*Caution

Whirrr—

The van window slammed shut in a hurry.

The instant the two of them could speak alone, Kim Iseo asked in a rush.

"Sua, did I hear you right? You're not doing this project?"

Bewilderment soaked her voice. She was plainly begging for some kind of answer, but Sua didn't shift her stance.

She only nodded once more.

"That's right. I don't intend to take part in this one."

"Mm."

Kim Iseo fidgeted with her fingers. The answer sat so far from anything she had expected.

"Mmm. Mmmmm."

Her thoughts tangled badly.

Sua had never once moved the way she predicted, of course, but this was too much. Why did the girl always choose to object in the one place no one could have imagined?

And today of all days—the very day of the contract with Mystic.

They had already run into a wall.

Knock, knock—

A tap at the glass. Manager Seo Jae-woo.

Kim Iseo lowered the window a crack and smiled with her eyes.

"Manager Seo, just a moment. We're talking among ourselves."

Her voice couldn't have sounded more at ease.

Even that, though, couldn't hide the way her bangs had glued themselves to the sweat on her forehead. For a moment the two oversized hairpins looked unusually heavy.

She had to be thoroughly rattled for it to show like this.

"...Is this really something that takes this long to discuss? It's only a few pages of sample script, and I wouldn't call the terms bad at all."

"Sua's a rookie. There's a lot I need to explain."

Kim Iseo met the manager's puzzlement with a smile thick with seasoned poise, shut the window again, and went back to negotiating with Sua.

"...Sua, you heard that just now, didn't you? This is a sample script. Cutting it off this cleanly is hasty. There's no harm in at least going to the audition."

"I'm sorry. I'm not interested."

"You mean it isn't to your taste? Then let me be bold enough to advise you. That's far too good an opportunity to throw away for a reason like that. All the more for a rookie in your position."

"No. It isn't a matter of taste. The script is a little strange."

Kim Iseo stopped mid-sentence. She had felt, in Sua, a stubbornness that wouldn't budge no matter how many times she asked.

She drew one deep breath, then asked shortly.

"So in the end, you have no intention of doing this project."

She barely swallowed the words lining up behind that one.

How perfectly the role suited Sua's mask. How it was a film by Director Kim Jungi, a man whose connections ran wide. And on, and on.

"Yes."

An answer far too firm.

This was already beyond anything Kim Iseo's ability could force.

You can drag a donkey all the way to the water, but you cannot make it drink. When the actress herself refused this stubbornly, what was she supposed to do?

I won't be able to persuade her right this second.

She hadn't entirely given up on convincing Sua, and that was precisely why a few tasks came to mind.

Manager Seo Jae-woo was waiting outside the van, puzzled. The longer the wait, the more he would decide something was off.

So the task was simple. Send Seo Jae-woo off first, then talk Sua around, step by step.

Whirrr—

The window came down once more.

"Manager Seo, I'll return the sample script for now."

Kim Iseo's tone was soft as silk.

"Even at a glance, it's incredibly lavish. I was surprised."

"Right? Later on there's even a cruise shoot. It's nothing but rich people having a grand old time. But... Sua's expression doesn't look very good?"

Seo Jae-woo's eyes turned toward Sua, and in the same instant Kim Iseo, sensing the crisis, carefully tapped the toe of Sua's shoe with the tip of her own. Even Sua could read the meaning.

Even if she refused, they ought to keep up appearances.

Sua agreed. She knew well enough how important image was. An actor who was difficult to handle and an actor with no manners were as different as heaven and earth.

She parted her lips.

"It looks fun. It's the kind of life I've imagined at least once."

"Then there's no reason to hesitate. Just go to the audition! I watched your test shoot, remember? I'm telling you, show even half of what you did then and they'll be calling it a pass!"

"But."

Sua asked carefully.

"What's the rating on this?"

"Right. Look at me. I forgot to mention that. It's fifteen and up."

"Aha."

Confirming her subtle nod, the manager went on.

"Other actors really have it rough. They learn piano for a role, learn baseball, learn martial arts... get dragged off to some mountain valley... Just look at this role, Ryu Hyeon-a. She's written as a piano prodigy, so the actress suffers herself half to death."

"Hmm."

"But all you have to do is wrap yourself in designer clothes and play around. Isn't that ridiculously unfair?"

Then he grinned.

"But the world of actors is unfair to begin with. And if that unfairness works in your favor, there's no reason to refuse!"

