"I thought Yi-jin had a hidden emotion too, while I was writing the script. Yi-jin kept moving however she pleased inside the script, you know. But that was love, you're saying?"
"Yes. That is how I interpreted it."
"What am I supposed to do if you know my script better than I do? If it weren't for you, San-woo, I'd have nearly had to revise the whole thing later."
What do you mean, what are you supposed to do? You just drop Noh Jeong-ah and pick Chae-eun.
"Chae-eun, will you step out for a moment?"
When Chae-eun went out of the audition room, Writer Son looked at me and smiled broadly.
"Chae-eun. You do know she fumbles her lines a bit when they get long."
Why do you say a thing like that with a smile? She really does toss a person up and down as she pleases.
"Someone who's perfectly polished but has less charm, or someone who isn't quite polished yet but has charm. The latter, obviously. And kids who can understand it at once and spit it right out just because someone at their side explained it are rare, too."
"Does that mean Chae-eun has passed?"
"We don't even know when we'll get a time slot. I'll go over the whole script, and Chae-eun will have plenty of time to practice her acting, too."
"Writer Son!"
"Wait a moment!"
The production company PDs cried out in shrill voices. There must be things to sort out among the production company, Noh Jeong-ah's agency, and the broadcaster. That part I'll leave you to sort out among yourselves.
"San-woo, please coach Chae-eun's acting a bit more. I'm confident I can persuade everyone, the PDs here and right up to the higher-ups. You just trust me, San-woo, and I'll just trust you."
"Writer Son. Please, don't decide too hastily. There are popular actors lined up right now, too."
"Popularity? You saw the articles on Chae-eun and were thrilled yourselves, saying the buzz was incredible and even 'Utopia' had taken off, remember. Shall I guarantee it? Once 'Utopia' is released, Chae-eun takes off even more."
"That's true. But still, Writer Son."
Noh Jeong-ah, Noh Jeong-ah. The production company PD, turning away, desperately mouthed the words at Writer Son. It was a despairing gesture begging her to please remember that Noh Jeong-ah had been pre-selected.
"Right, Noh Jeong-ah. Noh Jeong-ah has a point, you know. With Noh Jeong-ah's career, appearing in a work like this is a bit much. Isn't that so?"
Everyone in this room seemed to have heard Noh Jeong-ah's scene loud and clear. The production company PDs could no longer raise an objection to Writer Son's words and squeezed their eyes shut.
I took that opening to toss out a question I'd been curious about, too.
"Who's playing the lead?"
"Not yet. Is it because a little kid's mother goes as far as an affair with a young guy? No A-lister is stepping up readily. And I can't just give it to anyone, either. We'll have to wait and see a little longer."
When I heard it compressed like that, the impact was stronger.
The female lead of 'Loner' in the previous world was Song Eve, who had mostly played comic, bubbly roles in sitcoms and short-form dramas.
With this work she was praised for having widened her acting range, and she even took home the grand prize.
It was possible because the script was just that good.
That role, I want it.
***
When we left Redbox Studio and came down to the parking lot, the midday sun was shining down brightly.
"Oppa, I'm going to the convenience store for a sec. I didn't get any sleep, so I'm dying over here. I'll go buy coffee."
"I'll go buy it."
"I don't think you'll have the time, oppa."
When I looked where Chae-eun indicated with her eyes, I saw Jo Min-ju leaning against a wall, blowing out a long stream of cigarette smoke. Jo Min-ju, her brow deeply furrowed, ground out the cigarette butt under her foot and walked up to me.
"Let's have a little talk, shall we?"
"Go ahead?"
Put a rhythm into your words and you can stoke the other person's anger further. Jo Min-ju, stiff as a board, somehow had a look that made you want to tease her.
"I didn't take Yong Ent for that kind of outfit, so how about not playing dirty? Why are you drooling over a part someone else already has in the bag? So tacky? What, in love with her sister-in-law? Why not be a writer instead of a manager?"
Jo Min-ju must have a spy in the production company's office. In the time it took me to ride the elevator down, she'd found out everything about Chae-eun's audition, where the mood had been so good. No wonder she made chief at Sinsa Ent.
"I don't think this is the time to be worrying about my drooling. Keep a lid on your own kid dribbling her manners all over the place. Everyone saw it earlier."
"Look who's talking? Things are shaky enough as it is, and you think cutting in and snatching between fellow actors is acceptable? If word of this gets around, your kid is the one whose manners are fucked. You're new, so you still can't tell shit from soybean paste, can you?"
