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Luna Entertainment’s executive office.

In what should have been a place only occupied by the representative, Jeong Do-cheol, was now also the determined Lee Joon and Lee Geon-yeol, who had come to a resolution after a long conversation last night.

The reason Lee Joon and Lee Geon-yeol chose to meet Jeong Do-cheol in the executive office rather than privately was simple.

It was not as friends close to Double Lee, but rather as representatives of Luna Entertainment, for a request they wished to make.

“Oh my, look at you acting all high and mighty just because you’re doing well. You couldn’t even make eye contact back in the day.”

“Um, brother. First, just listen to this. We didn’t come to see you for no reason early in the morning.”

Thus, an MP3 file from Lee Joon’s laptop began to play.

Jeong Do-cheol paused his words to enjoy the recorded file of Double Lee’s new song.

About three minutes later, the playback ended.

The first words that slowly spilled from Jeong Do-cheol’s mouth were:

“Forget about you guys for a second. Where on earth did you find such vocals?”

The question about the identity of the clear female voice that had captivated Jeong Do-cheol throughout the chorus.

Lee Geon-yeol’s answer was like a riddle.

“You know her too, brother.”

“Hey, Lee Geon-yeol. At my age, should I really be playing twenty questions with grown men?”

With a slightly furrowed brow, Jeong Do-cheol gave a roundabout request to drop the riddle game.

Lee Geon-yeol, who had subconsciously taken a shallow breath, finally revealed the identity of the vocalist.

“It’s Ha-eun.”

“Are you talking about that actress right now?”

“Who else do we have called Ha-eun?”

What Jeong Do-cheol faced was Lee Geon-yeol’s serious gaze, more earnest than ever.

They had never lied about anything related to singing, so it seemed that the voice that had just captivated Jeong Do-cheol truly belonged to Ha-eun.

What mattered now was why Double Lee had played the MP3 file of Ha-eun’s voice for Jeong Do-cheol.

Jeong Do-cheol already had an inkling of the reason, but he decided to listen to Lee Joon and Lee Geon-yeol first.

“Remember back in the day, when you teased us for volunteering and joked about us doing it for a kid.”

“What teasing? I was just amazed that you taught someone to sing for years over shooting one music video.”

“To be honest, we had other intentions, too. Sure, Ha-eun was grateful for that part, but…”

The story that followed was about the genuine reason why Double Lee had kept teaching Ha-eun to sing for a long while.

“Just as you raised us decades ago, we wanted to raise Ha-eun too. As the perfect singer that would fit our music.”

“The actress would definitely feel hurt if she heard that.”

“But it was Ha-eun who first said she wanted to learn to sing. Isn’t that what’s good for both sides?”

If one sought a good singer, they could find that easily.

However, a singer who could perfectly express Double Lee’s unique sensibilities and vision through song was something they could never find.

“After all, the only style we could teach her was our own.”

“Who’s saying what?”

“Nah, you looked at me like I was trash ever since earlier.”

Rather than compromising with singers whose voices were somewhat suitable, they decided to create someone new.

This plan began because Ha-eun first asked Double Lee to teach her how to sing.

“Honestly, don’t you think Ha-eun’s voice fits better than any other featuring we’ve had so far?”

That was almost a given.

None other than Double Lee themselves had spent over ten years directly refining and correcting it.

As a result, that voice had become the one that suited Double Lee better than any other voice in the world.

“Well then, why don’t you just talk to this actress directly? Why are you bothering me?”

“To be honest, we’ve tried to ask her numerous times… but she’s been hesitant due to something about a red pill.”

“A red pill? Is this actress sick?”

“No, it’s not medicine… Actually, we don’t really understand what it means either.”

What Double Lee wanted to ask Jeong Do-cheol became clear just after that.

“Could you please persuade Ha-eun for us? No matter what, she might think about it if it’s coming from you.”

“I mean, really… I can’t even convince one girl and am reduced to begging an old man like me. What a great situation.”

Eventually, he added a gesture to send them off with the understanding that he got it.

He also told them to send the audio recording file they had just played to his email.

Not long after, silence returned to the executive office.

Perhaps because of that, memories related to Ha-eun floated up in Jeong Do-cheol’s mind like soap bubbles, only to burst repeatedly.

From the memory of taking Ha-eun to meet Director Kwon Jong-hyuk next door a few years back.

To the memory of her finally passing for the role of Kim Ji-a and winning the Best New Actress award at the year-end awards ceremony.

A few years later, she not only landed a spot in a highly discussed drama like “You from the Stars” but nearly filled the UBS broadcasting boards with posts pleading to save Han Yoo-hwa.

​

<Han Yoo-hwa said her memory was enough. If Han Yoo-hwa thinks so, I have nothing to say. Please be happy, modern life.>

‘…No wonder it feels so awkward to read. It’s written by a foreigner using a translator.’

Memories of narrowly escaping a crisis thanks to Ha-eun’s “convincing” acting.

And those moments where she pulled off a dangerously memorable escape scene still discussed in “Don’t Stop People.”

And finally, nearing the last of all those memories.

Just a few days prior when Ha-eun had come to see Jeong Do-cheol to discuss another dream of hers.

’Then, there’s no problem with the contract related to the audition for <Fantasy Realm>?’

