Free Web NovelBut then again—who am I?
Han Yeoreum, winner of the Seoul Drama Awards Jury Special Prize, the woman who achieved 247% Blu-ray sales for a web drama. Let’s keep the posture of a star.
‘With two self-cam cameras attached, having a personal conversation would be kind of....’
I turned my back without hesitation.
‘There’s nothing good about getting entangled with a male idol anyway. I should just go.’
I could hear whatever it was about in the waiting room tomorrow. For now, I should go film In My Bag.
* * *
Yeoreum walked down the corridor of Kyocera Dome, looking straight into the lens without any shyness toward the camera. Manager Ma smiled in satisfaction. He could already picture how well the intro would turn out.
“Hey? Isn’t that Manager Ma?”
“...No way. What Manager Ma? He’s supposed to be stuck in the JC building.”
“It really is him. Look behind.”
“Manager Ma, my ass. Just someone who looks like—wait what, why is Manager Ma here?”
One by one, the reporters’ gazes turned toward Manager Ma. For someone who usually lived like part of the office interior, embedded in a corner of the building, coming all the way to Osaka was no small matter.
“That’s her, right? The female lead from <ParCheHi>. Her name was...”
“Han Yeoreum. Han Yeoreum.”
“Manager Ma personally sticking as staff to her? Is he insane?”
A figure no one in the industry could fail to recognize was filming a vlog right next to a rookie actress. The reporters exchanged looks.
‘Yeah. This is exactly why I came.’
Manager Ma had already calculated all of this. Not just filming a vlog and uploading new in-house content, but carving Han Yeoreum’s position once again into the minds of everyone gathered here from the industry.
‘For someone to rise, they inevitably have to step on someone else....’
Manager Ma glanced far ahead, locking eyes with someone who was rehearsing onstage and had looked this way. It was only for a moment, but there was clear malice in that gaze.
‘How scary.’
A popular idol in the middle of transitioning into acting.
Kwon Junhyeok.
The person who had lost an N Company modeling contract to Yeoreum.
* * *
“...Does any tint even come out of this?”
“Don’t film that! Not this! This one’s not allowed!”
Despite my protest, Manager Ma ruthlessly snatched the tint away. The old tint I’d scraped down to the very bottom was caught by the camera lens.
“Is this something you’ve been using since a past life...? Or is it a family heirloom passed down for generations?”
If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve packed with a celebrity mindset from the start. My face burned as I swiped the tint Manager Ma returned onto my wrist.
“But the color’s pretty, right?”
He’ll edit it to look cute, at least... right? I can’t go out as pitiful, broke Han Yeoreum.
I quickly finished filming In My Bag. Of course, today’s schedule didn’t end there.
Knock knock-.
There was a knock at the room door. Instead of Manager Ma, who was holding the camera, I opened it myself.
“Han Yeoreum!”
“Hello.”
It was Choo Gaeul and Joo Junseo. Starting today, we’d be watching episode 1 of the <ParCheHi> spin-off together and uploading a reaction video.
‘Since the production company is JC.’
These days, the JC Intube account uploaded in-house content almost daily, so it seemed <ParCheHi> couldn’t be skipped either. There was just one difference.
“8:55 p.m.! The <ParCheHi> spin-off is starting now. Ah, I’m nervous. Yeoreum, you’re nervous too, right?”
“I’m a little less nervous since we’re watching together. Back then I was so nervous I downed a whole bottle of soju before watching.”
“...How do you even down a whole bottle?”
“No way. That was probably a metaphor.”
“It’s true. If you do it, you can do anything.”
The upload was delayed by an hour. There was no helping it.
‘Because of Do Gyeoul.’
<Beyond the Closed Door> was rising at an absurd rate. Calling it a rise didn’t even do it justice.
To avoid being swallowed by a drama racing toward 20% ratings, they changed the reaction video’s upload time.
‘And it’s also a strategy to pull viewers of <Beyond the Closed Door> over to <ParCheHi>.’
Not long ago, the final-term play had ended in my victory, but the gap between Winter and me still felt painfully vast.
‘No. I shouldn’t keep thinking like that.’
The camera was rolling. On the tablet, the <ParCheHi> logo appeared. I focused diligently on my reaction.
* * *
[♨You... are my system crash....♥︎ ParCheHi Live Thread♨️]
Aetami watched the <ParCheHi> spin-off while running the live thread in real time. The high-teen scenery of an absurd shoujo-manga world was nice, but seeing Chaewon return to reality, wearing a padded jacket instead of white half-stockings, somehow felt even better.
“Cute....”
On screen, Chaewon grabbed the arm of Jun—who was a head taller than her—and dragged him into a bookstore.
