You... Can't Act!
The conference room at JO Entertainment.
A wide round table, greenery arranged with easy care, and warm sunlight spilling through the windows all seemed to promise that today's meeting would start on a pleasant note.
It really should have.
Jo Kyuhyun stole a glance at the man and woman sitting across from him.
The man wore a bristling beard and a faint scowl that made no secret of how little he wanted to be there. The woman, round glasses perched on her nose, was hammering away at her laptop without looking up.
Kang Wonseong PD and Writer Kim Eun-joo—two titans of the drama world—had walked into JO Entertainment together.
The company was barely five years old. Faced with a pair of legends sitting in his own conference room, Jo Kyuhyun was one deep breath away from passing out.
"President Jo. Did you have something you wanted to say?"
"Ah! No! Haha! My throat's just dry today, that's all."
He snatched a drink off the table and downed it in a rush, trying to soothe a throat that nerves had set on fire.
"You're not wrong. It does feel dry. Is the heat too high?"
"Ah! Then I'll go adjust it! Just a moment—"
"No need. There's a remote right here."
Kang Wonseong picked the remote off the edge of the table and lowered the temperature himself.
Jo Kyuhyun despaired for a second. His only excuse to leave the room had just evaporated. All he could do now was pray that the actual star of this meeting would show up soon.
"Anyway... Jiwoo still isn't here? PD, you did tell her the right time, didn't you?"
"...Probably?"
Kang Wonseong and Kim Eun-joo had already been waiting for more than thirty minutes.
"Hah... I knew it. You dragged me here without even checking the time."
"When did I drag you? The second I said we should go see Jiwoo, you dropped what you were working on and came running."
Listening to two industry giants bicker like that made Jo Kyuhyun's head spin.
What are these two even talking about? They're waiting for Jiwoo? Came running?
He already knew last night's entertainment news had been running hotter than usual. He'd assumed the controversy was about these two making a biased casting call. Hearing them now, though, the person at the center of it all sounded an awful lot like Jiwoo.
Jiwoo! What on earth have you been doing out there?! More importantly—get in here and save me already!!
Whether the prayer actually reached anyone or not, a small knock sounded at the door.
"Um... President? There's a matter that needs approval today... uh.... I-I'll come back later."
Unfortunately, the face that peeked in was not Jiwoo's. It was a company employee. A new girl group had just debuted, and approval documents for costumes and sets had been piling up. The employee took one look at the air in the room, understood immediately, and fled.
W-wait! At least save me before you go!
Watching the employee escape without him, Jo Kyuhyun felt thoroughly betrayed.
Then—
"Um... I heard the president was in here?"
"Oh... ohhh!"
At last. The savior who would end this suffocating atmosphere had arrived.
"Jiwoo! Come in, come in. Can I get you something to drink? An ade? Coffee?"
"I... I'm fine. More importantly... the director and the writer are here too? I didn't hear you'd be coming together... Hello."
Jiwoo bowed politely to the two legends.
"Welcome. Kim, you should've just stayed home and worked. Why you tagged along is beyond me... I'd appreciate it if you didn't get in the way."
"Excuse me, PD? What is that supposed to mean? You said you were going to see Jiwoo and told me to come along and give her some advice!"
"I have no recollection of that."
Kang Wonseong gave a light shrug, looking genuinely blank. Kim Eun-joo's blood pressure was visibly climbing. She seized the iced coffee beside her and drained it in one go, trying to cool herself down.
"Hah... Sorry for dropping in unannounced. I felt I owed Jiwoo an apology as well, so I came along. Figured I could offer some advice while I was at it."
"Ah... thank you."
"Anyway. Let's get to the point."
Kang Wonseong pulled two bundles of paper from his bag. One was the script from the audition I had done. The other was labeled as a contract.
"This is the title of the drama Jiwoo will be in. Ghost Singer. To give you the short version..."
Ghost Singer.
A protagonist who suddenly starts seeing ghosts struggles to lay the lingering regrets of the dead to rest. The role I had been given, Kang Sora, was the first ghost to appear—from the back half of episode one through the start of episode four.
"A ghost who died looking after her younger siblings without ever achieving her dream of becoming a singer..."
"That's right. That's Kang Sora. But... after watching Jiwoo's performance that day, I decided to add a new layer to the character."
I jumped. I wasn't the only one. President Jo Kyuhyun beside me looked just as startled.
"W-wait a second! Writer Kim Eun-joo! We haven't even agreed to a contract yet... if you start expanding the role like this..."
"...What? You haven't signed yet?"
Kim Eun-joo tilted her head as if she couldn't understand why a contract wasn't already sitting on the table.
