Han Gong-ye was a more annoying place than middle school.
First of all, the students in my class were like that.
Most of them dreamed of working in the broadcasting and entertainment industry, so just by looking at them, they seemed loud.
On top of that, now that more people knew me, everyone started talking to me.
As a result, whenever I was at school, my eardrums felt like they were going to burst because of the loud voices of the kids swarming around me.
“Siyeon, let’s take a picture together!”
“Wow, Siyeon is really pretty!”
“Siyeon, what do you think of Jeon Ji-won sunbae? Is she really scary in person?”
“I’m so jealous that you acted in a movie with Jung Woo-sun sunbae~ Do you think I can be like that too?”
“Hey, Kim Siyeon. Do you have a boyfriend?”
Well, at this age, there was probably no one in the entertainment industry with more achievements than me.
But when did these kids even see them to be calling Jeon Ji-won and Jung Woo-sun ‘sunbae’?
“Siyeon, can I post this picture on Outstar?”
“Outstar?”
“Yeah. These days, everyone uses this instead of Facebook.”
Outstar, huh? It was an SNS focused on pictures, and it didn’t seem bad.
As an actress, doing this kind of activity didn’t seem like a bad idea either.
I thought I might try it out later.
Anyway, Han Gong-ye was an exhausting place.
On top of that, Ji-young kept nagging me to manage my image, so I couldn’t just ignore those kids completely.
She told me not to pick fights with people in the same industry like I did with Jeon Ji-won.
She had a point, so I couldn’t just tell the clinging kids to go away.
“But are you really not going to do Daehan Gong? Hanari sunbae keeps looking for you every day.”
“Yeah. I’m not doing it. Once I start a project, I won’t be coming to school much anyway.”
“Wow… That’s so cool, Siyeon!”
“I failed my interview this time… sigh.”
And then there were the annoying kids from Daehan Gong.
Why were they so persistent about a club?
I thought I was lucky that the pink-haired one didn’t show up today, but that was just my misconception.
Screech—
“Kim Siyeon, come out.”
Right on cue, the Daehan Gong kids came looking for me again.
This time, the curly-haired one who called me during the entrance ceremony was with them.
“I don’t want to.”
I said while sitting in my seat.
I really didn’t like that curly-haired guy.
With a slightly crumpled expression, the curly-haired guy walked in.
“Join our club.”
“No. I already told your senior.”
“If you don’t want to get beaten up, just join.”
“Hi, hiik—”
Hanari, who was beside me, let out a frightened squeal and stepped back.
This wasn’t a pleasant situation.
I was already in a bad mood after losing to Jeon Ji-won, and now I had to deal with people just a year or two older than me looking down on me.
If it were my past life, I would have handled everything with skill.
Lately, I was getting more and more annoyed at this world where I couldn’t do that.
“You look like you’re about to punch me. Go ahead.”
“You little—”
Thud—
“Ahhh!”
The curly-haired guy reached out his arm toward me.
I grabbed it and flipped him over.
It looked like he knew some judo, but his movements were obvious to me.
Just as I was about to tell him to disappear, a video played on the TV.
It was an interview from Seorim Arts High School’s Han Seo-jeon.
“-No matter what, Seorim Arts High School will definitely win in theater.”
It was a familiar voice.
“Oh. It’s Chae-young.”
In the video, Chae-young was provoking Han Gong-ye.
So she didn’t come to Han Gong-ye and chose Seorim Arts High School instead.
“-Rather than that person, I’m better at acting.”
I immediately knew that comment was directed at me.
I also understood why Chae-young chose Seorim Arts High School instead of Han Gong-ye.
It didn’t feel good seeing an old friend make that kind of face toward me.
Memories of spending time with Chae-young since kindergarten flashed through my mind, and an indescribable feeling made my chest uncomfortable.
“…I’ll do it. The play.”
“…What?”
“I said, I’ll join the theater club.”
Curly-haired and Hanari looked at me with dumbfounded expressions.
It was a chance to see my old friend again—of course, I had to take it.
After transferring, Chae-young had been constantly working on various projects.
She gritted her teeth and went through auditions, taking every opportunity she could.
Her sole goal was to surpass Siyeon.
Meanwhile, Siyeon starred in The Watchers, which surpassed 10 million viewers, making her one of the few actors to have appeared in two films that crossed that milestone.
Even among all actors, only a handful had such an achievement.
Siyeon had only acted in two films, yet both surpassed 10 million viewers.
The gap between them felt wider and wider, but Chae-young didn’t stop.
