“Anger management disorder……?”
By the time I came to my senses, the words were already out of my mouth.
‘Wait.’
Ah. Aaaaaah.
Only now did I remember.
Right, it was prince syndrome!
I'd been so sure in the dressing room that I didn't even need to memorize it!
Of course, I didn't know whether Park Song-hu actually had an anger management disorder, but from where I stood, it certainly looked that way!
He'd gotten angry at every little thing in the hospital room!
It felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the studio.
I stopped breathing without realizing it.
‘Should I just run?’
My brain began calculating an escape route.
About fifteen meters to that door, three seconds at a full sprint, then through the corridor to the emergency exit…….
“Bwahahahahaha!!!!”
Laughter burst out like an explosion.
From several people at once, no less.
“Ah, shit, is this going on the air? Hey, is this really going on the air?”
“Ahaha, ahahaha!”
“Wow, I can't take this…….”
Every member of the cast was cracking up.
Some were practically sobbing with laughter.
‘……?’
The crew was much the same.
The producer was pressing at their cheekbones, and the staff were smacking one another as they laughed.
‘……Am I safe?’
It was too early to tell, but the mood didn't seem bad.
It didn't look as if they were laughing at me…… It looked as if they genuinely found it funny.
‘Th-then did it work out well in the end?’
“Hey, Song-hu!”
“……Yeah, what?”
The man who'd just called me was known as the nation's MC, but we were supposed to speak casually to each other for the show's premise.
“You're Park Song-hu, right?”
“!”
My heart nearly stopped, but I soon realized he was joking.
I might have lived shut in my room, but I could pick up on that much.
“That video gave me a shock, you know. You've got one fiery temper!”
“…….”
I didn't know about that, but I knew my face was burning right now.
Then Jeon Jae-min narrowed his eyes at the MC and asked,
“Aren't you the last person who should talk about having a temper? Remember when you lost that Korean wrestling match and shouted in front of your senior?”
“……You're bringing that up again now?”
“Hahahaha!”
After that, the conversation kept rolling along without a moment of dead air.
I'd only said one thing.
‘Wow, though. Is it really okay for me to stand here doing nothing so shamelessly?’
It was like a game in which everyone had a role assigned to their position.
They already had a system that ran on its own, so all I had to do was stand there without doing anything.
For the record, Park Song-hu had promised me the entire appearance fee for today…….
‘That's insane value for so little work?!’
I watched them trade jabs and deal damage to one another until the timing felt right.
“Pfft.”
I covered my mouth with my hand and laughed.
I even let my eyes crinkle a little.
I'd seen Park Song-hu react like that at least once whenever he was on a variety show.
“Song-hu.”
Jeon Jae-min looked at me.
There was a peculiar mischief in his eyes.
“I know exactly how to cure that illness.”
“……How?”
Without a word, he pointed straight at the MC.
The MC tilted his head.
“It'll disappear the second he stands in front of you.”
The show had long since veered off the script.
There should have been questions and answers about prince syndrome, but things had taken a different turn from the start.
From here on, everyone was improvising.
Perhaps that was why something that wasn't in the script began to unfold.
“Let's test it!”
“……!”
The burly MC suddenly rose from his seat and strode toward me!
I threw both arms up over my face on instinct.
Just as I had with Park Song-hu.
‘E-eek!’
“I-I manage my anger just fine, sir! I do!”
“Ahahahahahah!!”
“Hahaha, see? He's cured in an instant!”
“Wow…… Song-hu, you're incredible. You're not the Park Song-hu I knew.”
I'd only been following my survival instinct.
……And the studio erupted in laughter once again.
***
After the opening segment ended, they decided to take a short break before going back in.
Staff members whispered to one another all around the set.
They had only one subject.
“This shoot feels good, doesn't it?”
“Yeah, he's playing along much better than I expected.”
“His reactions are great, and so are his comebacks. There's no dead air at all.”
Park Song-hu.
“And that's not all…… He greeted each of us individually in the hallway earlier, you know?”
A camera operator's eyes went wide.
“Really? When I met Park Song-hu on another program before, he wouldn't even make eye contact.”
“Right, he was famous for being aloof. As if there were an invisible wall around him.”
“He's a completely different person today. I hear even the fans waiting outside the station went wild.”
The producer stroked their chin with an intrigued expression.
As the staff had said, Park Song-hu's foul temper was so notorious in the industry that practically everyone knew about it.
‘But now…….’
The producer could see Park Song-hu in the distance.
He was smiling awkwardly at the cast's jokes and constantly sipping water.
In a way, he looked just like a rookie who'd only recently debuted.
And among the cast, someone else was watching him closely.
‘What's going on? His feel for variety shows is incredible.’
Jeon Jae-min observed Park Song-hu while drinking water.
He'd never imagined that the haughty Park Song-hu would make a joke at his own expense.
‘It is a good approach.’
The public?
They'd actually like him more for being good-humored.
You could call it a direct way of facing the controversy.
But most celebrities couldn't bring themselves to let go of their image.
That tendency was even stronger for an actor like Park Song-hu, whose livelihood depended on his image.
‘Did he change his mind while he was lying low? Still, you can't suddenly develop quick wit out of nowhere.’
In truth, the Park Song-hu Jae-min knew had been sorely lacking when it came to television variety shows.
When he appeared on one, he didn't trade banter. All he did was react.
Of course, thanks to his good looks, the female cast members would collapse in laughter at even his most ordinary remarks.
‘This could actually make for a great show, contrary to what I expected. Though I don't know what'll happen from here.’
Meanwhile, the break ended.
The performers returned to their places one by one, and filming began again.
“Everyone seems to have a lot of questions for our new patient. Shall we take them one at a time?”
A simple question-and-answer session followed.
