ALL NOVEL Chapter 142
[Hyper Action Star] Semifinals, and only the finals remain.
Most people had already grabbed onto some idea of who the final winner would be.
– Honestly, the winner is Joo Seo-yeon.
– Right? It’s really about the fight for second place.
– They say if you make it into the top three, you’ll get casting offers?
– Yup, and if you’re interested, you can participate.
– But you don’t know what role it will be?
– Yup.
The GH Group said they were discussing this with the directors, but there was no solid answer.
So even if they participated, it didn’t necessarily mean a significant role.
However, if you ranked high or made a big impact, the influence couldn’t be denied.
For rookie action actors, even this potential was valuable.
Especially.
“I will definitely get the lead role!”
The Japanese actor, Narumi Sora, thought seriously.
Everyone’s focused on the fight for second place.
There were many conversations like that circulating.
Sora resonated with those words to some extent.
She was shocked by how A group handled their auditions.
Especially Joo Seo-yeon.
What she showed left a huge impression on Sora.
Acting.
The outstanding performance skills that were almost impossible for someone her age to display, but it was the action that triggered her.
“She’s blocking paintballs?!”
Dodging or blocking.
The fact that she could do both skillfully was ridiculous.
She even dodged just by hearing the sound.
Honestly, it felt directed.
But when she thought back on what she did, it seemed there couldn’t have been any manipulation—she must have done it herself.
“But.”
Sora didn’t want to lose.
This time, she planned to show all her trump cards.
In her pre-match interview, Sora expressed her ambitions.
“I’m going to win.”
Naturally, such a declaration piqued the community’s interest.
– Declaring victory right at the start of the interview!!
– Not “I think I’ll win,” but “I’m going to win” ㄷㄷ
– So who exactly is Narumi Sora? I only watched Group A, so I don’t know.
– She’s a dark horse from Group D, and she definitely moves differently.
– Said she learned action all by herself in Japan while doing events.
– Supposedly a fan of Hong Kong films.
– Pleh, when were Hong Kong films even relevant?
With Narumi Sora’s relatively cute face, many often took her strong statements lightly.
Anyway, when looking just at appearances, Sora stood out amidst the rest.
– Isn’t she a hamster caught among delinquents?
So much so that people would say that.
But Sora was okay with it.
Semifinals and finals.
These were essentially one-on-one matches.
A series of sequences unfolding in an abandoned building.
All of it counted towards evaluation, and the results would be decided solely by votes.
Not scores, but votes.
Sora flinched as she checked her belongings, feeling Seo-yeon’s unyielding gaze.
“Why is she staring at me like that?”
Could it be that she was aware of Sora?
Well, it could be.
The other two had already faced Seo-yeon and knew her level well enough.
They had to be cautious about their first direct opponent.
And Seo-yeon thought.
“I have to ask later if she watches Vtubers.”
I must remember to ask her once filming ends.
That thought lingered.
*
The semifinals took place as follows.
Jo Seo-hee vs Joo Seo-yeon.
Min Do-ha vs Narumi Sora.
Therefore, they were set in a relatively balanced way.
After all, just looking at the records, Jo Seo-hee had beaten Joo Seo-yeon.
Min Do-ha and Sora both had superpower concepts that used their physicality.
One was shooting, the other physical enhancement.
Given how straightforward their powers were, it was truly a battle of pure skill.
However, the outcome was rather anticlimactic.
In this one-on-one matchup, there was no way Jo Seo-hee could beat Seo-yeon.
On the flip side, while Min Do-ha showed some prowess, she was quickly subdued by Narumi Sora.
In the action acting where a victory didn’t necessarily need to be determined, it was clear who had won.
– She utilized all the props in the abandoned building and still lost.
– Honestly, how could Jo Seo-hee possibly beat Joo Seo-yeon?
– But why is Jo Seo-hee so strong?
– Her resilience is better than expected…
Despite that, Jo Seo-hee’s spirited efforts received quite a bit of attention.
Anyway, she had brought her supplies to their limit, and with preparation time given before the start, she had set traps with all the objects in the abandoned building.
