Chapter 40: Sasaeng Fan (2)
Chapter 40: Sasaeng Fan (2)
Ten years ago, she was a genius child actor who had been the center of a massive sensation.
Ju Seo-yeon.
She definitely has acting chops. But standing on a stage is a different matter.
Jo Do-yul, the director, picked up his pen as he watched Seo-yeon step forward.
A notebook for evaluations lay open before him.
He had already seen the video of her first-round audition, the free acting segment.
Judging by the video alone, it was clear she was a born actress. She knew how to play to the camera perfectly. Her interpretation of 'Hong Jeong-hee' in the video had been distinct, infused with her own perspective as an actress.
Yet, it wasn't overdone; it was blended in just right.
That was why, despite several lingering concerns, he had passed her through the first round.
The script?
Looks like she memorized the whole thing.
Hmm.
Seo-yeon’s script was resting on a chair.
While memorizing the entire script was ideal, it wasn't mandatory. Even in professional auditions, plenty of actors performed while holding their scripts. Thus, while it left a good impression, it wasn't exactly grounds for extra points. In fact, performing without a script and then making a mistake was often seen as a bigger problem.
Now, let’s see what she’s got.
The scene assigned for Hong Jeong-hee was Act 3, Scene 6—a moment where her dark, brooding nature was intensely revealed.
It begins with Hong Jeong-hee secretly watching a romantic moment between Bae Seong-hak and Song Min-seo as they flirt. It serves as the conclusion to Act 3 and a chilling omen of the crisis to come in Act 4.
It was a crucial scene. If the actress failed to properly establish Hong Jeong-hee here, the character would lose all impact in the following act.
Will she do well?
She’s been away for ten years, though.
Dramas and plays are different, aren't they?
Furthermore, aside from the ten-year hiatus, Seo-yeon’s only real acting experience was The Moon That Hides the Sun. In terms of raw experience, she was bound to be lacking in many ways.
But.
She has an aura.
An aura that commanded attention.
A natural-born talent.
As everyone sat witness to a glimpse of that brilliance...
「Heh.」
Seo-yeon’s performance began.
「Liar.」
A low, suppressed chuckle, followed by a single word.
The moment Jo Do-yul heard that voice, goosebumps broke out over his skin.
Was it because her acting was good?
No, it was because her voice carried with such startling clarity.
What the...
Didn't she say this was her first time doing theater?
Looking ahead, the genius child actor Ju Seo-yeon was already gone.
Her back was hunched. Her long hair fell forward, casting a gloomy shadow over her. The beauty had vanished from that lovely face.
「Why... why are you smiling at a girl like her? You’ve never shown me that side of yourself.」
What is the difference between acting for a play and acting for a drama?
It lies in the method of expression.
Dramas prioritize emotional depth and nuanced, detailed acting. The camera can zoom in on an actor's face and capture every flicker of emotion. It’s what people often call "natural acting"—expressing emotions through everyday gestures.
But what about the stage?
「No way... heh... there’s no way. Could he... could he be being deceived? That bitch... she must be... she must be seducing my innocent Oppa. Yes! That’s it!」
Seo-yeon clutched her chest with exaggerated movements and staggered unsteadily, her feet tracing a zigzag pattern. She moved like a woman losing her balance in a dark alleyway. She never stopped moving, even as she spat out her lines.
Theater acting.
It is found in physical expression.
It is similar to, yet different from, exaggerated gestures. Unlike in movies or dramas, an actor's emotions on stage are conveyed through their entire body rather than just their face.
The hands and arms. The legs. The heaving of the torso.
Along with those movements, she vomited out Hong Jeong-hee’s lines. Her voice trembled violently, yet her pronunciation remained crisp. It was proof that she had been properly trained in vocal projection. Even her voice sounded different from when she had first spoken. It was the cracked, murky voice of a sinister woman.
Holy...
The other actors who had entered with Seo-yeon rubbed their arms as they watched her. Those exaggerated movements didn't feel awkward at all. It was like watching an actual play; no one could deny that the person standing before them was 'Hong Jeong-hee.'
「Should I... go secretly too? Heh... if I wear a school uniform like this... Oppa won't be able to turn me away so coldly.」
This part wasn't in the script. Yet, it was woven naturally into the dialogue.
Currently, Seo-yeon was wearing a school uniform. In contrast, Hong Jeong-hee was a university student in her twenties. Naturally, the attire was a mismatch, but she had addressed it seamlessly. A woman in her twenties, pretending to be a teenager to get close to an idol. That alone was enough to showcase Hong Jeong-hee’s twisted nature.
