The Fan Service of a Fallen Star
The second floor of a building packed with offices.
Against the backdrop of a spacious café set, a middle-aged woman and a young man sat facing each other.
Outside, darkness had already fallen, and the lights in the ceiling cast a soft glow over the set.
Because it was a filming set, there were no real customers, but a few staff members stood in front of the monitors, watching the screen.
As the camera rolled, the set was so silent it seemed to swallow even the sound of breathing.
The middle-aged woman glared fiercely at the young man.
Her cheeks were flushed red, and rough breaths slipped out from between her tightly pressed lips.
She had her arms crossed as if holding back her anger, but the look in her eyes flashed with pure menace.
The young man sat with his head bowed, his face buried in one hand.
Through the gaps between his fingers, his gaze held nothing but resignation and sorrow, not rebellion.
“...You!”
The woman’s lips trembled.
Then, like a blade cutting through the air, her venomous voice burst forth.
“What did you say to your mother? Don’t you remember? You even promised me you’d do exactly as I told you back then!”
Her cold, sharp tone rang through the set.
“Are you really an idiot? A halfwit? I told you to just crack open the bedroom door and sneak one card out of the handbag! How could you not manage something that simple? My God, where do they find such useless boys? How did I even raise you!”
Her voice rose higher and higher, each word dripping with poison.
Annoyance and contempt flickered in her eyes, and her fingertips shook.
But the young man across from her said nothing.
He simply looked at her quietly, and before long, the corners of his eyes turned red.
In that wet gaze, all the emotions he had been suppressing finally showed through.
At that moment, her own pupils quivered.
“Oh, what is this...!”
The words spilled from her mouth before she could stop them, words that were not in the script.
She clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was already too late.
“Cut! Let’s stop here!”
The director’s voice boomed through the speaker.
The actress Jang Mi-ran stood up from her seat.
Turning to the director and the staff around her, she bowed her head slightly.
“Haah...! Of all things, I messed up on the final line. I’m sorry.”
The makeup artist hurried over and dabbed at the corners of her eyes.
As the silence around them began to give way to a faint rustling, the assistant director raised a megaphone and called out, “Five-minute break! Resetting the lights!”
The lights went out, and the staff started moving again.
Her manager came over with a handkerchief, and Jang Mi-ran pressed at the corners of her eyes.
Once she stepped out of the set, she let out a long breath.
“Haa... hoo...”
As she tried to steady herself, Han Seo-jun, playing her son, approached.
“Are you all right, ma’am?”
By then, his expression had already returned to its usual calm.
Even so, Jang Mi-ran seemed momentarily lost for words, as if he were still caught between the aftershocks of emotion and reality.
“Ah... sorry. Let me catch my breath for a moment, then we’ll go again.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Han Seo-jun bowed politely and retreated to the corner of the set with manager Hwang Dong-jun.
Watching him go, Jang Mi-ran gave another short sigh.
“Haa... the line just won’t come out. It’s stuck on the tip of my tongue.”
“It’s okay, unnie. Once you calm down a little, you’ll be fine in no time.”
While the manager soothed her, the makeup artist came closer and lightly patted around her cheeks to touch up her makeup.
Jang Mi-ran was still rubbing at her chest as she muttered, “I was fine during rehearsal... but then all at once, goosebumps broke out over my whole body. A mother being that cruel... how could anyone be so cruel? How can you pour those kinds of words onto the child you gave birth to?”
When she turned her head slightly, her gaze landed on Han Seo-jun in the distance.
“And Seo-jun’s eyes were so heavy with feeling, I ended up pouring out emotions that weren’t even in the script... I even felt ashamed of myself.”
The manager patted her back as she bit lightly at her lip.
***
I loosened up a little in a corner.
When you crouch in front of the camera for too long, your body stiffens before you even notice it.
That was why I needed a chance to relax like this every so often.
Hwang Dong-jun, who had been watching me, spoke up.
“Want a drink of water?”
“Yes. Thanks, hyung.”
“All right, wait here a sec.”
He rounded the corner toward the parked car and disappeared.
