three are in a girl group. The managers are the married couple who own the company. We used to be much bigger than this, but everyone left, and now this is all that remains.”
Yoomyeong quietly listened without interrupting.
“My boss is really kind. He’s taken care of me since I was young, and even though I’m a female celebrity, he always made sure nothing strange ever happened to me... That’s why, when I was little, I promised him I’d become a famous actress and repay his kindness. I said everyone would be impressed once they found out he was Cha Harin’s agency owner, and they’d all want to sign with him. I bragged about it loudly without knowing any better.”
She laughed as she recalled her fearless childhood self.
“The agency was run honestly, but things gradually started going downhill. The established artists didn’t renew their contracts, and they kept investing in trainees and rookies. That’s when the boss started saying the debt kept piling up no matter how hard everyone worked. Even then, he insisted on debuting the trainees who’d been with us since they were kids, saying they absolutely had to debut...”
It was a world where honesty and diligence alone weren’t enough to survive.
“Honestly, it’s already been several years since I stopped renewing my contract. The boss told me there was no reason for me to stay there and that I should go somewhere better. But if I leave too, there won’t be anyone left to bring money into the company. It’s not just the boss and his wife—the kids who’ve dreamed of becoming singers since they were little are struggling too. I offered to pay off some of the debt myself, but he flat-out refused when I suggested it. So instead, I just have to keep trying to increase the company’s revenue somehow.”
‘So that’s why she works herself so hard...’
“I want to focus on acting too. Acting is really fun, you know? But events and commercials pay much better. I’m trying my best to do both... but how long do I have to keep living like this? Will it ever end? It’d be amazing if the girl group became popular and turned things around, but would that even happen?”
Phew—
The sigh that escaped her sounded more like that of a forty-two-year-old than a twenty-two-year-old. Her shoulders sagged as though burdened by a heavy weight.
Yoomyeong had been puzzled the first time he saw her acting.
She seemed to spend only the bare minimum energy necessary on daily life while pouring everything else into acting. Considering her age, her sparkling talent and concentration were enough to place her among the top actresses within ten years.
He had often wondered why he had never heard of her becoming a top star in his previous life.
“I want a Bohyung too...”
Like a child, she blurted out the words before falling asleep, either from her low alcohol tolerance or simple exhaustion.
The tears dried against her pale, baby-like cheeks.
She resembled Kim Hana. She was greedy, yet incapable of abandoning the things she needed to protect.
And in some ways, she also resembled his former self, someone who had never been able to act entirely to his heart’s content because he was weighed down by the presence of others...
‘And yet she’s never even considered running away on her own.’
She was strong and upright.
Yoomyeong dampened a tissue and gently wiped away the tear stains from the sleeping girl’s face,
so that her sadness wouldn’t show once she woke up and smiled again.
It featured the filming set scene between Do-jun and Gyu-min.
That day, public opinion surrounding Do-jun shifted dramatically.
The scene depicted Eunseong making one final attempt to dissuade Wolgong as he stood at the docks.
Eunseong spoke solemnly yet earnestly, like someone reciting poetry.
“Wolgong, the name that will bring ruin to our country. Is this patriotism, or is it a scheme to place yourself at the head of the empire using your brilliant mind? What’s tragic is that you genuinely believe this is the right path. A capable person can misunderstand his own intentions and bring about a nation’s destruction. Once you cross this river, there will be no turning back. Can’t you reconsider, Wolgong?”
Wolgong quietly looked at Eunseong.
He was his former closest friend, the one escorting him to the border.
He was also the man who had sent assassins to kill him just last night. Wolgong looked at him without resentment, but without regret either.
“I’ll return. We’ll meet again once I’ve achieved good results.”
“...Wol...”
Eunseong’s voice trembled as he spoke his childhood friend’s nickname one final time, the affectionate name spilling out in despair.
His right hand, pressing the sword into the ground, trembled.
Emotions profound enough to ache in one’s chest were embedded in his deep voice, and those emotions spread their roots throughout the entire country.
“Cut—OK—Do-jun, why are you this good? Seriously, you’re incredible.”
