The Law of WebnovelsThe Law of Webnovels
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In the end, Yerin left with Yoo Chun Young, saying, ‘Thankfully, we have the same number of people as before since one is going, and the other isn’t.’ The scene then ended with the guy, Min Seok, being left alone in the empty lecture hall, pounding the floor.
Then it changed to a noisy bar where Yoo Chun Young confessed that he’s too drowsy to pay attention to the conversation. Yerin forgave him generously, replying, ‘No worries. You’ve been busy keeping your 4.0 GPA and working part-time.’ Then she repeated what they’d covered in the class discussion.
“For the on-scene report, we decided to explore an abandoned house.”
“Explore an abandoned house?”
“Uh-huh, so after the research, we came up with this place––Hwagok-eup Hwagok-ri…”
Yerin explained, showing the map on her phone screen. It was the latest smartphone. Watching that scene, I thought, ‘See? If I didn’t change my old cell to a smartphone, I would have felt left out.’
On the TV screen, Yerin continued explaining, “… This place had teen camps every year, but after a student went missing, those events and activities were discontinued, and this place has turned into an abandoned house.”
“Camp…” Yoo Chun Young murmured, narrowing his eyes. His face tinged with a glow between purple and orange under the lighting.
The scene then changed into the inside of a police station where Cho Yeon Suh, Lee Nara’s character in the drama, works at. The place was filled with desks piled up with all kinds of files and documents and people walking around them busily. In the hectic situation, Lee Nara was looking into a file, touching her forehead with a grimace.
Throwing a glance at the sight, one of her colleagues said teasingly, “Miss Yeon Suh, go home ASAP today if you finished writing the report.”
“Oh, okay,” replied Lee Nara, sending an awkward smile. She put her jacket on, then got up from her seat. Under her fingers, some black texts were on the paper such as ‘cold case,’ ‘camp,’ and ‘twin sister.’ Those clues were enough to outline the plot of this show.
At last, the first episode was over. During the commercial break, we looked at each other. Everyone seemed to have been absorbed in the drama for an hour.
Stretching her arms, Yeo Ryung exclaimed, “Wow, I even forgot that Yoo Chun Young was in that series. At some point, I was fully concentrating on the story.”
“Yeah, me too,” I also agreed with Yeo Ryung.
The drama followed a familiar plot, but maybe because it’s a special series made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the TV channel, the daring visuals and the attractive characters captivated us like watching a movie.
Directing her eyes back to the screen, Yeo Ryung uttered, “Yoo Chun Young really looks different in that show. Some parts are quite similar to his true personality, but mostly…” Looking at Eun Hyung, she added, “He reminds me of Eun Hyung. Don’t you think so?”
I nodded at her remark. Yoo Chun Young was playing a character affording living by himself while doing part-time jobs and private tutoring. Still, he didn’t reveal his hardships but perfectly took care of his academic performances and other things in life. Just like Eun Hyung, he was a mature person in that fictional world.
When I met Eun Hyung’s eyes, he scratched his head embarrassedly and said, “Was it that obvious? Chun Young actually told me that he feels a little easier to act when thinking about me.”
“Indeed, it was you!”
“Wow, that’s awesome!”
While Yeo Ryung and I shouted one after another in surprise, Jooin spoke excitedly, “This drama will go down very well.”
All of us nodded at his words. So did our mothers.
“So true. Nothing was interesting to watch lately, but now I seem to have found one.”
“I thought Chun Young was playing a small role since he’s a friend of the main character’s little brother, but I guess I’m wrong.”
Eun Hyung responded politely, “Yes, it was very surprising to us as well.”
“His character looks so cool,” said my mother, then she forecasted, “Trust me. After this drama, Chun Young will gain huge popularity.”
Quickly lifting my head, I waved off her words, saying, “Mom, you’re going too far.”
She asked me in wonder, “Look at you little thing! Can’t you believe mama? Don’t you know I have a long list of TV dramas I’ve watched?”
“No, that’s not what I mean…” I slurred the end of my sentence.
My mom reminded me of myself back in the days who used to say, ‘This is gonna happen. Believe me. I have a long history of reading various web novels,’ whenever something occurred.
‘Geez, embarrassing! Indeed the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,’ I sighed.
Meanwhile, my mom continued talking, “I’m serious. Why don’t you go browse the web?”
That was when Jooin’s voice pierced through the living room.
“It’s true!” he shouted.
“What?”
Not only myself but also the other kids turned their heads toward Jooin. Walking on our knees hurriedly, we gathered in front of him like hungry pigeons. Jooin handed out his phone.
“Look at the most searched words.”
As he mentioned, the keywords related to <Black Rain> were dominating the latest trending searches.
‘The production house will find their efforts worth casting Lee Nara, huh?’ I said to myself, but when the second most searched word came into my view, it took away my breath.
Jooin uttered, “Black Rain is the most searched word right now; the second is Yoo Chun Young and the third Lee Nara.”
“…”
“My noona is pushed to the third place. Though it might be temporary, wow, Yoo Chun Young is insane.”
While Jooin talked bitterly with a grin, I came up with thoughts that should be left unspoken.
‘Lee Nara is the lead in the drama, but in this world, Yoo Chun Young is the real protagonist. That’s the reason behind it.’
Even when it was half past nine after the drama was over, our fried chicken didn’t arrive yet. As we grumbled about the late delivery, the adults pushed us into my room. It was to make us stay patient and have chicken later before we left.
Thanks to our parents, my small room was packed with six people. Even the dining chairs that we brought from the kitchen weren’t enough for us to all take seats, so two people had to perch on my bed.
‘Geez, this room would have exploded if Yoo Chun Young was also here.’ I wielded my tongue, but at the same time, his absence still lingered in my mind.
Perhaps other kids seemed to be feeling the same as me. Rolling his phone like a ball in his palm, Jooin threw us a question.
“Should we give him a call? I thought Yoo Chun Young would be reaching out to us, but he isn’t.”
“He would be busy too. Everyone must have gathered there to watch the premiere just like us, and since the first episode is just over, they might start talking about it as well.”
The person who apathetically responded to Jooin was Eun Jiho. Sitting on the edge of my bed, he was pointing his toe up and down.
“Well, that makes sense.”
Jooin nodded. So did I. Since the drama just debuted, the actors and staff wouldn’t leave right after the premiere but would finally spend time discussing or debating on the show.
I murmured, “There would be celebrities, right?”
I didn’t speak out loud, but Eun Jiho smiled aimlessly and scolded me, raising his chin.
“Dude, Yoo Chun Young is now a celebrity too.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“We, the ordinary people, should enjoy searching the web. Let’s turn on the computer.”
I meekly left the computer chair at his words. Taking a seat with a thud, Eun Jiho pressed the power button. Jooin stood up and ran toward him with small and quick steps, then stood behind Eun Jiho’s back.
Watching the two boys chat, I suddenly threw my glance at Yeo Dan oppa. For some reason, he looked upset. As I became aware of it, I tossed him a question.
“Oppa, what’s wrong?”
Although Yeo Dan oppa wasn’t a friendly type of guy, he’s still Yeo Ryung’s brother; everyone here was all Yeo Ryung’s friends. Plus, we have all met him a couple of times before, so he had no reason to feel that uncomfortable.