The filming for *Your Brilliant Twinkle* proceeded smoothly.
Im Kyung-ho, a rom-com specialist, captured the actors with passion, and in response, actors like Taeha, Shin So-hee, Han Woo-ri, and Kim Se-mi showcased their skills to the fullest. It was a natural result.
In this project’s case, tvM joined Salamander Studio—which never spared any expense for Taeha—in allocating a generous production budget. Because of that, Taeha didn’t have to put in effort to reduce the number of characters or unify locations due to financial constraints.
‘In *Virus*, I had no choice but to compromise on those parts.’
No matter how much support CEO Choi gave Taeha, the production budget was inevitably set a bit lower because there wasn’t much support from the network’s side. If not for Salamander Studio’s backing, they wouldn’t have even been able to cast an actor with a high appearance fee like Han Yun-seong.
The situation had been that tight, so Taeha had to revise the script accordingly. As a Writer who wanted to handle various scenes without restrictions, it was a shame, but it couldn’t be helped.
However, there were no such problems in this project. Because of the success of his previous work, advertisement inquiries had been pouring in even before filming began. Naturally, concerns about production costs vanished entirely.
Amidst such a great atmosphere, filming for Acts Two through Four took place.
First, Act Two dealt with the future Jung Si-hoo, who had experienced several regressions. Believing that Lim Yu-jin would have become happy because of the past he changed, Jung Si-hoo went to find her.
“Everything was perfect. Not a single part didn’t go according to plan.”
The Lim Yu-jin he met again certainly looked happy. Her home looked wealthy, and her expression was bright.
‘I finally succeeded!’
“Sister! Finally…”
He tried to speak to her, but something was strange.
“Sister?”
There was no answer from Lim Yu-jin. She only wore a smile that somehow held a hidden sadness. Finally, Jung Si-hoo realized that something was wrong. He shook his head and stepped back, unable to believe it.
It was true. In this regression, the future Lim Yu-jin had become deaf. Act Two ended on Jung Si-hoo’s shocked expression.
Act Three began back in the present, showing the campus. Jung Si-hoo was writing something in a notebook. It was filled with numerous reasons why Lim Yu-jin had become unhappy.
He had regressed dozens of times. He had tried everything, but Jung Si-hoo had failed every single time. Gradually, his pen movements as he wrote in the notebook became frantic. Then, at one point, the pen that had been moving diligently stopped with a *click*.
He had discovered one very important commonality. It was himself.
He had suspected it, but it was the same conclusion after all. His presence was always connected to Lim Yu-jin’s unhappiness. Jung Si-hoo’s expression darkened as if he were submerged in sorrow. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
Having regained his composure, Jung Si-hoo made a decision. He would make Lim Yu-jin forget all her memories of him. To do that, the first step was to avoid getting involved with her at all costs.
Thus, Jung Si-hoo began to avoid Lim Yu-jin. Strangely enough, however, she appeared everywhere he went. Lim Yu-jin, who did not lose her memories even across repeated regressions, could clearly see through Jung Si-hoo’s behavioral patterns.
Jung Si-hoo racked his brain to avoid her somehow, but he was seen through by her every time. To give him a lunch box, to deliver the notes he missed, and to hint at various possibilities he might overlook…
Lim Yu-jin always found him one step ahead and helped him. It was almost as if she were the regressor herself.
Finally, in the last scene, the two encountered each other in the central plaza. This time, it was a coincidence. Lim Yu-jin hadn’t come to meet him on purpose.
The sun had set, but the streetlights in the central plaza hadn’t turned on yet. When the lights finally flickered to life, Lim Yu-jin was moved by the accidental encounter.
However, Jung Si-hoo thought she had sought him out on purpose this time as well. Ultimately, he couldn’t hold back his anger and raised his voice.
“Are you a stalker? Why do you keep following me! Why!”
Act Three ended with the expression on Lim Yu-jin’s face as she was hurt by his words.
***
As such, Acts Two and Three proceeded from Jung Si-hoo’s point of view. It was the exact opposite of Act One, which was told from Lim Yu-jin’s perspective.
In a way, it was a foreseeable structure. The fact that Lim Yu-jin remembered all of Jung Si-hoo’s regressions—Jung Si-hoo was now aware of that fact, which was why the ending of Act One involved him wanting to erase her memories of him.
That meant the viewers’ interest had no choice but to shift from Lim Yu-jin to Jung Si-hoo. Therefore, Acts Two and Three had to proceed from his point of view.
However, that didn’t mean Lim Yu-jin played no role in Acts Two and Three. On the contrary, she played a vital role, because she was the one who made the seemingly ordinary *Your Brilliant Twinkle* special.
Lim Yu-jin was the only being who knew Jung Si-hoo was a regressor. At the same time, she was the one who remembered all of his tracks.
For that reason, she acted for his happiness in her own way.
