The moment I stepped into the office, I could feel it was far busier than usual.
Staff traded phone calls and kept up conversations in low voices, and articles and messenger windows flicked rapidly across laptop screens.
Printed documents and business cards were piled messily on the desks, and tension hung in the air.
I went over to Ji-ho hyung's desk and carefully looked over what was on it.
Names of outlets I recognized, a list of contacts for reporters and PDs, business cards stamped with broadcaster logos.
'Don't tell me... these are all interview requests?'
Talk shows, variety programs, even current affairs shows. This wasn't simple interest. This was a push to lock me down "right this minute."
The ad's effect had probably collided with the symbolic weight of it being PD Lee Woo-seok's comeback project, and the interest had detonated.
Just then, a familiar voice came from the end of the hallway.
"You're here?"
When I turned my head, Ji-ho hyung was waving as he approached.
I started asking right away.
"Hyung, the interviews... a lot came in, didn't they?"
He stopped short, then sighed and said,
"So you saw. I've turned down everything that's come in so far."
I'd expected it, but hearing it out loud gave me a strange feeling.
The agency would know perfectly well that the kind of questions I'd get after the controversy were a different grain entirely.
They must have judged that forcing me out front would leave nothing but more wounds.
I picked up an article lying on the table and carefully broached it with Ji-ho hyung.
"Hyung, I think it's because we keep not responding that these negative articles keep coming out, don't you?"
I pointed lightly at the headlines with a fingertip.
[Comeback welcomed, silence suspected]
[Cha Eun-yul, still an actor with no explanation?]
Lines like those caught my eye.
Ji-ho hyung studied my expression for a moment and spoke carefully.
"There's a meeting scheduled about exactly that right now. The CEO's coming in too."
"I'll sit in on it."
I said it firmly.
Ji-ho hyung studied my expression for a moment, then nodded.
"All right. It might be your call to make now anyway."
We headed down the hallway toward the conference room. Voices were already going back and forth inside.
I steadied my breath briefly in front of the door.
And I quietly opened it.
At the central table sat the CEO along with the PR team and marketing team staff, all of them looking at the wall screen with serious faces.
Articles with my name in them were blown up large on the screen.
[Cha Eun-yul refusing interviews? 'Dodging the uncomfortable questions']
[Breaking a five-year gap to return... so why the continued silence?]
[Absent from 'The Temperature of a Meal' production presentation, production team 'regrets' it]
Beneath the headlines, a familiar logo caught my eye.
Disnote.
A notorious outlet the entertainment industry called 'Death Note.' Famous for exaggerating facts to inflate controversy.
Their tenacity, the refusal to let go once they'd bitten, was well established even among reporters.
Disnote making a move meant they'd finished preparing to shake my comeback in earnest.
I let out a short breath. I judged that the situation might run more complicated than I'd thought.
"Huh? What brings Eun-yul here?"
At the CEO's words, every gaze in the conference room turned to me at once.
Ji-ho hyung answered in my place.
"I ran into him outside. It's his own problem too, and he said he wanted to sit in on the meeting, so I brought him."
The CEO looked at me once and nodded.
"Right, we were just talking about you. Sit."
I quietly took an empty seat. Silence settled over the room again.
The CEO's eyes had gone sharp and low, and the PR team leader was digging through materials with a stiff face, nothing like his usual ease.
The marketing staff stared at the screen without a word, as though reading one another.
'The mood was clearly good just a few days ago......'
After the convenience store ad revealed my name, the reactions had run more positive than expected, and with the drama casting news on top of it, my comeback had seemed to be gathering force.
Inside the agency, the tension had loosened enough for light jokes and laughter to go around.
And then the instant Disnote appeared, the mood changed in a single day.
The provocative headlines up on the screen, the dark faces of the staff, and a conference room with tension running through it.
In the end, one small ember had started shaking everything.
The CEO squared the scattered documents and said,
"Like the PR team leader said, a lot of interview requests came in. But I turned all of them down."
The PR team leader asked carefully,
"Is there a particular reason?"
A marketing staffer added,
"Right now the entire drama cast is active in promotion, and actor Cha Eun-yul, who has the highest attention of any of them, is the only one with no activity, so the production company is feeling slighted."
The CEO's gaze rested on me for a moment. Then he spoke in a firm voice.
"It's his first interview after a five-year gap. We don't know what questions the reporters will ask. It could have a bad effect on filming."
At the CEO's words, several staff members' expressions shifted subtly. From their side, not knowing the reason, dissatisfaction was bound to build.
I let out a short breath.
"If we only keep avoiding it, doesn't that just pile up worse articles?"
The CEO tapped the table with a finger.
"Which is why we're gathered here now."
I looked around at the staff. The PR team, the marketing team, and Ji-ho hyung too.
People agonizing over my problem.
Now it was time for me to step forward myself.
I looked at the PR team leader.
"Team Leader-nim, what would be the best approach in a situation like this?"
Even at my sudden question, the PR team leader answered calmly.
