“Seoyeon, Mom brought some fruit...”

    Sua knocked on her daughter''s door and cautiously opened it, only to trail off as she spoke. Seoyeon was slumped over her desk, her head buried on top of it.

    ‘Did she die?’

    The scene was so unusual that Sua briefly wondered if something was wrong. However, the monitor displayed a YouTube video that had just finished playing, suggesting Seoyeon had been watching something before she collapsed.

    ‘She must be watching something strange again,’ Sua thought, placing the plate of fruit next to her slumped daughter before leaving the room. Seoyeon acting strangely was nothing new.

    ‘Who is she...’

    Seoyeon slowly got up and started nibbling on an apple from the plate. The sweet taste of the fruit seemed to clear her head, although she still felt a simmering anger inside.

    Jealousy!

    Seoyeon hadn’t realized it yet, but the emotion burning inside her, the feeling that made her bite into the apple so fiercely without even thinking about it, was jealousy!

    ‘Someone who could have helped Lee Ji-yeon with modeling or equipment...’

    Nothing specific came to mind. Among the people around Ji-yeon, who could have possibly done that?

    ‘Was there someone else besides me?’

    When Ji-yeon had visited Seoyeon’s house before, she hadn’t seemed to know much about VTubers. Maybe she had asked someone else after that, leading to her newfound interest?

    “Ugh.”

    Seoyeon couldn’t bring herself to watch the video again. That magician... No, she should be able to find out who the magician is by searching, right?

    Seoyeon knew quite a bit about the domestic VTuber scene, but not everything. There were things she didn’t know, and this blue-haired magician was one of those cases.

    ‘Around 30,000 subscribers with a typical view count of about 1,000.’

    For an independent VTuber, those numbers were quite impressive. How had she not known about this person? But that wasn’t the important part right now. Wasn’t there any redpill information available?

    ‘Nothing...’

    She could tell that this VTuber had been active for over a year, but beyond that, there wasn’t much information available. Judging by the voice, this person had clearly received some voice training.

    ‘Voice training?’@@@@

    As she thought about that, Seoyeon began to connect the dots. If she considered someone who was good at voice training and was close to Lee Ji-yeon, the list became very narrow. Wasn’t there someone from the voice acting academy...?

    Buzz!

    At that moment, Seoyeon’s phone rang. She quickly grabbed it.

    “Hey, Joo Seoyeon. Did you call?”

    It was Lee Ji-yeon’s sharp voice on the other end. Seoyeon glanced at her monitor, imagining Ramiel and Ji-yeon overlapping in her mind.

    ‘Should I just ask her?’

    Yes, why complicate things when she could just ask directly? Seoyeon thought about casually bringing it up, but then...

    ‘...’

    Is it okay to ask something like this so bluntly? It was almost like asking about the red pill directly. Even if Ramiel and Ji-yeon were indeed the same person, hearing it directly from Ji-yeon was another matter.

    “Ah, I was calling about the midterm... and the test material.”

    “You don’t study.”

    “...”

    Seoyeon was at a loss for words at Ji-yeon’s blunt remark. She couldn’t argue with that.

    The next day.

    Seoyeon wanted to storm the voice acting academy right away, but unfortunately, she couldn’t. The movie filming schedule made it difficult to find time.

    Today’s filming was in the morning, and she had taken the day off from school, so she couldn’t even ask Ji-yeon.

    “Seoyeon, you look a bit tired?”

    “I’m fine.”

    “Really? Well, it’s an important role, so make sure to manage your condition. You know that, right?”

    “Yes.”

    Seoyeon nodded at actor Kim Daeheon’s advice. She couldn’t exactly tell him that she hadn’t slept well because she was upset after watching a VTuber stream the night before.

    ‘Condition management...’

    He was right. Seoyeon’s role as Cha Seo-ah, the main villain of this movie, was crucial.

    The character had significant screen time, and if Seoyeon missed filming, it would severely impact the production schedule. A few times might be manageable, but if it became frequent, it could even delay the movie’s release.

    ‘It’s different from my child actor days.’

    The level of responsibility and the weight of her role were much greater now.

    Cha Seo-ah’s eyelids began to tremble slightly. Her lips twitched as if convulsing, unable to find the right emotion.

    She couldn’t comprehend what she was feeling. Even with other customers around, Cha Seo-ah’s pupils moved slowly, as if under a spell.

    The camera zoomed in, capturing her gaze precisely.

    ‘What is this?’

    Director Bae Jin-hwan watched the scene unfold with his mouth slightly agape. He could clearly see the emotion reflected in Seoyeon’s eyes.

    Jealousy.

    That intense flame was vividly apparent. And it wasn’t just Bae Jin-hwan who noticed; the other staff members felt it too.

    The tension between Han Yewha’s joyful phone call and Cha Seo-ah’s brooding presence was palpable. The camera director, who was zoomed in on Seoyeon’s expression, felt it even more intensely.

    Seoyeon had already shown a high level of synchronization with Cha Seo-ah. Now, with the added motive of jealousy, the tension in the scene was more potent than anything seen before.

    It felt real.

    Maybe that was why Jung Si-hyun, playing Han Yewha, flinched as she turned to approach the counter. The intensity of Seoyeon’s acting had caused her to instinctively react.

    ‘This is just natural.’

    Any human would have reacted like that if they weren’t prepared. The tension radiating from Cha Seo-ah, coupled with the unsettling feeling that she was not entirely human, would naturally provoke a reaction.

    This wasn’t a mistake. It was natural.

    But even though the scene technically had an error, Director Bae was about to call “cut” when...

    “Isn’t the weather nice today?”

    Han Yewha spoke up, smiling at Cha Seo-ah.

    “Sorry?”

    “You seem a bit tired. Working on a day like this would make anyone feel that way.”

    Especially on a lovely spring day like today.

    Han Yewha handed a bottle to Cha Seo-ah, something she had just bought—a vitamin drink.

    “Drink this and cheer up.”

    Han Yewha said with a warm smile. Cha Seo-ah accepted the drink absentmindedly, watching Han Yewha as she left the store. She kept staring until another customer called her attention.

    Endlessly.

    “Cut!”

    The scene wrapped up as Director Bae shouted. He had expected an error, but Jung Si-hyun had unexpectedly improvised.

    ‘That wasn’t in the script, was it?’

    ‘No, it wasn’t.’

    ‘Jung Si-hyun really brought her A-game today.’

    It was a natural performance. The brief moment of hesitation actually helped to highlight Han Yewha’s character.

    “Seoyeon.”

    “Yes?”

    Before praising Jung Si-hyun’s improvisation, Director Bae called out to Seoyeon first.

    “Have you been secretly training?”

    “What?”

    “I thought I’d have to talk to you about something today, but it seems I don’t need to anymore. You perfectly captured Cha Seo-ah’s emotions.”

    Seoyeon responded to his words with a puzzled expression.

    “...?”

    Was it really that good? She thought she had just acted as usual.

    But suddenly...

    “Oh.”

    Seoyeon realized what had happened.

    She had unconsciously channeled a particular feeling during that performance.

    Jealousy.

    That feeling she hadn’t quite identified until now.

    “Ah, yes. I... I did some training.”

    She couldn’t bring herself to explain what had triggered it. Even Seoyeon knew better than to mention that.