It wasn’t just Han Yun-seong who reached out to Taeha first.
Throughout the day, Taeha received far more messages than he expected.
[Congratulations on your Debut as an actor! Your acting caught my eye even more than I thought it would!]
Messages packed with such praise, like the one from Kang So-jung, were a given.
The messages kept pouring in, and Taeha even heard from someone claiming to be an old middle school classmate he barely remembered.
But strangely enough, the group chat for the Frisia members, where he expected a huge commotion, was oddly silent.
“Did they not see it?”
That thought crossed his mind for a moment, but with so many messages flooding in from others, Taeha didn’t have the chance to dwell on it.
The entire day passed by like that.
Then, late at night, even Alex hyung, who lived the farthest away among the Frisia members, sent a message.
[Taeha. It’s your hyung. I just watched the show that was released. Didn’t I tell you? If you became an actor, you’d hit it big! My certainty in your success wasn’t because of anything else. You always worked so hard, even when we were preparing to become singers. Beyond talent, none of us could match your desperation and effort. Even now, when I look back on those days, remembering you struggling to live your best every day keeps me going. After we fell apart that day, what gave me strength was seeing even someone as desperate as you refusing to give up. That’s why seeing you succeed makes me even happier. It’s just the beginning, but I hope you go further than any of us did, and receive all the love and happiness we couldn’t. Fighting, Kang Tae-ha! My little brother, Kang Tae-ha! I love you!]
Alex hyung’s message was just the beginning—one by one, the other hyungs’ messages arrived as well.
They were all so packed with words it was hard to read them all.
Leader Hyung’s message even reeked of alcohol.
Each and every one of them sincerely congratulated Taeha on his Debut.
The other messages, too, were full of genuine congratulations and encouragement from the brothers who once shared the same dream, making them all the more meaningful.
His nose tingled as if he was about to tear up.
“I really have to work even harder on the filming from now on, for the people cheering me on.”
Thinking that, Taeha began to reply to them.
He thanked them for their support and told them all to keep fighting together.
***
The surprising thing was, the aftereffects of ’s release continued all the way to the filming site of the next day.
At that moment, on one side of the filming set, two staff members were chatting about .
“Did you watch yesterday?”
“Yeah, of course. Our director, his cinematography is seriously amazing.”
“I thought the same thing. I hate when filming gets dragged out, but when you see the final result, you just can’t help but be impressed.”
“By the way, I didn’t know Han Yun-seong could act like that.”
“Right? I thought he was just good at smiling innocently like the typical younger guy character.”
“He’ll definitely become a leading actor now, right?”
“Reactions in all the communities are crazy already. I even saw someone begging for the next project to be filmed quickly.”
“Was there a post like that? I didn’t see it.”
“Hehe. I looked for them pretty hard. I even became a Han Yun-seong fan this time.”
“Aigo, how long is this one going to last? If you checked the communities that thoroughly, you must’ve seen that too?”
“What?”
“The post about Taeha-ssi.”
“Oh, of course I saw it. Not even kidding, in , after Han Yun-seong, the most eye-catching actor was Taeha-ssi.”
“Exactly. There were roles with more screen time, but Taeha-ssi stood out the most. It wasn’t just that his acting was good.”
“Watching yesterday, I thought that when our drama airs, Taeha-ssi will definitely become popular.”
“No doubt. Even here on set, Taeha-ssi’s acting is no joke. Somehow, the more we film, the better he gets. Even better looking, too.”
It wasn’t just those two.
All over the set, whenever two staff members gathered, the topic of would come up.
Honestly, it wasn’t such a strange thing.
After all, the director of was Director Lee Hae-ik.
The atmosphere on a drama set was often heavily influenced by the director.
From the staff’s perspective, they couldn’t help but pay attention to the director’s work, and with his new project released just yesterday, of course it was the talk of the set.
But what was unexpected was that these conversations always ended with praise for Taeha, who had only ever had minor roles until now.
It showed just how impactful Taeha’s performance in was.
The way the staff looked at Taeha had clearly changed—that was proof enough.
Taeha’s image had always been good.
He’d proven his skill and character to everyone throughout filming, so it was natural.
But no matter how good your acting or personality, there were always actors who never made it.
And in this world, recognition was sometimes even more important than skill.
In that sense, to make such a splash in a single project, even in a minor role, was surprising even to others in the industry.
Especially in these days, when new content was released daily and everyone’s attention was so scattered.
Star Quality.
It wasn’t like Taeha became a star overnight from just a series of minor roles, but through , he’d shown that he definitely had Star Quality.
The fact that he could leave such a strong impression with just a short appearance, enough for people to talk about him, was proof.
The response from the other actors wasn’t much different, either.
While waiting in the car and fixing her makeup, Ju Hyo-jin’s Manager handed her a bottle of water and started to speak.
“Here’s some water.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“By the way, I picked up on today’s atmosphere while getting the water. Everyone’s talking about , huh?”
“The drama was so good. I meant to just check it out, but I ended up binge-watching it last night. When I see the director later, I’ll make sure to tell him how much I enjoyed it.”
“Yeah, you should. You never know where you’ll meet someone again. But it’s a relief. I was worried what today’s mood would be like if flopped.”
Ju Hyo-jin chuckled and replied to her Manager.
“So that’s why all the staff are talking about today?”
“That’s part of it. But you know what’s funny?”