"Actor Cha Eun-yul does an interview himself. It's a chance to put the controversy to rest and re-establish his image."
The CEO and Ji-ho hyung looked at each other. Without hesitating, I continued.
"Is there a way to make sure the agency isn't damaged even if I misspeak?"
The PR team leader explained gently, with a small smile.
"We set the board ourselves in advance."
Hearing that, the CEO glanced at the PR team leader, but the man kept going.
"We arrange the interview around reporters friendly to us, not malicious outlets like Disnote, and coordinate the questions beforehand. If we prepare answers to match the advance questions, we can run the interview with no risk exposure."
Then Ji-ho hyung raised a concern.
"What do we do if an unexpected question comes up?"
The PR team leader tapped his tablet with a finger and answered evenly.
"There'll be a moderator. If an unexpected question comes up, the moderator will smooth it over naturally. It's a common method in official interviews."
The CEO and Ji-ho hyung met each other's eyes once more and nodded.
Every gaze focused on me again. The choice was entirely mine. The trauma still sat in one corner of my heart, but I wasn't the me of the past, the one who only ran.
This interview would go beyond simply putting a controversy to rest. It would be a first step toward communicating with the public.
Once I'd sorted through it, I opened my mouth as though I'd made up my mind.
"Understood. I'll do the interview."
The CEO's brow moved slightly. Then his low, firm voice rang through the conference room again.
"Hold on. There's no need to do it like a live broadcast. If we pre-record it so it can be edited, that reduces the risk too......"
His words trailed off, but his intent was clear. If something unexpected happened, cover it in the edit.
I listened quietly, then spoke decisively.
"Approaching it that carefully could actually make people more suspicious. An 'interview premised on editing' can draw the reaction that there's no sincerity in it."
The CEO narrowed his brows and looked at me.
I continued explaining calmly.
"What has to go out is me taking the questions directly and speaking directly. That's the only way to give the impression that I'm speaking sincerely, without hiding anything."
The conference room went quiet for a moment. The PR team leader nodded and added,
"He's right. The actor's assessment is exactly correct. Even with coordinated questions, the key is making it look like he's answering naturally on the spot. It has to look real for the sincerity to land."
The CEO pressed his lips together, seemingly deep in thought, but soon nodded slowly.
I spoke once more.
"This interview isn't just me agreeing to something. It's a place where I speak for myself and take responsibility myself. That's the only way I can start over."
At those words the CEO's eyes wavered for a moment. Then he let out a short sigh and nodded.
I could feel the tension in the conference room loosening bit by bit at my short answer.
But there was still clear worry on the CEO's face. I gave him a short nod and smiled, as if to say it was all right.
The PR team leader distributed roles quickly, as though he'd been waiting for it.
"We'll contact our usual friendly reporters and set up the interview. We'll coordinate the questions in advance and work out the answers with the marketing department."
Marketing moved immediately as well.
"We'll run social media promotion and events alongside it. Once the question list is out, we'll review it internally and set the direction."
Then one of the marketing staff added, half joking,
"Team Leader Yoo Ji-ho has a good tongue on him, so it'd be even better if he worked on it too."
The CEO looked at Ji-ho hyung and snickered.
"This one does have a way with words. All polish and no substance, though... just like a snake."
Ji-ho hyung narrowed his eyes and said playfully,
"Wow, CEO-nim. Calling a person a snake. That's too much."
Ji-ho hyung fired back with a laugh, and light laughter spread through the conference room.
"Once the question list is out, I'll help too. With wit and humor! How many years have I been a manager? An interview script is a piece of cake."
The staff all burst out laughing. The tension that had hung over the whole meeting seemed to loosen bit by bit.
But then—
"Huh? Hyung, what did you just say?"
I looked up suddenly. One thing Ji-ho hyung had said lodged itself unusually clearly in my head.
"Hm? With humor?"
"No, after that... you said a script is a piece of cake?"
A faint light switched on in my head.
I instinctively looked around and asked,
"The questions and answers, can they really be prepared like an actual script?"
The PR team leader nodded as if it were obvious.
"They're practically a script as it is. Official interviews are almost all done that way. Questions coordinated in advance, answers prepared. The actor just has to carry that flow naturally."
In that moment—
The space above Ji-ho hyung's head began slowly to shimmer.
The faint shape turned into clear letters and surfaced in my field of view.
[Serpent's Tongue Yoo Ji-ho]
– Title Copy Condition: Say five compliments he would like within five minutes.
– On Title Copy: You acquire brilliant eloquence and the ability to apply it.
I looked at Ji-ho hyung without a word, and the corner of my mouth slowly lifted on its own.
'...This title will be pretty useful beyond just the interview.'
Ji-ho hyung tilted his head.
"What? Why are you smiling like that again?"
I didn't answer.
I just smiled quietly and thought to myself.
This interview hasn't even started and it's already threatening to be fun.
The problem is... figuring out how to 'compliment' this hyung in the first place.