A third-time sub-role.
A fifth-time sub-sub-role.
Kim Se-mi, who had debuted at 16 and was already in her fifteenth year as an actress, was tired of being a background character.
At one time, she had been a promising actress.
There was a period when every drama looking for a high school version of the female lead would try to cast her without fail.
She didn’t realize it then, but it was the time she had most longed for as an actress.
She used to walk around filming sets with her parents and think. She hoped that once she became an adult and this lifestyle ended, she would be able to act while standing at the center of a production.
In reality, not long after becoming an adult, she took on her first sub-sub-role. Once again, she had to wear a tiresome school uniform and play the part of a high school couple, but she was satisfied that her role had grown. In fact, she even gained a decent response because of it.
However, a long dark age followed after that. For some reason, no one wanted to cast Kim Se-mi anymore.
At most, the roles coming in were mere supporting roles with only a few lines. Why had she fallen so far? Kim Se-mi agonized over it and eventually realized the reason.
‘Objectively, I’m not pretty enough to be a lead. It’s not like I’m exceptionally good at acting, either.’
Before becoming an adult, she certainly had a competitive edge among actors of a similar age. There weren’t many actors her age who were as pretty, charming, or as skilled as she was. But that changed once she became an adult. Once she could no longer play high school roles, her competitiveness completely vanished. There were countless actors prettier, more charming, and more skilled than her. So, it was no surprise that she wasn’t receiving casting offers.
Facing reality, Kim Se-mi chose to become an actress who was better at acting. She poured her passion into practice and went to auditions. Finally, her efforts paid off when she landed her second sub-sub-role after two years, and she shed tears of joy. Since then, she had consistently played various roles, big and small. Before she knew it, she had become a full-fledged livelihood-type actress.
When she first landed a sub-role, she was determined to rise to a lead role and burned with ambition, but that was as far as it went. When she had to take a sub-sub-role again, the spark of ambition was completely extinguished. She took on sub-roles two more times, but the result was the same. She couldn’t rise to a lead role and accepted that this was her limit.
Kim Se-mi knew exactly why she couldn’t climb any higher.
‘It’s because my acting has been stagnant for some time.’
She was now an actress who belonged to the group of those who were quite good. If she weren’t, it would have been impossible to even land sub-roles. However, that didn’t mean she was good enough to be a lead. To be honest, her acting ability had clear limitations. She knew this, but no matter how much she practiced, she couldn’t overcome it. Thus, she drew her own limits. She became an actor whose maximum reach was a sub-role.
While thinking this, she received a recommendation from her entertainment agency to audition for *Your Brilliant Sparkle*. As a viewer who had enjoyed *Virus*, she had no particular objection to the agency’s suggestion. The sub-female lead role they were looking for in *Your Brilliant Sparkle* was also the kind of role she could do well.
Kim Se-mi arrived at the audition for *Your Brilliant Sparkle* with a light heart. When her number was called, she entered the audition room and met Tae-ha and Im Kyung-ho for the first time.
And then—
“Hello, Senior. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Kang Tae-ha, an actor.”
She couldn’t help but be surprised when Tae-ha greeted her like that. She hadn’t expected to receive such a greeting in an audition room. She knew he was an actor. Kim Se-mi had enjoyed *People Who Were Scattered* and *Killer* just as much as *Virus*. As an actress, it would make no sense if she hadn’t seen the hit drama that swept the year or the movie that reached ten million viewers.
However, Tae-ha was sitting in that audition room as a writer. There was no need for him to greet her that way. Usually, people chose not to greet others in order to establish their authority as a writer. At most, they might give a slight nod. But to give such a formal greeting—and as an actor, no less?
Kim Se-mi accepted his greeting with a bewildered expression. “Yes. Hello.”
She glanced at Im Kyung-ho and asked Tae-ha, “Is it alright to greet me like this? Did you greet everyone who came to the audition today this way?”
Tae-ha nodded as if it were obvious. “Of course. Most of them are seniors who have been acting much longer than I have.”
“No, but still, you’re sitting here as a writer today…”
“That’s true, but you never know when we might meet again on a set as actors. So, it’s only natural for me to show courtesy as a junior. Don’t you agree, Director?”
At Tae-ha’s question, Im Kyung-ho nodded and replied, “That’s right. If Tae-ha says so, then that’s that. Shall we stop the small talk and start the audition?”
The audition began in earnest. As if she had never been surprised, Kim Se-mi conducted the reading like a veteran. It was an extremely stable reading that made it hard to believe she had just received the script. She was satisfied because it felt like her usual skill was coming out well.
