I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

So Yesol. Although she didn’t boast shocking ratings or explosive buzz, she was a director famous for what people called a “healing drama.” Because of her delicate directing and warm dialogue, she had a solid, loyal fandom.

“Her scriptbooks always sold as bestsellers.”

If it was this project, I felt like I could properly shed the Pi Chaewon image.

Before opening the script, I took a slow breath.

Planning intent, logline, writing staff, production team, synopsis, storyline, characters. I would grasp everything within today.

“Do Gyeoul....”

Let’s catch up as fast as possible.

I would never walk. I would run like crazy—run, and run again. My goal wasn’t simply to catch up to Do Gyeoul.

“Every role Do Gyeoul ever had.”

This time, I would take all of them back. They were originally mine.

* * *

[MBS one-episode drama begins with Jung Yeondu, the archetypal “K-eldest daughter” who always ends up responsible for everything no matter where she goes, deciding to move to the countryside.

Because she did her work too well, she always ended up doing all the side jobs everywhere she went. When she was young, she was the class president; in college, the class rep; even after joining the company, the calls for “Jung Yeondu” never ceased. Because of her personality, she couldn’t ignore them. Her whole life was a minefield.

As a stress-relief hobby, she chose to write web novels—and one of them became a massive hit. Without hesitation, Jung Yeondu moves to the countryside.

To a place where nobody knows her, and she knows no one.

But what is this? In the village she moved to, she gets forced into taking on the village head role....

A drama dedicated to modern people whose shoulders ache under the weight of responsibility, filled with empathy and encouragement.]

This was the MBS Drama Center located in Ilsan. Standing at the lobby entrance, So Yesol carefully reread the sheet with the planning intent written on it.

“Hoo... I’m looking forward to this....”

Right now, the drama everyone in the industry couldn’t stop talking about was without question . Its last-episode views had reached 6 million.

“They say subtitles will be added soon... If that happens, ten million might be possible....”

Ten million views on InTube. That was an unprecedented symbol.

“This is nonsense! How can this make any sense—!!!”

The head of the MBS Drama Center clutched the back of his neck and collapsed. Of course he would: the day the last episode of dropped, the MBS drama airing in the same timeslot recorded its all-time lowest rating.

‘...It wasn’t even a comparison.’

No matter how much viral marketing or PPL they did, it was useless. Audiences didn’t care about the articles blasted out as ads. It was a humiliating defeat.

‘Everyone’s focus was on one place....’

So Yesol thought of Pi Chaewon. That scene of Pi Chaewon—once dull-eyed like cold fish—crying brightly on a sunset rooftop had pierced straight into her chest.

“I really... want to see that as Jung Yeondu....”

They say if you see one thing, you can infer ten. The moment she saw that scene, So Yesol’s Jung Yeondu was already decided. She didn’t even feel like holding auditions. She wanted to call her to the drama center immediately and make her do a reading. Without anyone else. Only Han Yeoreum.

And that was when—

“Um... Director So Yesol, right?”

The door opened, and the Han Yeoreum she’d been waiting for walked in.

* * *

‘It’s my first time coming to a drama center....’

I followed Director So, trying my best not to show how nervous I was.

The hallway gleamed. People who knew the director greeted her in passing, and I bowed along behind her. Director So stopped in front of a meeting room and opened the door.

“Oh~. Nice to meet you! I’m Hwang Minseong, the PD in charge of planning !”

“Hello. Thank you for calling me. I’m Han Yeoreum!”

The planning PD who had been waiting pushed forward the refreshments he had prepared. In the meeting room, it was just me, Director So, and PD Hwang.

‘A drama with a single female lead!’

Since it was a healing drama, most characters were middle-aged to elderly. The only young actor was me.

‘Thanks to that, it’ll be easy to bury the image.’

I couldn’t stay stuck as Pi Chaewon. It was fortunate my next work was under Director So Yesol.

