Chapter 21: Meme and Actor

Drip, drip, drip.

Seated at a table in the café, Lee Min-joo hurriedly took a sip of her iced Americano.

The sudden hot weather made her crave a cool coffee all the more.

“Ahh, nothing beats a café.”

She felt a little sorry for Earth, but she liked how cafés turned on the air conditioner early, even before it seemed necessary.

At Home, the moment she turned on the air conditioner, Mother would be right there to smack her on the back.

“It’s seriously so hot during the day… What are people who work at Home supposed to do?”

Currently, Lee Min-joo was working as a web designer and was active as a freelancer.

Freelancer Activity was something many people envied, but this job had its own hardships.

One of those was, inevitably, the early summer Air Conditioner Issue.

“I need to cool down for a bit, so I’ll just slack off for exactly ten minutes before getting back to work.”

So, as usual, Lee Min-joo logged into Social Media Platform 2.

Min-joo had several Z Accounts.

One of them was the so-called ‘Meme Account’, where she’d upload images made from memorable scenes of dramas she liked.

Her image edits were so pretty that she was famous among drama Fans, and she had quite a few Followers.

“This is still getting retweets, huh.”

Her RT notifications were still blowing up on a post that was already over two years old.

It was a series of scenes from the melodrama , where the actor Han Yun-seong rose to huge popularity as the younger male lead—Min-joo had crafted the post by making fans out of the images.

The scene where Namju Han Yun-seong waits for Yeojoo at the Bus Stop,

The scene where Yeojoo runs toward Namju,

The moment when the two finally meet,

And then, the scene where they embrace against the backdrop of the Sea.

Along with the line, [When summer starts, let’s go… to the Sea.]

It was a popular drama, but thanks to Min-joo’s eye for emotional scenes and her beautiful edits, it really took off.

Even people who hadn’t watched the drama reacted to it, and the post had unintentionally become unexpected publicity for the show.

During Winter, people waiting for Summer; in Summer, people longing to go to the Sea kept commenting and sharing the post, never forgetting it.

Before she knew it, the RT count had surpassed thirty thousand.

Besides that, Min-joo had created countless Legend Memes.

So among actor Fans, many would hope that Min-joo would watch the dramas their favorite actors appeared in.

This was because she’d already stated that her standard for making Memes was strictly “only dramas she personally enjoyed.”

“I wasn’t a Han Yun-seong Fan, but was really good. It was pretty exciting, too.”

As a long-time drama geek, Min-joo was actually a Fan of Seon Min-gi.

So for Seon Min-gi’s dramas, she’d upload Memes regardless of whether they were fun or not.

She’d put far more effort into editing those images than with other dramas.

The fortunate thing was that, even so, it didn’t show that she was a Seon Min-gi Fan.

Because all of Seon Min-gi’s dramas were just that good, people didn’t think much of Min-joo uploading those Memes.

Not making Memes out of was, in fact, a decisive move to avoid revealing that she was a Seon Min-gi Fan.

“Honestly, would’ve been perfect for Meme-making… His face was on screen for almost two hours straight, in perfect condition, and he looked incredibly handsome.”

But Min-joo’s Account was for drama, not movie, Memes.

Besides, she wasn’t about to upload a movie she wouldn’t have watched if not a Fan, so she held back.

“This is just a hobby Account anyway, and there’s no rule saying I can’t show I’m a Min-gi Oppa Fan, but…”

As something of a Name Value among drama Fans, she preferred to hide her private side as much as possible.

After checking all her notifications, Min-joo logged into another Account.

This one was her Seon Min-gi Fan Account.

It was for interacting and sharing news with other Seon Min-gi Fans, but both Following and Follower counts hovered just above twenty.

Even counting the info Accounts that actively shared Seon Min-gi’s Schedules and such, there weren’t many Fans.

Compared to his public recognition, Seon Min-gi definitely didn’t have many Fans.

It’s not that one would expect an actor to have Idol-level Fan-dom, but even among actors, his Fan-dom was small.

“It’s probably an age thing, too.”

As a male actor, Seon Min-gi was at the age—late twenties, early thirties—when you’d expect to build a Fan-base.

But he only became known quite late.

Still, in these times when even ‘ajusshi’ actors can gain attention, his lack of a Fan-dom wasn’t just about age.

“To be honest, he doesn’t have the kind of Face that’s popular these days.”

While scrolling through the Timeline and liking a new photo of Seon Min-gi, Min-joo thought critically.

Seon Min-gi had strong, defined features.

He wasn’t a typical pretty boy, so his looks could be divisive.

But the way he transformed when acting was more than enough to captivate a long-time drama fan like Min-joo.

Most people only liked Seon Min-gi’s characters, and that was as far as it went—but Min-joo admired the way Seon Min-gi lived as an actor.

Even the brusque personality, another reason for his lack of Fans, was something she liked.

Even if he wasn’t sweet or demonstrative, the sincerity in his interviews—how he wanted to repay his Fans with good work—felt truly earnest.

“What’s this?”

Lost in thought while scrolling, Min-joo blinked quickly at a photo of Seon Min-gi she’d never seen before.

The previous picture had shown Seon Min-gi with coffee and a Lunchbox, proof of a support event from Fans for .

Min-joo had contributed a hefty sum to that, too.

