Chapter 45
Chapter 45
Translator: Penny
Chapter 45
For Da-yeon, Lee Ha-eun was a rival she simply couldn't ignore.
An audition without Ha-eun held little meaning.
Therefore, she desperately wanted Ha-eun to participate in the lead role audition for , whose existence she had learned of not long ago.
Going to Ha-eun's house without warning was an extension of that.
"Da-yeon. There are roles I don't want to play either."
However, all the answers that came back from Ha-eun were in the form of rejections.
Afterward, she tried provoking Ha-eun by saying she lacked confidence, and even begged her to audition together with an unlike-Da-yeon pleading voice, but Ha-eun's answer didn't change much.
Eventually, she ended up questioning why she hated acting sick so much.
The only answer she received was silence.
'...What is it, really?'
What on earth was the reason she was refusing Da-yeon's offer, even shutting her mouth?
It was just acting, after all.
It was just ordinary patient acting that ended with a few coughs and sneezes.
"I don't want to play a patient. ...Never again."
What Da-yeon faced next was Ha-eun's eyes, turbidly mixed with various emotions.
It was a completely different look from when she only showed the emotions the camera demanded.
In the end, she had no choice but to give up on this audition offer.
However, she had to prevent Ha-eun from continuing to make excuses and avoid competing with Da-yeon.
"Lee Ha-eun, if my surpasses your next-door neighbor, you have to do whatever I say after that."
Even Da-yeon thought it was an unrealistic condition, but she tried to eliminate any room for Ha-eun to avoid competing with her.
Ha-eun hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded.
"Okay. If exceeds 7 million, I'll do whatever you say. Whether it's an acting competition or rock-paper-scissors."
"And one more thing. Let's go see the movie together on opening day."
"What... Okay."
Ha-eun, who already knew the final box office result of thanks to her past life memories.
Now that things had come to this, she decided to pass on this audition under the pretext of fulfilling her promise to Da-yeon.
An acting competition she would have to do someday anyway.
It occurred to her that it wouldn't be so bad for Ha-eun to pass it off with the box office success of 7 million, which she would achieve anyway.
Thus, in an audition without Ha-eun, Da-yeon surpassed all competitors and confidently passed as the lead role.
With the sole thought and obsession of showing Da-yeon's acting to Ha-eun, she worked hard on filming for quite a long time.
After several months had passed, the opening day of finally arrived.
"Excuse me, students. This is a 15-year-old movie, so you need a guardian."
"...Wait a minute. I'll bring a guardian."
There was a minor crisis where everything almost went to waste before even entering the theater.
However, she managed to overcome the crisis by calling her manager, Kim Jin-soo, who was killing time at a PC cafe near the theater.
The problem was that not long after entering the theater with Ha-eun, a bizarre scene that she had only seen in the script suddenly filled the screen.
[ Groooooan...!! ]
Da-yeon, startled, screamed in a high-pitched voice and flinched violently.
Almost simultaneously, Ha-eun's arms tightly wrapped around Da-yeon's arm and mouth.
Thus, the catastrophic accident of the popcorn bucket in Da-yeon's hand being overturned was barely prevented by Ha-eun.
Ha-eun's recommendation or suggestion to leave if she really couldn't watch was whispered in Da-yeon's ear.
"G-Da-yeon. You don't have to force yourself."
"I'm...I'm not forcing myself...?"
"Hmm, your expression looks like you're forcing yourself."
"What's wrong with my expression...!"
Unfortunately for Da-yeon, who was trying to pretend to be okay, even if it was forced.
Not even a few minutes later, an even more bizarre and terrifying scene than the one that had startled Da-yeon earlier filled the screen.
[ Kyaaack!!! ]
"?!?!??!!??!!"
As expected, she flinched again.
And another thud.
"...No matter what, you shouldn't cause trouble for other people."
"Mph! Mph mph!!"
"What's not allowed is not allowed. Let's go out before you spill the cola again."
"Mph mph mph!!"
In the end, Da-yeon couldn't show Ha-eun the final scene she had put so much effort into.
In Ha-eun's case, who had vivid memories of her past life, she already knew what scene Da-yeon wanted to show.
But even if she revealed this to Da-yeon, she wouldn't believe her and would be treated like a strange person.
"The acting I've seen so far was good enough. So, don't be too disappointed."
"Anyone can say that!"
"I mean it."
For now, she had no choice but to soothe and soothe Da-yeon, who was huffing and puffing for quite a long time.
Da-yeon also couldn't bring herself to go back into the theater, so she had no choice but to calm down in the end.
One way or another, the condition of the promise was that would achieve a similar or better result than <the man="" from="" nowhere="">.
It was realistically impossible for a movie that had just been released to reach 7 million, so in the end, she had no choice but to wait and wait.
After about two weeks had passed.
The day Da-yeon's finally reached the huge number of 7 million.
[ I heard the news. Congratulations, Da-yeon. ]
Ha-eun called first and said that she had achieved the condition Da-yeon had set.
However, now that she had received a competition promise from Ha-eun.
For some reason, any drama or movie that Da-yeon could choose now seemed somehow lacking as a competition category with Ha-eun.
"I definitely haven't forgotten, so be prepared!"
[ ...Okay. I'll be prepared. ]
Even after erected the tower of 10 million a week and three days later.
She only gave empty warnings to Ha-eun over the phone, postponing the competition with Ha-eun again and again.
However, perhaps because a drama or movie that met Da-yeon's standards did not appear for quite a long time afterward.
"Hey, Da-yeon. Are you going to take a picture with Ha-eun later too?"
"...If she asks first."
Time passed and passed, and even when the elementary school graduation day finally arrived.