“What's your MBTI?”
“……ENTJ……?”
Park Song-hu—no, Park Song-min—barely managed to answer by recalling things he'd read on Namuwiki.
He'd read and memorized them one by one the night before for precisely this moment.
Fortunately, unlike the prince syndrome line, his mind hadn't gone blank.
He must have adjusted a little in the meantime.
Just then, the MC slapped his knee.
“Oh, right. Song-hu, we ran into each other once before, remember?”
“…….”
Park Song-min panicked for a moment.
Cold sweat ran down his back.
‘Ran into each other? When? Where? How am I supposed to know……?’
This wasn't the sort of thing he could find by digging through Namuwiki.
And Park Song-hu hadn't told him about it, either.
The possibilities raced through his mind.
‘If I say I remember, I'm finished when he asks for details. If I say I don't, it'll look like I'm looking down on him…….’
A fork in the road lay before him, and either path seemed lined with thorns.
‘What do I do?’
He didn't know. But there was one thing he was sure of.
“……I'm sorry about that day.”
With Park Song-hu's shitty temper, he must have done something wrong.
Maybe he'd acted arrogant toward a senior, or barely nodded in greeting.
Might as well start with an apology.
“…….”
“…….”
Silence settled over the studio.
The MC blinked.
“You gave me a doughnut that day. What are you sorry for?”
“……Oh.”
‘Park Song-hu is capable of doing things like that?!’
Flustered, Park Song-min fumbled for an answer.
“……I should have given you a bigger doughnut.”
At that moment.
“Bwahahahahaha!”
“Right, a regular-sized doughnut would never satisfy him.”
“Hey, that's an apology on another level. I've never seen someone apologize for the size!”
“Ahahaha! Are you serious?”
The entire cast burst into laughter.
“Have you been holding on to that one doughnut for years? How deep does your grudge go?”
The conversation naturally shifted to the MC's appetite.
Scratching his head, the MC said,
“Song-hu, the hole in that doughnut was empty, too. Are you going to apologize for that?”
“……Next time, I'll bring you one without an empty hole.”
“Ahahahaha! Then it wouldn't be a doughnut!”
The studio erupted again.
Park Song-min breathed an inward sigh of relief.
At any rate, he was glad he'd gotten through it…….
***
The CEO's office at JH Entertainment.
Baek Ho-seon leaned back as far as the chair would go and looked up at the ceiling.
The reason Baek had sent that long message was simple.
It was what Baek had heard from Jo Yong-gi.
-Song-hu…… He's become a lot more humble than he used to be. I honestly thought he was a different person.
“A different person…….”
Park Song-hu.
It had been seven years since Baek first cast him.
Baek had seen Song-hu's face on the street and handed him a business card on the spot, but even the way Song-hu took it had been unusual.
Song-hu had flicked a glance at the card, looked Baek up and down, and walked on with an indifferent expression.
With an agency like theirs, most people would show their delight openly or accept the card hesitantly.
Baek had known from that day.
This guy had remarkable nerve.
He never wilted in front of senior performers, spoke his mind to directors, and openly showed it on his face when he didn't get along with another actor.
Song-hu had heard industry people call him arrogant until his ears hurt, but his face alone was what allowed that trait to be packaged as charm.
“And that guy's turned human…….”
Had he spent his year-plus of lying low shut in a room eating nothing but mugwort and garlic?
During Baek Ho-seon's time in the industry, they'd seen countless celebrities return after periods of supposed reflection.
‘Reflection?’
What a joke.
They went abroad on vacation, rested up, and came back.
Only a tiny minority actually changed.
‘Is Park Song-hu one of that tiny minority?’
Baek looked out the window.
The sun was setting.
‘They should be wrapping up the <Our Hospital> shoot around now.’
Had Song-hu done well?
Had he managed to make the show entertaining?
If Baek were honest about those expectations, there was no way Song-hu had.
Park Song-hu had never been an amusing person.
That was Baek's dispassionate assessment as the head of the agency.
The guy made a living with his face, not his mouth.
Becoming more humble wouldn't suddenly make him entertaining on a variety show.
The realistic scenario was that he'd sit there quietly for the entire shoot.
‘Did he just react to everything again and call it a day?’
Still, the attention around his comeback would bring in ratings.
Even if he wasn't funny, Park Song-hu's name carried weight.
‘I should take things a little more slowly from now on.’
Because Park Song-hu was so unpredictable, Baek had always kept a tight rein on him.
For one thing, he'd openly fought with a director during filming on three occasions.
That was why Baek had personally managed Song-hu's schedule and projects, filled his calendar, and narrowed his choices.
But if Yong-gi was right and Song-hu had truly changed…… Baek was willing to loosen the reins.
If Song-hu showed signs of returning to his old ways, Baek would restore the old arrangement at once.
‘For one thing, he has no eye for projects.’
Just remembering the projects Park Song-hu had brought in, saying he wanted to do them, made Baek's head throb.
Every one had been a commercial flop.
He should at least choose projects that would make something of his looks. How did he manage to step on a land mine every single time?
But that wasn't what mattered now.
Before box-office results, Baek needed to see whether this change was real.
Baek Ho-seon worried that perhaps Park Song-hu was merely acting the part.
‘Then again, his acting's so wooden that if this is an act, it'll probably be obvious soon enough…….’
Just then, bzzzz—
Baek's phone rang.
It was the producer of <Our Hospital>.
The shoot must be over.
“Hello.”
The moment Baek answered, an excited voice poured through the speaker.
-No, CEO Baek!!
What was this?
Had Song-hu caused some kind of incident?
-What on earth is going on with Park Song-hu?!
Hah.
Of course. People never really changed, after all…….
-In all my years as a producer, I can count on one hand the times I've laughed this much on a set!
……?