Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Translator: Penny
Chapter 38
This is truly heartbreaking. But on the other hand, I'm relieved that the two of them ended up together.
Ha Yoon-sung is great, but the child actor's performance is legendary.
Han Yu-hwa in the past and Han Yu-hwa now are clearly the same actress, but why do they feel like different people?
Maybe it's because they were a couple who already experienced loss once. It feels more poignant than other dramas.
As soon as the fifth episode ended, countless comments flooded the broadcasting station's message board.
There were so many that a new page appeared every time the site was refreshed.
Of course, there were other sites with more unfiltered opinions.
But for Min Da-yeon, who was still in elementary school, the UBS broadcasting station's message board was the only place to check the drama's reception.
Click.
Click, click.
After that, she continued to browse the broadcasting station's message board, reading countless posts one by one.
Strictly speaking, this was something Min Da-yeon would never normally do.
However, with her mind more complicated than ever,
she felt like she needed to read the opinions of people she didn't know to sort out her thoughts.
It was about 20 minutes later that something resembling a conclusion formed in Min Da-yeon's mind.
And almost at the same time, Ha-eun, having finished her bath, entered Min Da-yeon's room with a dewy look.
What she encountered was the same familiar face as always.
To be precise, her slightly damp hair and slightly flushed cheeks weren't that familiar,
but overall, she looked no different from the Ha-eun she had seen for the past four years.
"What were you looking at?"
"...I wasn't looking at anything."
However, even to Ha-eun's simple, unintentional question, she replied with a more curt voice than usual,
and even turned off the monitor, hiding from Ha-eun that she had been checking the reactions to Star-Crossed until just before Ha-eun entered the room.
'Actually, I've always wanted to sleep over at a friend's house someday.'
'Isn't that wish too ordinary? What's so special about that?'
'It used to be special. I even wished to Santa Claus to let me sleep over at a friend's house instead of getting a present.'
'What's that... childish.'
She couldn't shake the feeling that all the words Ha-eun had said a few days ago at the cafe near the elementary school were just excuses.
Regardless of whether today was Ha-eun's birthday, as Ha-eun had said, or whether spending a night with a friend at their house was Ha-eun's wish,
she believed that there was another real reason why Ha-eun was now in the same room and under the same blanket as Min Da-yeon.
For example, to brag once again about how Ha-eun had snatched the role of young Han Yu-hwa from Min Da-yeon.
More precisely, because she wanted to show Min Da-yeon the scenes that Ha-eun was able to film by taking the role of young Han Yu-hwa instead of Min Da-yeon.
"With my sinful body, I dare to ask of you, my noble lord.
Please... be well."
She thought that Ha-eun had asked to sleep over for just one night because she wanted to see Min Da-yeon's surprised reaction to the scene that had left the deepest impression.
"Hey, Lee Ha-eun. Tell me honestly. Your birthday, that's just an excuse, right?"
"...It really is my birthday today."
"No, I mean... what's the real reason you asked me to let you sleep over?"
After that, she continued to stare into Ha-eun's eyes, not leaving even the slightest room for Ha-eun's gaze to escape.
As if she was determined to hear the dark secret that Ha-eun had been hiding until this very moment.
However, no matter how much she stared into Ha-eun's eyes, the gaze that returned only contained big and small question marks.
In addition, Ha-eun's puzzled voice that followed.
"Hey, Da-yeon... are you trying to have a staring contest with me?"
It shattered Min Da-yeon's efforts to maintain a serious expression in an instant.
In the end, she asked again in a voice that was weaker than before.
"Lee Ha-eun, you wanted me to feel intimidated, didn't you? You wanted to make sure I never thought about competing with you in acting again..."
And so, she finally uttered the one fact that Min Da-yeon had admitted to herself a few minutes ago while alone in the room while Ha-eun was still taking a bath: that she could never surpass Ha-eun's acting, no matter what.
The heavy and bitter conclusion that Min Da-yeon had reached was slowly beginning to be revealed to Ha-eun.
"I know you're good at acting. I know you're annoyingly good. But why do you keep..."
Her breathing was trembling before she knew it.
Her vision was gradually blurring with the rising tears.
The gears of reason had already started to creak from the moment she met Ha-eun's eyes.
Therefore, she could no longer hide the feelings that she had somehow managed to conceal for the past four years.
"When I failed the Kim Jia screen test, and when I failed the Han Yu-hwa audition, everyone said it couldn't be helped because of who the competition was. They told me I was unlucky, and that I would definitely get a chance later..."
She knew that these were just words to comfort the disheartened Min Da-yeon.
She also knew better than anyone that she had never failed to do her best in any competition.
Even so, she couldn't bear it any longer.
She felt like a fool for thinking of Ha-eun as her rival in the past.
"You know what, Lee Ha-eun? Everyone says you're amazing. They say they've never seen acting like that before, and that it makes their hearts ache...!"
"...Da-yeon."
"Do I have to tell you that you're amazing like those people? Do I have to stand still and applaud without trying to follow you?"
She was swept away by emotions that were nothing more than futile feelings of inferiority, and her eyes turned red.
Strictly speaking, the only thing Ha-eun had done wrong was being in front of Min Da-yeon at this moment.
"Why do I have to keep losing? Why do I have to keep being pushed back by you? Why..."
As if that was everything.
As if all the misery, emptiness, and other bitter feelings that Min Da-yeon was feeling at this moment were all Ha-eun's fault.
"I want to win too. I want to hear that I'm better than you..."
She was finally bringing out the truth that she had never shown to anyone before.
