Cutting Them Loose
"...Director Shin?"
Director Shin Seung-im. So it was you.
'Ha.'
The moment I learned who had really masterminded the egg attack, heat came rushing up my neck. Not because it was Director Shin — I was furious at my own stupidity for failing to deduce it even after watching Hyun Jin-gae's reaction.
'Why didn't it click right away?'
It was a question with an answer sitting right there, had I given it even a moment's thought.
While I was still busy being disappointed in myself, the man on the other end answered as though my question were absurd.
"Like I said, the whole thing was Director Shin's idea from the start. He said it would be awkward coming from him, so I passed it along to the network on his behalf — and then I'm the one who takes all the flak. Ha, I told him we should just drop it and pretend it never happened, but Director Shin pushed it through anyway."
According to the investor, the network had opposed the idea so fiercely that he had felt uneasy going ahead with it. And yet Director Shin had insisted he would take full responsibility — that since he personally managed the actor, there was nothing to worry about — and talked the man into it.
"When he said he'd handle everything himself, I just assumed he'd already discussed it all with the actor. I'm hearing this for the first time, truly."
"I see."
"I mean, honestly, I don't know what to say..."
Through the receiver alone, there was no telling whether the man was telling the truth or lying. But it didn't sound as though he were fabricating things out of thin air.
'The fact that he named an actual, existing person — Director Shin — said as much.'
People who lie usually go for a clean denial — nothing to do with me — rather than volunteering this kind of half-confession.
"I truly thought it had all been settled."
"I imagine you couldn't have thought otherwise, sir. I apologize. Hearing this, it was something I should have resolved internally with the agency — I've intruded on you at this late hour, and for that I'm sorry."
The moment I had the situation organized in my head, I smoothed out my voice. Not too high, not too fast — just the right volume, down to a sober, earnest tone. The register that worked like a charm whenever I needed to butter someone up.
'Not that it changes the fact this bastard is the one who had an egg thrown at my head.'
But the world didn't run on that kind of logic alone. The moment I wagged my tail just so, the man's voice warmed rapidly.
"Oh, nonsense — what intrusion? Completely understandable. You must have been badly shaken, taking an egg like that. I'm sorry about it all, tsk. From our side, every last decimal of the ratings matters enormously."
"I completely understand. By the way, sir — are you personally acquainted with Director Shin?"
"Acquainted... well, you know how that boy operates. All sweet talk and quick bows. A young man so eager and obliging that I figured I'd help him where I could. Nothing much — he asks for the occasional favor when he needs something."
"I see. Whenever you find the time, sir, I'd be grateful for a chance to pay my respects. I'll bring the drinks myself."
"What's this. Do you have something to ask of me as well?"
"Hm. I couldn't possibly say."
"What? Pwahahaha!"
The man burst into laughter that seemed to roll up from his belly — genuine, delighted laughter.
"Well, look at you. You're nothing like what Director Shin described? I hadn't realized you were such a ballsy fellow."
"Thank you for thinking kindly of me."
"Right. Let's have that drink for real sometime, then. Consider it my apology for the egg — the first round's on me."
And with that, the call ended amid the man's hearty laughter.
"Whew."
So that was it. It had been Director Shin.
'This bastard...'
He really did think of me as his prize product.
The more I turned it over, the hotter I burned — until the anger tipped clean over into laughter.
'So Hyun Jin-gae knew in advance that Director Shin was going to pull something like this.'
How he knew, I could roughly guess. Sucking up to Director Shin fetching his golf balls, he must have overheard it somewhere along the way.
'Not that I ever expected him to stop it.'
But he could at least have given me a heads-up, couldn't he? I had chewed him out over everything he'd done to Yoo Seul-ho, but I had still believed he wasn't rotten to the core as a person. Pathetic and cowardly, yes — but salvageable.
So the disappointment landed hard when, in the end, faced with a choice between protecting his actor and protecting his own seat, he had chosen himself.
'I was even thinking of taking him along when I moved agencies.'
What a fool I'd been, even for a moment.
'Forget it. Forget him.'
Hyun Jin-gae, Director Shin — I didn't need either of them.
I was getting out of this cesspool, no matter what it took. And anyone who might grab my ankles and cling on during the exit was getting cut off, clean.
'Thank god I put in that background check on Director Shin ahead of time.'
