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“Ah….”
Ae-ta-mi was sobbing behind both hands. It felt far too cruel to let the two of them go like this. It was a happy ending, no question about it — and yet she was the one left behind, utterly miserable.
“No! It's over? Just like that? Give me more! MORE!!!”
She typed out a comment at lightning speed. Thanks to the people who had beaten her to it, the comment count had already blown past a thousand.
After posting her comment, Ae-ta-mi reached out to her friend at Daily Media. Their chat window was already overflowing, practically bursting at the seams with a flood of T_T_T_T.
“I liked her FIRST!!!”
Ae-ta-mi shouted into the empty room. God, that was fun. It had been so long since a drama carried her all the way to the finale feeling this fulfilled. Out of habit, she opened Yeo-reum's social media.
“Huh? She's going live!!!”
A live broadcast was just starting.
In my previous life, this had been one of the mainstay formats on Intube.
Celebrities being honest and unfiltered on camera.
So-called off-the-record content. A relaxed, friend-among-friends atmosphere with the public was all the rage.
There were Intube channels built around drinking on air,
and channels where a group in pajamas visited someone's house and talked all day lo-o-o-ng. Beyond those, any format that showed a star's natural, unguarded side drew huge popularity.
And so, I chose a live broadcast.
Nothing was better suited to soaking up Ju Jun-seo's social media followers. And unlike other dramas, there wouldn't be any making-of footage released for this one.
I can't stay Pi Chae-won forever.
What would happen if people only ever knew me as Pi Chae-won? Having a signature character was a good thing, but I had zero intention of being swallowed whole by her.
“Hello? Is this thing actually broadcasting? This is my first time turning on a live stream.”
I waved awkwardly at the camera. Ju Jun-seo and Chu Ga-eul, seated on either side of me, waved along.
One hundred and twenty viewers flooded in within seconds — all the people who'd had my social media notifications switched on this whole time. Chu Ga-eul beside me took the mic.
“Yes! You're joining the wrap party for Pachehi! This is the final episode that just aired minutes ago. Everyone, did you enjoy it?”
Was she an MC in a past life or something? How was she this smooth? Under Chu Ga-eul's direction, the comments turned naturally toward the finale of Pachehi.
Good flow.
Things got dicey when the conversation ran on personal talk alone. Director Jjang chuckled heartily and read a comment aloud for us.
“‘You made us cry and you're asking if it was fun? Hand over the epilogue already.' Hahaha. Thank you so much. Aww, believe me, we'd love love love to shoot an epilogue too. But first, our writer here—”
“Um…? An epilogue…?”
Blindsided by the sudden epilogue demands, the writer short-circuited on the spot.
“Well, what I had in mind was… like a K-academy-school cliché… where Jun and Chae-wen attend a study café together… and join the school band too…. And then Chae-wen teases Jun, ‘I didn't take you for a shoujo manga fan?' and opens one up, and inside it, Hina's life begins all over again…. Um, I feel like I'm rambling on too long….”
“All right! Next up, for the Pachehi spin-off, we'd absolutely love to see a story with Ga-eul as the lead. Right?”
“If you'll have me, I'd be beyond grateful. Playing Hina again this time was such a joy.”
Director Jjang stepped in once more to rescue the flustered writer. Meanwhile, the viewer count had blown past a thousand — the live audience now stood at 1,728.
The notification's coming up…!
Hearts poured into the live screen without pause — the little markers viewers tapped to show their love.
“Our Jun, how was it shooting the ending scene in the finale? Someone in the comments is asking how you held back the tears.”
Ju Jun-seo, silent until now, finally spoke.
“The tears didn't come.”
“Whoa~ Ice cold~!”
From across the room, the crew cackled playfully. Ju Jun-seo rolled his lips inward for a moment before finishing his answer.
“We're going to meet again anyway…. And when someone's crying, you comfort them. What kind of person cries along with them?”
The comment section and the crew exploded simultaneously.
“METHOD ACTING~!!!!”
“WOOOOO~!!!! Ju Jun-seo~!!!!”
