Dream Future.

A youth romance drama composed of young actors or idols. The basic plot revolved around participants in an idol audition program and the process they go through to debut.

With the male lead, Kim Si-hwan, and the female lead, Song So-ha, the drama had a total of six main characters.

"But it's an idol-themed show. Are the actors going to be okay? Don’t they need to sing and dance?" Ma Yeon-woo asked with a smile.

Three out of the six main leads were actors: Seoyeon, Park Jung-woo, and Hwang Seol-ah. Hwang Seol-ah was a relatively inexperienced actress who had only appeared as a supporting character in two cable dramas. This was her first time starring in a prime-time drama, so Ma Yeon-woo's comment rubbed her the wrong way.

"Just don't forget that this is still a drama," she shot back.

To be honest, Hwang Seol-ah hadn’t liked Ma Yeon-woo from the start. JustX. Sure, she knew he was a popular idol, but even if you compared him to someone like Park Jung-woo, who was sitting quietly across from them, it wasn’t the same. The popularity of idols and actors was different—idols had more intense and passionate fanbases. In comparison, Park Jung-woo might be one of the few actors with a particularly large following.

"You can practice singing and dancing, but acting isn’t something you can just pick up quickly," Hwang Seol-ah continued.

At her words, another idol-turned-actor, Aiden, who was a Canadian-Korean mixed-race idol, let out a chuckle.

"It almost sounds like you're saying that while acting can’t be learned quickly, singing and dancing can be mastered just like that."

Although Aiden spoke calmly, his words carried a sharp edge. Sitting next to him, Cha Na-hee looked visibly uncomfortable, but it was clear that she was also upset by Hwang Seol-ah's remarks.

In the tense atmosphere that followed…

"Hmm."

Director Kim Pil-seok found himself a bit flustered. Since everyone was around the same age, he thought this would be a good opportunity for them to bond. However, with idols and actors mixed together, a subtle power struggle had begun.

‘If I step in now, this situation will just drag on,’ he thought.

As the director, his word was final. If he said something, everyone would fall silent out of respect. But that didn’t mean the conflict would be resolved—it would just be buried.

So instead…

‘Please, Jung-woo, handle this,’ he thought, having arranged for someone to act as a mediator. Seeing the director’s gaze, Park Jung-woo sighed, realizing it had come to this.

But this wasn’t a conflict that could be quickly resolved. The best approach would be to calmly address everyone’s concerns. As Jung-woo organized his thoughts and prepared to speak, someone else beat him to it.

"Let’s have a competition," Seoyeon said.

"Huh?" Jung-woo turned to Seoyeon in surprise.

Seoyeon had raised her hand slightly as she spoke, and the noisy room suddenly fell silent.

"Actors will compete with singing and dancing, and idols will compete with acting," Seoyeon declared.

Has she lost her mind? Jung-woo wanted to say, but something in Seoyeon’s eyes—an odd gleam—made him hold his tongue.

‘What is she thinking?’ he wondered. Did she mean something like, "the losing side has to listen to the winner"?

‘No, that can’t be it.’

That strange gleam in her eyes. Maybe she was just being a bit naïve.

‘Is she hoping that by having a skill-based competition, they’ll reconcile and bond?’ If he thought about it that way, it made a bit more sense, though it still seemed a little too idealistic and absurd. Jung-woo considered stopping her, but…

"Sounds good!" Ma Yeon-woo was faster.

This guy really was just clueless.

"So, actors will compete in singing and dancing, and we’ll compete in acting. But how exactly will we do it?"

"Ah, well..." Seoyeon trailed off.

She hadn’t thought that far ahead. She had just spoken out of a somewhat old-fashioned belief that kids become friends by fighting it out.

"Oh, that’s not a bad idea," Director Kim Pil-seok suddenly chimed in as the room was beginning to calm down.

"Oh, I’ll figure out how to make it work. Seoyeon, you’re really clever."

Everyone stared blankly at the director, not quite understanding what he meant. Even Jung-woo was taken aback this time, except for Seoyeon, who looked proud of herself. Jung-woo let out a sigh, feeling like he wanted to give her a light tap on the head.

‘What on earth is he thinking now?’

Director Kim Pil-seok was a young director who often socialized with variety show PDs. In a good way, he was more open-minded than most directors. In a bad way, he didn’t always adhere to industry norms.

"Anyway, let’s continue talking for a bit today, and then wrap it up. I’ve got something to take care of," he said with a hearty laugh, leaving behind a few staff members and Jung-woo as he made his exit.

And then…

"……." "………."

An awkward silence fell over the room once again.

With only Ma Yeon-woo’s excited voice breaking the quiet, Jung-woo found himself clutching his head in frustration as the first meeting of Dream Future came to an end.

On the way home after that first meeting, Seoyeon got a bit of a scolding from Jung-woo.

He told her to be more careful about what she says next time. Although Jung-woo knew Seoyeon didn’t intend to make anyone feel inferior, her words could easily be taken that way. It was advice given out of concern.

‘But isn’t it normal for the losing side to listen to the winner?’ Seoyeon thought to herself.

In her mind, that was simply how things worked. The weak should listen to the strong—who were they to challenge that?

