NOVEL NEXT Chapter 183
The moment our eyes met was never long.
At most, a few seconds.
Literally, during that brief moment when I turned my body around and made eye contact with the kids seated in the audience.
But Seo-yeon accurately spotted Gil Da-hyun sitting there.
Not just Gil Da-hyun.
She clearly saw the five or six female students nearby.
In other words, her classmates were all there.
Caught off guard by the unexpected sight, Seo-yeon’s eyes flickered for a moment, but she quickly smiled.
‘Before, I felt embarrassed for not being prepared.’
But now it’s all good!
Seo-yeon struck a cute pose typical of Harara to engage the kids.
“I heard that Zero-ro is planning something bad again today.”
“Harara, you already know where he is, so we don’t need to rush. We need to go to school.”
At Harara’s words, a wooden board with a penguin drawing near the mascot penguin moved, and a line appeared.
Despite its cute appearance, the voice was incredibly cool.
Hearing that voice, Seo-yeon felt her heat dissipate.
Yeah, it’s okay.
She was a bit flustered, sure, but wasn’t she standing on stage as an actress?
Her heart was pounding a little, and cold sweat was dripping, but no problem!
“No, it’s not okay!”
Inside, Seo-yeon was about to cry.
Honestly, other performances were just fine.
She felt it would be better to show her friends the role of the murderer.
Harara was something else entirely.
Just then, while she was making a heart with her hands and producing a cute voice, her winking eye almost trembled.
Why? Because Gil Da-hyun and the girls were making expressions that were hard to put into words while watching Seo-yeon act cute right in front of them.
How would it feel to have a classmate act cute in front of you?
Seo-yeon found it difficult to imagine that feeling.
And then, light shone on Zero-ro, and his lines came out.
“Surely, by now, Harara should be at school. Knowing this, I preemptively told the teacher about leaving early today.”
Zero-ro, dressed in a black dress, giggled.
He was a diligent villain who had informed the teacher about leaving early in advance for this very day.
In other words, Jo Seo-hee just sighed in relief watching Seo-yeon’s performance.
“See? It’s different on stage.”
Sometimes, when kids act, they might struggle if they enter without much thought.
After all, it’s kids’ acting, so no actor thinks they can be slack about it.
But, unconsciously, that can happen.
However, when it comes to kid plays, exaggerated lines and performances are often needed.
Moreover, some expressions might be too childish for adult actors, making it hard to get into the lines.
Of course, most of that is overcome through practice, but Seo-yeon had only a short time to rehearse.
Yet, in that brief time, Seo-yeon seemed to have perfectly adjusted to being Harara.
“Like I said, what I told you was true.”
Seo-yeon once told Jo Seo-hee, who was worried after watching the previous shorts.
“I’m a little emotionally blunt, so I’ve never felt particularly nervous while acting.”
Reflecting on that calm statement, Jo Seo-hee recalled how Seo-yeon had acted before.
Even as a child actor, when everyone was shaking in fear, Seo-yeon had truly shown no change in expression.
Not to mention back during [Hyper Action Star].
While everyone else was worried about what performance to deliver, Seo-yeon’s acting flowed out without hesitation.
Unlike others, Seo-yeon’s acting flowed out without hesitation.
Considering that Jo Seo-hee needed a bit of preparation, Seo-yeon’s emotional control to deliver her lines on the spot was astonishing.
‘Emotional acting was her strong suit.’
Everyone who met Seo-yeon chimed in.
They claimed her ability to convey emotions was the best among the actors they had encountered.
Back when she was younger, she had shown up with method acting, but now there was really no need for that.
Method acting ultimately is just a means to immerse oneself in the character.
Since then, there hasn’t been a role suitable for such deep emotional acting after “Cha Seo-ah.”
“But isn’t tension different from embarrassment?”
“Aren’t actors not supposed to feel embarrassed while acting?”
Seo-yeon replied with calmness as if it were a given.
“Honestly, I’ve never felt such shame, not even once.”
She meant to say never but remembered the recent incident with the blanket and corrected herself.
Upon hearing Seo-yeon’s reaction, Jo Seo-hee nodded in agreement.
‘I was worried about her being too shy in the shorts, but…’
Seeing her strong will made her feel better about it.
Indeed, Seo-yeon’s performance during the rehearsal was very professional.
“Today, we have to stir things up early! If we’re late, we won’t be able to prep for the scene!”
Finishing her thoughts, Jo Seo-hee, or rather Zero-ro, spat out the lines.
A scene of someone making things passionately unfolded, transitioning again.
