It was Beopsun, who had walked the runway beside Nam Pyeonghwa while dazzling viewers with a new outfit every single episode.

When they couldn’t find suitable dog clothes, they had even gone to the fabric market at dawn and made them by hand.

“How is anyone supposed to beat this level of cuteness? I’m the one who dressed them and tucked them into bed.”

The two of them were practically masterpieces created by Ryu Risa, stylist to the stars.

They suited each other better than anyone else and possessed a kind of charm that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

Of course the Best Couple Award should go to them.

* * *

“Ugh... honestly... if I could....”

Choo Gaeul was on the verge of going insane from jealousy.

Han Yeoreum had recently gone head-to-head with the legendary duo of Eun Baekhap and Hong Suryeon.

And she had won.

That alone was enough to drive Gaeul mad.

But more than anything else, there was this.

“Ah... a gift? Hong Suryeon stayed over at my house for a night. She sent it afterward.”

Han Yeoreum was becoming close not only with Eun Baekhap but now Hong Suryeon as well.

‘She even said she calls Eun Baekhap something other than her name!’

Choo Gaeul knew Han Yeoreum better than anyone.

A calculator among calculators.

A social climber among social climbers.

An attention-seeker among attention-seekers.

If Han Yeoreum grew close to the two top actresses, Gaeul might be pushed down the priority list.

She imagined Han Yeoreum laughing happily between the elegant Eun Baekhap and the cheerful Hong Suryeon, forgetting all about Choo Gaeul and So Dami.

The thought made her tremble.

Still—

A pang of guilt stabbed at her conscience.

Voting for a dog purely to prevent Han Yeoreum from winning Best Couple Award would be disrespectful to their friendship.

If Han Yeoreum really abandoned her and went off with top actresses, then someday Choo Gaeul herself would become a top actress and—

“Huh?! Hey! So Dami! Why are you voting for the dog?!”

Unlike Choo Gaeul, who agonized endlessly before finally casting a vote for the Name Couple, So Dami immediately selected Beopsun.

“Hm? Because she looks like the dog we have at home. She’s cute!”

For reference, the votes between Jeon Segye ♥ Nam Pyeonghwa and Nam Pyeonghwa ♥ Elizabeth were nearly identical.

* * *

“I’m voting for the puppy and Eden!”

At the <Do It and It Works> Academy, Kwak Cheolsik cast his vote for the Name Couple.

“Because rivalry is what keeps people fired up! The moment Myeong Jeha left for Hollywood, that little mutt cried her eyes out.”

“Right~.”

“And they say distance makes the heart grow cold, don’t they? Maybe she was scared of that too. My wife used to cry like that whenever I went away on location shoots. These days she asks why I’m not leaving more often, but still. That’s love.”

“Mm~.”

“And if Seo Eden shows up on top of that, imagine how much Junseo’s insides will burn. Ah. Youth. Truly youth.... Hey, vote already! What are you doing?! Hurry up!”

Stretching nearby, Yun Hyeonjo replied without changing expression.

“Already did~.”

It was a lie.

If someone sent Yun Hyeonjo an Intube link, he was the type who looked only at the thumbnail and pretended he had watched it.

Because it was annoying.

Registering an account and going through multiple steps on a popularity-voting site was inefficient.

‘Looking at the vote count, Han Yeoreum’s definitely winning anyway~.’

Whichever pairing won, Han Yeoreum would receive the award.

That was all that mattered.

Whether she won it with a dog or a person made no difference to Yun Hyeonjo.

* * *

“This is obviously Beopsun.”

Shim Juhwan voted for Beopsun without a second thought.

“Myeong Jeha isn’t even an option.”

Because Han Yeoreum and Myeong Jeha were probably dating for real.

That wasn’t delusion.

That was basically confirmed fact.

“Ha... she already said she’s not coming to the fan meeting. When am I ever going to see the two of them together again? This is driving me crazy.”

The drama was over.

There was no reason for Han Yeoreum to receive Best Couple Award with Seo Eden anymore.

On the screen, Beopsun seemed to beam at him as though agreeing wholeheartedly.

* * *

“AAAAAH! Why does it keep catching up?!”

Refreshing the site every day, Seo Eden trembled with anxiety.

“Huh? People are seriously weird. Do they not remember how perfect we were together? Did nobody watch the final episode? We literally got married! You can’t split us up like this!”

Suddenly becoming unusually intelligent, Seo Eden rounded up every spare device he owned and voted for himself daily.

“Could this be some dog lovers’ association running a macro campaign or something? It feels unfair.”

“Eden, not metro. Macro.”

“That’s what I meant. Hyung! Did everyone vote today? Let me inspect!”

Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Seo Eden harassed all the members in the dormitory.

* * *

“Hey. Seo Eden wants us to vote for him.”

And then there were Seo Eden’s sisters.

“Well... seriously?”

Two of them.

“He must really want it.”

“What should we do...?”

Actually seven.

Two biological older sisters and five older female cousins.

A total of seven.

Back during his debut days, Seo Eden had alternated between claiming he had no sisters, then admitting he had two, then suggesting maybe seven.

As a result, he became the center of rumors about compulsive lying and theories that his sisters were actually in-laws.

The reason?

His sisters had always threatened him never to tell anyone they were related.

“But hearing him say it like that makes me not want to help.”

“Same.”

They were older sisters, after all.

And older sisters never obeyed their younger brothers.

“Let’s just dump all our votes on Elizabeth.”

“That sounds fun.”

“Do you think he’ll cry if he loses?”

“That sounds fun too.”

Ignoring Seo Eden’s request completely, all seven sisters voted for Beopsun.

