The first table read is glacial. So-yul delivers her lines perfectly, without looking at him. Ji-hoon stumbles over his, voice too soft. The director calls a break.

He laughs bitterly. “I’ve never been in love. Not real love. Just fans’ love.”

So-yul almost declines. Her manager begs: “It’s the role of a lifetime. And the director is Park Dong-hoon.” Ji-hoon accepts because his label wants him to transition into acting. He doesn’t expect to feel nervous around anyone again.

So-yul laughs—a real, unguarded sound she never lets microphones catch. “You idiot. You ruined your career.”

When they’re announced as the leads in Lovers in the Fourth Wall —a meta-romance about a pop star and an actress forced to pretend-date for a reality show within a drama—netizens explode.

“I wrote a letter to the fans. Told them I fell in love for real. Some will hate me. But I learned from you—pretending is harder than honesty.”

After the wrap party, Ji-hoon finds So-yul by the Han River. No cameras. No scripts.

A blurred photo surfaces on a gossip site: Ji-hoon and So-yul entering the same apartment building at 2 AM. Hashtags explode: #JiYul, #DatingScandal, #ProtectNova.