’Not at the moment. However, I personally would like to advise against neglecting acting.’

’I’m going to keep working hard as an actress. That’s why I’m asking, if there are roles related to dressing as a man, could you let me know?’

’Letting you know isn’t hard, but why specifically a male role?’

’I think it would be fun. Honestly, I believe I would stand out the most.’

Jeong Do-cheol had provided grounds to invite Ha-eun into the executive office of Luna Entertainment.

Coincidentally, he had just received information about the “male dressing” roles that Ha-eun had requested.

Thus, just as lunchtime arrived, he contacted Ha-eun’s manager, Joo Jeong-yoon, to bring her to the executive office.

As time passed, just at exactly 4 PM, when Ha-eun arrived at the executive office.

“I’ve got some good news for you, and depending on how you look at it, it might feel burdensome too. What would you like to hear first, our actress?”

A roundabout question about whether to start with the male dressing role or the Double Lee featuring.

Ultimately, Ha-eun, with a cautious voice, chose the latter.

“Well then, let me get straight to the point, actress. I want you to help those pitiful ones.”

Following that, he began recounting how Double Lee had come to see Jeong Do-cheol that morning and how he felt about the newly recorded song.

He then asked Ha-eun in succession why she was hesitant to debut as a singer.

“I don’t see you looking down on singers like other high-society actors do. It seems like there’s a personal reason for you, am I right?”

“…Yes.”

“Just checking, is that personal reason related to <Fantasy Realm>?”

She nodded.

Jeong Do-cheol, who had paused to think for a moment, opened his mouth again.

“Last time, you clearly said that it’s not you going to the audition for <Fantasy Realm>, but rather a fictional character named ‘Dia,’ right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Well, how about creating one more? A fictional character that would feature on those songs.”

He had just presented a solution that would not only prevent Ha-eun from becoming too famous but also fulfill Double Lee’s request.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t Ha-eun who shouldn’t become famous, but more her voice that was at stake, so it was still not a perfect solution for her situation.

However, it would be unreasonable for a representative of a planning company who had personally contacted Ha-eun, to flatly reject a suggestion made while brainstorming together with her.

The audition for <Fantasy Realm> wasn’t a thing that had begun yet, after all.

On the other hand, Jeong Do-cheol’s proposal at that very moment was a pressing matter for Ha-eun.

In other words, for now, the focus had to be on resolving the feature request.

“I’ll… discuss it with the uncles.”

After getting over the ambiguous question that was neither a refusal nor an acceptance, she cautiously inquired about what the “good news” Jeong Do-cheol had mentioned earlier was.

“Oh, that. There’s a male dressing role you wanted, and it’s a lead role.”

The name that came up was ironically part of a drama belonging to the story Ha-eun had previously expressed an eagerness to shoot with Da-yeon.

“<The Moonlight Shining Through the Clouds>. Apparently, there’s a separate original novel for it.”

“Oh, yes. I’ve read that novel a few times. It’s really interesting.”

“So you’re saying you want to act in such an entertaining story, right?”

“…Yes.”

Thus, the conversation concluded with Ha-eun’s name now included among the candidates for the female lead in “The Moonlight Shining Through the Clouds.”

Still, there was one more thing that lingered in Jeong Do-cheol’s mind, and ultimately, he decided to inform Ha-eun about it too.

“The director tends to be a bit particular. He says that the lead actor has to perform the sword-fighting scenes themselves instead of using stunts. There are rumors that the final casting decision is based on those sword-fighting scenes, too.”

This meant that for Ha-eun to be cast as the lead in “The Moonlight Shining Through the Clouds,” she would need to learn action acting separately.

However, for Ha-eun to learn action acting meant that…

“Then, I’ll have to go to some action school, right? I’ll have to combine exhausting workouts and training all day?”

This was a prime opportunity to get back into exercise after not being able to for four days.

“Hmm, do you think it’ll be tough?”

“No, I could go to action school starting tomorrow. No, I really want to go.”

“?”

Instead, Ha-eun earnestly pleaded to be sent to action school.

Jeong Do-cheol could only be taken aback by this.

In some ways, it made sense.

Since action school was inherently a tough place for a female actress like Ha-eun to attend.

Jeong Do-cheol couldn’t understand why she was so eager to go to a place filled with sweat.

Nevertheless, Ha-eun’s determination seemed solid, so he finally felt compelled to recommend an action school he knew of.

Ha-eun soon made another request.

“Uh, Representative. Could I borrow a practice room? Just for a very short time. Exactly 10 minutes.”

“I can easily let you use an empty practice room, but are you planning to shoot some TikTok videos or something?”

“Uh? Oh, no. I just want to shoot a video of myself doing idol choreography personally.”

She didn’t mention that the idol dance video was intended for submission to the audition for <Fantasy Realm>.

She also didn’t reveal that what was needed for the audition for <Fantasy Realm> was merely a video to showcase the applicant’s “talent.”

However, among the virtual YouTubers in Ha-eun’s memory, there were several who had been former idol trainees.

So she believed that if she submitted a video emulating their idol-like appearance, it would definitely earn her bonus points in the audition.

Furthermore, if Ha-eun also submitted the idol song recording file she had worked hard to practice, she thought she would stand out even among the numerous competitors for the audition for <Fantasy Realm>.