I gently rolled my neck from side to side, then tipped my head back and looked up at the sky.
That was when I caught the whispering of three or four staff members waiting nearby.
“...But seriously, isn’t it shocking? Retirement?”
“Tell me about it. My little brother wouldn’t even eat; he just locked himself in his room and cried his eyes out... After that news broke, he’s been wearing headphones nonstop.”
“Well, how many kids do you think are like that?”
“.....!”
Shin Yeon-ho.
Well, the place had been buzzing nonstop about Kang Ho-jun and Shin Yeon-ho, everywhere, all day and all night.
The two hottest men in the entertainment industry right now.
Kang Ho-jun, who had burst onto the scene like a supernova.
And Shin Yeon-ho, whose every release had swept to the top of the charts in a clean sweep.
It made sense that people were talking, since both of them had dropped news that shook the world.
Of course, the details were quite different.
“But the farewell album is supposed to come with a life-size bromide, right? I saw the post on the official site yesterday.”
“What? Seriously? I kept trying to get in yesterday, but it kept kicking me out, so I gave up.”
“I refreshed ten times at night before I finally got in. It’s insane, right?”
“You got lucky. What else did it say?”
“They said it’d be a greatest-hits collection, right? But apparently there’s going to be one new song too.”
“What?! A new song?!”
“No, wait, I heard that too, but apparently it’s not really a new song? They’d written it a while ago, but left it out because it didn’t fit the album concept, and now they’re reworking it and releasing it.”
“...Really? Oh, and they say Autumn-Lit Memories is coming out in both dance and rock versions.”
“Wow. What a surprise. Still, I guess it’s something that they’re leaving us with at least a little bit.”
“He’s always been sincere with his fans. This is just fan service, that’s all.”
...Pfft...
The moment I heard the words “sincere with his fans,” I almost burst out laughing.
Back before I went onstage, there had been a time when I stood behind the curtain and looked out at an arena packed with people, and the bastard had casually spat out one of the most outrageous things I’d ever heard.
He had looked at the fans who had paid high ticket prices, traveled a long way, and were chanting his name with desperate excitement, waiting for him to appear onstage, and said—
“All of that is money.”
The smug, snickering expression on his face still lingered in my memory.
Damn, what a miserable fool.
Ignorance is bliss, they say. There’d been a time when I thought maybe it was better not to know the truth, that as long as the fans were happy, that should be enough.
Not anymore.
“Still, he’ll do one last concert or something, right? As fan service.”
“Could be. It’d be a shame to end it like this.”
No chance.
Without the most important part—the vocal—there was no way.
“But I haven’t seen any notice about that. Word’s already out that directors are fighting to cast him.”
“I heard drama producers are contacting him too. Looks like he’s just switching to acting.”
“Wow... so it’s really over, huh? There must be a lot of people waiting for that last concert.”
It was just as the three of them sighed in unison.
Hwang Dong-jun came walking back, carrying a bottle of water.
I stood up and took it from him.
“Honestly, he’d probably do great as an actor too.”
“Right? Face, star quality—he doesn’t lack a thing. I hope he goes on variety shows more often.”
That last line hit a little too close to home.
Yes, he should go on variety shows.
With Lee Hwa-young.
After taking a gulp of water, I handed the bottle back to Hwang Dong-jun.
“All right, everyone, get ready!”
The assistant director’s shout rang in my ear.
Hwang Dong-jun pointed with his chin at the backs of the three people walking away.
“By the way, who were they talking about?”
“No idea.”
I shrugged.
“Let’s get back in there. Our already-hit-it-big actor.”
With a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, he gave my back a light smack with his hand.
***
The basement cafeteria of the MBS broadcasting station.
Drama Production Department PD Jang Hyo-won, carrying a tray piled high with food, walked over to the two men and women enjoying their meal.
“Wow, this place has a great vibe. What’s so funny? Let me in on it too.”
PD Go Gwang-shik lifted his head.
Still grinning from ear to ear, he paused with his chopsticks in the air and gave Jang Hyo-won a broad smile.
The young female PD sitting across from him smiled with crescent eyes and gave a slight bow.