Was that calculated?
Or was it an ad-lib?
This was her first play. Her lack of experience was evident in her blocking.
Blocking refers to the precise movement and positioning of actors on stage. Having never stood on a real stage, Seo-yeon’s blocking was understandably lacking.
However, she seemed aware of it herself. The path she traced in her mind—Hong Jeong-hee hiding in an alley, watching them, and taking staggering steps—was awkward for traditional blocking, but that very awkwardness made the acting feel more visceral. It disguised itself as a manifestation of Hong Jeong-hee’s unstable psyche.
And what about her gaze?
While the audience reads emotions through an actor's body, they still want to see the face. As if aware of this, Seo-yeon’s line of sight was naturally directed toward the judges' table.
「Wait for me... just a little longer, Oppa. I... I will definitely...」
She hunched her shoulders and turned away with short, quick steps, as if exiting the stage.
And with that, Seo-yeon’s performance as 'Hong Jeong-hee' came to an end.
“…….”
A strange silence filled the room.
Jo Do-yul felt a sense of self-reflection. Lacking experience because she’s only done dramas?
Sure, she might lack experience. But her skill and talent outshone that deficit completely. It was the kind of genius acting that even a fool could recognize.
The poor blocking, the slightly shaky eye contact—those were things she could master in an instant once taught.
“Actress Seo-yeon, your current age is...?”
“I’m seventeen.”
“A freshman in high school?”
“Yes.”
Her answer was calm. She was completely different from the Hong Jeong-hee of a moment ago. The faded light had returned to her.
“Hmm.”
Jo Do-yul looked at the pen in his hand and the grading sheet. He had scribbled something down without even realizing it.
First of all...
I think this is a wrap, don't you?
Such looks were exchanged among the judges. She suited Hong Jeong-hee better than any actor they had seen today. The faces of the actors waiting behind her provided the answer. An actor who is overwhelmed by another's performance cannot give a good one of their own.
Tap. Tap.
Jo Do-yul, who had been tapping the desk with his pen, finally nodded.
“That was a truly excellent performance. Normally, I would have a few more questions, but...”
She had already answered everything he wanted to know through her acting—how she interpreted the character of Hong Jeong-hee and why she had come dressed in a school uniform.
“It’s a performance I can hardly believe came from a seventeen-year-old. Did you continue acting during your hiatus?”
“I attended a voice acting academy consistently.”
“A voice acting academy? Ah, may I ask where...?”
The other judges chimed in with questions, and Seo-yeon answered them calmly. She seemed like a child devoid of emotion. The thought crossed their minds, but after seeing the performance she just gave, they knew that couldn't be true. Above all, wasn't Ju Seo-yeon an actress whose greatest strength as a child had been her 'emotional acting'?
“Well then...”
Once all the questions were finished, Seo-yeon returned to her seat. As the next actor’s name was called and they turned pale...
...That’s a shame.
Seo-yeon wiped her face with her palm.
She felt she had acted well. The judges' reactions had been positive.
Would it have been better to pour out more emotion?
Despite practicing countless times and listening to the advice of instructors and other actors, there were parts of her first theater performance she couldn't be certain about. It was a phenomenon that occurred because she had never performed in front of a live audience. Most importantly, she had never even seen a play in her past life.
I tried my best to fake the blocking, though.
While everyone else was in awe, Seo-yeon was replaying a few mistakes in her head. She had wanted to imbue the performance with more emotion. However, if she had delved deeper into the emotions or attempted method acting, her mistakes would likely have doubled. For stage acting, wearing a mask through emotional mimicry was enough. Even knowing that, a part of her felt unsatisfied.
I wonder how it went.
Seo-yeon felt a surge of tension.
Amidst the admiration for her performance, she noticed a woman who had remained quietly in her seat.
Pyo Ji-woo.
She had been staring at Min Seo-ho the entire time. Seo-yeon had intended to give a performance that would steal everyone's gaze, but in the end, Pyo Ji-woo hadn't spared her a single glance.
And then.
Pyo Ji-woo’s gaze briefly shifted toward Seo-yeon.
...Is she smiling?
A faint, strange, and sinister smile filled with a peculiar emotion. Pyo Ji-woo looked at Seo-yeon with that very expression. The determination not to lose this role, no matter what, was palpable in her eyes.
“Next, and finally, Actress Pyo Ji-woo.”
“Yes.”