"No, I can tell them apart just fine. Don't worry about our kid's manners, because the cutting in, the snatching, that's all something I take care of myself."
Ding!
"One moment. I've got an urgent message."
I checked the message on my phone that I'd been waiting for.
[Sub-Quest Success]
[Quest Details: Give Chae-eun a part to her taste]
[Reward: Negotiation +1]
Name: Lee San-woo
Occupation: Yong Entertainment Intern
Level: F-Grade (6 points left until next level-up)
Stats: Affinity 1, Quick Wits 1, Decisiveness 0, Negotiation 1, Stamina 1
And again, ding!
[Player's Active Participation Triggered]
[Bonus Reward: Quick Wits +1, Decisiveness +1]
Name: Lee San-woo
Occupation: Yong Entertainment Intern
Level: F-Grade (4 points left until next level-up)
Stats: Affinity 1, Quick Wits 2, Decisiveness 1, Negotiation 1, Stamina 1
Writer Son's secret to success, number three. A swift fight, a swift finish.
She said she was confident in her persuading, and it looks like she wrecked them all, right up to the higher-ups, one shot, one kill.
With a satisfied look, I put my phone in my pocket and said to Jo Min-ju.
"You may go ahead and spread the word now."
"What did you say?"
"Yong Ent's new manager, Lee San-woo. Tell them his manners are fucked, so they'd better watch out."
"S-surely not......!"
Jo Min-ju, gone deathly pale, ran into the building, making a call on her phone.
Only then did I turn to look at Chae-eun, who'd bought not just coffee but popcorn and stood next to me munching.
"What are you standing around watching this for? You should've been in the car."
Chae-eun, wearing the look of someone whose sleepiness had vanished in a flash, asked as she climbed into the car.
"Was this originally Noh Jeong-ah's? Did I snatch it?"
"Snatch it? You don't need to know about things like that."
"Why not? It's more fun now that I know? A huge fucking win for Chae-eun! Left Noh Jeong-ah in the dust!"
Character. Chae-eun. Character matters too.
We were in the car on the way back to the office.
Maybe because of the coffee's stimulant effect, Chae-eun, in a good mood now, chattered away from the passenger seat without a break.
"There aren't even many Yi-jin scenes in the script, so how were you sure it was romance?"
"I just look at a script and see it right away."
"Please teach me how to read a script, too."
"You'd have to be born again."
"......."
It's true, though. I could feel Chae-eun's hot glare on the side of my face as I drove, and a laugh slipped out.
"Your acting teacher will be coming soon. So learn well from the teacher. The CEO says he's assigning you one."
"The CEO? Really?"
Had she known she'd fallen out of CEO Park's good graces? Chae-eun asked in return with a look of disbelief.
"So when the teacher comes, smile first and greet them well. If you act stiff just because you're nervous, people keep getting the wrong idea. And if strange rumors get around because of that, it's just too unfair."
From now on, there had to be no more of Chae-eun losing out because of first impressions.
"...Can't you just keep going over my scripts with me, oppa?"
Chae-eun, who'd hesitated without answering what I'd said, asked me.
"No."
Chae-eun's quest has ended in success. But the role of Yun-yeong, the sister-in-law Chae-eun loves and the lead of 'Loner', is still vacant.
My plan is to give Seo Yu-jin her role of a lifetime with this part and lead the quest to success.
So it's a no. Chae-eun quietly echoed my words and turned her gaze out the window. Her tone sounded somehow regretful.
"Learn properly from the teacher, since I'll be right beside you helping, too."
Fwoosh— In an instant, a smile spread over Chae-eun's face.
"When's my car coming? Couldn't it be a great big foreign car or something, instead of a car like this?"
Chae-eun, her voice pitched high again, asked playfully as she busily opened the car's glove box and sun visor.
"You think it could?"
When I shot back, Chae-eun began to tease me as if she'd been waiting for it.
"I'm only 'our kid' in words."
"Think about growing up fast and becoming an adult."
"And just how much of an adult are you, oppa, that you can't even pick up on a signal?"
"What signal?"
The road from the audition venue to the office. I'd been obeying every signal on the road as I drove.
"That youngest PD unnie from the production company who was showing us around earlier. You didn't know that unnie kept staring at you, oppa?"
"Was there something on my face?"
