The Day the Fake Singer Fell
11:45 a.m.
Blizzard Entertainment, Team 1 office.
Knock, knock.
Along with a soft rap on the door, a face peeked through the gap.
The man’s eyes, which had been scanning the room, quickly softened, and the corners of his mouth lifted.
“Wow—what’s the occasion today? The guy who usually wears nothing but saggy sweats all day is all dressed up in a suit?”
Ju Tae-hwan, seated on the sofa, let out a pale laugh.
Beside him, Jang Mi-ran lowered her black-rimmed glasses and narrowed her eyes at the script she’d set aside.
“My, my. Clothes really do make the man. You’ve been living in sweats, but look at you now—sharp as anything.”
Ha Ju-young strode in with a triumphant smile on his face.
He dropped onto an empty sofa and, with an air of mock innocence, pointed a finger at Jang Mi-ran’s glasses.
“You should get new glasses too, noona.”
“Why? I only got these less than two months ago.”
“Still, you should change them. I think your eyesight’s suddenly gotten a lot worse.”
As Jang Mi-ran’s eyes narrowed behind the lenses, Ju Tae-hwan, who had been listening to the banter, snickered.
“Noona, this is Ha Ju-young you’re talking to. Clothes make the man? He could throw on a dirty pair of pajamas and still look like a star. He’s practically Korea’s representative pretty boy actor.”
At that, Ju-young turned on the spot as if to show them, striking a model-like pose. Jang Mi-ran curled one side of her mouth.
“Well, I can’t exactly agree with that, but... I will say, you really have lost weight, haven’t you? Your jawline’s sharper. Your whole image has changed.”
“Ugh, I really have to go this far before anyone notices.”
Ju-young grumbled with a laugh, and Ju Tae-hwan shook his head.
“Why did you peek in through the crack like that, anyway? Hiding from someone?”
“Ah, that. There’s someone I really didn’t want to run into today.”
“Don’t tell me... Hwa-young?”
For a split second, the corners of Ju-young’s mouth twitched.
“No, why? Aren’t all the men in Korea dying to see Hwa-young? She’s the most popular right now, isn’t she? The number-one actress men in their twenties to forties want to date.”
“That’s what people who don’t know any better say.”
With a slight furrow between his brows, Ju-young shook his head.
Jang Mi-ran let out a quiet laugh before speaking again.
“So then, what’s the occasion? Why are you all dressed up like that today?”
At the question, joy colored Ju-young’s expression.
“I’m meeting Director Lee Tae-gyun today for a movie casting.”
“Ah, I heard he was preparing some action thriller or other. So it’s already at that stage?”
“Yes. I got the script, and it was really good. But the director’s apparently torn between me and Ahn Ji-hoon.”
“Good heavens! Comparing our Ha Ju-young to Ahn Ji-hoon?”
Jang Mi-ran opened her eyes wide and shook her head in disbelief, while Ju Tae-hwan burst out laughing.
“Ju-young put on a little weight while he was resting after his last drama ended, you know. The industry rumors move fast—he probably just wants to confirm it for himself.”
“Still, he looks fantastic right now.”
“Right? Noona, I really want that movie. That’s why I came to get some of Seo-jun’s luck before heading out. Seo-jun’s all the rage these days.”
At Ju-young’s teasing, Jang Mi-ran gave a snort of laughter.
“Seo-jun was filming until dawn. He’s probably asleep right now. Dong-jun’s supposed to pick him up around two in the afternoon.”
Following Ju Tae-hwan’s words, Jang Mi-ran folded her arms and tilted her head.
“Still, our Seo-jun really is doing well. Fans send a coffee truck practically every day now. Yesterday, I heard he even got a sweater from a fan—said she’d hand-stitched it herself. The weather’s going to turn cool soon, so they told him to wear it while waiting on set.”
“...Wow. His life really is a roller coaster.”
“Still, he’s nowhere near enough to rival Hwa-young yet. If you want a little luck, you should go that way.”
At Jang Mi-ran’s remark, Ju-young casually waved a hand.
He kept his expression light, but his brow twitched ever so slightly.
“No, really. I ran into Hwa-young on the way to that TvM meeting last time, right in front of here? After that, the moment the director saw me, he started tilting his head, and I got shot down hard right there on the spot.”
