Chapter 633
Everyone already there was insanely famous. As a baseline, every one of them had at least three times as many Yousta followers as I did.
Vanessa, the undisputed queen of TinTok who drove trends across America; Claire, an actress and the daughter of a sports star; and even Bella, the most famous Hollywood nepo baby of them all.
“Here, hold this!”
And they all had one thing in common: they were LMVH Beauty ambassadors.
It seemed we were supposed to film ourselves touching up our makeup in that quintessential Yousta aesthetic, holding compacts and mascara, mirrors and lip products emblazoned with the logos of our respective brands.
I, too, picked up a D-ol lip gloss and looked into the mirror.
Click, click, click!
After taking several photos and even shooting a short video in the brightly decorated rose-gold powder room, the editor immediately left.
Finding myself alongside the celebrities who instantly came to mind when you thought of Hollywood, the ones most popular with teens and people in their twenties, I switched on my materialistic calculator.
Come to think of it, these people had been sitting across from me at the M Jacobs show earlier.
‘If I take a few selfies with them here and post them....’
I could practically hear my follower count rising.
Besides, I’d managed all the interviews so far pretty well by memorizing my answers. If I wanted to break into Hollywood through actual productions, connections seemed to be the answer after all.
“Her English was pretty good, wasn’t it?”
“You could drop her onto a local set and she’d be fine.”
“I heard she’s quite fluent.”
Evaluations of Han Yeoreum from celebrities of this caliber would eventually make their way to directors and writers.
[Take a Sip of Naturally Fluent Foreign-Language Butterbeer]
??Detailed Description: If you want to act naturally, you need to be good at foreign languages too. English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian! Why not try an item that will help you speak smoothly in every language—even ones you’ve never encountered before?
Usage Time: 03:13
I decided to spend all the points I had accumulated right here.
And three seconds after making eye contact with Vanessa, I regretted it.
“Who are you?”
Should’ve used it a little later.... It only lasts three minutes....
* * *
Eunnyangi stared rather indifferently at the screen as she faithfully carried out her sacred duty of stealing company time. Posts about New York Fashion Week were being updated endlessly in real time.
[HOT/ Scenes From the New York Fashion Week After-Party Being Updated in Real Time.jpg]
(Photo of the venue.jpg)
(Main DJ’s face.jpg)
(Magazine greeting shots of famous Hollywood nepo babies.jpg)
(Bottles of D Perignon and Hnessy champagne.jpg)
(Han Yeoreum.jpg)
-Anonymous 1: Han Yeoreum went to the after-party too TT_TT she changed clothes and she’s freaking gorgeous
-Anonymous 4: T-fany is seriously pushing her so fucking hard,, that jewelry is insane
?Anonymous 19: Is that T-fany too?? I genuinely know nothing about jewelry so I’m not trying to start shit
?Anonymous 28: Yeah yeah yeah it’s all T-fany, rough estimate around 500 million won
-Anonymous 43: where the fuck is Myeong Jeha you lunatic upload a picture so I can see his face T_T
-Anonymous 54: But seeing Han Yeoreum among all those hot girls is so awkward LOLOLOL she looks completely out of place by herself
?Anonymous 81: 222 yeah she just doesn’t fit in somehow
?Anonymous 93: LOLOL Han Yeoreum is literally the hottest person in New York right now, who exactly are you calling the hot girls..?
?Anonymous 109: Maybe you’re drunk on national pride because you’re nitpicking every fucking word T_T Fine, Han Yeoreum is doing great...
?Anonymous 113: Han Yeoreum is a one-day-only flash-in-the-pan hot girl, while Vanessa and Claire have spent their whole lives as hot girls LMAOOOO;; are they even on the same level?
For reference, Eunnyangi’s feelings had shifted from ‘I hate Han Yeoreum’ to ‘I don’t really think anything about her.’ She genuinely did not like her.
She didn’t like her and didn’t particularly care about her, but since Han Yeoreum had gone all the way to America anyway, part of her did want her to become a little more successful.
Han Yeoreum might have scored two consecutive hits with and , igniting a K-Drama boom on NetHolics, but even without Han Yeoreum, Eun Baekhap’s filmography would inevitably have gained worldwide recognition someday.
‘Why the fuck haven’t those lunatics uploaded ? That’s my Baekhap’s signature work.’
