Chapter 23
Ten minutes ago, Sojin and Hyeyoung had met up again on the 3rd floor and were taking the elevator to the 15th floor.
However, upon hearing the broadcast announcing Yoo Hong-sik’s elimination, they got off on the 10th floor.
They reasoned that Da-eun’s team would likely be on the rooftop, and since they didn’t know the situation regarding the mission card yet, heading to the 9th-floor rooftop garden was the right move.
“Uh…!”
Just as they got off on the 10th floor and were about to head down the stairs, they ran right into Da-eun.
“Sojin unnie, what’s wrong?”
Hye-young, who was following behind, felt her head spinning when she saw Da-eun standing right there in the emergency exit.
Should she push her and pretend it was an accident?
Ah… No. No matter what, if she openly hurt someone on broadcast, the reaction was bound to be bad.
Hye-young barely suppressed the impulse to shove Da-eun.
Since the way down was blocked, she’d most likely run upwards; it would be a battle of stamina.
Hye-young was confident she wouldn’t be outmatched by Kang Da-eun. While consciously noting Sojin slowly moving forward, she kept her gaze fixed on Da-eun.
If Kang Da-eun goes up, she would follow, grab her, pull her back, and then pretend to slip from the weight and let go.
The moment she formulated the plan.
“I’m going to make a run for it now.”
Kang Da-eun, who was on the 10th-11th floor staircase landing, whispered to her cameraman and then nimbly ran down the stairs.
Why is she coming down instead of going up?
In the moment of confusion for Hye-young and Sojin, Da-eun grabbed the stair railing and swiftly leaped over it, jumping down to the stairs leading from the 10th to the 9th floor.
“Eeek!”
Da-eun’s cameraman, with a flustered yet excited voice, hurriedly followed while filming. Hye-young and Sojin pushed past him and moved to catch Da-eun.
But.
“Huh…! How is she so fast?”
Da-eun, landing precisely in the middle of the staircase, grabbed the railing again and leaped over to the opposite staircase.
“She’s insane!”
She then jumped the remaining five or six steps all at once, landed in front of the door leading to the 9th floor, and dashed out.
“Is she a stuntwoman or what?!”
Hye-young, brushing past Sojin who had lost her will to fight and stopped, chased after Da-eun. The cameraman also rushed out the 9th-floor door, not wanting to miss the shot.
Da-eun was already far ahead.
Sojin, who had been standing there blankly, also followed out towards the 9th-floor rooftop garden. When she arrived, not only Da-eun but also Ara and Jiguk from Da-eun’s team were there.
Hye-young, hesitating for a moment, looked at the other crew members and the filming setup and realized this was the location of the mission card.
“We will now deliver the mission card to the first team that has all its remaining members gathered.”
At the PD’s words, Da-eun’s fully assembled team cheered. Sojin, who had followed, irritably looked for her remaining teammate, Siwon.
As Da-eun’s team checked the mission card and set off, Hye-young and Sojin sat down nearby, waiting for Siwon to arrive.
Sojin, who was resting, suddenly muttered.
“Wow, wait a minute. Then, it was Da-eun-ssi who ripped off Yoo Hong-sik sunbaenim’s nametag?”
Ara and Jiguk from Da-eun’s team had been on a lower floor and came up the stairs. Because Hye-young and Sojin, who were being chased by them, had taken the elevator.
That meant the only ones who had been on the upper floors were Hong-sik and Da-eun.
“And she ripped off Yoo sunbaenim’s nametag? He’s an original member, he’s no pushover… Wow…”
Sojin was purely impressed. Hye-young had to struggle to control her expression.
Regardless of whether Hye-young’s reaction was lukewarm or not, Sojin was busy offering opinions, almost debating how Kang Da-eun managed to eliminate Yoo Hong-sik.
Although they wouldn’t be able to find out until the filming ended.
“The winning team for this episode of ‘<Run, People>’ is Team Da-eun!”
At the PD’s announcement, Team Da-eun cheered and celebrated with shouts of joy. It had been very advantageous for Da-eun’s team, having eliminated the ace Yoo Hong-sik very early on and also getting the strong Sang-wan out in the early stages.
The crew approached the jubilant Team Da-eun and presented them with the winning prize.
“Is this real gold?”
Ara asked, her eyes wide, before biting down hard on the gold badge she received.
“Wow! It’s real gold!”
Team Hye-young, seeing the one-don gold badge engraved with the ‘<Run, People>’ logo, writhed in frustration.
“Ah. Ah…! If only I hadn’t been eliminated so early!”
“Right! What on earth happened? Tell us. What happened?”
As Yoo Hong-sik lamented, clutching his head, Sang-wan, who was standing cross-armed and looking troubled, asked. Hong-sik sighed, shook his head side to side, and said.
“Watch the broadcast. I’m too embarrassed to say.”
Hong-sik, who had glanced at Hye-young, slapped Sang-wan’s arm and changed the subject.
“And you! You got eliminated early too!”
“Eh, but I took out In-soo and Je-ho before I got eliminated! It’s a different level!”
As Hong-sik got annoyed looking at Sang-wan’s bragging, he pointed at Da-eun and shouted.
