Chapter 20

Finally, quitting time.

Only then did Aunt Jeong-hui, who’d been on set the whole time, sidle up next to me.

“You were actually really good. Though the second the camera’s off, you’re still green as anything.”

“……I thought you’d already left.”

“I told you I was here to watch. Standing in that corner nearly made my hair fall out.”

Honestly, I’d scanned the crew and hadn’t spotted her, so I’d been relaxing under the assumption she’d gone home already.

“I hate corners wherever I go, and still I gritted my teeth and stayed in one. And whose fault is that?”

“Mine?”

“If the person a rookie brought along went wandering around in plain sight, you think I’d spit in your face like that?”

……So there’d been a deeper reason after all. I’d just assumed she was tired and resting in the corner.

Touched, I looked at her with eyes gone a little misty, and Aunt Jeong-hui recoiled, avoiding my gaze.

Is she actually pleased?

Looking closer, it wasn’t real disgust — more like she was putting on an act of disgust.

“Thank you.”

“Wh-what, over something that small!”

“Heh……”

When I leaned in a little closer, she seemed to push me off at first, but then quietly let me stay — that alone proved it.

Like a cat that secretly enjoyed its butler’s touch, maybe.

“Ugh, get off!”

“Okaay.”

“I said get off, not get all the way over there! Come back here!”

“Yes ma’am.”

Because of my uncle, I’d always assumed the elders of the Joo family were nothing but frightening — but that wasn’t true.

Aunt Jeong-hui might be prickly on the outside, but underneath, she’s actually warm.

Thinking about it, she’d been like that from the very start.

If she hadn’t shown up the time Secretary Park Cheol-won blocked my way on my uncle’s orders, I might never have gotten my grandfather’s backing at all.

Now that I thought of it, when exactly had Secretary Park turned away from my uncle……

I was fairly sure it had happened before I came of age.

Should I bring Secretary Park over to my side?

Secretary Park was competent. The proof was simple: no matter the temper my uncle was known for, Secretary Park had never once been let go, always kept close at hand.

Not to mention, Secretary Park had good enough judgment to turn away after witnessing just how tyrannical my uncle really was.

Leaving someone like that to keep serving a thug like my uncle was a waste.

Whether I brought Secretary Park over to my side, or got Grandfather to notice and welcomed Secretary Park into the Chairman’s own treasure box of talent…… I’d need to make a move soon.

Putting an end to my wandering thoughts, I promptly claimed the seat beside Aunt Jeong-hui that she’d just allowed me.

“That was Byeon Seo-jun, right? The one you fought with.”

“Ah, yes!”

“He had it out with you and shot up overnight. His pace is solid too — he’ll land a lead role before long.”

In my first life, Byeon Seo-jun hadn’t landed his big break until after I’d come of age — a male lead role in a romance drama everyone else had turned down, which ended up a massive hit.

If Aunt Jeong-hui’s eye for talent — the same eye Seong Hye-sim trusted — meant that timeline got pushed up, I couldn’t help feeling pleased for no particular reason.

“I wasn’t sure at first, but it really is you, Jeong-hui! Here to watch Sae-i, I take it?”

Speak of the devil — the moment I thought of her, Seong Hye-sim spotted Aunt Jeong-hui and came running over to us.

“Hye-sim, got any more on your schedule today?”

“Mm, this is it for today.”

Seong Hye-sim checked her schedule and answered Aunt Jeong-hui’s question.

“Good. Ride home with me, then.”

“Then let me send my manager off first. Wait here, Jeong-hui.”

Just like that, Seong Hye-sim ended up riding along with us too.

Watching them, I thought I understood why the two of them were close. Seong Hye-sim seemed to take Aunt Jeong-hui’s spontaneity in stride.

I got in the car first and waited a moment before Seong Hye-sim finally climbed into the passenger seat.

Perfect combination. Aunt Jeong-hui muttered it under her breath, humming to herself as she started the engine.

Before long, Seong Hye-sim caught her breath and turned around to speak to me.

“How was your first day of filming?”

“Don’t even ask. I thought it wasn’t even her first shoot, the way she went at it with a senior.”

While I was still mulling over the day’s filming, Aunt Jeong-hui cut in with the answer.

“Went at it with a senior? Ah, you mean Byeon Seo-jun?”

“I saw her drag him off too.”

“Thanks to Sae-i, Byeon Seo-jun got some good experience out of it.”

“If you ask me, that boy owes my niece a meal, several times over. And it has to be at a restaurant on the luxury floor of our department store, no exceptions.”

……Isn’t that just good for Aunt Jeong-hui’s sales?

Recognizing it for one of Aunt Jeong-hui’s jokes, Seong Hye-sim laughed lightly. Then she turned her gaze back to me. She seemed to want my answer now, too.