Though the number of Fans was small, their devotion was high, so such support was possible.

Anyway, Seon Min-gi’s proof photos had always been unremarkable.

Manager Kim Nam-sun was famously bad at taking photos, so even his Face looked worse than in real life—plain, head-on shots.

But this new photo was different.

The coffee truck was there, with the banner at his side, just like usual, but…

“Is Oppa with other actors?”

Seon Min-gi had a good reputation with those he worked with.

But he didn’t have many close friends.

He wasn’t the type to easily get close to people, and even those who admired or liked him often found him hard to approach.

So photos of him with other actors, apart from official group shots, were rare.

“The only time he’d take photos together was at wrap parties… Isn’t this the first time he’s taken photos with other actors so early in a shoot?”

“And it actually looks good.”

Maybe another Staff member took it, because the quality was leagues above Kim Nam-sun’s.

“Ju Hyo-jin and… huh, is that a dog?”

“Lee Jae-hyun?”

He was the Sub-male lead in , the very one who had rallied even the handful of Seon Min-gi Fans.

“His name was Kang Tae-ha, right.”

And it wasn’t just one photo.

Not only was there a shot of the three—Ju Hyo-jin included—but also a photo of just Tae-ha and Seon Min-gi.

It was a shot of Seon Min-gi handing Kang Tae-ha a Lunchbox, and Tae-ha bowing deeply in thanks.

You could feel the warm, friendly mood on set.

“They must have just met for the first time for this project, but to be playing around with Min-gi Oppa like this already…?”

For Min-joo, who’d watched Seon Min-gi for five years, it was surprising.

Other Fans seemed pretty pleasantly shocked, too.

Min-joo naturally tracked down the original source of the photo.

It was from Tae-ha’s MyStar Account.

There were four photos in total.

The first was Tae-ha’s Profile picture.

“What the… he’s kind of good-looking.”

She had assumed he’d just parachuted in as the Sub-male lead thanks to someone’s help.

But seeing the photo, she was struck by his refreshing aura.

His Face was genuinely handsome, too.

The next two photos were the ones Min-joo had just seen.

And the last one was another solo shot of Kang Tae-ha.

Sitting cross-legged on a rock, gazing at the sky.

It felt both natural and cute.

“This…”

She had a feeling a new boyfriend-meme master was about to be born.

After finishing the photos, she saw the text underneath.

[Hello, this is Kang Tae-ha. I’m currently filming ‘Heureojeo Itdeon Saramdeul.’ I’m just grateful to be working with such respected seniors, and today I even got a delicious meal. Maybe it’s because of the Fans’ love for the seniors, but the food tasted like honey. I ate heartily, so I’ll work even harder. I hope everyone eats well, sleeps well, and has a healthy day.]

It seemed he wrote it himself.

Given how rare long posts are on MyStar, it was a bit unusual, and while not particularly special, it had a subtly charming vibe.

“Did he run a spellcheck or something? Very tidy.”

Drawn in, Min-joo pressed Heart on the post and even followed Tae-ha’s Account.

And from his first post, she learned that Tae-ha had appeared in .

Almost unconsciously, Min-joo searched on the portal site, but was jolted back to reality by a Messenger notification.

[Min-joo-nim, haha, I think the first draft is best after all. Could you develop it from that version?]

With a short sigh, Min-joo set down her phone and turned to her notebook.

***

The industry buzzed with how good the filming atmosphere was for ; the shoot was going smoothly.

Meanwhile, the Netflix release date for was announced.

After finishing filming, in the car heading Home.

Im Chan-hyung checked the time and said,

“It should be up soon. Five minutes left.”

“Yaaawn… Ah, really?”

After a long, grueling Diligence starting from dawn, Tae-ha yawned deeply and rubbed his eyes.

Being a Scriptwriter was tough, but acting was its own kind of physical grind.

With the genre, there were lots of running and rolling Action Scenes, and reshoots just added to the exhaustion.

“If you’re curious, just watch it on the way. I brought a Pad, anyway.”

But before Im Chan-hyung could finish his sentence, Tae-ha, already reclining his passenger seat, mumbled sleepily.

“I’m going to sleep for now…”

Im Chan-hyung looked at Tae-ha with a mix of amusement and exasperation.

He knew he was tired, but wasn’t this his own first show?

“Aren’t you curious?”

“I’m only in it for a moment, anyway. It’s not going to disappear if I watch it a little late. There’s nothing in this world worth losing sleep over, Chan-hyung. You’ll ruin your Health Management if you do.”

“You really do take care of your body above all else.”

With the start of the full-scale shoot, Im Chan-hyung had come to realize just how much Tae-ha focused on Health Management.

“You shouldn’t get cocky just because you’re young. Take care of yourself in advance, too. I’m sleeping.”

“Sure…”

***

After getting Home, Tae-ha completely forgot about and went straight to bed.

And the next day.

After sleeping soundly and shaking off his accumulated fatigue, Tae-ha woke up feeling refreshed—and then sensed he’d forgotten something.

“Oh, Critical Point!”

While eating his breakfast of Chicken Breast from the Air Fryer and Salad drizzled with Oriental Sauce, Tae-ha hurriedly turned on the TV and started up .

How much time had passed?

“Oh? There I am!”

Finally, Tae-ha spotted himself on TV.

It was shocking.