Reading the Fine Print

I didn't let go of the man's hand until he was practically weeping, tears streaming down his face.

The moment I did, he collapsed limply onto the ground. The pouring rain had soaked him through from head to toe.

"What the— you crazy son of a... H-how could you, how dare you...!"

He couldn't even manage a proper sentence, just trembled and sobbed, and the sight was pitiful enough. It was the most pathetic thing I'd seen in recent memory. I was speechless.

Yoo Seul-ho had a stalker?

And a male stalker at that. Being a celebrity really wasn't for just anyone.

I debated briefly whether to call the police, but honestly, I was feeling rather satisfied. The grip strength I'd accidentally tested out on Yoo Seul-ho's body had turned out to be pretty impressive.

I didn't expect much when I saw him changing clothes, but this is a relief.

It would be hard to compare it to my old body, of course, but at least this one didn't feel completely flimsy and weak. That was the thought running through my head when—

"What's going on here? Are you okay??"

Woo Jun-seo flung away the cigarette he'd just lit and hurried over, out of breath. His eyes darted between the whimpering man on the ground and me, and in them I read a clear message: this bastard just handed me gold.

It was the look of a man ready to run a story on the spot: [EXCLUSIVE] Actor Yoo Seul-ho Assaults Citizen in Broad Daylight... We Knew His Acting Was Trash, Turns Out His Character Is Too...

Fortunately or unfortunately, the man slumped in front of me was no ordinary citizen.

"Huh— Jun-seo, sunbae!"

The man's eyes went wide when he spotted Woo Jun-seo, and he scrambled to his feet.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry. I thought you'd already left. I, uh, I'm Seul-ho's manager."

"Ah, sunbae's manager... I see. Are you... okay?"

"Haha, of course! We joke around like this all the time, you know. We're just that close. Gave you a fright, didn't we?"

The manager, who'd introduced himself as Hyun Jin-gae, laughed awkwardly. Apparently the proud "man" couldn't bring himself to admit he'd just been manhandled by me.

Feeling a twinge of pity, I played along without complaint.

"That's just how I mess around with my manager. Sorry to startle you, Jun-seo-ssi."

"Oh, right. I was a bit surprised, but..."

"If you're feeling all right, why don't we meet up and talk another time? I need to help my manager dry his tears."

At my words, Woo Jun-seo shuffled backward with an embarrassed look on his face and turned to go. The scene he'd just witnessed had apparently been shocking enough to make him forget his own self-righteous tantrum.

The manager, equally mortified, didn't lift his head until the car Woo Jun-seo had gotten into had completely vanished down the alley.

"You little punk, you pull this kind of crap on me in front of other people?!"

He started screaming at me right away. Unbelievable. I'd even done him the favor of covering for him, and now he was throwing a fit.

"Well then, why did you hit me?"

"I never hit you! You did what you always do—ha, this is hilarious. Hey, you're funny!"

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment, argh!"

His face flushing red and blue, the fuming manager changed the subject.

"Did the meeting go all right? Did you keep the PD happy?"

"Yes."

"That's it?"

"He said he'd write me a script and send it over soon."

"Ha, I should've been there for that. Of all the days for a golf game with Director Shin to land. All because of you—do you have any idea what I go through?"

Why was this my fault again?

Watching him so naturally pin everything on Yoo Seul-ho, I was genuinely puzzled.

Do managers normally treat actors like this?

No. Everything I'd seen over the years had been the exact opposite. I'd lost count of the scenes I'd witnessed of celebrities treating their managers like floor rags, making them wipe up every mess they'd left scattered behind them.

Even unknown actors wouldn't put up with this treatment.

Yoo Seul-ho may have had his share of malicious commenters, but he was famous enough that there wasn't a soul in South Korea who didn't know his name. No—come to think of it, he hadn't even debuted as a nobody in the first place.

Huh.

