Chapter 188
Chapter 188
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 188
Chapter Title: An Actress is Born
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The assistant director approached Min-jun.
“Manager, Ms. Ro-si’s profile…”
“Here it is. Thank you for everything.”
As if he had it ready, Min-jun handed over the profile. The assistant director gave a wry smile and spoke.
“He’s a picky director, but you really hit the mark. I was worried when she said she wouldn’t use eye drops.”
Several crew members who were nearby came over to Ro-si, offering words of encouragement and praise.
“Wow, that was amazing.”
“You’re like a natural-born actress.”
“I think that was the best performance I’ve seen from a singer-turned-actor.”
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that director accept a rookie’s profile.”
“Thank you. I’ll continue to work hard.”
Another person who approached was the writer, Kim Su-jeong. When Ro-si had greeted her upon arrival, she had barely acknowledged her, but now the situation was completely reversed.
“I was very worried because you’re an idol, but you exceeded my expectations. Thank you.”
“Thank you, Writer-nim.”
Writer Kim Su-jeong watched Ro-si with a pleased expression as she bowed.
“How can your ad-libs be even better than the script?”
“Not at all. It’s because you wrote such a wonderful script, ma’am.”
“Hoho. If I’d known, I might have increased your screen time. Would you be available for an additional appearance later? Maybe just a brief one in the finale.”
The air of prejudice and condescension that had emanated from most of the crew seemed to have completely vanished.
“Bye-bye, Mommy.”
“Mhm. Bye-bye. See you next time.”
“Mhm!”
The mother of the child actor, who had been subtly giving Ro-si the side-eye, practically dragged her child away without a backward glance, clearly embarrassed by her earlier behavior.
“Thank you for your hard work! We’ll be heading out now!”
Ro-si shouted her goodbyes to the crew who were packing up the set, and pleased smiles appeared on their faces.
Ro-si got into the car, and Min-jun started driving toward the dorm.
“You worked hard. I was so moved by your first acting performance. You did great.”
“…It’s really strange.”
Despite Min-jun’s praise, Ro-si’s face was filled with doubt.
“What is?”
“Why does everything go so well whenever I’m with you, Oppa?”
Min-jun felt a pang of guilt. Ro-si had said something similar before.
“Haha. Is that a compliment?”
“I’m scared. I’m afraid I won’t be able to do anything without you.”
But contrary to her words, Ro-si’s self-esteem had reached 70, nearly approaching the target of 80.
The fact that Ro-si was, for lack of a better term, being overly dramatic filled Min-jun with a sense of satisfaction. It was a clear sign that her heart was healing.
“I’m grateful that you trust and rely on me. But you truly have talent, Ro-si. It seems you’re not yet confident in that talent, but once you land a role that’s a perfect fit, all those worries will disappear. Trust me.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Don’t worry about it and just wipe off your makeup. Your face looks uncomfortable.”
“Ah!”
*Shwk.*
Remembering the sickly mother makeup she had been wearing, Ro-si hastily drew the curtains.
“You should have told me sooner!”
Ro-si, on the verge of tears, searched for a mirror and cleansing pads.
‘My dark circles make me look like a panda…’
The thought of having talked with Min-jun with that gloomy face in the mirror made her feel incredibly upset.
* * *
Seul-bi and Yi-na started a live stream from their dorm.
“Hello, everyone!”
Seul-bi greeted them, while Yi-na randomly did a spin, showing off the back of her tight jeans. The chat immediately erupted.
-Pfft!
-Yi-na, why all of a sudden…?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Why are you spinning right at the start?
-Why is this so cute? lol
“Haa. I’m sorry, everyone. It seems Yi-na has been hit with a late-onset case of middle school disease.”
Ignoring Seul-bi’s words, Yi-na twisted her body, admiring her own reflection on the screen.
-Wow lol, every live stream is something new.
-Yi-na’s charm is off the charts lol. She’s a grown-up, a grown-up.
-Ah lol, she hasn’t been possessed by the same demon as the Daepyo-nim, has she?
-Ah! Not the demon! Anything but the Jae-dragon demon!
As Yi-na began to shed her childish image, her fanbase was growing thicker.
Yi-na brought a finger to her red lips, then blew a kiss toward the camera.
-Seriously hilarious, just say something lollll
-Yi-na’s concept is crazy, she makes people laugh with the weirdest things.
-Is your dream to be a model? Your poses have a model vibe.
“Haa… Even our Isa-nim can’t control her. She really has middle school disease these days.”
-Still a cute case of it though lol
-But I don’t see Seol-ah and one other person?
-That would be Seol-ah and Ro-si.