The basic rules remained the same.
If you ended up with visible injuries from something like paintballs, it was a ‘death judgment.’
Once that happened, the defeated person couldn’t act anymore, which naturally led to victory.
Jo Seo-hee had actively taken advantage of this.
However.
「…….」
As the preparation time came to an end, Seo-yeon, warming up, quickly moved upstairs to chase Jo Seo-hee.
As her foot stepped down, she felt something binding her ankle.
Not enough to make her trip, but something that snapped easily.
Simultaneously, she ducked and evaded the bullets showering down from both sides.
– ?
– How’s she dodging?
That was just the beginning.
Jo Seo-hee was genuinely well-prepared.
She dodged bullets firing from every direction, smashing the nearby sponge balls.
The pouring water.
The barrage of bullets.
The explosion-like water balloons.
She evaded all of it, maintaining the limits allowed by her regeneration ability, and crashed into Jo Seo-hee.
– We found the comment sugar we were looking for here.
– Lol, this is normal, right?
– But how does Jo Seo-hee plan to beat Joo Seo-yeon???
– Gotta be a mom to win.
– ?? So Jo Seo-hee and Joo Seo-yeon have the same mom?
It was a predetermined result.
No one thought Jo Seo-hee could beat Seo-yeon.
“Still, there was a lot to see from both sides.”
“I couldn’t see the acting, but I saw plenty of that when they first came up; it seems they focused on the action.”
This is what actor Cha Min-kyu said after watching the semifinals, and announcer Yoon Kyung-deok, who hosted, agreed.
Then, if Jo Seo-hee and Joo Seo-yeon’s semifinals were action-oriented, it was the opposite for Min Do-ha and Narumi Sora, where the acting played a significant role.
The action was unexpectedly dull.
Because Min Do-ha got beat way too easily.
– You know, she did a pretty good job shooting from far away.
– But when it came to close combat, she just got wiped out.
– No car screams this time?
– That was only when she faced Joo Seo-yeon, right?
Min Do-ha definitely had excellent shooting skills.
Regardless, by the time they made it to the semifinals, there was no way they could lack skill, no matter how much luck they had.
While she might not be as resourceful as Jo Seo-hee, she used props and shot her gun well, only to lose to the agile Narumi Sora.
– Did Narumi Sora dodge seeing the paintball???
– Nah, she thought out a rough way to react.
– Seems to move when the gun’s pointing at her.
– Ain’t that still impressive???
The semifinals were a chance to see Narumi Sora’s remarkable action potential.
With Sora advancing to the finals as a dark horse, public interest shifted towards the matchup between Seo-yeon and Sora.
After all, this would be essentially their first direct confrontation.
[[Hyper Action Star] Ratings Surpassed 8%!]
[Will it hit 10% in the finals? [Hyper Action Star] Action actors’ delightful rebellion.]
Articles began popping up around that time.
Until now, it had only circulated in the community or through memes, but this time the general public started to take significant interest.
“But really, there’s definitely something about her.”
Jo Seo-hee, who fell from being on the receiving end of Seo-yeon’s action in the semifinals, remarked.
Even though she got eliminated, Jo Seo-hee was genuinely happy.
She hadn’t even considered the possibility of winning through action.
Jo Seo-hee wasn’t the type who excelled in physicality.
Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Seo-yeon, she would have dropped out long ago in the preliminaries.
Rather, she found great significance in being able to act with Seo-yeon before [Gyeongseong Young Lady].
“The finals will take place in a tighter space than the abandoned building, right? Then individual action will be more important.”
Seo-yeon completely agreed with that.
She’d seen Narumi Sora face off with Min Do-ha, but that alone didn’t reveal everything.
More than anything, since Narumi Sora moved quite extraordinarily, she was not an ordinary actress.
“It’s surprising that she was an unknown. I still can’t figure out why she came to Korea instead of acting in Japan.”
Jo Seo-hee mumbled that and glanced over at Seo-yeon for a moment.
And then.
“Now [Gyeongseong Young Lady] is getting into full production. The script is still in the writing phase.”
