Battle Genre!

I was on my knees on the floor, both arms raised over my head. I'd been at this for thirty minutes already. My arms were starting to—no, my arms had already hit their limit. My legs were going numb, the feeling draining out of them, so I eased them down a little.

"Hands up higher!"

"Yes..."

At Kang Ho-yeon's bark, I snapped both arms straight up and pressed them to my ears. I snuck a glance at her face. More than thirty minutes, and her expression still hadn't softened. The reason she was furious was me.

"It's not enough that you talked about your chest on stream... a mukbang? And four hundred thousand won of it? Are you even in your right mind? Even if you demolished eighty pieces of sushi on the last game stream, this is way past the line! Do you not have the word restraint in your vocabulary?"

"That's..."

"Don't make excuses!"

"Yes...."

I answered in a crushed little voice. And the problems did not end there.

"Fine... I was willing to try to understand up to that point... But then you climbed up on a railing like an idiot!"

That was because the parade was so much fun I wanted a closer look...

"You sang in the middle of a packed plaza!"

The viewers asked for it. I didn't have a choice...

"And on top of that, you bought Super Passes ten times! How many times have I told you that you have to start managing money from a young age!"

It was an amusement park I might never get back to. I just wanted to squeeze every last drop out of it in one go...

Kang Ho-yeon knew perfectly well that, food ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠aside, I never spent money on anything.

"And finally... you dropped a million won on toys! Are you out of your mind?!"

"B-but."

I had something to say about this one, if nothing else.

"That was the fiftieth-anniversary superhero transformation set in collaboration with Ronde World! How... how was I supposed to resist that..."

My voice shrank smaller and smaller. Kang Ho-yeon's face had gone past angry into something you could fairly call monstrous. My shoulders shrank on their own.

S-scary...

I almost never saw her lose her temper, which only made it worse. This was a completely different dimension from when she scolded Tsuki. That had felt like education and discipline. This was her pouring out raw fury.

"Toys? Fine. It's money you earned, Jiwoo. If you'd spent this kind of money over several months, I wouldn't have said a word. But look at this statement!"

Kang Ho-yeon thrust the transaction record at me. Just the amount spent in a single day yesterday: about 2.5 million won. I hadn't bought luxury goods. No expensive watch. No expensive shoes. So what, exactly, had I bought so much of in one day?

The answer was—

"Hehe... I ate a little too much, didn't I?"

"Haa..."

Kang Ho-yeon let out a deep sigh. The old saying was right: you can't spit on a smiling face. The moment I smiled, the anger drained right out of her.

"If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you'd bought luxury goods, I wouldn't have chewed you out like this... I've told you before, haven't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I? Let's wait until you're an adult to start spending money."

That was true. Every time money hit my account, Kang Ho-yeon added that we should wait until I was grown to spend it. Spend too much at a young age and your sense of money can warp. She was worried. I knew that. Even so, I'd gotten so excited this time that I might have gotten a little carried away. I needed to reflect.

"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful from now on."

"Alright. You're a smart kid, Jiwoo. You can come in now."

"Haha... I guess that's over. You can put your arms down too, Jiwoo."

CEO Jo Kyuhyun, who had been quietly crouched by the door this whole time, came over. He was holding a document file. The fact that he'd brought it all the way here meant he intended to show it to me.

"Jiwoo. Sit down for a minute. We need to talk."

I got up slowly. My legs and arms were so numb I could barely move, so Kang Ho-yeon helped me into a chair.

"Is that for me?"

"You noticed? That's right. This is a contract that came in under your name."

"A contract?"

I opened the file. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The contents were about casting for the film Magnificent Bride. I'd wanted to shoot this movie from the start. I'd been planning to tell Jo Kyuhyun and have him reach out first. I never expected them to contact us first.

I'm not even acquainted with Director Shin Yeomyeong.

If someone had spread word about me, it was possible. That would require someone with a certain amount of clout, and a personal connection to a film director. Two people sprang to mind immediately. The ones who'd passed me the script: PD Kang Wonseong and Writer Kim Eun-joo.

Maybe it was both of them.

I read the contract carefully. There wasn't a single unfavorable clause. The catch was that it was a lead-level role, so the shooting load was heavy—which meant more school absences. School was fine. I'd already gotten permission to miss as much as I needed as long as I kept my grades up.

