Chapter 3

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Spread Your Wings and Follow Your Dream (2)

I felt both anticipation and anxiety at the same time.

I knew my second daughter’s acting ability better than anyone.

Even so, I was her father, so I couldn’t help worrying.

If I had brought her onto the drama simply because she was my daughter, and she kept making mistakes that delayed the shoot, then I would have to take full responsibility.

No. I shouldn’t worry. If it’s Doye, she’ll be able to do it.

Before I returned to the past, I had been a foolish father who failed to recognize my daughter’s talent.

But this life would be different.

Before the actual filming began, Doye came looking for me with the script in her hands.

“Dad! Can I add a few more lines?”

“Add more?”

“Yeah. I did a quick reading with Sunah unni earlier. She said it might actually be better if I had a few more lines. So I wanted to ask you.”

In a way, asking for something like this could be considered a privilege she had because her father was the PD.

Even actors with quite a lot of acting experience sometimes played extras without a single line.

Giving Doye more dialogue all of a sudden, when she had absolutely no acting experience, was a risky decision.

But…

If it’s Doye, she should be able to do it.

I already knew the talent my daughter possessed as an actress.

And I had witnessed it with my own eyes.

So the decision I had to make was already clear.

“Okay. Go ahead. Add a few lines naturally as ad-libs and try it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Trust your dad and do it confidently.”

Once you decide on a concept, whether it’s good or bad, you should stick with it firmly.

That’s much better than doing something halfway.

Having been given a second chance at life, I had decided to support my second daughter completely as an actress.

Then I should support her properly from the beginning.

Seeing my daughter smiling brightly made me feel as if the guilt I had carried from the past had eased, even if only a little.

Finally, filming began.

“Scene 14-2. Camera rolling. Ready… action!”

As soon as the signal was given, Sunah opened the door and entered the set, which had been decorated to look like the inside of a house.

My daughter was lying on the floor in the living room, watching TV.

She raised the hand holding her snack and waved it gently.

“Welcome home, unni.”

Not only her lines, but also the way she looked at people, her expressions, and even her smallest gestures…

Isn’t all of this exactly how she acts at home?

The key to acting was naturalness.

The moment even the slightest awkwardness could be felt, the acting could be considered a failure.

If that was the standard, then what Doye was showing right now was definitely genuine acting that even a professional actress could be proud of.

Despite Doye’s words, Sunah frowned as if something unpleasant had happened and went into her room.

Bang!

Sunah slammed the door shut.

Doye looked confused and said,

“What’s wrong with her?”

Doye’s ad-lib had begun.

I had told her to try it on her own.

But this was beyond my expectations.

“Cut!”

As soon as the filming ended, Doye looked at me anxiously.

“Dad. How was that?”

If an older cousin came home but didn’t even greet you, then suddenly slammed the door and disappeared into her room, it was natural for an innocent niece to think, What’s wrong with her?

Doye’s ad-lib expressed that feeling perfectly.

Before I could say anything, the camera director spoke up in Doye’s defense.

“I think it was good, PD.”

Sunah had the same opinion.

“I also think that line actually made the scene feel more natural.”

The assistant director, head writer, and other staff members also nodded slightly as they waited to hear my opinion.

But ultimately, my opinion was what mattered.

I was the PD responsible for directing this drama.

There was no need to think about it.

“You did well, daughter.”

Just as I had expected, the result was more than satisfactory.

At that moment, something strange began to appear in front of my eyes.

[The first hidden quest, ‘The Path of an Actress,’ has been completed.]

[Yoon Doye has officially taken her first step onto the path of becoming an actress.]

[The Growth Program has been activated.]

…What?

After returning to the past, I had now encountered a second miracle.

Thanks to Doye’s help, we somehow managed to finish the additional filming for the episode that was scheduled to air the following week.

But at the same time, I had to face something new.

Namely…

Is this the status window I’ve only heard about?

I had thought something like this existed only in fantasy novels.

I never dreamed that something like this would actually appear in front of my eyes.

Well, I had already met a strange old man and traveled twenty-five years into the past.

