“Whoaaaaa—”
Seo Ryu Shin’s performance had just ended.
Thunderous applause and cheers echoed throughout Betty Hall.
From the very beginning, the audience had fallen in love with the actor on stage.
Dr. Jekyll was as pure and noble as untouched first snow. His demeanor was so refined and elegant that it naturally brought smiles to those watching him.
It felt as though they were witnessing a real angel.
All of that shattered in Act 1, Scene 3.
Hyde smiled innocently like a child as he stomped on an elderly pedestrian.
He kept both hands in his pockets, as though he did not want to dirty them.
From backstage, Assistant Director Ji Hyung peeked through the curtain while watching Ryu Shin’s performance and recalled Director Yu-ri’s evaluation.
— Shin Yoomyeong’s Jekyll and Hyde may create a stronger emotional connection and deeper immersion with the audience, but the one who first steals the show will be senior Ryu Shin’s Jekyll and Hyde.
And she had been right.
From backstage, Ji Hyung could faintly make out the expressions of the audience in the front rows.
It was as though they were being dragged back and forth between heaven and hell, utterly captivated by the extreme shifts in character.
And that tension persisted all the way to the climax of Act 2, Scene 7.
“...Show me the truth.”
At those words, Hyde swallowed the bottle of medicine in one gulp.
And then...
Unlike the grotesque, convulsive transformation from the previous day,
Swoosh—
The transformation flowed smoothly and gently, like running water.
Subtle changes rippled across him in calm waves.
It was a method of transitioning between expressions famous in method acting.
Ryu Shin had once asked Yoomyeong how he managed to bridge two completely different expressions, and Yoomyeong passed along the advice Miho had once given him.
After a brutal month of practice, Ryu Shin had finally mastered it.
The transition from a devilish expression to an angelic one was unnervingly seamless.
The audience shuddered at the eerie transformation.
‘Even without a reference to copy from, he’s incredible. He truly deserves to be called a chameleon actor...’
Ryu Shin was a rival worthy of recognition.
For the first time, Yoomyeong watched Seo Ryu Shin’s performance from the audience and applauded generously.
an unusually large number of posts tagged [Wanted] had appeared today.
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[Wanted] Looking for a ticket for tomorrow’s 3 PM Oedipus performance.
If anyone can’t attend, please contact me.
I’m willing to pay above face value as long as it isn’t outrageously expensive.
[Please suggest a price if you’re selling.]
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└What’s going on? Posts like this have been popping up since yesterday. Is this viral marketing or something?
└(Original Poster) I watched Thursday’s performance. It was legendary. I want to see it again.
└It’s not marketing. Our tickets sold out a week ago. – Oedipus Planning Team
└(Original Poster) Oh no... Does anyone have even one spare ticket? Please, I’m begging you.
└I wanted to see Friday’s Dr. Jekyll performance, but it sold out. Why did they have to double-cast unnecessarily...
└I’ve seen both versions. Thursday’s performance was amazing too. I’m watching both the matinee and evening performances tomorrow. This is a show worth seeing every round of.
└Because of people like you, I couldn’t get a ticket. Please show some restraint.
It really was sold out.
A unique cast and a striking poster.
Combined with Oedipus’s reputation, Seo Ryu Shin’s star power, and the newly rising Shin Yoomyeong, this Oedipus production sold out faster than any of their previous performances.
One post in the school website’s event promotion section had accumulated an unusually high number of comments.
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[Club Event] Oedipus: Fall Regular Performance (74)
———————————————-
Attached to the post was a single image file.
It was the performance poster the planning team had poured their efforts into.
The screen was divided into four alternating black-and-white sections, vividly contrasting Dr. Jekyll played by Ryu Shin, Hyde played by Ryu Shin, Hyde played by Shin Yoomyeong, and Dr. Jekyll played by Shin Yoomyeong.
└I’m really looking forward to this performance. Oedipus, fighting!
└Ryu Shin never disappoints!
└I couldn’t get tickets for Ryu Shin’s performance. I settled for Thursday instead... will it still be okay?
At first, the comments had been filled with anticipation, support, and uncertainty.
└Wow... this Oedipus performance is no joke.
└I’m a theater fan, and honestly, Oedipus was better than some recent professional productions I’ve seen in Daehak-ro.
└Shin Yoomyeong. I didn’t even know this actor before, but I was completely captivated. From now on, I’m watching every production he appears in.
└I couldn’t get tickets even through resale. Is anyone here selling theirs by any chance?
Soon, the comments were flooded with glowing praise.
00:00.
The clock at the bottom of the homepage reset, cleanly erasing the old date and beginning a new countdown.
Today was the final performance day of .
‘Please, let this be the one...!’
He pulled a notebook from his pocket.
Inside were the names and schedules of numerous college theater troupes and amateur productions. Most of them had been heavily crossed out in pen.
Only two entries remained at the bottom.
– Gwanak University Theater Arts Performance. 031129, 15:00, 19:30.
– Yonhak University Drama Team Performance. 031129, 19:00.
The man had three tickets in his pocket.
He had reserved both performances at Gwanak University because of the double casting, but if he wasn’t satisfied after the first show, he intended to immediately head to the Yonhak University performance instead.
