Do Gyeo-ul, the Face of First Dew

"Yes! Keep that angle exactly as it is!"

Under the blazing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lights, with dozens of people hanging on her every move, Do Gyeo-ul stood holding a soju glass.

The studio was located in Seolleung. Do Gyeo-ul, who had claimed the soju model seat reserved only for the industry's biggest stars, was filming a commercial.

"She really is something else, isn't she..."

"Her face is the size of the soju glass itself?"

Even the veterans, who had met just about every celebrity there was, couldn't stop marveling at Do Gyeo-ul in the flesh. Clutching a clear glass of soju in one hand and smiling, she had become the new face of Cheotisul.

"The casting director deserves a raise."

"And a bonus, probably."

Recently, Do Gyeo-ul had rewritten the meaning of Hallyu in Japan.

A few seconds of Do Gyeo-ul sipping soju on screen had sent Cheotisul's sales soaring several times over. It had even sparked an SNS challenge across Japan.

Right now, every corner of the industry had its eyes fixed on Do Gyeo-ul.

"How many endorsements does Do Gyeo-ul have right now?"

"How does anyone keep track? Step outside and it's Do Gyeo-ul everywhere you look."

Winter on the monitor was nothing short of perfect. Perfect enough that everyone in the room admitted it.

"Alright! We'll take a short break and then resume filming!"

The camera director called out in a loud voice. Do Gyeo-ul bowed her head in greeting and headed to the waiting room.

The camera director sipped his coffee and reviewed the shots.

"What do you think, Director? Looks fine to me all the way through."

"Right you are. At this point, picking an A-cut would actually be harder... She's just so natural in front of the camera."

The camera director gave a casual shrug and scrolled down.

"Oh, you know Cheotisul's rival company, right? Bohae Brewery — apparently they're launching a new product."

"Oh, yes. I heard about that. Something sweet, wasn't it?"

"Word is they poured an insane amount of R&D money into it just to beat Cheotisul. I wonder who their model will be..."

The camera director mulled it over. Come to think of it, he vaguely remembered seeing a few proposals when he'd met with someone from Bohae Brewery over drinks not long ago.

"Who was it again? There was this girl they called the Melon Soda..."

Among the stack of proposals, there had been one rookie he'd thought was a perfect fit and personally singled out to recommend. But he'd been far too drunk that night, and the memory had gone hazy. Only the product name printed on the proposal remained vivid.

"It was... cute... um... really cute, that's all I remember."

"Director, take it easy on the coffee. Your memory loss is getting serious."

"You'll understand once you see her face. Anyway, let's shoot fast, fast! The deadline's right around the corner."

And so Do Gyeo-ul's new commercial, the one that had left the entire set in awe, spread across the nation.

On TV, at bus stops, in the subway, on SNS — you could catch Do Gyeo-ul's ad everywhere, even on the evening news.

"Jun-seo! What are you looking at?"

"Ah — sorry."

Ju Jun-seo, who had been briefly distracted by the news broadcast, gave a polite bow of his head to the director seated across from him. The script reading had ended, and the team dinner was in full swing.

"But then again, your profile is no joke either. Ooh, a model is a model."

Jun-seo raised his glass with a courteous bearing toward the director lifting a soju bottle, then took the bottle and poured him a drink. Behind the director, posters emblazoned with Do Gyeo-ul's face stood lined up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in a row.

"Tired today, weren't you? It's just that you're the only visual we've got, so try to forgive the reporters' flash barrage, hm?"

"Director! You can't say things like that!"

"We're all middle-aged men here. All of us, middle-aged men."

"Director, honestly!"

This gathering of pleasantly tipsy actors and staff was the dinner party of the Top Class team — SBC's flagship anniversary production. They had all come together after successfully wrapping the day's script reading, hoping to build some rapport.

"Why do you say Jun-seo is our only visual? What about me?"

"Come on, Ki Joo-ye, what's there even to say? We'd just be repeating ourselves till our mouths got sore."

Ju Jun-seo turned his head away as he drank the shot the director had poured him. This kind of atmosphere simply refused to sit right with him.

"You two were such brilliant casting choices. Put you side by side and the chemistry just writes itself!"

Perhaps because the script reading had gone exactly as well as he'd hoped, the director was in high spirits. Ju Jun-seo gave him another courteous bow.

Ki Joo-ye looked at Jun-seo as if it were only natural, the corner of her mouth curving up.

"It's a relief that Jun-seo is playing Section Chief Choi. With his model background, just thinking about how the suits will fit is exciting. I'm looking forward to it."

"Ah, yes."

"Oh, by the way, Joo-ye — word's already out that you've been terrorizing the stylists? Going on about doing alterations and whatnot?"

"That's all just exaggeration! Anyway, you'll have to look forward to my styling this time around. I've already told all my reporter friends, so the moment the first episode airs — boom, articles everywhere."

Ki Joo-ye and the director chattered excitedly about how well Top Class was going to do. Ju Jun-seo quietly listened to the conversation.

Ah... so that's how it is.