Eventually, the viewers were forced to witness the heartbreaking love of two people who cared for each other but kept missing one another.
And this was the point that made *Your Brilliant Twinkle* special.
However, one thing that shouldn’t be misunderstood was that the present Lim Yu-jin and the future Lim Yu-jin were different people. In other words, the present Lim Yu-jin did not remember everything up to the distant future.
Though it hadn’t been revealed yet, her memories always cut off at the same point in the future—the day of Jung Si-hoo’s graduation.
Because of that, she thought he was constantly regressing to change the past for her happiness.
She never imagined that he was changing the past because of her. The reason she acted so fiercely for his happiness was for that very reason.
This flow continued into Act Four.
After unintentionally hurting Lim Yu-jin at the end of Act Three, Jung Si-hoo felt immense pain at the start of Act Four. The fact that he had hurt the person he loved and that he wouldn’t even have the chance to explain himself crushed his heart belatedly.
Eventually, he slumped to the ground. Ironically, amidst this sorrow, a single hope blossomed.
The hope that the future might finally change this time.
Since he had distanced himself by hurting her—the person he was always inextricably linked to regardless of what he did—it felt possible.
If time flowed toward the future like this, she would surely be living her life having forgotten him. Jung Si-hoo didn’t stop there; he even prepared to study abroad.
He had made up his mind to stay away from her side completely.
Witnessing his preparations for studying abroad by chance, a lonely smile appeared on Lim Yu-jin’s lips. She mistakenly thought he wanted happiness in a place where she didn’t exist. Thus, she turned her steps away and never sought him out again.
She believed that was the way to pray for his happiness.
However, Jung Si-hoo knew nothing of this. Time passed.
He went to France, found a job, settled down, and continued his life. Then, after a long time, he visited Korea again. He checked the date and time, heading to the place where he could always meet her at this time of year—just to see how she was living.
There, he discovered something. It was Lim Yu-jin’s mother, crying.
Sensing something ominous, Jung Si-hoo called his friend Kim Tae-yang to find out what had happened.
Just as he had wished, she had married another man.
But the ending was horrific. Lim Yu-jin had been killed by her husband, who was obsessively jealous.
***
The contents of Acts 1 through 4 showed the missed connections between Jung Si-hoo and Lim Yu-jin. Within this narrative structure, the Sub Role also played an important part.
In a narrative that could become too heavy with lingering sorrow, the couple of Kim Tae-yang and Lee Soo-jung filled the story with the essential element of campus youth: heart-fluttering excitement.
Kim Tae-yang, Jung Si-hoo’s childhood friend, was originally destined to lose his life in a traffic accident just before entering college. However, Jung Si-hoo saved him, and that fate changed. Thanks to that, Kim Tae-yang entered college safely.
But perhaps it was a side effect of fate. Kim Tae-yang was strangely lacking any will to live.
He couldn’t find a reason why he should keep living. Every day, he sat blankly in a cafe like a leaf wandering in the air, enjoying photosynthesis.
One day, the sight of Lee Soo-jung, a staff member preparing for a campus event, caught his eye. He fell in love at first sight. That was the beginning of the Kim Tae-yang and Lee Soo-jung couple.
Afterward, Kim Tae-yang actively pursued her. But to Lee Soo-jung, he only looked like a young child.
Despite that, he charged forward without hesitation. Eventually, there came a moment when she saw him as a man.
Of course, it was only brief. She quickly regained her senses. No matter how she thought about it, she believed he was too young. In a way, the Sub Role could be seen as a traditional older woman-younger man couple’s story.
And Taeha aimed for this structure on purpose. By showing a familiar narrative of an older woman and a younger man, he could lower the viewers’ resistance while simultaneously allowing them to compare how the Jung Si-hoo and Lim Yu-jin couple was new.
On the other hand, because they were blossoming a love line within a familiar narrative, the acting skills of the two actors playing Kim Tae-yang and Lee Soo-jung were crucial.
If the acting didn’t bring it to life, it was a love line that could become somewhat cliché.
But fortunately…
“The two of them are doing exceptionally well.”
What surprised Taeha the most was Han Woo-ri’s acting ability. Originally, she was an actor with a major weakness in delivering lines.
Even though Taeha had given her advice regarding that, the weakness hadn’t been fixed by the time filming for *The Scattered People* ended.
That was how it usually was. A weakness in acting wasn’t something that was fixed so easily. For that reason, he didn’t feel particularly glad when she came to audition for the role of Kim Tae-yang.
It pained him that he might have to fail her, especially after they had built a friendship and shared good feelings.
However, Han Woo-ri’s acting was more than enough to shatter Taeha’s worries.
The proof was how Im Kyung-ho’s expression, who had watched the audition with him, brightened instantly.
Naturally, Taeha couldn’t help but be curious.
‘How could she have changed so much?’
It wasn’t until a while later that Taeha learned the reason.