Pen and Paper Translations

Before heading to Pureum Entertainment, I stopped by Seonghyeon Productions first to show Junseong the newly added concept for the character.

“Why is your hair like that?”

Looking at my hair, Junseong stared as if it were strange.

Like me yesterday, he had stuck with a shag cut for years.

“I’m trying to lead a trend for once.”

My hair was a two block with both sides cleanly shaved.

It was the decision I made to salvage a half-buzzed head somehow.

“Oh really? I don’t see any world where side hair flapping like curtains becomes a trend.”

“With eyes that blind to the times…”

After giving me a weird look, he said,

“Just give me the script. How much did you change?”

The moment he got the revisions, he read straight through as if intrigued.

“Wow, this got more fun. Smells like money all over it. Especially this character, the detail really pops now.”

“Right?”

He was smiling, then suddenly asked with a serious face,

“But how’s Kwak Yeonji’s acting?”

“It got really good.”

Hearing my answer, he let out a sigh of relief.

“If you say it got good, then it did.”

“I’ve got a test today, anyway. I’m going.”

At that, he looked at me, worried.

“A test?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell you the result when it’s out.”

“What kind of test?”

“You’ll see at the final audition. I’m going.”

“At least tell me what—”

Bang!

I shut the office door and sprinted full speed to my car.

I was too curious to wait even a moment to see how Kwak Yeonji looked.

Whether the style I had imagined had completely merged with her…

With a heart half excited and half anxious, I arrived at Pureum Entertainment.

No sooner had I gotten out of the car than Go Sangwoo came running like mad.

Seeing my hair, he asked, puzzled,

“Director! Uh, your hair…?”

“Is it weird?”

“No, it’s fine. It looks really clean. Haha…”

And behind him I saw Kwak Yeonji, hair cut short.

“Oh…”

It was a look that drew admiration first, naturally.

Even with the shorter hair, there was no awkwardness about her at all.

If anything, it suited her perfectly.

It made me regret that this was 2003.

If she had that look in the 2020s, she would have been hailed as a goddess on YouTube and pulled in millions of views.

“Is this enough for you? But if you were going to change to hair like that… didn’t you scam me? You put on a show from the start just to make me do this, right!”

The moment she saw my hair, Yeonji spoke in a peevish tone, as if aggrieved.

“A show? You think I planned on you stopping me? You stopped me and listened, that’s why I ended up with this cut. If you hadn’t, I would have shaved it all.”

“Your words are…”

She trailed off, then broke into a bright smile.

With the straggly side hair gone, her dimples stood out even more.

Seeing that cool noon-shade smile, I couldn’t help but smile too.

“There’s really no time now. Let’s rehearse.”

“Yes!”

As soon as she started, Yeonji dropped into the role and delivered a strong performance.

It was enough to make me wonder if this was the same person who had been joking moments ago; suddenly her eyes were lit with anger.

Maybe because her hair exposed her neck, the veins stood out clear there, making her emotion even more pronounced.

When the scene ended, she looked at me, breathing hard.

“Want to watch the recording?”

“Yes!”

She answered brightly, scampered over, and looked at the monitor.

Watching herself act in immersion, a smile naturally grew at her lips.

“I’m glad the hair suits you too.”

“Weren’t you sure it would suit me when you told me to do it?”

“I knew it would suit you, but…”

“Why are you trailing off? Sunbae! You told me to do this when you weren’t even sure?”

I had known it would suit her to a degree, but I hadn’t thought it would suit her this well.

“Should I go back to calling you ‘Director-nim’ like when I first came here? You’re getting a little scary now.”

“That bus has already left.”

Yeonji playfully widened her eyes, and I grinned at the sight.

“The voice is okay too, right?”

“Yes… it’s all thanks to you, sunbae.”

“It’s thanks to you doing well. Let’s grind hard for just five more days—no, we’ll be grinding through the shoot too, so a few months of pain.”

“Yes, sunbae!”

It felt like she had cut something besides her hair. Her personality seemed to have shifted a little.

Brighter, maybe?

Before, she’d often been too deferential, but now her self-esteem seemed much higher; she was the one to start teasing, flashing a crisp smile.

---

A few days later, on the day of the final audition.

Even though she had practiced late into the night, Yeonji’s eyes popped open first thing in the morning.

It had been two weeks since she’d woken up on the folding cot in the corner of the practice room.

As soon as she got up, she naturally started the day by washing her face in the agency bathroom.

After a moment, once she finished getting ready, she heard Go Sangwoo calling from behind the door.

“Ready to go to the salon?”

“Yes!”

She packed every weapon for becoming Lee Sohee.

Makeup that could make a strong impression, and hairstyling.

“Today came out perfect, right? Go knock ’em dead!”

At the staffer’s words, Yeonji smiled, and Go Sangwoo gave a satisfied thumbs-up.

When they reached the area around Seonghyeon Productions, Yeonji seemed a bit tense. She closed her eyes, reciting lines and even calculating how to move her body.

“We’re here. Let’s get out.”

As she got out of the car, of all people, the last person she wanted to see came into view.

“Huh…?”

Lee Seobin stared blankly for a beat at Yeonji’s completely changed look, apparently thrown.

Then she suddenly grabbed her stomach and laughed.

“Wow, unnie. Did you break up with someone? What’s with your hair? So Lee Sohee wears a wig and you’re going to wear one right now too? What will you do if you fail the audition?”

Even at her sneer, Yeonji wore an easy smile.

