I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

“Three at once?”

After sending off Episode 4 of 〈The Great Garland〉 like that, her heart still hadn’t recovered from the emotional wreckage.

“If it’s an apocalypse... does one of the two die again? No, first of all, do they even get involved...? If it’s a NetHolics-style story, there’s also a high chance they never even meet... ah....”

Aetami clutched her already pounding heart.

“But? It’s fine even if they don’t meet.”

Of course she hoped the two characters’ storyline would appear again as some kind of hint or breadcrumb. But Aetami was a drama addict.

A true drama geek.

They were the most persistent kind of otaku. If there were no hints, they simply made their own.

That was how actor fandom worked in the first place. Once a single project came out, fans squeezed every last drop out of it—again and again, over years—just to keep themselves from starving.

“We can connect it somehow.”

Even if the actors appeared in completely different works, fans would edit the footage together. As long as the clips were arranged side by side, they would unquestionably accept it as Taeseok and Huijae. That was basic literacy for drama fans.

“Alright then, should I upload it now?”

Aetami dragged the video she had edited with blood and sweat into the Intube upload window.

[Taeseok X Huijae — Turning Back Time / The Great Garland Imagined Scenario] 03:27

* * *

“....”

IP 85.152 clicked on a post uploaded to the gallery. The comment count was unusually high.

The post contained an external link leading to Intube, and just from the thumbnail alone, it was impossible not to click.

Myeong Jeha wearing hanbok in 〈Crossing Lines〉 and Han Yeoreum wearing hanbok in 〈Strange Tales〉 were captured together in a single frame.

“They used it like this? That’s insane....”

It was a fan-made video, the cuts stitched together according to the song lyrics.

“What should I do? What am I supposed to do?”

Myeong Jeha’s line from when he played Crown Prince Sado could be heard.

“How insolent....”

And then came Han Yeoreum’s line from when she played Seoryeong. The two characters began their relationship as enemies from the very start.

The Crown Prince walking alone through the vast palace grounds flowed seamlessly into the scene of Seoryeong sitting quietly beside the cold corpse of Jeongan.

It felt as if they had belonged to the same world from the beginning.

After a side profile shot of Myeong Jeha staring somewhere into the distance, the next scene showed Seoryeong wearing a skirt for the first time.

“No, that’s not it?”

This time, Han Yeoreum’s line from 〈EmBubu〉 was inserted.

“You said you liked me.... You can’t do this to me....”

Coincidentally, both Huijae from 〈The Great Garland〉 and Seoryeong from 〈Strange Tales〉 were characters who mostly spoke informally. It felt almost unnaturally seamless.

Han Yeoreum’s voice trembled as she spoke like someone begging for love.

“You don’t like me? Hm? From the beginning? That’s not it, right?”

Myeong Jeha kneeling in the middle of the palace courtyard under the rain appeared, followed by Han Yeoreum crying under an old tree in the rain.

“That’s right....”

The quality was so convincing it felt as if the two had actually filmed a tragic historical romance together. Han Yeoreum’s voice made it even more realistic.

“Is it really not true? I can’t be the one?”

The Crown Prince reading a book and the shaman imprisoned in a cell matched the song lyrics perfectly.

The song, about wanting to meet someone even if time had to be turned back countless times, sounded especially mournful with the haegeum performance.

“Why, why, why in the world...!”

The Crown ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Prince drew his sword and smashed the furnishings inside a wide chamber. Immediately afterward came a scene of Seoryeong desperately running somewhere.

“Don’t lose me!”

With Huijae’s bright voice echoing, Seoryeong stepped onto a shamanic ritual stage. Seoryeong vomiting blood and writhing on the floor overlapped with the Crown Prince being locked inside the rice chest.

Then the screen went dark.

The song ended.

“....”

After being attacked by yet another psychopath following Ja Sokhwan, IP 85.152 stared blankly at the screen.

“...What is this?”

But wasn’t love supposed to be a kind of self-harm?

To be precise, IP 85.152 had developed a small affection for 〈The Great Garland〉—a drama that portrayed the pain of Korean history and the country’s growth beyond it—and for its characters Yeon Huijae and Gi Taeseok, who felt so vividly alive.

It absolutely wasn’t because they were a fan that they watched it again.

After watching the fan-made video one more time, IP 85.152 suddenly realized something.

“I can’t watch it anymore, right?”

Musicals and plays could reach the end of their story in two or three hours. But dramas were different.

You had to wait an hour at a time, twice a week.

And there was no original source material, so you couldn’t even predict what would happen next.

And now, they would never again see Huijae and Taeseok as played by Yeoreum and Jeha.

They would have to live forever carrying those two young figures in their hearts.

“But wait, it’s really over?”

It was impossible to accept. Who had decided that the stage should be this short before lowering the curtain?

“You’re not lying? I really can’t see it again?”

Like someone trapped in an endlessly spinning revolving door, IP 85.152 watched Episodes 1 through 4 of 〈The Great Garland〉 again and again and again.

But somewhere inside their heart felt empty.

“Maybe it’s just because the weather’s cold....”

That was why they bought the long padded coat from N Company.

It absolutely wasn’t because they were a fan of Han Yeoreum.

Buying long padded coats for their parents and younger sibling from the same brand was simply because the coat had an unusually high percentage of duck down, and the design and color quality were better than other brands.

