At least until she received the first acting video, she hadn’t had very high expectations.
‘Her voice was definitely good. Even for just six months, her diction was excellent.’
She could vividly feel what Han Yeoreum was trying to convey through her lines.
‘Still, she’s lacking in many ways. It’s hard to say she’s moved beyond being an amateur.’
But it was Senior Yeo’s recommendation.
‘If even that picky Senior Yeo acknowledges her, she’ll at least be above average…’
Because she always gave crucial advice.
She couldn’t help but expect that she was hiding something.
‘But surely that voice isn’t the end of it?’
Team Leader Sung quickly glanced around.
‘Everyone seems to have prepared diligently.’
In keeping with the concept of a high-teen romantic comedy web drama, most of them were dressed in school uniforms.
Everyone looked sparkling, as if they’d been to a salon early in the morning.
“Participant number 49! Choi Jiyoung, you may begin your acting.”
A single sheet of paper lay in the lobby. It was a short scene from 〈CPH〉.
⟪〈Pi Chaewon〉, an ordinary person, wakes up to find herself inside a cliché-filled romance manhwa,
Lines spoken in a situation where she’s become just one of the generic extras, the backdrop to the heroine 〈Hina〉.
Pi Chaewon: (frowning) “Ha… what a bunch of nonsense….”⟫
‘There’s nothing special about that line.’
It was simply a scene meant to show the heroine’s indifferent personality.
“Ha… what a bunch of nonsense…”
Some participants tilted their heads as if they were bored, while others scrunched up their faces as if annoyed.
“Yes. We’ve seen enough.”
Although everyone was a little different, no one had shown any notable acting.
‘Everyone’s pretty much average… no one made an impact.’
Like dolls on a conveyor belt, the participants delivered the same lines and then disappeared.
“Next number, please come in.”
Team Leader Sung quickly checked the documents with her pen. She was narrowing down those who might not be bad if paired with the male lead, Joo Junseo.
And then…
“Participant number 101! Han Yeoreum.”
The name Team Leader Sung had been waiting for was heard.
Team Leader Sung couldn’t help but be taken aback.
‘…The same person?’
The participant standing before her looked completely different from the face in the documents.
‘Really?’
Disheveled long hair, glasses, a loose-fitting skirt, and a large backpack that you’d never see in a romance comic. Before her stood someone who looked exactly like a typical Korean high school girl.
“Team Leader! Team Leader! Look at that…! This is exactly what I wanted!”
The writer sitting next to Team Leader Sung whispered in her ear.
She had been indifferent even to the well-prepared participants.
‘Indeed…’
Han Yeoreum’s appearance was a refreshing shock.
‘Does she not even think about trying to look pretty?’
A clean, bare face with hair tightly tied back, completely unstyled.
‘She’s different from the photos, but this one’s more—’
Team Leader Sung was actually more drawn to Yeoreum in person.
“Then, let’s begin the acting.”
Han Yeoreum, who had been smiling brightly, immediately changed her expression.
Her pupils, which had been shining with the reflected light, grew dull. They were just like the blank, lifeless eyes described in the scenario.
‘Oh… seeing her like this, she’s a bit different.’
Han Yeoreum turned her head to look around and then pulled over an empty chair.
Drrrk.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know…?”
The judges gradually began to lose their boredom at Yeoreum’s actions. The same lines, the same acting. But—
‘Something’s definitely different. How should I put it?’
As if possessed by something, the judges, whose eyes had been dull from the situation repeating for hours on end, began to regain their vitality. Team Leader Sung also became curious about Han Yeoreum.
「One More Glance (C)」
Whether offline or online, what a star needs is the public’s attention! Not just in person, but your photos and videos—and even your voice—make people stop and focus once more.
At that moment, the judges didn’t realize it, but Yeoreum’s skill had activated. And everyone’s attention began to focus on her.
Thud—.
Yeoreum dropped the bag she had been carrying onto the floor. The sound was heavy, hinting at just how many workbooks were inside.
