I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

“I thought the high humidity in Japan where Huijae lived—especially Kobe, which is even more humid—would have made chronic pulmonary tuberculosis or bronchial disease worsen more easily.”

To live as Yeon Huijae, I corrected everything starting with my gait. How would Huijae, whose range of movement must have been excessively limited, have walked?

To understand what kind of ground she stepped on, one step at a time, in the world surrounding her, I needed the background of that era.

“And due to the effects of war and industrialization, air pollution was severe as well. Where Huijae was, it was a major city, so coal and charcoal usage was high. The soot and fine dust must have been terrible.”

So, to forget even a little the lungs that felt like they were being stabbed with needles, I tightened my abdomen. With one side of my abdomen aching more than the other, the way one leg moved unnaturally each time I walked—that was Huijae’s gait.

“Ah.... So that’s why....”

Ji Haebeom smiled brightly. Unlike earlier, there wasn’t a hint of laughter in his voice this time. He was serious.

“Writer Ahn would really love this if she knew. Right?”

“She’s such an incredible person that I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance to meet her separately.... Senior, please pass it on later. That Han Yeoreum did some script analysis.”

“You looked nervous, but now that I see you like this, maybe not. Anyway, it was interesting. You did well at the audition.”

Ji Haebeom pulled back the body he had leaned close. As he straightened his bent upper body back into proper posture, his large build felt newly imposing.

“How old did you say you were? Twenty-one?”

“Twenty-two.”

“I see.... Twenty-two....”

Ji Haebeom, looking as if he were thinking about something, let out a sigh.

“Even if you’re still a kid, you’re way too much of a kid. What a waste.”

To be honest, being called a kid pricks my conscience a little.

‘I’m actually a bit older than that....’

Still, if I count my age before regression, Myeong Jeha would probably be sad, so I’ll stick with twenty-two. Being a kid isn’t so bad.

“Grow up fast. So we can meet not as child actors or anything like that, but as real actor to real actor.”

After saying that, Ji Haebeom left the conference room, softly humming a tune.

* * *

“What? I didn’t mishear you just now, did I, Director. She said that?”

Holding her phone, Writer Ahn was momentarily flustered after hearing about Han Yeoreum’s acting.

There are two types of writers in the world.

Those who enjoy bringing the intent of their work out into the open for the world to see, and those who quietly hide it away, hoping someone will notice.

“That can’t be....”

Writer Ahn was the latter. The thrill of someone catching onto the carefully laid foreshadowing was like a kind of fine dining—an unparalleled, exhilarating taste that she could never give up.

‘But this is different!’

Shaken by the fact that she had been seen through with just a few lines of script, Writer Ahn ended the call. Then she sat at her worktable and glared accusingly at Myeong Jeha, the child actor playing Gi Taeseok, who was sitting there.

“So you broke our promise, didn’t you? You told Han Yeoreum, didn’t you?”

“As if. How did the audition turn out?”

Looking at Writer Ahn’s expression, Myeong Jeha became certain.

‘She got it. Han Yeoreum.’

He’d known it would be like this. Myeong Jeha’s eyes were never wrong. If you corrected just her gait, it felt like she could create a perfect Huijae.

“I seriously can’t believe this.... To be seen through so absurdly by not one, but two people. And both of them barely grown kids. Me? Ahn Junmyeong?”

“Sounds like Yeoreum figured it out too.”

“Tell me. Was it really that obvious? Thinking of pear blossoms that way makes no sense.”

Han Yeoreum was a person never accounted for in a life that kept resetting. A board overturned and completed countless times. Among the chess pieces that moved according to strategy, Han Yeoreum stood apart.

‘At the very least, in the Han Yeoreum saw, that direction doesn’t exist.’

Myeong Jeha didn’t know in which iteration of his life Han Yeoreum had regressed.

But this setting—Yeon Huijae not liking pear blossoms—had unfortunately never appeared even once.

‘It collapsed over and over.’

The lead actors changed many times, but the result was always the same. There was never a time when Gi Taeseok’s popularity in was low.

Therefore, that Gi Taeseok had to love pear blossoms until the very end. Because that was the choice a Gi Taeseok loved by the public would make.

The image of Taeseok opening his necklace beneath pear blossoms in full bloom while his life was falling apart was always counted among the masterpiece scenes.

Intube

[Taeseok showing his devoted, pure love for Huijae, “Hopelessly Devoted Taeseok” moments compilation Ep17] 31:27

Views 3.04 million

— ah holy shit what do we even do with a man like this seriouslyㅠㅠㅠㅠ

— best in Ji Haebeom’s filmography... it’s not even romance served on a silver platter, so why does it hit this hard, fuck

— when is this lowly bastard with a one-sided crush on the young lady ever going to get old

ㄴ sir this is an unbeatable flavor combo

Huijae, who came to love pear blossoms after hating them, and Taeseok, who came to hate pear blossoms after loving them. Writer Ahn could not depict the tragically crossed paths of the two as she had originally intended.

