I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

* * * 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

“Another full house today....”

“There aren’t any empty seats, right?”

The actors peered out at the audience from backstage, hardly believing the records that were being broken day after day.

〈Intern Academy of the Academy of the Academy〉 had been labeled the play that shook Daehakro. New audiences kept flowing in through Han Yeoreum’s clips, and the steady stream of glowing word-of-mouth naturally led to reservations.

Once the show ended, reviews flooded SNS by the minute. Even after the curtain call finished, the applause didn’t stop. Before anyone realized it, 〈Intern Academy of the Academy of the Academy〉 was setting records.

Every single performance sold out within one minute of ticketing opening. And simply because Han Yeoreum was in it, even weekday matinees were selling out without difficulty.

Intube

[Let me tell you the acceptance rate of the Intern Academy] 00:45

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– First fun play I’ve seen in a while~ Reminded me again in romantic Daehakro that youth hurts for everyone, hehe

– Is it real that Han Yeoreum’s diction is better than theater actors? LOLOL

– Personally the best play I’ve seen in Daehakro. The message hits hard and the casting is perfect

While the actors felt proud that the production they belonged to was doing well, they also felt defeated by Han Yeoreum.

The moment they realized the gap in skill between themselves and the Han Yeoreum they had once dismissed as just another average actress — bitterness inevitably rose in their mouths.

‘No matter how much we practice every day....’

The audience’s eyes below the stage were fixed in one direction.

No matter what they did, they couldn’t steal that attention back.

Once the play began, the one who shone brightly was Han Yeoreum.

Only her.

“Time to get ready!”

Tak Jeongyun patted the shoulders of her juniors as if she understood exactly how they felt.

“You’re doing well. You know that, right?”

“...Yes.”

But no matter how much encouragement they received, they couldn’t accept it purely. No matter how well they performed, they were still just supporting roles.

‘The kind who get cleanly erased from the audience’s minds the moment they leave the theater....’

Just extras.

That was why—

‘If you’re a real actress, you’ll handle it.’

They had removed the textbook that was supposed to be inside Han Yeoreum’s prop bag.

* * *

Geum Bitgang looked down at her student.

‘Alright. Let’s see how you get through this.’

It was the first day of the Intern Academy class. Jin Jinju was supposed to answer according to the textbook, asking awkward questions as someone who hadn’t yet adapted.

It was a scene where the rhythm with the assistant mattered — where Jin Jinju’s wavering resolve had to show clearly.

“...Huh?”

Han Yeoreum flipped her bag upside down and # Nоvеlight # shook it vigorously. She even leaned her face close to the gaping opening, pretending to search inside.

Then she shouted:

“Assistant! I don’t have my textbook!”

She raised one hand boldly.

From the moment she said it out loud to her fellow actor, it stopped being an accident. It became known to the audience as well.

The accident turned into a device.

“What?!”

Tak Jeongyun shouted on cue, as if she had been waiting. If Han Yeoreum had been one second slower, Tak Jeongyun would have improvised first.

Their exchange flowed naturally.

“What do I do if I don’t have the textbook?”

“How can you even ask that?!”

“But isn’t this supposed to be the academy that teaches everything?”

Jin Jinju came out brazenly. She turned toward the audience and continued the ad-lib smoothly.

“Did I get scammed...?”

Laughter burst from the audience.

Jin Jinju paused for a beat and sighed, as though the assistant were at fault.

Today’s Jin Jinju was reckless. A new version of youth they hadn’t shown before.

Geum Bitgang, wearing a stern expression, exaggerated her movements. Just crossing her arms made the audience laugh. She planted her weight on one leg as if to see how far they would take it.

The ad-lib continued.

“Why don’t you have the textbook!”

“I did have it!”

“You didn’t.”

“No, I did originally.”

“Where was it?!”

Jin Jinju took a breath, as if genuinely thinking of an excuse. The audience laughed again, waiting for her answer.

“Right before I put my shoes on.... So next to the shoe cabinet?”

