Mom's Sorry!
While Jiwoo was being yanked every which way by the people at her agency, another building stood quiet.
It was new enough that you could not have found a dirty corner if you tried — not on the facade, not inside.
A nameplate was fixed to the outer wall.
JO Entertainment
In the CEO's office, Jo Kyuhyun leaned back in his chair and let the music from the speakers wash over him.
"Heh heh..."
He was smiling, thoroughly pleased, at a certain famous clip circulating on social media.
"Hngh! To think I've pulled a talent like this into my company. Kang Ho-yeon wasn't talking nonsense when she demanded a hundred million won. To come this far in so little time..."
When he had first heard that absurd figure, cousin or not, he had wanted to flip the whole table. Now? That hundred million still stung — but it was more than worth the investment.
"And a supporting-lead role in a drama, no less."
An email sat open on the computer on his desk, the subject line announcing an audition pass. At first he had frowned. What audition? He had not heard a word about any of their kids going out for one. He had been a second away from deleting it as a misdelivery.
Then—
"If Ho-yeon hadn't called, I would have wiped it."
Deleted mail could be recovered, of course. But deleting an acceptance letter? Even if the drama actually got made, he had the sudden, superstitious feeling it would flop. He jerked his hand off the mouse as if it had burned him.
"Heh heh... It still looks good no matter how many times I read it."
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he read the message on the screen again.
He could have scrubbed his eyes and read it a dozen times. It still said she had passed. He had watched the video online and figured she had the makings of an idol. That she might have the makings of an actress as well had never once crossed his mind.
"Well, nobody wrote a law that idols these days only get to sing and dance. She can do both, can't she? The group's not even set yet, and we still have to recruit members. We've got time."
If she put a name and a face out there through a drama before the group even formed, her odds of succeeding as an idol would only go up. The agency was newly founded. His kids succeeding was the same thing as him succeeding.
"That said..."
Jo Kyuhyun rubbed his chin with one hand, looking uneasy, and tapped a stack of papers on the desk with his index finger. The title on the cover was printed large.
He knew virtual idols were trending, and that some had even broken into actual broadcast networks. That was exactly why he sighed and called Kang Ho-yeon in.
"Yes, sir."
"Manager Kang Ho-yeon. Do you honestly believe this is going to work?"
He tapped the stack of papers again as he asked. No matter how he turned it over, the risk was enormous. From production to the songs themselves, they had no in-house artists, which meant everything would have to be outsourced — and he could not convince himself there would be no leaks along the way.
"Beetle Entertainment in particular isn't going to sit still, is it?"
"I've... thought about that too. I already have materials compiled in advance. If we can hold out with this for at least a year... no, three years, I'll have everything ready in the meantime."
Jo Kyuhyun clenched his fist.
"What I'm saying right now is that we should drop it. We don't need to take a flyer on this virtual business. Miss Jiwoo's looks and her voice are more than enough to sell. I haven't seen her dance yet, but we've got at least half a year before group activities. She can build it in that time."
"And what happens when those insect bastards come after us in the meantime? You knew that from the day you took me on, didn't you?"
Jo Kyuhyun pressed his fingers to his brow and massaged it, looking thoroughly conflicted.
"Even so... the risk is..."
"Stop counting only the risk and look at what comes after. People watch the internet more than TV these days, don't they? If we can pull fans in there, those same people will show up with money in their hands just to see our idol in person. You have to think about that too."
Kang Ho-yeon rapped the Virtual Idol Project with her knuckles.
"Virtual's already booming in Japan and the States. If we play this right, we can even expand overseas and do collabs. That means we can pull in foreign fans without breaking a sweat. This is high risk, high return."
"....."
CEO Jo Kyuhyun froze with his fingers still digging into his brow. His head had to be a snarl of competing thoughts. Kang Ho-yeon watched him in silence, then delivered the finishing blow.
"If it fails, I'll talk Jiwoo into going the regular idol route myself. So just give me one chance."
"You mean that?"
"...Hm? Yeah. I mean it. I've put everything on the line this time."
"I can't give you much support, though. I have a position to consider too."
Thin support — and the publicity might not even land properly. Kang Ho-yeon knew that as well as he did. She nodded.
"Of course."
I finished my part-time shift, came home, and started packing at once.
"Sweetheart... will you really be all right on your own without Mom? Should Mom just move in next door?"
Ji Hyuna had sidled up without my noticing and plastered herself against me. There was real hurt mixed into the teasing in her voice... No. She had to be joking. She would not actually pull a stunt like moving in next door.
