Free Web NovelI called the elder immediately.
“What do you mean by that?”
Only one person came to mind. Do Gyeoul. Is it getting stolen again? Again? I clawed my way up this far, and now Do Gyeoul again?
—First of all.
“Explain it quickly!”
My heart pounded hot with rage. Countless possibilities flashed through my mind. Did the Japanese investors push Do Gyeoul? Did she force her way in through connections? Or was the director a Do Gyeoul fan? What do I do? What do I do? What am I supposed to do?
—Your role is just going to disappear.
What did that even mean? I froze in place, unable to understand for a moment.
—There’s talk about changing Lee Seohae into a man.
“Ah....”
So it wasn’t Do Gyeoul. But wait, what? What kind of insane bullshit was that?
“Lee Seohae into a man?”
—Yeah. From the beginning, the character Lee Seohae itself doesn’t really emphasize femininity... it’s optimized for swapping into a male character.
I clenched my fist. The core axis that made up Lee Seohae—her impassive expression, razor-sharp deductive ability, and even that cold nature.
‘If they keep all of that exactly the same and only change the gender....’
There would barely be any need to revise the current 〈Unfair Trade〉 script, meaning it would cost almost no time or money.
—Yeoreum, as you know, in investigative dramas it’s safer when both the lead and supporting roles are men. The fanbase is thicker, and the risk is lower. Investors don’t like taking unnecessary gambles.
I couldn’t argue with Myeong Jeha’s words. I bit my lip.
‘If only NetHolics had come in sooner....’
If 〈Strange Tales〉 and 〈The Great Garland〉 had already aired worldwide simultaneously, this never would have happened. I covered my face with one hand.
The weight of the phone pressed to my ear felt especially heavy today.
‘I didn’t want to lose this.’
The thought that I wouldn’t be able to show the action scenes I had prepared as Lee Seohae—rolling across floors and running like mad at the action academy—made my chest feel suffocated.
‘I only just barely became Lee Seohae.’
The moment I found a fragment of Do Gyeoul within her, the thrill of realizing I could become Lee Seohae had pushed every other thought out of my mind. And now I had to lose her? To some other male actor who wouldn’t even be half as sincere about Lee Seohae as I was?
No.
This is my role.
I won’t let anyone take it away—not Do Gyeoul, not anyone.
“...Wait.”
I exhaled a trembling breath and spoke to Myeong Jeha.
“You can bring it back, can’t you?”
—Hm?
“You know the way.”
Come to think of it, Myeong Jeha was the one who had given me the 〈Unfair Trade〉 script in the first place. A sudden assumption burst out of me.
“...One of the investors. That’s you, isn’t it?”
The other end of the line went quiet for a moment.
—Hahahaha.
“So it is! It is! Aaaah!”
I jumped up and down in place. If Myeong Jeha had been standing in front of me right now, I would have thrown a punch with the skills I’d honed at the Do It and It Works Action Academy. I genuinely regretted that he wasn’t here.
“Seriously, why do you keep doing this, elder! Aaah!”
—Haha. You’ve changed....
“How have I changed? What exactly changed?”
When I shouted, nearby staff members startled so badly they dropped what they were holding.
—Before, whenever something happened, you came to me first....
Hearing the laughter mixed into Myeong Jeha’s voice made the back of my neck throb. I didn’t realize it, but maybe I had angina or high blood pressure....
—Yeoreum. Did you finish Lee Seohae?
“Yes! Perfectly! So, so perfectly that if I’m not in it, the drama’s going to flop!”
—That’s some confidence.
“Elder, seriously... you can’t joke about things like this.... Why would someone who knows everything act like this?”
I scraped the ground hard with my heel. The fact that Myeong Jeha was acting like this meant there was still a chance to overturn everything.
If it were truly impossible, he never would have brought it up to me at all.
‘After watching this man up close for years, I guess some regressor-like instincts rubbed off on me too....’
Good. I’ll remember this anger right now... and use it later without fail.
“Wait. There’s already a male actor under consideration, right? Who is it?” ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
At my question, Myeong Jeha answered readily.
—For now, me.
“Please don’t do this.”
—I obviously won’t. And another is Joo Junseo. The strongest candidate was... there’s someone from the agency side who’s especially aggressive.
“Hurry hurry hurry. Tell me quickly.”
