I'm an Unknown Actress, But Everyone Knows Me

* * *

“No way.”

The 〈ParCheHi〉 Blu-ray funding kept climbing in percentage right up until the deadline. Now, with one minute left, I refreshed my phone screen again.

“Is this a bug?”

An unbelievable number was staring back at {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} me.

▶︎Project heroine

The Cherry on the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine

247% achieved

1,482,000,000 won.

“Seriously... is this real?”

Another minute passed. The participation button next to the funding page turned gray.

Seeing the funding end, it didn’t look like an error. I hurried into a portal site.

“...It’s real?”

Articles that looked like they’d been released by JC ENM were lining up one after another.

The anomaly of web dramas.

The age of web dramas.

The victory of web dramas.

No matter what kind of praise you slapped on it, nothing felt out of place. Everyone was glorifying new media.

“...Wow....”

On top of that, it was the first Blu-ray to be released this year. That alone was a huge achievement. Even works that had won awards at the Seoul Drama Awards weren’t doing Blu-rays right now—they were pouring everything into overseas expansion.

“...Because Blu-ray production lives or dies on fandom.”

Unless something causes a full-blown syndrome, there’s a hard limit with domestic viewers alone.

And yet now.

An Intube web drama had pulled off something even terrestrial hits struggled to do—Blu-ray production.

Thump—thump—thump—.

My heart was pounding without any sense of restraint.

One hand wasn’t enough; I stacked both hands over my mouth. It felt like my heart was about to burst out. Heat rushed up to my ears.

‘Blu-ray. Blu-ray. Blu-raybluerayblueray...!’

I kept chanting it in my head, barely even breathing, over and over. I really hadn’t expected this to succeed too. I’d told myself I’d be satisfied just with the Blu-ray funding page going live.

‘Because I know how hard it is.’

At this point in time, drama merchandise simply wasn’t posting high sales numbers. I knew that better than anyone.

Bzz—bzz—bzz—.

My phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. Messages were flooding in from everywhere.

Myeong Jeha, Joo Junseo, Choo Gaeul, Director Jang, Writer Pi, Dok Gomin, Manager Choi, Dok Gogyeol, Team Leader Seong, the sub-director of 〈No Interest Whatsoever〉 and PD Hwang, Coordinator Hwang and Ryu Risa. Director Gong from 〈Law-Faster-than〉,

Unexpectedly, even Yun Hyeonjo—and my classmates, too.

‘Looks like everyone was refreshing together....’

It was already past midnight. Thinking about all those people staring at the same screen until now made me smile a little.

I should reply quickly. With my battery running low, I plugged my phone into the charger first.

“Huh?”

But it wasn’t charging. The cable must’ve been broken.

I carefully stepped into Han Taeyang’s dark room. He usually sleeps by ten. Just as I was quietly unplugging Taeyang’s phone to take his charger—

Bzz—.

A text came in on Han Taeyang’s phone.

[Thank you for participating in the 〈ParCheHi〉 Blu-ray funding. Payment will be processed at 17:00 after the funding period ends. In case of payment failure, re-payment will be attempted at 17:00 on the next business day. (Up to 4 attempts total)

Your purchased item is 〈Heroine Project〉 Special (100,000).]

“...Seriously.”

If he’d just asked his sister for one, it’s not like I couldn’t give it to him. Spending money on something like this? And the Special, too? I was a little dumbfounded at my younger brother wasting his allowance, but I decided to let it slide.

Who am I, after all?

I’m Han Yeoreum—the one who hit a staggering 247% Blu-ray sales rate with a web drama.

* * *

Do Gyeoul bowed politely in greeting.

“Hello, Team Leader Seong. I look forward to working with you.”

“Oh, no—we’re the ones who should be grateful! Thank you so much for appearing.”

As Do Gyeoul returned from her hiatus with 〈Beyond the Closed Door〉, she prepared a wide range of content.

Intube shoots were one of them. Gyeoul appeared not only on fashion magazine channels like Ruel, but also on in-house web content produced by JC ENM’s web content division.

