Dream Future.

    A youth romance drama composed of young actors or idols. The basic plot revolved around participants in an idol audition program and the process they go through to debut.

    With the male lead, Kim Si-hwan, and the female lead, Song So-ha, the drama had a total of six main characters.

    "But it''s an idol-themed show. Are the actors going to be okay? Don’t they need to sing and dance?" Ma Yeon-woo asked with a smile.

    Three out of the six main leads were actors: Seoyeon, Park Jung-woo, and Hwang Seol-ah. Hwang Seol-ah was a relatively inexperienced actress who had only appeared as a supporting character in two cable dramas. This was her first time starring in a prime-time drama, so Ma Yeon-woo''s comment rubbed her the wrong way.

    "Just don''t forget that this is still a drama," she shot back.

    To be honest, Hwang Seol-ah hadn’t liked Ma Yeon-woo from the start. JustX. Sure, she knew he was a popular idol, but even if you compared him to someone like Park Jung-woo, who was sitting quietly across from them, it wasn’t the same. The popularity of idols and actors was different—idols had more intense and passionate fanbases. In comparison, Park Jung-woo might be one of the few actors with a particularly large following.

    "You can practice singing and dancing, but acting isn’t something you can just pick up quickly," Hwang Seol-ah continued.

    At her words, another idol-turned-actor, Aiden, who was a Canadian-Korean mixed-race idol, let out a chuckle.

    "It almost sounds like you''re saying that while acting can’t be learned quickly, singing and dancing can be mastered just like that."

    Although Aiden spoke calmly, his words carried a sharp edge. Sitting next to him, Cha Na-hee looked visibly uncomfortable, but it was clear that she was also upset by Hwang Seol-ah''s remarks.

    In the tense atmosphere that followed...

    "Hmm."

    Director Kim Pil-seok found himself a bit flustered. Since everyone was around the same age, he thought this would be a good opportunity for them to bond. However, with idols and actors mixed together, a subtle power struggle had begun.

    ‘If I step in now, this situation will just drag on,’ he thought.

    As the director, his word was final. If he said something, everyone would fall silent out of respect. But that didn’t mean the conflict would be resolved—it would just be buried.

    So instead...

    ‘Please, Jung-woo, handle this,’ he thought, having arranged for someone to act as a mediator. Seeing the director’s gaze, Park Jung-woo sighed, realizing it had come to this.

    But this wasn’t a conflict that could be quickly resolved. The best approach would be to calmly address everyone’s concerns. As Jung-woo organized his thoughts and prepared to speak, someone else beat him to it.

    "Let’s have a competition," Seoyeon said.

    "Huh?" Jung-woo turned to Seoyeon in surprise.

    Seoyeon had raised her hand slightly as she spoke, and the noisy room suddenly fell silent.

    "Actors will compete with singing and dancing, and idols will compete with acting," Seoyeon declared.

    Has she lost her mind? Jung-woo wanted to say, but something in Seoyeon’s eyes—an odd gleam—made him hold his tongue.

    ‘What is she thinking?’ he wondered. Did she mean something like, "the losing side has to listen to the winner"?

    ‘No, that can’t be it.’

    That strange gleam in her eyes. Maybe she was just being a bit nai?ve.

    ‘Is she hoping that by having a skill-based competition, they’ll reconcile and bond?’ If he thought about it that way, it made a bit more sense, though it still seemed a little too idealistic and absurd. Jung-woo considered stopping her, but...

    "Sounds good!" Ma Yeon-woo was faster.

    This guy really was just clueless.

    "So, actors will compete in singing and dancing, and we’ll compete in acting. But how exactly will we do it?"

    "Ah, well..." Seoyeon trailed off.@@@@

    She hadn’t thought that far ahead. She had just spoken out of a somewhat old-fashioned belief that kids become friends by fighting it out.

    "Oh, that’s not a bad idea," Director Kim Pil-seok suddenly chimed in as the room was beginning to calm down.

    "Oh, I’ll figure out how to make it work. Seoyeon, you’re really clever."

    Everyone stared blankly at the director, not quite understanding what he meant. Even Jung-woo was taken aback this time, except for Seoyeon, who looked proud of herself. Jung-woo let out a sigh, feeling like he wanted to give her a light tap on the head.

    ‘What on earth is he thinking now?’

    Director Kim Pil-seok was a young director who often socialized with variety show PDs. In a good way, he was more open-minded than most directors. In a bad way, he didn’t always adhere to industry norms.

    "Anyway, let’s continue talking for a bit today, and then wrap it up. I’ve got something to take care of," he said with a hearty laugh, leaving behind a few staff members and Jung-woo as he made his exit.

    And then...

    "True, but the real benefit for the actors is the increase in exposure."

    They didn’t need to offer a big prize. The point was to make the competition meaningful.

    However...

    "So, it’s going to be an actor team versus an idol team?"

    "That’s right, but they’re not splitting the teams completely by idols and actors."

    What does that mean? Seoyeon listened quietly.

    The team composition was roughly as follows: while there was a team of actors and a team of idols, each team would have one member from the other group mixed in.

    "In other words, there will be one idol in the actor team and one actor in the idol team."

    The idea was to create a setup where they could learn from each other.

    "And Seoyeon, you’re on the idol team."

    This was something Seoyeon hadn’t expected.

    The Dream Future promotion kicked off and received more attention than anticipated. That was largely because two of the most popular members of the younger generation were leading the teams.

    The leader of the actor team was Park Jung-woo. The leader of the idol team was Ma Yeon-woo.

    This kind of promotion made sense, given that Dream Future was an idol drama. The drama itself was set to be broadcast both on TV and online in real-time.

    In other words, it was like a live broadcast. The promotion was a preview of what that would be like.

    "Wow, Yeon-woo, that’s awesome!"

    When the members of JustX heard the news, they congratulated Ma Yeon-woo by patting him on the back.

    "Now go crush that arrogant guy!"

    The one who patted him on the back and made that comment was, a year later, to be caught up in a drug scandal involving over seven different substances. This was the leader of JustX, also known as the “drug-taking idol.”

    "Yeah, hyung. Honestly, I think you can beat him even in acting," said another member, who would later become known as the Apgujeong Killer Hong after a drunk driving incident in which he ran over six people.

    "Ahem."

    Ma Yeon-woo felt a surge of confidence from their words, but he also had some concerns.

    This was because of something that happened on the first day they met for Dream Future.

    "Seoyeon, you’re still in high school, right? Feel free to speak casually with us," Ma Yeon-woo had said to her.

    Since she didn’t respond, he followed her to ask again just as she was about to part ways. Park Jung-woo, who was talking to Seoyeon at the time, frowned slightly, but Seoyeon surprisingly replied with a cheerful face.

    In fact, she had just been in the middle of a scolding, so she was grateful for the interruption.

    "No, you can’t," she said.

    "......."

    "But, since it would be rude to just refuse outright..."

    Seoyeon raised her arm.

    "I’ll acknowledge you if you can beat me in an arm-wrestling match."

    Arm-wrestling? Out of nowhere? Ma Yeon-woo chuckled at Seoyeon’s challenge. Was she indirectly saying she wanted to hold his hand?

    "Sure, let’s do it."

    "Wait, no..."

    Park Jung-woo seemed like he was about to intervene, but Ma Yeon-woo shook his head, thinking that Jung-woo wanted him to back off and not touch what he considered his own territory.

    "Alright! Let’s do this!"

    And the result...

    "So, hyung, I heard you almost broke your arm? Did someone hit you or something?"

    "No, nothing like that."

    Ma Yeon-woo was just thankful that it didn’t actually break.