Chapter 85: A Vlogyoona Conversation With Myself From Over A Decade Ago
In 2013, as nightfall descended, inside a brightly lit office at SM Entertainment.
Yoona was talking with her agent to the head of the film and television department opposite about news on The Heirs.
“Yoona, where did you get this news from?”
Rubbing the pen in his hand, the four-eyed Choi Agent looked at Yoona, his gaze behind the lenses carrying a hint of surprise.
Because he had only recently come into contact with this internal intelligence.
Ever since screenwriter Kim Eun Sook released the plot outline, major TV stations quickly followed with bids, and various agencies sprang into action to seize role resources, and SM Entertainment naturally didn’t lag behind.
But none of that was the point; the point was how Yoona knew.
However, for Yoona, the focus she cared about was that the company wouldn’t step up for her to fight for this opportunity.
“Agent, that’s not the main issue, right.”
Her tone was calm, but her attitude was exceptionally firm.
Hearing this, the agent looked at Yoona with some worry, then at Choi Agent opposite; both understood what Yoona meant.
That was, she wouldn’t reveal the channel of the news.
This was also normal; in the entertainment industry, besides resources, connections were probably the most valuable.
And the two complemented each other.
So after hearing Yoona’s answer, Choi Agent sighed lightly with some difficulty, “Yoona, you know, screenwriter Kim Eun Sook over there basically decides the roles herself, and she prefers actors with acting skills, so…”
“Agent, I know what you mean, but I’m also very clear on my side; I just want an opportunity to prove myself. If it doesn’t work out, I won’t resent the company.”
But if not even given a single chance, then resenting you a bit would be very normal.
And this resentment happened to hit right at the sensitive period of Girls’ Generation’s contract renewal, when tensions were high.
Thus, these words directly struck Choi Agent’s soft spot, making his expression troubled.
After pondering for a moment, Choi Agent pushed up his glasses and finally relented, “Alright, Yoona, I’ll note this down first. Later, I’ll discuss it with the manager over there and give you a reply in a couple of days.”
Finishing, he looked up at Yoona, his tone softening a bit, “Use these couple of days to adjust your state as much as possible. If you really get to meet, it might be your only opportunity.”
“Understood, representative, thank you!”
Yoona stood to bow, her tone steady yet hiding a trace of barely noticeable expectation.
……
……
Inside the small tavern in 2025.
“Thanks.”
Lin Xiuyuan, who was devouring his food frantically, looked up to see Lin Dajun surprisingly getting him a glass of ice water, so he thanked him, took it, and gulped down a big mouthful.
“Slow down, I’m not seizing your food.”
Seeing his wolfing-down appearance, Yoona was really a bit amused, “I mean, no matter what, even if you haven’t eaten all day, it shouldn’t make you this starving, right.”
You know, she used to skip meals for a whole day, only drinking water for figure management, and it wasn’t this exaggerated.
“You don’t get it.”
Tossing out this line casually, Lin Xiuyuan continued battling his lunch box.
After all, carrying the weakness debuff of not eating all day and playing golf for half a day, then soloing a level 30+ super boss, and still making it to the appointment—Lin Xiuyuan already thought he was awesome.
“Fine, if you don’t want to say, forget it.”
Yoona, sitting on the sofa stretching lazily, continued, “By the way, I looked at that document you sent me. How to put it, it gives me a familiar feeling, because I used to be troubled by these issues too.”
“Common newbie problems, very normal.”
Lin Xiuyuan responded vaguely with food in his mouth.
Of course it’s familiar; it’s your problems, after all.
Actually, if not for the high match with the person in front of him, Lin Xiuyuan would prefer asking Suzy for help, since she was superior in acting skills.
“So the issues mentioned in the document, the solutions are all in the book already, and I can’t give much better advice.”
Saying this, Yoona took out her mobile phone, opened the document Lin Xiuyuan had sent her, which was exactly Little Deer’s problems from 2013, scanned into a document.
