The "audition" for Lee Sangsoo was, in reality, more of a simple script reading.

    Even if Director Baek Min remained outwardly reserved, the investors wouldn’t remain passive. Knowing this, most of the staff relaxed and watched the sequence unfold.

    They had assumed Seoyeon’s presence was simply to assist with the lines, nothing more.

    "I see. So it was all a lie."

    The words came out in a low tone, as if the speaker was expelling their very emotions.

    "Everything, from start to finish."

    Seoyeon had always been good at conveying emotions. But now, there was a palpable sense of advancement, something beyond her usual performance.

    Why?

    Everyone wondered, though Director Baek Min had a faint idea.

    ‘She recently participated in Mask Singer, didn’t she?’

    Though he didn’t watch variety shows, he had heard about it. Those who had seen it were said to have been deeply moved by the emotions conveyed through her singing.

    Actors, after all, draw emotions from the audience through every available means. But singing, relying solely on the voice, demands an extraordinary level of expressiveness.

    And Seoyeon was one of those rare cases.

    Just as physical skills improve with regular use, so does the voice. Seoyeon had honed her voice to the fullest extent to compete in Mask Singer, training her greatest asset to overcome any shortcomings and captivate the audience.

    Her compelling voice drew in the staff, making them forget that this was merely an audition or a casual script reading.

    "I knew... somehow, I always knew," Seoyeon said in character, her gaze narrowing as she looked at Goto Isamu, filled with an unmistakable hatred.

    Her red eyes, glinting in the dim light, chilled the air.

    "And still, I believed you—foolishly, because I thought you did it all for me."

    She had no intention of blaming anyone else. After all, she, too, had plotted to kill Amanabe Michiko and seize her wealth. And perhaps... to take that girl, too.

    "So, it was all a lie."

    She realized she had merely been a puppet, and that realization fueled her anger. Her rage toward Goto Isamu grew.

    "Even those words you said to me as a child..."

    Seoyeon, as Yuina, clenched her fists and took a step forward.

    "That I should crush others to find happiness."

    She grasped her chest with her left hand, as though trying to rip out her own heart.

    "So, I crushed everything. Until I seized every last bit of the Kasugayama wealth for myself."

    She had trampled her family beneath her feet, making it all hers.

    "Yes, you waited... until I had claimed it all."

    To kill her and take everything at the final moment.

    Her voice scratched at emotions like nails on a chalkboard.

    Lee Sangsoo, playing Goto Isamu, watched Seoyeon’s performance and suddenly understood what actor Park Sunwoong had once told him.

    She was a young actress. Frankly, he had over forty years of experience as an actor, having started as a child. Never once had he lived a life away from acting. Seoyeon was half his age.

    ‘What was I doing at her age?’

    He thought back to those days, when the acting world was harsh and rife with discrimination. As a child actor, he had even been subjected to physical punishment—there was no protection for young actors back then.

    But he had persevered. And yet, watching Seoyeon now, he felt his younger self pale in comparison.

    Was he envious?

    No, it wasn’t that.

    Watching her reminded him of the kind of acting he had always wanted to do.

    "For a while, I was deceived too."

    Before attending the Gyeongseong Lady audition, he had met an actor with whom he had performed in dramas many times, dating back to Seoyeon’s childhood—a connection nearly as long as his own career.

    But passion rekindles easily.

    "You’re nothing more than my puppet. A counterfeit."

    Isamu slipped the key back into his pocket, drawing something else instead.

    A knife.

    "And now, it’s time to cut the strings of this worthless doll."

    Isamu’s twisted grin spread as he took a step forward.

    "Cut!"

    Director Baek Min raised his hand, signaling the end of the scene—not with "Start," but with a final "Cut."

    This indicated that the scene itself had come to a natural conclusion, ending as though it had been a complete performance.

    No one voiced any objections. They had none to give.

    In the stunned silence, Director Baek Min broke into a smile.

    "Lee Sangsoo," he said, "you were extraordinary."

    Just six words, yet they held more praise than anything else.

    Lee Sangsoo chuckled, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

    "I suppose I couldn’t let my junior outshine me," he said, looking over at Seoyeon.

    Seoyeon stared at him in surprise.

    "Director Baek Min," Sangsoo added, turning back to him, "if you’d allow me, I’d be honored to act alongside Ju Seoyeon in this film."

    Had Sangsoo’s performance failed to impress, Baek Min likely would have declined. Although pressure from investors might have changed the outcome, a director who disapproved of his actor would never give them the treatment they deserved.

    But seeing Seoyeon’s performance had reignited something in Sangsoo.

    He had to act alongside her.

    Seoyeon was equally astonished, as were the crew members who watched with wide eyes.

    ‘Lee Sangsoo is this moved... by her?’

    Though it was Sangsoo who delivered the powerful finale, it was Seoyeon’s performance that had drawn everyone in initially.

    For Lee Sangsoo—a national icon in acting—to set aside his pride and make such a request left everyone speechless.

    "Mr. Lee Sangsoo, you’re too much," Director Baek Min said, a smile tugging at his lips.

    Everyone tensed at his words, aware that Baek Min might decline with a smile.

    "To refuse an actor of your caliber after seeing such a performance... I might as well step down as a director."

    With a satisfying snap, Baek Min closed his notebook. There was nothing more to see.

    Certainly, Sangsoo’s performance deviated from Baek Min’s original vision of Goto Isamu, who he had imagined as a cowardly and manipulative character.

    But sometimes, a different take could prove even better.

    "And Seoyeon," he added.

    "Yes?" she replied, wide-eyed, clearly still in awe of Sangsoo’s acting.

    "Please perform like that during the actual shoot. That was magnificent."

    "Yes! Absolutely!" Seoyeon bowed deeply, unaware that Director Baek Min was notoriously stingy with praise.

    "As for Mr. Lee Sangsoo, we’ll keep this under wraps, at least until the trailer."

    "Great idea—it makes him feel like our secret weapon."

    "Secret weapon?" Baek Min mused over the staff member’s suggestion and nodded.

    "Yes, perfect—a secret weapon."

    Lee Sangsoo, once a national icon, would undoubtedly be the secret weapon of Gyeongseong Lady.

    Director Baek Min had no doubt.