Luna Entertainment’s representative office.
Originally, only the representative Jeong Do-cheol should have been present there, but Lee Jun and Lee Geon-yeol, who had firmed up their minds after a long discussion last night, were also present.
The sole reason for Lee Jun and Lee Geon-yeol to meet Jeong Do-cheol not in a private setting but in the representative’s office was simple.
They wanted him to do something not as a close brother to Daulby, but as the representative of Luna Entertainment.
“Wow, look at you acting all high and mighty. You couldn’t even look me in the eye before.”
“Um, hyung. Please listen to this first. We didn’t come to see you for no reason early in the morning.”
And so, an MP3 file from Lee Jun’s laptop began to play.
In response, Jeong Do-cheol paused his conversation and started to enjoy the demo recording of Daulby’s new song.
About three minutes later, the playback ended.
The first words that came out of Jeong Do-cheol’s mouth as he slowly opened it were.
“Even if it’s you two, I have to ask. Where on earth did you find a vocalist like this?”
The question about the identity of the ethereal female vocal that had captivated Jeong Do-cheol throughout the chorus.
The answer from Lee Geon-yeol was like a riddle.
“You know her.”
“Hey, Lee Geon-yeol. Do you really expect me, at my age, to play guessing games with grown men?”
Thus, Jeong Do-cheol, who frowned for a moment, indirectly told them to drop the riddle.
Unbeknownst to himself, Lee Geon-yeol took a shallow breath and eventually revealed the identity of the vocalist.
“It’s Ha Eun.”
“Are you talking about that actress?”
“Who else could Ha Eun be to us?”
What Jeong Do-cheol faced was Lee Geon-yeol’s serious gaze, more earnest than ever.
Since they had never lied about anything related to singing, it seemed that the voice which had just captivated Jeong Do-cheol truly belonged to Ha Eun.
What mattered was why Daulby had shared an MP3 file containing Ha Eun’s voice with Jeong Do-cheol.
Jeong Do-cheol already had some idea of the reason, but he decided to listen to what Lee Jun and Lee Geon-yeol had to say.
“Well, you know. In the past, you teased us for volunteering to teach a young girl, didn’t you?”
“That wasn’t teasing. I found it remarkable that you’d be teaching singing for years just because you shot a music video once.”
“To be honest, there was another motive behind it. Of course, Ha Eun was grateful, but…”
The ensuing story was about the fundamental reason Daulby had continued Ha Eun’s singing lessons for quite some time.
“Just like you raised us decades ago, we wanted to nurture Ha Eun. As a singer who perfectly matches our songs.”
“If this actress finds out, she might be upset.”
“Still, it was Ha Eun who first expressed her desire to learn to sing. It’s a win-win situation for both of us.”
There are plenty of capable singers out there, but someone who could perfectly express Daulby’s unique emotion and vision through song had never been found.
“In the end, all we could teach her was our style.”
“Who’s saying what?”
“Nobody, I just thought you were looking at us like we were trash since earlier.”
Instead of compromising with singers whose voices somewhat matched their vision, they decided to create a new one altogether.
This plan had begun because Ha Eun had first asked Daulby to teach her how to sing.
“To be honest, don’t you think Ha Eun’s voice matches the features among the ones we’ve heard until now the best?”
That could be considered common sense.
After all, no one other than Daulby had refined and corrected their sound over more than ten years. Ultimately, Ha Eun’s voice had become the one that harmonized better with Daulby than any other in the world.
“Then why don’t you just talk to this actress directly? Why are you holding onto my pant leg?”
“Well, the thing is, we’ve been trying to feel it out, but she’s been hesitant, mentioning something about red pills…”
“Red pills? Is this actress ill?”
“No, not a medicine… Actually, we don’t really understand what it means either.”
It was right after that when Daulby explained exactly what they wanted from Jeong Do-cheol.
“Hyung, please persuade Ha Eun for us. After all, if it’s coming from you, she might at least consider it.”
“Seriously, I’m begging to convince a single girl and I’m here begging an aging old man. What a great thing to do.”
With that, a request for them to leave was added along with a gesture.
He also instructed them to send the demo recording they had just played to his email.
Not long after, the representative office returned to complete silence.
Perhaps because of that, memories of Ha Eun flickered in Jeong Do-cheol’s mind like soap bubbles, floating and bursting repeatedly.
Memories from a few years ago, when he took Ha Eun to meet Kwon Jong-hyuk, the director next door.
The memory of Ha Eun eventually passing the audition for the role of Kim Ji-a and winning the Best New Actress award at an end-of-year ceremony.
A few years later, a widely talked-about drama like “You from the Stars” that soared to the high skies.
Even the UBS bulletin board, which was almost flooded with posts begging to save Han Yu-hwa, looked among those memories.
“Han Yu-hwa said that memories alone are enough. If that’s the case, I have nothing to say. May Hyun-dae lead a happy life.”
‘…No wonder it sounded awkward. It must have been written by a foreigner using a translator.’
The memory of narrowly avoiding a crisis thanks to Ha Eun’s ‘convincing’ performance.
The recollection of the risky escape scene that is still discussed from her appearance in “Don’t Stop People.”
And finally, at the end of all those memories.
The memory of Ha Eun visiting Jeong Do-cheol a few days ago, wanting to talk about another one of her dreams.
“So, there are no contractual issues related to the audition for ‘Fantasy Land’?”
