Far Better Than Winter
And that was how Myeong Je-ha came to attend a drinking party he had no taste for. This was exactly why regressing as a rookie was such a hassle.
What could have been settled with a single phone call now had to be done from scratch, step by step. Even so, Je-ha held one firm conviction.
'All I have to do is let them see her act once.'
He doubted he would even need to lift a finger to get her through the audition.
"Oh, right — yes! Thank you! I actually finished the final cut an hour ago."
"I'm sorry — an hour ago?"
"I went back and edited it again. But this is truly the last of the last. Final. Done! For real."
Grinning, Director Gong tossed a question at Je-ha.
"Oh, right! Je-ha. You're at K-Arts, aren't you? The acting program?"
"Yes, that's right."
"You've got a classmate named Han Yeo-reum, don't you? What's she like?"
Je-ha smiled brightly. Things were moving faster than he'd expected.
"She's good. From what I've seen…."
As he paused for effect, every ear at the table perked up.
"Far better than Do Gyeo-ul."
The words dropped the table into silence.
Ask anyone to name the most famous actress of their twenty-something generation, and Do Gyeo-ul was always the first name out of their mouth.
Placing a girl who had only just landed her first web-drama lead above Winter sent the whole table into laughter. They clearly took it for an exaggeration.
'But it's true.'
Je-ha meant every word of it.
This was the verdict of a man who had watched hundreds, thousands — no, perhaps far more than that — performances across audition rooms, film sets, and screens. It could not help but be accurate.
"See? Right? I knew you'd think so too!"
Director Gong scooted his chair right up against Je-ha's.
"I'm holding an audition."
Je-ha knew immediately which role he was talking about.
"Tell Han Yeo-reum to come in."
Faster Than the Law. From the second installment onward, every entry in the series had joined the ten-million club, but the first film's theatrical attendance had always hovered stubbornly in the five millions.
'If Han Yeo-reum gets attached, how will that change?'
Could even the first Faster Than the Law claw its way into the ten-million ranks?
"Of course! I am a very f-a-i-r person. If she auditions and it's a hard no, then friend of Je-ha or not, she goes home!"
"Naturally. They don't call you the Chungmuro Civil Servant for nothing."
Curiosity stirred in Je-ha. It had been a very long time since he'd felt this way.
For some reason, the certainty kept building.
Ten million. It felt possible.
In an era where content is everywhere you look, InTube has finally opened a 'proper' web drama market — and the one who kicked the door down was JC ENM's The Cherry on Top of the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine!
The series cheerfully depicts what happens when a Korean high schooler falls into a shoujo manga world stuffed to the brim with clichés. In it, Han Yeo-reum played Pi Chae-won, an ordinary high school student from the real world.
Today, we sat down with Han Yeo-reum, the heroine of Pachehi — a show generating buzz unlike anything InTube has ever seen.
"It's so… professional…. You almost seem like a real journalist…."
It was, of course, written by a real journalist.
I must have read the Daily Media interview article — uploaded the very moment Pachehi aired its finale yesterday — a dozen times over.
The final episode had pulled off the feat of smashing two million views in a single day, and perhaps thanks to that, the interview was sitting pretty near the top of the feed.
"Why can I only hit like once~!"
I flopped onto my bed and kicked my feet in the air. I was, honestly, way, way too excited. And that was when—
Ring- ring- ring-.
My phone rang. It was Chu Ga-eul.
"Hey, Han Yeo-reum!"
"What?"
"I'M SHOOTING AN AD!!!"
Was she calling just to brag? Chu Ga-eul really was a woman with ambition.
She was something else. Having the spotlight stolen from her didn't faze her one bit.
"Congratulations…."
I'd shoot one someday too. An ad. Having my bucket list grow by one item every time like this wasn't so bad, actually. Right. I'd shoot a movie, play in a band, and shoot an ad. Definitely.
"WITH YOU!!!"
"WHAT!!!"
"The brand contacted me because you weren't reading your DMs. We — we got double cast for the ad!!!"
Thud. The phone slipped from my stunned hand.
My first ad shoot was booked.
I headed straight out to meet Chu Ga-eul.