“Ah, I guess the schedule for today wasn’t uploaded. I’m sorry. Our manager has been doing fan manager duties too, so he’s been incredibly busy. You all know that Lee Yoo-ah unni is promoting overseas, right?”
-Oh, right, right. They’re from the same company.
-Hey, it’s not just the same company. She got famous because of the mash-up project with Answer.
-That’s right. It’s really hard for a regular musician to get famous like that these days. You have to give Answer the credit for this one.
-True. And as someone who saw that music show in person, it was truly awesome. Dreamlike, you could say?
-The music show was on TV too. And I think ‘poignant’ fits better than ‘dreamlike’.
“Yes. Anyway, Seol-ah unni and Ro-si are out filming. So today, we’ve prepared a special live stream. It’s called… a! Snack! Par-ty!”
Yi-na twirled around and moved to the back, pulling down a large cloth. Fans couldn’t help but chuckle, feeling like they were watching a magician’s assistant.
-A box of snacks?
-Ugh, don’t tell me it’s a snack mukbang?
-Wangkkulsora! Isn’t that super high in calories? Something a girl group should absolutely avoid.
*Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep. Beep-boop.*
The sound of the front door’s electronic lock was heard, and in walked Ro-si, dressed in a pearl-colored blouse and a gray H-line miniskirt.
“Ooh! Our actress has arrived. You’re in luck when it comes to food.”
Seul-bi aimed the camera at Ro-si, who was taking off her shoes. Ro-si waved with both hands while bowing her head deeply.
-Ro-si is surprisingly cute too, you know.
-Mhm, waving with both hands? And that deep bow is super cute.
-Ah. But why is she covering her face?
“Well, today was my first time acting, and I had to wear makeup, which I just removed. As a courtesy, couldn’t I at least put on some basic makeup before appearing?”
“Of course not! Ah, so annoying! You’re still pretty.”
After inspecting Ro-si’s face, Seul-bi spoke in a tone of disbelief and pulled Ro-si in front of the camera.
“Here is the bare face of Ro-si, who will soon become a great actress.”
Although Ro-si was covering her eyes with her index and middle fingers, her high-bridged nose and beautifully curved lips with slightly upturned corners were still visible.
-Wow, she really is pretty.
-But watching Ro-si rap, I always thought her diction was amazing. So she’s also an actress as a side gig. She’ll probably deliver her lines well.
-Come to think of it, her distinct features do give her an actress-like look.
Seul-bi quickly ran and brought back an echo microphone.
“Ro-si, how was your first day of acting?”
Seul-bi mimicked a reporter, and Ro-si smiled faintly.
“Ah… I worked hard, but I’m not sure how the viewers will see it.”
“What kind of role was it?”
“I’m not the lead. It’s a one-time minor role. I just finished filming a scene where a sick mother, who is about to die, talks with her beloved child.”
-Even if it’s a minor role, it sounds like it would be difficult to act.
-I’m excited to see Ro-si’s acting. When does it air?
“They’ve just started filming. It’s scheduled to air in July.”
“Anyway, let’s get back to the beginning and have our snack party. It would be great if you all grabbed a bag of snacks too.”
-ㅜㅜ I don’t have any snacks at home.
-Is there really someone who doesn’t have a single bag of snacks at home?
-Even if you don’t have any, just pretend you do. Let’s not whine and make other viewers uncomfortable.
-Honestly, saying you don’t have any is a bit frustrating, but calling it whining seems like an overreaction.
As the fans’ interest grew, different types of people began to clash in the chat. The members of Answer had learned that it was best to move on as if nothing had happened in such cases.
Seul-bi brought a table and set it up with the box of Wangkkulsora snacks in the background. Ro-si, unable to even change her clothes, was roped into the live stream.
-Oh, is this a backdoor ad?
-This really looks like an ad.
“It is an ad, but I think I need to explain it in a bit more detail. I’ll explain slowly while we eat.”
Seul-bi grabbed the center of a Wangkkulsora bag and squeezed. With a sharp *rip*, the bag split cleanly open.
“Whoa.”
Ro-si let out a genuine gasp of awe at Seul-bi’s strength.
-Amazing. Isn’t opening a snack bag like that hard even for guys?
-Why is Seul-bi so strong???
-You didn’t open it beforehand, did you?
Yi-na and Ro-si grunted and struggled, trying to rip their bags open from the center like Seul-bi, but to no avail. Seul-bi took their bags and effortlessly ripped them open with another sharp *rip*.
-Truly amazing.
-Is there some kind of skill to opening snack bags?
“It’s just strength. Unni is as strong as an ox. She probably wouldn’t lose a fight of strength to most guys.”
