I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

“...If I give you the script, would you still film it like this?”

“Yes. If you tell me to fall apart even more than this, I will.”

“Even if it reruns, goes up on Intube, and later ends up on OTT platforms?”

“Yes. I’ll do it, no matter what.”

Things like that wouldn’t be a flaw to me.

I was someone who had only ever played nameless roles—backs of heads, one-line extras, roles without even a proper identity.

Even if I got frozen in this messy styling and circulated everywhere, it was fine as long as I had a name now.

As long as people recognized Han Yeoreum’s Nam Pyeonghwa.

“I want to become Nam Pyeonghwa, sir.”

Hwang Boseok stared at me for a moment, then gestured for me to come closer.

“...Hmm. The clothes look new. Why not wear something worn?”

“Since she sells clothes, I thought she would either try on new seasonal pieces or grab something from the stockroom. There were clothes everywhere in the shop.”

“I see. That’s why you smell like new fabric.”

He began throwing questions at me. It was the moment I had been waiting for.

“If there are clothes everywhere, then you must have gone to Dongdaemun.”

“I went recently. From NUZZON to Doota, I looked around everywhere.”

“I see. What was it like? If you were Pyeonghwa, how would you have lived there?”

“The moment you step out of the shop...”

My heart pounded. The question I had been waiting for had finally come.

“I think she would feel like she lived that day well.”

“Really? Are you sure you actually went? Even at noon, people are just standing outside smoking nonstop.”

“As you know, there are no windows inside the shops. It’s like a gambling den. Not a single ray of sunlight. There’s dust, but no ventilation.”

Dongdaemun at midday. While the rest of the world is just starting their day, that’s when Nam Pyeonghwa is heading home.

“So the sunlight you feel the moment you ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) step outside feels even better.”

Hwang Boseok let out a quiet laugh.

“Yes. That’s right. The sun really is like that.”

After some time, with the keen observation of a top writer, he asked,

“You’ve been frowning slightly this whole time. Are you unwell?”

“Ah...”

I’d been caught. I had tried to make it look as natural as possible.

“I’m a bit dizzy.”

“Why?”

“My eyesight is actually good. I don’t usually wear glasses.”

Slowly, I took them off. The heavy lenses I had double-compressed just to meet him disappeared, and the world finally came into focus. No dizziness. No distortion.

“...I see.”

Hwang Boseok stared at my face, then slowly curled the corner of his lips.

“Good character analysis.”

Sunlight poured in through the wide glass window.

“Let’s meet again next time.”

* * *

Hwang Boseok sat in his rocking chair, gazing out the window. Letting the gentle motion carry him, he replayed the conversation in his mind.

“But people who work in Dongdaemun care about fashion. Naturally, they would pay attention to beauty as well. So why did she interpret the character as someone who doesn’t dress up at all?”

His conversation with Han Yeoreum had been very interesting.

“I actually worked there for about three days.”

Because the answer had been completely unexpected.

“It’s not just about selling clothes. Calls come in from online shops, calls from wholesale runners, and you have to keep picking them up nonstop. And in the middle of that, there’s an app called Shinma, right? Orders and messages keep coming in there too.”

Hwang Boseok was a top writer. The actors he worked with were always top-tier as well—people who understood their own value better than anyone.

Which meant—

There had never been an actor who tried to get this close to the life of the protagonist.

“You have to clear out reserved orders, handle demands from big shopping malls trying to pull stock from elsewhere, deal with sample returns, and pack up samples from previous requests.”

Han Yeoreum had gone to the wholesale market at dawn and experienced Nam Pyeonghwa’s real daily life.

“They said it’s an especially busy time right now. Spring clothes were laid out three weeks ago, buyers took samples for shoots, new items went on sale a few days ago—so this is when the volume really starts moving.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I ended up packing a ton of clothes... I even learned how to compress them tightly into bags.”

Hwang Boseok wanted to ask about the essence.

So what is Nam Pyeonghwa to you?

There was only one reason he had become the top name in romantic comedies.

His stories never forced love.

Every step of how two people fell for each other made sense. Beyond that, it made the audience project themselves into it.

