Chosen by the Real Ones
"Hey! Jun-hyeok! Crying again?"
"I'm not crying…"
"Break time's over. Come on! Pick the wooden sword back up!"
Kwon Jun-hyeok did as the coach ordered, rising with the wooden sword gripped in his hand. His blunt, stony face was brimming with sorrow.
The coach swung the sword with a grin.
Thwack—!
Even against a decently fast swing, Jun-hyeok blocked it cleanly. The clatter of wooden swords rang brightly through the action school.
"You looked her up again, didn't you, huh! Nothing left for you but good things. Your first project with Geum Bit-gang! Do you know how huge that is?"
"…Even if the scale is big, it's TOO big. That is definitely not what they told me in the beginning…"
The sulky Jun-hyeok rolled his neck fluidly to slip past the blade, then went on to parry every wooden sword that came flying at him in succession.
"They said I could relax a little… it's a web novel original, so it's not like a proper period drama…"
His agency, upon hearing one name — Jegal Rok — had considered the matter settled. This was no ordinary scale. So they had shoved Jun-hyeok forward without a second thought.
He had a trendy look, and a face that suited sageuk remarkably well. On atmosphere alone, he radiated royal-inspector energy so strongly that anyone watching would hold up a perfect-ten scorecard.
"He can do it! He can do it!"
For the record, the agency had told Kwon Jun-hyeok this: since it was a web novel-based fusion sageuk, it would be far easier than a proper historical acting challenge; his co-star was a rookie too, so it was fine; and with no funding behind it, the scale would be small.
"Got it, got it!"
…And that, of course—
—was a con job.
"But every single day there's a new article freaking me out…!"
"Yah. Good things are good things. Your FIRST project! With conditions! ALL lined up for you! I'm about to cry, I swear!"
"…So am I…"
The coach drove Jun-hyeok relentlessly with the wooden sword. The pitiful fraud victim Kwon Jun-hyeok blocked a strike aimed at his legs and swept it upward with force.
BANG—!
The wooden sword in the coach's grip went sailing off into a corner of the school.
"Hic…"
"Look at this punk's little act. Pretending to cry while doing everything perfectly. Yah! Go pick it up! Break a window again like last time and you're dead."
"Yes, sir…"
As Jun-hyeok trudged off sniffling to retrieve the sword, the coach quietly turned to actor Gwak Cheol-sik — the man pounding the sandbag, who had played Detective Gwak in Faster Than the Law.
"So, uh… how is she? Jun-hyeok's co-star."
Gwak Cheol-sik wiped the sweat from his face with the towel around his neck and thought of Yeo-reum for a moment.
'We didn't share all that many scenes, but… I could feel it, clear as day.'
The corners of Gwak Cheol-sik's mouth curled upward into a wide grin.
"Mmmmh…!"
Then he served up his answer, simple and loud:
"Jun-hyeok? She'll gobble him right up, easy as pie! Hahahat!"
"No, no. Could you keep it down…!"
"Tell 'em to cut your lines! Use your body a lot! That's the way to survive. Even between rookies, weight classes matter, weight classes! Hahahat!"
At those words, Jun-hyeok froze dead in his tracks. The rookie actor walking back with the wooden sword had to dab at his eyes, which had gone damp all over again.
"What about this guy?"
This was Daily Media in Jongno-gu, where the reporters were discussing 'celebrities with brand value,' same as any other day.
"Decent enough, I suppose. Thought he was going to take off, but he stumbled."
"Isn't that because he made his name in rom-coms and then keeps drifting into genre stuff, so his female fans all peeled away? Frankly, he's not good enough to survive in genre."
December belonged to 'the celebrities who lit up the year.' January belonged to 'the celebrities to look forward to this year.'
Over lunch, the Daily Media reporters each made the case for their personal picks.
"Number one on the women's side, no matter what anyone says, is Do Gyeo-ul."
"Didn't she just rake in money over in Japan? Jealous. So jealous—."
