I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

For ballads like this in particular, it was practically a given that there would be a certain kind of set storyline.

Three to four minutes. A video that had to be built entirely from the performances of actors who never spoke a single line.

Because acting without dialogue was even harder, and emotion was everything in a ballad video, there was an unspoken rule not to cast rookies.

The editing director arranged the library footage along the timeline by angle. As soon as he pressed play, pure cliché unfolded.

Han Yeoreum stood on her tiptoes, trying to reach a book placed high up on the shelf.

“Use just the bust shot here. Yes, cut it there.”

At the directing director’s instruction, the editor cut the clip and moved on to the next.

Han Yeoreum lifted her chin, staring at the bookshelf. Then came the moment their hands brushed.

“Add a bit of slow motion here, just briefly. Yes, 0.5x speed...”

As Han Yeoreum’s fingers stretched toward the book, Myeong Jeha’s wrist touched them.

The book she couldn’t reach no matter how hard she tried—he pulled it out effortlessly. Meanwhile, Han Yeoreum froze, unsure of what to do.

Her face was tense as his chest brushed against the back of her head.

As if all her senses were focused on the man behind her.

“This is it, this is it, this is it.”

“You really packed in every cliché possible.”

Watching the rough cut slowly take shape, the editing director found himself impressed.

Maybe it was because both of them had the track record of 〈The Great Garland〉—once called the ultimate national drama—or because they were students at DaeYeJong, considered the highest level of artistic excellence in Korea, but their acting felt incredibly natural.

From their first meeting to the moment they began to become aware of each other, the atmosphere was delicately ticklish.

When they stepped out of the library, it was raining. Han Yeoreum came out first, reaching out her hand to test the falling rain.

Myeong Jeha followed and took off his shirt. Then he lifted it over his head.

“This part is important! Switch to a close-up here, quickly!”

“Okay.”

His face as he turned back with the shirt draped over him—it flowed so naturally, as if inviting her to share the rain with him.

Wearing a white short-sleeve tee, a blue check shirt held above his head, Myeong Jeha curled his lips into a faint smile.

“Use this clip here.”

“This one?”

“No, this one.”

Even though the shots were similar, the directing director immediately picked the exact one he wanted.

“We filmed it from farther away at first. But the way his expression changes was so natural. That shift—from awkward to smiling—I liked that, so we changed it on set. Let’s do a slow zoom-in.”

A rough cut for a music video was simply the process of stitching together the best shots.

They roughly aligned it to the timeline, but excluded the background track during editing.

But at that moment, the directing director felt like he heard something.

I’m still living

in that time

It felt as if the track was laid over Han Yeoreum’s face as she looked awkwardly before breaking into a shy smile.

There were no lyrics yet. Not even dialogue.

And yet Han Yeoreum was explaining everything.

Why, even now, she kept wanting to go back to that moment. What “we” had been like back then.

“Insert a side profile of both of them here.”

“What is this?”

“What do you mean?”

“No, this... something feels...”

The editing director’s eyes, once dulled by dark circles, changed.

“It’s... making my heart itch.”

Before he knew it, his eyes had brightened too.

* * *

A few days later, the day the music video teaser was released arrived.

Aetami checked her Intube notifications.

INTUBE

[Hwanhae Couple / Because I Love You, Someone Like Me Can’t Help It ⎢ Han Yeoreum Shin Seojin Fan Edit] 2:03

Views 34,112 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

-are you insane this feels real;;

-this channel owner’s editing skills keep improving lol

˪agreed they’re even pulling scenes I didn’t know existed at this point I’m starting to wonder what this person even does for a living T_T

-SBC bring back Unfair Trade 2 already

-I’m a Seonghwan fan and I’ve ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) been looping this nonstop lol my eyes are blessed 1:12 that part is so good I literally stopped breathing... heart attack... I hope the actors see this channel♥︎

-this is so good I’m slamming my desk wtf!!!!!!!

-do you take requests..? I wanna see Team Leader Yeol Joo Junseo x influencer pair too TT___TT just imagining a fashion-magazine male lead with a clumsy influencer female lead is already making me drool

The fabricated video she had made to survive Yeoreum’s hiatus kept getting higher and higher in quality.

By combining Lee Seohae’s line “Because I love you” from 〈Unfair Trade〉 and Gam Seonghwan’s line “Someone like me can’t help it,” she created a dangerously thin line of a relationship.