It was specific enough to trigger everyone’s memory of leaving something behind.

Naturally, she formed a bond with the audience.

Assistant Kim pressed a hand to his forehead.

“I really was going to bring it. It’s important, so I thought I shouldn’t crumple it. But it doesn’t quite fit in my bag. The spring part? It catches on the zipper.”

Now she was full-on making excuses, glancing at Assistant Kim like a group project member who hadn’t done their part.

Geum Bitgang shoved Assistant Kim with her shoulder as Jin Jinju’s excuses grew longer, as if scolding him downward.

“And I even reviewed this morning before class—”

As the excuses lengthened, Assistant Kim was shoved further and further aside until he was practically distanced from Jin Jinju.

“Enough!”

Geum Bitgang’s heavy shout cut through the flow.

“What are you doing? Do you want to enroll in the Assistant Academy of the Academy of the Academy again?”

“No!”

“What do you do in situations like this?”

“Figure it out! Properly! Neatly! With! Sense!”

“And!”

“Of! Course!”

“And you still don’t know what I’m saying? This is why you build the habit of taking notes! Notes!”

Assistant Kim, saluting, looked like he was being battered from all directions. Somehow, he seemed more like the inexperienced rookie than Jin Jinju.

“Go get the textbook!”

“Yes!”

As he turned to exit the stage, Assistant Kim hesitated.

“...But where is the textbook...?”

In an instant, the stage had two hopeless characters.

Geum Bitgang gritted her teeth.

“Hey!!! I’ve taught you for that long and you still don’t—!!!”

“I always carry an extra textbook, but I put it on the table so it’d be visible and—”

Assistant Kim borrowed Jin Jinju’s earlier logic, quickly listing plausible places one might leave something behind. It was surprisingly smooth.

“Did I ask that?! Even if no one tells you, you should do it, huh? Even if no one tells you!”

Geum Bitgang shoved his shoulder again.

Assistant Kim cried out, aggrieved:

“If no one tells me, how am I supposed to know...!”

It pierced the message of the play perfectly.

The theater shook with even louder laughter.

“Get out! I can’t stand looking at you! I told you to do one person’s share properly, and you’re doing half of a half of a half!”

Assistant Kim stomped off in a huff.

As if no accident had occurred at all.

The three of them had completely fooled the audience.

* * *

“...What?”

The actor who had hidden the prop stiffened.

This wasn’t what they expected at all. Instead of turning into a disaster, Han Yeoreum grabbed the scene by the collar, Tak Jeongyun was pulled along seamlessly, and Geum Bitgang supported it — the reaction was better than usual.

“Alright. Based on what you’ve learned so far, what do you think I’m going to say?”

For a rookie to avoid messing up her own lines in an unfamiliar play was impressive enough.

But Han Yeoreum’s skill far exceeded average. She didn’t falter even when Geum Bitgang ad-libbed.

As if she had been prepared at any moment.

“As of this year, the full-time conversion rate for people in their twenties is 12.7%. Only one out of ten survives. The percentage of young people without four major insurances? 41.2%! Hundreds of thousands work without formal contracts. Average daily working hours: 9.3. Average break time: 32 minutes. That is the most realistic work-life-bal-ance you can dream of. In the first half hiring cycle, the average number of applicants deemed ‘lacking fundamentals’ was 14,285. Do you want to be one of them? Average document competition ratio this year: 182 to 1. Of those, 6.8% submitted in ‘Word.’ 3.2% wrote only ‘Submitting’ in the email subject. 18.3% wrote nothing in the body. 43.2% submitted messy resume photos. Among them: body-profile shots, cat-ear selfies, workout verification pics.”

It was a long speech.

She did not hesitate once.

‘...Did she memorize the entire script?’

It wasn’t just one person who was shocked.

The revolving-door repeat watchers of 〈Intern Academy of the Academy of the Academy〉 — and even the actors sharing the stage — were stunned.

Jin Jinju had delivered Geum Bitgang’s several-page speech in her place.

‘That’s impossible....’