The fact that Woo Jun-seo had picked Yoo Seul-ho as his next target already gave me a rough idea of what kind of person he'd originally been, but seeing the manager's attitude only cemented it.

"Manager-nim, how long have we been working together now?"

"What's with the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sudden 'manager-nim' stuff? Since when do you call me that? You've been calling me hyung just fine all this time."

Hyun Jin-gae answered without even glancing my way, so I said, pleasantly slick:

"I feel like we've gotten too close, you and I. I think we should keep our distance from now on."

"What?"

"What kind of manager goes around hitting an actor who's finally landed a role? Am I wrong? I'm curious how the company would interpret this whole situation."

The manager stared at me now like I was a complete lunatic.

"Hey, you... did you eat something bad or what?"

There wasn't a shred of fear in his face. Not a single trace of what if he actually cuts me loose? Not one.

Huh.

Confronted with a situation that defied all common sense, I found myself at a loss for words. Fine. Enough wasting time.

"Take me to the company."

"What?"

"I want to check some things, starting with my contract. Most of the documents should be at the office, right?"

"Uh, yeah, they are... wait, YOU'RE asking to go to the company first?"

He looked at me as though doubting whether I was really Yoo Seul-ho. What was so remarkable about an actor going to his own entertainment agency? And I understood why he'd reacted that way the moment we stepped into the building.

"Hey, sucker!"

A sharp bark rang out, and a meaty hand shot toward the back of Yoo Seul-ho's head. If I hadn't caught the incoming hand at speed, a hefty smack would have echoed down the hallway.

"Agh! Ow, ow, OW!"

The moment I clamped down with full strength, the guy begged for release just like the manager had an hour ago.

By the time I'd repeated this little exercise several more times on the way into the office, I was completely certain: Yoo Seul-ho had been treated worse than a dog by these morons.

I checked every last piece of information that popped up after searching "Yoo Seul-ho" on the portal site, and the moment I confirmed the name of his agency, a sigh escaped me.

Ha.

Yoo Seul-ho. Seul-ho, my friend.

How on earth did you end up buried in a place like this?

I knew Star Actors all too well. A CEO rumored to be an actual ex-gangster, staff infamous for throwing hands at anyone and everyone, and managers who'd been hired without a single one of them going through a proper interview. It was the agency that always came up whenever I talked business with the celebrity clients who owed me money—"Ah, that garbage agency?"—every single time.

None of my clients had ever been signed to Star Actors, so I'd only ever heard about it secondhand. It had never once crossed my mind that the famous Yoo Seul-ho would be on their roster.

Worse, when I looked over PD Jang's new drama contract, the money actually falling into Yoo Seul-ho's hands was absurdly small. It made so little sense that I went and dug up the contract between Yoo Seul-ho and Star Actors itself—and that was even worse.

What kind of revenue split is this?

I clicked my tongue as I read through a contract stuffed to the brim with terms stacked against Yoo Seul-ho. I knew the reality well enough: most agencies that weren't major players existed for no other purpose than to fleece clueless kids for everything they were worth. Even granting that, this crossed the line. And that only raised the question all the more urgently.

His parents just let this happen?

Yoo Seul-ho wasn't some street-born orphan like me. He was the only son of not one but two top stars, bristling with fame and connections. His father, Yoo Tae-ho. His mother, Lee Seul-myeong. While those two sat comfortably in major agencies, Yoo Seul-ho alone got dumped into this dump of a company? How did that make any sense?

I need to meet these parents.

But the manager's answer to my question was beyond anything I could have imagined.

"Why? Can't reach them again? You planning to beg outside their gate this time too?"

"Sorry... beg for what?"

"You spent three days outside your parents' house last time groveling 'I'm sorry' until you collapsed. Said that's the only way they'd even talk to you. Hey, got it? If you're doing that again, make sure the cameras don't catch you. You'll just make my life harder."

A sigh slipped out of me at the sheer lunacy of it.

Yoo Seul-ho...

