The Next Project (1)
Director Yoo Yeonjung's words struck me as a little premature.
I hadn't even started brainstorming the next project yet — talk of a third work felt like a conversation for a distant future.
"I don't have any thoughts on a third work yet."
"Okay. Then you'll sell us the third one too."
What?
Were we even having the same conversation?
"No, I'm saying I haven't thought about it at all."
"Is that so? To my ears, it sounds like you could write one whenever you felt like it. Am I wrong?"
She grinned as she said it, and for a moment I was left speechless.
I was starting to understand why she'd wanted to meet me in the first place.
"Did you call me here to talk about an exclusive writer contract?"
"Half bingo."
"Then I think you've got the wrong person. I have no intention of becoming a full-time writer."
"Why not? School keeping you busy?"
"That's part of it, sure. And personally, I think turning a hobby into a job gets exhausting pretty fast."
But even in the face of my firm refusal, Director Yoo Yeonjung's expression didn't change.
She opened her mouth slowly.
"From our perspective, a hobby is more than enough."
"…Excuse me?"
"I mean it doesn't matter how long it takes. We just want to be the only ones who get to buy your scripts, if possible."
"That just sounds like you want to monopolize me."
"Exactly. Monopoly. I want Writer 927's scripts very badly, and if one of them ever leaked somewhere else, I think I'd be quite angry."
This woman…
The way she delivered lines like that so calmly, with that terrifying smile, was genuinely unnerving.
I spoke my mind carefully, determined not to get swept up in her atmosphere.
"You… do realize I have no particular reason to do that, right?"
"Of course. Which is why I intend to kindly create a reason for you."
…Create a reason?
"If you sell us a script, we'll pay the highest price. If you want to direct the shoot yourself, we'll lend you the set and the crew. If there's an actor you want, we'll let you cast whoever you like."
"Wait—"
"Still not enough? Then maybe we go the academic route… You know Yeonggwang High School, right? Only the top one percent in Korea can attend. The chairman of the board is my younger brother — I could get you in."
"I'll pass on Yeonggwang High School."
"Oh my, an instant answer this time?"
Of course.
That was where Seol Soyoung and the rest of the main cast would all gather.
I'd probably get dragged into every single incident that came along.
"Haa…"
The longer we talked, the more drained I felt — but at least I understood what Director Yoo Yeonjung was after.
She wanted to keep me tethered to Studio NMIX no matter what, and she was willing to offer anything within her power to make it happen.
What I still didn't understand was why.
Why go this far just to hold on to me?
"Because I rate Writer 927's talent extremely highly. When a merchant sees an asset whose value keeps climbing right in front of him, he can hardly just walk past it, can he?"
"Do you honestly think I'm worth that much?"
"There are already quite a few people who've caught the scent of money coming off you. At this rate, you might end up raising the entire industry's standards for drama — and making everyone else's lives harder."
Yoo Yeonjung shrugged as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Hmm.
Getting praised this openly left me with a strange feeling.
Then again, the drama writers in this world all seemed to produce stories with a screw or two loose…
Compared to those, my dramas really were goddesses among mortals.
"Just give me a little time to think about it."
"Then finish thinking right here."
"…Pardon? Here?"
That dizzyingly immediate answer brought PD Na and hyung Yongseok's warnings flooding back.
Director Yoo Yeonjung was so thoroughly self-centered that holding a normal conversation with her was nearly impossible.
"I'm not particularly patient myself. In this room, though, I can hold out as long as possible. Probably."
The way she looked at me — like prey — made my body tremble on instinct.
Apparently the moment I'd stepped into this room, I'd walked straight into the trap she'd set.
And that day, I learned something.
Women with severe obsession issues are terrifying.
Which is why I was absolutely going to date someone with a generous, understanding heart.
"Well then, shall we start talking about the next project? Roughly what kind of story is it?"
"Th-the next project's story?"
"When you signed the contract, you confidently said you'd sell us the next one. Months have passed since then. Someone of Writer 927's caliber should have a solid outline by now. Am I right?"
Uh… well.
I couldn't bring myself to answer that question, so full of expectation.
Truth was, the "next project" she was talking about hadn't even been started yet.
Haha.
After Seo Eunwoo left, Director Park Yongo visited Yoo Yeonjung's office.
"So? How did the conversation go?"
Park Yongo asked carefully, watching Yoo Yeonjung read through documents in her usual seat.
"Writer 927? I was shocked when I saw he really is a middle schooler."
"No, not that. What did he seem like to you, seeing him with your own eyes?"
"What kind of person? Well…"
At Park Yongo's question, Yoo Yeonjung wore a bitter smile.
