I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

“Then I’ll head out first.”

As if he already knew the role I would be taking on in the near future.

“Wait! Then what about Yun Hyeonjo sunbae earlier? You’ve got something there too, don’t you.”

When I urgently grabbed his lapel, Myeong Jeha paused. Then he let out a small laugh.

“Yeah. There’s no place where the butterfly effect works better than this field.”

“Elder, please. Instead of foreshadowing, can’t you just spoil the ending for me?”

“I’ll tell you soon.”

Myeong Jeha waved lightly and turned his back just like that.

And truly, before long, just as Myeong Jeha had said, I had to use that wish coupon.

* * *

As soon as ended, advertising proposals came flooding in. Love calls poured in from all kinds of industries. Some of them were big-name offers.

[Autumn Seasonal Sand Cookie — New Product]

[Hansulbinggwa, a Traditional Korean Dessert Brand]

I was reading through the proposals when I suddenly froze.

‘Did reading too many scripts finally ruin my eyesight?’

The contract period was clearly visible, but the amount. The amount....

“Who do you think you are?”

Manager Choi grabbed my shoulders. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

“You’re Han Yeoreum.”

“Unnie...!”

Every day was chaotic. I had to do an interview with , then immediately move to shoot the already scheduled October cover for . My vision kept flashing as nonstop camera flashes went off.

“You’ve been receiving a lot {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} of attention lately for . It’s hard to believe you’re only in your first year since debut—where does this level of acting come from?”

“This might sound a little cringey, but.... I think it comes from love. Whether it’s a film or a drama, we’re only portraying a small fragment of a character’s life. The rest of the time is something I have to understand myself. Without love, there’s a limit to how deeply you can dig.”

The moment the shoot ended, I headed straight to an N-brand event photo wall.

“Han Yeoreum!”

“Heart! Look here—finger heart! Left side!”

Everywhere I went, people were calling my name. Even while riding in a car, I’d sometimes see my face.

At bus stops. On giant screens mounted to building exteriors. On the walls of drugstores. On standees outside franchise cafés.

[You know it, ALAB]

[Soft Namwon apples, turned creaaamy! Creamy Soda]

[Even richer in nutty flavor—roasted soybean powder shaved ice from Seolhanbinggwa]

[Autumn limited! Mugwort Sand Cookies and Sweet Potato Sand Cookies]

I was everywhere, scattered across the city, as if mocking the days when I wondered whether anyone would ever recognize my name.

Han Yeoreum was there.

* * *

Aetami held a box of snacks printed with Yeoreum’s face. Ten minutes before the funding opened. To calm her frayed nerves, she popped a mugwort sand cookie into her mouth.

“Yeoreum, isn’t this weird....”

This wasn’t ticketing—it was funding. There was no way it could fail. Aetami would obviously be able to purchase the product within the period.

“So why am I shaking this much?”

Over the course of a single month, Yeoreum had skyrocketed. Every condition lined up perfectly. As if the world had been waiting all along for Han Yeoreum to rise.

[OurVillageChatter / A hairstyle that’s quietly trending among people in their 20s these days]

(Yeoreum_photo.jpg)

Han Yeoreum hair

Not a harsh red—soft mocha undertone layered in, so it’s not overwhelming and looks really pretty

– Yeah this is pretty, people around me are switching to Han Yeoreum hair after getting sick of two-tone

– With Yeoreum’s eyes and nose, she’d look amazing as a Korean Ariel

ㄴ Totally, Korean Little Mermaid fits perfectly, looks great in hanbok too T_T so cute

– I did this and ash fades crazy fast but red fades slower.. easier to manage and still pretty

As surpassed ten million viewers, Han Yeoreum—the former “flavor enhancer” character—began to shine as an influencer in her own right.

Yeoreum with red hair was everywhere, from Intube thumbnails to resurfaced photos taken last summer, spreading rapidly as her follower count exploded.

[20s Daily Board / Han Yeoreum is seriously good at taking photos]

There’s something that makes you want to copy her vibe? She’s an actress but feels idol-adjacent lol

– True, MusicN hair-makeup-coordination is fun to watch too

– Lately a lot of people are saving her photos in their galleries

Photos taken weekly during MusicN filled her feed. Still cuts from , which had circulated as “indie film poster vibes,” once again swept through communities, drawing attention to Han Yeoreum’s hair.