So Yesol. Her works always drew what people called a “core fanbase.” Put simply: viewers who watched and rewatched and rewatched again until they were suffering. People who analyzed the work so deeply they could etch it into their brains.

‘It’s a double-edged sword, though.’

If the character analysis was done properly, it shone brilliantly; if not, the character was judged flat more easily than in any other director’s work.

Scenes that could be glossed over at a glance would inevitably catch the eyes of people who watched the same clip a hundred times.

‘Which is why I’m confident.’

Whenever things were hard, I would rewatch Director So’s dramas over and over. I read and memorized the scriptbooks until they were nearly worn through. Sometimes I wondered if all that time had been preparing me for this very moment.

[Name: So Yesol]

Level: MBS Elite Hire / Debut Director

Title: So-Healing

Analysis: B

Delivery: A+

Skill

B+

I checked Director So’s stats. As expected, her Analysis and Delivery were high.

“The programming meeting isn’t set yet, but think around November. We’ll be doing a countryside-location shoot in Chungnam.... Filming starts next month, so we’ll have to coordinate schedules....”

It would be my first countryside location shoot, so I figured I should ask Myeong Jeha later how things usually worked.

After finishing her explanation, Director So looked at me.

“Right. Congratulations on your movie contract.”

“Wow... Thank you. It’s fascinating that you even know about it.”

“Where’s the secrecy in this industry.... Once someone hears something, it spreads like craaazy....”

I really felt it again: this world was too small—way too small. Director So and PD Hwang, having turned off the tablet screen, began asking the questions they’d wanted to ask.

“After reading the script... how’d you feel?”

“I thought viewers would really relate to it. Especially the very last part, the ‘Nobody comes looking for me’ moment.”

“Oh, that part is great! It fits the title perfectly. Right? Then Yeoreum, could you try reading the early lines once?”

I flipped the script to the part PD Hwang indicated. The lines from when the protagonist first decides to move to the countryside.

“Hoo....”

I inhaled deeply.

It wasn’t the short, resigned sigh of Pi Chaewon. It was a long breath mixed with the sickening, exhausted, suffocating relief of someone who had decided she would never see that place again.

“I’m going. To a place where—no one cares about me, and I don’t care about—anyone.”

Director So and PD Hwang quietly exchanged glances. As expected. All the effort I put into reading the script properly had paid off.

‘I spent days analyzing this character for this.’

Sometimes, I too wanted to throw everything away and run like Jung Yeondu.

That feeling of building and building and still having nothing to show for it. I knew it better than anyone.

“A voice this worn down by the storms of life....”

“This is so real!!! How is that coming from a twenty-year-old?”

“Thank you.”

Because I’ve truly been worn down. I’m a veteran worker.

Director So quickly flipped through the script. It was a mid-section line.

“No—but seriously, I’m telling you. I have absolutely no reason to be village head. Don’t recommend me. Just run yourself. I’ll vote for you. The previous head can keep going too. It’s a hundred-year life era—why should he step down just because he’s old? Huh?”

“Could you... try that again? But this time with the feeling of being genuinely frustrated but unable to say anything.”

Alright. I’ll mix in the emotion from that time I was working a night shift at the convenience store, and when it was finally time to go home, the owner called to say the morning-shift worker had quit without notice, so could I work fourteen hours full-time for a week?

“No—. Seriously. I mean, ha.... I have—absolutely! ...no reason to be village head.”

When I delivered it with the performance only someone with experience could produce, Director So covered her mouth.

After that, we spent a long time doing the reading. It wasn’t an official script reading, but both Director So, PD Hwang, and I went at it with sincerity.

“Yeoreum, I’m sure... we can do great.”

“Let’s make a good project! Aja!!!”

With their send-off, I left the drama center.

The sun had already set. Under the black night sky, the drama center building gleamed brightly. The lights that hadn’t gone out shone warmly.

* * *

“I didn’t... see that wrong, did I?”

“...Director.”

“Why is Pi Chaewon in our broadcasting station?!”

And inside that brightly lit drama center, a shout mixed with shock rang out.