This time it was Harara’s turn.
An image of Harara wandering the streets to stop Zero-ro’s shenanigans appeared.
Then, when she met a group of minions and swung the penguin on her shoulder to hit them without transforming, one of the classmates whispered,
“… Is Harara really a magical girl?”
Gil Da-hyun, who had been quietly observing the stage, murmured.
But why is she hitting them with a penguin plushie?
Wasn’t it just a friend she was chatting with on her shoulder a second ago?
“That’s Uranus, Harara’s weapon.”
The one who cleared up that confusion was her friend Min-ji.
“Uranus?”
“That’s the name of the penguin. When Harara transforms, the penguin turns into a magic wand.”
Wait, why does a penguin get such a grand name?
Thinking about it, the penguin had a pretty cool voice.
Since no one found it odd, it seems like the penguin had a cool voice even in the original.
‘Isn’t it just a mascot?’
It looked super cute, but its voice felt weighty, like Optimus Prime or something.
Wait, if you think about it, fighting to save the world might require that level of gravity…
‘Something feels… off.’
Isn’t Harara skipping school right now?
Zero-ro at least claimed to leave early, but Harara didn’t even show up!
The kids were laughing and having fun, but is this really okay?
“Except for Harara, everyone else is acting responsibly. It’s such an educational anime.”
“…Really?”
Anyhow, the play continued.
Zero-ro, plotting, suddenly appeared dramatically with a giant plushie after all the minions got defeated.
She was about to engage in a full-blown battle with Harara.
“Ha, Harara! Today will be different! I’ll show you the true power of Zero-ro!!”
Then, something flashed on stage with special effects.
The kids went, “Wow!” and clapped.
The uncles in the front row by Da-hyun raised their arms high.
“Harara transformation! Harara transformation!!”
“I’ve been waiting!”
“Go, go!!!”
The booming voices of the uncles made Da-hyun and the girls behind them flinch.
“Seems like they really love Harara.”
“I’m feeling uneasy.”
Wasn’t today Seo-yeon’s opening performance?
Wasn’t this just Seo-yeon’s first performance?
Has she already got fans? Or is it just that everyone genuinely likes Harara?
Dahyun was seriously curious about that.
Anyway.
At the same time as the uncles’ cheers, Harara’s transformation music began to play.
‘Here comes the moment.’
Seo-yeon tensed up at the music.
This was the part from the shorts that boasted millions of views.
Harara’s transformation scene!
If it was the original plan, she would have been mentally prepared, so it shouldn’t have been an issue.
She had performed well in rehearsals too.
But doing this in front of her school friends was a different story.
“Love, care, respect, and kindness. The magical girl of compassion!!”
With a dazzling effect, the gorgeous lights that led to Zero-ro shone on Harara, and in between, the transformed Harara appeared.
“Harara~, Hararala~!!”
Seo-yeon, holding the pink magic wand, encouraged the kids in the audience to respond.
“Harara! Harara!!!”
Among the children’s voices, the men’s voices stood out a bit too loud, but since the kids’ cheers were louder, it felt okay.
Plus, she could hear her classmates’ voices, and Seo-yeon began to feel her earlobes getting a little warm.
She was experiencing a heat she had never felt while acting before.
‘Don’t be awkward. Don’t be shy!’
Seo-yeon smiled brightly, chanted Harara’s name, and shook the magic wand repeatedly.
Considering her usual ability to convey emotions, if Seo-yeon felt shy during the performance, that feeling would clearly transmit to the audience.
That couldn’t happen.
She couldn’t disappoint the kids who came to see the play.
But!
‘Ugh!’
S-so embarrassing.
Seo-yeon felt a bunch of warmth on her face.
Thanks to the bright lights with a red hue, thankfully, the audience might not notice too much.
“That’s as far as you’ll go, Harara! No matter what, this time it’ll be too much for you! Against the super monster I created!!”
But Jo Seo-hee, standing on stage, could vaguely feel that.
Being a fellow performer.
And also because she was relatively close, she could see Seo-yeon’s earlobes gradually turning red.
Then, she saw Seo-yeon’s face, biting her lower lip and turning her body around, filled with a rare sense of shame.
‘What the… so cute.’
In that moment, she realized it was wrong to think like that while on stage, but she couldn’t help but voice her thoughts.
From the audience’s perspective, they probably couldn’t see her face.
Suddenly, Jo Seo-hee felt her excitement spike while facing Seo-yeon’s face like that.
Just looking at that face gave her a strange tingling sensation in her chest, making her want to see more of such expressions.
