YDCF 15

Chapter – 15

“Done!”

I put the script back into my bag. I was so happy I felt like I could fly—praise, applause, everything.

Honestly, I didn’t even remember how I read it.

I had memorized the lines well enough that they would spill out if I just tapped the script.

It was just that this was my first time matching with others, so I had been worried, but I felt a fleeting sense of harmony as if Yeon Do-yeon had been there for a moment.

Maybe it was because Do Je-hyeon had ignored me earlier, which actually motivated me. But as long as I finished successfully, that was all that mattered.

Anyway…

“Why… why do you keep looking at me like that?”

Do Je-hyeon was still acting strange. He hadn’t packed up, kept his mouth shut, and had been staring at me for five minutes straight.

I couldn’t stand it any longer and asked why he was staring. Only then did he seem to come back to himself and lower his eyes.

“…You did well. Even though it was just a reading, it felt like a real scene.”

Why did he suddenly compliment me? Even so, he still spoke casually.

“Did you notice that Seojun hyung got overwhelmed by you earlier?”

Did I?

Maybe the flow had briefly broken somewhere in the middle, but I hadn’t realized because I had been thinking about Yeon Do-yeon the whole time.

When I didn’t answer, Do Je-hyeon placed his hand on my bag, looking a little frustrated.

“Ah… uh, sorry about earlier. I should have been more polite.”

Polite… from someone who looked like a model student? That cracked the neat image I had of him.

Then Do Je-hyeon started revealing the thoughts he had been holding back.

He had assumed I got the role of Yeon Do-yeon easily because I was a “legacy” actor. He thought I was raised by some big shot.

Considering he’d been in the entertainment industry for a long time, it made sense that he might imagine that.

‘Actually, I am someone raised by a big shot.’

I hadn’t openly said it, but I was going to be the first actor signed to the agency founded by Dongwoo Group’s chairman.

Of course, this role was something I earned through auditioning, so it didn’t really matter.

“My guess was wrong. The writer wouldn’t have accepted a legacy actor anyway.”

“Because the writer values child actors.”

“Right. The writer must have seen you and recognized you immediately. That you were Yeon Do-yeon.”

“Senpai, you were like Ha-jin too.”

“Oh? Oh… yeah, maybe…”

Again. Do Je-hyeon reacted like a broken robot.

It wasn’t an empty compliment. Do Je-hyeon was a good actor. I’d known that even before I went back in time.

However, in my previous life, people often said he excelled at genre works but was a bit awkward in romance.

‘Is it okay since he’s still young?’

Unlike in my previous life where he avoided romance roles, his Yuhajin now had no issues with emotional expression. Even just reading the script, he perfectly captured Yuhajin.

A boy infatuated with his first love, willing to stake his future on her—exactly that feeling.

When I complimented him, he scratched his cheek awkwardly and took out his phone to hand it to me.

“Joo Sae-i, your number.”

“Why… my number?”

“D-Don’t read it as anything other than business. I just think we’ll have a lot to discuss regarding filming. Again, not personal.”

I obediently entered my number, and he added:

“From now on, treat me casually. Speak casually too. It’ll help with immersion.”

Treat him casually.

Hearing that, I had a question.

“…Then why have you been speaking casually all along?”

“What?”

“I mean, you keep saying ‘you’ and all. I’ve been trying to treat you casually as you said.”

Wow, that’s irritating. Even counting my previous life, I’ve lived a few years longer than him! Not even counting that, I’m a year older.

Do Je-hyeon looked stunned. He just moved his lips for a while, then slowly answered:

“…Aren’t you younger than me?”

“I’m a year older.”

“So… ‘noona’?”

I nodded, and he stepped back, covering his mouth in disbelief, blinking.

It was that surprising.

I found his flustered expression pretty funny, and laughed lightly. He quickly turned away, avoiding my gaze, and spoke gruffly:

“Ah, anyway! I have a schedule, so let’s talk later!”

Talk about what later? No matter what, I’d still be the older sister. I waved at the quickly retreating Do Je-hyeon.

‘Still, he doesn’t seem like a bad guy.’

He’d judged me harshly at first, then admitted he was wrong and apologized first. Not a terribly bad person, then.

It seemed his prejudice against “legacy actors” came from his sincerity about acting.

Compared to someone who tiptoes around others, someone who prioritizes acting was better for me too.

I thought Do Je-hyeon was a perfect first co-star for my debut.

After all the actors left the script reading room…

Choi Ki-jeong, who had been watching where Joo Sae-i sat, looked toward the filming crew and spoke.

“How was it?”

The question wasn’t directed at the crew.

It was for her sister, Choi Ki-young, who had slipped in wearing sunglasses.

“…How did you know? Your disguise was perfect.”

She had worn a shirt and slacks she rarely wore, even styled her hair to hide her eyes, and sunglasses to avoid making eye contact.

Choi Ki-young took off her sunglasses and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

She often sneaked into her younger brother’s sets to watch his work.

This time was no different. She had even recruited director Woo Byung-hwa to get into the reading of Your Blue Name.

She was curious about her brother’s new work, but that wasn’t the main reason.

“The director kept sneaking glances at this side.”

“Ha, he really can’t act.”

“So? How was it?”

“You don’t need to see anything else. You write well, Choi Ki-jeong.”

“Not the work.”

“……Not the work? If it’s not your brother’s work, then what?”

“Do-yeon.”

“……!”

Her sister’s intuition was sharp indeed.

She had tried to move on with just talking about the script, but it seemed her reason for sneaking in had been discovered.

With a shrug as if to admit defeat, Ki-young placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder.

She had occasionally seen actors memorize the entire script, but to do that in their debut, in their first official schedule… a boldness like that in a rookie was unprecedented.

“Your Do-yeon, her name is Joo Sae-i, right?”

Ki-jeong silently nodded, curious about her older sister’s evaluation as a senior in the industry.

Ki-young closed her eyes.

And as she did, she replayed the rookie’s performance she had just witnessed.

Even without props to aid immersion, just sitting at a desk and delivering lines, she changed the atmosphere of the moment.

‘She didn’t act as Yeon Do-yeon—she became Yeon Do-yeon.’

At the funeral of her older brother, the smell of incense lingered in her monologue. In the rain, when she met Yuhajin, there was the damp smell of wet earth. The first time she smiled in front of Ha-jin, it smelled like warm country sunlight.

‘Ah, I want her.’

Had she ever seen an actor evoke such diverse feelings just from a script reading in her career as a top writer in Korea?

At least, in Choi Ki-young’s life, Joo Sae-i was the first.

In a voice tinged with awe, Ki-young said softly:

“…A monster. She’s going to be huge.”

When she first heard about Joo Sae-i from her brother, she never imagined her heart would beat like this.

Now, she thought, maybe she was born as Ki-jeong’s sister to meet Joo Sae-i while she was still a fresh rookie.

‘I have to make her my Ji-min.’

Her new work, planned by So Ji-min, as a drama writer’s experiment for a new kind of female lead…

The blocked parts of the script flooded into her mind as soon as she saw Joo Sae-i.

Before losing her inspiration, she had to record it. Pulling out her notebook, Ki-young started writing furiously, exiting the reading room at a brisk pace.

“Where are you going? You need to tell me more!”

“To the studio! If I don’t write it now, it could cost me billions!”

At last, she had found the real So Ji-min.