Had I gone in unprepared, that one phone call would have tied my brain in knots. As it was, the Heungsinso had already delivered a full file on Director Shin's weaknesses into my hands.
Which meant, if anything...
'This works out well.'
It felt like an opportunity.
'This might actually make changing agencies a whole lot easier.'
Director Shin was essentially a pillar of Star Actors, the agency I was currently signed to. He had cast most of the agency's roster, myself included, and had his fingers in practically every piece of business that crossed the building.
'And above all — he's the CEO's own cousin.'
Which meant that when Director Shin's sins eventually came to light, the company could not simply wave them away. No matter how much they bleated — just a rogue employee, nothing to do with us, don't read into it, we knew nothing — the mere fact that they had installed a relative as an executive would become a scandal in its own right.
'I'd better construct the storyline carefully.'
Which meant there were things to prepare, starting right now.
The moment the plan took shape, I picked up my phone.
Episodes 7 and 8 of Space of You and Me had dropped.
Ratings had surged on the back of last week's "Yoo Seul-ho egg attack incident." People fumed — who throws an egg at an actor over a drama character? — but somewhere in the backs of their minds, another thought crept in.
'How good must his acting have been for people to mistake it for the real thing?'
That curiosity pooled and pushed the ratings higher.
And the production team of I'm a Freshman Again Today pounced on the attention, rushing the variety episode to air.
Yoo Seul-ho, immaculately turned out at the top of the show, appeared onscreen wearing a cap from his very first steps into the school building. Sharp-eyed viewers read it instantly: the egg incident had happened in exactly that window.
The reaction ran so hot that comments piled up into the thousands almost instantly. Antis — who move faster than any fan ever could — picked another brawl in the comment section, but on the whole, the posts trending in Yoo Seul-ho's favor.
Watch his expressions on the variety show and he seemed so calm it was hard to believe he'd been hit with an egg out of nowhere that very day. In a single word, he came across as strong.
People are drawn to strength instinctively. Some throw hate hoping to watch someone that strong crumble; others cheer, wishing for him to stay strong forever.
Yoo Seul-ho never intended any of it, but his unconscious behavior was manufacturing fans and antis in real time.
'Today's commute: completed without incident.'
I had been extra careful on my way to and from set ever since the egg. Fortunately, the remaining shoots were all scheduled inside the studio — comparatively safe from strangers.
'And there wasn't much filming left anyway.'
You and My Space was a twelve-episode drama, and the response had been so strong that the higher-ups floated stretching it to fourteen. PD Jang refused without a flicker of hesitation. They had been running on an insane schedule since episode one — drag it out any further, his reasoning went, and someone, actor or staff, was going to drop dead from overwork.
'Not to mention it would mean swallowing more of Woo Jun-seo's garbage.'
Since coming back from the variety shoot, Woo Jun-seo was practically a different person. Where he used to confine himself to an uncooperative attitude toward me, he now ran amok without caring who was watching. He simply seemed to resent the existence of this drama itself.
He was especially insolent toward PD Jang, spitting out remarks that crossed the line more than once. Even with his face flushing red with rage, PD Jang would mutter, "It's fine... it's almost over now..." and force the anger back down.
And so, while the drama's ratings marched ever upward, the atmosphere on set was as frigid as Siberia.
'Woo Jun-seo never used to be this stupid.'
He had a childish streak, sure, but he had always been decent at managing his image — sickeningly good at flattering anyone above him, PD Jang included.
'Something changed after the live broadcast.'
To be precise, he changed after seeing the reaction to it. Apparently concluding, Huh? They still like me? Nothing's holding my career back at all? he grew even more insufferably full of himself.
"Jun-seo, aren't you thirsty? Want me to grab you some water?"
"Shut up! I'm holding my emotion here!"
"Oh... sorry."
The seat beside Woo Jun-seo that I had vacated had been claimed by Park Sang-in. At first he had settled into it with an attaboy! grin plastered on his face, but even he could no longer stomach Woo Jun-seo's escalating antics, and every so often a strange expression flickered across his features.
Far from being good to the last lackey he had left, Woo Jun-seo seemed to can barely stand the sight of Park Sang-in's face.
'A war zone. A total war zone.'
And so, filming day after day beneath that suffocating atmosphere, the weekend arrived before I knew it.
It was the day I was due to visit Yoo Seul-ho's family home.