"We're an idol agency! We don't have the staff to take on acting work yet... and Jiwoo just joined. She still has school, and her afternoons are packed with practice. So... it's a bit early to be signing anything."
"Then how about this."
Kang Wonseong, who had been listening quietly, stroked his chin and offered an idea.
"I'm not opposed to making Jiwoo an idol. Of course, it's a waste that she isn't an actress, but..."
He looked genuinely sorry about that as he went on.
"As far as I know, there isn't even a group for her yet. You just debuted a girl group a few days ago, so you don't have the budget or the manpower to debut Jiwoo on top of that. The way I see it... you haven't even built the framework. Am I wrong?"
I nearly jumped out of my seat.
How does the director know all our internal affairs?
I wondered if someone had leaked confidential information. Back when I worked as a salesman, company secrets had slipped out more than once or twice. I personally knew of three incidents. Only one of them ever became public. Finding out who'd talked was never easy.
"The rumors have reached that far?"
"Can't be helped. The industry is a small world."
President Jo Kyuhyun and Kang Wonseong carried on as if it were nothing.
"Filming will take six months at most. We'll wrap all of Jiwoo's scenes within that window. Hand her over to us."
"Hold on. PD, when you put it like that you sound like an actual gangster. Soften the wording a little."
"Do I? Hand her over to us. We'll take good care of her and give her back."
"Hah..."
Kim Eun-joo let out a sigh at Kang Wonseong's still-rough phrasing. I had thought he was a real gangster myself, judging by his looks and his tone. Now I could see he was just a man who charged ahead for the sake of his work, no holds barred.
Of course, he was still terrifying.
"How were you thinking of structuring the contract?"
"President? You're allowing this?"
"I don't want to, but... if you get on Kang Wonseong PD and Writer Kim Eun-joo's bad side in this business, you might never work in drama or film again. That's how much clout they have."
Jo Kyuhyun spoke as if he had no choice, but the smile on his face was so pleased it was almost unseemly.
"If these two legends are right and Jiwoo's acting is strong enough to put her face in front of the public, she'll already have fans following her when she debuts as an idol. Building name recognition now isn't a bad call for the future."
I checked the contract on the table for any strange clauses.
"Uh... Director? Is this... settlement rate right? The amount seems off."
The figure on the contract was two million won per episode. Four episodes came to eight million. Including rerun fees, it would come to over ten million won.
Then—
"Jiwoo. I'm sorry."
He bowed his head toward me—toward someone who had only been startled by how large the sum was.
"I wanted to give you more, but... the investors said they couldn't pay a newcomer any more than this. I pushed as hard as I could. Told them to take it or leave it. They threatened to pull the funding. This was the best I could do."
"N-no... I was surprised because it was so much... please, get up!"
Having someone older than my parents bowing his head at me did not sit well at all.
"I'm happy with this amount. I'm only seventeen. Where else am I going to make this kind of money? And in just half a year. Here—I'll sign."
Aside from the money, there wasn't a single bad clause, so I signed on the spot.
"The problem is... school, and my weekend part-time job..."
"Don't worry about that. I'll coordinate everything as much as I can. You just focus on the acting. I'm counting on you."
"Yes. I'll be in your care as well."
Kang Wonseong stood and held out his hand. I took it, and my first drama contract was done.
A few hours later, at the SBD Drama Department.
It was past three. Having slotted in that last troublesome piece of the puzzle, Kang Wonseong had eaten a solid lunch and was now chasing off the drowsiness creeping in with a long gulp of cold water.
His gaze slid downward.
Laid out in front of him were the contracts of every actor confirmed for the drama. Just looking at the names, he could already see how he would shoot them. What he was looking forward to even more, though, was next week's script reading.
"What kind of performances they'll bring..."
He was already getting excited.
Then—
"PD!"
In the middle of that drowsy afternoon, a woman's shout cut down the hall.
"PD! What is this supposed to mean! You said you'd cast me this time!"
Her voice was razor-sharp. If a voice could physically attack people, several people in that room would already have been shredded.
"Keep it down. I'm not the only one here."
"Then maybe you shouldn't have been dodging my calls!"
Kang Wonseong pressed his fingers into his brow, bidding a quiet farewell to the happiness of a moment ago.
"I dodged them because I knew it'd be like this... didn't think you'd actually show up in person, though. So. Why are you here?"
"The Kang Sora role! You said you'd give it to me! So why... is that part going to some random newcomer! You know how important the characters in the first episode are!"
A drama's first episode was its first impression. Even extras couldn't be allowed to leave a scratch. Of course Kang Wonseong knew that perfectly well.
"That's why."
"...Excuse me? What did you just say?"