Inside the dressing room, long brown hair stretched out under the mirror lights, flowing down her shoulders. Yoon Seo-min watched Lee Seo-yu's acting on the monitor with her arms crossed. Her fingertips slowly tapped her arm.

"...That expression again."

The voice she muttered softly was cold and sunken.

"Emotional depth, immersion... everyone is making such a fuss. It's not even funny how they act like the world is turning upside down just because she can act a little."

However, Lee Seo-yu on the screen was overwhelming the gaze without even a single line of dialogue. Every look in her eyes, every single breath drew people in. The corners of Yoon Seo-min's mouth stiffened slightly.

"...Why?"

The edge of the script in her hand gets crumpled.

"Why is it her and not me?"

Since her idol days, she was always the center. When the camera rolled, eyes naturally gravitated toward her, and people called her a genius. It was the same after she transitioned to acting. At least... until she saw Lee Seo-yu.

"Just a rookie."

Her low-pitched voice grows sharp.

"Everyone only looks at that girl. The director, the reporters, the senior actors..."

She looks at her own face in the mirror. A perfectly groomed, beautiful face. But today, for some reason, it looked anxious.

"...I can do better."

Those words were less of a conviction and more of a spell to hold herself together.

"So next time... I'll never lose."

Late at night. In a corner of the empty set, Kang Jin-seong sat leaning back in a chair in front of the monitor, silently watching the screen. The filming was already over, but he was replaying the video for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Lee Seo-yu on the screen takes a breath. Just that short breath changes the texture of the emotion.

"...Interesting."

A low, sunken voice.

"The lines were ordinary, but she changed the entire atmosphere."

Kang Jin-seong has seen countless actors since he was a child. There were innumerable people who were good at acting and people who were called geniuses. But for most of them, the bottom was visible at some point. The way they calculated emotions, the gaze processing that became a habit, the familiar breathing.

But Lee Seo-yu was different.

"...I can't read what's next."

His black eyes slowly sink.

"I didn't expect her to react like that in that scene."

It felt like peeking at a real person. It wasn't acting; her very existence had transformed into that character.

Kang Jin-seong rested his chin on his hand with an expressionless face.

"This is a first."

He always thought he was alone. The sensation of reading a script, deconstructing emotions, and swallowing a character. There was no actor who could keep up with that speed. That's why the set was always boring.

But the moment he saw Lee Seo-yu on the screen, he knew.

"That one... is the same kind."

His heart beats just a little faster. It was a strange sensation.

"...What was her name. Lee Seo-yu."

He slowly chews over that name.

"I'd like to meet her in the next project."

A short silence.

"...No."

The corners of his mouth rise very slightly.

"I must meet her."

Late at night when the screening room was completely empty. Director Park Jung-soo sat alone in the very back seat of the theater. The faint afterimage of the ending scene still remained on the large screen.

He silently toyed with a cigarette but ultimately did not light it.

"...It's been a long time."

His low, rough voice slowly echoes in the empty theater.

"Since I've seen an actor who is truly an actor."

He has seen countless humans while making movies for decades. Talented actors, pretty actors, lucky actors. But for most, their limits were revealed over time. They could mimic emotions, but they couldn't become the character itself.

But Lee Seo-yu was different.

Park Jung-soo recalled the time of filming. The sensation of the air on set changing the moment the camera started rolling.

"...I couldn't call for a cut."

In that scene, he wasn't the director. He was merely an audience member watching the character on the screen with bated breath.

"She flips the atmosphere with a single look... and pulls up the emotion with a single breath."

A faint smile hangs on his lips.

"She's a monster."

There was a deeper sense of satisfaction than fear in those words.

"In this business, a raw diamond like that is something you might see once in a lifetime."

He slowly taps the armrest of the chair with his finger.

"No, even the expression 'raw diamond' is wrong."

She is already complete. The technique, the emotions, and the power to swallow people whole.

"...She is the actor I've been looking for."

Park Jung-soo's gaze slowly sinks.

"That child must be in my movie."

At that moment, the face of the master director, famous for being cold-hearted, was clouded with a conviction bordering on hidden obsession.

"I don't care who takes her first."

He murmurs lowly.

"Because in the end, I'll be the one standing her in front of my camera."

Inside a dark studio. Empty liquor bottles and crumpled scenario papers were scattered haphazardly on the floor. Through the thick cigarette smoke, the man sat leaning deep into his chair.

With a cigarette held roughly in his mouth, he glared at the interview screen on the TV. Lee Seo-yu's brightly smiling face was reflected on the screen.

"...She took it all."

A hoarse laugh leaks out.

"The fame, the spotlight, the reporters."

Once, he was in that position too. Actors lined up just for his name, and investors bowed their heads. The genius director. The crazy talent of the film industry. Everyone called him that.

But now, all that remained were debt collection calls and a forgotten name.

"...Don't make me laugh."

He crushes the cigarette into the ashtray.

"What does that young thing know?"

Even as he said that, his eyes did not leave the screen. He felt it the moment he saw Lee Seo-yu's acting. That is the real deal. A talent that bewitches people. A face and emotional depth that would drive a camera mad.

His greedy eyes slowly glisten.

"Yes... that's it."

The corners of his mouth turn up in a twist.

"If I can just get my hands on that girl, I can go back up."

Awards, money, fame. They can all be his again.

"That old man Park Jung-soo will want her too. Actor punks like Kang Jin-seong will stick to her as well."

He laughed lowly. It was a sticky, murky laugh.

"But in the end, what matters is who catches her first."

He picks up a crumpled scenario. His fingers slowly brush over the dusty cover.

"...I just need this work to succeed."

A desire bordering on obsession was in his eyes.

"Lee Seo-yu."

He slowly chews and swallows that name.

"You will definitely appear in my movie."