That's So Like You, Sua (?)
"So Ha-rin's project — this is the one? It's locked in?"
Yang Ha-rin didn't bother answering. She gave only the faintest nod.
She still hadn't kicked her addiction to online communities, and she had no intention of trying. Even now she was refreshing the Yang Ha-rin gallery for the tenth time, eyes glued to the screen.
The staffer at her side answered in her place.
"Yes. It's Director Jo Ui-sin's project, and he means to proceed with Ha-rin cast as the outright lead. Seems she struck him just right."
"Director Jo Ui-sin's got an eye, unlike a certain someone else. We're grateful, so tell him we won't be stingy with our support."
"Yes. I'll pass that along at once."
"And the rest of it — the cameras, the other conditions. How do those look?"
"They couldn't be better. All the more so now that our capital is folded in. Among short films, this will be the most lavishly funded of the lot."
"Not bad. Slather enough money on top of it and you've got icing on the cake."
The CEO had already done the arithmetic. He didn't care how much it cost.
The moment they seized victory on the strength of the work itself, they would win the war of public opinion as well, and by then Yang Ha-rin's position would stand firmer than ever. They would earn back several times whatever they spent.
To make certain of exactly that, he was confident he would do anything it took.
"Those bastards shooting Sword — they started filming today, didn't they?"
"Yes. Word is Seo Yeon-ju and Kim Seonil have signed on. As you instructed, we still haven't broken the story of our own joining."
"So Mystic Entertainment plopped themselves right down in the seat we left empty? The more I chew on it, the more it galls me. What is this — they want to pick a fight with CT Entertainment?"
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His mood visibly soured, and he drummed the desk with his fingernails.
"Some worthless rookie starts eyeing Ha-rin's spot, and now even these newborn agency brats are coming for ours? That damned short film. Mystic put up the investment money too, didn't they?"
"Yes. I believe CEO Kim Iseo is the one who funded it."
"Ha."
The CEO of CT Entertainment let out a scornful snort.
"Fine. If that's how they want to come at us, then we'll just make the board bigger. Big enough for a real explosion. Big enough that whichever side loses won't leave so much as a trace."
"When you say make the board bigger..."
"I mean we don't stop at Ha-rin stomping some rookie. We blow Mystic to pieces in midair while we're at it. Simple, isn't it? It's not as if we're the ones getting cold feet. It's not as if there's any chance we lose."
That was when it happened.
"There is exactly one scenario where we lose."
Yang Ha-rin, who had been staring expressionlessly at her phone the entire time, opened her mouth for the first time. Her eyes, of course, never left the screen.
"Lee Sua. If that bitch really can act better than I can — if she actually pulls in better results than I do. Then we lose."
"Like that would ever happen. That's not even a real scenario."
"Right. It's practically impossible. Which is why what I'm saying is —"
Only then did Yang Ha-rin turn her gaze on the CEO.
"...hurry up and do your job. What exactly are you hesitating for?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Hey! Dump the joining articles, right now!"
In short order, the pieces they had prepared in advance detonated one after another.
At the same moment, a text arrived for the CEO of CT Entertainment.
A moment later, he grinned.
"...Well, look at that. Even heaven's on our side."
▷ Lee Sua's acting is seriously bad. Score: 0.
▷ Aspiring-actor level. No — below even that.
▷ How she landed the lead is a mystery.
That was the message. He bellowed, thrilled.
"That goddamned Sword! Ha-rin pulling her foot out of there was a stroke of pure genius! What a beautiful disaster! The whole universe is helping us!"
The atmosphere on the set of Sword was, in its own way, excellent. Not one person lagged behind; the sight of everyone moving crisp and sharp was a spectacle.
And the one who had produced that spectacle — Sua —
This is going way smoother than I thought.
She was simply, purely glad that no one was looking down on her.
In the first place, Sua had never encouraged anyone out of any careful design. She had only thrashed around so she wouldn't look like an easy mark....
Once the real shoot starts, I act my heart out, and that's the end of it. Good. If I just do that, there's no problem at all. Yep. Yep.
The plan was clicking neatly into place inside her head when —
"Sua."
