There are two types of people in this world.

Those who perform.

And those who write the truth they’re too afraid to say aloud.

---

🏫 Scene: Daehan Academy of Performing Arts

Spring. The petals haven't even fully bloomed yet, and already, the gossip is louder than the bell.

> "Did you hear who transferred in today?"

"Is it true?! Raeon Myung? From The Silver Crown?"

"Didn’t he… collapse on stage last year?"

Panel: Students swarm the hallway, some with camera phones, others whispering behind locker doors.

But Raeon doesn't hear them.

Not really.

---

🎭 Enter: Raeon Myung

He's walking down the corridor like it’s a runway made of silence.

Long lashes. Pale skin. Uniform crisp and perfect—too perfect.

But his eyes? They're glazed, like glass that's been screamed at for too long.

He isn’t here to shine.

He’s here because it was either this…

or shatter completely.

---

🧍 Scene: Classroom 2-A

Raeon opens the door.

And there he is.

Haneul Seo.

The only boy not staring. Hoodie up. Headphones in. Scribbling something in a weathered notebook, like the whole world doesn’t exist outside of his mind.

> Raeon (thinking): He doesn’t look at me. Everyone else does… but not him.

Why does that bother me?

He takes a seat two rows behind him.

Pretends to be reading a script.

He’s not.

---

📣 Scene: Drama Club — First Meeting

The rehearsal hall still smells like varnish and dust and dreams too big for the room.

Eun Jisoo, the club president, stands by the whiteboard, glasses sliding down his nose, holding up a thick script titled “The Ghost Prince.”

> Eun Jisoo:

“It’s original. It’s raw. It’s written by one of our own.”

“And this semester, we’re not just acting. We’re telling stories that hurt.”

He looks at the back corner.

> “Haneul Seo. Step forward.”

The boy lifts his eyes.

> Eun Jisoo: “Meet your playwright.”

Gasps. Murmurs. Raeon’s eyes widen.

> Raeon (thinking): Him? He wrote the script?

---

📜 Scene: First Readthrough

The script is bruised. Honest. About a prince who doesn’t want to rule.

About a ghost who can’t touch the living but still watches over one boy, unseen.

> Minjo Ahn (reading lines):

“If you leave, I won’t follow.”

Raeon (softly, unsure):

“…Then I’ll stay. Even if it kills me.”

Silence.

Everyone looks at Raeon. It wasn’t his turn to read that line. But it came out anyway.

Haneul stares at him. Something flickers in his eyes.

> Haneul:

“That line was meant to be whispered. You shouted it.”

> Raeon:

“How do you whisper something that’s breaking you?”

For the first time… Haneul smiles.

Just barely.

---

🕯️ Scene: After Hours – Empty Stage

Raeon finds himself in the rehearsal room alone.

> He lights a single stage bulb.

Stands in the middle.

And whispers:

> “If you’re watching… I don’t want to be the prince anymore.”

“Can you write me something else?”

“Anything but this.”

---

Meanwhile...

Haneul sits on the rooftop, script in lap, sketchbook open.

He draws Raeon. Not the actor. Not the prince.

Just… the boy sitting alone under a spotlight, begging quietly for escape.

> Haneul (thinking):

He wears the spotlight like a noose.

But he still chooses to walk on stage.

---

💬 Final Scene: Unexpected Encounter

The next morning, Raeon finds a folded page on his desk. A script scene.

It reads:

> The Ghost:

“You keep standing where the light burns.

But you never ask why you’re bleeding.”

> The Prince:

“Because if I stop… no one else will remember I was here.”

Handwritten at the bottom:

“Let’s rewrite the ending. Together. – H.”

---

💔 End of Chapter 1

> Title Card Appears:

CURTAIN CALL: The Boy with a Spotlight

“Some lines are rehearsed. But the ones that hurt? They’re always improvised.”

---

📍Scene: Rehearsal Hall – Day 2

Wooden floors creak under nervous footsteps. The cast huddles near the stage. A name list taped on the wall.

Raeon walks in late. Again.

Disheveled uniform, eyes puffy, script stuffed in his bag.

> Eun Jisoo (Club President):

“Raeon, you're playing the Prince. As expected.”

“Ghost is being played by…” (pauses)

“…Haneul Seo.”

A stunned silence.

People look around like it’s a joke.

> “He doesn’t act.”

“He just writes.”

“Are they serious?”

Raeon:

> “…I don’t care if he doesn’t act. As long as he’s honest.”

---

🎬 Scene: Blocking the Scene

A dim rehearsal lamp shines on the two boys.

> Eun Jisoo:

“Let’s do Act II, Scene Four. The Ghost confronts the Prince for the first time.”

Raeon steps into the circle of light. Haneul stays in shadow.

> Raeon (reading):

“Why do you follow me? Who are you?”

Haneul (softly, unscripted):

“I’m the part of you that never wanted to be seen.”

Everyone freezes.

That’s not in the script. Not his script.

Raeon’s breath catches.

> Raeon:

“Did you rewrite that line?”

Haneul (smirking faintly):

“No. It rewrote itself.”

---

🔥 Scene: The Almost-Touch

They rehearse the next part.

The Ghost reaches toward the Prince’s face.

Haneul lifts his hand, slow, almost unsure.

