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Chapter 05
Actress Sung Hye-sim only left after getting my phone number.
My aunt, who had been doing nothing but exclaiming in admiration, finally managed to say something coherent.
“When did you learn all this? Did your brother-in-law send you to an acting academy or something?”
“I didn’t go to any academy… I just studied on my own.”
“Oh, please! Who are you trying to fool?”
I widened my eyes as if begging her to believe me and turned to face her.
In my previous life, I hadn’t seriously studied acting at this time, but still…
The skills I had honed through self-study until I was twenty-five were still with me, so it wasn’t a lie.
“It’s true! I analyzed videos on InTube and reinterpreted them…”
At my answer, Actress Sung Hye-sim covered her mouth. Her eyes, which had been sparkling all along, now seemed to blaze with fire.
It was like the look a professor gives a student they desperately want to recruit.
“No wonder you don’t have that academy-trained stiffness. Did you train your voice on your own too? You memorized the script quickly as well. That’s talent.”
“Haha…”
“Saeyi, I’ll be straightforward. What do you think about me?”
Was this… a blind date?
“I want you, Saeyi. If you’re thinking of becoming an actress, I’d like to teach you.”
Teach me? Sung Hye-sim herself?
“I don’t plan to force my style on you or mold you into my image. I just want to brush off a few grains of sand stuck to a piece of gold.”
I clenched my fists.
Once again, just like in my past life, I had earned Sung Hye-sim’s recognition—and even an offer for coaching.
‘What is there to think about?’
Sung Hye-sim wants to be my mentor. Even if I fail, it’s still a jackpot.
“I’d love that!”
My cheeks burned with excitement. Placing my hands on my heated face, I answered eagerly.
“Then, Saeyi. That ad-lib you did earlier—can you develop it further?”
“Ah, yes! In what way…?”
“If regret was the main emotion, try adding a new one to it.”
It sounded like she was telling me to make iced Americano without coffee but still keep the coffee flavor.
Since I’d never been coached before, it was hard to understand.
“Dohun was sick of his mother, right? So maybe he accepted the dinner invitation out of sudden relief, like, ‘I’m finally free!’”
“Oh!”
“Do you get it now?”
After hearing more, I started to grasp it.
So she meant I should add more emotions and adjust their balance—layering a sense of liberation onto the base of pity.
I nodded vigorously.
“Good. Show me next time we meet.”
“Um… I can show you right now.”
I think I can do it.
In my head, Dohun’s final scene was already being revised in real time. It was getting so vivid that I wanted to show her immediately.
Sung Hye-sim’s eyes widened. I noticed the corners of her mouth twitch.
“No. Next time.”
Huh? I thought she’d ask me to perform now.
“I want to savor it. I’m barely holding myself back right now.”
After speaking, she hurriedly packed her things, as if afraid her patience would run out.
“Oh, right.”
She handed me the script book for Your Blue Name, which had been on the table.
‘Why this?’
Seeing my confusion, she added,
“Take it. I’ll arrange an audition for this project soon.”
What? An audition already? And for a KDS drama?
“Of course, you’ll have to satisfy them too, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
Without giving me time to ask anything, she left. Her manager seemed to be waiting outside.
After the storm passed, the Haeum Atrium fell silent.
“Um, Aunt… by the way, why did you call me here…?”
Reading her mood, I cautiously asked.
She wasn’t the type to summon me just for casual conversation.
‘She must want something from me.’
But her answer was completely unexpected.
“Our chairman was curious why you went to Dongwoo Hall.”
‘Our chairman?’
That would mean Chairman Joo—my grandfather.
He was curious about me?
He even knew I’d been there?
“I’ve noticed this since earlier—you show everything on your face. Just now, you were wondering how he knew, weren’t you?”
“Gasp.”
“Hey! That reaction is cute! You’re totally different from your mom!”
She burst into loud laughter, her clear voice ringing in my ears.
“I reported it to Father. A granddaughter of the Joo family being turned away by her uncle’s secretary? That’s unacceptable.”
“Ah…”
“So what were you looking for at Dongwoo Hall? I’m curious too.”
Now we finally got to the main point.
If she asked, I planned to answer honestly and ask her to take me to the dinner party.
I told her I wanted to find a script and show it to my grandfather.
I didn’t mention how meaningful that script was to him.
“Well, the chairman does like that sort of thing. And from what I saw, your skills aren’t an issue.”
“Then…”
“Clear your schedule that day. I’m taking you shopping.”
Yes!
‘Sung Hye-sim, and a dinner party…’
This efficiency is insane!
I cheered inwardly, humming happily.
Watching me with interest, my aunt pulled out a check from her wallet and handed it to me.
“Father says you’re at an age where you need affection. I disagree. Isn’t this the age when kids need money the most?”
Wait, can I really take this?
“Take it. Consider it payment for your good acting.”
She shoved it into my hand so I couldn’t refuse and laughed heartily.
Meanwhile
The SUV carrying Sung Hye-sim left the VIP parking lot.
She tapped her phone and held it to her cheek.
“Actress Sung~ Did you meet Junghee well? Did she pick a good script?”
It was CEO Song from her management agency.
“Yeah, oppa. And I got an unexpected bonus.”
“Bonus?”
“Tell them I’m joining Your Blue Name.”
Applause sounded through the phone.
“You! You made such a fuss about quitting acting! Finally! You’re over it! Are you sure? Really?”
“Of course. I want to act right now.”
Hyesim adjusted her phone and smiled meaningfully.
“One condition, if possible.”
“Of course! What is it?”
“Let the actress I recommend audition for my daughter’s role.”
“Okay—wait, what? Hyesim, your daughter means…?”
“Of course, the female lead.”
Hyesim planned to push Joo Saeyi as the lead of Your Blue Name.
The Day of the Dinner Party
Early in the morning, Joo Junghee arrived with reporters to pick up Saeyi.
Saeyi’s father, Han Junho, awkwardly greeted his sister-in-law after years apart. Since Saeyi had explained everything beforehand, he didn’t faint from shock.
At the salon, Junghee picked clothes from a catalog she had prepared.
‘I thought it’d be weird, but it’s actually nice.’
Looking in the mirror, Saeyi acknowledged her aunt’s taste.
No wonder she was number one in business, fashion, and art.
Fully prepared inside and out, they passed the guarded gate and headed into Jaedamjae’s courtyard.
‘Why is she here…?!’
Joo Sudeok recognized Saeyi immediately. He and his daughter Joo Suyeon looked visibly shaken.
While Junghee greeted acquaintances, Saeyi slipped away.
She had come only to see her grandfather, not to mingle.
Avoiding attention, she stepped onto the wooden deck.
‘Everyone has a partner.’
Hiding behind a pillar, she felt bitter.
Everyone was laughing, while she had come here just trying to survive.
She sighed deeply.
As she silently waited for her grandfather to appear—
“Hey.”
A low, irritated voice sounded above her.
Strange. She had checked—no one was nearby.
“What are you doing here?”
She flinched and turned around.
And there—
“Who are you to be here?”
A tall figure with black hair towered over her, casting a shadow.
Sharp eyes, relaxed smile, and pitch-black pupils of unfathomable depth.
‘Oh?’
Saeyi recognized him instantly.
“If someone asks you something,”
Ryu Do-gyeong, grandson of the chairman of Seohae Group.
“you should answer politely.”
The man Joo Sudeok wanted as his son-in-law.
“And isn’t that right, Joo Saeyi?”
He was also—
her childhood first love.
