Chapter 210: Butterfly Lady (2)
Chapter 210: Butterfly Lady (2)
To put it simply, it was a handful of photos.
Photos from a movie set.
Up to that point, it seemed like a typical, run-of-the-mill leak.
There was a bit of chatter in the community about the actress captured in the shots.
Literally, just a bit.
After all, the movie hadn't even been officially released yet.
And actor fandoms tend to have less "firepower" compared to idol fandoms.
If anything, Ju Seo-yeon had an exceptionally thick fanbase "for an actress."
Of course, the reason Seo-yeon became a topic of conversation wasn't simply because of the movie's genre or subject matter.
"It’s striking."
At the Korean branch of the French luxury brand Coclico.
Jang Tae-hee, the CEO of Coclico Korea, nodded as she looked at the photos brought up in the meeting.
This was because the headquarters had recently reached out, asking if there was anyone to recommend as a brand promotional representative in Korea.
In other words, they were looking for an ambassador.
Becoming a luxury brand ambassador is usually impossible with just average recognition.
After all, they are the face used to sell products not just in Korea, but to the entire world.
To think this small country is number one in the world for luxury market consumption per capita.
It wasn't for nothing that Coclico was looking to appoint a Korean celebrity as their promotional representative.
Currently, Coclico’s brand market share in Asia is lower compared to Europe.
The request sent to the Korean branch was likely an attempt to snatch away the market share currently held by other luxury brands.
That was why Jang Tae-hee was carefully considering various candidates.
"Who did the headquarters suggest?"
"It’s Ri-hyun from JustX."
"That’s a good choice."
JustX was currently a K-pop idol group with global recognition.
Considering how many Korean idols have recently become ambassadors for various luxury brands, it was a fairly sound choice.
At least, looking at the numbers alone.
"Additionally, they said they would review any further candidates we might want to add."
Hwang So-young, the PR Team Leader of Coclico Korea.
In a calm tone, she once again scanned the photos of the candidates they had gathered so far.
Being celebrities, every single one of them possessed radiant looks.
However, the one who stood out the most among them was, ironically, the person in the recently leaked photos.
"Isn't it rare to include leaked photos in a review?"
"I suppose it just shows how striking they were. Besides..."
The photos also captured members of a filming crew from Japan.
Of course, one couldn't tell just by looking at the photos, but the person who leaked them had explicitly stated it was a "Japanese filming crew."
"They say Ju Seo-yeon is currently the Korean actress that Japan is most interested in."
"It’s strange, considering she’s hardly done anything there."
"Raising that much recognition based on looks alone is certainly unprecedented."
Of course, it wasn't just her looks.
A single minute of acting.
That one-minute video, which was being played repeatedly as a meme and on YouTube in Japan, was the cause.
"But to choose her based solely on the Japanese market is a bit..."
"It’s not just the Japanese market. You know about the Sky Garden craze recently, don't you?"
"That..."
Jang Tae-hee’s words left Hwang So-young speechless.
The recently concluded Sky Garden.
The viewership rating for the final episode was a staggering 33 percent.
It ended by achieving a rating that was practically considered "impossible" for public broadcast networks these days.
If this were ten years ago, it would have easily surpassed 40 percent.
The aftermath of Sky Garden was so immense that calling it a "craze" felt like an understatement.
First, the biggest beneficiary was the chair brand 'Adiz.'
Next was éclat Étoile.
In fact, Adiz’s study chairs were reportedly out of stock everywhere.
"Ju Seo-yeon’s current recognition is... well, there’s no actress in her age group who can compare."
"In terms of impact over a single year, she’s at a level that overwhelms even Jo Seo-hee or Park Jung-woo."
It wasn't that those two actors hadn't had hits this year.
It was just that Ju Seo-yeon had produced an absurd string of consecutive mega-hits.
Even the entertainment industry, which had initially just laughed it off, was now starting to be struck with awe.
Variety shows, dramas...
Even movies.
It was hard to tell exactly how many hits she had churned out in a single year.
She hadn't filmed many commercials compared to the number of works she appeared in, but looking at her schedule, it was understandable that she simply didn't have the time.
"Sky Garden and Dream Future are currently being exported overseas. So, Ju Seo-yeon’s recognition is bound to rise even further."
"That is true. The only problem is..."
"Her career is too short."
No matter how incredible her performance had been, it had only been a year.
There was no telling what would happen in the future.
If this momentum continued into next year, it might be a different story.
At least, based on the image in this photo alone, there’s no actress who fits Coclico as perfectly as she does.
Dressed in a butterfly kimono and holding an elegant long-stemmed pipe, Seo-yeon looked like a character who had stepped straight out of a movie.
