[Player's Active Participation Triggered]
[Bonus Reward: Affinity +1]
Name: Lee San-woo
Occupation: Yong Entertainment Intern
Level: F-Grade (2 points left until next level-up)
Stats: Affinity 2, Quick Wits 2, Decisiveness 2, Negotiation 1, Stamina 1
My Affinity stat went up too. It's probably because this business has brought me a little closer to Gil Sang-ik.
[Reporter Gil. Thank you for your hard work.]
[Phew....]
It must've been rough on him. I let out a laugh at Sang-ik's message, and when I raised my head, CEO Park was looking at me with an ashen face.
The CEO's office at Yong Entertainment was starting to feel familiar by now.
"Kang Cha-hyeon laid hands on students, you say?"
"Who knows? He's gone abroad, so I doubt the reporters will dig any further, either."
"That Kang Cha-hyeon had plenty of women on account of that pretty face, I tell you. There was a lot of talk in the theater troupe as well. Even so, I thought he had come to his senses once he married."
Sure enough, Kang Cha-hyeon's woman trouble went way back.
"If Chae-eun had had her lesson that day, some strange rumor could have started for no reason. I will find Chae-eun another acting teacher."
"No. I have someone in mind."
"Who is that?"
"......."
CEO Park looked at me as I gave no answer. When I returned his gaze with a firm expression, he nodded.
"Very well. For the time being, I will leave Chae-eun entirely to you. That is extraordinary authority for an intern."
"Thank you."
Seo Yu-jin would make a good acting teacher for Chae-eun.
This is Seo Yu-jin, who has spent years in show business without so much as a small scandal. You could say that means she has correspondingly little buzz, but in this business, keeping a modest profile and lasting a long time is by far the harder thing.
If I can hand Seo Yu-jin the lead in 'Loner' and clear the quest to find her role of a lifetime, then put her at Chae-eun's side and use her as Chae-eun's shield, that's the best I can do as things stand.
Just think how Seo Yu-jin, in show business since she was seventeen and surely through every hardship there is, must have put up an iron wall against the men who came on to her.
She could probably give Chae-eun all sorts of tips that I, being a man, can't pass on.
On top of that, the picture of a senior and a junior from the same agency practicing a script together and getting their acting in sync was heartwarming just to think about.
Seo Yu-jin had to play Yun-yeong, no matter what.
I checked again the article I'd found beforehand, the one that would move Seo Yu-jin.
Song Eve Did It! Wins KBC Drama Awards Grand Prize for 'Loner'
Song Eve is the leader of Piani, the girl group Seo Yu-jin was in.
Song Eve transformed her acting with this work too, so there's no reason Seo Yu-jin can't.
I intend to make Seo Yu-jin a gift of this article.
***
Why Is Seo Yu-jin at a Bodybuilding Competition? Presents Bouquet to Former Manager Who Won
There was one odd thing about Seo Yu-jin. An article had her going to a bodybuilding competition. In the thumbnail photo, a handsome man with splendid muscles stood beside her.
'Don't tell me this guy is that Dong-jun from back then?'
I called Jo Du-hwan to make sure.
[Shin Dong-jun? He's got nothing on his schedule today, you know. Why?]
"Because we joined at the same time. I thought I'd meet him sometime when I have a moment."
[Kid, so you've got a commendable side to you? Dong-jun lives at the gym every single day he's off. I'll call ahead, so go and meet him. You two are the same age, so you'll be friends in no time.]
"Yes."
Sure enough, that Dong-jun was this muscleman.
Whether I won Shin Dong-jun over to my side or removed him from Seo Yu-jin's, it seemed best to start by going to the place where he'd be at his most defenseless.
Maybe because it was the middle of a weekday, the gym was quiet. I picked out Shin Dong-jun's back right away in the free-weight zone, where he was working his shoulders with dumbbells.
He was wearing a sleeveless top with thin straps and short shorts, so I could see at a glance how the muscles of his body, split into separate pieces, each moved on their own.
