Free Web NovelChoo Gaeul blinked at Myeong Jeha’s words and asked back,
“...My acting?”
When she looked at Choo Gaeul, she seemed so moved that she covered her mouth with both hands.
“Of course. You’re the woman I personally guaranteed as the female lead.”
“Hey! Han Yeoreum!”
Anyway, the wrap-up had gone well. As expected of Han Yeoreum. Her quick thinking was no joke. Choo Gaeul, completely hyped, began boasting about her role.
“I’m Sukbin Choi, you know. I’ll probably appear in the latter half of <The Fuse>, so the dates you guys come to the set would be—”
Sukbin Choi. A character who rises after the downfall of Jang Huibin. You could call her an underdog aiming for Jang Huibin’s position.
‘And in <The Fuse>, Sukbin Choi is portrayed as naive.’
Unlike Jang Huibin, who loved Sukjong with her whole heart and was constantly wounded by her low status, Sukbin Choi is simply satisfied with having entered the palace and received a concubine’s title.
Which is precisely why she makes the protagonist, Jang Huibin, suffer even more.
‘If Jang Huibin had loved Sukjong just a little less, she wouldn’t have been hurt that badly.’
It’s the kind of role that can easily turn into a lightning rod °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° for hate if you misstep.... But Choo Gaeul didn’t seem to realize that yet, already setting up a schedule to invite Myeong Jeha and me.
“If you come here during the second or third week, that should work, right?”
“Yeah. That works.”
Myeong Jeha said this while looking at the screen with his calendar open.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
* * *
Before we knew it, the birthday party atmosphere had fully ripened. Private stories that could only be told off the record went back and forth.
“Gi Juye probably won’t sleep tonight because she didn’t get Best Dresser. She should’ve known better than to mess with a genius like me.”
As Ryu Risa talked about Gi Juye’s misdeeds, Joo Junseo, who had been quiet, opened his mouth.
“She tried to coordinate outfits with me last time too. Looks like she wanted to crush Han Yeoreum back then but couldn’t pull it off, and that’s why it blew up this time.”
Hearing that, Choo Gaeul exploded in anger.
“Is she insane? How can an actor do that? Huh? If you’re an actor, then fair and square, with acting skills!”
Junseo and I stared at Choo Gaeul coldly.
“Com...pe...ti...tion....”
Choo Gaeul’s voice gradually shrank.
“Junseo sunbae. Is your scalp okay?”
“On rainy days it stings a bit, but it’s bearable.”
“Oh no.... The aftereffects of bleaching twice in a hurry....”
“Yeah. Sometimes I get headaches for no reason, and whenever I go into a project styling meeting my chest tightens, the back of my neck aches, and I get dizzy, but it’s bearable.”
Choo Gaeul, who had momentarily forgotten his past, was gently reminded of old memories by us.
“You’re exaggerating! Anyone listening would think you were in a car accident!”
Choo Gaeul grabbed Junseo and shook him. Junseo, having bulked up since <Top Class> ended, didn’t budge easily. Only his shirt got wrinkled.
“That’s sponsored! Gaeul! You can’t pop the buttons! There’s only one in Korea!”
“Joo Junseo’s hair will get ruined! Just punch him instead! With your fist!”
In the middle of this, Ryu Risa and Dok Gogyeol were worrying about Junseo’s outfit and hair rather than him. Yun Hyeonjo summed it up succinctly.
“Gaeul, you’re the type who enforces hierarchy.”
“Sunbae.... It’s not really enforcing hierarchy.... I just really wanted to stand out....”
“I like honesty! But is that even a bad thing? I first noticed you with that pink hair in <ParCheHi>! It’d be a problem if you couldn’t act and only cared about appearances, but you act well. So what’s the issue? Hey. Drink it off!”
With Kwak Cheolsik taking her side, Choo Gaeul’s face turned red. She really was fun to tease.