I didn't actually know all that much about him. Despite decades in the industry, he apparently didn't have a single close acquaintance. He'd enlisted in the military unusually fast for an actor trying to repair his image, and even that hadn't changed public opinion. Those two things, roughly. Not once had I ever heard that he had psycho ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠parents.

"Hyung, how did things end between me and PD Jang last time? I don't really remember."

"You can be dumb, but this is a new low. How do you forget THAT?"

So I verified that little episode too. Apparently that day, Yoo Seul-ho had acted so badly the shoot fell behind schedule, and through all of it he'd just stood there stiffly without a word of apology. Holding everyone up and not even apologizing—he'd gotten cursed out double for being disrespectful.

"If I were PD Jang, I'd have beaten ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you black and blue ages ago. Seriously, kid, how do you live like that?"

I let the manager's rambling stream past one ear and out the other while I thought.

Hmm.

But if he'd really been that disrespectful, why would the manager behave this way?

Something's being hidden here.

I couldn't learn everything from where I stood, but I could roughly picture what kind of hours Yoo Seul-ho must have spent alone, right up until he took his own life.

Frankly, I didn't understand it. Not that I had any intention of judging him for it.

Everyone's born with a different temperament, after all.

The same way I came out with a nasty temper, I supposed Yoo Seul-ho came out with a suffocating one. But this was the body that would hand me money no loan shark's body could touch. Even I figured I ought to treat Yoo Seul-ho a little kindly.

He's dead already—piling on would just be adding insult to injury.

"Hold on, you... what's wrong with your neck?"

Just then, the manager's voice carried genuine shock. I'd been wondering what he meant, then realized the marks I'd barely covered up this morning had been exposed after all.

There was nobody around but the manager anyway, so I answered without a care.

"What's with the sudden fuss? You're the one who did it, hyung."

"...What?"

"Don't you remember choking me out the other day? These are what was left of it."

"What are you talking about! When did I ever do that!"

"Really don't remember? It was just the other day? Wow, how does a person forget something like that?"

When I shamelessly repeated the same line, the manager's face twisted in confusion. The first rule of a lie: push it through with a straight face.

"No, seriously? I did that...? No, there's no way—hey! What is WRONG with you today?"

I ignored the manager's meltdown entirely and headed for the hotel. Somewhere along the way I asked why I was even staying at a hotel, and he launched into another tirade: "Because you got thrown out of the family home, that's why I booked it for you!"

I waved that off too and let myself into the room.

Let me sort out the situation.

I checked the date. Today was the exact same day my original self had gotten into his accident.

This was speculation, granted, but the hour of Yoo Seul-ho's suicide and the hour of my car accident that morning seemed to roughly match up.

If I go to a hospital or a funeral home near the crash site, I could probably find traces of my old self.

Not that I had the slightest intention of doing it. What would I even say to the guys? That I was their boss? I'd be lucky to leave with all my fingers.

Whether my old body was dead or lying in a coma didn't matter. In my current position, the thing that deserved every ounce of my attention was improving Yoo Seul-ho's circumstances.

Let's do this.

The parents who seemed suspect at best, the trash of an agency—anything that didn't help, I'd sweep out of the way. And to make that happen, the very first thing to do was...

A week later, the unfinished script arrived from PD Jang.

The moment I finished reading it, I marched straight to my manager and beat him to a cheerful pulp.

"Why do you keep DOING this?!"

As he screamed with a whimper in his voice, I gave him a wounded look and said:

"I'm practicing my acting. You can't even help me with this much?"

"What?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"I'm terrible at acting, you know? I figured if I can act in real life, I'll be able to act in front of the camera too... You understand how I feel, right, hyung?"

When I sent him my most dewy-eyed look, he stood there slack-jawed and muttered:

"...You lunatic."

At that, I broke into a radiant smile. Good—if that's what he saw, everything was on track.

After all, the role I'd been cast in was "the lunatic."