The Immaculate Juliet

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou named Romeo? Deny thy father and cast away that name."

On the modest stage, Gyeo-ul felt the heat of the lights pouring down on her head with unusual intensity.

"It is only your name that is my enemy. You would be yourself even if you were no Montague. Oh, be some other name!"

A resonant projection, hardened over long years of acting, swept across the stage.

The play flowed on. Romeo, who had been eavesdropping on Juliet's soliloquy, stepped into view, and Juliet turned away as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if ashamed, hurrying off in quick strides.

"Who brought you here?"

"Love. Love it was that first urged you to seek me out, and love that lent you counsel. I was only the eyes for it."

Gyeo-ul had always been trapped inside the frame. Never step beyond the lens — that had been an actor's oldest taboo.

But the moment she had watched Han Yeo-reum stride across this very stage at will, she had learned the movements with her own body, and now she performed Juliet with them.

"Thank heaven my face is hidden behind this midnight mask, or else these cheeks would be blushing red for a bashful maiden's thoughts."

For the first time, the stage felt free.

"I wish I could keep my dignity, and wish I could take back the words I've spoken. But farewell, dignity! Do you love me?"

I can act.

If she took everything that was Han Yeo-reum's, carved it into pieces, and stitched it back together, she could act forever, however much was demanded of her. Gyeo-ul's certainty on the stage deepened.

"You will say that you do, and I will believe you."

Gyeo-ul conjured a mischievous girl drunk on love. Teasing Romeo to catch her if he could, she swayed gracefully across the stage from one side to the other.

Each time Gyeo-ul advanced, the hem of her long crimson dress rippled like a wave, and Romeo hurried after her in flustered pursuit.

It was the very Juliet embedded in everyone's mind — the archetype itself.

"Do you think you have won me too easily? If so, I will frown and put on airs, and refuse you."

Though the stage belonged to Romeo and Juliet, Gyeo-ul could confidently swear that the only thing anyone would see was Do Gyeo-ul and Do Gyeo-ul alone.

"And you must come courting my love again. Otherwise, I will not do it either — never."

She could feel the corners of the audience's mouths curling upward at the sight of Romeo fumbling through his first love and Juliet toying with him playfully.

Perfect.

For the first time in her life, she felt it —

"Stay where you are, and let me forget everything else in the world besides this."

— the sensation of being alive.

"Thinking only how glad I am to be here beside you."

It felt as though what lay beneath Gyeo-ul's feet was not the floor of the stage, but Han Yeo-reum herself.

In this moment, Do Gyeo-ul was the perfect Juliet. It was a fact no one on earth could deny.

"Farewell, farewell! Since parting is so very sweet a sorrow, I shall say goodnight, goodnight, until it be morrow."

The instant Juliet's final farewell ended, the audience erupted into applause without waiting a single breath. It was applause loud enough to shake the stage.

Everyone would have sensed it instinctively. That there was not a chance in the world that Romeo and Juliet Team B could win.

Reading the situation exactly as it was, Gyeo-ul smiled radiantly there on the stage.

It was a smile with genuine feeling behind it.

"The applause is so loud…."

"What do we do?"

A faint air of defeat hung inside the waiting room. It was only natural. Even after the cast of Romeo and Juliet Team A had left the stage, the applause showed no sign of dying down.

"Great work out there!"

"You were amazing. Truly."

Their stage adrenaline not yet cooled, Team A swept into the waiting room on a wave of cheering that bordered on a celebration.

My eyes were closed, but I could feel it. Their gazes, each one sweeping over me in turn.

"Yeo-reum."

A light, warm voice drew near my ear. I kept my eyes closed.

Then the owner of that voice placed a hand on my shoulder, as if to make me look at her.

"You do well too."

Only then did I slowly lift my eyelids. Sitting as I was, I had to tilt my head back to meet the eyes of the voice's owner.

"Thank you."