* * *

“It was seriously amazing. Absolute perfection.”

“Pure romantic comedy at its finest.”

The legendary director and writer behind <ParCheHi> loved <Dongdaemun Romance>.

They adored cute, cheesy couples more than anyone.

Naturally, they voted for Seo Eden.

“There are a ton of votes this year.”

“I guess people still haven’t moved on from the Name Couple.”

Both of them marveled at the enormous participation rate for MBS voting.

“Junseo probably voted too, right?”

“He’s shy and sensitive, but he quietly takes care of people. I’m sure he did.”

“Watching <Dongdaemun Romance> probably reminded him of <ParCheHi>.”

“If ours hadn’t been a web drama, we would’ve won Best Couple too. Such a shame!”

“Junseo knows exactly how that feels. He’s definitely supporting the Name Couple.”

* * *

“....”

Joo Junseo voted for Beopsun.

* * *

“MBS! Using an innocent kid for viral marketing! How ruthless!”

With the same volume she had displayed in <Funny Bunny Harmony>, Jeon Ujeong exploded.

Like Joy herself, she cursed the network with booming projection and flawless diction.

“Putting her up against a dog like this means they’re trying to distract people from her acting and redirect attention to buzz! She worked so hard!”

There was a reason people called them broadcasting-station bastards.

Witnessing that cruel and shameless side of the industry firsthand, Jeon Ujeong worried about Han Yeoreum.

“That poor girl who doesn’t know any better... and they’re doing all this just to create award-show clips!”

Furious, Jeon Ujeong voted for Seo Eden.

“She’s so innocent. Far too innocent!”

* * *

[HOT / Entertainment Awards That Literally Imported the Drama Universe.jpg]

MBS Acting Awards voting is happening right now.

(Name Couple.jpg)

(Boy Couple.jpg)

Jeon Segye and Elizabeth are fighting like crazy over Nam Pyeonghwa.

— Anonymous 1: Wait, the dog was male? Why is this called Boy Couple? The dog wore dresses.

↳ Anonymous 3: Because it’s Nam Pyeonghwa and ELIzaBETH lololol

Not because the dog’s male.

— Anonymous 8: The fact that they actually put this on the Best Couple list is killing me LMAOOOOO

↳ Anonymous 14: I can hear Jeon Segye screaming from here.

↳ Anonymous 28: Seriously, how is this even happening? He’s definitely crying.

↳ Anonymous 43: The character interpretation is insane LMAO TT_TT

↳ Anonymous 51: Our Segye isn’t THAT dumb, okay? T_T

— Anonymous 72: No matter who wins, it’s obvious everyone just wants to give the award to Han Yeoreum.

I checked the MBS Acting Awards discussions that were spreading everywhere.

“Perfect. This is practically the Han Yeoreum Awards at this point.”

Part of me had worried that people might focus on Seo Eden instead because his first leading role in <Dongdaemun Romance> had exceeded expectations.

But Beopsun had emerged as a hidden trump card and was siphoning away his buzz.

“Nice work, Saerok.”

I didn’t even need confirmation to know who was behind the Best Couple chaos.

With gratitude toward Director Lee Saerok, I continued monitoring the situation.

“A joint award wouldn’t be bad, actually. If Beopsun starts losing badly, maybe I should ask Manager Hong or Manager Ma to run a tiny little macro campaign....”

Han Yeoreum stuck between a dog and a trendy handsome actor.

‘Just imagining it makes her feel like the main character of this year’s MBS Acting Awards.’

Among casual viewers, it might attract even more attention than whoever won the Grand Prize.

“Ha... my internal calculator is operating at maximum performance today.”

Maybe it was because there weren’t many days left before Summer Day.

My condition was at an all-time high.

I skipped sleep.

I shortened meals.

I gave up breaks.

Everything was poured into fan-meeting preparation and project work.

And yet I never felt tired.

The Han Yeoreum Delusion Factory operated nonstop.

“First I’ll make them promise eternal love at the fan meeting. Then I’ll hammer it home at the awards ceremony. Ah, my beloved actress is destined to climb even higher... I’ll make them realize it. I’ll drive all the new fans from <Dongdaemun Romance> completely insane.”

Seriously.

How could people have started liking this woman only now?

Damn it.

If they had known, they should have become fans from debut.

No, that wasn’t enough.

Starting today, they would have to pour every ounce of love they’d been saving into Han Yeoreum alone.

No matter how much they loved her, she remained lovable.

A perfect face.

Perfect skill.

A filmography that only became more addictive the more you revisited it.

The love kept multiplying.

How could anyone calculate or hold back?

What a mischievous little melon bread.

Starting today, all passwords should be changed to her birthday or debut date.

The lock screen should be her face too.

Hahaha.

Hahaha.

Hahaha.

Hahaha....

“Eeeek! What if she dreams about me while sleeping? She can’t suffer sleep deprivation because of me!”

The thought alone made me so happy that I rolled around on the practice-room floor.

“The fan meeting....”

I had prepared for it more seriously than any project in my life.

For years, the “If I Were Han Yeoreum Factory” inside my head had manufactured endless scenarios.

‘If I talked to fans who followed me to the parking lot.’

‘If I did stage greetings.’

‘If I held fan-sign events.’

‘If I attended award ceremonies.’

And countless others.

Years of training had forged me into the ultimate fan-heart bombardment weapon.

“This time it won’t stop at bombardment.”

It would be a Big Bang event capable of detonating entire universes made of hearts.

The “If I Were Han Yeoreum Factory (Fan Meeting Version)” had been built from years of searching, imagining, and dreaming before sleep throughout my unknown days.

I was certain.

It would become a day nobody would ever forget.