I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

“....”

The sound director coldly evaluated the performance Shim Juhwan was putting on for a moment.

‘Why take a gamble like this.’

The method of cutting the music midway through a music video and inserting actors’ dialogue or dramatic acting was something that had been trendy back in the 2000s.

Now was the age of mega-streaming.

For listeners these days, Intube wasn’t just a site for watching videos anymore.

Intube Music had become active, and Intube Premium existed now.

There wasn’t a single listener who enjoyed hearing dialogue suddenly burst out while listening to music.

For the type of listener who replayed one song hundreds of times, it was even more fatal. Since it interfered with pure audio listening, adding dialogue was practically poison.

-Came here to hear Shim Juhwan’s voice, what the fuck. Who came here to watch actors acting? Please release a clean version without Han Yeoreum’s lines 😭

└222 Totally kills the immersion, fuck... It’s as random as a rap feature.

On top of that, the Intube algorithm considered average watch duration important. If someone lost immersion from a single line of dialogue and clicked out of the video, the video effectively became a half-finished one in the eyes of the algorithm.

From the production company’s perspective, there was no reason to risk a music video worth hundreds of millions of won failing to get algorithm exposure.

And yet.

-3:25 Han Yeoreum absolutely shattered my heart here...

└222 Ah fuck, can’t you include this in the official audio tooㅠ

└Fr this part is genius because it feels like Shim Juhwan is answering Han Yeoreum’s question, and then the sound of rain pouring down comes in. Holy shit, goosebumps.

Shim Juhwan used Han Yeoreum’s voice. As if it were some kind of device.

The reaction was a massive success. There was practically no one asking for Han Yeoreum’s voice to be removed.

Rather, comments saying her voice made them more immersed appeared constantly.

The sound director looked up a few more clips of Han Yeoreum. After listening all the way through the narration videos for 〈No Interest Whatsoever〉 and 〈Youth Disqualified!〉—

the sound director decided not to think JC ENM had shoved Han Yeoreum in purely for media play.

-I’ll heeelp yooou~!

“Okay. That one was good. Let’s move on to the next. We’ll do ‘Our Big Sister’ now.”

Lovely Lala. The troublemaking younger sister. The flying squirrel who knew nothing except loving her big sister was right there before them.

‘But if this happens again...’

Han Yeoreum, perfectly carrying out every bit of direction.

And someone watching Han Yeoreum with obvious displeasure.

The sound director could clearly feel the gaze of the lead actress playing Joy, Jeon Ujeong, from beside him.

* * *

Jeon Ujeong crossed her arms as she watched Han Yeoreum standing in front of the camera. She truly didn’t like this.

“...”

Han Yeoreum had the smallest amount of lines, and today the JC ENM in-house content camera team had come too, so they needed solo shots of her.

Unlike the other voice actors, whose recording schedules stretched across several more days, today was Han Yeoreum’s first and last recording session.

“Relax your face a little, Ujeong.”

Beside Jeon Ujeong, Richard the tiger quietly spoke.

She felt slightly embarrassed at realizing she had failed to control her expression in front of such a towering senior, but even so, it couldn’t be helped.

“Yes....”

Because she didn’t like it.

If Han Yeoreum was bad, she didn’t like it. If Han Yeoreum was good, she still didn’t like it.

“What did I tell you? I said she wouldn’t be terrible at least. So what’s the problem, brat?”

The problem was that someone unqualified was here. But Jeon Ujeong didn’t bother arguing with her senior.

The voice actor playing Richard the tiger stared at Han Yeoreum as if he liked her immensely before bursting into hearty laughter.

“Seriously? She’s really going to do this?”

At Richard the tiger’s booming laugh, Jeon Ujeong felt one ear go numb. It was that loud.

“When we cast Miss Yeoreum, the first thing we checked was whether she could do this or not.”

“Damn... that won’t be easy.”

Jeon Ujeong stared at Han Yeoreum, wondering what he meant. This recording session was for the stage footage that would also be used in the 〈Funny Bunny Harmony〉 music video.

Han Yeoreum only had one singing section.

‘They’re not just going to fix it in post?’

It was a whistle note that even /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ real singers struggled to pull off.

“Miss Yeoreum, then let’s warm up your throat first.”

Contrary to expectations, even the picky sound director didn’t give detailed direction.

Because—

‘Han Yeoreum exceeded expectations.’

For someone who had supposedly learned somewhere on her own, Han Yeoreum was overwhelmingly better than every celebrity dubbing case they had seen before. Exaggerating a little, she could almost pass as a rookie voice actress.

