episode_0006

The next day.

Sua woke up early. It was because of a message from PD Son Ji-woong.

[Sender: PD Son Ji-woong]

[The file is quite large, so the uploading time to the cloud server is taking longer than expected. Thank you for your understanding.]

Checking the time the message arrived, it was 5 AM. Almost right before sunrise. Did he perhaps work all night?

[Take your time.]

She sent a message with her concern, and a reply came back immediately.

[I’m sorry. I’ll get it to you as soon as possible.]

Sua tilted her head slightly.

“He’s unexpectedly kind, you know.”

Muttering that to herself, Sua put down her phone.

How was her acting?

She was definitely curious, but it wasn’t so urgent that she had to check right away. It was because she had the third perk. Now, Sua had been given the most fun toy in the world.

And the news that her application to the script sharing cafe had been approved.

[Congratulations!] [You have become a full member of the cafe.] [All materials are available for viewing.] [*Our cafe does not handle illegal scripts.]

This was great news for Sua.

Being able to access additional scripts meant she could explore the perks in much greater detail than before.

“Alright.”

Sua quickly downloaded several scripts. It took only a moment for her to print everything out and complete the filing.

The moment she placed her hand on the neatly stacked script bundles.

Whoosh─!

The feeling of elation, which she was now quite used to. Her mind becoming hazy.

[Welcome to ‘Acting Time’.]

[This space is configured to your liking.] [Currently ‘Acting Time’ is deactivated.] [You can freely experience the scripts.]

Sua lightly skipped over the notification windows, which she was now accustomed to. More important were the changes in the appearance of the doors, which were different from before.

Long nameplates were in place on the doors.

[Audition Script] ▶ Not Subject to Classification ▶ Insufficient Basic Elements

[Drama ‘Catch Me If You Can’] ▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements

[Drama ‘Speeding Violation’] ▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements

Two dramas for which she had received scripts from the cafe. Both were works that Sua quite enjoyed. She used to leave them playing on her phone in the corner when she was working.

‘Catch Me If You Can’ is a crime thriller. ‘Speeding Violation’ is a biography of a race car driver’s victory.

Sua’s eyes sparkled as if she was still amazed.

“So, from now on, I can freely experience these?”

She had been dragged into the audition script without knowing anything about the content, but now the situation was quite different. Sua had in her head what the plot of these two works flowed like.

“….”

Sua swallowed hard.

“…How can I stand this? I can’t!”

She threw open the door with such force that it seemed like she would break it down, and then rushed inside. The first work she turned the doorknob for was ‘Speeding Violation’.

Bang─!

“Ugh!”

However, she had to endure a large impact as soon as she entered. Panic came first, and the pain in her forehead as if it would break came later.

“Ugh…”

Sua rubbed her forehead and looked around inside the door.

She thought she would immediately jump into the world of the script, but that wasn’t the case. It was just a phone booth, that’s all.

“…Why a phone booth all of a sudden? Was I tricked?”

However, she understood after looking at the phone book next to her.

[Kim Hyun-cheol] 001 [Park Mi-sook] 002 [Park Dong-ha] 003

“Ah, right. I have to set the role.”

Does that mean I can make a phone call to the desired number? Come to think of it, the protagonist Kim Hyun-cheol is male, right? Sua moved her finger while harboring various concerns.

She picked up the receiver and pressed three numbers. 001.

Bzzzzz─!

At the same time, her mind became hazy.

.

.

.

.

.

“Wow….”

A little later, Sua appeared in the hallway with a tremendous expression.

“Wow…. Wow….”

She quietly looked down at her hands.

“I, with my own hands…. Won the competition…!”

Immediately after, Sua unconsciously crossed her arms. A thrilling sensation rose from her toes to her head, and it was to calm the goosebumps that were still all over her body.

“Ugh…!”

Sua trembled with pleasure.

The feeling of grabbing the steering wheel was still vivid, and her right leg, which had stepped on the accelerator with all her might, still seemed numb. And what about overturning a nearly lost game with a drift?

The same was true for ‘Catch Me If You Can’. It was very enjoyable to taunt the investigative agencies and steal works of art.

“Thrilling, fun, should I just live here forever?”

The audition script was truly the worst, but the interesting scripts were close to a pleasant dream. And there was significantly less fatigue.

But then, it happened.

“Huh?”

Something caught Sua’s eye, who was just having fun.

[Drama ‘Catch Me If You Can’] ▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements ▶ Experience Completed / Grade 3

[Drama ‘Speed’] ▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements ▶ Experience Completed / Grade 5

A line had been added to both works.

“I understand ‘Experience Completed’…. But what is the grade?”

Several assumptions immediately came to mind. Could it be that Sua didn’t portray the role well?

“I don’t think so.”

She slowly shook her head.

The moment she entered the experiential world, Sua immediately began to think like the role and act like the role. It wasn’t simply a matter of being thrown into that world, but rather feeling like she had become that person completely.

What else could be an element that could define the grade?

“Grade, grade, grade….”

Sua pondered while repeating the two letters several times, and soon realized that she was doing something foolish.

Come to think of it, in Sua’s studio apartment, there was a much smarter guy than herself. His name was Computer.

“Yeah. Let’s ask him.”

Whoosh─!

Sua left the perk hotel and immediately sat in front of the computer and typed on the keyboard. Just searching for the titles of each drama caused many articles to spread out below.

First, Grade 3, Catch Me If You Can.

[Survived relatively well with a low budget!] [Excellent acting, but poor props….] [A work barely saved by the actors.] Average viewership rating: 6%.

