I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 235

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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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Chapter 235

* * *

-Thank you for taking your valuable time to apply. We are informing you of the document screening results.

A mechanical voice flowed over the dark stage. The following words were a notification message that she had failed the internship application.

-It is not because the applicant is lacking or insufficient. It is our company’s fault for not being able to accept more people. We will work harder to grow into a good company that can accept many more people…

The mechanical voice ended, and thump! Thump! Thump! The sound of someone entering with angry footsteps could be heard.

Pin Point Lighting turned on, and Han Yeoreum appeared under the bright light with a dark expression.

“Damn it! Let’s grow together, why don’t you? Why do you keep trying to grow without me!”

The inside of the theater was quiet. Han Yeoreum’s voice stretched cleanly all the way to the back of the stage.

“It’s not because the applicant is lacking or insufficient? Stop lying, okay? I’m lacking and- insufficient-! That’s why you reject me every time!”

Yeoreum lay down on the mattress as if diving. Her light and playful gestures drew small laughter.

“What if I keep not getting internships like this? If I don’t get an internship, I can’t get a job, if I can’t get a job, I can’t save money, if I can’t save money…”

Han Yeoreum let out a big sigh.

“I need to save 100 million before I turn thirty, everyone said they have about that much. Let me see, the time I have left until thirty is…”

Yeoreum, who had been counting numbers with both hands spread out, suddenly sat up. IP 85.152 couldn’t help but admire that light movement.

‘That must have been hard to get up from…!’

She hadn’t even used momentum. She really moved like a creaky marionette. As if someone had lifted Jin Jinjoo up.

“University life passed in an instant too, and until thirty will also be in an instant. Ah! What should I do, what should I do.”

Yeoreum, who had been worrying, suddenly stood up from her spot. Then she spun around inside the narrow apartment.

“Was the interview wrong? No way? I definitely spoke well. Huh? I didn’t shake at all!”

Yeoreum began her self-introduction as if recalling the interview.

“Hello. I am 23-year-old Jin Jinjoo who responsibly completes even small tasks. While majoring in business administration at university, I understand that the accuracy of communication within an organization is just as important as understanding numbers and structures…”

It wasn’t the anxiously trembling voice from just moments before. It instantly changed to a respectful and polite voice. As if this place really were an interview room.

‘She turned around?’

Yeoreum had turned around so the audience couldn’t see her. She rattled off the dialogue from the interview room like that. Yeoreum, who spoke each word clearly with her arms crossed, was so good that it was hard to understand why she failed the interview.

That’s when it happened. Yeoreum slowly began to move her body. Still continuing her dialogue.

“Especially last semester, I participated in a hands-on project targeting small and medium enterprises…”

When Yeoreum completely turned her body back toward the audience, laughter burst out from here and there. Her voice wasn’t shaking, but her face was in a state of extreme tension. Looking at her face, the arm-crossing she thought was natural was also a cowering posture.

‘Cute! She looks like a little thing!’

IP 85.152, who thought that without realizing it, soon straightened her upper body that she had been about to bow with a stern expression.

‘It’s cute that she knows how to naturally lead the play. She’s admirable for a newcomer.’

The play was already too interesting. Even though it was just the introduction.

* * *

“Sister, did you see?”

“…Yeah.”

Tak Jeongyun and the other actors watching Han Yeoreum from behind the stage were momentarily flustered.

‘That’s an ad-lib.’

Originally, Jin Jinjoo should have shown her trembling while facing the audience. So they could burst into laughter from the beginning.

But Han Yeoreum was different. She knew how to naturally control the intensity.

‘…Could it be that she read today’s audience mood?’

Audiences vary greatly from day to day. There are audiences who laugh easily at small movements, and there are audiences who absolutely won’t laugh even at scenes inserted to make them laugh.

Due to the nature of the comedy genre, hearing laughter from around makes it feel more fun.

‘Because they weren’t laughing at the beginning, she went with an ad-lib…?’