“Ha... I miss her so much...”

Pulling in Na Yuna’s scenes from 〈Youth Disqualified!〉, she quickly built a backstory where Lee Seohae had a one-sided love for Gam Seonghwan since her difficult college days. As always, Aetami habitually searched for Han Yeoreum again today.

“I loved it so much when she was MC-ing MusicN...”

But once again, there was no new update.

Aetami missed MusicN—the best schedule where she used to see her every week.

Input: hey Seoul Metropolitan City when is that even starting I’m gonna die waiting... this is killing me

Aetami sent a message to Reporter Wi. The last teaser for 〈Seoul Metropolitan City〉 wasn’t enough.

‘What was that tiny amount of screen time for our Baby Melon Bread at the script reading!’

The script reading article, where she didn’t even say a single line, had been filled with such sharp, barbed phrasing that it felt like it was deliberately trying to bait attention using Han Yeoreum.

[Do you want to downvote?]

[Yes][No]

“Yes. Hell yes.”

Remembering how she had carefully pressed the downvote button on each one, Aetami took a deep breath to calm her anger.

Buzz.

[hey holy shit I got something Yeoreum’s in Shim Juhwan’s MV]

[with Myeong Jeha]

[(two-shot of them both opening their mouths toward a piece of cotton candy.jpg)]

“....”

Aetami shot up from her seat.

“...Kgh—cough, cough—COUGH COUGH COUGH!”

She choked, unable to believe what she’d just seen with her own eyes.

“Summer, are you okay?”

“Are you alright?”

Right. This was her workplace. Aetami, who had been slacking off on the company’s dime, clutched her pounding chest and staggered.

The two-shot of Han Yeoreum and Myeong Jeha on her screen sent dopamine flooding through her entire body.

“Cgh—uh, I—I’m just really dry—cough—...”

Making up an excuse naturally, she grabbed the tumbler on her desk and headed to the pantry. Her hands were trembling.

‘She actually did this for us?’

That single image she had just seen was burned vividly into her mind.

‘Not edited... the real thing?’

Her lips kept curling upward uncontrollably. Aetami shut her eyes and screamed internally.

‘My filial queen—!’

She could already hear the fans of the GiYeon couple from 〈The Great Garland〉 coming back in waves.

‘And Shim Juhwan, of all people!’

She didn’t even need to hear it. She could tell—it would definitely be a masterpiece.

* * *

IP 85.152 put in their earphones on the way home from work.

—I will no longer collapse like this again...

A refined cultural consumer, IP 85.152 listened to musical numbers, focusing on the swelling lyrics and trumpet sounds that filled their chest.

Perhaps because it was a newly uploaded official stage video, even their strict standards were satisfied.

—ah this is heaven for the ears.. T_T thank you for uploading

—2:10 gave me chills... imagine hearing this live

˪you have to hear this in person the recording is good but live it’s addictive the emotion just explodes the audio can’t capture it it’s just chills!!

—what is this tone just walk into the National Museum you are a national treasure TT__TT

IP 85.152 scrolled down to check the comments.

‘This Note Show channel has been doing well lately.’

Since they mostly watched theater and musical-related videos on Intube, their algorithm was filled with culture and arts.

‘Except for one thing.’

〈Huijae〉 appeared on the feed again.

It wasn’t musical content, but because IP 85.152 had replayed the music video several times, the watched indicator was there.

As always, they clicked the 〈Huijae〉 music video again to check the comments.

Singapore, which had aired 〈The Great Garland〉 the latest among overseas broadcasts, had just finished airing the final episode. Because of that, foreign comments had been increasing day by day.

—I feel like I need to go to the hospital because of this drama I definitely have a bullet in my chest :( I might die

—I hope they are happy forever best couple!

—Is there any K-drama similar to Huijae and Taeseok’s story? I’m completely obsessed hahaha

˪This level of tragic love is one of a kind someone needs to have Ja Sokhwan arrested by the CIA!!

Checking the global impact of Korean content was practically a duty for a cultured global citizen, so IP 85.152 pressed like on each comment.

“Huh?”

And then—

They saw an unbelievable comment.

—anyone else screamed at resurrected Taeseok Huijae lol upvote LMAO

˪ah Shim Juhwan actually did this for us T_T LOLOLOL