Chapter 7.1

Chapter 7.1

“They said they were looking for a tall, glamorous girl with a great figure, and I thought you were perfect, so I brought you here. But I really didn’t expect this.”

As soon as the tired and distressed Miran opened her mouth to protest, the Madame came over and set down two cups of coffee on the table. The distinctive smell of instant coffee, which her older sister often enjoyed, wafted up.

She hadn’t eaten breakfast and was feeling tense and stressed, so she suddenly felt hungry, and her stomach growled. Miran took a sip of the coffee in front of her and frowned. It was so sweet that she felt like her teeth might rot, but it went down surprisingly well.

The two women sipped their coffee in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Miran, who quickly emptied her cup, set it down, and looked at Hyuna. Her face had regained a bit of color.

“Unni, thank you for giving me the opportunity to audition, but I don’t think I can do it. I’m sorry.”

Miran bowed her head to Hyuna. Hyuna let out a short sigh, looking at her with a mix of disappointment and frustration.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Is your family rich?”

“What? How is that relevant… What does my family’s situation have to do with this—”

“Kang Miran. Just because you hang out with Jieun doesn’t mean you’re part of the ‘Orange Group’ like her. Unless you act for a hobby like her, you need to seize opportunities when they come. How do you expect to succeed in this industry without connections or experience? What else do you have to rely on besides your body?”

“Unni! How can you say that—”

Miran got upset, but Hyuna cut her off.

“Unless… are you some kind of acting genius? Then go stick posters on telephone poles and start from the small arts theater in Daehakro. But you don’t want to do that either, do you?”

“But I don’t want to debut in a role where it’s purely nud!ty.”

Miran responded firmly. Hyuna anxiously lit a cigarette. Exhaling a thick cloud of smoke, she tried to soothe Miran in a pleading voice.

“It’s been only six months since you graduated, right? It’s been two years and six months for me. Yet I’m still like this. Why? Because I have no connections and nothing else to back me up. There are plenty of girls with faces and acting skills like ours. Do you want to end up like me?”

Miran couldn’t respond and lowered her eyes. Hyuna had hit exactly where Miran had been struggling. She was confident she could succeed if given a chance, but that opportunity was hard to come by.

This movie, which she thought was a chance, felt like a scam. She knew that nud!ty was something every actress might face eventually, but not yet… She didn’t want to debut like this.

“That’s how the industry is. If a rookie actress wants to make it big, she has to take off her clothes. Why else do you think actresses do nude scenes? It’s not just rookies; even top actresses do it. It’s filthy and disgusting, but that’s the reality. You need to do it to get noticed, to get an agency and a manager, and then you can get proper roles. Isn’t that right?”

Hyuna continued without waiting for Miran’s response.

“Just close your eyes and do it once. You can build your filmography afterward. I got this role by enduring all kinds of dirty things. Originally, they were going to hire a 16mm erot!c film actress, but I managed to get them to create lines and increase the role’s importance. I need to do this. They’re even paying me double the daily rate. This isn’t an extra role; it’s a role with linesthat can go on your resume.”

Even double the daily rate was less than 200,000 won. It wasn’t even worth the price of the bag Hyuna was holding.

“…Unni, aren’t you rich like Jieun? Why go through all this—”

Hyuna flinched at Miran’s question and bit her lip.

“My family went bankrupt a long time ago. Didn’t you notice how the Orange Group in the United Circle don’t include me anymore? I tried so hard to hide it, but they caught on quickly. Do you know how miserable it is to go from having money to having nothing? Friends who used to be close avoid me like I have a contagious disease. It’s so humiliating. I’ll do whatever it takes to succeed. Just watch.”

Hyuna lowered her gaze and sniffled a couple of times. Miran felt guilty for her insensitive question, surprised by Hyuna’s unexpected confession.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”