Someone approached. None other than Seo Yeon-ju.
In Sua's eyes, Seo Yeon-ju was pure, refreshing innocence without end. And she was the one to speak first. Sua felt burdened, and pleased, and nervous, all at once.
"I heard everything from Director Park. They say you turned a bad atmosphere around in a single stroke? Honestly, I didn't expect much from this set. I kept worrying the bit players would blow take after take and we wouldn't even finish in time... that sort of thing."
Seo Yeon-ju gave a light shrug.
"It was a complete waste of worry. You really are different, Sua."
"..."
What is this woman even saying? But Sua wasn't worried. She had no fewer than five swords gripped in her hands now. That was the idea.
"I suppose so."
Technique One: Pretend to Understand.
She figured that would be the end of it. Unexpectedly, the other woman did not retreat.
"Sua, so, about that. You're not busy right now, are you?"
Sua nodded.
"Great. Then help me out for just a minute."
"...Help you?"
"Yes. Not just anyone. I'm asking you, Sua."
Seo Yeon-ju lifted the corners of her mouth in a bright little smile.
"We've got about ten minutes until the real shoot. I thought the leads ought to loosen up a bit. And if we get closer while we're at it, even better, right?"
A chance to get closer to Seo Yeon-ju?
Sua wanted nothing more than to throw both hands in the air and charge straight in — but the problem was the risk. Keep still, and you at least don't lose the whole game. Wasn't that how it went?
...Right. Even so, play it safe. Safe.
With no other choice, Sua drew her fourth technique. Sua Rages: pretend to be angry.
But Seo Yeon-ju only laughed, looking positively delighted.
"Oh, come on, what's with that face? Let's keep it comfortable. Comfortable. Just one minute of improv. You act as Wi Ji-hye, and I act as Ha-ryeong. That's all."
And still, there was not the slightest sign that she meant to back off.
...This was bad.
"...?"
Weren't my techniques supposed to be an unbeatable secret art? Sua floundered in confusion. In truth, it hadn't been without its crises for Seo Yeon-ju either.
Why is she so scary? I really almost sat right down.
Faced with Sua's expression, gone nearly dead serious, Seo Yeon-ju had very nearly collapsed on the spot. A day or two had piled up, and she'd thought they'd grown fairly close — had that been nothing but her own delusion?
She really is difficult.
...Come to think of it, why was she trying this hard to get close to a rookie? It wasn't like her. It stung her pride; it was strange. And yet, strangely, whenever she approached Sua, that feeling never came.
Probably because she herself was sincere about acting. Because of the certainty that working alongside Sua would, without fail, push her own acting forward.
Anyway.
We've both got the skill, so a minute ought to be plenty. Just a chance to feel out our rhythm and fine-tune a few things beforehand.
In truth, anything longer than a minute was a little much even for Seo Yeon-ju. Sua's expression was simply too fierce. This was only a warm-up, and she had no desire to burn through her focus before the real shoot on top of it.
"..."
Sua, meanwhile, stole a glance around her.
People had already gathered.
"They're loosening up?"
"What's going on? Whoa — the leads are doing improv together?"
"Oh! I was curious about that anyway!"
Whether they had been pretending otherwise while hanging on Seo Yeon-ju's every word, the other bit players came swarming in fast.
Among them was CT Entertainment's spy, Son Jia. It was as fine a chance as anyone could ask for to confirm Lee Sua's acting. She claimed a spot with an excellent view, ready to hammer at her phone at a moment's notice.
From Sua's position, the situation had already become one where a flat refusal was difficult. It was too late to slip away on some excuse or other.
But the biggest problem lay elsewhere.
The discipline itself was improv.
Improv? The Special Privilege doesn't cover that.
From the explanation, improv was something like playing house, or a tabletop RPG. For one minute Sua would live as Wi Ji-hye, and Seo Yeon-ju would live as her disciple, Ha-ryeong.
Unlike an ad-lib, where you only had to vary one percent out of a hundred, this was a realm that demanded you invent the full hundred percent, pure and uncut. There would be no help from the Special Privilege.
What do I do. What do I do. What am I supposed to do.