He was tall to begin with, and with well-balanced muscle on top of that, he was a body model in all but name. He had the looks to debut on the spot.
Just as I was feeling that the world was a little unfair, my trusty weapon, the one only I had, sent me a notification.
Ding!
[Time Attack Quest: Conquer Shin Dong-jun]
[Time Attack Quest Details: Win Shin Dong-jun's heart]
[Reward: Stamina +1]
[Time Limit: 5 minutes]
Unlike the quests so far, this one had a time limit of 5 minutes.
'5 minutes......?'
That's enough time to cook one pack of ramen. I walked steadily up to Shin Dong-jun, who was right there in front of me.
"Hello. I'm Lee San-woo."
I timed my greeting to the moment he stopped his reps and set the dumbbells down, and Shin Dong-jun greeted me back, wiping off his sweat with a towel.
"Hello. I'm Shin Dong-jun. Jo Du-hwan got in touch with me."
"Jo Du-hwan?"
"Because he and I are the same age. I hear you're the same age as me too, San-woo? Let's drop the formalities."
So Jo Du-hwan was my age all along. And yet there he'd been with his 'commendable' this and that, lapping up my polite speech every single time and acting as rude as he pleased. Anyway, the man's hard to like.
"Should I call you Senior?"
"You still don't know our company's hierarchy is a mutt's pedigree? Just call me Dong-jun."
He was refreshingly direct, and luckily he didn't seem to have a bad personality.
That makes this easier. In my head, I lit the burner under a pot of water. Here we go.
"You must like working out."
"Yeah. I'm prepping for a competition."
"Physique? Or Classic Physique?"
"Huh? Physique. You work out?"
I'd memorized the bodybuilding divisions beforehand, and when I acted like I knew a thing or two, Shin Dong-jun visibly brightened.
Shin Dong-jun, who'd swept his eyes quickly up and down my body the moment he asked, tacked on another question right away.
"How do you know?"
"One look and I can tell. Your muscle's balanced, so I figured you'd be Physique. Because it doesn't look like you've built it to the max on purpose, even though you could add more volume."
Looking pleased at my words, Shin Dong-jun glanced at the mirror and slipped into a pose.
"If you're prepping for a competition, what about managing?"
"No attachment. It's a part-time gig to pay the bills."
"Ah, a part-time gig......."
When I trailed off on purpose, Shin Dong-jun let his curiosity show.
"Why?"
"It's because I don't know anyone at the company. I'd been hoping I could get close to you and work with you, you see. Since Chief Jo Du-hwan is a bit hard to approach."
Shin Dong-jun made a sound like tch, sat down on the bench and looked at me in the mirror.
"Is that bastard pulling rank again?"
I'd added a cheat code to my 2 points of Affinity, and it worked at once.
Shin Dong-jun called Jo Du-hwan 'Jo Du-hwan', surname and all. He hadn't seemed all that fond of Jo Du-hwan, so I'd tossed the line out, and Shin Dong-jun had snapped it right up.
Nothing beats talking behind someone's back for getting close, after all.
I dropped the ramen into the water that had started to boil in my head. Now for the main point.
"No, it's not so much that. There's a really good script I want to show Senior Seo Yu-jin. But it looks like it's getting cut at Chief Jo Du-hwan's level. That's why I came to you."
The words had popped out the moment it occurred to me that, with Shin Dong-jun showing his hostility toward Jo Du-hwan, I ought to let him see that I didn't trust Jo Du-hwan.
Maybe because my Quick Wits stat was at 2 points too, it came out so naturally.
"Give it to me. I'll pass it on to noona."
With that, he flopped back on the bench and gripped the bar. I went around behind the bar just as naturally and got into position to spot him. Loaded with several plates, the bar weighed quite a lot.
I fixed my eyes on Shin Dong-jun's pecs as they rose and fell.
"I saw her get the script for 'Racing Heart'. Is she doing it?"