“Don’t pressure yourself too much. If it doesn’t work out, we can just move through it with some ad-libs.”

The sound director pushed the button upward.

“Though honestly, is this kind of awkward with all these legendary seniors gathered here? Everyone. Want to take your headsets off for a moment?”

“Ah! You can’t call people in here and do this!”

“Don’t ruin the mood like that.”

As the sound director joked around, the voice actors who had been wearing headsets waiting to hear Han Yeoreum’s whistle booed playfully. Jeon Ujeong merely watched in silence.

‘She’ll just pretend to try and then let them fix it in post.’

Jeon Ujeong could see right through Han Yeoreum’s intentions. There had to be a purpose behind performing the act of “trying.”

The difference between leaving proof that you made the minimum effort and not leaving it at all was enormous.

“When you’re ready, please nod.”

Han Yeoreum, earphones in place, looked toward them. Her eyes briefly met Jeon Ujeong’s beside the music director.

‘What.’

Han Yeoreum nodded. Click.

On stage, Joy the rabbit diva passionately sang, and then—

the microphone was passed to Lala the flying squirrel.

That was when it happened.

A clear, transparent high note rang out.

The waveform monitor in the control room shot vertically upward. It was an incredibly clean graph.

* * *

‘I was scared it wouldn’t work, Yeoreum!’

Truthfully, when Han Yeoreum had first been cast in 〈Funny Bunny Harmony〉, the part people inside talked about the most was this whistle scene.

The moment everyone heard she had to pull off this part, they burst out laughing in disbelief.

“There’s no way she can do that.”

“No, obviously she can’t... they’ll have to edit the hell out of it.”

“You think you can make an actor do something that’s hard even for actual singers?”

But Manager Choi, who was in charge of Han Yeoreum, had relayed only one response.

“She says she can.”

Even Team Leader Seong half believed it and half didn’t.

‘No way.’

This wasn’t some technique you could casually do just because you sang well enough to get compliments now and then. The best realistic option would have been throwing in some ad-libs with moderately high notes.

“If they complain she can’t do it, then Disney has no conscience.”

“Exactly. They were the ones who approached us first for casting.”

But just in case, they tried it anyway.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“She can actually do it?!”

Han Yeoreum really did raise her voice exactly like Lala the flying squirrel from the music video.

And she did it without even looking particularly strained. Effortlessly.

“How long have you been able to do this? Did you practice after getting cast or something?”

Team Leader Seong knew very well how obsessively Han Yeoreum researched characters ever since 〈The Cherry on the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine〉 days. He was just about to get chills all over again.

“No. I’ve been able to do it for a long time. You wouldn’t know, Team Leader... the tearful coin karaoke rooms.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Whenever work got too hard, I’d rent a coin karaoke booth for three hours and just belt songs out... it was my only stress relief. You could call this a vocal enlightenment skill gained through tears of blood.”

Han Yeoreum smiled as though recalling a somewhat bitter memory.

A smile that practically said, ‘You don’t need to know... don’t go looking into things like this....’

“What’s with you.”

“I just remembered the old days for a second. Anyway, Team Leader. About that thing we discussed last time.”

“Yeah. That thing.”

“Do you think we can move forward with it?”

Team Leader Seong thought for a moment. A format whose success was practically guaranteed already, an insanely strong lineup, and conditions capable of supporting all of it.

“Of course.”

While Team Leader Seong briefly considered it, Han Yeoreum finished recording and stepped out of the booth.

“What the hell! Were you an idol trainee? You were, right?”

“Now that I think about it, since it’s JC, were you trying to get onto that Project 101 thing or something?”

“Ohhh, that makes sense~.”

The voice actors, who until moments ago had been reacting with “She’s pretty decent?” completely changed their attitude. They had become convinced she was a properly selected supporting cast member.

The only way to prove yourself here was skill.

And Han Yeoreum had demonstrated that perfectly, so the atmosphere turned completely favorable. Only Jeon Ujeong kept her mouth shut.

“Everyone, before we record the remaining parts, let me say something first.”

As the person leading JC ENM’s in-house content team, Team Leader Seong spoke up.

“You all know we’re doing an event when the film releases, right?”

“Of course we know.”

“What, are you doing something different this time?”

At Team Leader Seong’s opening words, everyone’s attention gathered toward him. Smiling, he opened his mouth.

“A big event that’ll properly showcase all of your voices even more.”