I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 285

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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 285

* * *

Han Yeoreum, wearing a beige t-shirt with a loose-fit checkered shirt and baggy jeans, had her hair roughly tied up.

“Director, can I wear just one earphone?”

“Huh? There’s nothing wrong with that… Why just one?”

“They’re wireless earphones and the commute is long. It’s because of battery issues.”

Han Yeoreum with just one wireless earphone looked exactly like Na Yuna somewhere on campus. The opposite ear without the earphone was left open.

As if hoping someone, anyone, anywhere would come talk to her.

“Ready!”

Director So, holding the megaphone, looked at Han Yeoreum.

‘As expected… My eye wasn’t wrong.’

When it comes to healing content, most people vaguely think it’ll be easy. There’s a misconception that it’s comfortable to both make and watch.

But that’s complete nonsense.

In this era overflowing with content, desperate analysis is needed to attract people with subtle flavors.

What people want, what they long for, what feelings they experience at times like these.

What So Yesol wanted to convey to viewers was the existence of ‘deficiency.’ That emotion you have to bury first when living busy, exhausting days.

“Action!”

As she felt during 【No Interest Whatsoever】, Han Yeoreum expressed exhausted emotions far too well.

She made it look exactly like watching someone stopped in the middle of a tunnel, unable to go either way.

She understood too well how suffocating it feels to breathe in a situation where it’s scary to turn back and escape, too exhausting to move forward, but impossible to just sit down right there.

Han Yeoreum, perched on the bench, was looking at her phone with a cracked corner with indifferent eyes.

‘I guess you’d call it fed up.’

Her face, showing no anticipation for tomorrow, was different from Yeon Huijae’s, who had been smiling cheerfully until recently.

This was Na Yuna, who got into her desired university but already had to worry about employment.

So Yesol looked at Han Yeoreum, who tilted her head and cast her gaze into the air. She imagined how it would look with CG added beyond the lonely tree positioned behind Han Yeoreum.

How sweet yet bitter a freshman would she become with cherry blossom CG added here? She was already looking forward to it.

Just before the first shoot of 【Youth Disqualified!】, which had been a low-budget drama, a major investor appeared. That investor was a big shot who could turn any film Gyeoul shot in winter into spring days.

He poured money in looking at Han Yeoreum alone.

* * *

The inside of the office where the meeting had started became tense.

“So… according to what the director is saying…”

Three months had passed since the Korean ban was lifted. The latter parts of works that had been progressing well collapsed.

Without exception, investors closed their wallets. Two MBS productions with the highest dependence on foreign capital were scrapped.

Top stars hesitated to jump into the market right now. The atmosphere was that whoever endures now wins.

Rather than risk ruining their careers by entering filming at this time, it was better to shoot a few commercials.

“Are you saying… we should invest that amount in a work we’re neither producing nor broadcasting?”

Jegal Rok was someone who turned crises into opportunities.

All of JC ENM’s innovations bore his touch. Eyes poured in as if to say this was going a bit too far, even for him.

“There must be a reason Netflicks entrusted the production of 【Seoul Special City】 to JC ENM, right?”

Entrusting their first work to open the Korean market to JC ENM was like a declaration of war.

If they couldn’t do it properly even with this level of opportunity, there wouldn’t be a second chance.

“Once Netflicks officially opens in Korea, there are works other than 【Seoul Special City】 that will bring money to JC ENM.”

Jegal Rok displayed materials on the screen.

“I don’t think anyone here is unaware of how popular 【Strange Tales】 was in Asia last season. Due to this influence, overseas investment came in for 【Faster Than Law】, which is about to be released.”

Netflicks used their heads well.

They accurately identified works that hit in Korea over the past few years, and even figured out which company wielded the greatest influence among them.

Pioneering new web drama markets, producing ten-million-viewer films and overseas investment after the Korean ban, even the cable miracle of exceeding 20% viewership.

Only JC ENM had achieved all of this.

“To make 【Faster Than Law】 number one in Netflicks’ movie section and 【Strange Tales】 number one in the drama section, there’s something absolutely necessary.”

Jegal Rok, casually adjusting his shirt collar that boasted perfect sharp angles today as well, said indifferently.

“Precisely women in their 20s and 30s.”

For their service to become mainstream culture, there’s a demographic all companies must capture.

Consumers who have no major resistance to purchasing services and can explode buzz volume.

“Are you saying you’ll invest in 【Youth Disqualified!】 to attract women in their 20s and 30s?”

“Exactly. To emphasize once more, it’s to use it as what’s commonly called a loss leader.”

For subscription services, it’s important that people don’t cancel, keeping them for works they ‘want to watch when they have time’ or will ‘watch again later’ without realizing it.