“Oh, it’s nothing much. Our PD Yun just snagged a huge catch, that’s all.”
“A huge catch?”
“Yeah. A real golden carp.”
“What is it with this golden carp nonsense... who?”
When Jang Hyo-won frowned, Go Gwang-shik only kept grinning and nodded meaningfully.
PD Yun across from him broke into laughter for no reason at all.
“Honestly, you’re so frustrating. Who is it, anyway?”
“...Don’t be shocked when I tell you.”
“Hyung, I’ve been crawling around this broadcast station for years. There’s not much that surprises me anymore. Tell me the president himself is coming on your show, and I still won’t be shocked.”
“Oh, really?”
Go Gwang-shik set down his chopsticks and let a trace of mockery curl at the corner of his mouth.
“Lee Hwa-young.”
“...What?!!!”
The soup bowl on the tray rattled with a clunk.
Jang Hyo-won’s eyes flew wide as he half rose to his feet.
“H-Hyung! That Lee Hwa-young? The Lee Hwa-young who’s the most expensive actress in Korea right now?! The one whose fee supposedly eats up half a film’s budget?!”
Go Gwang-shik shrugged and swallowed the squid he’d been chewing.
“What? You said you wouldn’t be shocked even if the president came on my show.”
Feeling the eyes of the people eating around them turn toward him, Jang Hyo-won lowered his body slightly and dropped his voice.
“...I wouldn’t be shocked by the president. But this is Lee Hwa-young.”
“Exactly.”
Still looking like he couldn’t believe it, Jang Hyo-won stared blankly, and Go Gwang-shik crooked the corner of his mouth.
“Ha, you little punk. I finally tell you, and this is how you act?”
“No, I mean, seriously. Why would Lee Hwa-young give up all those other great shows and come on some low-rent variety show run by you? What’s even worth seeing there?”
“Hey, that’s not something the PD of the lowest-rated terrestrial drama should be saying. Cable and general programming are pulling over three percent, and how much is your drama getting right now?”
“Hey, we’re not at the bottom anymore! We’ve got one below us now. Truth Like a Lie—Kang Ho-jun got himself into a drunk-driving scandal, so we escaped last place.”
“How proud of yourself you sound, jerk.”
As Go Gwang-shik snorted with laughter, Jang Hyo-won turned to PD Yun.
“Yes, that’s right. Actress Lee Hwa-young is coming on our show.”
At her nod, Jang Hyo-won’s mouth fell open.
“Wow... seriously? I thought she’d never touch variety in her life. Apart from dramas and films for image management, she’d only ever appeared as a talk-show guest once before, right?”
“And you’re saying our PD Yun pulled off the impossible.”
When Go Gwang-shik gave a sly thumbs-up, PD Yun smiled awkwardly and shook her head.
“Well, Lee Hwa-young’s career direction is changing too. She’s played glamorous, cold, and haughty characters, and she’s done pure, innocent roles too, but she’s never had a lead who could show a bit of airheaded charm, that sort of lovable stupidity. So I think she agreed to come on our show because she wants to broaden her range... and because of her ambition to expand her spectrum even more.”
“And if she shows something undeniable on variety, won’t the film directors and drama PDs start feeling restless? She’s got so much ticket power, and none of the dramas she’s been in have flopped, have they?”
“Oh, man, this really is huge.”
As Jang Hyo-won marveled, Go Gwang-shik continued with a meaningful look.
“But she did set one condition.”
“...A condition?”
“Oh, it’s nothing much. You know that singer who recently announced he’s switching to acting?”
“Yeah, Shin Yeon-ho.”
“Turns out Lee Hwa-young is a total die-hard fan of Shin Yeon-ho. She said she wanted to appear with him and help him take his first step as an actor.”
“.....!”
Watching the stunned expression on the man’s face, PD Yun smiled faintly.
“That’s right. I didn’t know Lee Hwa-young could be so warm and kind, either, so I was a little surprised myself. Anyway, it looks like this will be a win-win for both of them.”
With a small smile, she brushed a hand lightly through her hair.