“It isn’t completed yet? Ji-yeon has been reviewing it.”
“She said she wanted to make some revisions. The script should reach you around the time auditions are over… you can decide about your participation after that.”
Seo-yeon was quite positive about her role in [Gyeongseong Young Lady], but she felt a bit worried about her schedule.
‘Next year’s early days will be extremely busy.’
At the same time, the likelihood of three projects progressing was high.
[Gyeongseong Young Lady].
And if she won the finals, [Mine] as well.
Once that was over, there would be an audition for Jo Bang-woo’s movie.
‘For now, [Sky Garden] is the priority.’
Regardless, she couldn’t overlook the drama, which might continue to multiply.
If it hadn’t been for Seo-yeon’s strong physical body, the schedule would have seemed quite overwhelming.
“And… you’re going to appear on a variety show next month?”
“Ah, yes.”
“I’ll make sure to catch that.”
Smirking, Jo Seo-hee said that.
Anyway, even with the brief time spent together, Seo-yeon felt that during the shooting of [Hyper Action Star].
Her acting skills were indeed genuine.
Next time, she wanted to shoot something other than action together.
So [Gyeongseong Young Lady] was critical.
‘I need to urge the scriptwriter.’
If a proper script doesn’t come out, Seo-yeon might reject it.
‘But.’
Jo Seo-hee glanced at Seo-yeon, her lips twitching.
She wanted to ask something but couldn’t due to the sin of betrayal lingering in her mind.
‘Why does she keep speaking to me formally?’
We’re the same age.
Jo Seo-hee felt a bit sad.
*
Seo-yeon’s time flew by in an instant.
How could it not?
There was just too much to do immediately.
[Sky Garden] shooting.
Preparation for the fan meeting that Cha Na-hee mentioned.
That alone wrapped up a whole week.
At least [Hyper Action Star] was ending this week.
‘Of course, with the audition, it feels like it’s just beginning.’
Although she didn’t definitively say she would win against Narumi Sora in the finals.
Seo-yeon thought of her final opponent, Narumi Sora.
Though she only truly shone in the semifinals, that acting and action were undeniably real.
Though she was a Japanese actor, her acting style resembled that of Korean cinema.
‘But she’s a fan of Hong Kong films, so why come to Korea?’
That point felt a bit puzzling, but Seo-yeon brushed it off.
There were plenty of things she wanted to ask at another opportunity later.
Thus, the final showdown of [Hyper Action Star] awaited.
“Finally! The day has dawned. Today is the day to decide the champion of [Hyper Action Star].”
The finals MC was once again popular announcer Yoon Kyung-deok, just like in the semifinals.
An even larger audience gathered this time.
The final voting closed in just 10 minutes.
In attendance were the GH Group’s culture division director Kang Tae-jin.
And Han Ye-geon, the director slated for [Mine].
Both of them gazed toward the final stage.
“Who do you think will win?”
“Well.”
Han Ye-geon made a judgment based on everything he had observed so far.
“I think Joo Seo-yeon will win.”
“I think so too.”
“So, I wonder if the finals even have any meaning.”
Han Ye-geon muttered as he watched the stage.
On the stage, the highlights of both contestants were being shown in sequence on the screen.
The leading role in the movie in which GH Group is investing.
It was quite the delectable bait, no doubt.
But.
‘This doesn’t guarantee success.’
More accurately, it had a high likelihood of success.
Big investments.
Powerful promotions, and all costs incurred during the film shoot.
GH Group is shouldering all of that, so it’s fair to say the chances of success are higher than any other film.
That’s how audition programs generally function.
Winning seems to wrap it up, but that’s just the beginning.
So frankly, Han Ye-geon felt a bit indifferent when he first heard of this audition.
“… However, if something here stands out, it could be different.”
“Who are you pinning your hopes on?”
“On both sides, really. It wouldn’t be interesting otherwise. Honestly, I was hoping for Han So-yu to come through.”
“But she lost to Narumi Sora in the round of 16.”
“So I hope they can accomplish something of note.”
If not, it would be a truly dull final.