It’s no exaggeration to say everything depends on how many subscribers you gather and how many you retain.

Jegal Rok instinctively felt 【Youth Disqualified!】 was the hidden card here.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, it would be a work they’d ‘want to watch when they have time someday’ with its slow pace, and for those who’ve already seen it once, it would be a work to ‘watch again later’ whenever they’re struggling or when that season comes around again.

“Let’s create a work worth rewatching multiple times, even if the immediate viewership isn’t outstanding.”

Every year, 【Youth Disqualified!】 would appear at the top of Netflicks. It would reverse-chart, reverse-chart again, and return like that without getting tiresome.

Jegal Rok’s prediction wasn’t mere speculation.

It was confidence based on evidence.

* * *

The three leads gathered in one place. The scene they were filming now was a drinking gathering.

Early in the semester, a time when they were getting to know each other. Whether to erase drawn lines and become ‘us,’ stay alone within the lines, or just cross the lines altogether.

They had to film a scene requiring exploration amid subtle tension.

Clank, clank, clank.

Someone among the staff focusing on setup spoke up.

“But you know, honestly both Chu Gaeul and So Dami are fine.”

“Yeah. But?”

“When you put them with Han Yeoreum, doesn’t her presence become too overwhelming?”

It was embarrassing to even compare an actor currently rising in stock value, a rookie actor recently praised for acting skills, and a complete novice making their broadcasting debut.

All the staff present knew Han Yeoreum wasn’t rising due to luck.

“That’s true… We did make her look the most shabby with hair and makeup to tone her down a bit.”

The name ‘star’ isn’t attached for no reason.

The one person who stands out uniquely even among countless people. Only those with the talent to truly draw attention are called stars.

And Han Yeoreum was undoubtedly a rising star.

“What do you think, Director?”

When the question came to the Lighting Director who was checking angles, he opened his mouth calmly.

“She’ll handle it well on her own. Whatever.”

Jeers poured from around at that simple answer.

“Hey! What kind of answer is that?”

“Aren’t you answering too carelessly?”

“You don’t look like you’ve given it any thought at all.”

At the playful reactions, the Lighting Director lightly shrugged his shoulders.

What kind of picture would emerge within today’s frame? How much would the two rookies be overshadowed by the rising star’s light?

The staff were secretly curious.

And shortly after, in the filming that began with Director So’s action call, everyone agreed with the Lighting Director’s words.

Han Yeoreum really did handle it well on her own.

* * *

Erasing my presence? For me, it’s incredibly simple. To explain briefly,

‘In theater, if an extra acts up, they get cut immediately.’

Sometimes you have to be background, sometimes a catalyst that triggers the protagonist’s emotional explosion, and sometimes just an object appropriately placed in that spot—that’s what an extra is.

Quietly, as if there yet not there, but not looking half-hearted. This is one of the things I do best. Both on stage and off.

I learned something from being an extra for so long. How to express with just your body without a single line.

There’s something called non-verbal expression.

If you lift your wrist to check the time during conversation, it means you need to go now; shaking your leg while sitting means you’re very anxious and uneasy right now; habitually gesturing while talking means you’re discussing something not fully organized in your head yet.

‘Then what should someone do when they know they don’t belong in this place but have no choice but to sit there?’

It feels awkward to show my whole body. Na Yuna—no, I—deliberately wore clothes with long sleeves. So only my fingertips show slightly.

I need to protect myself while also keeping my hand movements hidden to feel at ease.

I’m holding my cell phone in my right hand. Even if not in this situation, I want to show that I’m connected to somewhere else.

Like an immature high school student who taps their cell phone at the beginning of the semester, pretending to contact someone,

Na Yuna still hasn’t grown up at all.

“But don’t you think there are quite a few decent senior officers in our department? I saw a few profile pictures—”

In the lively conversation, all Na Yuna could do was nod appropriately, so she could blend in without having to open her mouth.

“You know this person, right? Everyone saw him, didn’t you?”

“He probably has a girlfriend.”

“100 percent he does. I saw him post music on his profile picture a few days ago? Even the fact that it changed again seems like his girlfriend made him do it.”

Na Yuna said just one thing to avoid being left out of the conversation.

“Oh, really?”

That’s when it happened. A new student who had been subtly sneering unpleasantly ever since hearing Na Yuna’s age dug into those words.

“Why? Do you like younger guys, senior?”

“…Huh?”

“You seem kind of interested. Do you like younger guys, senior, or older guys? Or same age?”

Suddenly the topic of conversation had shifted to Na Yuna.

It was a character you could guess had a loud voice in the classroom back in high school too.

“How old were the boyfriends you’ve dated so far, Yuna senior?”

She was a classmate who used a way of speaking that wasn’t a big deal but somehow made people uncomfortable.

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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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