“That’s right. Styling—people obsessed with that all had weak acting.... Even if you dress shabby and crossdress, if your acting’s good, people still find you pretty, pr-pretty.... Most of our iconic scenes are basically Yeoreum, like, not washed? That kind of vibe.... And they don’t even know about blood, sweat, and tears....”
Looks like Kwon Junhyeok couldn’t handle his liquor. Maybe he didn’t fully understand what was being said, because he cornered Choo Gaeul again—who Kwak Cheolsik had just barely rescued—and went at her.
“Junhyeok, stop drinking.”
Martial arts director Kang Hanseong gently planted Kwon Junhyeok’s forehead onto the table.
‘There was a brief thud, but he looks asleep, so I’ll ignore it.’
With so many people, the drinking party was noisy. Anyway, I said to Gaeul again,
“I’ll add churros to the coffee truck.”
“...In my current mood, even a food truck wouldn’t be enough....”
Seeing Gaeul’s expression, So Dami jumped up from her seat.
“Then from now on, it’s present-giving time!”
As expected of the rom-com queen. She knew exactly how to change the mood. Gifts prepared for me came out one after another.
“A ring you can wear around. It’ll probably fit your index or ring finger.”
“Junseo sunbae, how do you know my ring size?”
“You can tell roughly by looking.”
Junseo gave me a ring. This one’s pretty. As expected of a former model—his aesthetic sense is different.
“I saw this at a photo wall event last time and thought it was pretty.”
“I saw it on your SNS. It’s the same one, right?”
“Seriously, Han Yeoreum! You must look at all my Yousta photos, huh? ...Yeah. It’s exactly the same one I have. Just a different color.”
“Just say you wanted matching couple bags with me.”
Choo Gaeul gave me a designer-brand bag. Nice. I didn’t have one in this color.
“I, uh... this is a cake.... I’ll do something better next time.”
“Your existence itself is my gift, Dami.”
“Hey! Han Yeoreum! Then what about me!”
“You dividing people again based on closeness?”
Dami’s was a cute lettering cake. Choo Gaeul and Junseo stood up, but let’s move on.
“Health comes first! So mine is supplements! And I’ll pass these on for Junhyeok too—he’s also supplements!”
Martial arts director Kang Hanseong and Kwon Junhyeok: supplements.
“I poured my heart into it—!”
“Sunbae.... Why did you write so many letters? The envelope’s so thick....”
“It’s not letters, it’s cash. When you get older, you express yourself with money.”
Kwak Cheolsik gave me allowance money.
“I’m giving you a diffuser, and also a free-pass ticket that lets you appear on any variety show from our company.... I’ll try to center it around you, Yeoreum....”
Director So was oddly obsessive. He didn’t really seem like a healing-type director.
“I’m together with Director Gong. We don’t really know young people’s tastes these days....”
“Exactly! What would two old guys pick anyway? Just buy whatever you like!”
The star director and Director Gong handed me department store gift cards. When did they get this close?
“I’ll send a full outfit to your office soon. It still needs some alterations.”
Ryu Risa: one outfit.
“Here. Mine’s this.”
Dok Gomin handed me a very large shopping bag. Inside was a bouquet of flowers and a single book.
“Waaaah!”
“What is it that the reaction’s this intense—ugh, waaaah!”
“No, what on earth is inside that book—ugh, waaaah!”
Inside was an absurdly high-resolution photo book. Photos Dok Gomin had taken of me over time. Everyone leaned in closer around me.
“When was this? You took this at a bus stop, but how is it so....”
“That was during <No Interest Whatsoever>.”
“This flash shot in the countryside feels good too.”
With every page turned, everyone let out admiring screams.
“Unnie....”
“You’re my muse....”
“But if you appear on MBS with us, Yeoreum, we can show what a ‘muse’ really means on public broadcast. To fans, through variety—”
“What are you even trying to do at a time like this!”
Director So and Dok Gomin started fighting again. Dok Gogyeol grabbed Dok Gomin by the back of the neck and dragged her aside.
“Ah, of all things, mine has to come after something this impactful.... Still, I prepared it sincerely.”