Then pointing to one of the issues, she said, “For example, this one: acting too superficially. How does one truly enter the role’s emotions?”
After reading it, she looked up at Lin Xiuyuan, her brows and eyes smiling yet carrying a trace of seriousness.
“This is a problem most people encounter at the start, and over these years, I’ve only realized one thing: ’emotions’ aren’t something that bursts out all at once; they accumulate, they are traces of life lived.”
“So that’s why you’ve slowed your schedule these two years, leaving time for yourself to precipitate life?”
Facing Lin Xiuyuan’s question, Yoona nodded without denying, “Exactly. Those previous years, I was either running schedules or on concert tour, no time to precipitate those bits and pieces of life—how to improve acting skills?”
Lin Xiuyuan stopped his chopsticks and asked, “So Yoona, do you think there’s a shortcut?”
This question was spot on, making Yoona opposite smile lightly, “You won’t believe it, but recently chatting with senior Ye Jin, we discussed this too, and reached a conclusion.”
“I’d like to hear the details.” Lin Xiuyuan was curious too.
“If you want to shoot romance scenes, just date someone. For realistic themes, lock yourself at home and torment yourself according to the script’s situations.”
As Yoona finished answering, Lin Xiuyuan sucked in a sharp breath, “Hiss~ That harsh, method acting?”
Lin Xiuyuan’s words lit up Yoona’s eyes, “You know about it too?”
“Our country has a super badass Film Empress who plays it that way.”
Thinking of Brother Xun’s magical acting skills, Lin Xiuyuan sighed, “But this relies on talent, right? It’s not like you can just experience it whenever you want.”
“Doing it is better than not doing it.”
Yoona’s gaze carried conviction, “If you do it, at least you get feedback from specific shots in the past. If not, nothing.”
Chatting to this point, Lin Xiuyuan finally quickly finished his hunger, packing up the food box and tossing it into the trash bin.
Then looking at Yoona, he said, “Alright, just what you said now is enough for me to deal with that friend of mine.”
“That casual, huh.”
Hearing this, Yoona chuckled, and Lin Xiuyuan laughed too, “No worries, I’m just going through the motions anyway.”
But after the laugh, her next line made Lin Xiuyuan unable to laugh, “Then since that’s the case, Xiuyuan, I have a small request to trouble you with. One evening, when I passed by your tavern doorway, I saw a girl; I saw her enter your tavern. Can you introduce her to me?”
Yoona didn’t ask who the other was or who she resembled, but went straight to the point, asking Lin Xiuyuan to introduce her.
Directly skipping the steps where Lin Xiuyuan could deceive her, fool her, or brush her off.
Now, the choices left for Lin Xiuyuan were only two: introduce or refuse.
But refusing would feel like hiding something obvious.
But introducing would mean dying even faster.
So with this sentence, Lin Xiuyuan was suddenly put on the hot seat.
And after hearing the question, Lin Xiuyuan looked down at the bag of food waste he just packed, a bit regretting not picking it up to stuff himself in, so he wouldn’t have to hear this.
But he still struggled a bit, “Uh, which evening? I rarely open in the evenings here.”
“Perfect, don’t you have surveillance?”
Yoona smiled faintly, pointing to the monitor over there.
Lin Xiuyuan, who shot himself in the foot, grinned an ugly smile, trying to counter with a time difference.
“Yoona, do you remember how many days ago? This place is too small, and with few customers coming and going, the surveillance is basically set to 7-day coverage.”
Hearing this, Yoona gave him a deep look but still provided that memorable date, which was already out of range.
However, she still had her ways, “Then since you rarely open evenings, Xiuyuan, you should remember who that girl is, right? Isn’t this a membership system? And Ji-yeon and them said that day happened to be your opening day, so you shouldn’t forget, right.”
Looking at Yoona pressing step by step with full confidence, Lin Xiuyuan really wanted to drag her back to the villa side, go to 2013 to see her worldview collapse, her face showing shock.
But this idea was just a thought; doing it was impossible.
