Prologue: The End of This Relationship

Age: seventeen. Name: Seo Eunwoo.

An ordinary high school freshman, just about to start his first year.

Except the secrets I carried put me a little more than a stone's throw from ordinary.

A message, arriving first as always, without fail.

Seol Soyoung.

Despite still being a middle schooler, she had debuted as the female lead in her very first project, delivered a performance so possessed it swept every award that year, and was now one of Korea's most celebrated young actresses — the starring figure of the drama world I had reincarnated into.

That was the name of the person who had texted me.

Over the past few years, as our exchanges as drama writer and actress grew more frequent, we had become close enough to message each other privately. Honestly, given that the female lead of every drama I wrote had always ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been her, it was almost inevitable that we would end up talking this often.

Hmm?

Why cast only Seol Soyoung as the female lead, you ask?

It was all for her! — that was the surface answer. The real one was that the moment I looked at her, artistic inspiration rose up on its own.

What people usually call a muse, I suppose?

Well, she would never find out about this embarrassing truth. But if she ever did…

Oh, man…

I might genuinely want to die.

Anyway.

Vrrrrr—

The phone buzzed the instant I hit send. Skimming the contents, she seemed fully prepared to help me out even though we had never once met face-to-face.

Well — as the daughter of the CEO of Cheil Electronics, a global conglomerate, and now a rising star in her own right, her resources were probably beyond anything I could imagine.

Except.

This wasn't a money problem, so I answered firmly.

Even as I sent it, I winced. Thinking about it, she had only ever appeared in my work.

Ah.

There had been a time when she expressed interest in other projects, and I had flat-out threatened her that she absolutely could not. I had done it out of a genuine desire to look out for her, but I suspected a fair amount of resentment had probably settled in.

Hmm…

Apologizing now would only look shameless…

And with the big connecting thread of writer and actress gone, there was no real reason for either of us to keep texting the way we had.

In that case…

"So this is finally the end of it. This relationship."

I gave a bitter smile and carefully tapped out a message on the keypad. I might not be able to apologize under the circumstances, but I at least wanted to leave her with a few words of support.

That should be enough, right?

I sent the message and immediately turned off the screen. The phone buzzed again almost at once, as if a reply had already come in, but I ignored it and stretched out on the bed.

"Haa…"

It was 10:30 p.m. A little early for sleep, maybe, but I intended to drop off as soon as I could.

Tomorrow was the high school entrance ceremony, after all.

I fell asleep in no time, and when I opened my eyes again it was six in the morning. Early to bed had paid off, as expected.

…What the.

But when I woke, the room was strangely bright.

The reason was the phone I had been texting Seol Soyoung on the night before — its screen was still glowing.

Just in case, I checked it, and the first thing that greeted me was this:

"…Huh?"

The sheer volume of texts and missed calls was enough to blast the sleep clean out of me.

And every last one of them had come from a single person — Seol Soyoung — all through the night…

What the hell.

A woman who had never once called me in her life was suddenly going this hard. Why?