Tak Jeongyun had been in Daehangno for a long time. So she naturally had to sense it. What the mood was like today, how to lead the play according to the audience, etc.

‘On her first stage?’

But this was Han Yeoreum’s first stage. This could only be explained as natural talent.

Tak Jeongyun found herself concentrating on Han Yeoreum on stage as if being drawn in.

“Ah-! Should I go to school and ask the kids? Why aren’t they replying…”

Before long, Yeoreum’s dialogue was ending, and now it was time for Yeoreum’s friends 1 and 2 to go out.

“…Be careful, you guys.”

“Of course! We absolutely won’t forget our lines!”

“And we won’t make mistakes either.”

Watching the actors walk onto the stage laughing without understanding what to be careful of, Tak Jeongyun sighed.

‘…Be careful not to end up as just props.’

Sometimes there are times like that. When only that one person is visible. Even when keeping their mouth shut, even when there’s no particular movement.

An actor who naturally steals the audience’s attention.

‘At times like that, the other actors around them just end up as devices.’

They become like backgrounds or objects that move for just one person.

They end up as something that simply exchanges dialogue with that actor. Only one person remains in the audience’s memory.

Even though Han Yeoreum stood alone on stage, there was no sense of emptiness.

“It’s too early to tell.”

Geum Bitkang, who was doing Assistant Instructor makeup, said quietly. She seemed to already understand what Tak Jeongyun was worried about.

“When you get pulled along, getting definitely pulled along isn’t bad either. There’s something to learn.”

Han Yeoreum’s voice could be heard from the stage. No, ‘only’ Han Yeoreum’s voice could be heard.

* * *

“That announcement is…”

“The schedule is a bit tight, but if you check the format-.”

Before long, the setting had changed from Jin Jinjoo’s home to school. Jin Jinjoo pushed her way between friends who were having some serious conversation.

“Hey-guys-. Did you check the text I sent?”

Then the friends’ expressions, which had been serious just moments before, changed. They welcomed Jin Jinjoo with bright smiles.

“Hi! What text?”

“I usually let texts pile up.”

Their tone was artificial. As if they were following what someone had told them to say. Jin Jinjoo stamped her feet in frustration.

“I sent asking how about we study together! That very text!”

Then the two friends moved away with hurried steps. As if trying to get as far away from Jin Jinjoo as possible, they went to both sides of the stage.

One to the far left, one to the far right.

Jin Jinjoo, left alone in the center, looked at the audience.

Jin Jinjoo tried to go left for a moment, then tried to go right, then took one step forward to the center. Then she struck a pose.

“What’s this? This formation? Kind of like an idol? group.”

Laughter burst out from here and there in the audience seats at Jin Jinjoo’s innocent charm, not even noticing that they were avoiding her.

“Uhaha!”

Jin Jinjoo’s classmates turned their heads and sighed. Their expressions weren’t good.

Jin Jinjoo tried to approach the classmate on the left. Comic background music played. Along with bouncing sound effects, the classmates moved.

Thump thump thump thump-.

The classmate who had been on the left quickly walked to the right. The classmate who had been on the right changed direction and walked to the left.

“Huh?”

The situation repeated several times. Whenever Jin Jinjoo tried to move, the classmates switched places to prevent her from coming their way. Jin Jinjoo, left alone in the center, struck idol poses several times. Each time Jin Jinjoo changed her pose at center, the audience laughed.

“How long do I have to do this?”

At Jin Jinjoo’s question, the classmates shrugged their shoulders with exaggerated gestures. They still didn’t give her an answer.

Ring ring ring ring- ring-.

Then, suddenly, a cell phone rang.

“Oh, Grandmother’s calling? Then I should go-.”

“Oh, Grandfather’s calling? Then I should go-.”

The friends pretended to take phone calls and left the stage. Jin Jinjoo, left alone, quietly looked at the audience.

That’s when it happened.