"I'll be fine. I'm not just a little kid anymore. And... someday I'm going to have to live on my own anyway, right? Think of it as practice."
"No! No! Mom doesn't want to be apart from her daughter! I want to stay right next to you for as long as I can — until we're both old~!"
Ji Hyuna whined like a child. It was almost as if she were trying to pull my attention somewhere else.
Well. I already know why.
I picked up the phone lying beside the suitcase and opened the entertainment news.
The entertainment sites had been making a racket for hours. Nothing was even confirmed yet, and they were already reporting it as settled fact.
That was me. I had not even stamped a contract, and I had already turned them down once. Not a single thing in those articles matched the truth.
Bzzzt. Bzzzzzt.
My phone buzzed at exactly the right moment. A call — and a name and number I knew were on the screen, so I put it to my ear without suspicion.
"Hello?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Jiwoo. Have you seen the news?"
It was PD Kang Wonseong.
"Yes. I was just looking at it."
"There seems to have been a leak from inside. We've already issued a correction, and it will not happen again."
His voice was as blunt as ever, but I could practically feel him bowing his head through the receiver. I had not asked for anything that dramatic.
"I'll accept the apology. Just please make sure news like this doesn't come out again."
"Of course. And... I would like you to appear as Kang Sora in this drama."
"But school..."
"Then how about this? I'll speak with your agency and your school and work out the schedule. Weekends, or weekday afternoons, as much as possible."
It was not a bad offer. It was almost aggressive, honestly. I still did not understand why he was going this far for me. Want to do it, or not? When I put it that way, the wanting won.
"All right."
In that same blunt tone of mine, I locked in the arrangement with PD Kang Wonseong.
"Then I'll come by Miss Jiwoo's agency tomorrow."
A little later, I was at a barbecue restaurant with Ji Hyuna, grilling meat. Watching the samgyeopsal sizzle and brown on the iron plate, I swallowed without meaning to.
Gulp.
How long had it been since I had seen pork belly like this? Even in my days as a man, my wallet had confined me to the cheap sale cuts from the supermarket down the street. Sitting down and grilling it myself was something I had not done in a very long time.
We were not just sitting there in silence, either. The conversation of the hour was, naturally, the drama. And of course I had not been the one to open the subject. That honor belonged to Ji Hyuna, a genuine drama junkie.
"So my daughter's going to be on TV? How wonderful! I can brag to Mom's friends, right?"
"Lately the actors on TV dramas don't feel like they can act the way they used to, you know? Most of the veterans moved over to streaming. They say it pays better and the shoots are easier."
Her hands never stopped turning the meat, and her mouth showed no sign of stopping either.
I had no idea she was this into celebrities.
If I had leftover time on set, I decided, I should grab a few autographs. I looked down at the meat piled on my side plate.
Then—
"Jiwoo."
I had just wrapped five pieces of pork belly with garlic, ssamjang, and shredded scallion in a lettuce leaf and was putting it in my mouth when Ji Hyuna called my name.
"Mom's sorry... about everything until now. I pushed you to study because I wanted my daughter to do well... I never imagined you'd hate it that much."
The sudden change of subject made me swallow the bite half-chewed.
"Mom is... this is Mom's first time being a mom. You don't have to forgive me. But... I want you to know I only ever wanted Jiwoo to be happy."
I did not know what to say. Even in my life as a man, I had no memories of anyone I could call a parent. And I had only known Ji Hyuna for about a month. All I could do was speak the feeling my memories were carrying.
"It's all right. I never hated you, and I never disliked you. I already know you worked so hard for my sake. And... studying wasn't that bad..."
The problem had only been that studying was all I did. I kept that part to myself and went on.
"The me I am now... I enjoy singing. I enjoy acting, too."
For a second Ji Hyuna's face went still, and a single tear slipped down.
"Thank... you... for saying that... And I'm sorry... for being such a lousy mom..."
I wrapped a well-done piece from the grill in lettuce and held it out to her.
"Here. Let's eat this and let it all go."
"....Yeah. Okay..."
We demolished close to twenty minutes' worth of meat and stood up from the table.
"Um... Mom? I don't think that was quite enough. How about ice cream over there?"
At the tip of my pointing finger, a famous shop advertising thirty-three flavors had come into view. After all that greasy meat, the stomach needed something cold and sweet to settle it.
"I love it. Let's go!"