Chapter 16:
Summer Film’s New Face (2)
The moment I arrived at school the next day, I called Haein outside.
Haein approached me with an innocent expression, as if she had no idea what was going on.
I played the video I had recorded yesterday.
As she watched it, her face gradually stiffened right before my eyes. Exactly. If you had even the slightest conscience, there was no way you could watch this and smile, right?
“H-How did you get this…?”
“Because I was trapped in there.”
“Huh? Jeong Semin was definitely there yesterday. I clearly heard someone moving around!”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake. That was me!”
Good grief. Perhaps flustered by my interrogation, Na Haein began spilling everything that had happened yesterday. She seemed surprised by her own words and clapped a hand over her mouth.
A little too late for that, don’t you think?
“You immediately brought up Semin’s name. So you really were trying to lock her up.”
“That’s not it…”
“What would you have done if my blood sugar had dropped and I’d passed out? What if I’d gotten so cold that my face became paralyzed? Huh?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that to you.”
“If you didn’t mean to do it to me, then it would have been okay to do it to Semin?”
My question caught Haein completely off guard, and she pressed her lips tightly together.
I already had too little time to make Eunho the male lead.
If Haein also became a villain and started bullying Semin, it would only strengthen the bond between Semin and Dogyeom.
That might have been acceptable in the original Welcome! Summer Film, but in the version of Welcome! Summer Film where I existed, there was no need for Haein’s cruelty.
“Don’t mess with Semin.”
“…What?”
“If you lay a finger on Semin, I’ll release this entire video and report you all to the school violence committee. Consider this a warning from your class president.”
“Y-Yerim…”
“And you’re already bright and wonderful in your own way. I like your writing, too.”
“…How do you know about that?”
The reason Haein had started bullying Semin was the writing competition.
Back in middle school, Haein had expected to win first place in the competition. When Semin took the top spot instead, Haein became jealous and began bullying her.
I supposed it was understandable, in a way. Haein’s parents were professors in the Korean literature department. With parents who were both writers, she must have felt enormous pressure herself.
In the original story, the two girls continued competing in writing contests after entering high school, just as they had in middle school.
And, of course, Semin kept winning first place.
“Semin and you each have your own unique strengths. You know better than anyone that her talent doesn’t make yours any less valuable, right?”
“……”
Haein’s eyes trembled wildly.
But regardless of what she was feeling, there was another reason I couldn’t simply overlook her bullying.
“Please. I can’t stand seeing someone get… bullied, not even in this world.”
\*
“Yerim!”
On my way to the cafeteria, I heard Semin calling me from a distance.
She must have run all the way over because, by the time I turned around, she was breathing heavily.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“No, I just… I didn’t get a chance to ask if you were okay yesterday.”
“Oh, I’m fine. What happened yesterday?”
“Well…”
According to Semin, she had gone to the library and received an errand from the librarian. She was supposed to go down to the underground stacks to retrieve some books when…
‘Huh? Why won’t this open?’
The door to the underground stacks was notoriously loose and frequently malfunctioned. Unfortunately, it broke down right when Semin went inside.
The librarian had asked her to drop off the books on her way back to the classroom, so she had no idea Semin was trapped.
“Then you were trapped, too?!”
At my question, Semin nodded.
She hadn’t even brought her phone with her, so she would have been completely stuck down there.
Of course… that wasn’t what had happened in the end. Semin was the heroine of this world, after all.
“Then the person who found you was…”
“Yes, Dogyeom found me. As soon as I got out, I went back to the classroom with him.”
So Dogyeom had made his move after all.
The story hadn’t changed. No matter how hard I tried to alter things, Dogyeom had still managed to find Semin trapped somewhere—this time in the underground library stacks instead of the supply room.
Semin told me that, on their way back to the classroom, Dogyeom had said something strange.
Apparently, even after the bell rang, both Semin and I were still missing from our seats, so the teacher had gone looking for us.
When Semin returned to the classroom and saw that my bag was still the only thing hanging by my desk, she had grown suspicious and started searching for me.
“Then a boy came looking for you. When I told him you might be trapped in the supply room in the annex, he looked so shocked that he immediately ran over there. He told us we didn’t need to follow him, so we stayed behind. I’m really sorry. You got trapped there because of me…”
“No, it’s fine. It couldn’t be helped! You didn’t do it on purpose. By any chance, was that boy… Bae Eunho?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Just as I had expected, Semin and Dogyeom had been looking for me. Eunho had seen them searching and rushed to the supply room.