And she recalled the last exchange she'd had with Writer 927.
"It's a little hard to talk about the next project. I haven't found good inspiration yet."
"Good inspiration? Then where did the inspiration for your first work come from?"
"Director Yoo Yeonjung."
She had been certain she held the reins of the entire conversation…
But the moment she crossed a certain line he had drawn, she realized how wrong she was.
"Don't try to know too much. You might end up not getting my scripts at all."
The serious look on his face, the warning delivered so deliberately — even the formidable Yoo Yeonjung had no choice but to swallow hard.
Thanks to that, she understood with absolute clarity.
Writer 927 was not someone she could keep bound to her side through her own power alone.
However.
The real reason Eunwoo had reacted that way at the end was far simpler: pure embarrassment.
He had seen Seol Soyoung sitting in a café by chance, and the script had poured out of him as if he were possessed. If other people found out about that?
Oh… wasn't that basically getting caught by someone else before he'd even confessed to the person herself?
At that point, it wasn't that he wouldn't give them the script — he simply couldn't, out of sheer mortification.
"Haa… Looks like we'll need a different approach. A surefire way to keep him on our side."
But with no way of knowing Eunwoo's actual circumstances, Yoo Yeonjung could only let out a deep sigh.
Click. Click.
Meanwhile.
Seol Soyoung was visiting a certain place again today, just as she always did.
The distinctive smell of disinfectant mixed with bleach that filled the corridor had long since become familiar.
…This was the hallway of a hospital operated by Cheil Electronics.
Click—
Seol Soyoung's footsteps stopped in front of a particular patient room.
She turned her head and checked the name posted beside the door.
Lee Hwayang
Confirming the room's occupant, Seol Soyoung slowly opened the door.
Inside, a woman in a hospital gown was watching television.
Seol Soyoung approached her with a bright, radiant smile.
If Eunwoo had seen the expression on Seol Soyoung's face in that moment, he would have been genuinely astonished.
A smile this warm only ever appeared naturally in front of this one woman.
"Mom."
The woman's name was Lee Hwayang.
Just as Seol Soyoung had called her — her mother.
Lee Hwayang discovered her daughter and offered a faint smile of her own.
"Hmm? You came without Dad today?"
"He said he was busy with work and left first. But… you're watching that again."
Seol Soyoung glanced at the television in the room.
A rebroadcast of Welcome to Cafe Violet was playing.
"You already watched episode ten yesterday, didn't you?"
"I did. But the lead actress is so good that I keep getting pulled in — what am I supposed to do? I don't know whose daughter she is, but she's got such a pretty face too."
At her mother's praise, Seol Soyoung looked a little bashful, but answered with her usual confidence.
"Whose daughter? Anyone can see she's the daughter of an outstanding mother."
"Haha. You know it well."
Lee Hwayang chuckled at the bold declaration.
She found herself thinking, once again, how proud she was of her daughter.
Debuting at that young age and scoring a massive hit with the very first project — how many people managed that?
Of course the story being entertaining played a part, but without her daughter's acting ability, none of it would have meant a thing.
Still.
I never imagined it would be to this degree.
She had always known Soyoung was good at everything.
But she had never expected her talent to shine so brilliantly in acting, of all things.
…After all, the reason her daughter had chosen the path of an actress in the first place had always been because of her own frail health.
Lee Hwayang, a businesswoman who ran Baekje Hotel, had a modest hobby that didn't quite match her image: watching dramas.
She had been sickly since childhood and visited hospitals often. During her frequent stays as a patient, the only ways to pass the time were reading and watching the television tucked in the corner of the room.
It was only natural that Lee Hwayang had become acquainted with dramas.
Young Seol Soyoung had followed her mother into that world just as naturally, and one day she had said something like this:
If I become an actress and appear in dramas, wouldn't you feel a little less lonely when you're in the hospital?
Hearing her daughter's mature thoughts, Lee Hwayang had been stunned.
As a parent, it was a truly precious sentiment — but she hadn't wanted her daughter to decide her future path so hastily because of her.
Soyoung, however, was a stubborn child. She took after someone, that was certain.
In the end, no matter what her husband or she herself said, Soyoung chose the path of an actress. And then she proved herself with results, just like the people on television, leaving them with nothing left to say.
"Hmm? Why are you staring at me like that?"
Just like now — wearing that innocent expression, as if she had no idea about anything.
"Just wondering. You haven't mentioned that person today for some reason."
And lately, there was one thing that had been weighing on her mind.
"Ah, Writer 927?"
"Yes. That kid… I mean, that person. Nothing new from him lately?"