"This project might be rough because of all the controversy around it... but if you're alright with it, Jiwoo."

"I'll do it."

"I was hoping you'd.... wait, you'll do it?"

"Yes. It's a project I've wanted to do for a long time."

"May I ask why?"

Jo Kyuhyun asked seriously. As for reasons—

"I like the work. It's rated 19+, but there's not a scrap of sexual content. It's just a villain who commits evil according to her own convictions, right?"

She wasn't a psychopath, or a killer who murdered for pleasure, just because she was a villain. She was a judge who sought out only the trash—the criminals who fouled the world—and passed sentence on them. That was how I interpreted her. Of course, I'd had the system's help. I left out anything about the system and told him how it felt.

"I see... You've already parsed it that far. Director Shin will be pleased. I was startled when the call came in on a direct line. He said PD Kang Wonseong had passed along the contact. Originally they wanted to give him your number, but since you're a student, they reached out to the company instead."

One of the people I'd guessed. Correct. I nodded, thinking I should thank him later.

"Great. I just sign here, right?"

I pulled out the pencil case I always carried, to sign. I kept it on me so I could jot down notes whenever I had time to read a script.

"Hold on a second."

The instant I was about to write my name, Jo Kyuhyun closed the contract.

"Even if you've decided to take it, you don't sign right away. Meet Director Shin first, decide for yourself whether he's someone you can work with, and then it won't be too late."

Whether it was leftover from my previous life, I still hadn't broken the habit of paying the moment I said I would. This wasn't my previous life.

Jo Kyuhyun watched me nod and went on with a smile.

"And there's a script that came in for you at the office. You'll need to look that over too."

"Ah... are there a lot?"

At my worried tone, Jo Kyuhyun gave a short laugh.

"Just a few."

Around four that afternoon. The inner office at JO Entertainment.

I went through the scripts one by one with the face of someone who'd been betrayed. No matter how many I looked at, there was no end to them. I glanced to the side, and a mountain of scripts still filled my vision.

"Haa... I got played. He definitely said there were only a few."

There looked to be at least thirty. I hadn't counted exactly, so I couldn't be sure. According to Jo Kyuhyun, even this was only the ones he'd cut down as much as possible along the way. Meaning the scripts that had actually come in for me were far more than what was sitting here.

Was that really the case? No matter how I thought about it, I had a slight doubt whether my acting was at a level that would bring in this many scripts.

I called the system.

When I'd shot Ghost Singer, my acting had been C. After filming the drama, it had evolved to C+. Rank-wise, my acting ability was still nothing more than an ordinary person's. And yet the number of scripts in front of me was over thirty.

I spent another hour skimming scripts, then chose a single work.

"CEO. I've decided. I'll do this one. My next drama."

"Huh? Already?"

Jo Kyuhyun looked at his watch. I'd started reading at ten in the morning. It was almost five in the afternoon. He was stunned that I'd read through more than thirty works in a mere seven hours.

"Hold on. Let me check."

Jo Kyuhyun pulled out his phone and checked the source of the script I'd handed him.

"Ahh— this one's like Ghost Singer that you shot before, except you couldn't really call it a slice-of-life drama. It's a battle-format drama... you okay with that?"

"Battle..."

How that word struck a chord. Jo Kyuhyun still didn't know me, apparently.

"I love battle stories. What I bought yesterday was a limited-edition superhero transformation set, remember?"

"Ah... right. That's why Hoyeon chewed you out so hard."

"Th-that's...."

"You've already been scolded plenty, so I won't pile on. And..."

At that moment—

Knock-knock, click.

The office door opened. The person who opened it was Kang Ho-yeon. Alarm was written all over her face.

"What's going on?"

"Ah. He's here."

"He's here... who?"

Jo Kyuhyun's brow furrowed as he stood.

"Who on earth would make you look like...."

Soon Jo Kyuhyun wore the same expression as Kang Ho-yeon. Standing in the office doorway was a man whose face was haggard and worn, at odds with his sturdy build. Seeing him, Jo Kyuhyun opened his mouth.

"Why..."

The man bowed his head slightly as he stepped closer.

"I'm sorry. This is rather sudden, isn't it? But I'm in quite a hurry myself..."

Then he held out his hand for a handshake.

"A pleasure. I'm Shin Yeomyeong."

He smiled, his eyes meeting mine past Jo Kyuhyun, and continued.