"Such a savage," Ji-yeon remarked after hearing Seoyeon’s thoughts.

This was how Ju Seoyeon’s socially attuned instincts operated.

"So, what did they decide to do?"

"They said they’d tell us today."

It was about time for them to get some news. Having finished filming The Chaser, Seoyeon was currently attending school without any other work lined up. Filming for Dream Future was still about a month away.

And Dream Future wasn’t expected to be a particularly difficult shoot. After all, the character Jo Ha-rin didn’t appear very frequently.

‘By the time we’re filming episode six, The Chaser should be released.’

If they filmed two episodes in advance, episode four would be airing around that time.

"It’s going to be tough."

"Not really."

"I wasn’t talking about you."

"?"

Ji-yeon felt a bit sorry for Park Jung-woo, who had never even seen Seoyeon in person. Dealing with someone as wild as her could be exhausting at times.

Bzzz, bzzz.

Just then, Seoyeon received a call as school was ending.

"A web promotion?"

"Yes, that’s what they’re saying," Manager Park Eun-ha replied, her voice a bit excited.

"It seems like it’s going to be something like a web variety show. They say it was inspired by something Seoyeon suggested."

‘My suggestion?’

Seoyeon recalled the previous incident. The suggestion that had gotten her scolded by Jung-woo and called a savage by Ji-yeon.

‘See? I was right all along.’

Seoyeon shot a triumphant look at Ji-yeon, who stared back at her in disbelief.

"They’re planning to split you into teams. The voting will be done online, and it won’t be broadcast on TV—it’ll be a web-only release."

"An internet broadcast?"

"Yes, that’s right."

Internet broadcasting was becoming increasingly popular. In a short time, public attention would shift more from traditional broadcasting to internet and OTT platforms.

That shift was imminent. This promotion seemed like a good way to draw attention to Dream Future.

Dream Future was targeting a young audience, so a web promotion, utilizing all possible online tools for advertising, made sense. Internet broadcasting was just one part of that.

"So, to explain…"

Manager Park Eun-ha calmly detailed what she knew. The cast would be split into two teams to compete.

Those who voted for the winning team would have a chance to receive prizes through a raffle.

"The winning team also gets the full payout from the advertising revenue."

"That’s not much of a prize."

"True, but the real benefit for the actors is the increase in exposure."

They didn’t need to offer a big prize. The point was to make the competition meaningful.

However…

"So, it’s going to be an actor team versus an idol team?"

"That’s right, but they’re not splitting the teams completely by idols and actors."

What does that mean? Seoyeon listened quietly.

The team composition was roughly as follows: while there was a team of actors and a team of idols, each team would have one member from the other group mixed in.

"In other words, there will be one idol in the actor team and one actor in the idol team."

The idea was to create a setup where they could learn from each other.

"And Seoyeon, you’re on the idol team."

This was something Seoyeon hadn’t expected.

The Dream Future promotion kicked off and received more attention than anticipated. That was largely because two of the most popular members of the younger generation were leading the teams.

The leader of the actor team was Park Jung-woo. The leader of the idol team was Ma Yeon-woo.

This kind of promotion made sense, given that Dream Future was an idol drama. The drama itself was set to be broadcast both on TV and online in real-time.

In other words, it was like a live broadcast. The promotion was a preview of what that would be like.

"Wow, Yeon-woo, that’s awesome!"

When the members of JustX heard the news, they congratulated Ma Yeon-woo by patting him on the back.

"Now go crush that arrogant guy!"

The one who patted him on the back and made that comment was, a year later, to be caught up in a drug scandal involving over seven different substances. This was the leader of JustX, also known as the “drug-taking idol.”

"Yeah, hyung. Honestly, I think you can beat him even in acting," said another member, who would later become known as the Apgujeong Killer Hong after a drunk driving incident in which he ran over six people.

"Ahem."

Ma Yeon-woo felt a surge of confidence from their words, but he also had some concerns.

This was because of something that happened on the first day they met for Dream Future.

"Seoyeon, you’re still in high school, right? Feel free to speak casually with us," Ma Yeon-woo had said to her.

Since she didn’t respond, he followed her to ask again just as she was about to part ways. Park Jung-woo, who was talking to Seoyeon at the time, frowned slightly, but Seoyeon surprisingly replied with a cheerful face.

In fact, she had just been in the middle of a scolding, so she was grateful for the interruption.

"No, you can’t," she said.

"……."

"But, since it would be rude to just refuse outright…"

Seoyeon raised her arm.

"I’ll acknowledge you if you can beat me in an arm-wrestling match."

Arm-wrestling? Out of nowhere? Ma Yeon-woo chuckled at Seoyeon’s challenge. Was she indirectly saying she wanted to hold his hand?

"Sure, let’s do it."

"Wait, no…"

Park Jung-woo seemed like he was about to intervene, but Ma Yeon-woo shook his head, thinking that Jung-woo wanted him to back off and not touch what he considered his own territory.

"Alright! Let’s do this!"

And the result…

"So, hyung, I heard you almost broke your arm? Did someone hit you or something?"

"No, nothing like that."

Ma Yeon-woo was just thankful that it didn’t actually break.