Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Translator: Penny
Chapter 10
The fairy tale "The Little Match Girl" features neither a prince on a white horse nor a kind fairy.
Nor does it contain the familiar phrase, "And they lived happily ever after."
It's simply about living through a single day.
Without knowing the warmth of a stove full of firewood, nor the softness of bread fresh from the oven.
"Matches, please buy my matches..."
Forcing a smile towards strangers who don't even spare a glance.
A bitter tale about a girl's last day, where she finds rest, not salvation.
There's no moral to be gained from reading the story, no catharsis from seeing the wicked punished.
People do belatedly appear, regretting their indifference, but it's a meaningless repentance since the girl's life has already ended.
Only the image of the girl smiling until the very end remains in people's memories, creating a sense of guilt.
The most prominent emotion in Deobeulli's new song "Matches" is this very guilt.
Therefore, this "Matches" music video had to serve the role of visualizing the emotion of guilt.
The reason why the extras' costumes were set as ordinary modern clothes, unlike Ha-eun's attire, which is almost identical to the little match girl's from the fairy tale, is precisely for that reason.
The little match girl is as she appears in the fairy tale books read in childhood.
The people who ignore the little match girl are in modern attire.
It was a production that emphasized the difference between the one conveying the emotion and the one receiving it, even more than in the fairy tale.
At the same time, it was a production that encouraged viewers of the "Matches" music video to identify themselves with the people who ignore the little match girl.
However, this was all a production structured under the assumption that the little match girl's appearance evokes guilt.
If the little match girl's appearance fails to evoke sympathy, immersion will inevitably suffer.
This was the part that Lee Jun and Lee Gun-yeol agonized over the most.
The little match girl in the music video is smiling from beginning to end, but the misery stemming from the difficulty of getting through even a single day also had to be clearly revealed.
In other words, Deobeulli's little match girl had to express unhappiness with a smile.
To express despair with a smile.
'Isn't that asking too much of a child actor? Even adult actors find that difficult.'
"...Is that so?"
There were definitely times when I was shaken by the advice or concerns of those around me.
Because the image of the little match girl in the storyboard was closer to an ideal than reality.
Nevertheless, even mobilizing Lee Jun's school ties.
The result of bringing a child who gave a slightly different impression from the various child actors in the candidate pool to the set was, in a word.
"...I missed you...Ideal.
The image that they had conceived in their minds in the past was being captured on camera as is.
Two eyes where joy and emptiness coexisted.
A gaze that was gradually losing strength.
A blurry voice, turbidly mixed with dryness and moisture.
Decisively, a small, insignificant hand slowly extended towards the empty air.
The figure of the girl trying to grasp something as if she were seeing a hallucination, but failing to grasp anything and eventually collapsing powerlessly.
-Thud.
At that moment, when she finally made contact with the cold snow, a single tear that flowed forlornly from her faded eyes caused silence to fall over the entire set.
Everyone was overwhelmed by that lonely silhouette, with no one watching over her, and couldn't even breathe easily.
"She definitely said she'd never learned acting... or so she said."
The words that Lee Jun, who was staring blankly beyond, uttered involuntarily.
Lee Gun-yeol was also a little taken aback because he had assumed at least three or four NGs.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't the first time seeing Ha-eun acting as the little match girl.
Because for the past few days, he had been meeting with Ha-eun and had seen, at least roughly, what kind of image would be captured on camera.
However, rather, because he knew it to some extent.
Things like the tearful acting or the appealing gestures that Ha-eun hadn't shown until then were bound to come as more of a shock.
"Cut!"
Even after the tension on set gradually began to ease with Director Cha Seon-jae's shout.
Lee Gun-yeol's gaze was still fixed on the small shadow beyond.
What he saw was a figure with no trace of the loneliness from just before, looking calm but slightly nervous.
Even in the midst of that, the way she was holding a hot pack that one of the staff had brought her looked no different from other children of her age.
Nevertheless, the expressions and gestures that he had already captured in his eyes once.
The guilt about the little match girl who had been ignored by people, which he had heard with his ears and felt with his heart, didn't disappear at all.
"...Beef was a cheap price to pay, Jun-ah."
"Yeah. Beef was a cheap price to pay..."
He realized once again that Lee Jun's choice to somehow get Ha-eun's contact information was not wrong.
At the same time, the conviction that 'this will work' filled his head.
No matter what anyone said, Deobeulli was a top-tier hip-hop group in the music industry.
The so-called hit songs had already reached double digits a long time ago.
Deobeulli's 5th album, represented by the new song "Matches" that would be released this time, also felt good in many ways from the songwriting stage.