“...But when are they announcing the fan sign winners?”

Anyway.

That’s how it was.

* * *

“Ahhh! Our little cutie! I’m so proud I could die!”

Not long ago at JC ENM.

Manager Ma from the marketing team stretched both arms high into the air as he looked at the shared report.

Work was flooding in like madness, and every cell in his body was practically dancing.

For the past month, he had been repeatedly setting up plans, tearing them down, and building them again in response to the endless love calls pouring in for Han Yeoreum.

Manager Ma’s head spun as he tried to make the best possible choices.

Predicting the future, calculating probabilities, and arriving at the optimal conclusion.

That was what Manager Ma loved more than anything.

“If we just secure the ambassador deal with Company D now, that’ll be the end of it!”

To avoid irritating high-end luxury brands, they had intentionally minimized CF shoots.

Image overexposure was one of the things luxury brands hated most.

True luxury meant gathering together the concepts of supreme quality, aspiration, and fantasy—then placing them somewhere completely out of reach.

To be honest, if he analyzed it objectively, Han Yeoreum had many disadvantages.

“First of all, our little cutie is just too young.”

Han Yeoreum, in her early twenties, was not the typical age group that high-end brands targeted. The fact that she had only just debuted didn’t help either.

She hadn’t slowly built up recognition.

She had exploded into fame all at once as a rising star.

At the moment, the luxury market’s consumer base was at least in their thirties.

“But my prediction will be right again this time.”

However, Manager Ma thought differently.

In this era of advanced social media.

In a time when people’s desire to display themselves was stronger than ever, even those just starting their careers could open their wallets.

There was no way luxury brand marketing teams hadn’t noticed this subtle shift.

A model who could appeal to people in their twenties.

The celebrity currently drawing the most attention.

Manager Ma believed Han Yeoreum’s weaknesses would ultimately be offset by those very same qualities.

“The scene where she remodeled Company D’s outfit got great reactions too.”

Huijae, who had become a “Seoul lady,” had torn the viewers’ hearts to shreds in 〈The Great Garland〉.

Since Episode 4 had such explosive impact, photos of Han Yeoreum wearing Company D’s clothing had spread far and wide through news articles.

“Hurry up and call, hurry...!”

Just as Manager Ma leaned halfway back in his chair—

“Hey! Manager Ma!”

The face of Team Leader Hong from the PR team was deathly pale.

“What is it?”

“...Listen carefully.... Eun Baekhap....”

There was a common balance-game question people liked to ask.

Would you rather someone you hate receive one billion won while you receive one hundred million, or would you rather both of you receive nothing?

“Eun Baekhap is going after Company D....”

The one thing Manager Ma’s calculations had missed was this:

Eun Baekhap was the type who would choose the second option.

“What?! Even though she’s with Company C?!”

Eun Baekhap, a top-tier actress who perfectly matched the direction luxury brands currently pursued, could easily block the path of a rising actress.

* * *

At Taerandang in Jongno District.

The custom hanbok brand working with the Seoul Hanbok Promotion Center was busy again today.

“Why is there a sponsorship?”

An office worker asked a colleague who was checking the wardrobe room.

“You know 〈The Great Garland〉, right?”

It happened to be a drama the office worker was following in real time. Deciding to watch it immediately after hearing Han Yeoreum would appear in it had been a stroke of genius.

〈The Great Garland〉 was setting legendary records with every episode.

The transition scene from child actors to adult actors had gripped viewers’ hearts so fiercely it felt like their hearts were being crushed.

The ratings rose with every episode.

“Of course I know it!”

“No, I don’t mean the drama.”

The colleague laughed.

“I mean Eun Baekhap wearing Master Park Sulhwa’s clothes.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Tons of places were already trying to get sponsorship deals there, but Eun Baekhap personally picked hanbok styling.”

In 〈The Great Garland〉, Eun Baekhap wore the outfit of a Seoul lady from that era: a neat blouse, a flared long skirt, jeweled headbands or sparkling brooches, and thick wavy hair.

But hearing about sudden hanbok styling made the office worker curious.

“What kind of outfit?”

“This one. It suits her perfectly.”

It was a skirt with a large floral pattern.

The colors and palette evoked the feel of hanbok, but depending on how the top was styled, the entire look could change.

“At this rate, Eun Baekhap might become the hanbok promotion ambassador. Looks like she’s calculating that angle already.”

The colleague predicted the ambassador who would likely be newly announced at the end of next year.

It was practically the national representative of the entertainment industry, meant to be shown both domestically and overseas.

Not just anyone could be chosen.

First, the person needed a strong public image.

They had to receive positive reactions from the public when wearing hanbok.

And the global influence they could exert also had to be considered.

“Eun Baekhap.... Yeah, Eun Baekhap would be good.”

If you named the top three actresses of this era, Eun Baekhap would unquestionably be first.

She had a good image, and hanbok suited her extremely well.

She had even gained attention once through a hanbok photoshoot.

“But why do you sound like that? Isn’t that good news?”

“Well... I think there’s someone who suits hanbok even better than Eun Baekhap.”

“Who?”

The office worker, a true hanbok enthusiast, thought of someone.

Someone who had worn hanbok so often that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she had worn every color imaginable.

Someone whose hanbok appearances had been praised in comment sections every episode.

“Han Yeoreum.”