Free Web NovelThe pride of having discovered the scene Ma Eungyo and Galdaeguk had hidden blinded my eyes, and the emotion called blind devotion—something I had never experienced before—had merely paralyzed my reason.
Except for the moment she betrayed God and confessed her sins, Im Ria had remained herself.
Her love was nothing more than throwing a tantrum.
Please stay someone I'm allowed to love.
Don't die.
Don't disappear.
Stay by my side.
Begging for that.
For the first time, I thought I understood Do Gyeoul.
Even if I didn't want to, I could understand.
Why she had wanted to bury me in obscurity forever.
‘There are performances you can never figure out through effort alone....’
Those things exist in the world.
There are moments when you have to melt a fragment of your own life into the role.
There must have been countless characters Do Gyeoul could never have understood if she wasn't me.
Perhaps, deep down, her desperate obsession had become a source of pride for me.
As I realized the gap even I had failed to understand, my chest stung.
“Thank you. I'll call again later.”
I hurriedly ended the call with Hong Suryeon.
Joy at finally understanding was accompanied by emotions I couldn't name.
‘No.’
This isn't the time.
I have to organize my thoughts and tell Ma Eungyo what I discovered.
I need to calculate the possibility that Ma Eungyo might say that's not the emotion she intended.
And if that happens, I need to adjust my interpretation and understand it again...
‘No.’
Don't drown in emotions.
Don't think about unnecessary things.
Right now, the work comes first.
‘Who am I?’
I had finally earned the title of an actor people trusted.
Starting January 1st, I'd appear again in a NetHolics blockbuster...
Then my movie would release while I rode global popularity...
Triple ten million...
Then I'd become A-rank...
“Get a grip.”
Still, I knew now.
‘Because I've finally experienced, even vaguely, what it means to love someone unconditionally.’
That day when a great wave crashed over me.
Whenever I remembered the trembling light beyond my blurred vision...
Whenever I recalled the unwavering gaze that had been looking at me...
I understood what trust meant.
“I can do it.”
So many people believed in me.
Which meant...
I could prove myself worthy of being called an actor people trusted.
I grabbed the script and headed for Ma Eungyo.
Ding!
[Skill is increasing]
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Just like with 〈Unfair Trade〉, the script began to sparkle.
“Kyaaaah!”
From experience, that meant viewers would be hooked from Episode 1.
Golden certainty illuminated my analysis.
“What do I do... I love this so much....”
Unlike before, when countless emotions swirled within me, my heart was now filled with pure joy.
An unprecedented hit.
I immediately ran to Ma Eungyo with the script in my hands.
* * *
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Writer! Writerwriterwriterwriter!”
Ma Eungyo jumped in shock at the frantic knocking on her hotel room door.
The pounding was so urgent that whoever was outside couldn't even wait for her to open it.
“What is—”
“I figured it out!”
Han Yeoreum's face was flushed with excitement.
The script in her hand looked worn from being read countless times.
Finger stains darkened the edges.
“I figured out what was missing from that first day's scene.”
“What?”
“I should've looked at him like I was throwing a tantrum.”
Han Yeoreum got straight to the point.
Without a trace of doubt, her eyes overflowed with confidence in the Im Ria she had imagined.
“I had to make him believe me even though he couldn't. I had to make him love me even though he shouldn't. I should've acted spoiled.”
Ma Eungyo froze.
In an instant, the once-vague scene became crystal clear.
Only now did she understand what had been missing.
Im Ria's personality.
Her background.
Her trauma.
Their circumstances.
The logic that understood all of it.
Everything pointed in one direction.
The realization made goosebumps rise all over her body.
It felt like reaching the final page of a mystery novel whose culprit she could never solve.
That unique exhilaration when every clue converged into a single answer.
Ma Eungyo steadied her breathing.
“...Right.”
“Huh? You already knew, Writer?”
Seeing Han Yeoreum's reaction, Ma Eungyo composed herself and nodded.
“Of course. I might not know much, but everyone says my understanding of characters is like that of a god. There's no way I wouldn't know...”
“Ahhh. As expected!”
“There is absolutely no way I wouldn't know, baby. Don't get arrogant. Remember, I'm one of Ja Sokhwan's kids, and you're just a baby.”
“Yes! Understood! I'll connect tomorrow's emotional line to this one!”
“If you hadn't figured it out by today, I was going to tell you. But you discovered it yourself. Good job. Now go prepare for tomorrow.”
After sending Han Yeoreum away, Ma Eungyo collapsed onto the floor.