“Shot down hard? I heard he apologized politely and said he’d definitely like to work with you next time...”
“Same thing, really.”
As Ju-young gave a bitter laugh, Ju Tae-hwan chided him lightly.
“And that was because of your weight, not Hwa-young’s fault, wasn’t it?”
“Even so, if something feels off, better to avoid it. Well then, I should get going...”
Just as he began to rise from his seat—
The door flew open, and someone stormed in.
“...Damn it!!!”
The moment Ju-young saw who it was, his face went rigid.
***
It was already past 1:30 in the afternoon when I finally opened my eyes.
What woke me from my deep sleep wasn’t an alarm, but the ring of Manager Hwang Dong-jun’s phone call, placed to check in before heading out to pick me up.
I washed up quickly and changed clothes.
He’d told me to come out empty-stomached since we’d be eating lunch together, so I did exactly that, leaving the house in time for his arrival.
After getting off the elevator and into the car, I pulled my phone from my pocket.
The group chat was already packed with new messages.
They had so much to say that I had to scroll down for quite a while just to catch up.
Once the members had been chosen as the leads for this mini-series and the group had gathered for their first rehearsal together, the chat room had been created.
The original idea was to share information and help each other with filming, but at first it hadn’t been all that active.
As time passed, though, they grew closer and the shoot got underway in earnest, and the atmosphere changed completely.
Ted, the 25-year-old who played the leader, Ji-hwan, was the only one who didn’t talk much. The other three, though, were so full of chatter that notifications rang nonstop.
To help us sink more fully into our roles, we’d agreed to call one another by our character names even outside of filming. We’d saved each other that way in our phones, too.
I was the center of this mini-series, sure, but the others still had significant parts to play.
And even though they were idols first and actors second, with schedules that were probably no less brutal, the group chat never seemed to have a moment’s peace.
They may have finished their activities and entered the off-season, but at this point it was almost as if they lived with their phones glued to their hands.
In the end, I couldn’t keep up with the nonstop alerts and switched the phone to silent.
I couldn’t focus on anything else otherwise.
And then, whenever I happened to think of it, I’d pick up the phone and check what the four of them had been talking about without me.
This time too, they were already several scrolls deep into a lively conversation.
Most of it was nothing particularly important, just everyday chatter...
Something like this:
Hyeong-uk: Wow, Ye-jun. I heard you were bad at acting, but this is a total surprise? You’re actually really good, lol?
Deok-su: Your fake innocence is on, lol. Did you see him losing his mind when he looked at Woo-hyun lying there during the first shoot?
Ye-jun: That wasn’t acting, lol. I was seriously shocked. For a second I forgot we were filming and almost called out “Hyung!” instead of “Han Woo-hyun”;;
Hyeong-uk: Fair enough, lol. My heart skipped too.
Ye-jun: I’m rehearsing Scene 17 right now—where is everyone? Let’s run through it if you’ve got time~
Deok-su: Argh, lol. I’m lagging in Scene 14. It’s only two lines, so why can’t I memorize them T_T
And that was just what had been posted in the chat room on the very first day of filming. After that came all sorts of tiny, pointless little remarks.
Anyone who didn’t know better would have believed it was the group chat of a real five-member idol team that had debuted together.
Without realizing it, I was chuckling to myself while staring at my phone when Hwang Dong-jun, driving, glanced at me through the rearview mirror.
“What’s so funny?”
“Ah, nothing. The guys I’m filming the drama with are just being noisy again in the group chat.”
“Really? Good. It’s nice that you’ve got people you’re getting close with now.”
Hwang Dong-jun smiled faintly, then looked back to the road and went on.
“By the way, you haven’t seen that article yet, have you? Since you just woke up.”
“What article?”
“That bastard Kang Ho-jun. He got caught by the police in a DUI crackdown this morning.”
“.....!”
So it had finally happened.
And this early in the morning, too.
“The guy was riding high after the drama ended and the ratings went through the roof, so I guess he got carried away. He’d been going around only to fancy bars in Gangnam, guzzling liquor like there was no tomorrow.”
“So what happened? What’s the fallout?”