Just in case, Sua laid a hand on her head, then on her chest, but no improv-exclusive Special Privilege activated. Now what.
"Sua, then let's start right away."
Seo Yeon-ju fiddled with a prop sword, oddly serious about it. Cold sweat began to pour off Sua's whole body like rain.
She felt beads of it sliding down her spine, and beneath her breasts, and in the creases of her thighs, she was already damp. It was only natural. She was moments away from humiliating herself in front of everyone.
Sua miraculously caught hold of a mind that was about to snap. By Lee Sua's standards, it was very nearly superhuman willpower.
One minute. It's one minute. If I can just hold out for one minute...
Awkwardly, Sua drew the prop sword.
Seo Yeon-ju spoke first.
"If you are truly resolved to go, then cut me down and pass."
"Huh? U-uh, no. I'll just... not go...."
The moment Sua answered —
"Hmm?"
"Huh?"
"Wait — what?"
Every eye watching the improv went perfectly round.
The reason, of course —
"Then I'll just... I'm busy, so...."
— was that Lee Sua's acting was unsalvageable waste.
...Because it was garbage that didn't even make sense.
But the one most shocked of all was, of course, Seo Yeon-ju. Her eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
How to put it. She was simply, endlessly thrown.
What... is this? What is she aiming at...?
It was a situation she had not expected in the slightest.
I placed an order for Wi Ji-hye. Why did a moron get delivered?
Seo Yeon-ju moved again, trying to read what Sua was thinking — and with that movement she flashed across and blocked the path of a Sua who was trying to flee.
"And where do you think you're going? Do you find me so very hateful?"
"Ah — no?"
"Truly! Must I swing my sword before you will give me an answer?!"
"Ack—!"
Sua flinched, shuddered, and dropped the sword. She hadn't been struck. She'd just lost her nerve.
"..."
Seo Yeon-ju quietly blinked. She had nothing to say.
And it wasn't only Seo Yeon-ju.
CT Entertainment's spy, Son Jia, was just as stunned. At that moment she felt as if someone had brought a hammer down on the back of her skull.
What is she?
She snatched the lead with acting like that?
There's an actor who saw this moron's performance and was captivated? An investor who put up the production money? They shoved Yang Ha-rin aside in order to cast this moron as the lead?
Was the world lying to her? And if not — had the genre never been a short film at all, but variety? A hidden-camera prank, something like that?
"..."
No. She couldn't jump to a verdict until she saw Seo Yeon-ju's reaction. Son Jia waited for Seo Yeon-ju to say something.
Seo Yeon-ju stood blank for a moment, keeping her silence, and then —
"...That's so like you, Sua. You worked hard."
She said it while raising a fist-and-palm salute, just as Ha-ryeong would. To the people standing around them, the words landed with a completely different meaning for every listener.
Son Jia's head began to spin at a furious clip.
"So like Sua"? That means she's always been that kind of bitch. That's what that means, right?
Certain. No matter how many times she turned it over, there was no other meaning.
Having reached her conclusion, Son Jia hammered at her phone like a woman possessed.
▶ Lee Sua's acting is seriously bad. Score: 0.
▶ Aspiring-actor level. No — below even that.
▶ How she landed the lead is a mystery.
Afterward.
Once Seo Yeon-ju had returned to Kim Seonil's side, the two of them traded not a single word, as if time itself had stopped, and neither looked the least inclined to move. They only wore the gaze of people who had realized something.
"..."
A silence that seemed as though it would never break.
Then Kim Seonil was the first to stir — nothing but his lips.
"About Lee Sua's acting just now..."
"Yeah. I caught it too. Sua, she's probably..."
The corners of both their mouths lifted at the same time.
"She doesn't mean to show her hand. Not until the very end."
"She doesn't mean to show her hand. Not until the very end."
It was a profoundly mistaken revelation. But Seo Yeon-ju and Kim Seonil had never been more serious than they were now.
"Yeon-ju. If you've got any thought of phoning it in, drop it."
Kim Seonil said it, rubbing his jaw.
"Lee Sua has absolutely no intention of losing to you today."
"..."
Seo Yeon-ju nodded without a word.
Barely two minutes remained before the real shoot began.