-Oh, incredible… but Yi-na just spoke for the first time today lollll
-Yi-na, please show us your model pose one more time. lol
At the fans’ request, Yi-na shot up and spun around, attempting to put on what she considered a seductive gaze.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ She’s so cute I could die.
-She’s definitely been possessed by Jae-dragon’s demon.
-No, Yi-na! Come back to us!
*Crunch. Crunch crunch.*
Answer’s snack mukbang had begun.
“Mmm. This crispy yet chewy texture.”
Seul-bi said with a satisfied expression after chewing two snacks at once.
-I don’t usually like that snack, but it looks delicious today.
-Seul-bi should really do mukbangs. Please set a day and show us a proper one.
-But isn’t this just a backdoor ad? lol, I’d understand even if you said it was, so why be coy?
Ro-si and Yi-na acted as if Seul-bi would explain everything, happily munching on their snacks.
“First, I want to clarify that this is not a paid advertisement. We recently attended an event for Seopyeong Confectionery…”
Seul-bi briefly recounted what had happened at the event.
“But when we came back from the fan sign, we found a mountain of snacks at our company.”
“Right, right. There was seriously no place to put them, so they were lined up all the way up the stairs and even in the offices.”
Ro-si nodded in agreement, backing up Seul-bi.
“There was nothing we could do, so our manager oppa asked if it was okay to donate the leftovers to an orphanage. Then, the chairman of Seopyeong Confectionery said, ‘How can we send them to just one place?’ and sent a truck full of snacks to every single orphanage in the country.”
-Ooh. There’s a real news article about it.
-So that’s what happened.
“The articles just say they donated snacks worth hundreds of millions of won to orphanages, but according to our manager, it wasn’t a simple matter. There are over 40 orphanages, and for each one, they had to arrange delivery trucks, secure extra production capacity at the factory… I don’t know the details, but it sounded complicated.”
-Now that you mention it, that makes sense.
-It’s definitely different from just delivering to their regular sales outlets.
-Yeah, arranging all that extra stuff is no easy task.
-Right. In a way, just donating money would have been easier.
Many fans expressed their agreement with Seul-bi’s words.
“After they did such a wonderful thing for us, how could we just stay silent? Since Seopyeong Confectionery can’t really boast about it, I wanted to do it for them…”
-Seul-bi is nicer than I thought.
-What do you mean, ‘nicer than you thought’? She was always nice.
Suddenly, Yi-na put on a mischievous smile and opened her mouth.
“But earlier, Seul-bi unni kept calling me out for my middle school disease, right?”
-Huh? So suddenly?
-Is Yi-na about to drop a bombshell?
“Last year, Seul-bi unni’s middle school disease was really bad too. As an act of rebellion, she went to a cl— Mmph! Mmph!”
“Hey! You!”
Seul-bi dragged Yi-na off-screen. A blushing Ro-si took the center of the screen, offering an awkward laugh.
-Ah! What’s happening?
-What, what? What comes after ‘as an act of rebellion’?
-Cl… ub? Club?
“Aack! Ahaha! Aack! Don’t do thaaat! Kya-ha!”
-Hey, what is that sound?
-Is someone being tortured…?
“It’s not like thaaat! Aack, I won’t do it agaiin! Bwah!”
Soon, it grew quiet, and Seul-bi reappeared on screen.
“This was actually in an article once. I went to a club for the first time in my life to get inspiration for our song’s choreography. She keeps teasing me about it.”
-Ah! That’s a dangerous place.
-You went there alone?
“No, with our manager. But I do think it’s a bit of a dangerous place. Especially seeing the news lately.”
“I went with her back then too. But thanks to that, Seul-bi created a lot of our choreography, besides the main routine. The mirror dance was also created then.”
-Ooh. So that’s how it was.
-I remember seeing that in an article. It’s the one where Jae-dragon ended up renting out the whole club to shoot a music video, right?
-Ah, right. So that place in the B-side music video was that club?
-It’s been famous for a long time as a place where celebrities go.
-You were cool, Unni!! We’re fine, stay strong!!
-lol I was wondering what that was about, so it was that?
-I thought she did drugs at a club or something lol
Fortunately, with Ro-si also supporting Seul-bi, what could have been a dark chapter in her history was neatly wrapped up as a simple youthful escapade. The fans who knew the story didn’t make a big deal out of it either.
“Anyway, I really wanted to share the story the articles missed and express my gratitude to Seopyeong Confectionery and its chairman. Honestly, me promoting them on a live stream probably won’t help their sales much, though.”
-Ah… I praise myself for loving Answer. It’s so rewarding.
-From now on, I will join the movement to buy Seopyeong Confectionery products.
-But Yi-na lolllll
-She’s at it again.
Yi-na, who had returned at some point, was striking model poses in the background with a blank expression.