After hearing Semin apologize over and over, I reassured her that she didn’t need to feel guilty and took her hand.
But that wasn’t all I wanted to know.
“By the way, Eunho… What did you think of him?”
“Huh?”
At my sudden question, Semin scratched her forehead. She looked flustered, as though she had never even considered the question of what she thought about that boy.
“I mean, you know he has a bit of a reputation, right? You’ve heard the rumors, haven’t you?”
“Ah, yes…”
“When you actually saw him, was he even scarier than you expected…?”
“Ah…”
Semin began glancing around, checking to see if anyone nearby was listening to our conversation.
Watching her, I felt my heart start pounding.
I had no idea what Eunho had said to Semin yesterday, but judging by her reaction, there was a high probability that their first impression hadn’t gone well.
“No, he was okay. And he was kind of unexpected, actually.”
“Unexpected?”
“When he was looking for you, he seemed really worried. At first, he approached me so suddenly that he scared me a little… but when I saw him running off to find you, I thought he seemed like a pretty nice person.”
Oh. My. God.
This was a development I had never imagined.
Unlike in the original story, where Semin had been afraid of Eunho, she was now saying that he seemed like a nice person!
My efforts were finally paying off. I could practically feel tears of joy welling up in my eyes.
Then Semin fidgeted with her lips before finally speaking.
“Would you… like to have lunch with me?”
“Huh?”
“I actually… wanted to become friends with you.”
At my favorite character’s development, I was already overwhelmed with emotion. And now my second favorite character was telling me she wanted to be friends with me…
Was there any fan who wouldn’t cry?
I nodded enthusiastically without the slightest hesitation.
With our arms linked, Semin and I headed toward the cafeteria.
“I saw your application to join Summer Film. You really love movies, don’t you?”
“No, not really. My parents run a video rental store, so I’ve just naturally grown up watching movies.”
I knew, I knew!
Her parents would eventually close their business as the world transitioned into the age of streaming platforms, but when I was young, I used to rent movies from video stores, too.
“I’m similar to you. My dad is the CEO of a film production company, so I’ve watched lots of movies, too. Scene by Scene. Have you heard of it?”
I had brought up my father to make small talk, but Semin’s expression changed slightly.
She fidgeted with her fingers before speaking first.
“Actually… I already knew. That you’re the daughter of Scene by Scene’s CEO.”
“Really?”
Today’s school lunch menu was spaghetti.
Huh? That was strange. I was sure that when I checked the menu yesterday, it had said cherry blossom bibimbap…
I looked at the notices posted on the cafeteria walls and doors.
“Due to an ingredient supply issue in the cafeteria, today’s menu has been changed to tomato spaghetti.”
It seemed the menu had changed along with the story.
Originally, today was supposed to be the day Semin and Eunho first met after she accidentally spilled cherry blossom bibimbap on him.
But because of me, the two of them had already met.
Seeing with my own eyes that the story could change when the protagonists took action made me feel as though things might actually become easier from now on.
Semin and I joined the line with the other students and picked up our lunch trays.
A serving of spaghetti noodles followed by a generous helping of bright red tomato sauce landed on our trays.
Semin turned toward me with the brightest expression I’d seen on her so far.
“Yes, so that’s why I wanted to— Whoa!”
It happened in an instant.
Semin’s lunch tray flew through the air, completing a full turn and another half-spin.
Every student eating in the cafeteria turned to stare at the tray.
It spun around and around before landing squarely on someone’s head.
Semin and I both clapped our hands over our mouths.
I was sure every other student in the cafeteria had done the same.
I hurriedly searched for Haein.
In the original story, Haein had tripped Semin.
But Haein was eating with her friends near the cafeteria entrance.
She had turned around at the commotion, but she was nowhere near close enough to have tripped Semin.
Then… had Semin simply tripped over her own feet?
That made no sense.
“Even when I try to change the story… it still ends up the same.”
No matter how hard I tried to change the plot, events kept unfolding in exactly the same way.
Even when I gave Dogyeom directions to the teachers’ office instead of Semin, Dogyeom still saw Semin on the rooftop and fell in love with her at first sight.
And even when I got trapped in the supply room in Semin’s place, Semin still ended up trapped in the underground library stacks and was rescued by Dogyeom.
Which meant that even though Eunho and Semin had already met yesterday, and the cafeteria menu had changed as a result, the tray Semin had thrown…
“…I-I threw it at Bae Eunho…”
It was still destined to fly straight at Bae Eunho.