It would be strange to be surprised by a status window now.

I decided to accept this as another ability that had been given to me.

Whenever I had some free time, I tried several times to figure out what the status window could do.

As a result…

It seems like a program that helps me raise Doye as an actress.

It naturally reminded me of a game I used to play when I was young, Princess Maker.

I checked Doye’s status window again.

[Name: Yoon Doye]

[Rank: Rookie Aspiring Actress]

[Acting: B++]

[Charm: S]

[Mental Strength: D]

[Memorization: F]

[Entertainment Sense: B]

[Star Quality: C++]

Charm probably meant her visual appeal.

As expected, Doye was almost at the maximum level in the Charm category.

I was only a little worried about her Acting and Memorization.

Especially Memorization.

Doye was never really interested in studying.

As for Star Quality, it seemed to calculate an average based on the five categories above and assign a rank.

Then how could these stats be increased?

The answer was simple.

[You can increase ranks by investing points obtained through quests.]

[There are three types of quests: Normal Quests, Special Quests, and Hidden Quests. Please make sure to complete them.]

[Rewards are given differently according to the order of Normal, Special, and Hidden Quests.]

Naturally, Hidden Quests gave the most points.

First, I need to raise her Memorization and Acting.

It seemed best to raise the lowest stat and the most important stat first.

After that, I could work on her Mental Strength.

There probably wasn’t much point in raising Charm any further when it was already at S rank.

Another thing was that I could only see Doye’s status window.

I tried desperately to see the status windows of other people and other actors, but every attempt was completely useless.

Or perhaps…

Can I only see the status windows of my family?

There was still too much I didn’t know.

I had no choice but to learn more gradually as I completed quests.

But the status window could wait.

I need to finish the editing first.

We didn’t have much time, so I had to hurry and focus on editing.

I completely lost track of time, forgetting when the sun rose and set as I devoted myself entirely to editing.

“Yeonju, I’ve sent the file.”

Assistant Director Lee Yeonju had apparently been anxiously waiting for those words.

She let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Good work, sunbaenim! That was really close this time.”

It had truly been a matter of walking a tightrope.

Even though I hadn’t intended to, my face naturally looked completely exhausted.

After barely coming to my senses, I stood up.

“Don’t look for me today. I’m going straight home to rest.”

“Unless it’s something really urgent, I won’t contact you at all today. Please go home early and rest. Oh, what about your car? Can you drive?”

“No. I’ll take a taxi.”

At that moment, the only thought in my head was going home and resting.

I barely managed to get a taxi through the app.

I leaned back into the seat to make up for the sleep I had missed.

The moment I settled into the back seat, my body seemed to finally relax, and sleep immediately came rushing over me.

Maybe it was because I had only recently returned to the past.

I’m tired. So tired.

I felt especially exhausted today.

As soon as I returned home, my first daughter greeted me.

“Welcome home, Dad.”

“Where’s Doye?”

“She said she’s sleeping over at a friend’s house. She said she sent you a text too. Didn’t you check it?”

Oh.

I had been so focused on editing that I hadn’t even checked the message Doye had sent me.

Thanks to Dobin telling me about it, I finally opened my messages.

“Doye seemed really excited these days.”

“She has every reason to be.”

The person who could be considered the biggest obstacle to her acting career—me—had allowed her to debut as an actress.

And on top of that, she had even gotten a small role in a drama.

Of course she would be happy.

“I think she was bragging about it to her friends at school, too.”

“Maybe that’s why she said she was going to sleep at a friend’s house today. She probably wanted to tell them about it.”

“Probably.”

How should I describe my second daughter?

She was very emotional.

Her emotions changed quickly.

She could become happy in an instant or upset just as quickly.

She had been like that ever since she was a baby.

That quick change in emotions could actually become an advantage for an actress.

Once the camera started rolling, an actress had to act according to the situation and character, regardless of whatever had happened in her own life moments earlier.

Of course, it wasn’t only an advantage.

On the other hand, when she needed to become deeply immersed in a role, those emotional changes could become an obstacle.

