บท 227: The First TV Drama Role

Another day arrived.

After the talk with Gun, Yeo Ri's days started a new but consistent routine; she would spend the day either attending acting classes or working, then by evening she would be home preparing dinner.

Aside from staying at home and going to work, Yeo Ri did little else. She didn't even bother looking at the internet, completely ignoring all the hype she was getting online.

But, despite that, she was still somewhat up-to-date with most of the latest news, seeing as Min Chae was such an avid follower of anything Yeo Ri-related. The other girl would often update on how many views the video of Yeo Ri's first commercial had, which had now reached over eight million, not including the reposts.

Mrs. Choi had told her that many people had reached out to her in regards of casting Yeo Ri in other commercials, but the older lady was very picky with her projects. She wanted to make sure that she wasn't selling her new starlet short, and the woman was more focused on getting bigger work for her.

Yeo Ri had also received invitations to appear on talk shows due to her recent viral video, but on account of her timid and introverted nature, Park Soo Yeon had already decided beforehand to filter them all out.

Today, Yeo Ri was finally attending a relatively big shooting as a supporting cast in a paranormal-mystery-romance drama that was currently on air.

The shoot began very early during the day, and by the time 6 a.m. rolled around, Yeo Ri was already at the set, greeting the staff members, accompanied by Mrs. Choi who was her agent as well as Secretary Kwon.

The setting of the episode she was in was of a girls' school where a murder had taken place. In order to solve the murder, the two main characters sought out the help of the ghost of the dead girl.

Yeo Ri had already received her part of the script beforehand, and she had studiously memorised her lines until they reached the set.

Since it was a weekday, they had to be early in order to use the set, so as to not bother the regular students who came to study. However, thanks to that, it also meant that they could use some of the students as extras which would save time and money.

The other main cast members had yet to arrive yet, so the director pulled Yeo Ri—who had gone to get her ghostly makeup done—to the side to do several panoramic and close-up shots of her just looking far away from random positions in the school.

"This would be edited into the finished episode with a little bit of special effects to make it seem as if the ghost of the dead girl was eerily watching them from afar," the director had generously explained.

Knowing that the background of her character was of a murdered girl, Yeo Ri adjusted her expression to a somewhat sombre look, and continued to stare emptily off-camera until the director yelled 'cut!'.

"You did a good job," the director praised.

"Thank... you?" Yeo Ri could only bow in confusion. She was literally doing nothing but following her instructions but somehow it translated well in the director's vision. Though it was perplexing, she still felt good about being praised.

After ticking off those scenes from the list, the staff began preparing for the next scene. They moved to an empty hallway, and while things were getting set up, the two main casts and other supporting characters came in one after another.

"Good morning!"

"Hello~"

"Please take care of me today!"

This was the first time for Yeo Ri to meet such a large group of co-actors, and some of them were faces she could recognise from previous shows that she had watched in her free time.

After exchanging light greetings, everyone moved efficiently so as to not waste the time that they had left.

And so, the first group scene of the day began.

Unlike her previous experience, they started with a rehearsal, and once the actors and director were pleased with the rehearsed scene, they finally shot the actual scene.

Watching from the sidelines, Yeo Ri could not help but be in awe over the whole process.

The behind-the-scenes gave off a completely different feeling compared to a finished, aired episode. There was so many people working and scrutinising the actors that she almost felt nervous about her scenes.

Yeo Ri observed the seasoned actors silently. Even though they were just playing around and bantering before, once the director said 'action', suddenly they morphed into the characters they were playing.

"Hm..." It looks easy, she thought.

Yeo Ri didn't know whether it was because they were amazing actors that could make the switch look easy, or whether it was because she herself was experienced in pretending, she thought that 'acting' in front of a camera seemed easier than she thought.

As it was her first time playing an actual, named character with a lot of scenes, Yeo Ri had originally felt uneasy over how she should approach her character, but it seemed like it would be easier than expected.

Nevertheless, Yeo Ri wouldn't allow herself to lower her guards. She continued to stare intently at the main actors' performance as she tried to absorb their techniques as much as she could.

Several more scenes passed by.

Finally, Yeo Ri's first scene with the main cast began.