episode_0232

It felt like being hit on the back of the head with a hammer.

[Lee Soo-ah Chose Acting Because? ‘I wanted to be close with people…’ Tearful story.]

‘Lee Soo-ah has… Alexithymia…?’

For a moment, David Park’s mind went blank.

A shocking fact. But it didn’t seem to be a lie. The source of the article shown by his manager was none other than StarCatch, a company that wouldn’t write nonsense as news.

In truth, David Park didn’t have high expectations for Soo-ah.

More accurately, his expectations disappeared after seeing Soo-ah.

‘She’s too ordinary.’

She might have a unique fierce aura, but anyone can look fierce just from being tense, right? The true nature would be something only she knows.

Besides, based on Hollywood standards, that’s just basic aura. He didn’t feel anything special.

‘Slightly disappointing.’

Of course, that thought was immediately overturned when the script reading began. Soo-ah suddenly transformed as if she became a different person and proved her skills.

“Hehehe… Playing the piano is fun…”

Was David Park the only one surprised? Everyone was surprised.

‘So that’s why the director brought her in?’

‘It’s like he brought Kim So-hee herself and sat her down!’

‘She’s dominating the atmosphere of the space all by herself…’

Most of the people who were additionally cast were after Soo-ah and Ham Ah-yoon were confirmed as the leads, and many people were replaced after Kang Hak-man and Lee Joo-hyun’s affair.

Even they quickly acknowledged Soo-ah.

But David Park was slightly different from them.

‘It’s amazing, but at the same time, it makes me wonder.’

He was surprised like them, but at the same time, a question arose in his mind. There was something he couldn’t understand.

‘Isn’t the gap between her usual self and her acting too big? There’s a limit to how much you can elevate yourself into a role. No, this doesn’t feel like elevating at all. It feels like a completely different person.’

A sense of disconnect that he couldn’t possibly understand.

And finally, now he knew the answer.

‘…The reason for that disconnect is alexithymia.’

David Park felt the cold sweat on his forehead as he watched Soo-ah and Yang Ha-rin exchange lines.

“So-hee, let’s go home now.”

“No. I want to finish playing all of this.”

“We have a piano at home too.”

“No. I have to finish playing it on this piano.”

“…”

David Park got goosebumps.

‘Usually, people show themselves normally, but struggle when acting. Because they have to play a role that’s different from themselves. But Lee Soo-ah…’

Alexithymia.

‘…It’s the opposite. She can only fill herself with something when she’s acting. Her true self is empty. That’s why she felt ordinary at first.’

Reaching this point, he felt like a stone had fallen into his heart. Because it felt like such a tragic thing.

‘I can’t even imagine it.’

A life where you don’t know how to fill yourself usually, and feel empty and hollow, and can only fill yourself with something when you start acting! Isn’t that a cursed fate, like pouring water into a bottomless jar!

Even as he thought that, Soo-ah’s lines continued.

“Are we going home now?”

“Yeah. Let’s go, So-hee. I’ll make you kimchi fried rice.”

“Kimchi fried rice? Do I like kimchi fried rice?”

“…”

After that, more people started glancing at their phones. Or, like David Park, managers or staff would approach and show them something.

“Huh?”

“Ah?”

“Uh-oh…?”

David Park felt like he was surrounded by mirrors. Why? Because everyone was making the same expression as him. They had seen the same article and had the same thoughts.

Soo-ah, however, had no particular thoughts in her head.

‘Why is everyone like that? So I wasn’t the only one nervous? Yeah, I did pretty well. Good. I need to show them that I can do even better…’

Soo-ah conceited? Soo-ah arrogant?

“Unnie, unnie, let’s go back quickly.”

So Soo-ah delivered her line, but…

“….”

The reading didn’t continue.

It was beyond Soo-ah’s control. Yang Ha-rin, the actor playing the opposite role, wasn’t responding to her lines. Ha-rin’s gaze was also blankly fixed on her phone screen.

Eventually, Director Go Tae-min stepped in.

“What’s wrong with everyone? Why is the reading so disorganized?”

Soo-ah nodded vigorously. Yeah, yeah, why is it so disorganized? I guess I’m the only one doing well?

Soo-ah genius! Soo-ah confident!

However.

“D, D, Director!”

One of the staff members immediately shouted and rushed over.

“You need to see this quickly!”

“Hmm?”

Soon, dismay spread across the director’s face as well.

“This is…?”

◈◈◈◈◈

That night. The internet was ablaze like a wildfire.

The topic was, of course, Lee Soo-ah.

