I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

The murmur exploded all at once. Shutter sounds and flashes went off in rapid succession, and the security staff hurriedly cleared a path.

I stopped without realizing it.

“Unni! Seoryeong unni!”

It was an enormous crowd. People holding placards were looking straight at me. Eyes filled with affection pierced into my skin. I even saw slogans printed with my face on them.

Only then did it really hit me.

That these people had been waiting for me.

[Seoryeong–Myungdo, our love]

A person holding a placard written in clumsy Korean burst into tears. I stared at them blankly. Our gazes collided, both brimming with emotion. Why are they crying? Do they like me that much...?

An unfamiliar land, an unfamiliar language, unfamiliar people—and they liked me. I felt dazed by that ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) fact. It didn’t feel real.

“Unniii!”

Someone slipped a letter through the guards. Judging by how long it had been clenched, the edges were crumpled. That was just the beginning—letters and gifts flew in from all directions. Even with both hands full, it wasn’t enough. There were that many.

“Yeoreum, let’s go!”

Manager Choi shouted. It was so loud around us that she had to raise her voice even though she was right next to me.

I walked forward very slowly. The security staff were shouting into their radios that we were moving.

It felt like a dream. Even though I’d seen scenes like this so many times in movies and dramas, I couldn’t get used to it.

‘Really.... did everyone gather here for me?’

My throat stung. My heart pounded as if it were about to smash my bones apart. I was overwhelmed. I tried to clamp my mouth shut, but my smile kept leaking out. The emotion surged through my whole body in hot waves. My vision blurred.

“Cutie. Smile and look at the lenses.”

Manager Ma said from my left as he moved with the security staff. I met each phone lens pointed at me, one by one, and waved. With every step forward, the sound of people calling my name grew louder.

Once I got into the waiting vehicle, sweat poured down my body. It wasn’t because Taiwan was hot. For the first time, I realized that when this many people gather, the heat they give off is on another level.

‘So this is the temperature of love....’

The realization struck me anew. The heavy thud of my heartbeat echoed in my ears. I overlapped both hands and pressed them firmly against my chest. The texture of the letters I was holding was vividly clear.

Less than thirty minutes after arriving in Taiwan, I came face to face with the reality of my popularity. Popularity was something this immense, this warm, this lovely, this overwhelming.

‘If the airport is like this, then the fan meeting...?’

I was already unreasonably excited.

* * *

The vehicle glided smoothly across the road. The city felt relaxed somehow. Our destination was one of the most renowned hotels in central Taipei.

After passing through the main gate marked “Grand View Taipei,” a towering, crimson building came into view.

‘I really came... to Taiwan....’

Seeing the traditionally styled hotel made it sink in that I was truly abroad.

‘It feels different from when I went to Japan.’

It wasn’t just that I had set foot overseas—this was my space. I felt a certainty that Han Yeoreum’s influence had expanded. My heart thudded hard.

‘The people who live here... they like me....’

The lingering murmur from the airport was still buzzing painfully in my ears. The moment I entered the lobby, a few guests seemed to recognize me and let out small gasps.

‘Adjust the angle.’

I deliberately turned slightly to the side where my face looked prettier. I didn’t forget to give a small wave.

‘I hope lots of Han Yeoreum real-life reviews start circulating....’

My mouth kept curling upward, which was a problem. I raised both hands and pressed my cheeks firmly. I’d been smiling so much that I felt like I’d forgotten how to keep a neutral expression. When Manager Choi returned after finishing check-in, I spoke to her.

“Unni.... I think this is the air of being a protagonist.... It smells so good....”

That sweet scent wrapping around my life since earlier... it wasn’t just my imagination, right...?

“Yeoreum. It’s jasmine.”

Manager Choi soothed me, pointing to a heavy ceramic vase in the center of the lobby. Right. Either way, it wasn’t an illusion. The air I breathed in was sweet.

The hotel room arranged by the Taiwan side was on the top floor.

“No, unni. I’m using this place all by myself?”

