I’m an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me - Chapter 96

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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 96

The reason there wasn’t the same loud applause as before was because the audience was still immersed in the lingering emotions.

‘They probably feel like it hasn’t really ended even though it’s over.’

Perhaps it was because they wanted to see more of these characters’ remaining story. The audience who watched Team B’s performance of didn’t move from their seats even after the closing announcement played.

-The play has concluded. We ask all guests to check their seats once more before leaving to ensure no personal belongings are left behind. The entrance may be crowded, so⋯.

Though they should have been tired from watching the same play consecutively, the audience was particularly slow in their departure.

It was the characteristic lingering of those satisfied with the performance. Their reluctance to leave the space that had given them such a special moment was evident.

“How was it?”

Geum Bitkang asked the man who had watched from the very back row, in a seat where others’ gazes wouldn’t reach.

“If you found it boring again because of that damn occupational hazard, I apologize.”

The man with his hat pulled low shook his head.

“It was interesting.”

The man who set absolute standards for the public regarding the artistic merit of dramas, the social meaning of plays, and the quality of actors.

“It’s been a very⋯ long time.”

It was critic Seonwoo Seonuk.

* * *

“Gyeoul! You really worked so hard!”

“Right. The schedule must have been tough too⋯.”

“Did you mention our names during the interview?”

Team A of welcomed Gyeoul back after she had gone out briefly to do interviews with reporters.

There was joy from successfully staging the play they had worked hard to prepare, but there was another emotion clearly visible on their faces.

“But honestly, I think we really did well.”

“I feel bad saying this about Team B⋯ but if we’re comparing, we were. Um. Right?”

“Hey! They worked hard too. Don’t be like that.”

It was a sense of victory, as if they had obviously won. Some had received business cards from agencies and casually brought their phones to Gyeoul.

“Gyeoul, can we take a photo and tag you?”

“Yeah! Let’s all take one together and post it! Ah, we really worked so hard!”

Gyeoul wanted to ask why she should be grouped together with them as “we.” She wanted to ask if they really felt like they had beaten Han Yeoreum’s team.

No, actually, setting everything else aside, she wanted to ask how long they were going to keep clinging to her like dogs.

“⋯Alright. Let’s take a photo.”

But once again, Gyeoul swallowed the words she wanted to say.

It was something learned over a lifetime. Following her father’s teachings, Gyeoul smiled while looking at the phone screen.

“Gyeoul, you’re obviously coming to the dinner, right?”

“We couldn’t really spend proper time together while practicing! I think it would be great if we classmates could get closer through this opportunity⋯.”

She could clearly see the cheap calculator spinning in their heads. It looked like they were trying to gain something more by being next to the hottest actress right now. Gyeoul skillfully adjusted the distance.

“Sorry, I have a schedule early tomorrow morning⋯.”

Just one sentence was enough. Both for receiving kindness and for refusing it.

Then what came next was this.

“Ah! Why are we really being like this? We were so thoughtless.”

“Right. You have to go to schedules you couldn’t do because of the play.”

“We’re sorry⋯ We haven’t even debuted yet so we don’t know anything⋯.”

Playfully smoothing over the situation was their job. Gyeoul turned her back, leaving behind an appropriate smile. The corners of her mouth that had been raised just moments before returned to their place without a trace.

The Manager, who had come out to greet Gyeoul as she walked toward the van, made a fuss when he saw her face.

“Gyeoul! Let’s hurry and go rest. Going to filming, then to the final play, I was so worried you’d collapse from that schedule, ugh⋯ Look at your face, it’s half gone.”

“No, I’m fine. Manager, I’ll get some sleep on the way.”

“Alright. You really worked hard.”

Gyeoul closed her eyes in the van’s back seat where a soft blanket was folded. She tried wrapping the blanket around herself like a jangpo as Han Yeoreum had done earlier, but she couldn’t feel anything.

‘⋯Idiots.’

The loud applause was purely praise for the existence called Do Gyeoul, but no one expressed any appreciation for the play itself.

The audience’s evaluation of Team A’s play was merely “surprisingly good,” but there was no impression that it was “interesting.”

‘This side lost.’

Then why did I lose?

Because I wasn’t the Juliet people wanted? But I perfectly embodied the original work, didn’t I? What exactly is the Juliet people want? You’re not supposed to go outside the framework in the first place. No, there were moments when I went outside the framework. I walked around regardless of the frame. Like Han Yeoreum. I did it like Han Yeoreum from beginning to end, so why did I lose? Why. Why. Why?

‘The reason⋯’

Gyeoul had heard the audience’s conversations while returning to the waiting room after finishing her interview.

“Team B’s direction was really⋯ No, they could just change the dialogue and make this into a drama.”

“When Romeo appeared as a priest at the end, doesn’t it remind you of when Catholicism first came to Korea?”

It wasn’t just murmuring noise. Every single word people said pierced into her ears.

“Giving most of the lines to the Nurse definitely worked, because when Juliet came out and said just that one line at first, ah, all attention was drawn to her.”

“It was interesting. I thought it would be boring watching the same thing again⋯ I’m glad I didn’t leave.”

The atmosphere was different from when Team A’s play ended.

When Team A’s play ended, everything was filled only with talk about Do Gyeoul, but after Team B’s performance ended, the audience was talking about .

Why the play was good, how the actors’ performances were, what emotions they felt at that time.

‘Where exactly did I go wrong, from where to where⋯’

Gyeoul felt emptiness along with an intense sense of defeat.

She had felt nothing from Yeoreum’s stage. She could only remember the visual information that flowed in.

That made her feel even more lost. She couldn’t figure out what exactly she should try to imitate from that stage.

‘Should I become Han Yeoreum?’

The small things she could never grasp were flowing away. Into the audience’s hearts.

Not a single person in the audience talked about Team A’s .

As if it were some inferior work.

As if it wasn’t even worth remembering.

Han Yeoreum was Juliet, and Do Gyeoul was Do Gyeoul. Gyeoul’s heart grew cold under the knee blanket.

* * *

“Yeoreum, you did great!”

“Our team lost but we fought well-.”

Team B of , just off the stage, smiled refreshingly while hearing lukewarm applause. As if no one had expected to beat Do Gyeoul.

Only Myeong Jeha was quietly making eye contact with me.

The classmates still seemed excited by the heat of the stage. They were talking about what they regretted from their performance.

“But my heart was beating so hard in the middle that I almost stumbled over my lines.”

“That was so funny. Do you think people saw your pupils shaking?”

“How could they see with eyes this small⋯ It looked natural.”

But I know the result.

Because the mission was completed.

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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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