Chapter 125: Self-Loathing

Just how many times had I pressed the refresh button?

After I finished my stream and went back home, I kept coming back to the drama’s comment section while texting with Oppa.

[kim eojin is seriously so hot, does this actor have an insta?]

[dunno, is he a rookie?]

[wonder if kim eojin will appear more? kinda feels like a minor background char tho.]

There were significantly more comments in this episode compared to 1 and 2, and most of them were talking about Oppa.

“…Hmm.”

This was something to celebrate about, right…?

Like, I should congratulate him for this or something…

But, I didn’t feel entirely happy for some reason. Was it because I was petty?

Feeling a little uneasy, I hurriedly moved my fingers.

[oppa, did you see the comments? the reactions are insane.]

[I actually counted my screen time, it’s only about 5 seconds, why are they like this?]

[that just meant you made an impression! you’ll get calls left and right soon!]

[…I guess if you try to look at it positively…]

Jeez, calling it looking at it positively was too modest of you, Oppa!

For a web drama of this scale to gather this level of reactions… It wouldn’t be long for you to become famous!

The people would always go crazy for a shiny new face, after all!

[i bet manager-nim will call you tomorrow.]

[They did tell me that follow-up opportunities would come based on public reception… Yeah, they’ll probably call me tomorrow…]

When I stared at the chat, I felt like hearing his voice, so I decided to call him.

「Hello.」

「Hello?」

「Hiii~ Celebrity-ssi~」

「I just appeared for five seconds! How am I a celebrity now, huh?」

He replied with a playful laugh.

「What are you even saying? Just wait and see, you’ll get your own fan club, give it a week or so.」

「Nah, you’re kidding. People need something to be a fan of before they make fan clubs and stuff.」

「You’re just underestimating people these days~!」

Just because you knew a lot about something didn’t mean you were truly passionate about it.

Sometimes, all it took was a single spark.

It was like that for content creation, and to some extent, people too.

Just a tiny detail could already send people into a frenzy, suddenly calling themselves die-hard fans or something.

The VTuber industry was similar.

If one of your short clips went viral, your viewers and subscribers would skyrocket.

And in Oppa’s case, if there was one thing that people would get hyped about, well…

I stared at his face on my phone’s background.

「Your face did everything! It’s all because of your face!」

「Just imagining clips of that one scene going around the internet already makes me dizzy…」

I could imagine him smiling in half-embarrassment, half-resigned.

「I’ll come up with a clip title for you. Wait.」

Hmm… What would be good…?

Let’s try to come up with something that the Pink Army would like…

「How about ‘School Days PTSD’ or ‘Dedicated Otaku Bully’?」

The moment I was done suggesting those titles, I could hear Oppa’s laughs from the other side.

「Hey, hey, why are you trying to burn me from the start? Do you want me to get canceled?」

「No, of course not! I just came out with those because they’ll fit the clip perfectly!」

He’d get a memorable nickname from that, for sure.

Since the character’s name was Kim Eojin, something with Eojin would come up, maybe.

「Anyway, you’ll get a lot of calls from people around you when this circulates around more, you know?」

「Uh… I doubt that there are many people who’d just call me directly…」

「At the very least your classmates on campus would call you!」

「Can you answer them for me instead? I’m not even close with them.」

Would I really get calls…?

Actually, Minji and the others might ask me about it…

「Okay, okay! Does that mean I can go around telling everyone that I’m the girlfriend of a superstar?」

「Only if I can go around saying I’m the boyfriend of the global sensation Luka-tan.」

Though we were just having this kind of meaningless small talk, everything felt enjoyable.

Chattering away tirelessly until dawn, falling asleep as the morning light broke.

Hoping that we could meet again tomorrow.

Yeah, there was no need for me to think negatively about this.

Everyone saw him in a positive light, so there was no reason for me to be all possessive of him!

Looking back, I probably had overestimated myself big time.

「Hey, ‘tis really you?」

In the end, Doah’s prediction came true.

Yoonje called me after a really long time, and sure enough, he started asking me about the web drama.

「…Why?」

「What do you mean why, you dumbass?! Why didn’t you tell me anything about this? Seriously!”

Dude, you weren’t my mom, why should I tell you that?

「Still… Damn it, Han Taemin… I’ve been wondering what you’ve been up to all this time, so you had a plan all along, huh?」

Hearing the word ‘plan’, I almost burst out laughing.