At the look on Yeonji’s face that said, Which dog is barking?, Seobin’s face flushed red.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Do I need your permission to laugh?”

“Damn…”

Yeonji glanced once at Seobin’s clenched fist, as if finding it funny, then swept past.

“A girl who can’t even act sure is trying hard! Guess she doesn’t know the outcome’s decided anyway!”

At Seobin’s shout, Go Sangwoo fumed beside her, but Yeonji was unfazed.

“Yeonji, do great today. You’re going to do great.”

“I know.”

“…?”

He looked at the smile hanging at the corner of her mouth.

Seeing that smile, he, too, relaxed and beamed.

Kwak Yeonji and Lee Seobin.

The two sat in the meeting room without a word and waited.

Before long, Gyeong Chanhyeon, Lee Junseong, and Park Junsik came in.

“For this audition we’ll let you watch each other’s performances and judge. We have no desire to wear the stigma of having taken bribes.”

At Junseong’s words, Seobin ground her teeth.

“We’ll see Ms. Lee Seobin first.”

“Yes!”

When Seobin began, the “nation’s fairy” disappeared at once and the vicious Seobin appeared.

She really is good…

Watching her, Yeonji understood why Seobin occupied a different tier from her in the film world.

And her acting chemistry with Park Junsik was solid.

A push and pull back and forth.

Their acting turned Seonghyeon’s meeting room into a stage in an instant.

“That’s it.”

At Junseong’s call, Yeonji snapped to.

It felt like it was over in a flash.

It wasn’t a performance to explore as an actor; it was one that made you focus as an audience member.

“Good work. Ms. Lee Seobin, your acting’s improved.”

“Yes, thank you, Director Gyeong.”

At Gyeong Chanhyeon’s words, Yeonji grew more nervous.

As the praise for Seobin poured on, she decided to clear her head and closed her eyes.

“Ms. Kwak Yeonji?”

At Junseong’s voice, Yeonji opened her eyes, and Seobin spoke with a worried face.

“Unnie, are you okay? You’re not sick, right?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

With that short answer, Yeonji stood.

As she walked forward, Junseong watched her with an impressed look.

Then he murmured something to Gyeong.

“Ready?”

“Yes, I’m ready.”

“Then let’s go right into it.”

Still seated, Park Junsik started the lines first.

“I can give you as much money as you want. Name your price.”

“Money? Do I look like money is what I need right now?”

Yeonji gave him a cold smile and looked at him.

Then she rose from her chair, walked toward him, and pulled a pen from her pocket.

“With what I have recorded here, I can pull in tens of billions. You think I’m doing this for money? You’re dead wrong.”

“You think saying that will work? How long are you going to cosplay as an ethical reporter? We’re both trash.”

At his words, Yeonji placed a hand on his shoulder with an even more natural ease and said,

“Even trash has ranks.”

It was the part Director Gyeong had emphasized in particular.

An ambiguous emotional line.

Disgust, empathy, anger, cynicism.

At first, the instruction to blend emotions that could not mix made no sense to her.

But she understood.

Her feelings about Lee Seobin.

Because those feelings were like that.

When they finished, Park Junsik returned to the judges’ table.

Behind them, Seobin stared at Yeonji with eyes wide, as if quite shocked by her performance.

But Yeonji did not so much as glance at her, crossed her legs, and sat back down.

Did I do well?

Yeonji wondered for an instant.

If Seobin is reacting like that… it means she did well…

With a feeling she couldn’t name, Yeonji waited for the evaluation.

“Uh… I don’t know if ‘improved’ is the right word.”

Junseong spoke with a frown.

At that, Yeonji seemed to steady her breath, nervous.

“It’s more like the person herself has changed. Really excellent work.”

The praise flowed without stopping from Junseong.

Only after Gyeong nudged him carefully with an elbow did he catch on and stop.

Next was Gyeong’s assessment.

“As expected… she was simply Lee Sohee. It could not have been better.”

Short, but exactly the words she had wanted to hear. Yeonji nodded with a pleased smile.

“It was perfect. Completely different from when we ran lines the other time. I actually worried I might break your immersion while acting with you. The immersion was incredible, Ms. Kwak.”

With Park Junsik’s evaluation, too, it was praise she had never heard in her life.

Perhaps because she had rarely been praised for her acting in settings like this, Yeonji felt dazed as the compliments kept pouring down.

When that moment passed and she returned to her seat, Junseong cleared his throat a few times and said,

“Uh… results will go out this Friday. Whatever the outcome, both of you worked very hard.”

---

When the audition ended and the two actresses left the meeting room, Junseong looked at me and said,

“Hey, what on earth…”

“What?”

“What did you do in two weeks? This is a scam. I mean it makes no sense. She’s even better than at the third audition!”

At his words, Junsik hyung nodded beside him.

“I told you I’d take responsibility. I did what it took.”

“You can do that in two weeks? And she cut her hair to look like Lee Sohee… At first, I didn’t think it was Kwak Yeonji.”

“Me too… Ms. Yeonji isn’t the same as then. She’s a completely different person. Her presence is way stronger, and the aura she gives off is different.”

Junsik clicked his tongue in amazement as he spoke.

Their reactions made me quietly proud.

“Anyway, great work. This film… it’s got a real shot. We’ll announce results on Friday and…”

He trailed off mid-sentence, then looked at me and broke into a wide grin.

“Atta boy, my kid. I was so worried we’d have to use Kim Mujin’s people. See these dark circles? I got them in two weeks, man.”

“Yours are always dark.”

“They’re worse now!”