But for something to gain recognition, it first had to actually be on the platform. Because those NetHolics bastards had left out , Eunnyangi felt like a hostage and wanted the baseless hate toward Han Yeoreum to die down just a tiny bit... just a little....
Input: LOOOOL All I’m getting from this is that there are tons of people having inferiority-complex meltdowns in between.. You think it’s not obvious? T_T It’s sooo obvious
Really, just the tiniest little bit.
Because Han Yeoreum had to accomplish something in America before would have any chance of appearing on NetHolics.
Of course, she didn’t particularly care whether Han Yeoreum herself succeeded. Eunnyangi loved only Eun Baekhap, truly had eyes for Eun Baekhap and Eun Baekhap alone, so she was just about to stop paying attention when—
[Issue Board/ The Real Reason T-fany Is Pushing Han Yeoreum Right Now.jpg]
An analysis post with clickbait so irresistible that she couldn’t possibly refrain from opening it appeared.
(Photo of Erno.jpg)
The insanely fucking rich old man everyone’s losing their minds over because he sat next to Han Yeoreum at New York Fashion Week
(Article about Chairman Erno investing in NetHolics.jpg)
This old man’s private holding company bought early stakes in NetHolics and TinTok
(Amélie With Paris.jpg)
And this was NetHold’s biggest hit that this old man backed It got popular while shoving tons of LMVH-line luxury brands into it
(Screenshot of NetHolics Global Chart.jpg)
And what’s the biggest NetHol original right now? Seoul Metropolitan City LOLOL
(Recent article about Erno’s acquisition of T-fany.jpg)
It’s not like this old man is a Han Yeoreum fan or anything and is pushing her because of that... It’s more like killing two birds with one stone, making money through NetHol while promoting T-fany at the same time
*I have nothing against Han Yeoreum, this isn’t hate, I’m just saying maybe we shouldn’t get too drunk on national pride LOLOLL
-Anonymous 1: Ahhh okay now I get it...
-Anonymous 5: Then why was everyone making such a huge fucking fuss about it?LMAOOOOO hilarious
?Anonymous 13: Han Yeoreum fans tend to get kinda overwhelmed with emotion and have this holy reverent vibe
?Anonymous 57: ??lolol Compared to Han Yeoreum’s career, I’ve never seen anyone acting particularly reverent
?Anonymous 72: proving the point the instant it’s made.. ahem ahem
-Anonymous 86: Still, if he immediately lends her a 7-billion-won necklace, it kinda looks like he’s a fan too T_T
-Anonymous 92: Can’t people just be happy when someone succeeds? LOOLL I’m so fucking sick of Koreans doing this. Tearing down their own countrymen for doing well abroad is practically a sport and a hobby, it’s creepy as hell
?Anonymous 123: fr and then they call themselves the people of justice lolol;;
People began gravitating toward the argument that it was simply corporate-level promotion and investment.
Eunnyangi clenched her fist.
She genuinely didn’t like Han Yeoreum and didn’t particularly care about her, but Han Yeoreum absolutely had to succeed.
* * *
“Aha. I get it. Are you this little girl’s older sister?”
“Where are your parents?”
“How adorable—.”
The nepo babies pointed at Dok Gomin, who was holding her camera, and snickered among themselves.
A fashion magazine editor had brought me here, I’d taken photos alongside them, the LMVH Beauty ambassadors, and more importantly, we’d made eye contact several times at the M Jacobs show earlier.
There was no way they didn’t know who I was.
I smiled calmly. It was so obvious that I immediately saw what they were doing.
‘They’re hazing me....’
But do you know what gun-gi is?
After getting subjected to hierarchy hazing in the theater world, this kind of territorial bullshit from people who had never experienced real gun-gi was so laughably mild that I couldn’t help but smile.
My eyes met Dok Gomin’s.
Seeing her clutching the strap with her camera lowered, she looked fully prepared to bash someone over the head with her white telephoto lens.
‘No.’
I calmed Dok Gomin down with my eyes.
“Do you happen to know NetHolics?”
=Wow, you’re behind the times, huh? Tsk.
“...Of course I do.”
=What did you just say?
After rapidly punching the numbers into Han Yeoreum’s materialistic calculator, I concluded that I’d be better off finding new connections.
Directors? Nope. Writers? Nope. They weren’t agency people or film studio people either, so they couldn’t benefit me when it came to getting roles.
In other words, I had absolutely no reason to suck up to them.
I needed to squeeze everything I could out of these three minutes and leave.