The name that came out of Myeong Jeha’s mouth was a very unexpected actor.
“...It’s been a while since I heard that name.”
—Yeah. Which is why they’re gritting their teeth over there.
* * *
Crime, thriller, action.
These genres seemed similar yet different, but they shared one common trait.
“No, Manager, you know how it is. Come on, you’re just saying that.” fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Female actors had very little screen time.
“Yes, yes! Just one drink. Lightly. Of course. No one’s talking about changing the role right away over something like this.”
This was Jeongdam, an entertainment agency located in Gangnam District.
Inside the office were one man in a suit chatting glibly on the phone, and an actor sitting arrogantly on the sofa with his legs crossed.
The actor sitting there with a bored expression was Noh Seungchan, who had enjoyed syndrome-level popularity in Japan three years ago with 〈Beyond the Closed Door〉 alongside Do Gyeoul. He skimmed the script.
“Ah, shit....”
Wearing an expensive headset, Noh Seungchan muttered quietly as he listened to music.
“I don’t even like the name. You can tell at a glance it’s a woman.”
Four years ago, Noh Seungchan had shot to stardom overnight, and as a result he’d come down with a severe case of actor’s disease—the kind people said was impossible to cure. Riding the success of 〈Beyond the Closed Door〉, he entered a massive high-budget production.
[Noh Seungchan, this time with an even more mature side... beginning to ‘steal women’s hearts’?]
[〈Beyond the Closed Door〉 Noh Seungchan to show insane chemistry... “Please look forward to it”]
[Noh Seungchan, what’s disappointing—his visuals or his acting?]
The problem was that he had accepted the offer the moment he heard “sole lead,” without even properly reading the script. The early ratings weren’t bad, but it wasn’t enough to make viewers go wild.
At the same time, he had stepped into films as well, but despite only being in a supporting role, he was harshly criticized for his acting.
[DramaMovieActor TALK]
[I liked Noh Seungchan, so this is such a shame... seems like he has no eye for picking projects]
So he went romance for his next work, and I thought, wow, unlike all those male actors who immediately jump into sausage-party scripts once they pop off, maybe he’s different, but nope, straight into movies... lol
But that would be one thing if he could act T_T honestly speaking, it’s not acting that can survive on the big screen. Feels like he’ll just stay a one-hit wonder
—Exactly what I think LOLOLOL In 〈Beyond the Closed Door〉 it was really Do Gyeoul who carried him by the collar, only Noh Seungchan fans keep denying it
—Even if it’s a sausage-fest, a villain role wouldn’t have been that bad... the character was good, Noh Seungchan just couldn’t bring it to life T_T total casting miss
2222 If it had been Myeong Jeha, I would’ve watched it three times
—He can’t win female fans and no one acknowledges his acting... such a waste though, that kind of physique is rare T_T
To make matters worse, he was constantly compared to Myeong Jeha, who was around the same age and steadily building his filmography. Just hearing the “M” of Myeong Jeha’s name was enough to make Noh Seungchan furious. Like a button had been pressed, he would tremble with rage.
—If it’s all about physique now, wouldn’t Joo Junseo be the one breaking out LOLOLOL his visuals are even better
Joo Junseo facts. There’s a reason he’s a former model
His popularity in Japan still hadn’t faded, but his domestic share was being «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» stolen away quickly. Because of that, Noh Seungchan’s neurosis had reached its peak.
“Yes! Thank you! Then please contact us!”
The manager, who had been bowing repeatedly to someone he couldn’t even see, finally hung up. Noh Seungchan looked at Jeongdam’s manager with contempt.
Pulling the headset off roughly, he spoke in an irritated tone.
“Hyung. Do we really have to go that far? I mean, honestly....”
“Honestly what?”
“If it’s a female actor, she should do romance. Stuff like that. Just from reading the script roughly, does that Han Yeoreum girl even fit a heavy role like this?”
Noh Seungchan thought of Han Yeoreum, who had been cast as Lee Seohae. He held resentment toward the actors from 〈The Great Garland〉.
Because the very project that had collapsed the moment the Korean wave restrictions hit Korea had been his.
Because of that, his flashy comeback had already gone down the drain, and now everyone was watching for a chance to invest in the next projects of the actors appearing in 〈The Great Garland〉.