-Hurry and buy the workbooks and go study. You said you only studied, but that was all a lie....
-Shouldn’t you be looking at this instead of workbooks?
-I don’t even expect you to call me noona anymore, just don’t call me you....
Chaewon had changed slightly from season 1. As the relationship between the two looked more natural and intimate, fans eagerly devoured even the smallest crumbs without needing overt bait. After all, squeezing juice out yourself was sweeter than being spoon-fed.
-Oppa.... can I call you that? Please it’s my wish I’m a 38th-generation descendant of the Juksan Park clan can’t you grant me just one wish
-˪Junseo’s surname is Joo, why does he have to grant a Park clan wish..?
-˪For the eradication of Korea’s corrupt bloodline society
-TT_TT ah fuck this is so delicious, she says she doesn’t even expect “oppa” and he still gets completely shaken, boom a whole romcom with a pathetic male lead
-˪He looks like that but he’s so obedient, that’s the real deal ㅜ_ㅜ LOLOLOL get married while I’m asking nicely
After that, the story flowed just like the teaser. A familiar, known flavor.
Fun with no risk of failure. As expected, it was <ParCheHi>. Aside from Pi Chaewon and Jun occupying the first three to four minutes of the short runtime, the content was satisfying.
[The Cherry on the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine!]
“Ah, that was fun!”
After finishing the episode, Aetami turned off the tablet and soaked in the afterglow.
“How does our girl have such a wide acting spectrum....”
She couldn’t forget the quiet Juliet Yeoreum had shown in <Romeo and Juliet>. The recorded footage flickered before her eyes. The overwhelming emotion she’d felt in that space back then was still vivid.
“This won’t do. I need to hurry and finish editing—.”
Just as Aetami stood up again to work on the video edit, her phone vibrated. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Bzz-.
[midsummer] has started a live broadcast. Watch now!
“Yeoreum is live!!!”
She hurriedly tapped the notification. On screen were the <ParCheHi> leads, dressed comfortably inside a hotel room. As Yeoreum’s follower count grew, the number of real-time viewers rose along with it.
-Pi Chaewon TT_TT please give us more, are the two of them done talking here already?
-Yeoreum who told you to be this cute again today, unnie didn’t give permission, be moderately cute while I’m asking nicely
-You should know this—you’re truly lovely when you smile
Amid the rapidly scrolling chat, the three answered questions more smoothly than last time.
“Gaeul’s styling? Yeah, it’s pretty. She sent me so many photos asking whether she should cut her hair or not.... I lay down before bed, and Gaeul’s face was on the ceiling...?”
“Hey! Han Yeoreum!”
The three looked closer than before. Before she knew it, Aetami had embraced not just Yeoreum, but also Joo Junseo and Choo Gaeul, and decided to watch the remaining <ParCheHi> spin-offs and Junseo’s next drama too. That was how actor stanning was supposed to work—like a spiderweb.
‘Otherwise you starve to death....’
As Aetami mentally added Joo Junseo and Choo Gaeul to her list of beloved actors, it happened.
“You think we look really close? Like we got even closer?”
As Gaeul read a comment, the corner of Yeoreum’s lips lifted slightly.
“Yes. Tomorrow evening, all of us....”
“Ah~ a senior as lofty as the sky....”
Joo Junseo turned his head and stared straight at Han Yeoreum.
-Ah right right, not close lololol everyone, she says they’re not close lololol
-Junseo T_T LOLOLOL what do we do with our kid, he’s just become the neighborhood fool TT_TT
-Gaeul, just smile comfortably... that reaction makes Junseo get stanned twice
At some point, even memes known only between the <ParCheHi> team and the subscribers had formed. Just as the live ended successfully, Aetami’s phone vibrated again.
Bzz-.
[Anonymous Board / Is Pi Chaewon’s padded jacket this one?ㅠ Help me decide buy or not]
It was so pretty in ParCheHi today I’m seriously conflicted
Setting keyword alerts for ‘Han Yeoreum / Pi Chaewon / ParCheHi / Jung Yeondu’ had paid off. After quickly sharing Yeoreum’s outfit info, Aetami smiled in satisfaction.
“Ah, it’s already like this with a web drama. What’ll happen when she goes on terrestrial TV—.”
At that same moment, someone else was looking at the exact same post. With glamorous nails, she typed a comment completely opposite to Aetami’s.
Tap- tap-.
The sharp sound ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) of long nails striking the screen rang out.
Input: Nah, last year’s was way betterㅋㅋ This season’s new one is kinda ugly to meㅠ Looks old, especially the logo
“...So annoying.”
It was Kwon Junhyeok, an idol who was an existing model for N Company—and who would be attending the same Music N awards ceremony as Yeoreum tomorrow.
