Stubbornness or Passion
I was still in a daze.
I'd been walking around like a zombie for days now.
Not because a nineteen-year-old had confessed to a twenty-seven-year-old — but because that nineteen-year-old was my little cousin.
"But why? Why would she like me?"
"Who said anyone likes you?"
"Huh??"
"What?"
"What what?"
"What the hell are you talking about?! You just said it!"
"Ah…"
I must have muttered it out loud without realizing. That's how scrambled my head was.
Good thing I already hired staff. Without them, the company would've been toast.
"What is actually wrong with you?"
"What did I do?"
"Are you seriously asking? You're sitting there like someone who just lost their entire fortune! Why are you so out of it?!"
"……"
Seoyun and I had gotten close enough that hanging out alone like this felt completely natural — and still, I had no answer for her. Because a company trainee had confessed to me. My cousin, no less.
"Whatever. How've you been lately?"
"Same as always."
Seoyun was prepping an album. Last year-end she'd dropped a solo record and done her own promotions; now she was gathering with her former members — all scattered across different agencies — to put together a new group album. Whether they'd actually go through with it was still up in the air, but still.
"More importantly — when do I get to act?! When are you casting me?!"
"When you're ready."
"That is not what our contract says! You promised I could do whatever I wanted! If you don't put me in something, that's a breach of contract!!"
I stared at her as she barked at me, then shifted my gaze to the side of the table. Seoyun turned to look too — right at the foot I'd stuck out.
"I said I'd cast you once you fixed that wooden acting of yours. You agreed."
"You little—! I do not act wooden anymore!!"
"Okay, maybe not that bad. But you're still not ready for a real production. So keep practicing~"
"You absolute—! I'm suing you one of these days!"
"Be my guest~"
"You think I won't?!"
"Oh, I'm sure you will~ If Baek Seoyun says she's doing it, who am I to stop her? Acting excluded, of course."
"Hey!!!!"
Her projection had gotten a lot better. Her diction, too. But more than anything, what had improved was her ability to take a line, understand it, and interpret it. Before, she'd either stick rigidly to the stage directions or invent some completely unhinged personal reading. Now she actually studied her characters and grasped the overall flow of a scene.
Which is why — despite what I'd just told her — I was already hunting for a drama or film she could actually nail. I was keeping it secret. Wanted it to be a surprise.
"If you've got nothing else to say, get lost. Unlike you, freeloader, I'm a working man."
"Who are you calling a freeloader?! And I'm not done talking, so sit back down!"
"Then take care on your way out~"
"Hey! Yoo Eun— ho…?"
"……"
Seoyun, who'd been yelling at full volume, trailed off mid-sentence. We were regulars here, and the café on the first floor of our building paid basically charity rent — so nobody usually cared. But I'd already stood up, walked past her, and somehow ended up crawling under the table.
"What are you doing down there?"
"Shh!!"
"What is wrong with you…"
"……"
I held my breath and waited. Praying the kids who'd just walked in would leave already.
"The usual for us, please! Heehee~"
"No whipped cream for me. Weigh-in soon."
"Ah… then no syrup for me either… Serin, you cutting anything?"
"Nope."
"You selfish little—!"
"How do you not gain weight?!"
"Heh~"
"Don't laugh!!"
"Don't laugh!!"
Whether it was a high metabolism or pure luck, Serin seemed to eat the most of the three and never put on a gram. Mei, on the other hand, gained weight the second she looked at food, and Minju just loved eating a little too much.
"Huh?? Hello, sunbae!"
"Sunbae!"
"Hello."
"Oh, hey. And Minju — I told you to stop overdoing it."
"Heehee~ What are you doing here all by yourself?"
"Ah… well…"
Don't make it obvious — just cover smoothly! When are you going to use those acting lessons?!
"Ah! I came by for something and then felt like coffee, hehe…"
"Ah…"
"But Representative, what are you doing down there?"
"……"
Oh, for fuck's sake.
Mei had plopped down on the floor with her legs splayed wide open, and our eyes met. I scrambled out from under the table as casually as I could, pretending to pick up a phone I'd dropped — and in the process caught a flash of yellow panties peeking out from under Seoyun's crossed thighs.
"Ahem…!! Phone fell."
"Oh, your phone?"
"Yeah. Phone."
I ignored Mei's suspicious stare, stood up — and locked eyes with Serin, who was watching me with a completely blank expression.
"Ahem!!"
"……"
She was the one who'd ambushed me with a confession, so why did she look totally fine? I was dying of awkwardness over here!
Time to get out. Fast.
"Alright, I'm heading out. Practice hard~"
"Hey, Representative! I'm coming with you! See you guys later~"
The second we left the café I made a beeline for the elevator — fast enough that Seoyun had to run to catch up.
"Hey! Slow down a little!!"
"Why are you following me?!"
"Because I wasn't done talking!"
"Then say it already and go!"
"……"
What was that look?