Everyone was well into the liquor, and the volume showed it. Comments were pouring in at a speed incomparable to a moment ago.
Ju Jun-seo opened his mouth at the exact same moment I did, as if he'd read the same comment.
“Yeah. At the café in episode 4—”
“Aigoo~ my senior, sky-high above me~”
A brief silence fell, then the crew's laughter rolled through the room like they were begging us to get off the air.
On-screen, Ju Jun-seo turned his head and stared straight at me.
Thankfully, Chu Ga-eul came in as our relief pitcher.
“We actually watched episode 4 together, just the cast. Today too, but watching it as a group really does make it even more fun.”
“Invite me next time too, pretty please~”
“Director…. you really shouldn't crash the kids' hangouts….”
That was when it happened. The live viewer count exploded. The comment speed spiked so hard I wondered if the stream was glitching. It was nearly impossible to read them all.
“Why are so many viewers suddenly pouring in?”
“Four thousand…. no, five thousand now….”
While everyone scrambled, the viewers themselves delivered the answer in the comments.
Director Jjang shot up from his seat with a yell. Nobody had seen it coming. Even I couldn't believe it.
“Number one on Trending?!”
The crew scrambled to check their phones.
“N–number one!!! Right now, we've just, we just passed ONE MILLION views!!! 1.15 million views!!!”
It was an absurd record. The final episode had been uploaded barely an hour ago.
A million people watched it in that time?
Not a day. An hour. Goosebumps crawled up the back of my neck. Even at this very moment, hearts were climbing the screen without end.
Director Jjang couldn't hold back the tears.
“Don't! Cry!”
“Don't! Cry!”
The crew's applause rang through the whole restaurant. When Chu Ga-eul and I joined in, Ju Jun-seo clapped along quietly. The broadcast ran another thirty minutes after that — from our earliest concept sketches, what we'd prioritized when building the characters, all the way to closing remarks.
“This has been the Pachehi team! Thank you so much!”
The livestream ended in triumph. The response was phenomenal.
Even lying in bed afterward, my heart kept thundering — I'd never heard a cheer like that in my life, not once, not ever.
I wanted to sprint straight back to a set that very second. Everything was falling into place.
All except one thing: Ju Jun-seo. An epic-length string of texts had arrived from him. Only after sending roughly eight varieties of groveling apology stickers did I manage to smooth things over.
“Still, I'm grateful. Jun-seo….”
My follower count had grown by more than forty thousand overnight. Likes and comments were exploding too.
“And most important of all—”
Ring!
The mission was complete.
Mission: You, On Screen — Keyword: First Video
Outstanding work! You have successfully presented a video featuring your face to 100,000 people.
✔ Success Condition: Achieve 1,000 or more shares. [ACHIEVED]
🎁 Rewards:
⟡ Recognition increased! Recognition: F → E
⟡ Artistry increased! Artistry: F → E
⟡ Lucky Points 500p acquired
Current Lucky Points: 800p
* Unlock the new feature <Item Shop> when your Lucky Points reach 1,500.
“So more people know who I am now.”
Even this very second, my follower count was climbing in real time. Red notifications rang out across my phone without pause.
“Not Pi Chae-won — Han Yeo-reum!”
I flopped onto the bed and kicked my legs in the air, giddy. My heart was so full that sleep never stood a chance tonight.
“Oh-eh! Je-ha's here!”
“Good evening.”
Myeong Je-ha smiled as he pushed open the door of the Japanese restaurant. His face was already flushed — everyone, it seemed, was well into their cups.
“Come on, come on, down the hatch, gooo-.”
Myeong Je-ha tilted his head back and knocked back a shot of soju. He disliked middle-aged men, and drunk middle-aged men even more — but there was nothing to be done about it.
“Director Gong. I hear the screenplay's finally finished. Congratulations.”
Because Director Gong was sitting right here at this table. Word had gotten around that a few days ago, Director Gong had talked about Han Yeo-reum.
The moment he heard the news, Myeong Je-ha had picked up the phone and called him.
“Director, it's me. Je-ha.”