It made them think—

I want to experience that kind of love too.

“So I didn’t focus on dressing up. I had to focus on work.”

“Then what part of Nam Pyeonghwa would make Jeon Segye fall in love with her? At least visually, it doesn’t seem convincing.”

At that, Nam Pyeonghwa answered.

“That very part.”

Behind the double-compressed lenses that made her eyes look smaller, those eyes shone.

“I think Jeon Segye’s instability comes from a need for validation. That’s why he pays excessive attention to grooming. Most things that are naturally flashy tend to be highly toxic.”

The current working script of only existed up to episode 6.

The character profiles were written, the synopsis drafted, the framework established—but Hwang Boseok stood at a crossroads.

“So when he’s next to Nam Pyeonghwa, I think Jeon Segye would feel something he can’t explain.”

If he wrote the typical Cinderella story, success would be guaranteed. Everyone would say, as expected of Hwang Boseok.

But then the very root of Jeon Segye would be shaken.

He would have to shave down the character he created to fit a formula.

Make him smooth, polished, unremarkable.

Just another arrogant chaebol male lead who turns an ordinary girl into Cinderella.

“The desire to improve, to rise above others and be recognized—Nam Pyeonghwa doesn’t have that. I think Jeon Segye would fall in love with her because she simply lives each day, doing what’s in front of her with quiet sincerity.”

“...So Nam Pyeonghwa is just a diligent woman?”

“Yes. That’s how I see her.” 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Why?”

Nam Pyeonghwa—standing there in front of him, wearing round glasses, looking unpolished—answered.

“Because if Jeon Segye lives for others, then Nam Pyeonghwa lives for herself. Aren’t there people like that? People who show up ten minutes early every single time, even knowing no one else will be on time.”

Jeon Segye is always anxious.

He’s someone who lives looking upward, always trying to leap higher.

He never roots himself anywhere.

Farther. Higher.

Always struggling to escape the present.

But Nam Pyeonghwa stays where she is.

Because there’s nothing wrong with living like this.

She works diligently, avoids mistakes, and remains honest with herself. On her days off, she visits pretty cafés and quietly enjoys watching women happily wearing the clothes she sold.

Just working hard at something she likes gives her a sense of belonging.

Her “ordinariness” meant her core was firm.

Nam Pyeonghwa didn’t throw herself at other people’s judgments or gazes.

If Jeon Segye, in Han Yeoreum’s interpretation, was a ship cast endlessly into crashing waves—

Then Nam Pyeonghwa was a harbor he could always return to.

Hwang Boseok recalled Jeon Segye’s confession.

Jeon Segye⎢ (His voice trembles as if confessing a crime; the shaking won’t stop.) I... I’m not someone who should do this. I shouldn’t like anyone.

Nam Pyeonghwa⎢ (Confused by his attitude) Why not?

Jeon Segye⎢ ...There are people like that. People who just... shouldn’t.

Nam Pyeonghwa⎢ ...

Jeon Segye⎢ (He hurriedly draws a line, as if trying to regain control, lowering his head.) I’m sorry. In a professional relationship... I’ll keep my boundaries properly. I won’t cause any more trouble.

If it were Hong Suryeon’s Nam Pyeonghwa, she would probably laugh here—with the certainty that someday, he would definitely fall for her.

But Han Yeoreum’s Nam Pyeonghwa—

Nam Pyeonghwa⎢ Then don’t like me.

Jeon Segye⎢ ....

Nam Pyeonghwa⎢ I’ll just like you on my own.

Jeon Segye⎢ ....

Nam Pyeonghwa⎢ (Returning to her work) But don’t forget. I’m saying this so you’ll pay attention.

You don’t have to like me.

Because I won’t change.

That’s the kind of trust she would give.

For Jeon Segye, who saw love as a sin—something forbidden for life—she was someone who made it okay to take a single step forward.

Just as Hwang Boseok had created him—

Without being shaved down. Without being suppressed. Without being changed.

Allowing him to remain simply Jeon Segye.

A truly romantic relationship.

The complete form of love Hwang Boseok had been searching for.