Episode 8
“They say when you speak of the tiger, it comes in after all....”
Lee Hwa-young curled one corner of her mouth into a sly smile.
“So, Han Seo-jun, did you do well at your second audition?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, I did very well.”
Han Seo-jun answered the mocking question with easy composure.
His unrealistically handsome face overflowed with bright confidence.
“......!”
At his unexpected response, Lee Hwa-young’s eyes wavered for a moment.
Han Seo-jun was someone who, whenever they crossed paths, had always avoided her gaze.
No, not just hers—he visibly shied away from speaking with most actors at all....
And it wasn’t hard to understand why.
He probably knew better than anyone how much his acting had been a laughingstock among actors.
Even rookie actors had comforted themselves with short clips of his performances, muttering, “It can’t be that bad, can it?”
And yet now,
what was with that calm, confident smile?
Had he become so used to being mocked as the King of Terrible Acting that he’d somehow transcended it all?
As she looked at Han Seo-jun smiling so breezily with those sharp, striking features of his, another voice cut across her ears.
“It’s only natural my actor does well in an audition. But what exactly do you want to say to me?”
Lee Hwa-young, who had been looking up at Han Seo-jun, turned her head.
Her lips curved with a faint, cutting sneer as she looked at Hwang Dong-jun.
“Oh, I was just complimenting Team Leader and Han Seo-jun for being so amazing. I even thought we should put up a congratulatory banner since he passed the first audition. How about the park entrance across from the company? Lots of people pass by there, so it’d get a good reaction....”
“Not funny.”
Hwang Dong-jun’s face hardened as he cut her off at once.
“Put aside your nosiness about what other actors do and say what you actually came here to say.”
“Hey, hey, he’s an actor under the same team, isn’t he? I’m just showing a little interest, and that’s how you treat me?”
Ju Tae-hwan, the team leader, jumped in while tapping Hwang Dong-jun’s arm.
“You know Gu Man-ho took off without saying a word, right? It doesn’t make sense to have O Jun-sik cover for Hwa-young’s manager on the spot either. What’s a rookie who’s only been here a month supposed to know about taking care of an actor all by himself?”
“...So, what, are you saying you want me to take over Lee Hwa-young’s management or something?”
“Not take over her entirely. Just help support her.”
The corners of Hwang Dong-jun’s twitching mouth bent crookedly.
Lee Hwa-young lifted her chin with a prim expression and replied,
“My goodness, do you think I’m doing this because I like Hwang Dong-jun?”
She shot him a cold, piercing look.
“Do you not know I’m appearing on SBN’s Drinking From the All-Knowing Viewpoint starting on the 16th next month? It’s a show where the manager and actor drink bomb shots and chat, you know. The chemistry has to line up for the banter to work and for the whole thing to look good, but what if you bring some clueless rookie manager and he blurts out something stupid while drunk? What happens when that gets broadcast?”
Lee Hwa-young flicked the tip of her shoe and narrowed her eyes.
“You want the company to shoulder all the fallout from that?”
“Dong-hyeok and Jae-hun are there too, aren’t they? Choose one of them.”
“No.”
“......!”
As though she were deliberately provoking them, she looked up and let out another sly smile.
“They’re both unmarried, and they’re about my age too. Don’t you know there are sleazy reporters out there? The kind who stitch together decent words into something weird and print a scandal out of thin air? You’re asking me to hand them a ready-made target?”
“I’m unmarried too.”
“You’re not my age group.”
As if she’d been waiting for that, she shot back immediately.
“Besides, by your age you should be thinking about the future too, shouldn’t you? How much longer are you going to keep watering a tree that won’t grow? Anyone can see the roots are rotted straight through.”
At those words, which crossed the line hard enough to sting, Hwang Dong-jun’s face turned ash-gray.
“...What?”
He furrowed his brow deeply and looked away from Lee Hwa-young.
“Ha...!!”
Hwang Dong-jun let out a long breath, swallowing down his anger by force.
And yet Han Seo-jun, the one who had been insulted to his face, looked perfectly calm. In fact, he even wore a lazy smile at the corner of his mouth as he gave a short, amused snort.
Sensing how enraged Hwang Dong-jun had become, Team Leader Ju Tae-hwan hurried to cut in.
“Come on, Hwa-young. That joke was a little too sharp this time. I know the shoots yesterday and today were brutal and you’re on edge, too, but why don’t you go get some rest first?”
He fumbled out his phone, tapping at the screen as he muttered in irritation.
“Seriously, what the hell is that brat doing that he still isn’t here?”
That was when the office door flew open.
A man who looked to be around twenty-five rushed in, out of breath.
He stared straight at Ju Tae-hwan and started talking at a mile a minute.
“Team Leader! I went to the set and asked around, and they said Actress Lee Hwa-young already left. I called too, but she won’t pick up any of my calls. Ugh, this is....”
The grumbling man noticed Lee Hwa-young, peeking out from beside Ju Tae-hwan’s bulky waistline.
When his eyes met her fierce stare, he seemed to flinch, then froze on the spot.
“Hey, if you can’t get in touch with your actor, you should come running right away, you punk.”
