Error Code 1221

"…Me!"

My dulled senses came back to me one by one. First, the sense of touch — my head throbbed.

Someone was gripping me and shaking me so hard that motion sickness washed over me.

"Noona!"

Then, hearing — a familiar ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠voice reached my ears. This was definitely… someone I knew….

"Hey!!!"

My eyes snapped open. And last of all, sight returned.

…Han Tae-yang?

There before me stood my little brother in a school uniform.

"Ugh, jeez. You scared me."

Han Tae-yang looked down at me with an expression of utter pity, his face smooth and fresh. Like a—

"A high schooler…?"

"Cut it out. I've got first period. What are you doing?"

He's twenty-seven. What on earth is going on?

I blinked blankly. Where blood had been flowing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the back of my head just moments ago, I now felt only the soft give of a pillow. I ran my fingers over it — not a trace of blood, not a scratch, nothing at all.

"I'm fine…?"

With trembling hands I probed my forehead and the back of my skull too, but it was the same. As if none of it had ever happened.

"Oh, I see, you're only checking so you can skip washing your hair. It's the first day of the semester, at least shower…."

I was struck speechless for a moment. Han Tae-yang lifted his wrist to check the time, grabbed his bag, and headed out of the room.

"Am I… still drunk or something?"

"No idea. You're up now, so I'm leaving. And seriously, don't tell Mom you were still asleep."

Left alone, I sat up and looked at the mirror on the desk.

"…What is this?"

It wasn't just Han Tae-yang who had gotten younger. The me in the mirror had gotten younger too.

…

Was this a dream? I raised my hand and slapped my own cheek.

"Ow!!!"

But it hurt far too viciously to be a dream. Enough to bring tears to my eyes.

"I… came back?"

Even saying it aloud, it didn't feel real.

"Back to when I was twenty?"

That was when it appeared.

A window had opened before my eyes.

"Go from an unknown actress… to a National Actor?"

One unreal situation after another. Before I could even gather my wits, the doubled-speed past came flooding into my head.

"Oh, the audition date was moved up — you didn't know? What do you mean? I texted you."

"Ha… that's not the line. You haven't properly memorized it. It's a problem with your fundamentals."

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The audition date had been moved up by a whole week, and because I never got the text, I missed it entirely. The one time I barely scraped in, I got cut for not knowing the script had changed — labeled an actor who doesn't do his homework. The car accident that hit me on my very first shoot.

Endless misfortunes swept past in rapid succession.

And layered over them came memories that stood in exact opposition to my pitiful life as an actress.

"To the writer and director who entrusted me with such a precious role in my comeback, and to everyone on set…."

"Acting is always about living someone else's life in their place, so whether the role is big or small, I give my all to every single one…."

"My goal is to become an even better actor…."

Do Gyeo-ul, who received rave reviews from the very moment of her comeback. Do Gyeo-ul, who with her spotless image swept up interview after interview and commercial after commercial. Do Gyeo-ul, beaming as she accepted the Grand Prize at Korea's most prestigious film awards ceremony.

Every image of Do Gyeo-ul I had ever witnessed surfaced and carved itself into my mind.

Do Gyeo-ul, beloved by all of South Korea. Do Gyeo-ul, every casting director's first choice. Do Gyeo-ul, with so many scripts piled up that it was said reading them alone would take months.

"Error code 1221…."

December 21st. It was Do Gyeo-ul's birthday.

Ring-ring! Ring-ring! Ring-ring!

The status windows didn't stop at one. Before my eyes, the reason errors had occurred throughout my life came cascading onto the screen.

It all started that day, on those stairs….

The moment Do Gyeo-ul shoved me — the moment I tumbled down the staircase — an error occurred.

"Nothing ever went right for me after that day…."

And on top of that, Do Gyeo-ul, who had made off with every last drop of my luck, actively tried to erase Han Yeo-reum from existence. From every opportunity that might have put me in the spotlight.