[ALAB ranked as the most repurchased item at Olive0....]

Thanks to that, ALAB—who had chosen Han Yeoreum as their model—solidified themselves as a fully established brand rather than a rookie startup.

And that wasn’t all.

‘N-brand sales are rising nonstop too.’

The first fashion brand to choose Yeoreum, N-brand, saw immediate response as soon as their autumn pictorial dropped. At this rate, winter padding sales—their highest-profit season—were already guaranteed to soar.

‘Creamy Soda sold out in waves too.’

Creamy Soda, a collaboration with Namwon apples, was now showing signs of becoming the next big trend in the alcohol industry.

Even First Dew, long reigning at the top of the market, was reportedly scrambling to prepare low-alcohol drinks in response.

‘Hansulbinggwa orders are up too. And these sand cookies, obviously.’

Yeoreum’s influence was swelling day by day. Was this anxiety really just excitement in disguise?

“Huuu....”

Aetami took a deep breath. Only one minute left.

‘Every drama nerd has to be paying attention to this funding right now!’

And not just drama nerds. The team’s first-commute live broadcast had even turned into a meme.

[HOT / Something even a mother of two couldn’t endure....]

(ChaerinChaeyaMom: you crazy bastards.jpg)

It’s the cut kiss scene lmfao

– The chat was absolutely insane back then LOLOLOLOL

– But seriously, if you give then take away, that reaction is inevitable T_T

ㄴ ChaerinChaeya: you crazy bastards

ㄴ No but Chaerin, Chaeya....

ChaerinChaeyaMom’s furious chat messages became a meme. Now, whenever an agency or production company messed up, people reacted like this.

Ppongdang @pppongdang___e

ChaerinChaeya button ON. Click.

Retweets 31K Likes 29K

That’s why now, not just drama nerds but the general public were paying serious attention to the funding.

“Of course the quality will be good!”

There was also trust that they wouldn’t extort fans by holding affection hostage with ridiculous quality. If it became a wholesome, high-quality funding success and sparked conversation again, it would be good for JC ENM too.

“3... 2... 1...!”

The time came. Aetami waited for the funding page to open.

“...What is this?”

Something was wrong. No matter how long she waited, it wouldn’t load.

At the end of an eternity-long wait, the screen finally displayed:

We’re sorry!

The site is currently experiencing connection issues.

“Don’t tell me....”

Yes. The funding site had crashed. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“You sons of bitches!”

Aetami screamed while clutching her head. In contrast, Yeoreum—printed on the snack box sitting on the desk—was smiling brightly.

funding had achieved the unprecedented feat of crashing the server on opening.

* * *

Gi Juye stared at her phone screen, reading the flow of things.

“Good....”

wasn’t just a drama that stayed fun until the end. It was a drama that burned everything it had in the final episode.

The exact opposite of shows that fizzle out and vanish from memory the moment they end.

The grand finale didn’t die after the broadcast—it carried its buzz forward.

– Namwon City’s Lantern Festival is experiencing unprecedented vitality thanks to the popularity of the cable drama ....

News outlets played footage of ’ lantern festival scene. A new Korean Wave in Taiwan. Unprecedented popularity for a fusion historical drama.

– I wanna show the lantern festival to people who say Korean aesthetics suck every day lolol the inferiority complex is wild

ㄴ fr T_T they don’t even know anything but keep mumbling that Korea isn’t pretty... come on

– Shut it down f*ck!!!

– Even as a Korean, every single shot was gorgeous, imagine how pretty it looked to foreigners lolol so proud TT_TT

This fed directly into national pride, and beyond that, into goodwill toward Han Yeoreum.

‘But this is basically poison.’

Gi Juye curled her lips into a smile.

When a rookie with an underdeveloped fanbase receives nothing but praise from every direction, people like this inevitably appear.

– But honestly, is she really that good...? Hehe feels like the viral push is too much

“Unnie. When is the casting board finally going up?”