"Then who's number one on the men's side? Ji Hae-beom again? Give me somebody fresh for once."
At that, someone cried out.
"Ah! How can you leave out Myeong Je-ha?"
When something is too obvious, it fails to come to mind. The reporters sighed as if they'd all been guilty of an oversight.
"Ahh—! Right. Myeong Je-ha. His movie drops in the first half of the year."
"He must've been flooded with scripts since Rampant. The War on the Rule of Law director got lucky — he visited the set as a guest and cast him on the spot."
"Wow. Picking up a rookie like that — jackpot."
The reporters worked themselves into a lather over Myeong Je-ha's film, due out a few months later. Its story continued from the incident nicknamed the War on Crime, probing a single question: in that age of social rot, could the corrupt officials truly hold their heads high?
"Bit of a shame, though. Would've been great to see him carry a bigger role… Myeong Je-ha's got the face to explode the moment he does romance."
"Guess he hates dramas. The road to film stardom is laid out flat in front of him."
Myeong Je-ha's name was newly written onto the list. Then the conversation circled back to the women.
"Oh, right, right. Can't leave this one out!"
"Who?"
"Han Yeo-reum!"
The words 'Yeah, you idiots — professional journalists forgetting the Rookie of the Year, the Rising Star of the Year, the Newcomer of the Year? Do your damn jobs…' caught in Reporter Wi's throat.
"I've seen her on a set, and I've got a feeling about her. She's going to make it big."
"If Jegal Rok pushes her, even someone who doesn't deserve it goes far—!"
"That's not what I mean. She just stands out."
Han Yeo-reum's name went onto the list of celebrities to look forward to this year. The reporters each tossed out a memory of her, one by one.
"She'll be busy this summer. Movie and drama dropping at the same time. By the way, is it true something's going on between her and Seo I-deun?"
"You can't be playing at romance when you're just about to blow up. Anyway, I like her. I saw her at the MNAA — you know she never once glanced at the cue card."
"Across a six-hour event? No way."
Reporter Wi nearly burst at that point and dumped everything she knew about Yeo-reum into the open, but the self-preserving ego of a salaried employee barely held her back.
"Oh, right, she was good. You could tell she'd prepared diligently, and her diction was excellent. And when the Intube gallery crowd got into a war over which side got to claim her off the back of her final term play at school recently — enough said, right?"
"Oh, oh. I think I heard about that. That was her?"
Reporter Wi nearly nodded her head off, but forced herself to nod just a couple of times.
"Doesn't she have, like, no fan cafe or gallery? Search it."
"Nothing comes up."
"Wow… core fandom's still thin, but she's been chosen by the real ones? That's kind of fresh."
"Honestly, if she lands just one role that actor-fans can latch onto, she'll be flying. Mainstream appeal, recognition from all corners — a gallery will spring up any day now."
The corners of Reporter Wi's mouth curved up, ever so slightly.
"Then who's next?"
The topic rolled on. But Reporter Wi turned over in her mind, again and again, just how enormous this moment was.
'If this is how favorable the reaction is among reporters…!'
When there's no interest, the name never comes up at all — or they can't even remember it properly. Or out comes the industry-whispered 'I heard she's like that' hearsay.
And yet every single one of them, without quite realizing it, already knew what Yeo-reum had been doing.
'Yeo-reum…!'
It was as good as proof that each reporter's gaze had drifted to Han Yeo-reum at least once — naturally, without any of them even noticing.
"IT'S OUT—!!!"
Ae-ta-mi rolled back and forth across her bed, giddy with joy.
"A true nobleman's mansion of an agency… Ah… seriously, what am I supposed to do with all this…"
She had staned plenty of actors in her time, but this was the first one who made stanning this easy.
The agency served up idol-grade styling every single week on Music N, and now, thanks to a company that even thoughtfully uploaded vlogs on its own initiative, Ae-ta-mi closed her eyes for a moment.
