I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

“Right now, on the right side of the basement level theater is the ticket booth.”

The scattered fragments of memory began to fit back together like shards.

‘Right, around this time, the Blue Art Center was really small.’

A few years later, thanks to the success and popularity of the drama adaptation of , they were able to purchase the whole first floor.

‘Still, it’s fine. I can just say I got mixed up and brush it off nat—’

“And the thing you acted out on the first day of class. That was from the director’s cut. Word for word, not missing a single syllable.”

...tually, I couldn’t.

Intube

@Movie Trailer — 2.1K subscribers

[Freshman Welcome GV] 30:27

10K views

“Yes. I just thought the director’s cut version might... resonate with you all more. Here, when the female lead begs him to ditch class with her and says, ‘If you don’t ditch with me, you’re a traitor!’—well, a ‘betrayal’ is a word you can only use when you’re on the same team, right?”

“Ahh—. So the two were already on the same side? Meaning their feelings were aligned from this moment on.”

“Yes. But at first I thought it’d be better to emphasize a cuter vibe, so I went with, ‘Hurry up. I’m going by myself.’”

Later on, the director’s cut clip went viral as a short-form video, mixed with cutesy music and turned into a challenge, and I’d completely forgotten.

I’d forgotten that what I said wasn’t the original line.

‘X, I’m screwed....’

Even I had to admit: there wasn’t just one or two things wrong here.

〈Freshman Welcome〉 had only recently become a hit. It had been out for, what, two weeks at best. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

‘Which means a director’s cut shouldn’t be released for a long time....’

Usually, if a movie does well, the director’s cut comes out two or three months later. And yet here I was, quoting the director’s cut lines of a film that had just premiered, knowing the future expansion layout of the art center that wouldn’t happen for years, and even reciting lines from a play uploaded today without missing a beat.

‘...Wait.’

But how does he know all that?

Bzzzt—. Bzzzt—.

“Oh, I’m getting a call....”

Myeong Jeha picked up the phone that he’d left on the table, looking faintly regretful.

He began packing up his laptop.

Only then did I feel like I could breathe again.

‘Thank god. Just go already.’

As soon as Myeong Jeha turned around, I planned to open my status window immediately.

“I’ve got something scheduled next. I’ll get going first.”

And the very moment he rose from his seat and turned his back—

[Name: Myeong Jeha]

Level: Eternally Breathing Star

Titles: Charismatic Rising Actor / Most Luxury Brand Ambassador / PRD 10-Year Muse / Triple Ten-Million Actor / The Actor We Love / Acting Grand Prize Across All 3 Broadcasters / Gallup Brand Reputation 5-Year Consecutive #1...

Immersion: B

Analysis: S++

Delivery: S

Improvisation: S+

Concentration: S

Fame: B

Artistry: S

Stats I could never have imagined popped up.

‘How on earth...?’

Acting Grand Prize across all 3 networks?

‘Myeong Jeha is only in his first year since debut right now.’

These are titles you could only attach to the Myeong Jeha of ten years in the future....

Trring-! Trring-! Trring-! Trring-!

[Name: Myeong Jeha]

Level: Eternally Breathing Star

Titles: Acting?? ???sing / ? Luxury Brand Ambassador / PRD ? ?? ? ? Muse / ?? Ten-? Actor??? / ?? Beloved Actor / 3-Broadcaster ???? Grand Prize / ??? Reputation 5-Year ?? #1...

The moment I thought that, a razor-sharp sound effect cracked across the air as Myeong Jeha’s status window splintered.

Bright red letters flashed errors and expanded in size.

“Oh, right.”

At the same time, he turned back toward me and smiled. His long, gently folding eyes looked kind.

“I’ll listen to the lie you prepared next time.”

As if he already knew my answer would be a lie no matter what.

Left alone, I rubbed my goosebump-covered arms helplessly.

“...What?”

Just what are you, Myeong Jeha?

* * *

“Noona!”

“....”

After a full night of frantic speculation, I finally reached my conclusion.

“What are you doing?”

“....”

Myeong Jeha is a regressor.

“I’m heading to school. When the washing machine finishes, hang the laundry up. And don’t just leave it! You have to dry it properly.”

I gave a short nod, sealing my theory as fact.

“You nodded. Don’t forget it, seriously.”

All the scripts, scenario books, and bestsellers I’ve read up to now are countless.

So it wasn’t hard to think of the one explanation that could make sense of this absurd situation.

‘The existence of Myeong Jeha is a kind of cliché.’

There’s no rule saying I have to be the only regressor in the world.

‘But there’s a problem....’

The problem was: why go out of his way to hint that he’s a regressor?

“One thing’s clear—it’s definitely not for positive reasons.”

Just remembering how naturally I’d walked into his verbal trap made goosebumps crawl up again.

‘And he didn’t prepare only one question.’

It felt like I’d become {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} a hamster running inside a maze he’d set up.

Meanwhile, he felt like a massive transcendent being. Every time I tried to turn and run, he herded me into another dead end.

