Eun Dan Oh *words said by the characters in the actual drama is bolded
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"Dan Oh, don't you have class?" Mi Chae asks as I rush into the kitchen.
I just need to confirm for myself. How can this be? I open Secret, and sure enough, Nam Ju, Joo Da and Do Hwa are in the list of main characters, with Kyung and Sae Mi as supporting, and me... all the way at the bottom.
"Kyung's fiancee, has a heart condition," I read out my character description. It finally sinks in. I'm just an extra.
"Aw, Dan Oh, you'll get over it. Everything's fine. How about you read the scene that has just played out?" Mi Chae flips me to the page.
Joo Da recognises her piggy keychain on Nam Ju's bag, and questions him about it. Nam Ju admits that it's hers, and tells her he'll return her the keychain and forget about her crashing into him in the hallway that day if she serves him. What is with men and their ego?
"That was a bad scene, and I still can't get over how I'm just an extra!" I pout.
"How are you more upset about being an extra then being in a manhwa?" Mi Chae laughs and continues cutting his vegetables.
"And how are you so calm about this? Ugh! Everything I do is just to help Nam Ju and Joo Da, why can't I have my own role and decide what I want to do in this manhwa?" I complain.
"Oh you do have your own role, but that's up to the writer to decide what kind of role," Mi Chae says without looking up.
"Seriously? The writer has no right to dictate my life! Who does this person think they are? Just telling me what to do? UYEUU JINJJA!" I've been grumbling a lot today.
"Okay Dan Oh, ready?" Mi Chae asks.
Before I can reply, I-
*PAGE BREAK* I'm in art class. Is another scene playing?
Joo Da hands Nam Ju a pencil, and oh, another effect, this time with sunbeams shining on Joo Da. Nice. I'm going to have to find some way to get that sunbeam on me too.
"Dan Oh? You're today's model," my eccentric art teacher calls me.
As I walk to the front of the class, I bump into Nam Ju's easel. I was about to apologise, but realised my actions were just for the benefit for Nam Ju and Joo Da's romantic moment, as their fingers touch for the pencil Nam Ju had dropped at the same time.
Rolling my eyes, I just sit at the front while the teacher says that today's agenda is to draw me. Can I just hear another page break so I can leave this scene?
Staring at the class, Nam Ju is staring at Joo Da – why not me though – and Kyung's just staring at his phone. Am I that unattractive?
I have to find some way to catch everyone's attention, I'm getting bored. I strike some poses, I stand up, I run around the chair. Seriously? Nobody?
Frustrated, I take a statue and smash it. Nice, everyone's looking at me now. So I smash another one. Just as I was about to walk off-
*PAGE BREAK* I'm sitting down at the chair again, and the statues are intact, as if nothing happened. Sigh, I guess the scene's still playing.
*RING* Okay great, I can leave now.
Unknown Boy
How am I so lucky to be in the same class as the pretty girl? I heard the teacher calling her Dan Oh, I guess that's her name.
I walk behind her as she walks in the empty hallway. Chairs and books are floating, and I'm just as startled as she is. I just want to float with her to another world where I can get to know her better.
She enters the kitchen, so I leave her be as I make my way to the library.
Eun Dan Oh
"What's going on? Why are there things floating in the hallway?" I ask the moment I see Mi Chae in the kitchen, in his hand the Secret manhwa.
"Don't you think the scene between Nam Ju and Joo Da was cute?" he replied.
I snatch the book from him and flip the scenes, yet I can't find the scene where I smashed the statues.
"Hey, I smashed the statues in the art room just now, but I can't find it here," I'm puzzled. No matter how I flip, I can't find the scene.
"Ooh, violent. I think it's time to explain more things to you," Mi Chae goes to get a box.
As he opens up the box, I can tell it's a set up of our school.
"Look, in this world of manhwa, the set up, the school, it's a "stage", and nothing happens if the writer doesn't intend for it to happen," Mi Chae starts his explanation.
"That's why sometimes I can't move when I want to, because the writer is in control!" I exclaim.
"That's right. There are also scenes that the writer hasn't drawn that exist, and those scenes are where you will see things float, like in the hallway. This is the "shadow," and in the shadow, characters are free to act however they want. Only self-aware characters like you will be able to remember what happens in the shadow, but just because you're self-aware doesn't mean you always have control over your actions," Mi Chae gives a detailed elaboration.
Adding on, he says, "No matter what a character does, things will only happen exactly how the writer wants them to on stage, so even if you smashed a statue, the original state of the scene will be restored to how the writer drew it."
"I get it, but I will never behave the way the writer wants me to. I want to have control over my own life and fate," I'm determined to live my life the way I want to.
