The Season of Do Gyeo-ul
Time flew by. November. In the span of a single month, Do Gyeo-ul had transformed completely, shaking off her child-star image and settling firmly into place as a full-fledged adult actress.
[Beyond the Closed Door — Finally, This Half-Year's Talk of the Town… Ratings Break Records with Every Episode]
[Do Gyeo-ul and Noh Seung-chan Show Off Perfect Chemistry — Is the "Milk Couple" Becoming the It Couple?]
[A Sellout Stampede: The "Do Gyeo-ul Styling" Craze, Explained]
The buzz was nothing short of absurd. A rock-solid story, actors with no holes in their craft, heart-fluttering direction, and a beautifully matched OST on top of it all.
Episode 1 — 5.4%
Episode 2 — 7.3%
Episode 3 — 9.8%
Episode 4 — 12.6%
With every episode, the ratings climbed along an unbroken rising curve — the most natural thing in the world.
Do Gyeo-ul spread like wildfire across social media and online communities. Her name rose and fell dozens, hundreds of times a day. On the fan gallery for Beyond the Closed Door, heartfelt analysis posts, screenshots, and looping GIFs were uploaded without a moment's pause, feeding the frenzy.
▶ BEST — Do Gyeo-ul's Pick / Flared Long Skirt (Ivory SOLD OUT)
Do Gyeo-ul drew attention for the styling within the show as well. Her pairing of a roomy oversized knit with a flared skirt spawned an army of copycats, and every online shopping mall racing to upload its Fall/Winter collection made sure that exact outfit graced its front page.
It had even become a running joke of its own. And it didn't stop there. Songs from a drama barely halfway through its run had blanketed the streets.
#1 — Wave (Beyond the Closed Door OST)
#2 — Because It's You (Beyond the Closed Door OST)
Do Gyeo-ul's drama OSTs were battling it out for first and second place on the music charts. Her lines had become famous quotes, spreading like memes. Gather any handful of people, and at least one of them was bound to bring up her drama.
The drama industry's dream scenario had been completed. The kind of influence that surfaces perhaps once every few years, riding a hit work, moved as though it ruled all of Korea. The public, first curious about Do Gyeo-ul and Noh Seung-chan, ended up falling in love with the characters they played — and that affection flowed right back onto the actors themselves.
At this very moment, as the public's attention, love, and devotion poured down without restraint, the whole world seemed to exist for Do Gyeo-ul alone.
No wonder the public's interest had extended all the way to a final-year production.
And so the rumor that Do Gyeo-ul and Pi Chae-won would stand on the same stage in the same production spread at lightning speed.
"The first-year students of the Korea National University of Arts will shortly present their production, Romeo and Juliet. Distinguished guests, please…"
The announcement echoed through the auditorium. There was not a single empty seat; the hall was packed with spectators. The particular murmur that forms wherever a crowd gathers hummed on without pause.
"Did you see the front row? Gyeo-ul's drama director is here!"
"And there are a lot of reporters today…"
Team A of Romeo and Juliet was trembling — with excitement, as though fear were a foreign language to them. It was only natural. The star of this stage, Juliet herself, was Do Gyeo-ul.
"Gyeo-ul, you doing okay?" a teammate asked the girl sitting quietly in her chair. Gyeo-ul managed her expression as she always did.
Because the strange euphoria boiling up from the pit of her stomach was a feeling she could confess to no one.
"Of course. I'm fine."
Emotions too tangled for words pounded against Gyeo-ul's heart, blow after blow. No set she had ever worked on — not one — had made her this nervous.
"Gyeo-ul won't get nervous… it's Yeo-reum I'm worried about," someone whispered under their breath.
Not long ago, Do Gyeo-ul and Han Yeo-reum had been nominated at the MBS Drama Awards at the same time. Both of them, for Best New Actress.
Of course, Do Gyeo-ul hadn't been nominated for Best New Actress alone. Best Couple Award, Top Excellence in Acting as well — she was the driving force behind MBS's entire year, so it was only natural.
At last, the stage lights went dark.
The curtain rose, and Romeo stepped out onto the stage. Romeo and Juliet had begun.
"Listen to me, my boy. Put that woman out of your mind."
"Ah — but how am I to stop thinking of her?"
Waiting in the wings, Gyeo-ul turned her gaze toward Yeo-reum, eyes closed. How Yeo-reum opened her eyes, how she lifted her chin, how the corners of her mouth moved. She had memorized every expression that had ever surfaced on that face — and still she watched.
"No counsel of yours will ever teach me the way to forget her."
Before she knew it, Romeo's part was over, and Juliet's turn had come.
"Miss Juliet!"
The Nurse's voice rang out, calling for Juliet through the extinguished lights. Gyeo-ul quickened her pace, step by step.
She hadn't had a proper rest in quite a long while, and yet her body felt lighter than it ever had. Soon, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived at last.
Do Gyeo-ul appeared on stage.
"What is it? Who called for me? Is something the matter?"
The audience stirred at the sight of a flawless Juliet.
"That's the exact same costume from the drama, isn't it?"
"Uh… it's insane, honestly. A star really is a star."
Gyeo-ul was well used to reactions like these. Settled between the Nurse and her mother, she angled herself toward the front so her face could be seen clearly. Every gaze in the audience was fixed on Gyeo-ul and Gyeo-ul alone.
It was, quite literally, the look of eyes watching a protagonist.
"Then it is time you gave some thought to marriage. That dignified Count Paris means to take you for his wife."
"Him! Why, my lady, he is a man as fine as all the world itself!"
"Speak plainly, now. Could you love my lord Paris?"
At that, Gyeo-ul pulled on a look of perfect indifference.
Just like Pi Chae-won as Yeo-reum had played her, Juliet stared off into empty air as though marriage meant nothing whatsoever to her. She was exactly like a girl of precisely that age.
Gyeo-ul answered with deliberate carelessness.
"If looking begets affection, then I shall look — and look very well — until it does."
Everything she had studied and practiced like a habit, from the day she first met Yeo-reum nearly a year ago to now, layered itself over the moment — and at last, Do Gyeo-ul's Juliet was complete.
Gyeo-ul turned her back against the Nurse's hands gripping her shoulders, then slipped her feet away from her mother's hand reaching to stroke her hair.
"She's adorable. I can even feel Beyond the Closed Door in it."
"Right? It somehow gives off a rom-com vibe."
The audience murmured among themselves about Gyeo-ul's performance. Nothing else registered at all. On that stage, there was only the lovable Juliet to be seen.
And with the lead of Beyond the Closed Door — a show soon to air its final episode — having become Juliet before their eyes, every gaze was drawn all the deeper. Not one person in that room had failed to watch Do Gyeo-ul's drama.
Gyeo-ul modulated the weight and rhythm of her lines, and at last she arrived at the climax.
The most famous scene in all of Romeo and Juliet.