So facing this question, Lin Xiuyuan’s answer was to stall.
“I remember now, I know who you’re talking about. But I need to ask her first, because as you know, the members here more or less have some ‘issues,’ so I can’t make decisions for her directly.”
“Understood.”
Yoona smiled and nodded lightly, then relaxed her tone, “Actually, I’m just a bit curious.”
And since it had come to this point, Lin Xiuyuan simply went the opposite way, straightforwardly saying it out to give her a little shock too.
“Curious why she looks like Jessica, right.”
Sure enough, now it was Yoona’s turn to be surprised, her eyes widening big at Lin Xiuyuan.
She didn’t expect him to tell her directly; this really confused her a bit. She had wanted to probe what secrets there were.
Him saying it so openly made it seem like there were no secrets.
“She’s Jessica’s die-hard fan, so she got plastic surgery to look like her.”
Lin Xiuyuan continued smiling, “Just like that friend I asked you to guide acting for, who also got a face modeled after you—super similar.”
He had a completely matter-of-fact look, even with a hint of teasing.
His heart had zero pressure, after all, it was the same person; he wasn’t lying at all.
“Really?”
Shocked again, Yoona clearly didn’t expect Lin Xiuyuan to reveal such a situation; for a moment, she didn’t know how to reply.
Actually, she had heard of such things before; as the template for a huge plastic surgery company in Seoul, she had seen plenty.
It was just that she hadn’t encountered it nearby before, so this time it surprised her a bit.
But…
She still wanted to meet her.
Seeing this, Lin Xiuyuan sighed inwardly but could only nod in agreement.
Then he quickly changed the topic, pulling the conversation back to ‘acting guidance.’
And after days, finally getting what she wanted, Yoona’s mood was much brighter.
So for this ‘acting guidance,’ she also paid much more attention.
Like at this moment, she said seriously, “Xiuyuan, actually for guidance, videos don’t help much. Many micro-expressions and body feedbacks require on-site interaction and timely adjustments.”
“No problem, show it to her first. If she finds it useful, then I’ll really have to trouble you to help.”
And Lin Xiuyuan thought of an issue, knocking on the coffee table, “Oh right, if possible, this time trouble you to focus on guiding one aspect of acting.”
“What aspect?”
“Crying scene.”
“Ah, crying scene?”
Yoona blinked, somewhat amused, “Hey, Xiuyuan-ssi, I seriously suspect you’re teasing me.”
“I’m serious.”
Lin Xiuyuan paused, “I hope you can use your self from over a decade ago as a template to record a explanatory video on crying scenes.”
……
……
Two days later.
Inside the tavern in 2013.
Nine in the early morning, sunlight not yet fully shining into the small tavern.
At the bar counter, Lin Xiuyuan lay on the counter, full of fatigue looking at Little Deer opposite, who was full of energy.
“Too early… Which tavern opens at nine in the morning?”
He muttered, originally just wanting to quietly eat breakfast, but bombarded by Yoona’s successive phone calls, he was dragged here forcefully.
“A bit urgent.” Yoona said directly.
Lin Xiuyuan glanced at her, sighed, then signaled her to wait a moment.
Then he pulled a USB drive from his pocket, inserted it into the control panel, fiddled a bit, and the TV overhead lit up, the scene paused.
After setting everything, Lin Xiuyuan looked at her, “Ready?”
“Good to go.” Yoona nodded.
As Lin Xiuyuan pressed the space bar, the video started.
No fancy transitions, no background music; it opened directly with a girl sitting properly in front of the lens.
Wearing a beige white shirt and light blue jeans, dressed clean and simple, hair naturally draped over her shoulders, the whole person appearing gentle and real.
If the AI crowd from 2025 were here, they’d spot that subtle distortion at a glance.
But now it was 2013, distance far, quality low.
So Yoona didn’t notice much at first, just feeling the girl in the video seemed somewhat like herself.
But this curiosity was soon covered by the other explaining ‘acting guidance,’ and she listened seriously.
At the same time comparing to her own issues, it seemed really useful.
Though just theoretical knowledge, better than nothing.
Soon, after answering all her raised issues, Yoona thought the lesson was over.
But unexpectedly, the one in the video smiled lightly at the lens and said, “The next part is said to be recorded for Yoona from over a decade ago; please listen carefully.”
She breathed lightly, her voice gentle.
“Do you remember that crying scene in Love Rain? You practiced in front of the mirror over and over how to make tears fall just right after the lines.
You remembered all those ‘control emotions,’ ‘cry prettily,’ ‘don’t let snot be too obvious,’ etc.—all the ‘standard answers’ you thought.”
In the video, the speaking woman tilted her head slightly, her tone turning gentle.
“Back then you tried so hard, so diligently. But the current me wants to tell you: truly moving crying scenes aren’t ‘crying well,’ but ‘crying truly.'”
The lens slowly pushed in, the woman’s gaze carrying memories.
“If you’re acting a girl hurt by romance, she’s not thinking ‘I need to cry now’; she’s thinking ‘who hurt me, I’m still waiting for that person who won’t return.'”
At this point, she lifted her head, eyes slightly glistening, but her expression without deliberate control, just quietly revealing emotion.
“Young me, you’re already great. It’s just you wanted too much to ‘prove yourself,’ thinking ‘acting well’ is what makes audiences remember you.
But you didn’t know: sometimes, just ‘living honestly,’ and audiences will stay to walk with you.”
She smiled lightly, with a bit of self-mockery, “Now I don’t care much if the lens captures my crying beautifully; instead I ask myself: am I ‘deceiving myself.'”
The lens slowly pulled back, as if through the lens and screen, gazing at her past self.
“So don’t fear looking bad, don’t fear crying not prettily. Idol is just an identity; crying messily doesn’t mean you’re no longer an idol.
Crying scenes aren’t a showcase of performance techniques, but the moment your heartbeat aligns with the role’s.
Young me, please believe: the real you has more power than you imagine.”
At the end of the scene, she said softly.
“Alright, Yoona, fighting. The future will be tough, but you’ll become a gentler and firmer self.”
Before the video ended, elegant handwriting appeared on the screen: Not to move others, but to move yourself first.
Then music appeared in the video for the first time, until the end.
As the screen went black, Yoona at the bar counter stiffened all over; her blood boiled, surprise, confusion, emotion, shock all mixed together.
After a long moment, a hoarse voice sounded, “What is this?”
And Lin Xiuyuan, who had already removed the USB, was marveling at how awesome 2025 AI was—swapping faces and voices while perfectly replicating the micro-expressions from Lin Dajun’s recorded video; simply exaggerated.
As for Little Deer’s question, his answer was, “This is a gift for the first lesson, only once.”
Pausing, he looked at her again, “So, did you learn anything? I think it’s somewhat useful.”
“Very useful, but I’m more curious how she knew that back when shooting Love Rain, I really thought that way.”
Yoona said softly, her hand gripping the water cup trembling lightly without her realizing.
Too shocking, too impactful, too scary.
To this, Lin Xiuyuan said, “Probably the written standard answers; she guessed the gist directly.”
Yoona didn’t refute this, because back then she did act according to the company’s acting teacher’s ‘standard’ answers.
Mechanical, rigid, cautious, the whole person stiffly patterned, still the case to this day.
But that wasn’t why the video just scared her.
Thinking this, Yoona pursed her sexy thin lips, looking at Lin Xiuyuan with complex gaze, “Can I watch it again?”
“Of course.”
Soon, the video played again.
And watching the figure in the video, Yoona finally understood why she was a bit scared.
Because the girl’s demeanor, gaze, even subtle small movements on the screen were increasingly like her own.
A bit late; spent time adjusting to connect this chapter’s plot.
No hope for the new book monthly ticket ranking, but still begging for monthly tickets, don’t let those below overtake; thanks to all godfathers’ support, off to write more.