But, if the power of an in-depth music video is added to that.
"Um, was I okay...?"
"It would be really shameless to say you weren't. You were perfect, Ha-eun."
It would definitely cause a major ripple throughout the music industry.
Ha-eun, the main character of the music video, was also bound to receive attention in various ways.
However, since there were bound to be some not-so-beneficial attention among the attention that would be directed at Ha-eun.
I felt the need for measures to protect Ha-eun, who was not yet affiliated with any agency, even temporarily.
Of course, Lee Gun-yeol might be looking too far ahead and worrying.
Nevertheless, he ended up making another appointment with Ha-eun, and this time, he asked Ha-eun's father to come and meet them as well.
"Just because Ha-eun joins our agency doesn't mean she has to do anything in particular. We'll handle all the minor things like interview requests on our end."
It was because he had no doubt that Ha-eun would become a celebrity in some way.
Of course, he had no intention of forcing her to become a celebrity right now, so he made it clear that it was only to protect Ha-eun until the aftermath of this music video subsided.
"As you know, this entertainment industry is not a very clean place. There are quite a few people who are only focused on taking care of their own interests."
One way or another, Deobeulli themselves cast Ha-eun.
They had no intention of leaving Ha-eun in the middle of a power struggle to capitalize on Ha-eun's popularity.
Above all, an unusual child like Ha-eun in many ways had enough investment value from the agency's point of view.
It was an agency that already had several child actors affiliated with it, so they knew how to manage Ha-eun well.
"Um, but... why are you taking care of Ha-eun so much?"
"You'll probably find out in a few days, Father. Ha-eun, she was really scary in front of the camera."
Lee Seong-yoon wore a puzzled expression at the bizarre situation of a celebrity like Lee Gun-yeol praising his daughter.
Ha-eun as seen by Seong-yoon was the same as he knew her.
He had already heard from Na-yeon that Ha-eun's acting was amazing, but at best, it would be at the level of children.
He certainly had the thought, 'Aren't you worrying too much?'
Well, still. They're going to protect Ha-eun.
There was no particular reason to answer that it was okay and unnecessary.
"What do you think, Ha-eun?"
"Um, I think it's better to do what the uncles say... because you're both experts."
"Well, yeah. You should listen to the experts when you don't know."
As always, he didn't oppose Ha-eun's wishes and did what Ha-eun wanted.
A few days later, Deobeulli's "Matches" music video was finally released.
As Lee Jun and Lee Gun-yeol had predicted, the reaction was literally explosive.
The number of views of the music video soared day by day, and articles about the content of the music video were also pouring out almost every day.
Among them, the one who received the most attention was, of course, Ha-eun.
Her appearance, which caught people's attention, was also her appearance, but she looked as if she had moved the little match girl from the fairy tale into reality as is.
People began to focus on Lee Ha-eun herself due to her ability to convey emotions, which far exceeded the average of child actors of her age.
Some of them even started looking for Ha-eun's past works, and eventually, even a children's nutritional supplement CF started to be re-examined.
It was around that time that Handong Pharmaceutical's children's nutritional supplement, which had already recorded high sales, began to sell like hotcakes again.
Still, this was somewhat expected.
The work of distinguishing between interviews that were okay to do and interviews that would not be beneficial was also proceeding without any problems.
They also took the utmost care to ensure that Ha-eun could make choices without feeling burdened by the various offers that occasionally came in.
However, even Deobeulli, who were veterans who had been involved in the entertainment industry for over 10 years, experienced something for the first time.
"No, well, let's say the audition itself is like that. Ha-eun's acting skills are so outstanding."
"Why are those guys who know that opposing it?"
"If it was just a normal audition, we would have at least mentioned it to Ha-eun. But, no matter what, a restricted movie is a bit..."
The agency's CEO, who was pushing for Ha-eun's audition almost recklessly, despite Deobeulli's opposition.
He seemed to be resentful of the fact that all the child actors belonging to his agency had been rejected.
"The movie title is weird too. ? Who names a movie like that?"
No one knew that the movie with that strange name would later become a great work that would mark a milestone in the Korean action movie industry.
Except for one person, Ha-eun.
Of course, Ha-eun, who had not even heard the ㅇ of the audition yet.
Today, as always, she was in charge of the judge role in Dalnim Class, and then, holding the hand of Na-yeon, who had come to pick her up at dismissal time, she headed to the open space near her house.
-Swish, swish!
She took a step towards a stronger and healthier body with a children's jump rope.
"Um, now she does the double unders without any problems... Should I make her a national jump rope representative?"
📝 Translator’s Note:
You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.
This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.
To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.
but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny