Aura of a Genius Actor

The scores came as no surprise.

"Whoa!! We already have perfect scores from every judge in the very first live broadcast! Congratulations!!"

"Woooooo!!"

All four judges had awarded one hundred points.

It was almost unbelievable.

And yet...

In another sense, it felt inevitable.

Thunderous applause erupted throughout the theater.

Yu Myeong smiled to himself.

An absurd thought had suddenly crossed his mind.

I never even got straight A's in elementary school.

I wonder if Mom would be happy.

The other contestants applauded as well.

Jealousy only existed when people believed they could still compete.

Once the gap became overwhelming...

All that remained was admiration.

I still haven't truly seen him...

Antoine had believed he already held Yu Myeong in the highest regard.

Now he realized he had underestimated him all along.

This had been a character...

A type of performance...

He himself had already mastered.

He had imagined that, even if he began the game with a tremendous handicap—as though giving his opponent several handicap stones in a game of Go—he might at least fight Yu Myeong to a draw.

Even that illusion had been shattered.

I have to work harder.

He clenched his teeth.

His score would almost certainly be the second highest of the night.

Numerically, the gap was only twenty six points out of four hundred.

But if the judges had been allowed to score without the one hundred point ceiling...

Wouldn't the true distance between them have been vastly greater?

What he felt now wasn't defeat.

It was the crushing realization that he hadn't even been standing on the same battlefield.

More than anything...

He didn't want to remain an actor who could only feel ashamed of himself.

For the first time, Antoine seriously began considering applying to Hugo's Brise Theater Company once this audition was over.

Even if...

The process would be absolute hell.

"Text voting closes in five! Four! Three! Two! One! That's it!"

"And now we're closing the in theater voting! If you've been hesitating until the last second, please make your choice now! Everyone, count down with me!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!!"

"Woooooo!!"

The roaring cheers marked the end of the audience vote as well.

"This is the first live broadcast of Casting Vote, together with one thousand audience members here in the theater and all of you watching from home!"

"Out of today's six contestants..."

"Four will advance."

"Two will be eliminated."

"So..."

"Who will be moving on to the second live broadcast?"

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

The tense rhythm echoed through the hall.

Priya clasped her hands tightly.

Kai was so nervous his already dark complexion looked pale.

Marta still looked dazed.

Antoine seemed lost in thought.

Selina wore the bright smile of someone satisfied she had given everything.

And Yu Myeong...

Simply smiled quietly.

The camera closed in on each contestant one by one.

"The contestants advancing are...!"

The result caught everyone by surprise.

"Yu Myeong Shin!"

"Antoine Monier!"

"Marta Garcia!"

"Selina Benson!"

"Congratulations!!"

Priya—

The original winner of Casting Vote—

Had been eliminated in the very first live broadcast.

 She won even when she couldn't convincingly play a villain.

So why did she get eliminated this early this time?

That night, on the way back to the dormitory, Yu Myeong couldn't stop thinking about it.

The revelation that Priya was Hartroit's daughter remained just as advantageous as before.

Her acting was actually stronger than it had been in the original story.

So why had her result become worse?

Miho quietly interrupted his thoughts.

{Fate isn't something you can balance with simple addition and subtraction.}

Do you know why?

{Hmm... because the value people prioritize has changed.}

Value?

Miho's ears perked up as she launched into another philosophical explanation.

{In the original story, Hartroit's family background was important enough to overshadow the essence of acting itself.}

{But now... the hottest keyword surrounding Casting Vote is acting ability. Nothing else.}

One Asian actor had appeared like a comet.

The audience's reaction to him had been so overwhelming that, from that moment onward, Casting Vote ceased to be judged by race...

Appearance...

Or family background.

Only acting mattered.

Hartroit's previously unknown youngest daughter.

That revelation still generated goodwill toward Priya.

But in this lifetime...

People valued her acting more than her pedigree.

It's strange.

The world feels different.

Politics, economics, society... none of the larger structures seem to have changed very much.

{Because the only thing that changed at first... was you.}

{The changes spread through the people you've influenced.}

{And they'll keep spreading.}

{The more people you affect... the more the world itself will change.}

Even now...

The shift in the audience's values had outweighed the influence Yu Myeong had directly exerted on Priya herself.

That was why she had been eliminated.

And that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

In the original story...

Priya won.

But never became a truly outstanding actress.

In this world...

She had fallen here.

Yet her potential to become a far greater actress had only just begun to bloom.

{So don't feel guilty.}

{Based on ability alone... getting eliminated around now wouldn't have been strange at all.}

Yu Myeong nodded.

The lingering discomfort he'd felt—wondering if he'd somehow stolen Priya's place—finally faded.

For an actor, becoming a better performer mattered far more than temporarily placing first in a competition.

"Um..."

"Can I sit here?"

Kai cautiously slipped into the seat beside him.

"Hyung."

"Thank you... for everything."

"Kai..."

Here sat another actor whose future had changed.

Priya had been eliminated earlier because Yu Myeong had altered the course of Casting Vote.

Kai...

Had advanced far beyond where he originally would have because of Yu Myeong.

And now...

He would become Yu Myeong's colleague under the same agency.

"Don't look so disappointed."

"We'll be seeing each other all the time."

"I guess that's true."

"Honestly..."

"I made it much farther than someone with my ability probably deserved."

"So I don't really regret being eliminated."

"It's just..."

"I kept thinking I'd learn so much more if I could stay by your side."

"Hehe."

Yu Myeong didn't dislike that ambition.

Some people might have found it clingy.

As though Kai expected everything from him.

But Yu Myeong understood.

He loved acting.

Loved it enough to feel as though he might go mad.

Yet no matter how hard he worked...

No one had acknowledged him.

No one had ever told him what he was doing wrong.

He had wandered through those lonely years completely in the dark.

Perhaps because of that...

He wanted to help hardworking actors whenever he could.

He hoped those actors would continue improving until one day they became trusted colleagues...

Or worthy rivals...

People with whom he could truly enjoy acting.

"If you ever get stuck while practicing, just ask."

"Really?"

"I was worried I'd be bothering you. You're so busy..."

"It's fine."

"But only after you've exhausted every possibility yourself."

"If you come running before you've thought it through..."

"I'll scold you."

Kai nodded enthusiastically.

To him...

Yu Myeong had already become something close to an idol.

A dependable older brother.

A genuinely good person.

And an actor who exceeded every expectation no matter what role he was given.

Sneaking a glance at him...

Kai carefully pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket.

Before leaving...

He absolutely had to get an autograph.

 Priya returned home.

She had spent the two week break before the live broadcast in the dormitory.

She needed time to think about what Yu Myeong had told her.

"Your family taught you the wrong things."

Now that she had left the competition...

She was returning home for the first time in nearly two months.

The limousine sent for her rolled up to the enormous mansion.

Her family rushed outside to greet her.

"Oh, our daughter's home!"

"I'm back."

"Wow..."

"Priscilla!"

"A superstar from the Hartroit family!"

"You looked even prettier while acting than you do normally."

"You were wonderful."

Their warm welcome almost made Priya feel guilty for ever having been uncomfortable around them.

She forced herself to smile...

Trying to dispel the awkwardness lingering in her heart.

But the uncomfortable conversation began after dinner.

"I never imagined you'd do that well."

"It wasn't anything special."

"There are so many actors better than me."

"No."

"You were incredible."

"Especially during the finals."

"When you suddenly transformed into that devil..."

"It gave me goosebumps."

"Our sweet daughter..."

"Where did you ever learn to make a face like that?"

Her mother meant it as praise.

Yet Priya once again heard the same worried tone she'd used years ago...

The tone of a mother gently correcting a child who had shown off too much.

A surge of resistance welled up inside her.

She quietly forced it back down.

Not yet.

Someday...

She wanted to have a real conversation with her family.

But they believed with complete certainty that they were righteous.

Changing that would take time.

A very long time.

She wasn't yet mature enough to express everything she believed in the right way.

When her convictions had grown deeper...

When her heart had become stronger...

Then...

She would begin that battle.

So they could become a family that truly loved one another for who they were.

"By the way..."

Sigh.

"While you were gone..."

