I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 45

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Episode 45

“Yeoreum! What’s this? Where did you learn to carry a suitcase so naturally!”

“You must… travel often?”

PD Hwang and Director So praised me, saying it felt realistic.

‘It’s from my convenience store logistics part-time job experience.’

Travel, what travel. What developed my life acting was half Coupang, half convenience store.

But what did any of that matter? As long as they liked it, that was enough.

I thought this while receiving and drinking the ice water PD Hwang poured for me.

“That feeling just now was so good… It was a realistic Yeondu who really looked tired.”

Starting with Director So’s feedback, Jeong Yeondu’s life as she set foot in Hyangdo County one day was captured in frames.

* * *

“Now let me… rest a bit…”

Yeoreum walked limply toward the sofa. The distinctive stiffness of someone always living with tension stood out.

Thud- Even her lying position exuded fatigue. Even in a space where she was completely alone, Yeoreum didn’t stretch her body wide or relax her shoulders.

The house, with only furniture placed sparsely without even cushions yet, was just like Jeong Yeondu’s life. A daily routine of barely managing to keep up appearances.

“Cut!”

So Yesol’s voice, which had always been quiet, was getting louder. With each cut signal, her growing confidence became apparent.

‘That makes sense.’

PD Hwang was newly amazed. Han Yeoreum’s Jeong Yeondu had been good during the meeting and script reading, but however much more research she had done in between, now she had simply become Jeong Yeondu herself.

A person with high tension levels, overly sensitive but not wanting to easily show it in front of others, whose brain never stopped working.

‘That’s just a scene of lying down on the sofa.’

Yeoreum didn’t lie down on the sofa. She just sat down and then let only her upper body fold forward smoothly. Her feet in indoor slippers remained fixed on the floor as if glued there. As if she wouldn’t allow herself even the luxury of lying down completely.

“Okay! Let’s change the angle and go again!”

Director So shouted, and the cameras surrounding Yeoreum moved. It was to close-up on her face. During the brief commotion, the sound of a shutter clicking could be heard.

Click-! Click-!

Director Dokgo Gyeol’s cousin had been holding a camera and clicking the shutter whenever there was a break.

Since Yeoreum didn’t have an entertainment agency, it seemed like she was taking photos suitable for uploading to SNS.

‘How diligent. How admirable.’

PD Hwang, holding ice water, approached Dokgo Gyeol’s tiny cousin. The moment he looked over her shoulder at the screen she was monitoring with a serious frown.

“…Excuse me, this.”

PD Hwang had no choice but to speak up.

“Can we use a few of these as our still cuts? No. They’d be good for posters too!”

In the frame that captured the moment, Jeong Yeondu was alive and breathing.

* * *

The first day of filming ended smoothly. It was weather befitting mid-June. Even at 7 PM, it was still bright. A modest barbecue party began in the filming set’s yard.

“Yeoreum… don’t grill the meat… You worked hard all day today.”

“That’s right! Give us the tongs! Sit down and eat, eat.”

I shook my head at Director So and PD Hwang.

‘I worked at a barbecue restaurant for several years.’

This kind of thing should be done by someone who’s good at it.

And to get familiar with the scenes starting tomorrow, I needed to loosen up my body with some labor like this in advance.

‘These are scenes where I have to carry out various tasks that the village residents ask for.’

It was a process of setting both body and mind to a natural lackey mode.

Flash-!

My eyes were dazzled for a moment. It was because of Dokgo Min, who was taking pictures of me intermittently. Dokgo Min, who had set off the flash, really knew her stuff.

‘How does she know that flash shots will be trendy in a few years.’

Someone with different aesthetic sense really succeeds at whatever they do. PD Hwang, who had been watching such Dokgo Min, was amazed.

“Director. Is your cousin really just a student? What kind of sense is this. Wow… She puts cinematographers to shame.”

“Angyeongayo. Eongaeiayo.”

“Yes…? What did you say…”

“Of course. Because she’s a genius. I think that’s what she said.”