His point was simple and clear.

On this project, Sua could print money while playing around.

That was when Kim Iseo slipped in with perfect timing.

"Sua isn't unsatisfied. She's hesitating because she's too satisfied. She's a rookie. All she's had are grueling shoots, so of course a sudden offer like this would throw her."

"Ah, is that it? She was surprised in that sense?"

Manager Seo Jae-woo nodded as if he finally understood, and Kim Iseo kept talking—a calculated motion, meant to keep him and Sua from actually conversing.

"By the way, isn't Director Kim known for making excellent adults-only films? He's challenging himself with a fifteen-and-up this time?"

"An adults-only rating does cap the audience, you know. This time he's just going mainstream. It's nice when a restricted film gets high praise, but if you actually want the box office, you have to lower the age."

"That's good news from Mystic's side. Sua's a rookie, and a woman besides, so an adults-only film would be far too risky a choice."

Even after that she kept up a show of interest and threaded in deft little compliments, careful that Manager Seo Jae-woo felt reassured without ever having his mood spoiled.

A short while later.

"Then I'll contact you again."

Her experience shone through without a doubt.

"When you say again, how long will it take?"

"You were at the test shoot, so you know. These days it isn't just one or two people fixated on Sua. Clearing them all out and sorting through everything will take a little time."

"Even so, please make it as fast as you can. The truth is, I already boasted to the director that I'd found him the perfect role. Help me hold my head up, just this once."

"Of course. I'll get back to you soon."

However much time she bought, it wouldn't amount to much. She would have to give an answer sometime tonight. Which meant, from Kim Iseo's position, she had to persuade Sua before then.

She nodded gently and successfully sent Manager Seo Jae-woo on his way.

Right after.

"Haaah..."

Kim Iseo cracked open a bottle of water. Her body was so small ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that the bottle looked unusually large.

She drank the whole thing without pausing.

Then she seized both of Sua's hands.

"Sua, look me in the eye and tell me. Why on earth?"

Had Kim Iseo ever asked her something this seriously? Sua's heart gave a small lurch.

"Sua."

"Yes."

"Say there are a hundred roles. You'd be lucky to find even one this comfortable. And the director is Kim Jungi, no less. It's a project where you rest, raise your name, and make money."

Sua knew it was comfortable. She knew!

But she had a reason of her own, and she couldn't help it.

...What am I supposed to do about a role I can't even experience?

The moment she laid a hand on the script, she could visit the Special Privilege Hotel, and there, inside the telephone booth, she had confirmed it with perfect clarity.

This Park So-jin was the youngest daughter of a chaebol house, and Sua couldn't even experience her. Because she was a virgin who had never known that experience.

And that wasn't all. Most of the roles were the same.

Every last one of them carried the condition that a virgin could not experience it, and number four, Ryu Hyeon-a, looked dangerous enough that she didn't dare try. What if she tried on a whim and something terrible happened?

Of course, it wasn't as if there was no way at all to check the grade.

She knew how to use the Special Privilege now.

Cheese? What was that? A cat.

...A real cat. A cat that went meow, meow.

Experiencing the cat of a wealthy house had been a truly bizarre experience. If she set her mind to imitating one right now, she had the feeling she could even manage walking on all fours.

Anyway, the grade she had confirmed through all that trouble was this.

Grade 6. A rank that passed strange and landed on grotesque.

They said he was a master director with connections everywhere. How is it like this? Ah—did it end up this way because everyone around him only ever said it was wonderful?

And there was one more thing she wanted to know.

The manager had fifteen-and-up in his mouth, but when I actually tried to experience it, every last role was adults-only. What kind of situation is this?

But she soon swept the thoughts aside.

Thinking about it was only a waste of time.

It wasn't as if Sua had clairvoyance, and whatever circumstances lurked behind the offer, the refusal had already been decided the moment she was handed a role she couldn't experience.

On top of that, the grade was trash. There was no reason to do it.

Meanwhile Kim Iseo was still looking at her.

Quite the bind.

She could hardly sit there and consult her about it—why is a master director making a Grade 6 movie, isn't the packaging a scam, and if it's rated fifteen why are the roles all adults-only.

Sua thought for a moment and chose the safe option.

"My heart isn't responding."

To anyone listening she would sound like an actress who filtered projects by gut feeling, but it couldn't be helped. This was the best answer she had.