When the reading ended, Director Im Kyung-ho’s expression was quite bright. It was a look that clearly showed he was considering her for the role. Having been to many auditions, she could tell just by his expression.
However—
“It’s strange.”
Tae-ha, who had listened to the entire reading, spoke with a slightly stiff expression. Im Kyung-ho, who had viewed her acting favorably, looked puzzled and asked, “What do you mean by strange? Does that mean you didn’t like it?”
Tae-ha immediately shook his head at the director’s question. Then, he looked straight into Kim Se-mi’s face and answered.
“No. The acting was excellent. I think that even though there are still many people left, there won’t be another actress who can portray the role of Lee Soo-jung better than you, Senior.”
“I feel the same way. It was certainly stable and good acting. But if that’s the case, what do you mean by ‘strange’?”
“She clearly did well, but I got the impression that she wasn’t focused to a strange degree. It’s a bit awkward for me to say this myself, but I think this is the first time I’ve felt someone reading my script with such a lack of concentration.”
“Ah.”
At Tae-ha’s explanation, Im Kyung-ho let out an exclamation as if he understood the feeling. And it was the same for Kim Se-mi. Tae-ha’s critique was accurate. She hadn’t been focused on the role at all. It was natural, as she had only been thinking about showing a decent level of skill to land the role.
But for him to point that out—she felt that Tae-ha’s intuition was extraordinary. At the same time, she thought, ‘If I’m lucky, I might fail today’s audition.’
But she didn’t feel any regret. It wasn’t the first time she had failed an audition. Having been to countless auditions meant she had failed them countless times.
Just as the feeling of resignation was blooming in her heart—
“Hmm. I’m going to send a side script to the tablet you’re looking at right now. Once you receive it, let’s do a reading together.”
“What?”
“Just think of it as an additional audition.”
“Oh, yes.”
Kim Se-mi nodded, but she thought the additional audition would be meaningless. She didn’t believe she could focus on the role just because they were reading together.
However—
“Oh, is it that person? The one who shook our Taeyang’s heart?”
The moment Tae-ha spat out the line, Kim Se-mi felt a strange sensation. Her body suddenly felt hot, and her focus seemed to skyrocket unlike before.
And then—
“That’s right… but who are you? A friend of Taeyang’s?”
Lines of incredible density, unlike anything before, flowed from her mouth. It was even better acting than when she felt she was at her absolute best. Because of that, she couldn’t help but fall terrifyingly deep into the script reading.
How much time had passed?
“Shall we stop here?”
Im Kyung-ho checked the time and interrupted their reading. Looking at the clock, over 40 minutes had already passed. It was well beyond the allotted audition time.
“Ah.”
Even so, Kim Se-mi felt a thirst for acting. it was a sensation she hadn’t felt in a very long time. And she realized what the wall was that she hadn’t been able to overcome until now, and what was needed to break it.
It was an unceasing passion for acting. A passion that would never be frustrated, no matter how high or solid the wall was. While matching her lines with Tae-ha, she felt this passion revive, and she felt it begin to pound against the wall. She even felt a small scratch appearing on that wall.
‘I have to be in this project. That way, I can break through the wall and grow as an actress.’
Her attitude was completely different from what it had been only 40 minutes ago. With desperate eyes, she waited for Tae-ha’s response regarding the audition result. Finally, he spoke.
“Fortunately, it seems the problem wasn’t that my script was bad, causing you to lose focus. I would appreciate it if you could act like this during filming as well.”
Fortunately, Tae-ha was smiling. It was a smile as warm as the heated atmosphere of the audition room.
***
Having been cast in *Your Brilliant Sparkle* with such difficulty, Kim Se-mi had recently been participating in the filming more passionately than anyone else. She even enjoyed filming every day. This was because she could feel her skills improving day by day whenever she acted.
Of course, this was all thanks to Tae-ha’s immersion ability, but she didn’t know that. Regardless, she enjoyed the filming so much that the three-day break given after the filming of Episode 8 felt regrettable to her. Her heart wanted the filming to resume as soon as possible so she could act.
‘Still, filming starts again tomorrow.’
Thinking this while fiddling with her phone, she habitually accessed an online community. For her, nothing was better for killing time than surfing communities where she could get the latest entertainment news the fastest. Sometimes the communities stressed her out, but fortunately, there had been no news to irritate her lately.
Starting her surfing, she noticed something.
“Oh?”
She could see the community reaction burning up with talk of Tae-ha. The post Lee Min-joo had uploaded already had over 1,000 comments.
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