"You lead her on first and now you're playing innocent? You're the one who went up close and smiled at her first, oppa. You really didn't see that unnie's face turning red?"
"Chae-eun, the world isn't that rosy. Get the wrong idea and come on to someone, and you're just asking to get reported, you know?"
While unanswered questions were filling the car, we fortunately arrived at the parking lot of the office building.
In the parking lot stood a car I hadn't seen before.
A magnificent sports car that stood out by far, even in a neighborhood full of foreign cars. It was the kind of car with a name so difficult that people just call it a supercar.
"Wow......."
Chae-eun all but jumped out of the car and went up to the unfamiliar vehicle. Having finished parking, I turned off the engine and got out too.
Chae-eun's eyes sparkled as she circled the car, taking it in.
"How much do you have to earn to be able to buy a car like this? Oppa, you're going to help me earn lots of money so I can buy a car like this, right?"
She's still a kid. A kid who's seriously ignorant of the ways of the world.
"Take just one picture of me, please."
What's this uneasy feeling?
While I was puzzling over the sense of wrongness that had swept over my whole body in an instant, Chae-eun, before I could stop her, had rested both arms on the hood and was looking at me.
"How is it? Does it suit me too well? Like, it looks like my car, doesn't it?"
Chae-eun's slender arms came into close-up.
'I can never leave like this!'
Chae-eun's scream flashed vividly through my head.
Over Chae-eun's playfully smiling face, the afterimage of the last world's Chae-eun, scattering tears with her face contorted, was superimposed.
Vrrrrrm— A menacing sound, as if it would grind Chae-eun up at any moment.
And me, in the dark alley, swaying on my feet as I watched that Chae-eun.
"No!"
When I grabbed Chae-eun's thin wrist and pulled, she staggered and was dragged toward me.
"Ah! That hurts....... I was only joking, so what's with that reaction?"
Chae-eun rubbed the wrist I'd grabbed and watched my face.
"......."
Why did that image come to mind? This world is different from the previous world.
"Because touching someone else's car carelessly can cause trouble."
Just as I managed to bring out an excuse for what I'd done, the supercar's door opened and a man got out of the driver's seat.
Gasp! Chae-eun, who'd been carelessly touching someone else's car, panicked that there might be trouble after all and hurriedly hid herself behind my back.
"Senior Kang Cha-hyeon!"
Jo Du-hwan, who'd come running out of the building, stood in front of the man.
The man was Kang Cha-hyeon. Chae-eun's sponsor in the previous world, and the very person who brought her life to an end.
"If you'd contacted me when you set out, I would have been waiting and parked the car for you, too! Oh? You've already met? This is our rookie, Chae-eun. The one I asked the favor for."
What favor?
"Chae-eun, have you said hello? This is Senior Kang Cha-hyeon, whom we've invited to be your acting teacher."
"I saw you on the news, Chae-eun. Nice to meet you."
Kang Cha-hyeon held out his hand in my direction. Beside the menacing supercar, which flashed as it reflected the light, Kang Cha-hyeon's smile shone more menacingly still.
Chae-eun, having rearranged her expression behind my back, sprang forward and grabbed Kang Cha-hyeon's outstretched hand.
"Hello, Senior! I'm Chae-eun. Or should I call you Teacher? Your car is so cool. Please give me a ride in it sometime!"
When even a mere tip of the head would have been more than he deserved, Chae-eun had, of all things, absorbed my words frighteningly well. For Chae-eun, greeting him with a bright smile plastered over an expression gone stiff with nerves, there was no middle ground.
Kang Cha-hyeon burst out laughing at Chae-eun's bubbly words. At that frighteningly attractive laugh, Chae-eun laughed along with Kang Cha-hyeon.
The Kang Cha-hyeon who has appeared in front of Chae-eun right now is too dangerous. Please let this world's Kang Cha-hyeon be half of show business's lovebird couple, a diligent actor, and a senior with a mind to nurture the next generation.
As I was hoping so, ding! My phone went off in my pocket.
I slowly checked the message on my phone.
[Sub-Quest Triggered: Prevent Chae-eun's Scandal]
[Quest Details: Save Chae-eun from Kang Cha-hyeon's temptation]
[Reward: Decisiveness +1]
"......."
No sooner had I felt my heart drop to the floor with a thud than a hot surge of heat filled me.
The root of evil, which until now had only given off an ominous smell, had finally shown its good-looking true face.
It was time to take out the trash.