The Butterfly Lady.
Her appearance perfectly matched the name given to the leaked photos.
Butterfly—it paired beautifully with Coclico, which means red poppy in French.
"It might be a bit difficult right now... let’s keep an eye on her for a while."
"What about Ri-hyun?"
"Let’s wait on that side too. There’s something about JustX that’s been bothering me."
To be precise, there had been various rumors circulating about the leader of JustX, Low.
Of course, they weren't bad rumors yet.
Yes, only "yet."
"But if we wait, someone else might snatch up JustX. Ri-hyun, in particular, has been actively appealing for brand ambassador roles."
"Then let them take him."
Jang Tae-hee said with a slight smile.
True, right now Ri-hyun had much higher recognition and would provide more immediate profit as a model.
But who knows how it will be later?
It was an instinct she had developed from watching this industry for a long time.
Ju Seo-yeon was only in her first year of activity.
Comparing her, a mere fledgling, to Ri-hyun, who was already at his peak, was actually laughable.
Their recognition levels were literally worlds apart.
But the future is unpredictable.
An actress currently drawing interest from Japan.
The Japanese market had certainly declined significantly compared to the past.
However, its underlying strength and its reputation as a nation hadn't vanished.
For better or worse.
It was once the country that led Asian trends.
That influence wouldn't be negligible just yet.
Gyeongseong Lady...
She had a vague premonition that once that movie was released, many things would change.
For some reason.
*
"Wow..."
In the darkness, a woman was intently watching a drama on a large TV.
On the screen, a beautiful girl with long black hair was giving a passionate performance.
Pale skin, which made her deep black hair stand out even more.
And those mysterious red eyes.
The scene was flowing toward the climax.
The latter half of Sky Garden.
Lee Yu-ju, who had only ever run along the path set by her father.
Influenced by her friend Song Ga-yeon, she was finding a new dream.
「I’m scared.」
Lee Yu-ju says, grabbing Song Ga-yeon’s arm.
The girl who had helped her on the day she fell from the cliff, without asking for anything in return.
「The fact that I have to decide everything myself.」
The old Yu-ju wouldn't have even spared her a glance.
A background that paled in comparison to others.
A personality that was far too kind.
And her grades weren't even that impressive.
Yet, as if possessed, Lee Yu-ju began to follow Song Ga-yeon.
She rejected her and pushed her away multiple times.
Telling herself that her path wasn't something so shabby, she tried her best to mock Song Ga-yeon.
But was that why?
The adults of 'Sky Garden' reaching out to her.
And the children being swayed by those adults began to feel grotesque.
Like marionettes connected by strings.
The thought that she was exactly the same made her shudder.
「Because I’ve already made a mistake once.」
Lee Min-seo.
The second child of Lee Min-hyuk’s family.
The stepping stone Yu-ju had used to climb higher.
But she had refused to be a stepping stone.
Just before Yu-ju could reach out to her brother, Min-seo had pushed her off the cliff.
Then, seeing Lee Yu-ju return alive, she had attempted suicide.
Looking at Yu-ju with eyes full of resentment.
「You wouldn't know.」
Min-seo had said in a low voice.
「For the first time since I was born, my parents' attention was on me. It was attention I barely managed to get. Love I reclaimed with such difficulty. But, if you do the same thing to my brother that you did to me... I’ll just end up back where I was.」
Min-seo had spoken in a sorrowful voice before jumping from the school building.
「But she lived.」
Recalling that time, Song Ga-yeon spoke with a smile.
「That wasn't your fault. Min-seo was the one who did wrong first. She was just rationalizing her own mistakes.」
Min-seo had fallen from the school, but fortunately, she didn't die.
However, she had fallen into a coma and had yet to wake up.
While Song Ga-yeon partially empathized with Min-seo’s words, she knew it was by no means Yu-ju’s fault.
「Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes, like this time, it’s unintentional.」
The incident with Min-seo became the catalyst that changed Yu-ju’s thinking.
Since she had begun to 'doubt' what she had to do, she could no longer walk the same path as before.
In a sense, she was lost.
「Yu-ju. You have talent, don't you? I think it would be such a waste to let go of everything because of one mistake.」
A small word of comfort.
It was the first comfort Yu-ju had ever heard in this 'Sky Garden.'
No, it might have been the first in her entire life.
Because no one, not even once, had ever said such a thing to her.
Could she do it?
Yu-ju took a deep breath.
She hadn't decided what she wanted to do yet.
But before that.
「...There’s something I need to finish first.」
The matter of Lee Hyuk-soo’s family.
And the matter regarding her own father.
Lee Yu-ju made up her mind.