Her vaguely serious gaze shifted into something skeptical, and then a smile bloomed at the corner of her mouth — the kind a kid gets when they find a new toy.
"Wh-what?!"
"Don't tell me something happened with one of those girls."
"Something happened? Nothing happened! Absolutely not!"
"Really? Okay then~ I was just thinking maybe you'd gone and confessed to one of those kids who are still students~"
It's the other way around, you idiot!
"It's nothing like that. So don't get any weird ideas. Got it?!"
"Got it. No weird ideas."
Anyone could see she was already having weird ideas. That mischievous grin was still plastered all over her face.
I glared at her as she snickered — and before I knew it, we'd arrived at the U-I office.
"Whoa~ You've got a ton of employees now."
"Why are you even coming in here?!"
"I told you I had something to say. Right, Representative Yoo Eunho?"
"……"
Seoyun suddenly switched to formal speech and titles. I glanced around. Everyone was staring at us with eyes the size of dinner plates. Fair enough — even though we shared a building, Seoyun almost never had a reason to show up at the company.
"Just come inside."
"Yes, Representative."
Moments like this really did prove her acting had improved.
"Representative, coffee or tea—"
"Don't worry about it. We just had some."
"Understood, Representative."
I cut Jeong Sora off mid-sentence, answered, and hustled Seoyun into the CEO's office. She dropped onto the sofa like she owned the place, crossed her legs, and jerked her chin toward the seat of honor — telling me to sit.
"Haa… Hey. Baek Seoyun."
"What?"
"If you're going to cross your legs like that, don't wear something that short."
"What…?"
"……"
Instead of answering, I grabbed a cushion from the corner of the sofa and dropped it onto her thighs. The second she caught on, her face went scarlet. She glared at me like she wanted me dead.
"You saw earlier, didn't you?!"
"I didn't."
"Then why would you say that?!"
"Just looked uncomfortable."
"You little—!! Blue!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Amateur move. She figured if she said blue, I'd correct her and say yellow. I wasn't dumb enough to fall for something that transparent.
"So what did you want to say?"
"…Yellow."
"Pfft—!!!"
"You did see! You saw!! You pervert!!!"
"I said I didn't!!"
"Then why did you just react like that?!!"
"That's—!! Forget it! Just say what you came to say! I'm a busy man!"
"Busy my ass! Busy peeping at other employees' panties?!"
"How many times do I have to say I didn't see anything…!!"
"You little—!!!"
A suffocating stretch of silence followed. Eventually Seoyun calmed down enough to get to the point of why she'd chased me all the way here.
"I want to be in that drama."
"What drama?"
"The one you just invested in."
"……"
The silence that fell was even thicker than before. It had only been yesterday that we'd locked in a thirteen-billion-won investment in a drama.
"How did you find out?"
"The script came into the company. Obviously."
"I specifically told them not to give that to you."
"Why? Why can't I have it? Because my acting sucks?"
"Because it's a tough project for you right now."
"It's not tough. I can do it. You know I can! Even during my solo promotions I never missed a single acting class! Even when work ran till dawn, I woke my teacher up at dawn and practiced! From the day I joined this company until now — every single day!!"
"I know. That's why I've been looking."
"What…?"
"I've been scouting projects you'd actually be good in. I was trying to surprise you, and you couldn't wait and barged in here? Sigh…"
"You were…?"
"Yes, I was!"
"Then you could've at least said something…"
"I told you I was trying to surprise you!"
"……"
She seemed to accept that. Her fire dimmed considerably. But of course this stubborn mule wasn't done.
"I want that project."
"No!"
"I want it! You said you were looking for something for me anyway! So let me do what I want! That's our contract!!"
"Why can't you listen?! It's an action piece! Kicking, punching, and you get hit — a lot! There are scenes that are rough for a woman, too!"
"That's exactly why I want it! I want to show every person who mocked me for not being able to act!!"
"Haa… I'm going to lose my mind…"
Seoyun's stubbornness was no joke. Genuinely, disturbingly stubborn. Talking her out of this wasn't going to work.
Fine. She'd have to experience it herself.
"Be at the company by ten tomorrow morning."
"You're casting me?!"
"That's not my call — it's the director's and the writer's. U-I is investing, but if we start throwing our weight around just because we're the money, the project suffers."
"Then why do I have to come…"
"You try it once. Experience it yourself, then decide if you can handle it. After that, we talk auditions."
"For real?? So you're saying yes for now??"
"Yeah."
"Kyaa~!! I knew you were my best friend!!"
"Get off me."
"You should feel honored. A Baek Seoyun hug is a once-in-a-lifetime event."
"Haa…"
"Heehee~"
In high spirits, Seoyun threw her arms around me and rocked us side to side for a long while. But this happiness wouldn't last past today. Once she experienced it tomorrow, that "I want to do it" would vanish real fast.
Because the drama U-I had invested in — Your Name — was an action series brutal enough that most women would struggle to endure it.