I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

A faint vibration no one else would notice.

The sound of wind slipping in through the entranceway, the soles of shoes striking the marble floor outside the front door, slippers settling onto the rug, the welcome weight of a presence gradually making itself known as it approached this place.

Noah wrote a greeting on the sketchbook.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

A steady sound. The scrape of graphite grinding across paper rang softly in his ears.

Not long after, he heard a hand grasp the doorknob. The metronome ticked. Exactly three seconds later, the door opened.

Noah lifted the sketchbook.

[Hi]

[There’s something I didn’t get to ask last time]

[Do you like scary things?]

Maybe she only liked frightening things, which was why she didn’t prefer animations. If that was the case, then next time he could simply work on the music for a horror movie instead.

Han Yeoreum thought deeply about it for a moment.

“...No? Horror’s just whatever to me.”

But the answer was unexpected. Noah immediately raised the sketchbook again and began writing.

[Then what?]

“My favorite genre would probably be... stuff with lots of CG and huge scale? Hollywood?”

Noah didn’t really understand. For starters, was entirely CG, huge in scale, and Hollywood.

[Things with real people in them?]

Yeoreum looked at Noah’s sketchbook for a moment before speaking.

Slow and gentle, but with precise pronunciation.

“Can you listen to my Lala one more time?”

In the voice Noah liked.

“If you say no again this time, I’ll give up cleanly.”

Noah picked up the pencil.

Tok, tak, tok, tak, tok, tak.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch.

The two sounds Noah loved most passed by,

[Okay]

“...Thank you.”

[Come do it beside me.]

The legs of the chair beside him dragged softly across the floor. The sound of weight settling onto the plush fabric followed.

And beside Noah, Han Yeoreum’s voice joined in.

The space resonated. Amid the unbearable noise, there came a fleeting moment worth taking a long-haul flight for. Noah could feel it.

Slowly, Noah closed his sleepy eyes.

Over the steady ticking of the metronome rose the voice Noah imagined for the flying squirrel Lala.

Like a wild raspberry tumbling around in every direction, like an acorn tucked away in a corner, like a rubber ball that bounced several times after hitting the ground.

The voice of a flying squirrel like that.

“What do you think?”

Noah gathered the countless new notes appearing inside his head.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

As though preparing for a grand finale, he pressed harder than before as he wrote. The graphite sound grew louder.

[You should’ve done it like this from the start.]

“You liked it?”

[Yeah. It’s exactly what I wanted.]

Noah smiled proudly. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. The metronome continued faithfully onward. But something was different from before.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch.

[I hate other people’s voices.]

[I like yours.]

[I like it enough that I want to wake up every morning to your voice.]

The sound of Noah’s heartbeat sped half a beat faster than the metronome.

[Later...]

Scratch—

Noah’s writing hand paused for a moment. He had realized he was writing out of sync with the metronome’s tempo.

“Later?”

Within that strange irregularity, Noah felt an inexplicable sense of comfort.

[Will you become my next-door neighbor?]

After reading the words, Han Yeoreum smiled brightly.

“Where do you live?”

[Right now? Beverly Hills.]

“Oof. Guess I’ll have to make a lot of money.... You live somewhere expensive.”

At those words, Noah smiled brightly too.

[You’ll get there soon enough.]

* * *

[And I stay in Hawaii sometimes too.]

[I also have houses in Malibu and the Upper West Side.]

Apparently Noah had been serious about asking her to become his neighbor. He kept listing his real estate holdings. As though he would be satisfied if she came to even one of them.

[But Nashville is my favorite.]

[It’s quiet and not too crowded.]

‘Isn’t that place famous for sausages or something? I don’t really know, but if it belongs to this master, it must be insanely expensive....’

Still, I nodded for now.

“Sure... I’ll go.”

Trying to get used to the Hollywood mindset of people making profits in the trillions, I somehow started feeling like I’d already succeeded in breaking into America myself.

[But you’re not very good at English?]

[You’re an adult.]