‘No matter how much a writer wants to push, drama is ultimately a popular art.’

If the broadcasting station, the director, the investors, and the public pushed, the writer had to bend.

‘More than anything, the timing was terrible.’

There was no money.

Right after the Hallyu ban hit, the entertainment industry froze solid. The blow was far too severe. KBC was no different.

But to carry a historical drama solidly into its latter half, an enormous amount of funding was absolutely necessary.

‘So we had no choice but to listen to the investors.’

Feeling ashamed of it, Ahn Junmyeong did not speak of the symbolism of pear blossoms unless the relationship was very close. Contrary to the writer’s intent, Taeseok had to love pear blossoms to the very end.

“Fuck—! The writer set it up like this and they’re pulling this shit.... If I just won the lottery.... No, even if I won it ten times, I still couldn’t make this.... Then I guess I’ll just peel what they tell me to peel.... This is so fucking awful!”

Myeong Jeha knew Writer Ahn, drunk and kneeling before capitalism.

The bright, pure white flowers that reminded one of Huijae. And at the same time, the pear tree—expensive and precious—symbolized Taeseok’s poverty. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Now, unlike the pear blossoms filling Taeseok’s home, Huijae had already become someone else’s wife, something he could never obtain no matter what.

‘What blocked Taeseok, who had barely overcome poverty, was status.’

No matter how much money he raked in with both hands, he lacked a respectable family background. Nouveau riche and those born into the upper class were different.

The harder you climb the ladder, the more keenly you feel the limit. From the start, they never considered Gi Taeseok part of the same class.

They might smile to his face, but fundamentally, they felt repulsion.

He could have the pear tree, but he could not have Huijae.

That was the truth Gi Taeseok of came to realize with bone-deep clarity.

‘And she figured that out on her own.’

A world that kept resetting. After countless failures, the appearance of a variable named Han Yeoreum stirred emotions he couldn’t identify.

Even Myeong Jeha, who had tasted every emotion this world had to offer, learned something new.

Hundreds of emotions churned through his entire body, rattling him.

‘Ji Haebeom is probably calculating.’

That unique intuition, animalistic judgment, and the ability to execute it all.

‘Soon, probably....’

Myeong Jeha expected Ji Haebeom to start moving in earnest.

Even though things had subtly deviated from the board he had laid out, it didn’t bother him.

“Thanks for the tea, Writer Ahn. I’ll see you again next time.”

“Where are you going?”

Writer Ahn was sitting across from him, clawing at her hair. Her pride was clearly deeply wounded.

“I have someone I need to meet.”

Myeong Jeha stood up. Writer Ahn, her hair in disarray, glared at him.

“You know, writers and directors have been talking about you a lot lately, Jeha. They say you see scripts differently. That you’re young but well-learned.”

“Haha. It feels good ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) to hear you say that.”

“Just be honest with me.”

Writer Ahn sprang to her feet.

“There isn’t some special secret tutoring that only DaeYeJong teaches, is there? Otherwise...! How could you...!”

“I should be going.”

Myeong Jeha turned away without hesitation.

“Oh, right, Writer Ahn.”

“What?”

“This time, you’ll be able to write exactly what you want.”

“Where is this sudden encouragement coming from?”

Leaving those words behind, Myeong Jeha opened the door.

Outside Writer Ahn’s studio, a light drizzle was falling. Without hesitation, Myeong Jeha walked straight into the rain.

His nerves would sharpen over things that endlessly fell outside his calculations, yet he would also lose interest in a life that flowed exactly as expected.

“Isn’t that the police guy?”

“I think so....”

The corner of Myeong Jeha’s mouth lifted as the rain soaked him. The one thing that wouldn’t go as intended. The single person he couldn’t fit into his calculations.

‘Han Yeoreum....’

He wanted to grasp Han Yeoreum. Myeong Jeha turned his head slightly to the side. He heard women who had been glancing at him gasp softly. Myeong Jeha closed his eyes and smiled at them.

‘In this iteration, maybe....’

Perhaps, just this once, the assumptions he’d been making all along would finally line up. If he found the hidden key, he might be able to break this tiresome loop.

‘I’ll probably have to be more active than before.’

Han Yeoreum seemed like she would rise faster than he’d expected. For the first time in a very, very long while, Myeong Jeha recalled the mindset he’d had when he was a rookie.

Back then, when he wanted to succeed as quickly as possible. A very distant past, hazy even in memory.

Myeong Jeha pulled the phone tucked against his chest. Either way, now was the time to move busily.

To seize the variable called Han Yeoreum completely.