“I... I created her....”
Her fierce pride as a writer, her refusal to lose, crumbled before she even realized it.
“How is this possible? I may not know much, but everyone called me a genius....”
Convincing emotions.
Dense expression.
Immersion that wrung out the viewer's guts.
She had possessed all of it.
Even absurd settings became believable through her storytelling.
That was Ma Eungyo's greatest weapon.
“Ugh... my pride....”
Sitting on the floor, she grabbed the rough carpet tightly.
“This reminds me of something Master once said...”
The day she first met Han Yeoreum.
Ja Sokhwan had said Yeon Huijae had come to him.
Just as Han Yeoreum had shown Ja Sokhwan the Huijae he imagined—
This time, she had shown Ma Eungyo the Ria she herself didn't know.
In other words—
“Does that mean baby understands her as well as Master?”
Now she understood.
Why she herself couldn't follow Im Ria's emotional line.
Ma Eungyo had been frozen since the day she told Han Yeoreum to find the hidden scene.
“...Wait. Don't tell me from that moment...”
Because Ma Eungyo's Im Ria had already become Han Yeoreum.
Without realizing it, she had no choice but to follow Han Yeoreum's emotions.
She couldn't force herself to create feelings she didn't recognize.
Above the self she had believed to be a god—
Han Yeoreum stood.
“....”
For a moment, Ma Eungyo was speechless.
“People don't create circumstances.”
That's what Ja Sokhwan had taught her.
“Circumstances create people.”
She had engraved those words into her heart for years.
They had become the essence of her works.
But here was someone who created circumstances.
Im Ria was breaking out of the world Ma Eungyo had built with her own hands.
Betraying God wasn't simply abandoning religion.
Im Ria had stepped outside the control of her creator, Ma Eungyo.
Far beyond even her understanding.
Blindsided, Ma Eungyo's brain felt numb.
“Ha...”
Unmatched genius.
That was how people described her.
Yet somehow, that title felt precarious.
It felt like there was someone else who deserved it more.
Never in her life as a writer had she felt this powerless.
“Still, you're just a baby!”
Fighting spirit ignited inside Ma Eungyo.
A smile appeared on her stubborn lips.
“I won't let it end like that!”
She became certain.
Her representative work was about to change.
Delivery: S
The skill above Ma Eungyo's head flickered brilliantly.
* * *
D-Day.
Christmas carols filled the streets.
Smiles bloomed on people's faces as they admired glittering trees and prepared to say goodbye to the year.
Amid the dreamy atmosphere unique to Christmas—
“Cheers!”
“Kyaaaah!”
Wi Jaehwi and Aetami met again after a long time.
They sat inside a restaurant in Gangnam.
They had chosen it because the giant screen on the building opposite was clearly visible.
NetHolics had poured money into its first original production.
Twice the promotional budget used by ordinary broadcasters.
Soon, the final trailer for 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 would play on the giant screen outside the movie theater. freёweɓnovel.com
“Ha... I still can't believe the year is ending.”
“Me too. How is New Year's only a week away?”
“At this rate, we'll wake up one day and realize we're living in a retirement home.”
They sighed, preparing to say goodbye to the year.
“But it was a good year...”
“Mhm... it was....”
Their eyes remained fixed on the giant screen.
Han Yeoreum, who hadn't even appeared yet, seemed like a hallucination.
“I seriously thought I'd lose my mind last week. Those bastards had so much fun writing smear articles. I wanted to kill them.”
“What was the company called?”
“OneShot Media.”
“Oh, right. ‘What a clever and irritating strategy.’ My ass.”
“Those bastards need to be beaten. No journalistic spirit at all.”
They could laugh about it now.
But when the arrows turned toward Han Yeoreum after the Kim Jisang incident and the dating rumors exploded, neither of them had remained sane.
“Your burrata cheese and melon salad, triple cheese pizza, and melon margarita with Maldon salt.”
Their order consisted of a melon salad that reminded them of Yeoreum.
Cheese pizza they simply wanted to eat.
And a melon margarita that reminded them of Yeoreum again.
A perfect lineup to photograph with Han Yeoreum's transparent photocard.
Halfway through taking pictures—
“There!”
“She appeared!”
Han Yeoreum's face finally appeared on the giant screen.
A thrilling excitement made both their hearts pound.
The confidence that it would be entertaining again.
The title Han Yeoreum had built over years—
An actor people trusted.
It seemed to shine straight through the giant screen itself.