Learning how to optimize what she already possessed for acting.

That would be Doye’s task from now on.

If it’s my second daughter, she’ll do well.

After all, she had already succeeded without any help from this father.

“Did Doye say anything about me?”

“About you, Dad?”

“Yeah. Like saying she was really grateful to Dad or something.”

After being forced to cut ties with my daughter, I had gained one wish.

I wanted to hear Doye say thank you to me at least once.

Dobin knew nothing about my situation, so she couldn’t understand why I was so curious about it.

“I heard a lot of other things instead.”

“What kind of things?”

My expectations suddenly rose.

But the answer that came from Dobin was completely different from what I had hoped to hear.

“She said you were a really strict and nagging dad at the filming set.”

“…”

It felt like I had tried to remove one problem and ended up creating another.

Of course, I wasn’t nagging Doye because I disliked her.

She was completely inexperienced, literally a beginner among beginners.

She had been enthusiastic enough to add various ad-libs on her own, and those performances had been better than I expected.

Because I wanted her to do even better, I had given her all kinds of advice.

Apparently, I had gone too far.

From Doye’s point of view, I suppose it was natural for it to sound like nagging.

I decided to reflect on my behavior.

Meanwhile, Dobin seemed to hesitate slightly.

“Is there something else you want to tell Dad?”

Dobin hesitated again.

But in the end, I couldn’t hear the answer.

“It’s nothing.”

With those words, Dobin went into her room.

I still didn’t really understand what my young daughters were thinking.

Drama filming began early in the morning.

While all the staff members had gathered with their respective teams to eat an early lunch…

“PD.”

Sunah quietly came over to me.

“There is something I wanted to ask you…”

“Sure.”

I put down my lunch box and was about to stand up when Sunah hurriedly stopped me.

“It’s something simple. You don’t have to come somewhere else.”

I sat back down and decided to listen to her.

“About Doye. Is she going to keep appearing in the drama?”

“We haven’t discussed that yet. Why?”

I worried that perhaps Doye had accidentally said something to Sunah.

But what came next was completely different from what I had been worried about.

“If I get the chance, I’d like to act with Doye again. We got along really well, and because we understood each other, I was able to act comfortably too.”

Although they had only met briefly, Doye’s presence must have left quite an impression on Sunah.

“And she seems to have talent for acting. That’s why I wanted to ask you, PD.”

As expected of Sunah.

A skilled person could recognize another skilled person.

Perhaps that was why she seemed quite interested in whether Doye would appear again.

Even so, there was only one thing I could tell Sunah right now.

“According to the current script, there are no plans for her to appear again.”

The character Doye had played, Hwang Soyeon, was literally just a one-episode minor role.

But there was no such thing as never in this world.

“If the viewers’ response isn’t bad, we might bring her back again later. So don’t be too disappointed yet.”

If a character started becoming popular, the production team would naturally extend that character’s appearances.

The purpose was obvious.

For the ratings.

And if I added one more reason…

It would also be good for Doye’s success and mine.

The episode featuring Doye was scheduled to air tomorrow.

How would the viewers judge Doye’s first appearance?

Because I already knew the outcome, excitement was beginning to fill me instead of anxiety.

Wednesday, 10 p.m.

After the commercial break ended, episode 17 of Kim Teacher, Who Appears Here and There began airing.

Throughout the entire broadcast, Doye stared anxiously at the TV.

Finally.

“Doye will be coming out soon.”

At my words, Dobin and today’s main character, Doye, focused their eyes on the TV screen.

Sunah opened the door and entered.

Doye, who had been lying around on the set representing the inside of a room, greeted Sunah while acting completely naturally.

Her voice was good.

Her expressions were fine.

I had watched this scene countless times while editing, so it didn’t feel awkward to me at all.

But Doye didn’t seem to feel the same way.

“I should have acted more naturally without getting nervous… Dad, I’m sorry.”

“No. You did well enough.”

Now, it was the viewers’ turn to judge.

As soon as the drama ended, I immediately picked up my smartphone and connected to the internet.

And not long after…

I witnessed a miracle.