Ki Joo-ye was busily advertising just how good the cards in her hand were.

Her idol-level recognition, her looks, the connections she could pull in.

Combine the acting careers of everyone gathered here, and they'd still fall short of her years in the industry by decades, so perhaps it was fair enough. If she wanted to impress through her acting instead, she'd have to put in tremendous effort and prove herself in front of these people.

That type.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was the type Ju Jun-seo despised most. During his years in the modeling world, he'd seen plenty of them — more than enough to be sick of it.

Doesn't matter what the profession is, there's always people like this. And always way too damn many of them.

The lightweights whose only asset was a physical attribute marginally better than everyone else's, who put in none of the effort the field actually demanded, yet wanted nothing more than to flaunt the title itself.

Waste of time.

It reminded him of the Pachehi team's dinner.

This wasn't like that time — no talk of which big spender was investing how much, how the reporters were reacting, which brand was chipping in production support.

Remembering Director Jjang, burning hot with passion over script and character analysis, and Han Yeo-reum, Ju Jun-seo smiled quietly to himself.

As it happened, he'd just learned the perfect excuse to slip away.

"Anyone want ice cream? I'm buying."

Ki Joo-ye walked outside with the ice cream Ju Jun-seo had bought her, biting into it. Jun-seo was standing under the streetlight beside the restaurant.

"Jun-seo!"

At the sound of her voice, Ju Jun-seo slowly pulled the cigarette from his mouth.

"You're not having ice cream? You bought it yourself."

"No thanks. Not big on sweets."

As he ground the cigarette out against the pocket ashtray, Ju Jun-seo's face looked all the more striking under the dim light.

Ki Joo-ye smiled up at the towering figure of Ju Jun-seo.

"Jun-seo, I heard Director Ryu took you on this time."

"Yes."

"I'll be blunt. How about we match our styling this time around? You've got the most scenes paired with mine anyway. Works out great — easy on the eyes for viewers."

Ki Joo-ye remembered how Han Yeo-reum had treated her with that insolent attitude not long ago.

Take away her agency, and she's got nothing worth mentioning...

Six years as an idol versus eight months as a web drama actress. The gap in recognition between Ki Joo-ye and Han Yeo-reum right now was overwhelming.

All because a couple of InTube videos did well.

She wanted to crush this rookie who didn't even know when to pick her fights.

What the hell is ASMR anyway? God... my fancam has a similar view count, you know!

One web drama. One filler single-act play. And one InTube ASMR channel.

That's the entire extent of her 'career,' and she acts like it's something.

The way she needled people under the pretense of looking after her own crew made it obvious her intelligence wasn't high.

Someone who can't even think that far ahead was bound to vanish within a few years.

The greatest reward a celebrity can offer is being successful. She doesn't understand that simple truth, so her future is predictable.

No matter how a third-rate celebrity carried on about treating their crew well, on set, the crew of a first-rate celebrity was king.

Because the celebrity and the crew were one team.

An environment with one proper boss beats an environment with a hundred lousy ones. Every time.

After all, Ki Joo-ye's screen time wasn't that large. And the actors gathered here all had flagship works under their belts — people everyone knew by name alone.

So she had to win the game with her own card.

Besides, Han Yeo-reum wears menswear in the early episodes.

Hanbok and menswear. Two looks that were nothing but styling liabilities — the worst possible hand.

Ki Joo-ye covered her mouth with one hand and giggled.

"Jun-seo, I saw your Leel mint carpet look last time. What do you think about us going with a similar concept overall? You know how it is — that uncanny matching-couples vibe. Like, on the day I wore the C-house dress, you'd wear a high-end tie from the same line."

"..."

Ju Jun-seo looked down at her without offering any real answer.

Of course he's flustered — a rising idol, and a sunbae at that, reaching out her hand first.

She'd liked the red hair she'd seen in that trashy web drama, but the black hair he'd since covered it with was the true cheat code.

The perfect accessory for Ki Joo-ye.

"What, you don't like it? Cat got your tongue~?"

Playfully, Ki Joo-ye balled her fist and reached out to give Ju Jun-seo a light tap. But with no change in expression whatsoever, Ju Jun-seo took hold of her wrist and dropped it back down.

Then he answered, without a shred of sincerity.

"Yeah. That one's a no."

And with that, Ju ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jun-seo brushed past Ki Joo-ye and walked inside.

For a moment, Ki Joo-ye stood frozen on the spot, unable to process what had just happened to her.

"Did he just... what the fuck..."

The ice cream melted into a sticky mess in her hand, dripping down in slow globs.

"I called you pretty, I complimented you... and this is the disrespect I get..."

The eyes of Ki Joo-ye, staring in the direction Ju Jun-seo had long since vanished, grew dark.

Walking away with Ki Joo-ye at his back, Ju Jun-seo pulled out his phone and dialed someone.

"Hey, noona. It's Jun-seo."

"I've changed my mind. Go as extravagant as you possibly can."

Ju Jun-seo smiled, as if to say he'd been foolish to ever say otherwise.

"That's the plan."