“Wow, seriously, Da-eun-ssi. You know you were really too much, right? I didn’t expect that from you. When this airs, everyone’s going to make fun of me, calling me a fool. Ugh.”
“What is it, what happened?”
Everyone was curious, but Hong-sik kept waving his hands in refusal until the end. Just then.
“Da-eun-ssi was acting like she was Hye-young-ssi, and he fell for it right in front of his eyes, that’s why.”
At the PD’s surprise revelation, Yoo Hong-sik groaned in frustration.
“Argh! Ah, why did you have to say that!”
His face turning red, Hong-sik approached the crew’s area and said something to the PD, who teased back, saying it was bound to come out eventually.
The ‘<Run, People>’ members, who had been frozen for a moment, swarmed around Yoo Hong-sik, each adding their own comment.
“Why do you even wear glasses? Those are non-prescription, right?”
“Ugh, fool. A real fool.”
“How could you not recognize her right in front of you? I can’t believe it. Didn’t you see her on ‘<Talk Go>’ too?”
His glasses were snatched off by Jiguk. Yoo Hong-sik laughed hollowly and made an excuse.
“It’s because I haven’t been tricked before, haven’t been tricked! Wow, I really thought it was Hye-young-ssi! She was exactly the same!”
“Ah, alright. We get it.”
“Ah, I see. You did that to promote the drama, right? Okay, okay.”
“They do look really identical in the drama.”
The ‘<Run, People>’ members pulled Yoo Hong-sik into the center of the camera shot, placed Da-eun, Siwon, and Hye-young next to him, and delivered the closing remarks for him.
“Well, that’s all for ‘<Run, People>’ today! Did you enjoy it?”
“Please give lots of love to the drama ‘<We Must, Us>’ too, and see you next week! Goodbyee-ee!”
With the PD’s clap, the filming officially ended.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
Hye-young tried to say goodbye to Sojin, who had been stuck to her all day, but Sojin was clinging to Da-eun.
“Da-eun-ssi! Did you do some kind of stunt? You were totally flying around!”
“Why, what? What happened?”
Jiguk and Ara, who were nearby, gathered around curiously. Sojin even found Da-eun’s personal camera and proceeded to show the footage to the members.
“……”
Hye-young was left out, as Siwon, the other members, and even some staff crowded around Da-eun and played back the recording together.
“Wow, amazing!”
“Eeek! She’s flying, flying!”
“Totally an iconic scene. They filmed this without missing a beat! This might become a topic, huh?”
“Da-eun-ssi, have you really done stunts before?”
Under the barrage of praise and questions, Da-eun shook her head and answered shyly.
“I’m just fairly athletic.”
“You should try an action movie. You’d be good at it!”
Hye-young, who had been quietly watching the scene, said goodbye to the PD and headed to the parking lot. She could hear Hong-sik’s voice from behind.
“Hey, hey. Look at this too! I’m telling you, she looks exactly like Hye-young-ssi!”
Exactly alike, my foot. Why would I look exactly like her?!
Anger was evident in Hye-young’s footsteps. She had completely forgotten that she was the one who used to try to copy Kang Da-eun to look similar.
Getting into the car, Hye-young slapped away the hand of Dowoon, who was offering her water, and grumbled.
“This is so annoying!”
What? She impersonated me and tricked Yoo Hong-sik? How absurd, really!
She didn’t want to admit the fact that Kang Da-eun had taken all the attention and broadcast screen time.
Originally, only the leads, Jung Siwon and Kang Da-eun, had been offered roles. Feeling resentful, Hye-young had asked President Hong, and using his influence, she managed to get cast. She never dreamed she would end up being so unremarkable.
It was all Kang Da-eun’s fault.
“Argh! Damn it!”
Unable to contain her rising anger, Hye-young screamed and swore. Then she kicked the front seat wildly.
“……”
Dowoon, looking fed up, quietly drove the car, seemingly relieved he wasn’t in the driver’s seat at that moment.
After throwing a fit for a while, Hye-young caught her breath and opened the window.
Cool wind swept through the car. Somewhat calmed down, Hye-young picked up her phone and called President Hong.
“Ugh, why isn’t he answering?”
But he didn’t answer, probably busy. After thinking for a moment, Hye-young started writing a text message. If things continued like this, it was obvious she would be overshadowed by Kang Da-eun.
Back in university, even if Kang Da-eun always got the lead roles and had good grades, it was somewhat tolerable.
One semester, two semesters. They had to attend classes together all the time, so even if she was jealous, she pretended not to be, even deceiving herself.
It would look pathetic to others if she showed jealousy.
Besides, it was just within the school walls. She thought that once they debuted, she would get more attention.
Noh Hye-young had truly believed that. Being good at acting and having star quality are different things.
But it seemed things in the world don’t go as one thinks.
After finishing the text, Hye-young checked the content and pressed send.
“If it doesn’t work, I’ll make it work.”
She had no choice but to actively promote her own star quality to the public. Of course, it would require a lot of funding, but she had President Hong.
A little later, a reply came from President Hong, with an excuse about being busy and an agreement to her request.
He said he would do as Hye-young asked.