And in fact, that was exactly the kind of actress Kim Iseo currently took her for.

Two opinions colliding. The situation sank even deeper into a maze.

"...So what you're saying is, it doesn't motivate you at all?"

"Yes. You told me I have a scent all my own. But I don't think that scent will come through in this project."

Kim Iseo's face grew subtle.

Sua could understand how she felt.

She had been brought in with three sports cars, and on the first day she was refusing a master director's film? And holding up a lack of motivation as the reason? A person would feel a little aggrieved.

"I'll work even harder on the other things. Please turn this one down."

"..."

Kim Iseo quietly opened another bottle and drank.

She had brought Sua because she believed in her, but she was still a little thrown. Thinking back, nothing like this had ever happened with Seo Yeon-ju or Kim Seonil. Everything had gone exactly as she wanted.

If she was going to be with Sua, would she have to get used to things like this? No—could she get used to them? Faced with an experience she had never had in her life, Kim Iseo kept emptying bottle after bottle.

"...All right."

Even so, she nodded for now.

Working as Sua's representative. It wasn't easy from day one.

A few hours later.

Kim Iseo dropped Sua off at the Mystic Entertainment building, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Sua turned her steps toward a nail salon nearby.

A nail salon.

She had never once imagined herself heading somewhere like this. There had even been a time she thought she would go her whole life without ever setting foot in a place like a nail salon.

Right. She wasn't going of her own will today either.

There had simply been a call from Seo Yeon-ju.

Sua opened the shop door at once and stepped inside.

"Welcome."

The staff's kind greeting.

In answer, Sua dipped her head very slightly. An unconscious motion. And that fact secretly startled her.

...Since when did I get this smooth?

All of it flowed as naturally as water, and felt familiar.

The way the other person shrank a little on meeting her. Greeting with elegance, grounded in her own thorough calculation. Cutting the small fidgets and the excess so she wouldn't look lightweight....

Countless other things spilled out with no particular awareness. Was this a kind of acting too? Had her skill grown?

Either way, it wasn't a bad thing. It was unconditionally a good thing.

Feels nice. Becoming more complete in an image like this.

That was when it happened.

"Sua, you're here? Come sit over here."

The reason she had walked all the way to this place, Seo Yeon-ju, patted the chair beside her. At the moment she was sitting at her ease with one hand entrusted to a staff member.

Sua sat down beside her and said,

"What's the business?"

"Business? The business is painting our nails together and having a chat, that's what. We're family now, aren't we? Sisters ought to get along."

"...So it wasn't about work."

"Disappointed it isn't about work? That's a work addiction, you know."

Sua had said it with private relief, but the meaning that reached Seo Yeon-ju seemed to be something else. She smiled brightly.

"If you live thinking only about work, life gets awfully hard, you know. You need days like this sometimes. For now, at least, try enjoying yourself at ease."

To Sua, it was simply astonishing.

To think I'd end up spending private time with Seo Yeon-ju....

The very emblem of pure, refreshing innocence. A heavyweight actress, and she had chosen Sua as someone to spend time with. An honor.

Sua was admiring Seo Yeon-ju's face up close, and the feeling was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mutual. Seo Yeon-ju's eyes went wide as she looked at her.

"You're even more impressive up close? White hair is incredibly hard to pull off. But you're different. It suits you so well."

"Arctic Fox."

"Hm?"

"...Arctic Fox. They say I look like an arctic fox."

Sua put particular weight on the words.

And a brief silence settled over the comparison.

In truth, the animal Seo Yeon-ju had been thinking of was a wolf of the snowfields. An arctic fox wasn't entirely unrelated, but still, no matter how she looked, Sua seemed closer to a wolf...?

While she was pondering, Sua asked again.

"Right?"

"Uh, uh-huh? Right, right."

Seo Yeon-ju nodded in a hurry.

Now it was time to start the nails in earnest. A staff member held out a catalog of samples in front of Sua. Something like a menu, if this were a restaurant.

"How would you like them done?"

"Mm."

For Sua, it was already an ordeal.

A concept of shells swept up on a sandy beach, a leopard-print concept, a checkered concept, and so on.

She didn't know what to pick, and not a single one made her want to try it. Stick something like this on her nails? It seemed like it would only be a hassle.