The Manager lowered her voice, as if about to spill a secret.
But Ju Hyo-jin answered as if she already knew.
“Everyone’s talking about Taeha-ssi just as much as the director, right?”
The Manager was surprised at her response.
“Huh? How did you know?”
“I have eyes, don’t I? How can someone leave such an impact every time they appear? No wonder he stands out on set.”
Though she spoke casually, Ju Hyo-jin was actually feeling a bit of a sense of crisis.
She couldn’t help worrying that Taeha might end up overshadowing her.
Of course, in terms of overall Volume, the character Yoon-ha, played by Ju Hyo-jin, had far more screen time.
In the early part, as a rival to Jinseong, her character was more captivating.
But Yoon-ha’s importance decreased in the latter half.
She’d sensed it for a while, and when the script for was delivered up to episode 13, that suspicion was confirmed.
She realized just how critical Lee Jae-hyun’s death was to the entire story.
For that reason, it was only natural for Ju Hyo-jin to feel uneasy about Taeha gaining this much recognition.
She couldn’t help but think Taeha might overtake her in terms of being a hot topic.
Maybe the Manager sensed something.
She asked cautiously.
“Are you… Are you worrying about Taeha-ssi?”
Ju Hyo-jin hesitated, unable to answer right away, and the Manager immediately responded.
“Ah, forget it. I’m calling Writer Kim right now. I was already in a bad mood after reading episode 13.”
Ju Hyo-jin stopped her.
“Hey, don’t do that.”
“Then just put up with it?”
“I have to. What else can I do? Anyone can see the script is good right now.”
“Sigh…”
“And besides, I still have more overall Volume. In other words, as long as I do well, there’s no problem.”
She was right.
Even though Lee Jae-hyun’s role had grown more important, if she acted well, Yoon-ha could still be the most noticeable character.
So, as long as Ju Hyo-jin worked harder, she could maintain her position as the center of attention, not lose it to Taeha.
And Ju Hyo-jin was already the kind of actor who was determined to put in that effort.
Rather than keeping her relevance through script rewrites, she’d feel more pride in doing it through her acting.
Above all,
“Taeha-ssi is someone who works incredibly hard. You can see his improvement every day. How can anyone cut down the screen time of someone like that? I don’t think it’s possible. So let’s just endure, okay? I’ll do my best.”
She was convincing herself.
The Manager watched Ju Hyo-jin for a moment, then, as if moved, said,
“Aigo, our Hyo-jin. You’re too soft-hearted for this harsh entertainment industry. That’s why I can’t quit being your Manager.”
And so, the situation settled for now, with the Manager backing off, and Ju Hyo-jin made a vow to herself.
“I won’t get overshadowed. I won’t lose like that.”
Unbeknownst to Taeha,
The atmosphere on set was heating up.
***
Meanwhile.
The news about the filming set reached Seon Min-gi, who was waiting elsewhere.
Kim Nam-sun originally hadn’t planned to mention anything, thinking Seon Min-gi wouldn’t care.
But since Seon Min-gi asked first, he had no choice but to respond.
“Yeah… It seems everyone’s talking about . There’s a lot of praise for Taeha-ssi’s acting, too.”
Kim Nam-sun replied nervously.
But the answer that came back was unexpected.
“That’s good.”
“Huh?”
“It’s good. was a success, so the director’s in a good mood. That’ll make the atmosphere on set better.”
“Well, I suppose so…”
“Yeah. It’s also a good thing that Kang Tae-ha’s gained recognition. Thanks to that, more people might want to watch .”
“That’s true, but…”
“What? Are you worried I’m going to get jealous of Kang Tae-ha?”
“No, not at all. There’s no reason for you to be bothered by Taeha-ssi. He’s just a rookie, after all.”
“Exactly. I don’t care. So don’t worry. What about you? ?”
“M-me?”
“Yeah. Did you enjoy it?”
Kim Nam-sun replied a beat late.
“…It was good.”
“Was it?”
“Yes…”
“I see.”
Seon Min-gi answered indifferently and ended the conversation.
But in truth, Seon Min-gi had already watched all of .
With the director’s project airing while they were working together, it would’ve been stranger not to watch it.
And Seon Min-gi was just as surprised by Taeha’s acting.
He’d acted in a project with Han Yun-seong before.
So he knew just how good Han Yun-seong’s acting was.
But even in scenes with Han Yun-seong, Taeha had shown off his own presence to the fullest.
Han Yun-seong even called to ask him how Taeha was doing.
It showed just how much interest Han Yun-seong had in Taeha.
And the reason Han Yun-seong had that much interest was obvious.
“Because of that acting ability, uncharacteristic of a rookie.”
Still, even after all this, Seon Min-gi didn’t feel a big sense of crisis about Taeha’s presence.
Just as Taeha had said on the first day of the script reading, no matter what happened, was a one-top show.
In fact, after witnessing Taeha’s excellent acting and Star Quality, he felt something else.
It was anticipation.
As Taeha’s role grew in the latter half, he began to look forward to how he would portray Lee Jae-hyun.
But Seon Min-gi tried to deny that feeling of anticipation.
“Well… he’ll handle it just fine.”
***
But a few days later.
Taeha’s acting skills exploded, to the point that even Seon Min-gi couldn’t hide his excitement.
And in that process, the one most shocked wasn’t Ju Hyo-jin or Seon Min-gi.
It was Han Woo-ri.
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