“Of course.”

“That’s insane....”

No, seriously—it was huge. Exaggerating a bit, it felt like ten people could stay there comfortably. I quickly looked around. No matter how I looked at it, it was far too luxurious for one person.

“Yeoreum, then rest comfortably. I’ll come get you in two hours for rehearsal.”

After Manager Choi left, I flopped down onto the wide bed, and it felt like the ceiling was spinning. My chest was still hot, my heart pounding fiercely. I felt dizzy from how good I felt.

“Ah.... so this is... the taste of being a rising actor....”

Warm lighting glowed softly along the corners of the walls. Lying alone in a hotel room scented with cedar, I realized anew that I’d truly made it.

‘I’m so happy I might get motion sickness.’

My heart churned. It felt like popularity itself was shaking my whole body.

“Alright. Let’s sink even deeper into this protagonist feeling.”

I picked up one of the letters placed on the table. Maybe because I’d been gripping it so tightly to make sure I wouldn’t drop it, fingerprints were left at the end.

“Careful not to tear the heart sticker....”

I carefully opened the envelope, and the letter inside appeared. Judging by how firmly and neatly it was written, the pressure had pressed through to the back page.

“A fan letter written by an overseas fan.”

It felt moving all over again. This was something I could never have obtained even in my dreams.

Maybe they’d even sprayed perfume—the paper carried a faint floral scent.

To Yeoreum unni

Hello, unni. I am a fan from Taiwan, Meiling. I like you so much that I wanted to write you a letter. I want to send my heart to precious unni from far away.

“Okay, Ms. Meiling. I’ll remember your name until I die.”

Even her name was cute. In clumsy Korean, Meiling earnestly wrote why she liked me, and how much she liked me.

Strange Tales was really scary. That’s why it was so interesting. Amazing! When unni cried, I cried too, and when unni smiled, I smiled too. All my classmates like unni and know you. We are all unni’s fans.

“What? My popularity is that big?”

Han Yeoreum? What’s that. NUGU? I’m not being treated like that? The sentence saying that Taiwanese teenagers knew me wrapped around my whole body.

This is scary momentum—Han Yeoreum is a real rising star. As expected, it’s me.

From now on, I will watch all of unni’s dramas. Please appear a lot. I will always love you in Taiwan.

I read the line again.

‘I’ll always love you.’

‘I have to do well.’

So that as Meiling keeps watching my dramas, keeps following me, she’ll never once think it was a waste of time.

‘I really have to do well.’

I hugged the letter to my chest. Strangely, the weight of that incredibly light paper pressed down heavily on my heart.

Again and again, I read the letter lying on the table. I memorized it like I was memorizing a script. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The more I did, the more my fatigue disappeared.

Knock knock-.

“Yeoreum-!”

Had two hours already passed? I sprang up at Manager Choi’s voice calling me from beyond the door. But something was strange. When I checked the clock, not even an hour had gone by.

“Unni, just a second-!”

The room was so big that it took a while just to reach the door. Before I could, the door flew open. Manager Choi, who had a spare key, entered with shining eyes.

“Perfect. You weren’t asleep?”

“Unni, why do you look like that....”

“Manager Ma said to come right now! You have to go!”

“What happened? Why all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know either! Hurry, put on your shoes! Run!”

Manager Choi urgently grabbed my ankle to put my shoes on, then seized my wrist. Maybe she was nervous—sweat had formed on her palm.

“Uh—?”

By the time I came to my senses, I was running to match her pace. After rapidly pressing the elevator button, Manager Choi spoke to me as I caught my breath.

“Listen carefully, Yeoreum. When Manager Ma says ‘for now’ without any explanation?”

The top brass of JC ENM. The influence of Ma Suyeon, the woman who led success, had already been famous even before my regression. The dominant evaluation was that her brain never stopped working.

For someone like Manager Ma to give no explanation at all meant—

“Then it’s something incredibly important.”

It meant the scale was huge.

So huge it was hard to grasp all at once.