That was when Seo Yeon-ju burst out laughing. Sua feared her clumsiness had shown, but—

"Ah, sorry. The way the staff unnie is trembling is too funny. Hey, Sua. Loosen your face a little. This is a place for playing. Playing. It isn't in front of a camera, so you can take it easy, you know."

The staff member shrugged.

"...Someone even more special than I expected came in, so I'm a little nervous."

"My, look at this unnie. I'm not special?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant. Anyway, what will it be?"

Sua still didn't know what she was supposed to do, and in the end it was Seo Yeon-ju who broke the silence again.

"Unnie, I don't think there's anything Sua likes. Let's go custom."

"Custom.... Yeah, that does seem right. Even I can see nothing in the samples suits her. For a customer like this, there's no choice but to draw something that fits and apply it directly."

"..."

From Sua's position, that was an even worse move.

Not being able to pick an example meant, in other words, that she had to decide the entire design going onto the nails herself. The difficulty had risen exponentially.

Even so, Seo Yeon-ju was pondering what would suit her.

Now that I think about it, she mentioned an arctic fox earlier.

The hair color too—Sua seemed fond of the Arctic.

What was there in the Arctic? Penguins? Penguins were the Antarctic. Arctic gold? No, a polar bear was a bit much.

Saying arctic fox again would be stale. Come to think of it, didn't rabbits live in the polar regions too? Seo Yeon-ju's eyes sparkled.

"...Sua, how about a rabbit?"

After long deliberation, she put "rabbit" in her mouth.

"A rabbit? Ah, something's coming to me. How about a feeling like this?"

The staff member's hands moved at once. For someone of her skill, sketching a single sample was nothing.

Before long, a draft was born.

A white ground, two red eyes stamped on, a green blade of grass on the forehead.

A snow rabbit, tiny, yet armed with a violent sort of cuteness.

"..."

Sua's heart pounded. Thump, thump, thump. Very loud.

"...It's a hassle, so just this."

A Sua front. Inside, she was anything but. She was terribly excited.

The work began. Seo Yeon-ju spoke.

"Come to think of it, did you hear about that too?"

"About what?"

"They say when Special Task Force 808 starts principal photography, a few famous people might come to watch. What do they call those people these days? I heard they're dying to make a movie, the music ones...."

A moment later, ten red-eyed snow rabbits were born across Sua's nails.

Even Seo Yeon-ju, sitting beside her, found it a result worth admiring.

"Oh my, I should have gotten it on my hands. Sua, it's so cute...."

Sua moved as if it were a nuisance. Sua Nods.

In truth she had lost the words for how happy she was....

Seo Yeon-ju laid Sua's hands neatly on the table, set her own beside them, and snapped a photo. Hers was a leopard print that called a cheetah to mind.

Then a selfie, side by side. She asked to see the backs of the hands so the nails would show, and Sua obliged. You know the one—the stiff little pose zombies and hopping vampires strike when they come bouncing along.

Seo Yeon-ju let out a small laugh.

"Today's nails are my gift. To celebrate you becoming part of the Mystic family. Take care of me from here on, too."

Sua, still unable to take her eyes off her own nails, thought that sometimes things like this weren't bad.

Her life had already changed enormously.

A tented street stall. The set of a soju commercial.

"Seonil! That was so good just now! In ten minutes we'll go once more with a different tie! This is the last one!"

Black dress trousers, a shirt with the top button undone, the tie loose as well. And his hair, worked with a moisturizing wax, hung limp as if he had been caught in the rain.

The crew's reaction couldn't help but be good.

"Seonil.... He's handsome...."

"What are we supposed to do about that decadent beauty."

"Is an office worker worn out from overtime allowed to be that sexy?"

Kim Seonil himself was on a break, checking his phone. The time given was ten minutes. For once, a message had come from Seo Yeon-ju.

He almost deleted it, then looked.

It wasn't text. A photo had come, so he was a little curious.

Even to Kim Seonil's eye, dyeing her hair white had been a divine stroke. Like an imugi—a great serpent one breath from becoming a dragon—that had finally found its wish-granting orb and closed its mouth around it.

And the pairing of the two wasn't bad either. If Seo Yeon-ju was the rabbit, Sua was the wolf. What kind of arctic combination was this.

Kim Seonil, who had been looking at the screen with satisfaction, soon changed his face to a blank. He couldn't get used to himself like this.

He promptly typed a short reply.

Time tore ahead for all of them.

"Let's run it one more time before we eat!"