Just as expected — Do Gyeo-ul. I answered her, staring straight back into those eyes that looked down on me. If Do Gyeo-ul was an actress who knew the stage,

"I will."

then I was an actress who knew the audience.

During the intermission given before Team B's performance of Romeo and Juliet began, everyone's mouth carried one name: Do Gyeo-ul.

"Do Gyeo-ul — I guess it's because she's been acting since she was a child star, but her performance is just, wow."

"She barely had any time to rehearse together, either. Guess it's just raw talent."

Reporter Wi, too, found herself marveling despite her better judgment as she typed out her article on her laptop — marveling at how far Gyeo-ul's acting had grown. She had never seen Do Gyeo-ul like this before.

Maybe that long hiatus really did her a world of good….

The image of Do Gyeo-ul on stage still shimmered before the reporter's eyes. A Juliet with a brusque yet playful character — she had been utterly charming.

Much like Yu Seol, the adorable tsundere heroine of Beyond the Closed Door.

"But is there really any need to watch the same play twice?"

"You think so too, right? Let's head out soon. If we stay through Team B, it'll be way too late."

Perhaps because of the quality of the play they had just witnessed, the hall kept emptying at a steady clip.

A play whose content would be entirely identical — and everyone present had already judged there was no reason to sit through it twice. The audience members filed past Reporter Wi with quickened steps.

"…What's going to happen to our Yeo-reum. Should I use my shadow-clone jutsu and fill the seats around her or something."

Ae-ta-mi, sitting beside her, muttered gloomily. Reporter Wi could already tell Ae-ta-mi felt exactly the same ache she did.

That it would not be easy for Yeo-reum to overcome this atmosphere.

"I feel so sorry for you all, for failing to recognize Yeo-reum's beauty…."

"Exactly. You'll regret it later, one hundred percent."

In ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the middle of it all, Reporter Wi still typed away even as she answered Ae-ta-mi. She spoke like it was a joke, but there was no helping the weight pressing on one corner of her heart.

There'll be a meaningful difference in the applause alone.

Ae-ta-mi, apparently thinking the same thing, said nothing more. The reporters on site had already finished uploading their articles about Do Gyeo-ul.

The photographs of Do Gyeo-ul taken during the curtain call caught the public's interest with ease. She was, after all, the most beloved actress of the most successful drama on air right now.

Do Gyeo-ul's name began sweeping through the online communities at lightning speed.

Having finished her monitoring, Reporter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Wi lifted her head and looked around.

Scattered empty seats dotted the hall, and the remaining audience members were either glued to their phones or discussing just how well Do Gyeo-ul had acted moments ago.

A journalist hoping to manufacture another hot story out of Pi Chae-won from Pachehi; industry professionals obliged to keep tabs on every production; other students enrolled at the arts school; and musical-theater buffs who had clawed their way through brutal ticketing wars.

…The bar of expectation for Yeo-reum is low. Too low.

It was because Team A's Romeo and Juliet had just properly painted its image into everyone's minds. The Romeo and Juliet that lived in their heads had already swept over them once.

Reporter Wi's anxious heart persisted right up until the curtain rose. The dark curtain lifted upward, and a soft light fell across the right side of the stage.

"Hear me well, I pray thee. Think no more of that woman."

Romeo entered, dressed in traditional hanbok.

"Ah, how am I ever to…."

The Romeo in a resplendent azure robe, its subtle hue radiating refinement, was half-hiding his face behind a fan painted with plum blossoms.

This Romeo, sighing between slow, deliberate lines, felt more restrained and mature than the Romeo who had come before.

"And how am I to think of aught else?"

Romeo lowered his fan slowly as he continued. The jeweled beads threaded through his gat's strap swayed gently. A roguish smile played at the corners of his mouth.

"…This is insane."

Reporter Wi found herself covering her mouth without meaning to. If Team A's Romeo had been a fresh-faced boy, then Team B's Romeo was a scholar-gentleman oozing effortless charm.