But that heavy atmosphere vanished as she stood up at Jo Do-yul’s call.
She staggered. Even her gait was already reminiscent of 'Hong Jeong-hee.'
“I will begin my performance.”
After a few preliminary questions, Pyo Ji-woo began her act. The Q&A had been ordinary, with nothing particularly out of place. There was a slightly odd feeling about her, but no one in the room noticed her abnormality. Not even Min Seo-ho, the person directly involved.
But there was one person.
Seo-yeon knew Pyo Ji-woo. She hadn't first seen her in a play or a movie, but on the 'news.'
「Heh... l-liar.」
She lowered her body, and her wavy hair spilled down. Like wet seaweed, it draped over her face. Through the gaps, her eyes gleamed with a shimmering madness.
“!!!”
In an instant, Min Seo-ho, the actor playing Bae Seong-hak, felt a chill run down his spine. Her eyes were fixed squarely on him. Was it because he was playing Bae Seong-hak?
Method acting!
Jo Do-yul’s body tensed. Pyo Ji-woo’s aura had shifted instantly. It was chilling. A thick, spreading darkness filled the room.
The character of Hong Jeong-hee was a type often found in reality. That was why she was all the more unpleasant, all the more sinister. There was a specific kind of horror that stemmed from that.
If Seo-yeon’s acting focused on that gloominess...
Pyo Ji-woo’s was pure discomfort. It was the discomfort of facing a real-life Hong Jeong-hee. A terror one wanted to shake off and flee from.
「A way... I have to find a way. A way to get rid of that bitch... that... that loathsome bitch.」
Seo-yeon clenched her fists as she watched Pyo Ji-woo act.
Yes, this is it.
It felt as if the real Hong Jeong-hee was standing right there.
Method acting? One could call it that.
This is the performance that will lead her into the film industry.
This madness, which everyone would eventually praise... was real.
Pyo Ji-woo was a stalker of the actor Min Seo-ho. She was the real deal—someone who had never been caught and had followed his shadow until the very end.
And at the same time... her acting skills are the real deal too.
Her eye contact and her theatrical movements were perfectly executed. Her blocking, in particular, was far more proficient than Seo-yeon’s. That was because this wasn't Pyo Ji-woo’s first play. Driven by the single-minded desire to act alongside Min Seo-ho, she had already appeared in several productions. Of course, her performances in those other plays had been mediocre. She hadn't been acting with any sincerity back then.
But this time was different.
Hong Jeong-hee was Pyo Ji-woo’s true self. If everything until now had been a rehearsal, this was the goal she absolutely had to achieve.
“……I’m finished.”
When Pyo Ji-woo’s performance ended, the room froze in a different sense. The emergence of an unexpected dark horse. The performance she had just given bordered on true insanity.
Heh.
Pyo Ji-woo allowed herself a satisfied smile internally. The judges looked deeply conflicted.
I’m the one who suits the role better. Right? After all, I am Hong Jeong-hee.
She knew it herself. This was a role ordained by heaven. A destiny granted to connect her with Min Seo-ho. Therefore, even a child actor called a genius couldn't stop her. With that thought, she looked toward the high-and-mighty genius child actor.
“……!”
Ju Seo-yeon.
When she looked at the girl whose beauty was enchanting just to behold, Pyo Ji-woo froze.
Ju Seo-yeon was staring at her with an expressionless face.
Outside the spotlight, in the dark shadows, red eyes were faintly glowing as they watched her.
A quiet longing. A hostility that refused to back down.
Pyo Ji-woo stiffened at the sight of that fierce emotion.
“Hmm, this...”
Behind Pyo Ji-woo as she turned away, Jo Do-yul’s voice rang out.
“I think we need to see one more scene from these two.”
It was a conversation between the judges. Though spoken in a low voice, Pyo Ji-woo, who was close to the table, could hear it. Upon hearing those words, she looked back at Ju Seo-yeon.
The corners of Seo-yeon’s expressionless mouth twisted.
A sneer.
A mockery directed at Pyo Ji-woo, who had been wearing a smile of victory. She was mimicking the very smile Pyo Ji-woo had given her earlier and throwing it back at her.
At that smile, Pyo Ji-woo bit her lower lip.
That little brat.
She was a wicked girl trying to steal the role that heaven had set aside for her. Pyo Ji-woo had been certain she had won, so why!
Fine, then. Let’s do this.
Pyo Ji-woo and Seo-yeon’s gazes locked in mid-air.
Naturally, neither had any intention of giving up the role.