Right now, the male lead of 〈Unfair Trade〉 had been replaced with Shin Seojin, who had played Taejin in 〈The Great Garland〉. That was simply how this industry worked.
The slightest dip in popularity, and they ruthlessly replaced you with someone who looked like the next top star. In this industry, even supporting actors got swapped out after script readings.
Noh Seungchan knew the cold logic of the entertainment world better than anyone.
That was exactly why he didn’t want to become dead weight.
“If I were the director, I’d say okay the moment someone suggested changing it to a man. Do we really need to put in this much effort?”
When 〈Beyond the Closed Door〉 ended, scripts had poured in like a flood, and everyone had been desperate to get on Noh Seungchan’s good side.
Feeling that he was now being pushed out of that position, irritation began to crawl under his skin.
“Seungchan....”
At those words, the manager let out a deep sigh.
‘Hold it in.... Still, at least he’s not that much of a complete fucking bastard....’
Still, to rise this far in Jeongdam, an agency famous for actor management, he had seen, heard, and endured far too much.
Noh Seungchan had no manners, no respect for hierarchy, no brains, and was lacking in a great many things—but at least he had never caused the kind of scandal that landed on the front page of the news.
“That’s why I told you to read the 〈The Great Garland〉 script back then.”
“Why the hell would I do a child role!”
“Was that just a child role? Huh? Was it just that?”
At the manager’s words, Noh Seungchan clamped his mouth shut.
“This time, drop your pride and everything else. Last time, you were just immature, so bow your head and go in. That way we can package it better later. Got it?”
“....”
“Stamp your face back into genre work this way. This is really the last time for supporting roles. You know that, right?”
After being coaxed and soothed, Noh Seungchan finally nodded with a displeased expression. Thinking of Han Yeoreum, who kept appearing in Intube clips, he lightly tossed the script onto the table.
‘That bitch should go do romance instead of loitering around the genre scene.’
There had been too many productions to count where female characters were changed into male ones.
This time wouldn’t be difficult either.
Noh Seungchan’s eyes gleamed with greed for regained mainstream popularity.
* * *
“No, that son of a bitch.”
Manager Hong and Manager Ma cursed without thinking at the absurd rumor.
“Manager Hong. Does this even make sense?”
“It’s fucked up, but... it’s not completely nonsense. You know that too, Manager Ma.”
At Manager Hong’s cold assessment, Manager Ma’s brow furrowed.
Honestly speaking, neither of them had ever heard of a male character being changed into a female one, but the reverse happened so often they didn’t even know where to start.
“Whose name is coming up right now?”
“The one stirring things up the most is Jeongdam. Just look at that bastard Noh Seungchan scheming.”
“This got troublesome. He’s really going to come at this ready to risk his life for the role.... Especially if he’s willing to fold himself down for a supporting part, not even the lead.”
Right in the middle of their analysis, someone suddenly cut in.
“Should we sink him?”
Assistant Shin had somehow already pulled up a captured screenshot on the laptop screen.
[Anonymous board for people in their 30s / I straight-up quit my job because of the male actor I fucking hate LOLOLOL It’s dawn so I’m spilling personal shit]
Honestly his face isn’t even actor-level, he just gets away with it because he’s tall and his features blur together, but the crazy bastard treats staff like shit LOOOLLL He’s always pissed because his last project flopped, but yeah, that’s because your face can’t carry it
Anon 1: At least give initials
Anon 2: An actor who gets by on height...? There’s more than one, hard to guess f*ck
Anon 15: Ah fuck LOLOLOLOL TT_TT four or five people just flashed through my mind
Anon 13: Is it maybe N? The moment I saw the title I thought of this bastard
OP: Nooo^^~
Anon 18: LOLOL guess lawsuits don’t scare you~ seeing you post at dawn you’re probably just unemployed, tells me all I need to know about your life..
OP: ?Go ahead and sue
It had been a post uploaded at dawn and later deleted. There were a few more of the same type.
“Diligent. When did you even collect all this?”
“I want to become Manager Shin too, you know. I gathered it while working overtime. This should be enough to lightly screw him over, right?”
“Right. But this is the thing....”
Even this wasn’t enough to overturn a casting role.
Manager Hong, Manager Ma, and Assistant Shin all hardened their expressions.
‘We need one definite killing blow.’