She had to become more famous, thinking about how Siyeon had once humiliated her and Hye-won.
And by the time she became a high school student—
Of course, Chae-young had planned to go to Han Gong-ye.
“Ji-young and Chae-young are going to Han Gong-ye, right?”
Hye-won, who met Ji-hyun, relayed the news about them.
After hearing that, Chae-young changed her mind and chose Seorim Arts High School instead.
She didn’t want to attend the same school as those two.
And after entering Seorim Arts High School, she heard an interesting piece of news.
“This year’s Seohan-jeon is going to be made into a documentary.”
“A documentary? About what?”
“Not long ago, there was a drama called Dream School or Dream High Up that was really popular.
Because of that, they thought it would be interesting to produce something about art high school students competing against each other.
I heard it’s going to be aired on KAS, so we absolutely have to win this year.”
The upcoming showdown between Seorim Arts High School and Han Gong-ye.
The fact that Seohan-jeon would be broadcast as a documentary on KAS.
Chae-young had already joined Seorim Theater Company, the largest theater club at Seorim Arts High School.
‘Siyeon will definitely appear too. With her skills, even if she doesn’t want to, people will call her from all directions.’
There was no doubt that Siyeon would be chosen as Han Gong-ye’s theater representative.
Most likely as the lead.
Even though she was a first-year, Siyeon’s skills were beyond a student’s level.
Han Gong-ye also had Daehan Gong, a theater club on par with Seorim Theater Company.
“Sunbae, can I audition for the lead role in Seohan-jeon this time?”
So, despite being a first-year, Chae-young arrogantly applied for the lead role.
If she wanted to go up against Siyeon, she couldn’t settle for a supporting role.
She had to be the lead. She had to stand at the same level as Siyeon.
And in the end, Chae-young won the lead role purely on skill.
It was the result of all the blood, sweat, and tears she had put in.
Some seniors gave her resentful looks, but she didn’t care.
Next came even more grueling practice.
She had to beat Siyeon.
She had to show herself triumphing over Siyeon in the documentary.
That way, the entire country would focus on her.
The actress who defeated Siyeon, who had won Best New Actress for her first film.
She could take all the attention away from Siyeon.
At some point, Chae-young stopped questioning why she was so obsessed with beating Siyeon.
Siyeon had ruined her path first.
And on top of that, Siyeon kept rising higher and higher, making Chae-young jealous.
“…You want me to play this role?”
“Yeah! Yoorim sunbae kept the lead role open just for you!”
Hanari grinned as she spoke.
Meanwhile, after scanning the script, my expression wasn’t exactly bright.
Of course, it wasn’t a huge issue, but—
“…This is a male role.”
I never thought I’d say something like this.
But the protagonist of this script was male.
Of course, in my past life, I was male, but now I was female. It wasn’t a problem, but…
“Yoorim sunbae said you would suit a male role better. Not sure why, though.”
Was she unexpectedly perceptive?
Strictly speaking, the character wasn’t a complete male.
He had a male body but identified as female.
By day, he worked as a knight, and by night, he performed in a theater troupe.
It was called drag, where someone performed as a different gender in a play.
Normally, drag wasn’t done by people with gender identity confusion.
It was more common for fully cisgender men to dress flamboyantly and exaggerate femininity.
But the drag in Shin Yoorim’s script was a little different.
I could tell exactly what the script was trying to express.
“Well, at least half the time, you’ll be playing a female role, right?”
“…Yeah. I’ll do it.”
What I didn’t like was that this play was more like a musical.
Because of that, the actors were practicing singing more than acting.
Still, the fact that a high school senior had written a musical was enough to prove Shin Yoorim’s talent.
Either way, I also had to practice singing and dancing.
That wasn’t hard for me.
I had played similar roles in my past life.
In fact, I was more familiar with stage plays like this.
“…Siyeon, is this really your first time doing theater?”
“Yes.”
“But your vocal projection… I guess actors really are different.”
“Sunbae, you’re an actor too.”
“I mean, I only played a minor role once. But you…”
As practice continued, people reacted in disbelief.
Even the seniors who initially didn’t acknowledge me had no choice but to recognize me over time.
And now, Seohan-jeon was about to begin.
The documentary about it was going to be aired on KAS.
That news worried me a little because it meant I would be directly compared to Chae-young, the lead from Seorim Arts High School.
Of course, I had to win the competition.
But Chae-young had openly provoked me.
Normally, I would have won without hesitation.
Yet, for some reason, when it came to Chae-young, I didn’t feel entirely at ease.
After long and grueling rehearsals, Seohan-jeon finally began.