“Then please wait in the dressing room for a bit. We said we’d wrap things up as early as possible, but since our actress is appearing, we want to pay extra attention.”

“Yes. That’s fine. Please call me whenever you’re ready.”

Do Gyeoul briefly watched the bustling staff. Before she knew it, JC ENM’s in-house productions were hitting real-time trending videos every time they uploaded.

Intube

@JC ENM Subscribers: 680,000

[There’s something under the bed right now, I’m telling you? Evil spirit prayer ASMR to listen to before sleeping, with bell sounds]

Views: 460,000

As soon as Han Yeoreum stepped in as the first runner of the new market, it turned into a hit almost by formula, and the summer-season special horror film distributed by JC ENM came scrambling after, baton in hand.

Compared to any promotional effort—terrestrial entertainment program interviews, variety shows, magazine shoots, radio events, and everything else they’d tried to let the public know about a new release—

-This is seriously so scary I can’t even put my feet out from under the blanket..ㅜ It really feels like there’s something under the bed, fuck

˪So it’s not just me

-This is just insane, whoa. I hope they release this as an occult series. Listening to actors instead of streamers mumbling is on another level lol

-Okay I get it, I’ll go watch the movie, please stop already.. The bell sound being so calm is pure madness

A single Intube video had far greater impact.

Existing subscribers of the JC ENM channel, fans of the actor, people who happened to click after getting caught by the algorithm, and those who came in after reading related posts on SNS and communities—

-When I only watched the trailer it didn’t look that interesting lol but now I’m suddenly super curious

After watching the video, they became interested in the work itself.

The views were several times higher than the official trailer. The approach to the public was simply far newer.

‘If it’s not a movie you’re already interested in, no one goes out of their way to learn about it.’

Instead of explaining the film’s story, the strategy was to provoke curiosity even more.

You could tell what kind of concept it was from the ASMR theme, and lines from the trailer appeared like Easter eggs.

And even without watching the movie, you could enjoy its unique atmosphere.

[〈Evil Spirit〉 takes first place in its opening week.... “The occult boom is guaranteed to come”]

[〈Evil Spirit〉 surpasses 3 million viewers, delivering chilling summer horror]

Thanks to that, even the occult film—a genre usually hard to make successful—easily surpassed 3 million viewers. That “maniac” occult movie even achieved the feat of leaving behind a widely quoted iconic line.

-The bell sound.... I hear the bell sound

˪Hey now, begone, foul thing!

-It was worth watching for once lol

-Look, you ignorant fools, the age of occult has arrived. Soon will come the age of rock and SF

˪If you gather 10 occult fans, 10 rock fans, and 10 SF fans together, you get 13 people. I really love this joke

˪Where do you live? You’ve won the event, you bastard, give me your address, the prize is coming, fuck

After that, JC ENM’s in-house content never lacked for cast members.

Even though it was a newly launched Intube format, returning idols, actors breaking their hiatus, and models who’d debuted not long ago—all of them wanted to appear.

‘Just look at how the production budget’s grown.... It tells you everything.’

The sets gradually became more luxurious. It was nothing like when Han Yeoreum had been left alone, standing in front of a plain white background with just a microphone. Before long, an interior similar to the filming space of 〈Beyond the Closed Door〉 was built.

“Actor—please get ready!”

At the staff member’s call, Gyeoul stood up. Cameras, lights, and microphones were all aimed at her alone.

Do Gyeoul stepped in front of the ASMR microphone. With filming preparations perfectly complete, the situations that were about to unfold spread vividly through her mind, almost amusingly so.

‘What Han Yeoreum did.’

And what everyone would soon be doing.

“We’ll begin. Are you okay, actress?”

Influence becomes money. There isn’t a single fool in this industry who doesn’t know that.

When something unprecedented becomes popular, once is luck, twice is coincidence. From the third time on, it’s a kind of certified check.

JC ENM had jumped in with their own bodies, so next, everyone else would come rushing in.

The camera glowed a vivid red, like an eye opening wide.

Recording began.