I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 109
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 109
‘Because the power that stories possess transcends imagination.’
This industry was littered with cases where producers poured hundreds of billions and brought in famous actors, only to fail spectacularly.
‘…Just like Father said.’
Even if you satisfied the eyes and ears, drawing in the mind and heart was a different matter entirely. Father’s words, which she had heard to the point of exhaustion since childhood, echoed in her ears once again.
“Gyeoul. An actor, you see, must carry a message they want to convey to people. The public isn’t stupid.”
Thinking about it again made her feel like her breath was being cut off.
‘What’s all that supposed to mean anyway.’
People who applaud as long as something wins awards overseas, even when depicting ugly and filthy stories under the pretense of showing human nature?
People who get excited over poor and miserable scenes while stirring up cheap sympathy?
People who go crazy for romance because they want vicarious satisfaction despite being nobodies?
‘Nonsense.’
The message Do Gyeoul wanted to convey was only one thing.
That superiority was a more noble emotion than understanding.
That even if she couldn’t understand them, would never understand them in the future, and would never try to understand them for the rest of her life, they would still look up to her.
For Do Gyeoul, acting was like a form of proof.
That even if something in her head was broken, she wasn’t a defective product.
That Do Gyeoul was never the one who was wrong.
Chapter 2
Nightmare Spirit
Then Gyeoul’s hand holding the script for episode 2 trembled.
‘No matter how well does, it doesn’t matter.’
Because all she had to do was take Han Yeoreum’s acting as it was.
The ignorant public would once again applaud the scenes that Do Gyeoul portrayed.
Like a predetermined sequence.
‘Even a mere web drama would have been more than enough.’
Do Gyeoul could have easily taken Han Yeoreum’s acting even with a 10-minute web drama.
So this was an opportunity.
A chance to make it hers more meticulously, piece by piece.
“Gyeoul, get some sleep once we take off. You’ve been doing schedules for days without proper sleep.”
“Yes, Manager.”
“Really, where else would I find such a diligent actor? I’ve been spreading word everywhere about wanting to do a historical drama for your next project like you said, so good scenarios will come in soon. Real traditional ones that can’t even be compared to those fusion historical dramas!”
Do Gyeoul smiled silently.
* * *
“…I’m stuck.”
I closed the script. Once something gets stuck, there’s no progress in analysis.
I sighed and read Seoryeong’s character introduction once more.
“Right, this is where the problem starts.”
“The changed Seoryeong… won’t kill the Yeom Family in the final scene.”
The Seoryeong in the original work risks her life to protect Myeongdo, the retainer she loves. She was a Seoryeong who thought that even having divine power was just natural order.
“But Myeongdo caused ripples like a stone thrown into Seoryeong’s empty life.”
Detached attitude, calm personality, living while thinking everything was meaningless.
But the changed Seoryeong is different.
She’s more faithful to her desires than anyone. Because of ‘that incident,’ she resents the Yeom Family and doesn’t trust Jeongan.
“The only thing she trusted was herself.”
And if she had truly lived burning only with revenge against the Yeom Family, she would have left Jeongan in the year she came of age.
“But Seoryeong didn’t leave Jeongan…”
She was probably actually scared. About meeting again with those who had tried to kill her.
“Because Seoryeong had already come close to death once.”
So to forget that, she probably said she’d die together like a habit.
“Like a kind of resolution.”
Seoryeong couldn’t not know that she’d have to risk her own life to kill the Yeom Family. Yeomga and Seoryeong would know each other’s divine powers well.
“But when the woman he loves says she’ll risk her life, Myeongdo couldn’t just stand by and watch.”
He’d want to respect her will, but in a corner of his heart, he’d want to plead endlessly. Even knowing it wouldn’t work.
Please live.
“So he’ll say it at least once. There will definitely be… a moment when his heart breaks open and his true feelings come out.”
Myeongdo will probably promise to properly punish the Yeom Family according to human law.
“And Seoryeong will also desperately want to believe those words in the end.”
Since I don’t have the later script, I don’t know if my analysis is correct.
But humans are complex creatures. Even for Seoryeong, countless emotions must exist.
“Besides the anger burning in the deepest place…”
Guilt about never being able to give trust to Jeongan, desperation to trust Myeongdo just this once, worry about those they’ve saved together, and even the truth that she doesn’t actually want to die… all of this would endlessly shake Seoryeong.
“What should my Seoryeong do…”
My head was complicated thinking about how to play on the stage that Jjang Director had set up. There are three Seoryeongs. The original Seoryeong, Jjang Director’s Seoryeong, and my Seoryeong.
“…I don’t want to just say lines according to the script.”