Even the director of praised him openly, and Hana felt the same way.
While waiting on set as a supporting actor rather than his road manager, Hana genuinely admired Do-jun.
The viewers felt the same way as well.
Besides his many impressive scenes, one more factor played a major role in winning over viewers who had still disliked him after Episode 1.
It was his genuine feelings for Hana.
He pointed out flaws in her acting and even gave her private lessons.
At first, it stemmed from pure goodwill, perhaps from a desire to become a better person himself.
But over time, that desire gradually became twisted. As he watched Hana focus solely on acting instead of him, his goodwill warped into something else.
The emotions he kept trying to deny surfaced from those twisted and stripped-bare feelings.
“I like you.”
“I told you not to joke about things like that. Playing with people’s feelings is a terrible hobby, especially when you look like that. It should be illegal.”
She laughed as she brushed off his confession.
“Kim Hana.”
He pronounced her name clearly as he looked directly into her eyes.
“I’m not joking. I mean it.”
At that moment, Kwon Do-jun’s voice as he called Hana’s name carried even more intensity and sincerity than Eunseong’s voice when he called out to Wolgong.
And with that, Episode 9 came to an end.
└ Kwon Do-jun’s acting is seriously good. Wait, is Baek Seunghyo just that good?
└ The sincerity of trying to stop a friend from walking down the path of ruining the country, kya~ That’s a real man! He’s so mature!
└ I already knew Baek Seunghyo was a good actor, but the setting of him being a top actor inside the drama feels completely believable.
└ Tak Gyu-min’s acting feels a little awkward. Is it intentional that he keeps getting overshadowed by Kwon Do-jun in scenes like this?
└ Of course it’s intentional. Please stop bashing our oppa.
└ Even if it’s intentional, there’s zero consistency between Tak Gyu-min’s acting and Wolgong’s acting... It’s kind of disappointing.
└ I thought Kwon Do-jun was the villain pretending to be the male lead, but turns out he’s actually the male lead. I admit it now.
That day’s viewer rating reached 36.7%.
And the following day, in Episode 10,
the viewership surpassed 40% for the first time.
Hana was practicing for an audition with Bohyung.
“Bohyung, did you know the male lead in this movie is also named Bohyung?”
“Huh, really? My name isn’t that common.”
“Right? Isn’t it interesting? It’s a major role, so it probably won’t go to a rookie like me, but I asked if I could at least audition. Since the male lead in the movie is also named Bohyung, I feel like it’ll bring me luck.”
“You mean... I’ll bring you luck?”
“Of course~ You’re my lucky charm!”
Seeing her smile brightly as she sincerely called him her lucky charm made Bohyung’s heart tremble faintly.
And then...
“Can you help me practice?”
“Me? What do I have to do?”
“Please play the male lead so I can practice my lines. They assigned this scene for the audition.”
“Okay!”
Bohyung never imagined that the role he accepted so casually would become a ‘turning point.’
“Nyang~”
Hana licked the back of her hand. When Bohyung stared at her in surprise, she burst into laughter before explaining.
“This role is a cat. The male lead picks up a stray cat and raises it, and the cat helps him with his unrequited love.”
“Ah...”
“But I still haven’t fully figured out the character and emotions yet, so I want to try a bunch of different approaches.”
“Sure, go ahead. I’ll tell you which ones suit you best.”
Then, all of a sudden, she leaned slightly closer to him and called him affectionately.
“Bohyung.”
“...Yes?”
Caught off guard, Bohyung answered automatically. It wasn’t {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Hana’s usual bright tone, but a subtly lowered voice instead.
“Hahaha, I was acting. Did you think I was calling you because we have the same name?”
“Huh? Uh... Yeah.”
Bohyung’s face turned slightly red.
“Here. In this scene, the female lead transforms from a cat into a human and calls the male lead’s name for the first time. This is the assigned scene. I’m going to change the emotions and tone little by little, so tell me which one you think works best.”
“Uh... Okay.”
“Bohyung~”
She called him cutely.
“Bohyung!”
Then sharply, like a sudden surprise.
“Bohyung~”
Playfully, like a cat,
“Bohyung~”
And then... affectionately.
