Peninsula: My e-sports dream shattered, I chose to become an actor.

The following morning, Lee Myung-yeop went to the SBS building for an audition.

As soon as he entered the audition room, director Kang Shin-hyo, screenwriter Kim Eun-sook, and producer Yoon Ha-rim all focused their attention on him like spotlights. Lee Myung-yeop remained calm, his back ramrod straight, and he gave a slight bow with neither arrogance nor servility, his voice clear and bright: "Hello, everyone, I am Lee Myung-yeop."

"Mingye looks very handsome today, just like the Choi Young-do I imagined." Director Kang Shin-hyo broke the silence first, a smile spreading across his face.

"Thank you for the compliment, Director-nim." Li Mingye returned the compliment with a polite smile, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, relaxed yet respectful.

The three people here most likely know something about his identity, and they will certainly be polite on the surface.

Kim Eun-sook adjusted her black-rimmed glasses, and without much interaction with Lee Myung-yeop, went straight to the point: "Let's skip the pleasantries and get started. We're going to see two scenes: one where you bully your classmates at the beginning, and one where you confess to Cha Eun-sang. Please begin."

Li Mingye bowed slightly without saying a word. He took two steps back, closed his eyes, and adjusted his breathing.

When I opened my eyes again, I seemed to be a completely different person.

He didn't rush to speak, but instead adjusted his posture. His back was slightly hunched, his center of gravity lowered, and his hands were in his school uniform pockets, exuding a nonchalant sense of decadence and a dangerous aggression.

"Friend."

He spoke, his voice carrying a chilling lightness, the ending rising slightly, like a predator toying with its prey.

He strolled slowly to the lone chair, as if it were a victim he had cornered. He didn't sit down, but instead leaned forward, one hand on the back of the chair, encroaching on the other person's safe distance.

What are your plans for the holiday?

We see each other every day, so if we don't see each other, we'll definitely miss each other, right?

As he spoke, he pulled a non-existent baseball from his pocket. His movements were fluid and natural, his fingertips lightly caressing the air as if he were truly holding the cold ball, with a cruel elegance.

"What? Don't you miss me?"

He raised a half-smile to his lips and asked the question.

Suddenly, he raised his hand in a throwing motion, his eyes instantly turning fierce.

"Aren't you being incredibly heartless to me?"

He paused for a moment, listened intently, and seemed to truly hear his classmate's painful groans and muffled moans.

"Mianhe~ Are you alright?"

He suddenly apologized, but his tone showed no remorse; instead, it was full of mockery.

At that moment, according to the script, he seemed to hear his underlings behind him speaking. He casually turned his head, his eyes sweeping across the air beside him with an extremely precise look—contemptuous, nonchalant, yet carrying an undeniable intimidation.

"Really? Why don't you go stand over there?"

After his imagined henchman stood by the wall, he said teasingly:

"I didn't say I'd throw it!"

"Friendship should be fair."

Then, he waved forward, like calling back an obedient dog, summoning the classmate who had just been hit. He casually tossed the imaginary baseball forward.

"Your turn, throw it."

He tilted his head, looking at the helpless expression on the face of the classmate who had been hit, and a look of amusement appeared on his face.

"Whether you throw it or not, you'll still get beaten. The question is whether you get beaten by the strongest person or by someone weaker."

His tone suddenly changed, his eyebrows rose, and his eyes revealed coldness and madness:

"But the bigger problem is that your life will continue like this from now on. Why?"

He approached the chair, placed his hands on either side of the backrest, and completely enveloped the bullied classmate in his shadow.

"Because we will be your employers in the future."

"Are you going to hit me or not? Hurry up."

A smile still lingered on his lips, a smile that was both like the whisper of a devil and the innocent question of what to have for dinner. This stark contrast made the air seem to freeze.

At that moment, the three judges held their breath. They seemed to truly see that "mad dog" who was twisted by his family background and could only use violence and arrogance to disguise himself.

"Okay, stop!"

Director Jiang Xinxiao's voice broke the spell. The hostility in Li Mingye's eyes vanished instantly; he returned to his starting point and took a deep breath.

"Very good." The director nodded, a hint of amazement flashing in his eyes. "Now, the second scene. Confess to Cha Eun-sang. Remember, at this point, he's already fallen for her, but he doesn't know how to express it, so he can only use clumsy, even wrong, methods."

Li Mingye nodded and closed his eyes again.

When he raised his head again, his arrogant and domineering edge was gone, replaced by an awkward and cautious probing.

He walked to the chair, but instead of sitting down, he leaned back somewhat awkwardly. His eyes no longer searched for prey, but focused on the imagined Cha Eun-sang, his gaze filled with a mixture of longing and resentment.

"Are you... alright?"

He asked a pointless question, his voice much softer than before, even with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor.

That was his unique caution when facing people he cared about.

"I...I didn't mean to."

He seemed to be explaining something, his hand unconsciously scratching his hair, looking somewhat at a loss.

"I just...want to see you."

He spoke the line slowly, as if he had used all his strength to utter it. His eyes revealed a sincerity and vulnerability he had never shown before, a loneliness born from being ignored by his father and abandoned by his mother, a desperate attempt to grasp at a straw.

"You can answer my calls from now on."

He looked at Cha Eun-sang with a pleading look in his eyes, like a little dog that had been soaked by the rain, cautiously exposing its belly.

"I won't bully you anymore, really."

After saying that, he seemed to feel a little embarrassed and quickly turned his head away, trying to cover up his shyness with his usual arrogance, but his bright red ears betrayed him.

The room fell into a deathly silence.

The stark contrast between extreme arrogance and extreme vulnerability struck everyone present like a heavy blow.

Sitting in the middle, Jiang Xinxiao was stunned for several seconds before he came to his senses. He took off his glasses, rubbed his temples, and spoke with a hint of disbelief:

"Li Mingye-xi, is this... your first time acting?"

The vulnerability in Li Mingye's eyes quickly faded, replaced by his usual clarity. He stood up, bowed slightly, and reverted to the polite new actor he always was.

"Thank you, teachers. I've done some magazine and GG shoots before."

Jiang Xinxiao looked at Li Mingye's information in his hand, then at the unfathomable young man in front of him, picked up his pen, and heavily circled the "Cui Yingdao" column.

"No need to wait for further notice." The director looked up and smiled. "Congratulations, Choi Young-do is yours."