“So far, none. However, if you’re considering neglecting your acting career, I personally want to dissuade you from that.”
“I will continue to work hard in acting. That’s why I’m asking, is there any role related to cross-dressing that you could inform me about?”
“It’s not hard to let you know. But why cross-dressing?”
“I think it would be fun. Honestly, I believe I would stand out the most.”
He provided the basis for bringing Ha Eun into the representative office of Luna Entertainment.
Coincidentally, he had recently received information about a role related to ‘cross-dressing’ that Ha Eun had requested.
Thus, around lunchtime, he contacted Ju Jung-yun, Ha Eun’s manager, and instructed her to bring Ha Eun to the representative office.
Then, as the clock struck 4 PM, when Ha Eun arrived at the representative office.
“There’s good news, but it could be perceived as good or burdensome depending on how you hear it. So, what does our actress want to hear first?”
He worded it in a way that let her choose whether to hear about the cross-dressing role or the Daulby featuring first.
At that, a cautious-sounding Ha Eun chose the latter.
“Then, I’ll get straight to the point. I want our actress to help those unfortunate souls.”
He then started with the fact that Daulby had visited Jeong Do-cheol that morning, then moved on to Jeong Do-cheol’s impressions of the demo recording, and concluded with a question about Ha Eun’s reluctance to debut as a singer.
“I don’t think you look down on singers like those other arrogant actors. It seems like you have your own reasons, am I right?”
“…Yes.”
“Just to clarify, does your reason have anything to do with ‘Fantasy Land’?”
Ha Eun nodded.
Jeong Do-cheol paused for a moment to think before opening his mouth again.
“The last time, you said that the person auditioning for ‘Fantasy Land’ is not you, but a fictional character named ‘Diah.’”
“Yes.”
“Then how about creating one more fictional character to feature on their song?”
He presented Ha Eun with a way where she wouldn’t gain fame herself, but could fulfill Daulby’s request.
Strictly speaking, it would be Ha Eun’s voice that needed to remain out of the spotlight, so it wasn’t a perfect solution, but it wasn’t unreasonable for someone like Jeong Do-cheol, the representative of an entertainment company, to refuse outright a plan he had come up with thoughtfully.
In any case, the audition for ‘Fantasy Land’ was still a future event that had yet to start.
In contrast, Jeong Do-cheol’s suggestion was, for Ha Eun, a fire that had fallen at her feet.
In other words, right now, she needed to find a way to address the proposal for featuring urgently.
“I’ll discuss it with the guys…”
Having managed to circumvent the ambiguous question that was neither acceptance nor rejection, she cautiously inquired about what Jeong Do-cheol had referred to as ‘just good news.’
“Oh, it’s that. There’s a role you wanted, a cross-dressing role. It’s a leading role.”
The name he mentioned was coincidentally the name of the drama that Ha Eun had told Da-yeon she wanted to act in.
“‘The Moonlight that Parted the Clouds.’ I found out that it’s a drama with its own original novel.”
“Oh, yes. I’ve read that novel a few times. It’s really interesting.”
“So you want to be part of that entertaining story?”
“…Yes.”
Thus, the story concluded with Ha Eun’s name also included in the candidate group for the leading role in “The Moonlight that Parted the Clouds.”
Still, there was something that weighed on Jeong Do-cheol’s mind, which he ultimately decided to tell Ha Eun.
“The director is a bit peculiar. He insists that the lead actor must perform their own swordplay instead of using a stunt double. There’s also a rumor that the final casting decision will depend on that swordplay scene.”
What that meant was that to be cast as the lead in “The Moonlight that Parted the Clouds,” Ha Eun would need to learn action acting.
However, for Ha Eun to learn action acting, it meant.
“Then I’d need to attend an action school, right? I’d have to engage in strenuous exercise and training all day?”
That was precisely the perfect opportunity to return to exercising, which she hadn’t been able to do for four days.
“Hmm, do you think that might be too tough?”
“No. I could go to action school starting tomorrow. No, I really want to go.”
“?”
Rather, Ha Eun fervently pleaded to be sent to action school.
That left Jeong Do-cheol in a state of bewilderment.
In a way, it was to be expected.
After all, action schools were inherently rough places for actresses like Ha Eun to consider attending.
He couldn’t understand why she would be so eager to be sent to such a sweaty place.
Nevertheless, Ha Eun’s determination seemed solid, so ultimately, Jeong Do-cheol agreed to introduce her to an action school he knew of.
Just after that, another request from Ha Eun came through.
“Sir, may I rent a practice room for a bit? Just for a very short time. Exactly 10 minutes.”
“I can definitely lend you an empty practice room, but is this actress thinking of shooting something like a TikTok?”
“Huh? Oh, no. I’m just planning to film a video of myself dancing to idol choreography for personal reasons.”
She didn’t mention that the idol dance video would be submitted for the “Fantasy Land” audition.
She also didn’t reveal that what was required for the “Fantasy Land” audition was simply a video that showcased the applicant’s ‘talents.’
However, there were a few former idol trainees among the Virtual YouTubers in Ha Eun’s memories.
She thought surely submitting a video in which she imitated their idol-like figures would earn her a significant advantage in the audition.
Furthermore, if she submitted the vocal recording file of the idol songs she had practiced diligently up to that point, she believed it would help her stand out among the many competitors in the “Fantasy Land” audition.