The moment he thought she looked adorable, Bohyung’s heart dropped heavily.
His own name, colored with countless shades and scents as it entered his ears, tickled him in a strangely unfamiliar way. It felt like discovering an entirely new concept.
For the first time, he realized his name could hold so many meanings.
The trigger Writer Yook chose for the change in Bohyung’s feelings toward Hana was his ‘name.’
It was the most familiar word in the world, yet the closer one examined it, the stranger it became.
Depending on who spoke it, its meaning could grow hundreds or thousands of times stronger. It was the word closest to ‘himself.’
“Bohyung~”
Once Bohyung’s heart began to react, his expressions changed rapidly.
Every time Hana called his name, a different emotion crossed his face.
When she called him cutely, he looked at her affectionately.
When she called him playfully, surprise flashed across his face, as though he were realizing Hana had a side of herself he’d never seen before.
When she called him sharply, his breath caught.
And when she called him the way a pet calls its owner, an overwhelming urge to protect her surged inside him.
Yoomyeong’s face transformed with every call, and the performance itself felt almost miraculous.
In the brief pauses between Hana repeatedly calling his name, emotions spread and bloomed like time-lapse footage of plants sprouting, budding, flowering, and bearing fruit.
In an instant, Bohyung’s feelings toward Hana changed dramatically.
And finally, at the affectionate call...
Bohyung could no longer endure it and grabbed Hana by the shoulders.
“Hana. I’ll... be right back. Just give me a moment. I’ll come back.”
“Huh? Why, Bohyung? Are you sick?”
“No. It’s... am I sick? Maybe... I’m fine, so just wait a moment.”
“Bohyung?”
Afraid his pounding heartbeat might show, Bohyung pressed a hand against his chest and fled.
Leaning against the hallway wall outside the room, he finally let out a deep breath.
Phew...
There had never been many people in Bohyung’s life who called him by his name.
Aside from his parents, who had died early, it had mostly been his grandfather.
Most employees around him didn’t dare address him by name, and the calls of acquaintances who only saw him as ‘the heir of Hyukseong Group’ would hit an invisible wall and fall away before reaching him.
But hearing his name called over and over while he was completely defenseless felt far sweeter than he’d expected.
It slipped smoothly past his walls and struck directly at the center of his heart like a sniper’s bullet.
Yoomyeong’s acting, which resembled a rapid replay of someone’s first love, became a sensation alongside Bohyung’s growing popularity.
That day, the viewer rating reached 40.05%.
└ Hana and Bohyung’s acting were incredible in this episode. Hana’s character changes every time she calls Bohyung’s name, and watching Bohyung’s emotions shift so rapidly was breathtaking. It was almost suffocating—I forgot to breathe.
└ Wasn’t Lee Kyu-seong originally the second male lead? It feels like the story changed somewhere along the way... Though obviously I approve.
└ If a cat calls your name, you have to answer. Meow. Please be my owner.
└ Bohyung blushing after hearing Hana’s confession was so cute. His acting reminded me of my first love.
└ There are seriously no weak points in the acting, and it’s so good. Kwon Do-jun being a top actor, Kim Hana being an acting genius, and Yoon Bohyung being a chaebol heir all feel completely believable.
There was still criticism regarding the sudden shift in the romance line.
In particular, TV critics poured out complaints, saying, ‘We thought a groundbreaking drama that broke away from clichés was coming, but it ruined its structure by following popular trends.’
In the end, however, the drama answered through its ratings.
Brand placements poured in, and advertising rates skyrocketed.
KBK emerged as the clear winner of the year-end and New Year drama war.
And there was no need to even mention the fame Yoomyeong had gained.
He received his first fan letters,
and strangers took pictures of him when he walked down the street.
Whenever he searched his own name online, dozens of new articles appeared every day.
One day, after it had all become unsurprising, Miho asked him:
{How does it feel to become popular and famous, kyung?}
‘Well...’
Yoomyeong was aware that he was being unusually calm despite obtaining something he had never experienced before.
Back when he had been starving, he used to think he would be happy as long as he had enough to eat.