The cast of Special Task Force 808, Park Dohui and Hwang Myung-pil among them, gathered hard again today and threw themselves into practice.

Meanwhile, the editing room of the short film Sword.

Director Park Joon heard the news in the middle of the edit.

"Sua ended up joining Mystic? Oh, that actually suits her? She landed well! I wonder how much of a signing bonus she got. If a rookie pulled a signing bonus, that's practically a first, isn't it?"

His delight, as if it were his own affair, lasted only a moment.

He soon hung up and threw himself into the edit harder than ever. A tremendous passion.

A future was already unfolding in his head.

Sword breaking through to the finals without fail. Lee Sua, the lead who had brought the film back to life, dressed in an elegant gown and sweeping through every corner of the festival.

Watching the scenes, it didn't feel like mere fantasy.

He had the certainty he would make it real soon.

Night.

Sua was wandering the inside of the Mystic Entertainment building.

A look around here, a look around there. An ordinary person would be desperate to escape the workplace, but Sua right now was different.

The building itself felt like an amusement park to her.

Just looking around is this fun....

It had a company cafeteria, of course, and a space where you could work out. Besides that, a mirrored room for practicing dance.... To Sua, it was simply amazing.

Then, at one place, her steps suddenly stopped.

"This is...."

A soundproofed room, with a single grand piano planted squarely in the center.

All at once she remembered something Manager Seo Jae-woo had said.

Sua was curious.

Just how much, in the end, did experiencing a script affect her body?

Experiencing Speeding had left her with the feeling she could drive, but she had no way to confirm it. She didn't have a license.

She had experienced Wi Ji-hye of Sword, but that alone was unfit for judging whether her swordsmanship had improved. That short film was, to the end, a philosophical piece whose heart was a discourse on the sword.

In other words, Sua still didn't know.

Just how much did a script grow her body?

I'll come into contact with countless scripts from here on. But....

This was a prerequisite she had to settle quickly.

What if I start avoiding high-grade scripts just because the experience is difficult? Or what if, even after experiencing them, my reproduction can't keep up and it gets in the way of the acting?

Sua retraced the past.

Torture was too hard, so she avoided it. Experiences she couldn't do because she was a virgin, she couldn't do. Fortunately her luck had held so far. The grades of those scripts had been terribly meager.

But it wouldn't only be situations like this from now on. There would be roles with excellent grades that demanded extremely high capability.

...Wouldn't it be too much of a waste to miss those?

So now it was time to confirm.

Sua looked over the experience list again.

She had been frightened by the word caution, but now, turning over again and again the fact that Ryu Hyeon-a was a piano prodigy, it looked a little different.

Could "includes a special ability" mean the very possibility she was hoping for? A small expectation. A small hope.

In the end, Sua chose Ryu Hyeon-a.

Shhhhh—

Phrases she had never once seen before.

Sua muttered without thinking.

"Injecting? What a creepy word...."

Right after, the whole world felt like fast-forward.

It was a sensation as if every book in a library were forcing its way into her mind all at once. The feeling that if she let her concentration slip even a little, her head would burst.

Ryu Hyeon-a's life was arduous.

The moment she opened her eyes she had to practice piano all day, and if she got even one thing wrong she was struck with a switch and made to stand in punishment. How long had she spent days like that. Sua was forced to repeat that experience.

By the time she had even forgotten that she was Sua—

Flash—!

"...Ah?"

Sua returned to reality.

While she lived as Ryu Hyeon-a she seemed to have forgotten she was Sua at all, and yet now Ryu Hyeon-a's memories were faint. It felt as if she had experienced a span that wasn't even a tenth of a second.

Like pressing that five-hundred-million-year button she had seen on the internet. Something like that. Anyway, Sua right now felt no mental strain. She felt no exhaustion in her body either.

"..."

Then she suddenly swallowed.

Not a dry swallow. Her mouth was watering.

Because the grand piano set before her eyes suddenly looked terribly welcome. A feeling as if it were her only friend. When she came to, her hands were already resting on it.

Her fingers moved before she knew it.

Ta-da-dan—

Sua froze without meaning to.

And a long while later, again.

Ta-da-dan—

She had no choice but to freeze once more.

This time, though, it came with a belated gasp of wonder.

"Whoa...."

Because the sound she was drawing out was far too beautiful.

And she realized it. Goosebumps rose all over her body.

The spectrum of her acting.

It was by no means narrow. It could not be narrow.