“Soon. Our marketing team is working hard, okay?”

When Gi Juye asked her manager, she smiled reassuringly.

“You know our skill.”

Gi Juye’s agency was currently running viral pushes centered on Han Yeoreum.

[HOT / Rewatching early comments lololol]

[Issue Board / Foreigners arguing she’s possessed by a god.jpg]

[OurVillageChatter / Shamans officially 인정 Han Yeoreum’s acting (feat. Baby Spirit)]

So-called overpraising. They never forgot to keep injecting the unforgettable spirit-possession scene into people’s minds.

‘Seriously. She got way too carried away. Just because she can act a little, she shouldn’t have gone that far.’

If Han Yeoreum’s shaman image hardened, the board would tilt. No investor prefers a child actor who eats the lead.

First love.

That was now firmly within Gi Juye’s grasp.

* * *

“This is bad....”

Red alert had gone up in JC ENM’s marketing department.

Breaking expectations with success was fine. The problem was that the volume of mentions had soared far beyond even the wildest projections.

– The fusion historical drama , currently enjoying explosive popularity in Taiwan, is drawing intense reactions. Tourists are visiting Korea solely because of ....

, enjoying unprecedented popularity in Taiwan, could be said to have opened a new horizon for the Korean Wave.

Hanbok rental shops near Gyeongbokgung were already filled wall-to-wall with -style hanbok.

“Come on! We’ve got heaven-blessing cords and five-blessing cords too!”

New merchandise was added to souvenir shops. The heaven-blessing cords and five-blessing cords tied around Seoryeong’s wrists were completely swept up by Taiwanese tourists.

Photos taken in front of Gyeongbokgung, tickets in hand and heaven-blessing cords on wrists, became the standard “Korea trip proof shot.”

– Rookie actress Han Yeoreum is Taiwan’s youth star, known as Seoryeong....

They knew it would be popular—but not like this. The real problem came next.

– Among the reasons for ’ popularity are Korean aesthetics and strong occult elements. Especially the spirit-possession segment in the final episode....

Yeoreum’s shaman image, impactful from the start, only grew stronger. That scene in episode 16 left an unforgettable afterimage.

It wasn’t just that her acting was good. She overwhelmed viewers, leaving them with a profound, distant emotion—pure dominance through performance.

‘The reaction on Taiwanese platforms is even hotter than in Korea....’

held the number one spot continuously on drama streaming platforms.

“Shift the focus from Han Yeoreum to !”

“Ride the mood!”

JC desperately tried to redirect the spotlight away from Han Yeoreum.

But JC failed.

The fire had already been lit. The center of attention had become Han Yeoreum. No matter how they tried to steer it, public gaze refused to move elsewhere.

So acting too well could be a problem after all. For the first time, the marketing team panicked.

“PR team! What’s going on with Gi Juye’s side?”

“We’re grabbing keywords as much as we can, but....”

The PR team, having detected Gi Juye’s viral push as well, tried to solidify her image as the arrogant chaebol family’s youngest granddaughter from .

But the impact was different.

It was difficult to strongly imprint Gi Juye’s image when, even in a supporting role, she had been completely overshadowed by Joo Junseo.

As Han Yeoreum surged ahead through , carving out her own rising position, she was drifting further and further from the role of Yeon Huijae in .

“...What’s the reaction from Eun Baekhap’s side?”

No lead actor likes an expanding child-actor influence. In entertainment, influence equals status.

“The casting board not being released suggests she might decline.”

At this rate, they might market the show not with lead actress Eun Baekhap, but with ‘the actress who brought the Korean Wave to Taiwan,’ Han Yeoreum.

Despite being a child role that appeared in only four episodes out of twenty-four.

“No! Ji Haebeom isn’t even fully confirmed yet—if Eun Baekhap drops out, Ji Haebeom might pull out too.”

That would scatter investors. The central axis of was Ji Haebeom.

“Ji Haebeom?”

“...This works.”

“At worst, we break even. If it hits, it’s exponential!”

Just the words “Ji Haebeom as the lead” sent investors rushing in with money.

“...Chief, what do we do?”

Sensing the seriousness of the situation, an employee asked Manager Ma.