"Yes, Director, it's Gyeo-ul. Nothing urgent — I have a friend who's… really good at acting. If you cast her, I'll—."

It was a supporting role I'd fought tooth and nail to land. With a single phone call, Do Gyeo-ul cut me out and pushed someone else in. And she did it more than once.

"Yeah, hello, sunbae. I got the girl you mentioned in. Oh, don't thank me. I watched the acting clip you sent and she seemed pretty good."

Under the pretext of helping Hyeong Chang-uk discover new talent for his theater troupe, Do Gyeo-ul got her hands on the practice videos of countless unknown actors.

"How about next time you have them practice a bit with my script? Try interpreting it, you know? No, no~ I just like helping out."

My videos were among them. Or to be precise….

"Send me Yeo-reum's video — a longer cut this time. You know it's a secret that I'm the one asking, right? Her pride is through the roof. Imagine what would happen if she found out a classmate was critiquing her."

Inside Do Gyeo-ul's computer sat countless videos of my acting, accumulated over the years.

Every mock performance I'd recorded for auditions, of course, and everything I'd filmed at Hyeong Chang-uk's troupe. Hundreds of videos sat within Do Gyeo-ul's grasp.

"The emotional beat here is handled… like this…. Honestly, Han Yeo-reum, ahaha…. What a fascinating interpretation."

My acting was being collected by Do Gyeo-ul.

And then my acting….

"Gyeo-ul! What's with this scene? Your interpretation is completely different from last time?"

"Was it all right?"

"All right? It was beyond all right. How did your skills improve this much in just a few days—!"

Became Do Gyeo-ul's, just like that.

Even misfortunes like car accidents transformed wholesale into Do Gyeo-ul's good fortune.

"How remarkable. The collision was fairly serious, yet all you got were bruises?"

"Haha… I suppose I'm just a little lucky."

Across the sea of status windows spread out before me, I could see Do Gyeo-ul's face. The years of Do Gyeo-ul stealing my life, my luck, my roles stretched out in a dizzying sprawl.

"…It was Do Gyeo-ul. All of it."

The moment I understood, the status windows glowed even brighter — as if commanding me to look at myself once more.

Let us fling your name, unknown to all, far and wide. Be reborn as an actor the likes of which history has never seen.

And suddenly, everything became crystal clear. This was a chance.

"That's right…."

The second chance heaven had handed me.

"I just have to make myself known from here on out."

Without Do Gyeo-ul's interference. Using the very luck and talent that girl had stolen from me.

I smiled at my reflection in the mirror.

I was lucky. I'd come back to this exact moment in time, after all.

"Was there ever a better time to debut than right now?"

Actor Syndrome — the delusion that you had to claw your way up from the very bottom and earn recognition fair and square?

Consider it cured.

I no longer needed to obsess over a textbook debut like I had in my past life. I already knew a new route.

A faster, surer path.

It was an era when the line between celebrity and public figure had grown blurred. Acting had become a stage anyone could step onto.

Articles like that had poured out nonstop back then. An idol becoming an actor no longer raised eyebrows. And it wasn't just idols anymore.

Some had appeared on variety shows,

and even influencers with massive followings were trying their hand at acting. That was the age we lived in.

And not only that….

The acting market itself was reaching past the silver screen and the TV set, drawing closer and closer to the public.

"Web dramas uploaded to InTube, one-minute content posted on TinTok…."

Streaming OTT channels had gone beyond simply buying broadcast rights to films and dramas — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they had started producing their own.

"It's a world where anyone can act."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Especially if you were famous.

I would work myself to the bone. By any means necessary, without discrimination.

To become famous. To act. To make everyone remember my name.

"I'll take back everything Do Gyeo-ul stole from me, too."

I bit down on my lower lip. The roles that should have been mine, the awards I should have received, the life I should have lived — all of it.

"I'll return every last piece to where it belongs."

Ring-ring!

As if cheering on my resolve, the first mission had appeared.