I asked lightly, pretending I knew nothing.
“Man, don’t even get me started. If it were only the DUI, that’d almost be lucky. The bastard asked his manager to say he’d been driving instead, and when the manager refused, he even went and assaulted him.”
It matched the future article down to the last detail.
Maybe it was disbelief, or maybe it was the strange satisfaction of seeing it finally unfold, but the corners of my mouth slowly rose.
“The swollen bruise around his eye was all over the broadcast. That hit drama is completely ruined because of him now. What a disaster, seriously.”
Hwang Dong-jun clicked his tongue in annoyance.
As for me—why should I care?
I’d seen this coming, so I’d already gone through all the scripts up to episode nine, the one that would be cut short anyway.
Thanks to my minuscule screen time, even people who had faithfully watched the drama would be left asking, “Huh? Han Seo-jun was in that show?”
“Anyway, I’ve picked out a quiet restaurant. Let’s go there. There’s a private room, and they say the steak’s excellent. I already made a reservation. Jang Mi-ran recommended it.”
“Sounds good. I’m hungry, so let’s each order two servings.”
Hwang Dong-jun let out a snort at my cheeky remark.
He reached out and switched on the radio.
The station was already tuned to the FM channel I usually liked to listen to.
When I got in the car, he’d known I’d be putting that broadcast on.
[Yes, it’s now 2:12 p.m. We’ve been seeing one shocking headline after another today.]
The familiar voice of the female host filled the car.
[A moment ago, we reported that actor Kang Ho-jun was caught driving under the influence of alcohol. And at 10:00 this morning, another big bombshell hit the music industry. Singer Shin Yeon-ho, who has the largest fandom in the country, has suddenly announced his retirement from the music scene. Entertainment reporter Go Eun-hee has the story. Reporter Go Eun-hee?]
“...Whoa!!”
Hwang Dong-jun, who had been casually watching the road, widened his eyes.
For him—someone who mostly knew girl group songs by heart—to react like that, this really had to be a shocking story.
“...Why on earth?”
His eyes round, he pricked up his ears.
[Why would he announce his retirement at the peak of his popularity?]
[Yes. He explained the background by saying that although he had accomplished a great deal as a singer, he couldn’t let go of his dream of becoming an actor. He says he will now take his first steps as an actor and devote himself fully to acting. At the same time, he left the public a hopeful message: “Don’t let go of your dreams, just like I didn’t.”]
So he couldn’t find a vocalist after all, and yet he was spinning such a polished lie.
Who even wrote a script like that for him?
[Still, countless fans who loved Shin Yeon-ho’s songs must be devastated right now. How is the public reacting?]
[Yes, as you said, the shock among fans is considerable. Major music charts are already in upheaval following the announcement. “Autumn-Colored Memories,” which had fallen as low as eighth, has once again reclaimed the number-one spot. Not only that, but his older hit songs have also surged back into the upper ranks, and at present no fewer than seven songs by Shin Yeon-ho occupy spots in the top ten. It seems this reverse-run wave won’t cool down anytime soon.]
Hah...!!
That’s really getting on my nerves.
Those are all songs I sang.
Just how much am I losing here?
[I suppose that’s how fans are showing their disappointment?]
[That’s right. The agency has already announced plans to release a best album under the title Goodbye, Shin Yeon-ho. They also added that they will produce another album, Shin Yeon-ho Live World, which will compile unreleased live recordings.]
“Wow, that bastard’s really squeezing every last won out even as he retires. Unbelievable.”
Hwang Dong-jun, unaware of the context, let out an awed exclamation.
Filthy bastards.
You think you’ll get to walk away clean?
I was already planning to crush nothing but his path to becoming an actor, but this wouldn’t be enough.
Let’s see what happens once people start suspecting there was a real vocalist behind those songs.
“Hyung, I think it’s about time.”
At my casual remark, Hwang Dong-jun turned to me.
“Huh? Time for what?”
“You said before that Actress Lee Hwa-young would grant you one wish, remember? I’m going to use that this time.”
“Really? And how exactly are you planning to use it?”
“I’ll tell you slowly while we cut the meat.”
When I smiled, Hwang Dong-jun glanced at me and let out a small laugh of his own.
---