Chapter 100: I told you clearly before, didn’t I?
by AfuhfuihgsAfter Entering the Lee Sua Gallery.
“…”
Yang Ha-rin froze.
The activity in the gallery was overwhelming.
[ Title: Does Lee Sua Not Use SNS? ]
[ Title: More Pictures of the Gallery Owner (Lee Sua)? ]
[ Title: Where is the Gallery Owner From? ]
She refreshed the page once—and the entire screen changed instantly.
The difference between this and her own gallery was painfully clear.
In her gallery, if she left it alone for an entire day, she’d get a handful of new posts by bedtime.
Here?
[ Title: Gallery Owner Holding Her Trophy ]
[ Title: Full Transcript of the Gallery Owner’s Speech ]
[ Title: Gallery Owner and Seo Yeon-ju’s Two-Shot ]
The gallery was burning with activity.
This was exactly the kind of scene she had once dreamed of for herself.
The attention was huge—
And worse—it wasn’t even negative.
No matter where she looked, people were talking about Sua with admiration.
“…Ah.”
Yang Ha-rin pressed her forehead with her palm.
Her head was pounding.
How did it come to this?
She had discovered this gallery before.
She had even posted here herself several times.
And back then, users with animal nicknames had always agreed with her opinions.
But now?
Her eyes caught a few posts.
[ Title: I Haven’t Watched the Short Film, Can I Ask a Question? ]
“I’ve been busy with work, so I haven’t seen the movie. But is this rookie, Lee Sua, really better than Yang Ha-rin? I honestly thought the Grand Prize should have been hers, so I’m a bit surprised.”
—Not even close. She completely outclassed her.
—“Wind” felt weird. Too much money, too little soul.
—You could tell they were just throwing budget at the screen instead of making something meaningful.
[ Title: “Wind” in a Nutshell. ]
(Image of 100 different side dishes with a caption: “Looks impressive, but there’s nothing worth eating.”)
“I get that they were trying to look grand, but there wasn’t a single thing that really stood out. Also, what was the theme even supposed to be? How are we supposed to tell when they just threw everything together like that?”
—“Exactly. Even if the actors did a great job, it didn’t matter.”
—“Honestly, their acting made it feel worse. Like… ‘Why are they acting so seriously in this movie?’”
Gone.
There was no one left dismissing Sua.
At least, not in this space.
To the people here, Sua was a meteoric rising star.
Possibly even more than Ha-rin herself when she had first entered the industry.
“What do you people even know?
What right do you have to judge?”
Yang Ha-rin gritted her teeth—
But she couldn’t put down her phone.
It wasn’t rage—
It was anxiety.
The moment she looked away, someone might post a negative comment about her.
That thought gnawed at her.
And maybe—
Just maybe—
She was jealous.
“This attention should be mine.
This was supposed to be mine.”
She was meant to be the one getting called—
A shooting star.
A promising young actress.
The rising face of short films.
A sharp, striking presence.
Everything she had wanted—
Now belonged to someone else.
[ Title: Does Anyone Else Think Lee Sua and Yang Ha-rin Have a Similar Vibe? ]
[ Title: Is Lee Sua Just a Better Version of Yang Ha-rin? ]
[ Title: When It Comes to That Cold, Sharp Look, Sua Pulls It Off Better. ]
[ Title: Why Does Yang Ha-rin Look Softer When Standing Next to Sua? ]
Their similar features had become a curse.
Since their “image” overlapped, the moment Sua outperformed her, people started comparing them directly.
And now?
She was being called the inferior version.
It felt like her organs were twisting.
Tap, tap, tap—!
She couldn’t hold back anymore.
She started typing furiously.
She had been lurking in communities for years—
She knew exactly how to write posts without revealing herself.
[ Title: People Are Overhyping Lee Sua Too Much ]
“Yang Ha-rin won Best Actor, but people are already acting like she’s irrelevant? Come on, this is getting ridiculous. If Lee Sua wants to truly surpass her, she needs to land a major drama or movie first. Until then, people need to calm down.”
She clicked post.
But Right After Posting—
Yang Ha-rin immediately felt the change in tone.
—“She won Grand Prize, what can’t she do?”
—“She’s probably going to get tons of casting offers now.”
—“Yang Ha-rin hasn’t done anything major this year either.”
—“She’s doing that MBQ drama, but we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.”
And then—she realized.
These people weren’t ignoring Yang Ha-rin.
They just genuinely saw Lee Sua as an incredible force—
At least among rookies, she was seen as completely unmatched.
Which was why—now this was happening:
[ Title: They Should Just Film Something Together ]
“Wouldn’t it be easiest if Yang Ha-rin and Lee Sua starred in the same project? That way, we’d get a clear one-on-one battle.”
—“LMAO for real.”
—“Honestly, it’ll probably happen eventually.”
—“Would love to see who’d win Best New Actress.”
[ Title: Lee Sua Would Win, Right? ]
[ Title: Yang Ha-rin Isn’t a Weak Opponent Either. ]
[ Title: It Would Depend on the Roles They Get. ]
[ Title: But Personally, I’m More Excited for Lee Sua. ]
The rookie who once seemed laughable to compare with Yang Ha-rin—
Had now become a legitimate rival.
And worse—the one people were betting on to win.
It was unbelievable.
That a single short film had given her this much credibility.
That she could inspire this level of expectation.