And Grade 5, Speeding Violation.

[It’s truly a masterpiece…. Sighs from critics.] [Racing genre is too early for Korea.] [Didn’t even break even.] [The quality of the work itself is the best.] Average viewership rating: 1.8%

‘Did Speeding Violation fail to this extent?’

Sua thought it was unexpected. She had been completely fascinated after seeing it randomly playing, but people’s tastes were different, it seemed.

After searching for the data, the investigation narrowed down.

‘Speeding Violation is praised by all the experts, but the grade is low. It’s not a grade that indicates the quality of the work.’

If so, there is only one likely candidate.

Grade 3, Catch Me If You Can. Viewership rating 6% Grade 5, Speeding Violation. Viewership rating 1.8%

‘Are they talking about the level of success? It seems like it?’

After she thought that far, Sua immediately went straight to the perk hotel. A brilliant thought occurred to her.

[Independent Film ‘Thorn Fish’] ▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements

Thorn Fish. This wasn’t a work she had shared from the cafe, but rather one she had brought from a recruitment advertisement.

In other words, a guy that hadn’t even been born yet. An unfinished work.

“Could it be that if I experience this, a grade will be assigned?”

Why just talk about it? Sua immediately threw open the door.

“Ugh….”

And a little later.

“Ugh…. Ugh….”

Sua crawled out of the door. In fact, she was in such a state that she couldn’t even crawl properly. Should she say she was wriggling all over?

“Shrimp fishing boat…. Crazy…. Why is the title Thorn Fish….”

Sua muttered in a dying voice. No, just what had to happen for them to put the title Thorn Fish on the content about riding a shrimp fishing boat?

It’s resentful. Should she go find them and argue?

However, the moment she barely managed to lift her head.

“…!”

Life immediately returned to her eyes, which had been sapped of energy.

[Thorn Fish] ▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements ▶ Experience Completed/ Grade 6

“I see it! The grade!”

Sua immediately sprang up from her spot.

The pain of working on a shrimp fishing boat, sleeping for two hours each day, had already disappeared.

She can see the grade of a work that hasn’t even been released yet. There was no greater fact for Sua now than this.

Whoosh─!

After leaving the space, she frantically searched the Internet.

[Recruiting actors for short film ‘Basement’] [Recruiting actors to appear in sketch comedy] [Recruiting for music video shoot] [Recruiting for people to appear in short video ad CF]

Sua received all of those that had attached scripts.

If that really is a grade indicating the level of success…. If she can see the grades of works that haven’t even been completed yet in advance….

“Hehe.”

Sua unconsciously smiled.

But then.

[Sender: PD Son Ji-woong] [Sua-ssi, I’m sending you the link.]

The answer key that would clearly resolve both her questions about her acting skills and also her questions about the grade of the script had arrived.

Sua immediately accessed the link.

Finally, it was time to face herself.

◈◈◈◈◈

The exhibition hall where the audition ‘I Became an Actor Like This’ was being held.

The space, which had been so crowded that there was no room to step, was now unbelievably empty.

It was because the first audition, which had been held for four days, had come to an end. Only the staff occasionally wandered around, showing their faces.

And with all of that scenery pushed aside to one corner.

Rustle─

There is a man sitting inside a luxurious van, quietly flipping through a script. The harmony of his sharp facial features is amazing.

Rustle─ Rustle─

Dignified. Disciplined.

At that moment when the man was filling the space with elegance.

Suddenly, the door of the van slightly opened. A woman’s face, which instantly made the dark and heavy space bright, peeked in.

“I knew it. Kim Seon-il, have you been here the whole time?”

Seo Yeon-ju, the epitome of pureness that others would try harder to see even once more. However, he didn’t seem to care.

“Yeah.”

It was because they were used to it. Kim Seon-il and Seo Yeon-ju belonged to the same agency, had already worked together on several projects, and had similar popularity.

“It was a famous feast, but there’s nothing to eat.”

He was able to receive the audition situation live today, and he was repeatedly disappointed. There were no sparkling gems.

“What were you trying to find? Ah, I know what it is.”

“Yeah. Writer Lee Geum-sook’s next work.”

This writer’s next work, a script that was so excellent that he had no choice but to accept it. However, since then, Kim Seon-il had been sighing every day.

It was because he faced an unexpected problem.

Perhaps it was because the script was so excellent, but he couldn’t find the pieces to play the other roles properly. He could only be disappointed because dramas couldn’t be made alone.

Seo Yeon-ju clicked her tongue as if she was bored.

“Fix your pickiness first. Not enough with your mysophobia, you even have to pick your partner actors yourself. What are you, a mental patient?”

“If you’re not happy, go find someone. A man who acts better than me.”

Kim Seon-il replied briefly and put down the script with a thud.

“I’m going. I’ve lost interest.”

“The participants? Or the script?”

“Both. I have to get rid of my lingering feelings.”

“Well, if you had come on the first day, you wouldn’t have reacted like that?”

Kim Seon-il narrowed his eyebrows as Seo Yeon-ju shrugged her shoulders.

“…What are you talking about?”

“There was quite a wonderful gem on the first day.”

At the same time, Seo Yeon-ju fully opened the door, which had only been slightly open.

The man, who had finally revealed his appearance. Seo Yeon-ju had not been alone from the beginning. PD Choi Hee-won, who had solid muscles, was with her.

“From now on, I’m going to see writer Lee with PD Choi Hee-won, and we’re going to talk about that participant. You can come with us too.”

Seo Yeon-ju tilted her head saucily.

“The choice is yours. What will you do?”