The place was Gangnam — a café near the entertainment agency she belonged to.
I sat down across from Chu Ga-eul, who was wearing a hat.
"How come every time I see you, you're not wearing a hat? It was the same when you met Ju Jun-seo sunbae last time. Someone's going to recognize you one of these days."
"God, I wish someone would."
"…."
Chu Ga-eul wore the expression of someone quietly giving up on my attention-seeking ways. Then she pulled out her tablet.
"You don't know much about this stuff, and you've got no agency to help you, so I'll walk you through it right now."
Somehow that sounded like she wanted to be praised for it.
"Thank you so much. Best friend ever. Five stars. Nobody but you, Ga-eul."
"Ahem. Anyway — it's a brand-new brand, and it's two jobs: a photo shoot and a simple video shoot."
The image on the screen showed the product name.
'Oh. That's an Olive0 best-seller.'
I'd sold plenty of it back in my part-time days. Hauled it out of the storeroom and restocked the displays more times than I could count.
"The photos and the video will go up as banners on the site and on Olive0. Secondary use is basically social media."
"InTube and Youstagram?"
"Yep. They'll upload to both of those, and offline it's subways and bus stops — displays installed there, plus short spots running on buses and in subway cars. The brand's still on the small side, so they said no TV exposure yet."
Shame. I'd wanted to be on TV.
But flip it around, and it meant that every time anyone so much as opened the internet, there I'd be.
'Thrilling just to think about.'
When my ad came on, I was never skipping it, ever. And I'd click every popup, no exceptions.
"So it's mostly internet advertising."
"Right. My agency reviewed it and said the contract's clean. Just in case they hand you a different version, I'll send you mine. Compare the two."
"Chu Ga-eul… you're even sweeter than you look…."
"Anyway…. The ad run is one year. Check the dates."
Hearing the contract term, I got properly curious now.
"So how much?"
I leaned in close as Chu Ga-eul silently beckoned me toward her ear. She cupped her hand around her mouth and whispered.
"HUH???"
The sound burst out of me before I could stop it.
One ad, and she'd earned a full year of college tuition.
'Oh. Pi Chae-won.'
Most of the people at the ad shoot had already seen Han Yeo-reum's videos. Even the storyboards were pinned with scenes lifted from Pachehi.
'Her chemistry with Hina is great.'
Hina with her pink hair, Chae-won with long, straight raven locks — together, the two of them sparked a synergy all their own. Their outfits reversed the palette: Hina in black, Chae-won in pink.
"Hey…. Thanks to you, I've gotten to shoot an ad and everything. Thanks, Ga-eul."
"What? What does that have to do with me?"
"If you hadn't gone pink, my black hair never would've popped on camera."
"Seriously, you…."
"Back when you first showed up on set with that pink hair, even then I was thinking, wow, what an attention-seeker. One who'd outdo me. She's just flat-out decided to devour every camera in sight—"
"HEY!!!"
Watching them scuffle at the back of the waiting room was exactly like girls their age, and honestly adorable. While the two of them got ready, the set was finished.
"We're starting the shoot now! Please get in position!"
The monitoring screen beside the camera flickered to life. The two stood facing each other before a pure-white horizon.
"Hold the treatment in one hand — yes, like that. Face front, please! We'll start with the stills."
Seen framed like this, the pairing was even better than anyone had expected. The staff must have felt it too — they were already chiming in with praise.
"Ooh~! So pretty~~!!!"
Watching the rookie actresses smile shyly, the director felt a swell of pride. The vibe was right from the very first frame. What landed in the shot exceeded his expectations.
Click!
The heavy clunk of the shutter sounded almost musical.
'Must be because they're actors — great hands, both of them.'
For rookies, they weren't stiff or awkward with their basic poses at all. Even holding the product — the fastest way to make hands go rigid — they looked natural.
'Han Yeo-reum… it's like she's calculated the angle of every single finger.'
Her fingers curled with effortless grace, and it looked good — really good. The camera's memory filled up fast. The shot count climbed and climbed.
"Quick monitoring break!"
The still shoot wrapped, and the director stepped up to the monitor. He and the staff paged through a screen packed to the brim with photos.
"Oh…."