She would no longer run away; she would face them head-on.
And then, the screen faded to gray as the drama ended.
The woman, who had watched the entire sequence with bated breath, finally exhaled.
"Wow, what would I have done if I’d followed this in real-time~?"
At the same time, she felt so sad that there were only three episodes left.
Lee Yu-ju, who had been wandering after the incident with Min-seo, had regained her resolve, and now it would end once she resolved the final task she had put off.
"The script is good."
The woman nodded, savoring the script of the drama she had just watched.
As expected, watching a good work before creating something herself provided great stimulation.
She had finished her previous work and basically played around for a year, but it was finally time to start a new project!
"...Well, is there really a need to rush?"
Of course, being stimulated was one thing, but it didn't mean she would start working immediately.
You see, one needs a bit of relaxation.
Novels are very delicate things, so they react very sensitively to one's mental state or condition.
In other words, it meant she needed to rest a bit more.
"Ju Seo-yeon..."
The woman chewed over the name of the actress who had just appeared in the drama.
Actually, she didn't watch dramas often.
To be precise, she didn't really watch visual media like TV or movies.
Maybe a bit of YouTube here and there?
So, she only ended up watching Sky Garden after it had finished airing, rather than while it was on.
And even then, she hadn't intended to watch it, if not for one particular actress who appeared in it.
"I’m so, so jealous. I’m jealous of Sua... If only I had been a bit more diligent. If only I had been a bit faster..."
The woman pounded her bed with her fists.
She was late with her serializations, late with her love life.
Anyway, she wasn't fast at anything.
What was the point of writing a new work? Wouldn't it be better to just die in this corner of her room?
If she was going to live as a single for the rest of her life, that might actually be better.
Just as she was wriggling under her covers.
Vrrr, vrrr.
The woman’s phone rang.
Thinking it was probably an insurance telemarketer, she looked at the screen with a dull expression.
"Eyyy, Editor! Hello! How have you been? I was actually just about to send over the first five chapters of my new manuscript along with the proposal~."
[Writer, I know you haven't written a single chapter.]
Wait, how did he know?
She was already feeling gloomy, and hearing the editor’s voice made her feel even gloomier.
But she couldn't just ignore him.
The editor in charge of her wasn't just a regular publishing house editor, but someone belonging to a massive web novel platform.
In other words, a direct platform employee.
Naturally, if she messed around, it would directly impact the promotion of her work.
Of course, if she asked, he would just laugh and say that wasn't the case, but there was a certain feeling, wasn't there?
The contract said I was the 'Party B' (the disadvantaged party).
How is this being Party B?
The woman felt sorrowful again.
I’m never doing a direct contract again.
What was the point of her novels selling well?
She couldn't even say one word of complaint.
If it were a regular publishing house, she’d be at the level where she could be on friendly terms with the CEO or directors.
For her next work, she’d change her pen name and go somewhere else.
She was so sorrowful she’d never work with them again.
[Writer, I’ve brought some good news.]
"Wow, really? I’m so looking forward to it."
Even so, the news wouldn't be anything special.
At most, a promotion?
The webtoon adaptation had already been done long ago, and she didn't have any other works to adapt.
Besides, she was thinking of producing her next work herself instead of leaving it to the platform.
They took way too much of a cut.
[Writer, your work is going to be adapted into a drama.]
"?"
The woman briefly pulled the smartphone away from her ear.
Then, after staring at the screen for a moment, she pressed the call record button.
"Ah, I didn't hear you clearly. Could you say that one more time?"
[Writer, your work is going to be adapted into a drama on a general programming channel.]
"Holy crap, this is insane!!"
[?]
The woman shouted without realizing it.
Wow, this is why direct platform contracts are the best. This is insane, seriously.
A drama adaptation?
Not even a web drama, but on a general programming channel?
As expected, the world’s strongest platform.
I knew I could trust you.
Truly, this is the place where I will bury my bones for the rest of my life.
Sua, you’re living happily, right? Keep living happily with Seo-yeon. I think I’m going to live happily now, too.
Her gloomy mood vanished in an instant.
A new work? Why would she need to prepare something like that?
A web novel writer?
From now on, please call me a drama writer.
Thinking that, the woman collapsed onto her bed.
From the excessive excitement, she lost all her strength and fell over.
And.
Seo-yeon, who had received a blessing in a place she didn't know about.
"Then, I’m coming in."
"Uh, yeah. Come in."
She was facing Yeo-hee, who greeted her with an awkward face.
In the next shoot, I’m going to give them both a piece of my mind.
The humiliation she had suffered in the previous shoot.
She had to enter special training to pay them back for that.