"I'm overwhelmed…"
With trembling hands, Ae-ta-mi clicked the vlog.
Cursive letters spelling 'Yeoleum-Vlog' floated in the center of the frame. Then an upbeat pop track kicked in. With the tempo cranked up, the screen flipped endlessly through images for the first twenty-five seconds.
An airplane window full of white clouds. A bustling airport. A signboard reading 'JAPAN.' Yeo-reum's back as she walked into Kyocera Dome. A face deadly serious, cue card in hand, checking her stage cues. Yeo-reum in a gown, striding down the red carpet. Her glittering moments on stage. And at last, Yeo-reum raising a soju glass for a toast.
"I can't wait…"
Afraid that even twenty-three minutes would feel too short, Ae-ta-mi bit her lip hard. The subtitles used the format familiar from movie theaters.
Seeing Yeo-reum's relaxed everyday life was the best part. The way she got along so warmly with the people around her made Ae-ta-mi smile to herself, over and over.
"Notes on the tint Yeo-reum uses…"
Ae-ta-mi had already gone into the Olive0 app and added Yeo-reum's tint, cushion, and even her hand cream to her cart.
'When something is genuinely this good, you're supposed to pace yourself — browse a little, take a break, then buy.'
While watching, Ae-ta-mi also fired off a tweet.
"Whew… calm down. Calm down."
Taking a deep breath, Ae-ta-mi fixed her attention on the vlog again. Yeo-reum carried the MC duties beautifully, smiling, without a single slip-up.
"The reactions were great at this part. Yeah."
Thanks to the sheer professionalism she'd shown across a full six hours, the community response had been overwhelmingly warm.
The memory of uploading the Romeo and Juliet Team B video flashed by. Views still trickled in on it now and then, which made her all the prouder.
On screen, one after another, appeared Ju Jun-seo and Chu Ga-eul — and then Myeong Je-ha.
"Whoa…"
She had caught herself marveling at Myeong Je-ha's face before the screen switched away.
"You all look so close with each other!"
There was a certain chemistry that only ever comes out between people who are truly comfortable with one another. Ae-ta-mi gazed at the screen, brimming with pride.
"Myeong Je-ha really is polished. Is it because he started his acting life earliest? He takes such good care of the kids."
With practiced hands, Myeong Je-ha portioned okonomiyaki onto a small plate and passed it to Ju Jun-seo.
That gently smiling face was seriously no joke. And just how no joke was it? It was genuinely, truly no joke.
Ae-ta-mi briefly lost the power of speech, her brain overloaded.
"Ju Jun-seo is kind of a little kitten…"
Ju Jun-seo, taking the plate from Myeong Je-ha, avoided his eyes as if embarrassed. Come to think of it, every time Myeong Je-ha spoke to him, Ju Jun-seo answered in short, clipped bursts. He must have been painfully shy with strangers.
"Well, fair enough — with a 4K face right in front of you, even another guy would get flustered, right?"
That much, she could understand.
Chu Ga-eul grumbled about how on earth Yeo-reum could eat so much, yet every single time, she quietly placed an extra order for her.
Watching the four of them so thick as thieves, Ae-ta-mi melted into a warm smile — then shouted all over again.
"MERCH!!!"
Yeo-reum's schedule — temporarily shoved behind her memory while she'd been obsessing over Strange Tales — came rushing back to her.
The photo ticket merch for Faster Than the Law was driving Ae-ta-mi insane.
"I really, really hope the movie comes out soon. I'm collecting them week by week!"
Music N. The Pachehi team. Faster Than the Law. Yeo-reum, steadily stacking up her filmography brick by brick, was endlessly admirable.
Having slammed the like button and rolled around the bed in delight, Ae-ta-mi let herself imagine just how far Yeo-reum might grow.
"Ah, I really hope that one happens."
She thought of the advertising proposal she'd submitted just recently. A product that would suit Yeo-reum to a T — not a single thing more needed.