Soo-ah, who made a name for herself with the short film “Sword,” and was currently raising her stock with the Special Task Force 808. And an article aimed at her was the cause.

[StarCatch Exclusive]

[Lee Soo-ah, ‘I want to understand human emotions.’]

If this content had been posted on a single thread, people would have scoffed, but it was an article released by StarCatch, which had earned a lot of trust. Naturally, the reaction was heated.

– Is this article real? Lee Soo-ah has alexithymia?

– I don’t think that’s possible.

– StarCatch wouldn’t write nonsense.

– So the reason why everyone had different stories about Soo-ah was because of alexithymia?

– Crazy… How empty her life must be…

. . . . .

The speed at which comments were being posted on the original article was comparable to the speed of light, and of course, the online communities weren’t staying still either.

[HOT] [↑3]

[1] [Special Task Force 808 Gallery]

Just seeing the Special Task Force 808 Gallery instantly become a real-time trending gallery showed that. The bait was building on itself and burning like crazy.

[Title: So to summarize, is this it?]

[I thought she was just aloof, but it turns out she was secretly suffering because she didn’t know how to act to get along with people?]

– Wow…

– I feel so bad for her, seriously

– She must be devastated inside

[Title: I’m still just confused]

[Lee Soo-ah has alexithymia? For real?]

– It’s so sudden, I can’t believe it lol

– I was sleepy but now I’m wide awake

[Title: These guys are really out of their minds]

(NextDay’s Lee Soo-ah’s past whitewashing tabloid article)

[They’ve been putting together a bunch of tabloids and writing sensational articles, but this time again, it’s completely unrelated to the truth. Why do they slander her without knowing anything?]

– For real

– They’re just cyber-wreckers

– I don’t even look at NextDay’s articles

[Title: Mystic’s official statement is out ㄷㄷ]

(Mystic’s statement)

[They originally tried to hide the fact that she has alexithymia, but they had no choice but to reveal it with a heavy heart to clarify. They ask for your continued support…]

– ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

– Those trash reporters, seriously ㅅㅂ

– I’ll support Lee Soo-ah for the rest of my life, seriously

Recently, there had been quite a few movements to dig up Soo-ah’s past. And there was a conspiracy theory that Soo-ah was whitewashing something dirty by gathering their testimonies.

In that situation, Soo-ah’s frontal breakthrough that she suffered from alexithymia was like a clean bulldozer.

Controversy? Suspicion? Wiped out in one go.

Also, fortunately.

[Title: You can’t say it’s fabricated because]

[If you listen to the people who claim to be acquaintances testifying about the gallery owner’s past, they all talk about completely different people. She definitely has alexithymia.]

– ㅇㅇ She seems to have been gradually accumulating human data

– ㅠ The phrase “accumulating data” is so heartbreaking

– Every time she made a big mistake, she had to leave the group and start over… It’s heartbreaking…

The public opinion absolutely sided with Soo-ah.

The same was true for SNS like ‘Outstar’.

In the past, acquaintances who had contact with Soo-ah posted short texts like explanations on SNS.

[@cooling pasta_N_pizza]

[Soo-ah would ask me how many ingredients there were in the kitchen and I couldn’t answer.

At the time, I was very frustrated.

No, it’s obvious that there are three, so why doesn’t she know and doesn’t answer? To be honest, I even thought she was very stupid… But now I’m really sorry. She probably knew there were three, but was worried about how to answer every moment. How hard it must have been.]

[@daiily_nihongo]

[I used to tutor Soo-ah in Japanese.

As you all know, Soo-ah’s Japanese ability is very good, and it’s not an ability I helped her develop. I think Soo-ah was very good at Japanese from the beginning. But she pretended to be very bad at it in front of me. I was a little disappointed by that…

…Now I understand. Soo-ah understood the tutoring as a concept of ‘making friends’. What Soo-ah needed wasn’t a tutor, but a friend to communicate with in Japanese. Soo-ah, I’m really sorry.]

[@yacha_foot club]

[Soo-ah used to be a member of our futsal club. I wondered why she kept using her hands even though it wasn’t basketball, but now I think about it, she was probably craving attention. I’m sorry for getting angry…]

[@ yunzi_is_here]

[Soo-ah, I don’t know if you remember me, we worked together in the kitchen ㅠㅠㅠ You always looked so scary, I thought you didn’t like me,,, I wonder how much you worried inside…. I’m sorry for misunderstanding you ㅠㅠ…. ]

. . . . .

And watching all the series of events.

“…”

Soo-ah trembled.

‘What is this? Is this okay?’

Soo-ah trembling? Soo-ah shivering? Soo-ah afraid…?