“My first day of filming……”

Day and night, I’d looked forward to it; day and night, I’d worried over it too — my first real performance.

It had turned out more eventful than I’d expected, but it was a valuable experience. I’d gotten to meet good seniors, and I’d heard plenty of praise.

Above everything else, it had finally sunk in — the camera was capturing my Yeon Do-yeon.

I’d always been the one watching other people’s acting through a television screen.

Now there were people to show my own acting to.

The thought that, if I waited, I’d someday get to introduce Do-yeon to the public through a television screen made me so happy……

I couldn’t put the feeling into words.

“I just…… love acting so much.”

All I could do was let out that simple thought.

“I kept thinking, over and over, that it was the right choice to become an actress……”

The sincerity packed into those few words would surely get across, somehow.

Seong Hye-sim, waiting on Joo Sae-i’s answer, froze the moment she heard it.

While Sae-i had mulled over her answer, countless thoughts must have passed through that small head of hers — everything she’d been through on set, the mood of the place.

Because I was the same way, once.

There had been a time, long ago, when just thinking of the set had made a young Seong Hye-sim’s heart race.

Her thoughts after her first shoot, her first real performance — her acting teacher back then, a great senior, had asked her the very same question.

Back then, Hye-sim had agonized over it for a long, long time, just as Sae-i was doing now, before finally managing to say one thing.

I love acting so much, teacher.

It was the exact same answer Sae-i had just given about her own first shoot.

Seong Hye-sim swept her gaze over Sae-i in surprise. A body that hadn’t lost its energy despite how exhausting the day must have been, a face brimming with life. And on top of that……

Her eyes are shining.

As Joo Sae-i spoke of how much she loved acting, how glad she was she’d started this work, her eyes shone brighter than stars.

So this is how a dreaming child’s eyes shine. Hye-sim marveled at it.

Did I look like this to my teacher back then, too, I wonder…… Did I shine the same way Sae-i does now?

Out of nowhere, she found herself missing her teacher, who was off recuperating somewhere due to old age.

Thinking that she should introduce this girl to her teacher sometime soon, Seong Hye-sim secretly wiped at the corner of her eyes with her sleeve.

Maybe it was the tension finally draining out of me.

After answering Seong Hye-sim, I used Aunt Jeong-hui and her chatting as background noise and fell fast asleep.

I didn’t come to my senses until we’d actually arrived at Seong Hye-sim’s house. I scrambled to say my goodbyes, and she answered with a gentle smile.

“Sae-i, go on and sleep more. You worked hard today — filming, and scolding Byeon Seo-jun on top of it.”

“Hold on, before you go.”

Aunt Jeong-hui caught her just as she was about to get out after accepting my goodbye.

“Why’s she still keeping it so formal with you, ‘Sae-i’ and all that, when she calls me like we’re practically sisters? Isn’t that a little funny?”

“Th-that’s right! You can speak casually with me!”

Honestly, I’d been thinking it was about time I brought it up myself, but Aunt Jeong-hui beat me to it. I quickly backed her up.

Seong Hye-sim hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking.

“Then could I ask for one thing in return?”

What on earth is she about to ask for?

I knew she wasn’t the type to ask for anything difficult, and still, I tensed up.

“‘Senior’ is such a common thing to be called……”

“……”

“Earlier, you called me ‘teacher’ when you were talking to Byeon Seo-jun.”

No way.

“Would you call me that from now on? Teacher?”

For a moment, I nearly clapped a hand over my mouth with a gasp.

To get to call the great actress who’d recognized my worth — in my last life, and in this one — my teacher.

Part of me thought it was too much for someone like me, but another part knew that if I didn’t take this chance now, I might never get another one.

“……Thank you, always, Teacher.”

I decided to accept the offer before I could talk myself out of it.

Seong Hye-sim — no…… my teacher — got out of the car looking satisfied with my answer. I watched her retreating figure for a long while.

Aunt Jeong-hui, noticing me, let out a short laugh.

“Your neck’s going to fall off, watching her like that. If you like her that much, why not just be Hye-sim’s niece instead?”

“I like being your niece just fine.”

“You think that line’s going to work on me?”

It seems like it’s working just fine, actually.

“……Just come collect your allowance later.”

It worked.

Looking a little embarrassed herself, Aunt Jeong-hui wasted no time changing the subject to allowance money.

“Ahem. Does your father give you a decent allowance?”

“I don’t really spend much……”

“You’re nothing like Su-yeon! If you go to Yeongpung High, the kids there won’t even realize you’re my niece.”

Wait.

“What did you just say……”

“Hm? You, Yeongpung High……”

……Right. The school I’d transferred to.

School was starting again!