‘The way he looked down at me... was honestly terrifying.’

Getting involved with someone that dangerous was far too great a risk.

I decided I absolutely shouldn’t appear in front of Myeong Jeha for a while.

‘Connections or not, he feels as dangerous as Do Gyeoul.’

I had just firmly solidified that resolve—

Trring-!

「Mission: You Inside the Screen」

Keyword: First Video

It is time to present your acting! Show a video where your face appears to [100,000] people.

Success Condition

[The number of shares must exceed 1,000.]

Rewards

Increase in [Fame]

Increase in [Artistry]

[500p Lucky Points] acquired

...Another mission popped up.

“I didn’t even finish my last mission that long ago.”

Why are they giving them so often? And suddenly they’re way too brutal.

“Views of 100,000... shares of a thousand?”

I swallowed a sigh and held my head.

What do I do with this.

But no matter how much I thought about it, there was only one answer anyway.

“What do you mean, what do I do.”

I have to do it.

* * *

Click, click, click.

I skimmed the current Intube market. My laptop screen was full of all kinds of Intubers.

“If one-million-sub Intubers aren’t common yet, then I’ve actually got a chance.”

When influencers flood the field, comment volume becomes limited. But right now, things were different.

“Looks like videos with about fifty thousand views get a hundred comments pretty easily.”

A correct answer sheet blinked inside my mind.

“...There’s only one answer. Web drama.”

Web drama.

Drama content distributed through new media like Intube.

‘A few years from now, back when Acebook was at its peak, short skits were all the rage.’

[Village Video] Girl Friend & Guy Friend Skit About Their Ideal Types lol

[JC DiaContents Lab] New Semester Relatable Situational Skit

At first, they only staged 1-minute, 3-minute, maybe 5-minute situations at most, but the scale gradually grew.

“Later, they even had early access for members.”

It was a solid market: Intube collaborations, easy sponsored ads, memberships for exclusive stories.

“And eventually companies started diving in to produce them, too. Some were pretty famous.”

Sometimes international fans even gathered around them. It was the perfect snack-culture stepping stone for idols transitioning to acting.

“...Wait, but....”

But I’d overlooked one thing.

“...It hasn’t... really blown up yet...?”

The web drama market right now was barren.

* * *

This was an era when even the word “influencer” felt unfamiliar.

—It’s me, it’s me, it’s Ssen-nim!

“What is that? On the billboard... is that a celebrity?”

“No, I heard it’s an Intuber?”

It was the time when beauty bloggers were becoming Intubers one by one, and people were shifting from Acebook to YouStar.

New MCN (*agencies for Internet broadcasters or influencers) companies were popping up everywhere.

[Sandibox / Recruiting Passionate Creators]

[Millions Different / We’ll Build Your Growth to Match Your Perfect Concept]

Companies grabbed influencers, teamed up with them on exploding platforms, and racked up massive views.

Of course, there were also MCNs specifically for “aspiring actors.”

[LudaSSUL TV: Storytime — Putting My Friend Who Acts Weak in Front of Guys in Her Place]

[DdottoFiction: My Cheating Boyfriend... And the Other Woman Is My Older Sister?]

...The problem was that everything revolved around provocative stories to get views.

The most famous series targeted teens with plenty of free time—the “friend discipline saga”—and the twenties demographic with real-life concerns copied into episodes—the “DdottoFiction series.”

[HOT / That Scene You’ve Probably Seen at Least Once on Intube lol.jpg]

Documenting Your Friend Who Cheated With Your Boyfriend or Slapping Them

(web drama screencap.jpg)

If you think you’ve seen it? You haven’t. If you think you haven’t seen it? You have.

Anon1 omg I’m dyinggggg lollllll fr this even crossed over to YouStar and keeps showing up TT_TT

Anon2 this is honestly my guilty pleasure... I watch it even though I know the whole plot

˪Anon9 well everything is copy-paste anyway lol

Anon3 why do they even make stuff like this? not picking a fight just curious

˪Anon5 cuz it’s popular? comments always go crazy, easily breaks a thousand

The current image of web drama was nothing but “killing time” or “guilty pleasure.”

“Seriously, this is just too much!”

This was a pojangmacha near JC ENM’s brand-new headquarters in Cheongdam.

“Auntie—! One more bottle of Isul here!”

Inside—an employee from JC ENM, Team Leader Sung—chewed on grilled meat sizzling on the pan and groaned.

“They’re giving such a difficult role to a kid who’s literally acting for the first time. Like, what, they want to X me up for fun?”

“It’s a web drama, right? How much acting do you even need? The running time is short.”

It was Team Leader Sung of JC ENM.

“I knew it the moment they assigned me to this newly created ‘web content’ team—neither film, nor drama, nor musical, nor theater—that it was just a show-off project from the higher-ups!!!”

And of course, problems appeared from the very first scene.

“Whether you do well or not, you’ll get mocked; if you mess up, you hit rock bottom....”

“What about the male lead? That’s the most important, right?”