What plan? I just did this because they said it would help Luka’s concert…

Well, I guess you could consider that a plan?

Actually, yeah, it was a plan. It even had such a grand goal.

「I got an offer, so, I figured I’d try it once.」

「Damn. But… you’re disgustingly handsome, so that makes sense, I guess.」

「So why did you call?」

Did he call me just to ask this?

「Huh? I just wanted to ask if it was really you.」

…Really? That was it?

「Yeah, that was me. Can I hang up now?」

「Hey hey hey, not yet. One more thing.」

「What is it?」

「Can I tell people that I’m friends with you?」

I could already guess where this was going. I facepalmed in resignation.

「Look, dude, I don’t mind you telling everyone that we’re friends, just don’t ask me to go with you.」

By the way, this guy was still trying to use my name to set up group dates and stuff.

「Ah, of course, of course. I wouldn’t do that~ I mean, you have Doah and all~」

He said that jokingly and that only made me even more uneasy.

「Anyway, I’m hanging up.」

「See ya! I’ll binge-watch the drama!」

After getting my permission, he soon hung out the call.

Right, I should’ve told him that I wouldn’t appear in that drama anymore.

Well, whatever. He’d drop that shit soon anyway since it was boring.

Anyway, with this, I guess everyone would find out that I’ve become a public figure.

No, wait, calling myself a public figure just based on that felt like I was setting the bar too low… Guess I should call myself a semi-public figure?

I checked the comments on episode 3 again, but it hadn’t changed, everything was about me.

[How do I marry that Eojin oppa?]

Be born as Kim Doah.

[Kim Eojin is super handsome, hope he appears again.]

Sorry, but, I doubt I’d be making any more appearances…

[I heard that Kim Eojin guy is a new YM recruit?]

Where the hell did you hear that? But, yeah, you were right.

As I was scrolling through those comments, feeling like I was doing a Q&A session with myself, I got a call from Manager-nim, which made me jump up in surprise.

「Ah, yes, Manager-nim?」

It had been about five days since episode 3 was released.

My upcoming schedule was supposed to be confirmed around today.

「Yes, Taemin-ssi. Have you been well?」

「Ah, yes.」

「As I mentioned before, this stage is extremely important. It’s the stage where you’re showing your face to the world for the first time, right?」

「Yes, yes.」

「So… uh, you see… The previous drama’s director is asking if you could appear a bit more in the drama, given the sudden interest and all… what do you think?」

Huh, they were asking me to film more?

That was good at all, but there was one main issue here…

「…Do I need to say more lines?」

Oh, fuck, I probably shouldn’t have asked that.

That sounded stupid.

Manager-nim burst into laughter.

「Ah, yes, you’ll need to say some lines, of course. Well, your screen time wouldn’t suddenly explode, obviously. Your character will still have the minor role.」

Hmm… a minor role…

「But, the problem is, last time I only agreed because everything was happening so quickly… Manager-nim, do you really think I can do it?」

The thing was, I’ve never acted before, not even in kindergarten.

「If you agree, we’ll immediately start acting lessons for you.」

…Ah, so they’d let me go to an academy, after all.

That actually made me feel more at ease.

That was definitely 500 times better than making me dive headfirst.

Having an instructor by my side would be great.

「…What happens if I were to refuse?」

This was another thing I was curious about.

「It would disappoint the production team, but we’d just have to look for other opportunities.」

Which meant me being there wasn’t absolutely necessary.

After mulling over it briefly, I chose what seemed like the better option.

「Then, would it be okay if I look at the script first and then let you know my answer?」

「Of course, but you’ll need to decide quickly so we can inform them of your decision. I can only give you one day to think it over.」

「Okay, I understand.」

「Alright, I’ll contact the production company right away!」

With that, the call ended. I immediately plopped down on the bed, staring at the still-on monitor.

The numerous comments about Kim Eojin were still there.

I should probably talk about this with Doah when we meet again later.

It would be better than having to worry about it by myself here anyway.

Anyway, since there was still some time left, it wouldn’t be bad to practice a little and show it to her later.

After about thirty minutes, Manager-nim finally sent me the script, and as I opened the file, I quietly read the lines.

“If you’re an otaku, why don’t you just stay in your hole and read manhwa… Why do you keep crawling out…?”

Was the whole purpose of this character to make me hate myself? Was that it, huh?