“…”
Yang Ha-rin gave up.
Clench. Clench.
She simply sat there—chewing her nails, scrolling through the posts.
There was nothing she could do.
All she could do was watch.
It was powerless.
It was infuriating.
And then—something caught her eye.
[ Title: Isn’t the Hand Mirror Just This? ]
“She probably just returned something she borrowed. Maybe they’re closer than we think.”
[ Title: What If the Hand Mirror Had a Deeper Meaning? ]
“They both have sharp expressions, so they didn’t look friendly at all.”
What if it was a power move?
Like, ‘Take a look at yourself.’”*
The hand mirror.
It had been bothering her too.
Why had Lee Sua chosen that moment to give it to her?
She hadn’t thrown it away yet.
She needed to understand its meaning first—before she decided whether to break it or not.
She wasn’t stupid.
She knew that getting mad before understanding the intent would be pointless.
So—
She searched.
“Hand mirror.”
And then—
She started reading through posts, hoping someone had a reasonable theory.
But—
[ Title: Figured Out the Meaning of the Hand Mirror ]
“If you’re Yang Ha-rin desperately clicking on this thread, upvote this comment.“
It was all bait.
And somehow—it already had 20 likes.
“How dare they…!”
Report. Report. Report.
She mass-reported every post she didn’t like.
And then—
[ Banned – 30 Days ]
[ Moderator: Monkeying ]
[ Reason: Stop rage-reporting and running away. ]
She had been kicked out of the Lee Sua gallery.
Meanwhile, As the Internet Erupted—
Naturally, the shockwaves hit those closest to Sua the hardest.
And among them, the Special Task Force 808 production team was hit the hardest.
The first person to hear about it—
Was Writer Lee Geum-sook.
“Oh my, Sua won the Grand Prize?”
Writer Lee Geum-sook, who had been typing on her laptop, lifted her magnifying glasses onto her head.
It was only natural that PD Choi Hee-won, who was resting nearby, became interested.
“Grand Prize? You mean the acting award?”
“Yes. Seo Yeon-ju won the Audience Award, The Sword won Best Picture, Park Jun won Best Director, and Sua… won Best Actress.”
“…So basically, The Sword completely devoured the Busan International Short Film Festival.
I wasn’t expecting it to be this overwhelming.”
But—
Their real shock was just beginning.
Because soon—they saw the footage of Sua speaking Japanese.
PD Choi Hee-won’s eyes narrowed.
“Wait… Why does the translator look awkward?”
“Sua knows Japanese too? That’s insane.”
“So far, we’ve confirmed that she speaks Korean, Japanese, and English.
With just these three languages, she could expand her career worldwide.”
“Honestly, at this point, I’m not even surprised when Sua pulls out another hidden skill.
But what shocks me the most right now—”
Lee Geum-sook snapped her head around to face Choi Hee-won.
“It’s Sua’s eye for scripts!”
“Her eye?”
“Yes! We already knew that Sua had a good sense for picking scripts, but until now, we always joked about whether her picks would actually be successful—
Because it was impossible to predict.”
“You’re right. But…?”
“But now we have proof.
If Sua picks a project, the chances of it becoming a hit are high.
At this rate, we should expect Special Task Force 808 to be a success too.”
“Hah—What is she, a fortune teller?”
Whether it was actors, scripts, or projects—
Everyone Sua chose ended up succeeding.
Not just once.
Not twice.
Every. Single. Time.
Naturally, the two of them started getting excited about Special Task Force 808‘s potential success.
“My project becoming a hit… Just thinking about it makes me happy.”
PD Choi Hee-won rubbed his chin, looking pleased.
“Sua’s about to get super busy.
At this rate, we won’t even be able to call her anymore.
No—we’ll have to formally request her presence.”
“That’s why we need to hold on to her tightly.
I have so many ideas in my head.
I want my next project to be with Sua.
No matter what—I’m going to make it happen.”
PD Choi Hee-won could tell—
Lee Geum-sook wasn’t joking.
She had already started writing like a madwoman.
She was working on an entirely new project—something separate from Special Task Force 808.
A different genre, crafted specifically for Sua.
“Alright, I understand.
For now, let’s leak the news that Sua is Lee Su-an to the press.
We can promote it as—
‘The Grand Prize winner of the Short Film Festival is also the actor behind Kim Yuhan.’”
“Hmm….”
“Think about how massive that promotion would be.”
But then—
Grab.
Lee Geum-sook suddenly clutched PD Choi Hee-won’s arm.
“We can’t do that.”
“Huh?”
“I thought about it over and over—
It’s better to separate Su-an and Sua in the media.”
“Why?”
“Right now, Special Task Force 808 is already getting huge attention.
In fact, it’s getting too much attention.
I’m the writer, plus we have big names like Seo Yeon-ju and Kim Sun-il attached.
That’s already more than enough publicity.”
“I get that… But if there’s a specific reason for separating them, I’d like to hear it.
Do you have another plan?”
“It’s not a plan—
It’s a vision.
A very clear vision.”
“A vision…?”
“This year—
I want to see Lee Su-an and Lee Sua both nominated for Best New Actor.
I want them to become rivals.”
PD Choi Hee-won was stunned.
“Wait… That’s brilliant.”
Lee Geum-sook grinned.
“I told you before, didn’t I?
I’m going to fool an entire nation.”
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