Dok Gogyeol gifted me a curated set of lip products she had selected while doing my makeup—everything that suited Han Yeoreum best.
“For reference, you’ll notice by the brands, but they’re expensive.”
As expected of the original money-obsessed one. The atmosphere was warm and lively. Kwon Junhyeok was still asleep, and Dok Gomin and Director So were still fighting, but let’s call it lively anyway.
Only Yun Hyeonjo was frozen in his seat. freewebnσvel.cøm
“...Was this a birthday party?”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t explicitly told Yun Hyeonjo it was for my birthday. Since it wasn’t the exact day.
‘Just joining the Han Yeoreum fam is already a gift.’
Also, Yun Hyeonjo’s opinion doesn’t really matter. From the moment he monitored <Strange Tales> ASMR hitting the trending list, he was the best sunbae. It was inevitable he’d become a Han Yeoreum pick.
“What do I do then....”
Yun Hyeonjo was unusually stiff.
“Ah, sunbae, just you coming is already a gift!”
At that, Kwak Cheolsik pretended to cry.
“Not me? I’m the only one who has to pay to be treated like a sunbae?”
“That’s why I respect you a bit more, sunbae....”
“You little colt, you know how to read the room.”
Kwak Cheolsik cackled and downed his beer in one go. Yun Hyeonjo hurriedly opened his banking app.
“I don’t have cash right now, so my account—.”
Just as Yun Hyeonjo was seriously about to transfer money, Myeong Jeha firmly grabbed his hand.
“Instead of that, how about making your birthday gift granting Yeoreum one favor later?”
Myeong Jeha’s trademark polite smile naturally surfaced. freēwebnovel.com
“Like a wish coupon?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“...Cash still feels more efficient. I’ll just pay for everything here.”
“I already put my card down. And you said last time we could drop honorifics—why are you using them again?”
“There’s a bit of emotional distance.”
Myeong Jeha kept holding onto Yun Hyeonjo, who was trying to pull his hand away, and smiled neatly as always.
“Please do it out of affection for your junior. We’re filming <Law-Faster-than 2> together anyway.”
Nice one, elder. You’re actually useful.... I nodded vigorously. Han Yeoreum’s inner capitalist scale tipped.
‘A favor from Yun Hyeonjo? It doesn’t compare to cash.’
Yun Hyeonjo had a good public image, but his reputation within the industry, including among reporters, was even better. A rare sensible person in this field.
‘There will definitely come a time to use it....’
Maybe my expression was too desperate, because Yun Hyeonjo said quietly,
“It’s a bit of a burden.... But I guess I share some fault too. Alright. One wish.”
At that, Kwak Cheolsik laughed so heartily you could see his Adam’s apple.
“Hey! Make it really hard! Hahaha! You got him good!”
* * *
While we were waiting for the manager to come pick us up, Myeong Jeha and I stayed behind together.
“...Why did you do that earlier?”
“Hm?”
Myeong Jeha lifted his wrist to check the time. There was a hint of laughter in his questioning voice. This feels like there’s something going on.
“Inviting me to go see Do Gyeoul’s set. You didn’t say that for no reason.”
“Ah, that....”
Myeong Jeha looked down at me, dragging out his words lazily. Even when he speaks gently, he has a way of making people uneasy. Is this the depth of an elder?
“There will definitely come a time when Do Gyeoul’s acting is needed.”
By then, Myeong Jeha’s manager had arrived. He stepped away from my side while checking the approaching car. For a brief moment, our clothes brushed. As always, he smelled nice.
“You’ll be taking on that kind of role.”
Myeong Jeha lightly turned his head. The car’s headlights hit the side of his face. It felt exactly like a pinpoint spotlight on a stage.
That special sparkle given to the protagonist.
For a moment, Myeong Jeha—who naturally monopolized the light—was dazzling.
“Sociopath.”
Myeong Jeha smiled gently, completely mismatched with the line I had just uttered.