“Not happening! Harara Flash!!”
Zero-ro was sitting on a giant teddy bear set on stage.
Harara executed a cool kick towards it.
“Harara Flash! It’s a technique that makes a quick jab to Harara’s chin, snapping her back to attention in an instant. That’s why it’s called Harara Flash. It’s the technique Harara uses the most!”
“Isn’t that a magical technique?”
“That one’s separate.”
While Dahyun and her friends were having that conversation,
Downstage, the staff was startled for a moment.
“Was there any action that involved wires in this performance?”
“Uh? No? We left that out since it requires a lot of practice. There isn’t an action scene this time.”
In the first place, using wires in actions couldn’t just be practiced for a moment.
If practiced poorly, serious injuries could happen.
“How did she pull off the Harara Flash then? If there are no wires?”
“How did that happen? Without wires too?”
“I don’t know either. It was almost like a person flew away.”
“It seems actress Joo Seo-yeon has great jumping skills.”
“Is this really something that can be solved with jumping skills?”
Anyway, the audience’s reaction was filled with cheers, so I thought it was alright.
Anyway, Harara’s attacks continuously clashed with the Super Monster in Zero-ro’s performance!
“Harara Heart Light!!”
“That’s Harara delivering a powerful light hook to her opponent’s chest…”
“Min-ji, you really know a lot.”
“My, my little sister watches a lot.”
Anyway, amidst those flashy action scenes, the audience’s response reached its peak.
But Seo-yeon shot a sharp glance at Jo Seo-hee.
Slowly, Jo Seo-hee, who should have dramatically exited the stage under Harara’s magic, didn’t come down.
Hmph, there’s still no problem, right? It’s fine! The Super Monster is invincible!
She was shouting that line, even if it didn’t exist, while getting carried away on the puppet.
It seemed Seo-yeon liked it when Harara shouted her techniques while trembling.
Of course, the audience enjoyed the suddenly increased action scenes, and the staff liked it too, but Seo-yeon couldn’t bear it any longer.
So, she decided to end it.
“Zero-ro! No matter how much of a Super Monster you are, it’s the end for you. I’ll send you flying in one go!”
“Huh?”
Jo Seo-hee flinched at Harara’s sudden words while looking down from the puppet.
The puppet was easily about three meters tall.
On top of it, Jo Seo-hee, who was relatively safely sitting with her body connected to wires, flinched at Seo-yeon’s words.
That line was Harara’s decisive line.
“Alright, kids. Give your strength to Harara.”
Harara waved her magic wand at the audience.
“Harara~, Harara Starlight Power!!”
As she kept saying that, Seo-yeon’s earlobes gradually turned red.
She tried to hide the warmth rising on her face and smiled naturally.
Now, with her face turning red beyond just her cheeks, Seo-yeon spun around, backed by the audience’s cheers.
She looked at Jo Seo-hee with a face full of embarrassment.
With her burning eyes, Seo-hee let out an unexpected hiccup.
“I went overboard.”
As that thought crossed her mind, Seo-yeon jumped high on the stage.
She reached a height that was above Jo Seo-hee’s head, who was sitting on a bear puppet.
Seo-hee hurriedly tried to crawl down from below the puppet.
“Where are you going?”
But Harara was faster.
Zero-ro looked up at Harara in surprise.
With her face flushed red and her strangely moist eyes, Harara—no, Joo Seo-yeon.
The moment Jo Seo-hee saw that, she awkwardly smiled.
“Are you, are you going to hit me?”
“Yep.”
At the same time, Harara’s new technique.
“Harara Magical Drive!”
While holding onto Zero-ro, Harara jumped from the puppet and slammed Zero-ro’s head right on top.
Of course, since it was a soft puppet, it only squished the puppet’s head halfway.
Zero-ro hung limply on the wires and exited.
“Ooooh, that’s a technique I’ve never seen before!!”
“Sis, you’re amazing!!”
“Is that a magical technique?”
“Since it has ‘Magical’ in it, I guess it is?”
The impact seemed significant; after the play, the technique was featured in an animated reverse import.
Of course, Jo Seo-hee had to spend a while trying to cheer up the sulking Seo-yeon afterward.
Separately, Mirinae Land actively used this play for promotion.
As a result:
[Mirinae Land, Harara Theater Shorts Views 5.82 million]
With the amazing promotional effect, the play was a great success.
Even though Seo-yeon didn’t appear, the number of people visiting the theater increased, of course.
It was then that Seo-yeon’s Harara Shorts 2 came in.
Advertisements related to Harara also started coming in right at that time.