At the same time, she made Ha-eun bear the burden of her heavy breathing and tearful eyes, as well as her trembling shoulders and flowing tears, all of which were part of the process of bringing out the truth that she could not show to anyone.
And so, in front of the completely broken Da-yeon, Ha-eun.
Thought and thought about what would be the best thing to say to Da-yeon.
"Then, let's play rock-paper-scissors..."
"...What?"
In this case, she thought that actions would be better than words, so she forcibly pulled Da-yeon up and shouted the rock-paper-scissors slogan, where you lose if you show a closed fist.
Da-yeon unknowingly threw out a fist.
The problem was that Ha-eun's hand was an open palm with not a single finger folded.
Immediately after, Ha-eun, who was incredibly flustered for a moment, literally didn't know what to do and ended up shouting the rock-paper-scissors slogan once again.
And so, after about four or five shouts from Ha-eun's mouth.
"...I finally lost."
The result was that Da-yeon had scissors and Ha-eun had paper.
Even so, Da-yeon's eyes were still glaring at Ha-eun.
In a way, it was only natural.
She had suddenly pulled her up without giving any explanation and then repeated rock-paper-scissors until Da-yeon won.
"What... what are you trying to do?"
From Da-yeon's perspective, who still had red eyes, it seemed like Ha-eun was playing a prank on her.
However, the calm voice that followed, unique to Ha-eun.
"You can keep going until you win. Whether it's rock-paper-scissors or acting."
It was the kind that didn't have even a grain of sand's worth of playfulness.
"Whether it's rock-paper-scissors or acting, I can't force myself to lose. Even if I force myself to lose to you, you won't accept it."
Da-yeon, who had been constantly moving her lips to refute Ha-eun's words, eventually couldn't interrupt Ha-eun.
"But someday, you'll win. That's just how the world works."
"...You sound just like my grandfather?"
"Ah, that, that's... because I heard it from my grandfather."
After that, Ha-eun continued to comfort and soothe Da-yeon.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that helpful, but the sight of Ha-eun, who she had always looked up to, fussing over Da-yeon and trying to cheer her up was a little.
"...Pfft."
No, it was a very different and amusing sight.
Da-yeon couldn't stand it and ended up laughing once, completely blowing away the serious atmosphere.
And almost at the same time, Ha-eun's mouth opened once again.
"Hey, Da-yeon. There's something I want to ask you—"
This was also Ha-eun's effort to somehow change the topic of conversation.
However, from Da-yeon's perspective, this was a foolish question that didn't even need to be asked.
"You don't really think you can have a normal school life, do you?"
"...Then I'll have to keep getting videos taken of me by the other kids?"
"It's a good thing if they only take videos. A kid I know had all her textbooks stolen by the other kids and ended up transferring to another school."
She concluded that it would be impossible for Ha-eun to have the normal school life that she was so obsessed with.
She asked why Ha-eun wanted to have a normal school life right after that.
"Lee Ha-eun, you keep obsessing over normal things. Why are you so obsessed with normal things? What's so good about being normal?"
It was just a question she blurted out of pure curiosity, without any intention.
She had been watching Ha-eun obsess over normal things for four years now, so she was a little tired of it.
However, the familiar look in Ha-eun's eyes that she encountered.
It was clear that she wasn't acting, but for some reason, she looked somewhat sad.
"It's just, I'm sad. I wanted to go on field trips and school trips too."
"Well, it's not like you can't go at all... it just means you need to be a little more careful than the other kids."
As a result, Da-yeon ended up comforting Ha-eun instead.
Although she wasn't sure if it was even something to be comforted about in the first place.
Da-yeon was just puzzled by Ha-eun, who often showed strange sides in unexpected places like this.
If Ha-eun's close-knit family that Da-yeon had seen last time was anything to go by, then Ha-eun wouldn't have any secret stories of her own.
'...What is it, really?'
It felt like the more time passed, the more she didn't know about Ha-eun rather than knowing more.
"Yes, well. It's about time for her to go on variety shows."
"So you think so too, Hwang PD? Then, while we're at it, how about filming an entire episode with the Star-Crossed concept? It would be great publicity."
Choi Su-hyeok PD continued to enthusiastically explain the promotional effect that the cast of Star-Crossed would get by appearing on Don't Stop People.
However, Star-Crossed was currently recording such ridiculously high viewership ratings that it didn't need any publicity.
'My makeup will be ruined. My body will be ruined. My image will be ruined. The disadvantages outweigh the advantages several times over.'
Ha Yoon-sung, who enjoyed exercising, was one thing, but Yoo Seong-ah, who had been shunning and avoiding variety shows for quite some time, would obviously never appear on Don't Stop People.
He wondered how to send Choi Su-hyeok PD back, who was still continuing his enthusiastic explanation in front of Hwang Min-soo PD.
However, there was one fact that both Hwang Min-soo PD and Choi Su-hyeok PD had failed to remember.
That was that Ha-eun had appeared in the music video of Lee Gun-yeol, one of the regular members of Don't Stop People, a long time ago.
To be precise, she had appeared in Deobeulli's music video "Match".
Above all, considering that Ha-eun and Deobeulli were still quite close,
Ha-eun was the most likely person among the various cast members of Star-Crossed to appear on Don't Stop People.
"Gun-yeol, why don't you talk to her once? But don't force her, absolutely not."
"Of course. If she says she doesn't want to, I'll end the conversation right there. I won't cling on like someone who lives somewhere."
"...How long ago was that story?"
Lee Gun-yeol, another regular member of Don't Stop People, not Choi Su-hyeok PD, directly suggested that Ha-eun be asked about appearing on Don't Stop People.
📝 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