"Pale caused quite a bit of trouble."

"Pale?"

"What happened?"

"You know how rebellious that child has always been."

"He got caught in a school gang fight."

"He's clearly a Hartroit by blood, so I really don't understand why he's like this..."

Pale was the daughter of Priya's eldest brother.

Her oldest niece.

Among all the Hartroit children raised under the family's rigid methods...

She was the one who rebelled the most.

Until recently...

Priya had thought the problem lay with Pale herself.

But now...

She realized the family's upbringing was part of the problem too.

Perhaps her niece had become twisted precisely because she had been so tightly suppressed.

Priya had never once heard what Pale truly felt.

She stood abruptly.

"Is Pale in her room?"

"Hm?"

"Y... yes."

"Go talk some sense into her."

Priya headed upstairs.

She knocked on her niece's bedroom door.

She couldn't fight the entire family yet.

But...

She refused to let another victim be created.

As Pale's aunt...

She would protect her.

"Who is it?!"

"Pale."

"It's Aunt Priya."

She gripped the doorknob firmly...

And opened the door.

 evar: Sis!

six: What is it, Eva?

evar: I... have something to confess.

After agonizing over it for days, Eva finally decided to reveal her identity to her online friend, six, and ask for advice.

Until now...

She had never told six who she really was.

Working on Casting Vote made that difficult.

But after talking for more than a month...

She had concluded that six was genuinely trustworthy.

Not only that...

She was so brilliant and imaginative that Eva desperately wanted her opinion on the script she'd been struggling with.

evar: Actually...

I'm Eva Dobransky.

The Eva Dobransky who's a judge on Casting Vote.

After sending the message, she stared at the chat window with wide eyes.

Expected reaction number one:

"Quit lying."

Expected reaction number two:

"What?! How did you hide that this whole time?!"

Expected reaction number three:

"Y... you're really that Eva Dobransky? The genius writer who effortlessly moves between screenplays, stage plays, and television dramas?!"

Please don't be angry...

Instead...

She received none of the above.

six: Actually...

I already knew.

evar: W... what?!

How?!

six: Well...

Your username is literally "Eva."

evar: There are plenty of people named Eva!

six: We exchanged photos the first day we met.

She certainly had.

But...

To be honest...

She looked rather different in photographs than she did in person.

Professionals called it being photogenic.

evar: Um...

Didn't I look a little different from my photo...?

Miyoung flinched.

The only reason she'd recognized Eva from that photograph...

Was because Eva looked exactly like her.

When Miyoung wore makeup and happened to photograph well...

She looked astonishingly similar to the woman in Eva's picture.

After she began watching Casting Vote...

She had become completely certain.

six: Ahem...

I'm just unusually observant.

evar: Then why didn't you ever ask me anything about Casting Vote?

six: It was still airing.

You never brought it up, so I assumed it was something you weren't supposed to discuss.

Eva was deeply touched.

Yu Myeong had been thoughtful.

Now six was too.

Are all Koreans naturally this considerate?

Then six added another message.

six: Since you've told me who you are...

I'll tell you something too.

Actually...

I'm a writer.

evar: You're a writer too?

six: Yeah.

You remember Entertainment Studies?

I'm actually the head writer.

evar: !!!

Eva's eyes grew round with shock.

Entertainment Studies.

Its style was completely different from American dramas...

Yet she'd loved it because its characters and stories were so captivating.

And Bohyeong!

The creator of Bohyeong herself!

evar: Oh...

My God...

Sis!

I'm your fan!

six: I'm the bigger fan.

I absolutely loved Arizade in Casting Vote.

How did you even come up with writing a script that extended beyond the script itself?

evar: Thank you.

But we can talk about that later.

Sis!

I need your advice!

The moment she discovered six's true identity...

Eva immediately brought up the problem that had been tormenting her.

evar: Pandora...

I can't come up with anything better than Pandora.

The script itself was already good...

But the acting was so extraordinary that it became a perfect work.

I just can't surpass it...

six: Why are you trying to write something so profound?

Leave that sort of thing to directors.

Stick to what you're good at.

evar: What...

I'm good at?

Eva and six continued talking...

Late into the night.

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