Though Ju Tae-hwan’s tone was scolding, the corners of his mouth were subtly lifted.
“Hurry up and escort our Actress Lee Hwa-young home safely.”
After he turned back to Lee Hwa-young, he blinked at her in a way only she could see.
It meant he’d handle everything properly on his end.
“I’ll take care of the explanation, so you just go in and rest. The other actor came to the shoot unprepared today, and our actress had to suffer for no reason, didn’t she? Go on back and take care of yourself. What if your skin gets ruined?”
Lee Hwa-young unwound her crossed legs as though she had no choice and rose slowly to her feet.
“If you need anything, say so anytime. If it’s something my great actress Lee Hwa-young wants, I’d even go pick hwangji flowers for you.”
At his teasing joke, her lips loosened slightly.
“You really mean that?”
“When have I ever lied to you?”
Ju Tae-hwan gave a shameless grin and glanced at the youngest, O Jun-sik, who let out a small sigh before hurriedly opening the door.
As he held it open, Lee Hwa-young strode out with queenly dignity.
***
Hwang Dong-jun, who had been scowling fiercely, quietly checked my expression.
Then he spoke, looking genuinely surprised.
“Hey, you okay? That crazy....”
He couldn’t bring himself to say the next word and clicked his tongue instead.
“Anyway, when everyone around her keeps treating her like a queen and saying she’s the best, of course she starts losing sight of everything. All that self-indulgence is something Team Leader and the head of the division made happen, you know?”
At Hwang Dong-jun’s irritated outburst, Ju Tae-hwan narrowed his brow.
“And why are you pinning that on me and the division head? Be honest—if we’re talking about the most successful actress in Blizzard Entertainment right now, who’s going to argue that it isn’t Lee Hwa-young?”
As he replied, Ju Tae-hwan’s gaze brushed over me for an instant.
After clearing his throat with a fake “ahem,” he looked away.
“Of course. Who’d argue with that? She’s shot how many commercials just this year alone?”
I answered him with a relaxed expression.
At my words, Hwang Dong-jun, who had been staring at me, twisted his expression.
He probably thought I was absurdly unbothered.
I couldn’t say the mocking remark about hanging a congratulatory banner for passing the first audition, or her comparison of me to a rotten tree root, hadn’t stung at all.
But I already knew Lee Hwa-young far too well.
After all, the drama that finally made her shed the label of “lacking acting skill” had featured me as her opposite lead.
Back when I was Do Hyun-woo rather than Han Seo-jun.
Before that horrific fire broke out, back when my acting had been at its absolute peak.
Of course, even then, I didn’t appear in melodramas or romantic comedies.
I simply wasn’t the kind of man whose looks were attractive enough to draw viewers in as a lead.
But in other genres, I had a presence no one could ignore.
My acting shone brightest in crime investigation series, in the tension and claustrophobic pressure of horror, and in the explosive energy of action projects.
Among them, the drama about rooting out corruption and injustice across every corner of society became an enormous sensation.
Even in the face of the powerful wave brought by OTT platforms like Netflix, it pulled in ratings that approached 20 percent.
It was a masterpiece that thrilled viewers with charismatic acting and satisfying action, crushing evil and clearing their frustration in the process.
Audiences loved how each episode felt as immersive as a film, and in the end the series became such a huge hit that it even continued on as a seasonal drama.
In that production, I played the lead as the righteous Iron Pursuer.
And Lee Hwa-young had played the reporter who knew who I was, yet quietly shielded me from the public and became a source of strength from behind the scenes.
But acting that had to collide with so many situations, so many expressions, so many reactions, was never easy for her.
If it had been a film, she would have had enough time. Through repeated practice, she could have settled into a stable footing.
But drama shoots were hounded by schedules, and as the series neared its end, scripts arrived in scraps and fragments.
That was a burden even for a veteran.
One day, after I finished my own scene and was resting briefly in the trailer, she knocked on the door in a panic.
She was holding a crumpled script in her hand, her face nearly on the verge of tears.
“Senior... I just can’t get a handle on this scene....”
When I took the script and read it, I could understand why.
It was a one-take mise-en-scène in which a kind informant suddenly turned into a killer, and she had to express that terror all on her own.
“They told me to imagine a murderer reaching for me from behind... but when I actually try, I just....”
“During rehearsal, didn’t the other actor give you anything to work with?”
“...He did, but it still wasn’t scary.”
At her answer, I nodded.
The camera would only capture her face, while the killer’s vicious expression would be shot in another take, so of course there’d be no continuity to lean on.
In a situation like that, creating real fear was far harder than people imagined.
“Then let me show you once. Watch carefully—you’ll get the feel for it right away.”
“...Yes. Yes, I’ll watch.”
Only then did a faint trace of relief appear on her stiff face.
Smiling slightly, I motioned to the manager standing beside me.
“Action!!”
In an instant, the version of her in my vision changed.
The color drained from her face, blue veins bulging up beneath the skin, and red blood spread through her hollow eyes.
The script that had been in her hand a moment ago became a sharp knife, its blade flashing coldly in the moonlight.