His fingertips hover just over Raeon’s cheek.

Not touching.

Not yet.

> Haneul (soft):

“You wear a crown, but your eyes are empty.”

Raeon (whispers):

“You’re the first one who’s ever said that.”

The room holds its breath.

> “Touch him,” someone whispers.

“Why does it feel like they’re not acting?”

Haneul drops his hand. Walks offstage.

Raeon just stands there. Still burning.

---

🥀 Scene: Hallway After Rehearsal

Raeon corners Haneul near the locker area.

A mix of anger and something else swirling in his chest.

> Raeon:

“Why did you stop?”

Haneul:

“Because if I touched you, I’d forget this was a performance.”

Raeon:

“…Then maybe I want it to not be one.”

> Beat.

Haneul (quiet):

> “You’re confusing gratitude for connection, Raeon.”

“Don’t fall for someone just because they see the parts of you that others don’t.”

> Raeon:

“…But what if that’s exactly why I am?”

---

💢 Scene: Jealousy Sparks

From across the hallway, Minjo Ahn (Raeon’s oldest friend and former stage partner) watches the two.

He clenches his jaw.

Shuts his locker hard.

> Minjo (to himself):

“You never looked at me like that. Not even once.”

He walks off. But not before scribbling something into his copy of the script.

A new line. A twisted one.

---

📜 Final Scene: Script Page Left in Raeon’s Bag

Later that night, Raeon finds a single folded page slipped inside his rehearsal script.

It reads:

> Ghost:

“The prince wore a smile they all believed… until the writer touched his story and every lie fell apart.”

> Written beneath in Haneul’s neat handwriting:

“Tomorrow. Scene Five. Don’t hold back.”

---

🩰 End of Chapter 2

> “Sometimes, what breaks you isn’t the spotlight.

It’s the silence when it fades.”

---

📍Scene: Daehan Academy – Rehearsal Room, 6:00 PM

The rehearsal was supposed to end an hour ago.

Everyone left already. Except two.

The piano in the corner hums with the faint memory of a tune.

Stage lights off. Only the hallway light bleeds through the door.

Raeon sits alone on the edge of the platform.

Uniform tie loosened. His shirt’s half untucked.

One shoe off. His script thrown somewhere across the room.

He doesn’t cry.

He just stares at his hands like they betrayed him.

> Raeon (thinking):

“What am I doing here? Why am I trying again? I’m not… enough.”

---

🌑 Flashback – Earlier That Day

Minjo Ahn had read the confrontation scene as Ghost, just for warm-up.

Everyone laughed. Raeon didn't.

Because Minjo added a line.

> Minjo (reading):

“You think you’re the only one performing your pain?

You think silence makes you deep?

You’re just loud in a prettier way.”

The line landed. Like a slap in Raeon’s chest.

No one stopped him.

Not Eun Jisoo. Not the director. Not even Haneul.

And that’s what hurt the most.

---

🐾 Footsteps enter the room

Haneul Seo stands in the doorway.

Hands in pockets. Hoodie on. Headphones resting around his neck.

> Haneul: “You forgot this.”

(He lifts Raeon’s script.)

“Again.”

Raeon doesn’t move. Doesn’t answer.

> Haneul (softer):

“You skipped the stage notes. You were supposed to cry in Act III.”

Raeon:

> “I don’t know how to fake crying anymore.”

---

🎬 The Emotional Unraveling

Haneul walks closer. Not too close. Just enough.

He places the script beside Raeon’s foot. Sits on the steps a level below him.

> Haneul:

“You don’t have to fake anything with me.”

Silence.

Raeon whispers, voice cracking a little:

> “Do you know what it feels like to be stared at every day… and still feel invisible?”

> “To be told you’re special, gifted, golden…

And still lie awake wondering if you’re just… convenient?”

> “I don’t want to be someone’s favorite performance anymore.”

Haneul doesn’t respond right away.

He lets the silence sit, warm and heavy.

Then—

> Haneul (quiet):

“You were never a performance to me.”

Raeon’s breath hitches.

---

🤲 The First Real Touch

Raeon covers his face. He doesn’t sob.

He just… shakes. Quietly. A tremble in his shoulders.

And for the first time, Haneul does what he hasn’t dared to do:

He reaches out.

Slowly. Carefully. Like Raeon is something fragile that might break if touched wrong.

He places his hand on Raeon’s knee.

Not romantic.

Just… grounding.

And Raeon leans into it like he’s been holding his weight up too long.

> Raeon:

“…Please don’t leave me alone right now.”

> Haneul (whispers):

“I won’t. I’ll stay until the lights come back on.”

They sit there.

Two boys.

One breaking, one holding.

No roles. No script. Just the kind of silence that says, you’re safe.

---

📝 Scene: Haneul’s Sketchbook – That Night

A new drawing appears.

A boy sitting barefoot on a stage.

Eyes glassy. One spotlight above him. Another boy sitting lower, steadying him.

Beneath it, Haneul writes:

> “I saw him without the crown tonight.

And he was still beautiful.”

---

🎭 END OF CHAPTER 3

Next Chapter: “Dress Rehearsals & Confessions that Aren’t Confessions”

The lines get too personal.

A scene ends with a gasp—not from the audience, but from Raeon.

And Minjo? He’s not done playing mind games.