“I’m an actress in a production called . And that over there is my personal photographer.”
=Oh dear, you know NetHolics but don’t know me?
“Aha. I have trouble telling actors apart in Asian dramas, so.... Oh, I’m absolutely not a racist. All Asian women deserve to be beautiful, and they all love my brand.”
=LOL your face
I nodded lightly, smiling as if to say, You’re the only one who can’t tell faces apart?
“I understand, Bella.”
For reference, Vanessa was the one who had just said that.
=LOLL right back at you
Vanessa’s expression darkened.
This time, Bella, Hollywood’s representative nepo baby, stepped forward.
“Your necklace is lovely. I like it. It’s the jewelry that suits you best. How should I put it? It’s perfect for you.”
=That necklace from earlier was too good for you. You know that, right? LOLOL
I deliberately raised my hand to show off my ring.
“Thank you. I suppose LMVH really does have an exceptional eye. To think it’s perfect for me....”
=Hey, do you even know what this is?
“Erno personally sent it to me as a gift.”
=LOOLL
At the mention of Erno’s name, they seemed to remember their humiliation at the M Jacobs show earlier.
Not a single photographer had bothered flashing their cameras at the nepo babies.
Good. That’s it.
I clapped my hands once as though the thought had only just occurred to me.
“Ah, come to think of it, weren’t you at the M Jacobs show earlier too?”
=I should hit you a little harder.
“Yes. We were in the first row of the front row. Just like you.”
=Who the hell do you think you are?
“You said it was your first time in New York, right? Maybe that’s why. When you’re surrounded by other Asians, I suppose it gets hard to recognize faces.”
=Open those tiny eyes properly, you slant-eye.
I blinked at Vanessa and Bella’s words.
“Ah... I’m sorry if that upset you. The flashes kept going off, so I couldn’t see in your direction. As you know, Erno attracts so much attention. Even I was getting dazzled just from sitting beside him.”
=Your side was pitch-black, but the flashes wouldn’t stop going off on mine. Tsk, tsk.
The item’s effects should be running out soon. If they started picking on my pronunciation, I’d have no answer for that, so I should beat them down while I still could and make my escape.
I cut Claire off just as she was about to say something.
“I’m a huge fan of your father.”
=What does your daddy do again?
“Please tell him I’ll never forget his incredible performance at the World Cup. That was the greatest header ever!”
=You yourself aren’t even worth knowing.
All three of their faces turned bright red at the final punch.
Done.
I won.
As I shut the powder-room door behind me, I heard Claire shrieking in fury.
“My dad’s an American football player! You crazy Asian bitch!”
I cleaned them out nicely.
“I still want to hit them just once with my white telephoto lens. Can’t we go back?”
“Unni. You can’t.”
“Why?”
“You’ll damage the lens.”
“Mhm, mhm. Right. We didn’t bring another spare, so I guess it can’t be helped....”
Good.
Getting everything off my chest and walking away without regrets felt refreshing.
Now then, should I go scout out some new people...?
“Wow! Look who it is!”
That was when it happened.
Someone suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
A piercing shriek that felt like it might tear my eardrums apart rang out.
Standing before me was a woman who somehow looked familiar and unfamiliar at the same time....
But for some reason, I had the feeling we’d crossed paths before.
* * *
“What the hell is wrong with that bitch? You’d think she was some huge star or something!”
“FXXK! The most rotten thing about Hollywood is giving special treatment to Asians like that!”
“She just got to New York and she dares act like that?! I was born here!”
Vanessa, Bella, and Claire were all shrieking inside the powder room.
They couldn’t forgive the Asian woman who had forced them to relive the humiliation they had suffered at the M Jacobs show earlier.
Royalty from birth.
The three of them had received nothing but the world’s attention and affection their entire lives, and no one had ever treated them this way.
And she wasn’t even some enormous star. Just an Asian who had barely set foot in New York for the first time.
“I’m calling my dad! I’ll use every means possible to get that crazy bitch thrown out! She insulted my dad! That moron doesn’t even know American football!”
Claire flew into a rage. Tears had already welled up in her eyes.
“We need to grab her again right now and—”
“No, wait.”
Vanessa, the undisputed queen of TinTok who drove trends across America, fell deep into thought.
“Just wait a little.”
“What is it?”
“Shh.”
Vanessa had reigned as a queen her entire life.
And she was an expert at crushing anyone who dared climb above their station.