Two Birds with One Stone (4)

From there, the shoot rolled on without a single pause.

"Okay! That last take was fantastic! Moving on to the next outfit!"

Under Director Cha Suhyeok's command, the studio ran with the seamless precision of a massive factory floor.

I stood with my arms folded and watched the whole machine in silence. In the end, I had no choice but to admit it.

Capital is a terrifying thing.

Perfectly dialed-in glamorous lights. Makeup that erased every flaw and amplified every strength under an expert's hands. The director's meticulous staging on top of it all. And then the footage that poured out of those cameras—lenses that supposedly cost hundreds of millions of won—onto the monitors. It looked so foreign I almost wondered if this was still the Kim Naeun I knew.

She actually looks like a celebrity.

Time slipped by like a lie. Before I knew it, a long cut call rang through the studio.

"All right! That's a wrap for the first shoot of the day! Great work, everyone!"

Applause from the staff washed over the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠set, and the taut tension finally loosened and drained away.

"Haaah…"

Standing in the middle of the set, Naeun finally let out the breath she had been holding and slumped her shoulders.

She draped the blanket the stylist handed her over her shoulders in a half-hearted heap and then came dashing straight toward the corner where I was standing.

"Unni!"

She skidded to a stop in front of me, still breathing hard.

"Thank you so much for coming today. Knowing you were watching made strength just pour out of me, you know?"

"You did great. Looking at you on the monitors, I barely recognized you."

At the praise, Naeun seized both of my hands.

Then, eyes sparkling with expectation, she asked,

"Unni! Are you coming to the next shoot too? Day after tomorrow we're doing the group-dance scene on the outdoor set!"

Those bright, pleading eyes almost made me waver for a second, but I shook my head firmly.

"No. I've got my own work to do."

I expected her to pout, but for some reason she simply nodded without a word of complaint.

"You're right. You need to start preparing too."

She squeezed the hands she was still holding and spoke in a serious voice.

"The fact that I got my own song and that I even get to shoot a music video… it's all because of you, Unni."

The sincerity dripping from every word left me briefly speechless.

…Is that really how she sees it?

My honest inner reaction was a little different. I had only dragged her around to raise the quality of my own audition stages, and I had poked at her a few times because her vocal ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flaws kept catching my eye. The song itself had come from Kim Taesung, and this glittering production was nothing more than the power of capital.

But if that was how Naeun felt about it, there was no real need to correct her.

"Feel like you've achieved your dream?"

She nodded so hard her head nearly came off, without a second's hesitation.

"Of course! It still feels like a dream. But this is only the beginning, right?! Debuting isn't the end—it's about being loved by the public and engraving my name into people's heads! I'm going to keep going until I collapse!"

"You're right. Debuting isn't the finish line. Work hard."

"Hehe, yes ma'am! You too, Unni! You have to win the audition no matter what! I'll buy a hundred votes and dump them all on you if I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have to!"

Naeun giggled, then tilted her head and asked,

"Come to think of it, I'm curious."

"About what?"

"Your dream, Unni."

She stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"You've already hit number one on the charts with On the Road, and honestly you're the most overwhelming contestant in the whole audition. You've pretty much done everything a singer can do… so what's your ultimate dream?"

My dream.

I turned my gaze toward the empty space above the set.

I had decided a long time ago.

"I want to go global."

"…What?"

Naeun's lips parted soundlessly for a moment; a complicated expression flickered across her face. Her own dream of debuting still felt impossibly distant and enormous, and the person standing right in front of her was already looking at an entirely different dimension. Maybe it was a kind of instinctive awe.

But the strange silence did not last long.

"If it's you, Unni, you can do it!"

Blind, pure faith without a shred of doubt.

"Even if you become a Billboard number-one star, you can't pretend you don't know me! Got it?!"

I snorted and flicked her lightly on the forehead.

"I'll think about it after I win the audition first. I hope your single debut is a success too."

She struck a cocky pose.

"Heh heh, I'm actually a little worried. What if I get so~ busy that you can't even meet me anymore!"

The way she shrugged her shoulders and put on airs was ridiculous, yet somehow I couldn't find it in me to be annoyed.

"I hope that day comes."

It wasn't empty words.

I sincerely hoped Naeun would shine on the stage she had always wanted—busier and more brilliantly than anyone.

"Unni, thank you so much for coming today! Get home safe!"

When I stepped outside the building, the cool evening air brushed my cheeks. I adjusted my mask and looked up at the night sky.

Meanwhile, after episodes four and five of Voice of Legend aired.

The internet was completely wallpapered with talk of Han Jiyoung. And the place burning hottest of all was, without question, the Han Jiyoung Minor Gallery.

The flood of looks praise that exploded after the Round 2 death-match stage in episode four took a completely different turn once the rival training-camp episode of episode five aired.

Yoo Sia, who had stacked up a mountain of dislike points as a sharp-tongued, rude villainess the first time she appeared, suddenly saw public opinion inside the gallery flip a full 180 degrees.

The public went wild over the overwhelming skill Han Jiyoung displayed and the visuals that seized every eye, and the strange chemistry with Yoo Sia only poured more fuel on the fire. The show's buzz kept setting new records day after day.

And so the world's attention on Voice of Legend swelled madly toward the approaching semifinal stage.

Then, in an instant, a single bizarre post dumped cold water all over the festival atmosphere of the gallery.

People tried to bury their unease by aggressively branding it a fake and tearing into the poster.

Because Han Jiyoung was currently an unaffiliated civilian with no agency, the idea that a real stalker might be doing this—with no protective shield to stand behind her—only fanned the fans' rage higher.

Yet even under the barrage of criticism, the poster refused to back down.

As if mocking the gallery users attacking him, he began spamming new posts every few minutes.

Every time someone clicked a post, newly attached photos popped up.

Shot from far away at night with the zoom cranked all the way up, the photos were terribly blurry and swimming with noise.

But the silhouette of the woman in them was unmistakably clear.

The gallery users who had desperately wanted to believe it was all fake gradually fell silent as the concrete stalker photos kept dropping one after another.

What everyone had dismissed as a mere attention-seeker's prank was revealed to be the live scene of a real stalking crime. In an instant, the Han Jiyoung Gallery plunged into a cauldron of uncontrollable chaos and deep, rising dread.