“Whoo…”
Then she plopped down into the prepared chair. It wasn’t acting at the level of merely reciting lines.
‘Yeah. It really feels like she actually exists, doesn’t it?’
Every action she took resembled Pi Chaewon, the heroine of <The Cherry on the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine>, as envisioned by the creators. Team Leader Sung also paid close attention to Han Yeoreum’s behavior.
Srrrk—.
Han Yeoreum opened her bag and took out a workbook. The sound of the pages flipping fluttered clearly.
Then she paused briefly on one of the pages.
“Ah…”
Yeoreum peeled off a pink heart-shaped post-it that had been stuck and crumpled it.
“What a bunch of nonsense…”
Tak—!
And she closed the workbook.
That was it.
The assigned acting was over.
Meeting the eyes of the cynical Han Yeoreum, Team Leader Sung felt it instinctively.
‘…Now I understand why Senior Yeo recommended her.’
Han Yeoreum was an actress who knew how to bring a story to a scene.
* * *
Most of the participants kept their focus strictly on the “Japanese shojo manga.” That was the problem.
‘The kick of this drama has to come from a real Korean high school girl.”
It’s funny because of the overly sentimental lines like, “Let’s take a step forward together with our courage, okay…! We’re friends…!” paired with the absurd situation of being locked in the gym storage room.
‘It’s worth it that I even watched the behind-the-scenes footage.’
Intube
@JC ENM 2.01 million subscribers
[The Cherry on the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine Behind-the-Scenes Interview] 7:43
Views: 210,000
-At first, I thought I’d be wearing a pretty school uniform, but… ugh, it wasn’t like that. It was exactly the same fit as the uniform I wore back in high school. The writer kept insisting that I absolutely had to wear this one—several times over!
So I ended up wearing my high school uniform just as it was back then. The sneakers I used to wear, the bag I carried—everything.
Exactly as the writer intended. So I could show the heroine exactly as she existed in the writer’s mind.
‘And on top of that.’
I mixed in the scene from <CPH> where a message is sent via a post-it in a textbook. It’s one of the habits of <Hina>, the shojo manga heroine whom Pi Chaewon watches with blank, lifeless eyes.
‘Sticking cute messages everywhere to emphasize the cheerful, sunny character.’
[As expected, being together gives you strength, right? ٩(๑>∀<๑)۶ Humans can never live alone. –Hina–]
The content isn’t anything special. But even a message like this works to gently melt the heart of the cold, top-delinquent male protagonist—that’s exactly the kind of shojo manga cliché.
“Could I take a look at the post-it that was stuck in the workbook?”
The person who seemed to be the writer’s eyes lit up as they asked the question. I smoothed out the crumpled post-it and handed it to her.
Of course, since the drama hadn’t aired yet, the message was written to capture only the general nuance of what would appear in the actual show.
‘Lines from a shojo manga heroine are all pretty much the same anyway.’
The small post‑it moved from the writer’s hand to the person next to her, and then over to the person beside them.
“You’ve interpreted it correctly.”
After it reached the last person,
Tiring-!
System
[100]% of the audience is focused on you!
Current audience: 8
The stage was successfully completed.
▶Current room temperature: 20°C [F]
A status window popped up. It seemed that the appeal had worked properly.
I blinked once, breaking the blank, lifeless stare I had been maintaining.
“There’s nothing more to see. Let’s start adjusting the schedule.”
And just like that, I was cast as the lead in a web drama.
* * *
Click. Pause.
Do Gyeoul stopped once again at the same scene.
“25 minutes and 27 seconds….”
Muttering to herself, Do Gyeoul picked up a pen and scribbled something.
The notebook she held was worn down at the edges.
Click—.
As if possessed, Gyeoul dragged the play bar forward once again.
“Why on earth is this?”
One entire wall of Gyeoul’s room was covered with captured stills from the movie Yeoreum had acted in last time.
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