Not just the expressions the script calls for, the actions the script calls for, the lines the script calls for. I need something I can convey to the audience beyond the screen.
My head throbbed from the pieces that didn’t fit together.
I pondered for a moment. The answer came surprisingly quickly.
“Let’s go see Myeong Jeha.”
It was Myeong Jeha who had even seen through Director Gong’s script for .
If he’s the owner of an Analysis stat of S++ certified by the Status Window, he’d definitely be quite helpful with character analysis. Definitely.
* * *
Myeong Jeha speed-read through the script. It didn’t take long to read through all four volumes.
Usually, scripts circulating in the industry before production begins average four volumes.
Thanks to living while seeing thousands of scripts, the ending the director was trying to portray was clearly drawn in his head.
“How is it? How is it?”
“Hmm…”
Han Yeoreum, who had been anxiously waiting beside him, seemed to have run out of patience and asked pleadingly.
“What do you think will happen at the end?”
“I think it’ll be interesting.”
“…Don’t joke around, sir.”
Myeong Jeha deliberately didn’t give the answer she wanted and smiled.
This place was Dokgo Min’s Studio, where Dokgo Min was.
It was a studio that had somehow become half Han Yeoreum’s. Behind Dokgo Min, who was wearing headphones and doing editing work, the two talked about .
“Haven’t you seen X-ri Mask either? Right now, Myeong Jeha, you’re my Tsukikage-sensei.”
“Haha. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t know Yu-X Mask? This means your actor qualification should be revoked.”
Myeong Jeha gently fanned Yeoreum with the scenario in his hand. The gentle breeze tickled Yeoreum’s cheek. Sorry, but….
‘It’s not time to give an answer yet.’
He needed to know how well the ending Han Yeoreum was trying to draw matched the director’s intentions.
‘Because Director Jang probably won’t go with the ending he originally thought of….’
Given Director Jang’s personality, he couldn’t be the type to push through forcefully.
Moreover, the burden placed on the director’s shoulders was unimaginably heavy.
‘He probably can’t even breathe properly.’
Since JC ENM said they wouldn’t spare production costs, if the work didn’t do well, all the blame would fall on the director.
Besides, it wasn’t a situation where only the director was under pressure.
Myeong Jeha looked at Yeoreum, who was still struggling in front of him.
‘The industry’s attention level itself has changed.’
There were countless people ready to bite and tear, their eyes glowing red, to see whether the previous works and were bubbles or not.
The atmosphere was fierce, wanting to see how well the director chosen by that Jegal Rok would perform.
‘So it’s obvious he’ll compromise to some extent….’
Myeong Jeha didn’t want such a petty development.
“Yeah. What did you think while watching that? Was it interesting?”
Actually, what Yeoreum mentioned was a manga that Myeong Jeha already knew. It would have been harder not to know such a work.
Depending on Han Yeoreum’s answer here, the advice Myeong Jeha could give would differ.
Myeong Jeha looked at Yeoreum, who was thinking for a moment, and anticipated her answer.
‘What she could focus on there would probably be….’
Her own genius at devouring the roles she was assigned, including character analysis? If not that, then the existence of a seemingly perfect rival? What else could there be. Passion for acting?
“What I thought while watching… you ask.”
Yeoreum’s mouth slowly opened.
And the answer that came out was very different from Myeong Jeha’s expectations.
“There are too many hitting scenes. The protagonist there is just a middle schooler. But her mom, her teacher, her rival girl, they all act like it’s okay to hit her. Like she needs to be hit to come to her senses, so they slap her face.”
Myeong Jeha realized that Han Yeoreum was acting right now.
She spoke while laughing as if it was ridiculous, but clearly….
‘She said hitting scenes, not scenes of hitting, but scenes of being hit.’
There was a subtle difference.
“Japanese manga can’t avoid that kind of direction. If a kid can’t get their act together, you can just leave them alone for a bit. They call it shock therapy and just keep hitting. Then somehow they grasp some clue? Ridiculous. Does slapping someone momentarily raise their IQ? It’s childish, really.”
Myeong Jeha was someone who habitually memorized almost every scene.
Han Yeoreum’s acceptance speech at the Seoul International Drama Awards came to mind.
“And my beloved mom… and younger sibling. Also….”
There was definitely an intentional pause.
Myeong Jeha suddenly felt like he understood why Han Yeoreum could act so heartbreakingly sad.
Han Yeoreum continued speaking as if it was nothing.
“Oh, but it really is interesting. It’s not a bestseller for nothing. You should definitely read it later too, sir.”
“Yeah. I will.”
Myeong Jeha answered obediently. And he gave Han Yeoreum an appropriate response.
“Yeoreum, your analysis is half right and half wrong.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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