Days passed by quickly.
Before everybody realised it, the day when Yeo Ri's commercial would be airing had arrived.
She received a notification from the company on one fine morning—three days prior to the day—telling her to tune in on FBS's programme at 9 p.m. She was also informed that the advert would also be launched on the web an hour after the TV commercial.
FBS was a relatively famous network, and Yeo Ri had heard that the project manager, Do Kang Rok, had fought intensely for the spot. It was a tough battle considering Do Kang Rok's lack of connections and his many competitors. In any case, there had been a bunch of underlying politics that was going on which Yeo Ri did not care about.
It was the weekends, so many people were resting at home during the given time.
A lot of Yeo Ri's friends and acquaintances were informed about the commercial, and many decided to tune in to see it. At exactly 9 p.m., they were already perched in front of their screens, awaiting for Yeo Ri's first screen debut.
In another part of Seoul.
In a certain upscale neighbourhood, a family of three were gathered in the living room of their large house.
"Mom, I'm going to make some ramyeon! Call me when the show starts," A teen-aged girl said, quickly dashing to the kitchen as fast as she could. Cooking ramyeon only needed several minutes at most, and she wanted to make sure she'd make it for the start of the 9 o'clock programme.
"Geez, you young people! Always eating junk food," the older woman who was the young girl's mother grumbled, fiddling with the cushion in her arms.
The girl merely laughed in response, "Do you want me to make some for you too?"
"...Only half a packet. I don't want my face to swell tomorrow morning," The woman gingerly replied. She was the same as the younger girl; she could not resist the temptation of a good bowl of instant noodles for supper.
A raspy voice chuckled after hearing her words.
The elderly woman faced her faintly smiling husband sitting on the recliner with a chagrined look. She mouthed at him, 'What?'
The man fixed his glasses that was beginning to slide down, turning his gaze away to the tablet in his hands nonchalantly. He cleared his throat, mumbling with feigned interest, "Let's see... oh, today's stock market is doing good..."
The woman clicked her tongue at his blatantly obvious façade. Deciding to ignore the man, she resolutely set her gaze on the television screen.
Just as she focused on the screen, a commercial began to play.
The setting was bright, and pop music played in the background. A group of three teens sat together on a picnic table, smiling and giggling at each other.
"Such a hot day!" The young boy with a pretty face complained.
"Don't fret!" The older-looking girl came up beside the boy, grinning knowingly at her two peers, "I know what'll make you feel better."
"What? What is it?" The boy eagerly asked.
"Ta-da!" The girl exclaimed, pulling out a bottled drink from behind her back.
"Wow, what are these?" The other girl asked with a mystified gaze. The two younger teens picked up a bottle each.
"It's VitaQua, the best new drink in town," the older girl said, introducing the product to her two friends.
"Hm, is that so?" The boy hummed in curiosity.
The scene flashed to a shot of the bottle being uncapped, accompanied by the pleasantly crisp sound effect of the uncapping.
The three raised the bottles to their mouths, the individual close-ups appearing in quick succession.
The footage played on slow motion as the younger girl became the main focus. She closed her eyes, looking to be fully enjoying the drink.
As the CF was playing, the old woman felt her body go slack. With eyes wide in shock, she extended her hand shakily towards the screen, a hushed whisper spilling out of her mouth, "Yeoreum-ah..."
The scene changed again, this time showing the three teens playing in the water. The way the three smiled and laughed so energetically made it seem endearing and fun. The pop song seemed to be amplified by a notch as the three appeared on the screen one-by-one, getting splashed by the water.
Although the distribution seemed equal, it was clear that the younger girl stood out more than her two co-stars. Her skirt twirled in slow motion as the splashes of water framed the shot. She grinned straight at the camera before falling backwards into the water with her eyes closed.
They were underwater now, each getting their own split-second shots.
Finally, the scene returned to the earlier one at the picnic table. The camera zeroed in on the younger girl as she slowly opened her eyes, looking as if she had just had a satisfying experience.
"VitaQua: new, sweet, and refreshing!" The girl said, holding the bottle with a bright smile.
After the commercial ended, the 9 o'clock programme started immediately.
"Yeoreum... Yeoreum...!" The older woman snapped out of her daze. She clambered off from the sofa she was sitting on, hitting the screen. The need to see the commercial again and reaffirm her suspicions rose within her.
"No, no!" She wailed. She willed for the show to take another commercial break, hoping that they would air it again.
"Honey, calm down...!" The husband got off his seat, trying to calm his wife. He had also seen the younger girl in the commercial, thinking that the girl bore an unnerving similarity to their long-lost daughter.
With his wife on a full meltdown, he set aside his shock and tried to coax her. His heart was beating loudly and he felt as if he needed to get to the bottom of this immediately. After years of trying to forget about his daughter, the urge to find her sparked more intensely.
However, it was unfortunate that they did not find out about her passing due to all the hard work Heo Woo Seung had put into hiding his daughter and her mother's identity.
"—Hey! Mom, I told you to call me when the sh—" The teen-aged girl walked out of the kitchen with a pot of ramyeon in her hands. She was about to throw a tantrum for her mistiming, but upon noticing the strange atmosphere in the living room, she stopped. "Mom?"
She placed down her pot hastily, going over to help drag her mother away from the TV screen.