Chills raced across my entire body as it shifted into the frail body of a woman, and a groan leaked from my sealed lips.
Terror pressed into my lungs like a vise, and my breath snagged in my throat.
At the cruel presence brushing the nape of my neck, I instinctively stumbled backward.
Pushing against the floor with my palms, I crawled away just as the knife slashed through the air and skimmed past my cheek.
A cold sting spread from the split wound.
“...Haah...!!”
Even my cry for help wouldn’t rise properly up my throat.
That was the true face of a woman utterly seized by fear.
“Do Hae-hee?”
At the man’s voice calling from outside the window, the demon lifting its knife froze.
With desperate hope that this voice was the last lifeline, I forced out a scream with everything I had.
“Aaaaaaah...!!”
At the same moment, something burst through the window and flew inside.
I slowly straightened up.
Once the emotion drained away, I returned to being Do Hyun-woo, and the killer in front of me became the fragile Lee Hwa-young.
“...Haaah...!!”
Looking at her as she clapped a hand over her mouth, I spoke.
“Do it exactly like I just did.”
“...Yes, I think, I think I can do that.”
“Of course you can. When something like this demon is coming at you from behind....”
Raising a hand, I gave my hair a light mess and looked at her.
I wasn’t glaring.
I was simply staring at her with cold, empty eyes, slowly lifting the corners of my mouth.
“...How did you know that?”
At the savage chill in my tone, her expression froze in an instant.
“...Ah, damn! That’s seriously heart-stopping.”
Standing beside her and watching me, the manager let out an astonished curse.
She backed away from me inch by inch and disappeared back into the set.
And the shoot—
wrapped with one perfect OK on the first take.
Even after that, I often helped with her acting from the side.
The plot was flawless for its theme of justice triumphing over evil, and the performances from the cast were nothing short of possessed.
Thanks to that, the flashy action drama received explosive praise, and I even won the Best Actor in Drama award at the year-end acting ceremony hosted by MBS that year.
Several of the lead and supporting actors from that production exchanged contact information and kept meeting regularly for quite a long time afterward.
Around then, I also met Lee Hwa-young privately several times and listened to her personal worries and the struggles she faced as an actress.
That didn’t mean anything romantic came of it. She treated me like a senior she could rely on, like an older brother, and I treated her the same way.
But the Lee Hwa-young of those days was very different from the woman she was now.
She had been fragile, easily wounded by a single careless remark from someone nearby, a delicate actress who would shed tears over a single short post in an online community.
And now she had turned into an actress with a vicious expression, someone who sneered without hesitation at the person in front of her.
I couldn’t help feeling like an older brother looking at a younger sister who had changed beyond recognition, and finding the whole thing bitter.
Still.
Back then, she used to tell me the most trivial things imaginable.
She’d even been drunk enough to tell me something very secret—would she even remember that?
Not that I intended to use her weakness for something filthy and underhanded.
Besides, I wasn’t Do Hyun-woo anymore.
I was Han Seo-jun now.
“No, why should I be the one assigned to her? We both know our styles don’t match!”
Just as I was lost in thought for a moment, Hwang Dong-jun’s still-frustrated muttering reached my ears.
“Hey, I’m the one who brought up whether you’d do or not.”
Team Leader Ju soothed him in a casual tone.
“With Min-jun going to Japan this time, Jang Dong-hyeok finally has some breathing room. Hwa-young said she wanted him attached as her manager. But I said no. I told her we should use you.”
“No, why me?”
“Hey! You’re the best manager in our company, aren’t you? If she’s an actress of Hwa-young’s caliber, of course she needs a manager at your level. Right?”
“You think I’m going to just let this slide because you slip it in like that? I’m absolutely not taking her.”
Hwang Dong-jun waved both hands in obvious annoyance.
“What about the guy who’d been doing it without a peep for six months?”
“I already told you that bastard Gu Man-ho took off! Ha...! I thought he had some sense of responsibility and knew how to do the job, and now he’s had his phone turned off for three days straight. Unbelievable!!”
“Still, only because he was that kind of guy could he last six months. I can’t do it, so Team Leader, you should take her yourself. Isn’t she a flagship actress at Blizzard? Then her manager should be team-leader class too so their levels match, right?”
Watching Hwang Dong-jun shake his head over and over, Team Leader Ju furrowed his brow hard.
“You’re really going this far?”
He glared with fierce eyes, but Hwang Dong-jun didn’t seem remotely intimidated.
That probably meant the two of them were really very close and comfortable with each other.
“If our actor passes this time, he’s going to get insanely busy. So no, impossible. Absolutely impossible.”
“...Fine....”
Ju Tae-hwan glanced at me, then looked back at him with an intent expression.
“If Seo-jun gets the role, we’ll forget this ever happened. But if he fails, you take over for Hwa-young without another word. Got it?”
“......!”
At his words, Hwang Dong-jun turned to look at me.
One eyebrow twitched at the sight of me.
Was it because he believed in me,
or because he lacked confidence?
“It’s fine!”
I spoke up in Hwang Dong-jun’s place.
With a completely relaxed expression, I even let a smile play at the corners of my mouth.
“I only need to pass this time, right?”