[You’re way more polite to me than necessary.]

‘That’s because you’re a Hollywood master and I’m a rising Korean actress....’

My instincts practically forced me to flatten myself in submission. You can influence my casting rights, and one word from you could send me flying out the window!

‘How could you possibly understand the wisdom accumulated through long years of survival....’

I couldn’t bear to shatter a child’s innocence, so I simply smiled benevolently.

[I’m sixteen.]

‘What? I thought you were obviously an elementary schooler.’

[That’s old enough to be friends.]

Still, in a Confucian country, trying to become friends with someone almost ten years older than you?

“...Thank you.”

...I couldn’t exactly say that.

Because the other person was a master, and I was a rising actress. More than anything, my precious Noah, who could become my express route into Hollywood, did not care about Confucian values.

If you’ll be my friend, then I’m the grateful one here.

[Okay.]

[You’re my first friend.]

Looking at Noah holding the sketchbook reminded me of something Myeong Jeha had once said.

-“Geniuses often have difficult childhoods. Ordinary people’s brains just can’t understand them.”

As though waiting for an answer, Noah stared straight at me. Somehow, there seemed to be anticipation in his eyes.

Quietly, I held out my right hand.

Noah looked at me as if he didn’t understand what I meant, but eventually stretched out his left hand.

The boy’s hand was soft.

“But how did you even find out about me?”

[Intube. A slime video.]

“From that? Seriously, the world makes no sense....”

I kept talking with Noah until he left Korea. Even inside the limousine heading to the airport, Noah repeatedly asked to hear me speak as Lala.

“Can I borrow the sketchbook for a second?”

At my request before we parted, Noah obediently handed over the sketchbook. I left my autograph inside.

[P.S. To my friend.]

To think I’d end up giving an autograph even to a master. I really am an actress fit for Hollywood....

[See you again.]

And just like that, my young friend left. Standing in the airport filled with the unmistakable air of spring, I lifted my phone.

“Professor!”

-What.

“Guess why I’m calling!”

To hear Professor Geum Bitgang’s indifferent voice.

-Let me guess. You’re bragging again.

“I made it! Han Yeoreum, Geum Bitgang’s beloved doll, has finally gotten into Disney and is heading all the way to Hollywood! Who am I? Han Yeoreum, the future greatest output of DaeYeJong!”

-Ha. You think doing one minor dubbing role means you can jump straight into Hollywood?

Well, there’s actually a very long story behind that, Professor.

“Once the movie comes out, can I visit your house again while bringing you tickets?”

-No.

“The pizza last time was really good.... Where was it from?”

-A franchise place. They sell it everywhere.

“They probably don’t deliver to my neighborhood though. Can’t I just come eat it at your house? With Dami too, and there’s this friend of mine named Choo Gaeul, she goes to another university but she’s really good at acting too. And from our school, there’s someone named Dok Gomin, have you heard of her? Professor? Professor?”

Click.

Geum Bitgang hung up.

“But I already memorized the address....”

I should go again next time. Spend all day there watching cartoons, taking naps, ordering black-bean-sauce noodles.

“Ah... there are so many planes.”

Looking up at the sky, I watched airplanes leave behind bright white trails as they flew away.

Where were all those planes headed? Their destinations were probably all different, but—

“I’m going to America.”

Later on, I hoped the plane carrying Han Yeoreum would safely make it all the way to Hollywood.

Already, it felt like I had debuted in America.

* * *

Aetami was dragged in by some incomprehensible algorithm.

“Funny... Bun, ny, Harmony? Ahh, this—”

Looking at the Intube channel, it turned out to be the official Disney account she had subscribed to ages ago.

“Come to think of it, they said some animation was coming out around this time.”

When a global company on Disney’s level started producing a project, news spread everywhere from the very beginning.

had drawn attention from early on because a famous Hollywood music director was participating.

Cute animals, perfect graphics, and music on top of that. Even the story sounded decently entertaining.

Aetami clicked on the video to watch the music video.