[Title: The reason why the gallery owner started acting is so touching]

[She said she wanted to understand humans someday. She said she wanted to learn emotions and make a lot of friends…]

‘That’s not true? When did I…?’

Wait a minute, wait a minute, how did this happen?

Soo-ah retraced her memories.

First of all, the “Tomorrow’s Crescendo” script reading ended successfully. No, did it end successfully? Suddenly everyone started looking at Soo-ah with pitiful eyes. They were so eager to help that it was quite burdensome.

Besides….

‘…What’s going on on the internet right now? Seeing the acquaintances from the past apologizing makes me feel strange!’

In fact, Kim Yi-seo had informed Soo-ah in advance.

She kindly explained that she planned to reveal alexithymia to the world. So Soo-ah nodded, didn’t she? Awesome, this is a chance to cover up my embarrassing past.

…Unfortunately, Soo-ah’s intelligence only went that far.

She only knew one thing and didn’t know two.

She was just excited about covering up her embarrassing past, and didn’t realize that the atmosphere would get to this point. Soo-ah uncivilized. Soo-ah idiot….

Anyway, she felt quite sorry for her acquaintances now. They didn’t actually do anything wrong. Soo-ah started thinking about a solution.

Meanwhile, the Soo-ah Association seemed quite surprised and kept peeking around.

Ah, of course, they were surprised by other things first.

─She couldn’t solve middle school math workbooks? No, she glued the pages together with glue stick to cleverly hide two pages as one? Later, she pretended to have lost it because she didn’t want to solve it? Ah-hae-ya, what…. Is this all really true…?

‘….’

─She had a full-fledged match against children in the children’s game corner of the department store. She greatly increased sales by pretending to lose after a close match…. Sunbae, this isn’t acting, is it? It seems like you really had a full-fledged match and lost.

‘….’

Soo-ah’s thoughts changed in an instant. Shaa-shaa-shak.

Well, after all, it’s a relief that she can hide her embarrassing past, regardless of conscience or anything else. What would have happened if these facts had been made known to the world as they were? Soo-ah dizzy.

‘Alright, alright, stop it. The past is just the past.’

Soo-ah cleared her throat and continued.

Of course, the Soo-ah Association’s contemptuous gaze didn’t disappear.

‘…Would you stop looking at me like that? Of course, I’m aware that I’m sorry to my acquaintances in the past. So, um, I want to take care of them separately. Give me some ideas.’

─Well, call them and treat them to something delicious.

Gangster Soo-ah’s calm words.

But surprisingly, it was the right answer.

‘…I guess that’s the only way.’

Soo-ah sat at her desk and started writing handwritten letters. She’s planning to hold a party just for her acquaintances soon, and she’s going to give them small gifts.

…Soo-ah sorry.

◈◈◈◈◈

While acquaintances were apologizing to Soo-ah, and Soo-ah was preparing gifts for her acquaintances… While such a heartwarming scene was unfolding, various entertainment media companies were in an uproar.

First of all, NextDay.

“Lee Soo-ah has alexithymia? There were already rumors circulating? We didn’t know at all!”

“There were no rumors circulating at all!”

“StarCatch? StarCatch broke it again. You bastards…. They completely monopolized all the good information…!”

“Only our NextDay got screwed again! Ugh!”

NextDay, which used to be a competitor of StarCatch, was in a situation as if a fire had broken out in its headquarters. Phones were ringing like crazy everywhere. Terror, confirmation of facts, it was enough to make their heads explode.

Eventually, Department Head Kim Hyun-mo couldn’t stand it and shouted.

“…Fuck! Fine! You guys take care of everything in the entertainment industry!”

One thing is certain.

After today, NextDay will never rise again as a rival to StarCatch.

. . .

Meanwhile, the countries that were interested in Soo-ah were no longer just Korea. There was one more. Japan.

[Director Yusaku’s ‘Weeds’ VS Minami Akiko’s contest-winning work? Who will be the winner?]

[Yusaku + Lee Soo-ah Unexpected Korean-Japanese combination achieved. ‘We plan to show you a Yakuza genre that has never existed before.]

That’s because Japan was also quite interested in Soo-ah. The success of MDD 808 was one reason, and the fact that Soo-ah was involved in the competition between Akiko and Yusaku also played a part.

In that situation.

It didn’t take long for the hot issue in Korea to cross borders.

The PD of the Japanese national variety show “Celebrity Zoo” and Director Yusaku, who cast Yakuza Soo-ah, were far apart but tilted their heads at the same time.

“Sua-san ga, kanjō hyōgen funō-shō?”

(Soo-ah has alexithymia?)