‘Is it this way?’
As he approached Betty Hall, he no longer needed to check the campus map. Despite it being Saturday, crowds of people were hurrying in the same direction.
They were all there for the performance.
He arrived in front of Betty Hall, presented his ticket, and was guided to his seat. Sitting around the middle section, he watched in amazement as the five-hundred-seat theater filled completely.
‘For a college troupe, their ability to draw a crowd is remarkable...’
Soon, the performance began.
Act 1, Scene 1.
Jekyll appeared at the podium of an academic conference.
“Ladies and gentlemen. The question of whether humans are fundamentally good or evil has long been debated throughout religious and philosophical history.”
From the very first line, his voice captivated the audience.
Struck by the voice overflowing with kindness and goodness, the man dropped the notebook in his hand.
The actor descended from the podium, spreading his arms as though embracing the audience.
His smooth forehead shone with unwavering conviction.
A purity so radiant that it seemed impossible for even the slightest evil intention to exist within him.
‘What was that actor’s name again...?’
It seemed the notebook had slipped beneath the seats. The man tried to ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) pull it back with his foot, only for it to slide farther away.
The lead actor’s name for the reserved performance was written inside the notebook. He wanted to check immediately, but mindful of theater etiquette, he could only fidget helplessly with his foot.
The performance continued.
Act 1, Scene 2.
This time, a different actor appeared on stage. It was a bold decision to split the roles of Jekyll and Hyde between separate actors.
He recognized the actor immediately.
Ryu Shin.
A former child actor who had delivered exceptional performances despite his young age before suddenly disappearing. That alone had been one of the reasons he held such high expectations for Gwanak University’s production.
The portrayal of Hyde was equally impressive.
He radiated a chilling cruelty, like a child who delighted in dissecting insects.
The characterization was completely different from the Jekyll of the previous scene, yet strangely, the underlying tone felt the same.
As though both had been played by a single actor.
A deep curiosity stirred within him.
He removed his glasses, wiped them clean, and focused again.
The scenes continued to unfold.
The man’s expression gradually became more serious.
Then came Act 2, Scene 7.
Hyde stood before Dr. Lanyon.
“Dr. Lanyon, aren’t you curious about Dr. Jekyll’s discovery?”
In a leisurely tone that seemed to mock Lanyon’s confusion, Hyde slowly offered him a choice.
“...Show me the truth.”
At those words, Hyde swallowed the contents of the vial.
Then he crawled behind a silkscreen standing at one side of the office, covered in printed research materials, moving like an insect.
The lighting at center stage dimmed slightly, and from behind the screen, a spotlight aimed toward the audience illuminated Hyde’s silhouette against the fabric.
The shadow began to writhe.
“Uh... ugh.”
The silhouette twisted and convulsed as though its body were breaking apart and reforming into something else entirely.
Watching the grotesque figure, Dr. Lanyon gagged.
Accompanied by eerie music, the shape gradually settled down.
And the actor who emerged from the other side of the screen was...
Not Seo Ryu Shin.
It was the actor who had played Jekyll earlier.
‘How is this possible...?’
How could there be absolutely no sense of dissonance when one actor replaced another in the middle of the play?
Among the audience members who had purchased tickets without realizing the roles would be split between two actors today, there were probably people who genuinely believed they were seeing the same person.
Even with identical makeup and costumes, every person carries a different aura...
Yet something unbelievable was happening on that stage right now.
Whoa!
The moment the performance ended, the man hurriedly bent down to retrieve his notebook.
[15:00 Jekyll role: Shin Yoomyeong, Hyde role: Seo Ryu Shin.]
[19:30 Jekyll role: Seo Ryu Shin, Hyde role: Shin Yoomyeong.]
For a production of such astonishing quality that it hardly felt like a student performance, the synchronization between the two actors sharing the roles was unbelievable.
Both of them were extraordinary.
He felt he needed to see the 19:30 performance before reaching a conclusion.
Without hesitation, he crumpled up the ticket for Yonhak University’s production.
‘One of them is my actor...!’
Behind his glasses, his sharp eyes gleamed.
Professor Lee Jae Pil, seated in front of him, also struggled to calm his astonishment.
As a theater critic with an established reputation, he had recognized Shin Yoomyeong’s intention from the very first scene.
It was completely different from Shin Yoomyeong’s previous performance.
As though...
‘He became Seo Ryu Shin’s character from yesterday.’
Had he discarded the character he himself created in order to perform the same lines and scenes through a character interpretation built by someone else?
When it came to that young man, Lee Jae Pil no longer knew where the boundary between the possible and impossible lay.
What was even more terrifying was that it was not mere imitation.
It was acting that had completely internalized and made Seo Ryu Shin’s interpretation his own.
The character concept was the same, but the nuances in speech and movement were subtly different. Though he harmonized perfectly with Seo Ryu Shin’s Hyde, he was not simply copying Seo Ryu Shin’s Jekyll.
‘Could it be... that tonight’s performance will also feature a Hyde adjusted to match Ryu Shin’s Jekyll?’
Lee Jae Pil shivered uncontrollably.