Jin Jinjoo changed her pose like an idol center again. Just the gesture of making a heart with her hands was enough to look foolish. The audience members who hadn’t been laughing began to loosen up one by one.

Their guard was down.

Someone’s footsteps could be heard on stage again. It was a woman wearing sunglasses and marine uniform. She wore an armband with the characters ‘Of Course’ written on her upper arm.

“Don’t try to- do two people’s work- let’s do- one person’s work well-. Don’t be greedy- for two people’s work- let’s accomplish- one person’s work-.”

The woman crossing the stage with disciplined steps walked while waving a flyer in her hand.

Then she swung her hand at Jin Jinjoo so fast it made a sharp sound.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Instead of- thinking about- doing the work of two people- at least do- the work of one person-.”

“…That’s oddly specific?”

Unlike her previous tone, this was a tone that seemed to look down on Jin Jinjoo with disdain. Though she had accepted the paper, Jin Jinjoo tilted her head as if feeling strangely offended, and the Assistant Instructor pushed her shoulder before disappearing.

Left alone, Jin Jinjoo examined the flyer with both hands.

“Intern Academy?”

A sound effect like striking a xylophone rang out. It was a resonance that seemed to indicate some kind of realization.

“You who can’t find employment! What do you think the problem is? The problem is your blank slate of a life. People who don’t know what to learn, how to learn it, or where to learn it cannot do their part in this society. We’ll help you create a life where you can handle things well on your own!”

Jin Jinjoo’s small voice gradually increased in volume. By the end, it was loud enough to sound like she was giving a speech.

“Intern… Academy….”

Ding!

With a sound effect suggesting Jin Jinjoo’s heart was moved, the lighting went out. In the darkness, the sound of the stage rotating could be heard. The backdrop was changing.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-.

The sound of someone walking onto the dark stage could be heard. The resonance of boot steps was so powerful it seemed like it would shake the entire theater.

“Attention-!”

A voice that seemed to pierce down from the ceiling. Everyone sitting in the audience recognized the owner of that voice.

“Salute!”

The lights came on. Geum Bitkang, with a stern expression, was saluting in military uniform.

It was a resonance that made one fundamentally curious about how a person could produce such a loud sound. The audience felt naturally overwhelmed.

“At ease!”

The Assistant Instructor next to Geum Bitkang was the same woman who had handed out flyers to Jin Jinjoo earlier. Geum Bitkang and the Assistant Instructor continued their conversation in rigid tones.

“What is the goal of our Intern Academy?”

“To raise humans who can properly do their part!”

“Good! Did you guide the idiots well today too?”

“…Well, not yet….”

When the Assistant Instructor hesitated, Geum Bitkang stomped one foot with a bang! It seemed like the stage might break.

“You can’t even do the obvious job you should do as an assistant instructor!”

“I’m sorry!”

“I told you I don’t even expect the work of two people!”

“It’s because you’ve given teachings to so many idiots, Teacher!”

At the Assistant Instructor’s flattery, Geum Bitkang, who had been scolding harshly, turned around.

‘…Teacher?’

Tak Jeongyun was momentarily flustered. This was different from the movement in the Theater Script.

“Ahem! That’s right!”

By turning her face away from the audience, Geum Bitkang solidified her Character Portrayal. She was able to emphasize the appearance of someone who couldn’t show that she was pleased even though she was. Her shoulders twitched.

“Of course!”

It was the same as what Han Yeoreum had done earlier. One of the basics of comedy was ‘repetition.’

When a certain action or line is repeated, from the latter half onward, the audience who notice this start laughing even before the actor moves.

‘On purpose….’

Tak Jeongyun bit her lip tightly. At this rate, she too would become just Tool 1. She needed to pull herself together.

“Um….”

Han Yeoreum appeared on stage. The audience’s gaze immediately turned to her. Han Yeoreum, peeking out from the right end while clutching the flyer tightly, had the face of a student hesitating before enrolling in the academy.

The two actors who received the audience’s greatest expectations had finally appeared on the same stage.

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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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