Several months passed since then, and even after she started wearing neat school uniforms instead of her favorite casual clothes.
"Oh. We're in the same class again."
"...It's probably because it's easier for the teachers to have us in the same class."
"Th-Da-yeon. Not teachers, but professors."
"It's better than calling them old farts, right?"
She kept the promise with Ha-eun only in her heart.
Still, since both Ha-eun and Da-yeon were continuing to work as actors, she thought that there would definitely come a time when they would face each other head-on.
However, unlike Da-yeon, who had been filming any drama or movie without discrimination.
She didn't like the fact that Ha-eun was working as an actor only once in a blue moon.
"Lee Ha-eun, are you thinking of retiring from acting?"
That day, not long after she had just become a third-year middle school student.
She asked Ha-eun's true feelings with a more serious and sharp expression and voice than ever before.
The nod that came back from Ha-eun was in the form of a horizontal line, not a vertical one.
"I like acting."
Da-yeon had been with Ha-eun for almost nine years now, so she knew that the previous statement was not a lie.
However, she still couldn't understand why she only did what she liked once a year.
"Lee Ha-eun, you said you were all ready for the Star-Crossed audition. Do you still have something to 'prepare' for?"
She asked Ha-eun's true feelings once again, even dragging out a very old memory.
After a moment of silence, she heard the same indifferent voice as usual.
"I finished preparing at that time. But, if I work as an actor all the time, I feel like I'll get tired of it quickly."
"That makes no sense. How can you get tired of acting?"
"Still, you never know. If I keep filming without rest, my image will be consumed quickly too."
'...Is this girl dissing me right now?'
At first glance, it sounded like Ha-eun had been acting as a hobby until now.
Even though the way Da-yeon had seen Ha-eun acting was more enthusiastic and serious than a hobby.
"Don't worry too much, Da-yeon. I won't quit acting no matter what until I keep my promise with you. There are still works I really want to film left."
This was also the kind of answer that didn't feel like a lie.
Nevertheless, she couldn't take her suspicious eyes off her, so she decided to decide on a work to compete with Ha-eun before she became an adult.
Strictly speaking, neither Da-yeon nor Ha-eun were in a position where they had to audition for any work.
Even if it wasn't an audition, there were plenty of ways to compete with Ha-eun.
For now, she decided to focus only on preventing Ha-eun from straying from the path of an actor.
"Hmm... Where should I start cleaning?"
It was good that Na-yeon's unstoppable hand boldly opened Ha-eun's door.
After all, the owner of the room wasn't home, and on this long-awaited day of spring cleaning, Ha-eun's room couldn't be an exception.
However, once she entered Ha-eun's room, it was difficult to decide where to start.
First, she began to look at the various pieces of furniture in Ha-eun's room in turn.
The first thing that caught Na-yeon's eye was the bookshelf, which was densely filled with old notebooks or novels.
Next was the bed, where a large teddy bear, mainly for hugging while sleeping, was placed alone.
Finally, in the middle of all the furniture.
A pure white soundproof booth that took up the most volume of any furniture in the room.
'...When did she buy and install the lock?'
At least that pure white soundproof booth.
Ha-eun was using the secret base, which she had prepared with a big heart to commemorate Ha-eun's middle school graduation, cleanly on her own without Na-yeon having to clean it for her.
She also knew that it was necessary to respect her daughter's privacy as a mother.
However, perhaps because she briefly recalled Ha-eun's appearance when she was still young, singing nursery rhymes in front of Na-yeon with the cutest face.
'It feels like it was just yesterday when she was walking around. Time flies so fast….'
She couldn't help but miss the time when she was listening to a clear and youthful voice without any shyness.
It was right after that that she discovered that the display case located in one corner of Ha-eun's room was slightly tilted.
-Rattle.
Thus, after carefully taking out the trophies in the display case one by one.
She briefly applied force to re-level the tilted display case.
Afterward, she pulled out a few wet wipes and began to make the faded trophies shine again.
However, every time she read the various names written at the bottom of the trophies in her mind, old memories came to mind once again.
"Best New Actress in her first movie, Best Young Actor in her first drama... ...Our daughter is really amazing."
She silently stared at the various shapes of trophies for a while, immersing herself in the nostalgia of the past.
It was about 30 minutes later that she began to return the trophies, which had regained their original light, to their original places.
Even after that, she continued to neatly organize various parts of Ha-eun's room, and finally, Na-yeon felt proud of the scenery of the room, which was filled with only neatness.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that messy in the first place, but still, Na-yeon's sincere touch was enough for Ha-eun to notice.
Thus, with Na-yeon's vague hope that Ha-eun, who would be returning home soon, would be surprised or happy with the tidy room.
The pure white door, which had been wide open until now, was slowly closed by Na-yeon.
And, not even a few minutes later.
-Bang!
The door, which had been closed, was violently opened by Ha-eun, who had an extremely urgent expression on her face from the moment she entered the front door.
The appearance of Ha-eun being happy to see the clean room, which Na-yeon had expected a while ago, could not be found even as much as a grain of sand.
Of course, Ha-eun also had her own reasons.
That was because the application deadline for the Virtual Youtuber group , which she thought was until next week, was actually today.
Ha-eun, who had been preparing for quite a long time for another dream called Virtual Youtuber, had no choice but to become urgent.
Thus, she wrote the application documents at almost the speed of light and sent them to Daramji's business email.
[Not Read]
-Click.
[Not Read]
-Click.
-Click click….
[Read]
“…!”
She finally let out a sigh of relief at the 'Read' message that finally appeared after more than 5 hours had passed.
📝 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