Dokgo Gyeol answered roughly, busy eating meat. Director So, holding lettuce in her hand, had an expression as if making some kind of resolution.

“After seeing those still cuts earlier… I was convinced. The Yeondu I really wanted is right here… Something like that…”

Being among geniuses, they seemed to have a good influence on each other. Mm. Good. As expected, Dokgo Min. The best senior.

“I didn’t expect to feel this way from the first day of filming, but as expected, Yeoreum is my muse…”

Dokgo Min intruded on Director So’s wistful reminiscence.

“What are you talking about? She’s my muse? From when we first met, she was just perfectly Dokgo Min’s muse. Yeah yeah. This is muse pickpocketing.”

But Director So didn’t even care.

“How can that be… The person who produces better results with her is the rightful owner…”

“I’ve already produced results though? The profile photo Yeoreum uses in her portfolio, I took that? Didn’t you see my genius shine through?”

“Still… That’s SNS, and my work is on public broadcast… Many more diverse audiences will see it… Wouldn’t this be a better result?…”

My heart swells with emotion. Two geniuses are fighting over me.

‘Don’t fight because of me.’

It feels like I’ve become the protagonist of the vast universe? Even before my regression, Dokgo Min had never called anyone her muse.

I feel inexplicably good.

“Good results according to who? Huh? Shouldn’t we ask the person in question?”

“She’s right in front of us… Instead of her true feelings… She’ll just answer like comforting a crying child…”

Sharp. Director So was quietly beating down Dokgo Min. As expected, her experience rolling around at the broadcasting station shines through.

“Excuse me. I’m different from those people who go around being this muse, that muse. I even received an offer from Do Gyeoul! first! But I rejected it!!!”

I was shocked by Dokgo Min’s words.

“What!!! Do Gyeoul!!!”

My shock seemed to work as a kind of taking her side for Dokgo Min, as she looked up at me with a proud face.

“Yes. That Do Gyeoul.”

Then she continued with a somewhat shy expression.

“Because, my muse is…”

“If you only work with one person like that… isn’t it too much like riding on someone else’s fame?”

Then Director So cut off Dokgo Min’s words with a calm voice.

“Me? I’m riding on someone’s coattails? Huh? Me?”

“That’s probably how it is… If Dokgo Min only works with Yeoreum, ‘Dokgo Min’s’ individual portfolio becomes somewhat pathetic… It would also be hard to properly imprint what kind of image you have on the public…”

But Director So, regardless of Do Gyeoul or whatever, threw a counterpunch without being surprised at all.

“Working with various people while properly incorporating your individual identity into Yeoreum… isn’t that what qualifies you to use the word muse? It’s hard to be recognized as a muse just by working with one person…”

Dokgo Min was momentarily speechless. Director So quietly finished saying everything she wanted to say.

“If you work with the famous Do Gyeoul, the public might forget all the work you did with Yeoreum and only remember Dokgo Min’s Do Gyeoul… Did you run away by making the first move because you were worried about that…? The type who lacks confidence…? Or maybe you have a sense of reality…”

“…Th-this person. What is this person. Yeoreum. You got involved with the wrong person. This director is weird.”

“Yeoreum. Even when I work with other actors, I’ll make sure Han Yeoreum is recognized as So Yesol’s muse… Because I’m an MBS executive hire and the first among my classmates… to make my directorial debut.”

Dokgo Min lost. So Yesol wasn’t an opponent she could win against in a fight from the start. Dokgo Min trembled, and Director So continued crunching the lettuce in her hand.

‘But this is good.’

The more famous Dokgo Min becomes, the more I’m destined to shine.

Because I’m Han Yeoreum, who beat out all the famous actors to claim the position of Dokgo Min’s muse.

Dokgo Min’s eyes lit up as if she wanted to properly put Director So in her place. I already know those eyes.

‘She’s properly inspired now.’

On the filming set, I had a strong intuition that my third life shot would come out.