"Hoo— She's thinking it over. Because noona's the type who takes a long time to decide."
"Because of what?"
"Noona's already in her 15th year since her debut, and all she's ever done is supporting roles, you know. Hoo— And the part the company gave her this time is a supporting role's supporting role. She wants to turn it down."
"Oh, your upper chest is kicking in. Then she can just turn it down and find something else, can't she?"
At my words, Shin Dong-jun pressed his back into the bench, reset his form and lifted the bar.
"Hoo—"
"Someone like Senior Seo Yu-jin must have had plenty of good parts come in. Okay, three more."
When I felt the strength going out of Shin Dong-jun's grip on the bar, I started the count.
"One, two, three, last one. One more. Okay—"
By now the ramen should be just about done.
Haa— Dong-jun got up from the bench and spoke as he wiped off his sweat.
"Seems like there's a lot you want to know about Yu-jin noona? Ask away. I'll tell you everything I know."
Everything? Why?
Ding!
It was my phone that gave me the answer instead.
When I checked the phone, I found that a quest success message had arrived.
[Time Attack Quest Success]
[Time Attack Quest Details: Win Shin Dong-jun's heart]
[Reward: Stamina +1]
Name: Lee San-woo
Occupation: Yong Entertainment Intern
Level: F-Grade (1 point left until next level-up)
Stats: Affinity 2, Quick Wits 2, Decisiveness 2, Negotiation 1, Stamina 2
"I can tell right away from how a guy spots on the equipment. You seem like a guy I can trust."
It was a friendship that had bloomed over pumping iron. That's how pure a man who works out is.
Now it was time to enjoy the nicely cooked ramen at my leisure.
"You asked why noona doesn't turn it down. I think she's scared of whether she can turn down the CEO's decision and still pull it off."
Seo Yu-jin is thirty-two now. She spent a full 7 years going through it all in a girl group, and the years since she turned to acting come to more than that.
And she's still walking on eggshells around CEO Park?
"She wants to take on a challenge, but when it comes down to it, she's scared to. It goes quiet, I look, and she's bawling her eyes out in the back seat. It's not my place to say anything, so I just pretend I didn't see."
So she's a person who wants to eat only what's spoon-fed to her. If someone eats whatever comes and is satisfied, that's no bad thing. But he was saying that Seo Yu-jin wasn't the type to be satisfied with that.
"Why didn't the company push Senior Seo Yu-jin?"
"She's pretty and she's good, but she's nice, so she's a pushover, you know. The company just kept playing Yu-jin noona as a negotiating card and nothing else. Because noona isn't the type to work herself to death, either. And while she was settling like that, other actors pushed their way up."
"So nobody ever asked what Senior Seo Yu-jin wants."
"The CEO's only ever brought her easy projects that make money, too. Weekend serials, or romances that pull in ads. She's an ambassador for several companies run by the CEO's acquaintances as well. All of that eats away at an actor's image, but why would anyone tell a person who quietly lays down the company's revenue to go take on a challenge?"
Seo Yu-jin did as CEO Park said and was doted on for it. She wasn't the company's princess. She was its hired hand.
"Could I meet Senior Seo Yu-jin?"
"Why?"
"To tell her to take the challenge."
Shin Dong-jun, who'd been wiping off his sweat, looked at me.
"Did I make it sound a bit off? Building up actors isn't easy. Just holding steady counts as doing well."
"I'd think it's easier than building up your muscles."
This time Shin Dong-jun clapped his hands and roared with laughter, in a good mood.
"True enough. You do spot well. If you handle noona's work just this well, I'd be glad, since I could leave the company without a worry."
"You're really quitting the company?"
"Noona needs someone who pushes. You could give it a try yourself."
"Then I'll count on you to get in touch with her. This project's a bit urgent, you see."
"I've got two sets left. Once I finish these, I'll call noona for you."
Haa— This time the hot breath burst out of my own mouth.
But thinking of the Stamina stat that had gone up thanks to this, I took hold of the heated bar again myself.