Conflict? (2)
Yu Byeongmin had managed to keep his secrets reasonably well—but there was one fact he had overlooked.
He was also a regular user of propofol, a pharmaceutical drug. It produced a pleasant hallucinogenic high not unlike narcotics, and continuous use bred an extremely high degree of psychological dependence. The problem was how easily it could be obtained: hospitals could prescribe it depending on the patient.
Of course, hospitals were restricted from over-administering propofol to any single person. So Yu Byeongmin simply shopped around—visiting clinic after clinic to collect prescriptions. The frequency of those visits grew so excessive that it finally tripped anomaly flags in the pharmaceutical narcotics monitoring system.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety referred several flagged individuals to the police for investigation, and Yu Byeongmin was among them. Naturally, he tested positive for propofol, exposing his habitual use to the entire world—and one after another, tests for other narcotics came back positive as well.
All of this would unfold once the drama Demon's Temptation began airing.
Anyway.
Back to the matter at hand. The ways I could help Seol Soyoung were limited.
First option: publicly expose Yu Byeongmin's crimes. Immediately dismissed. Whatever the truth might be, the moment someone asked how I knew, I would have no plausible explanation. Even if I told Soyoung herself, the same problem would surface.
The only realistic approach was to persuade her—as thoroughly as possible—not to appear in that production.
Uh… probably at the level of outright begging?
A reply as immediate as always.
Right…… she still doesn't know.
If she was already thinking negatively about the casting, this conversation would be easy.
For some reason, her reply to this particular question took a considerable while.
Damn it.
Contrary to my hopes, she seemed to be viewing this casting quite favorably.
From her end came a question, as if she found my unusually persistent inquiries today rather strange.
I mixed in a few facts and sent a reply designed to nudge her toward thinking negatively about the casting.
The genre of Demon's Temptation was action-thriller. There was no denying that the tone of the project felt somewhat at odds with her image.
But……
This time a considerably long message came through.
Well—for her, a drama like Demon's Temptation would certainly make for an intriguing challenge. The problem was that this fact was of absolutely no help to me right now.
"Hah… nothing for it, then."
Looking at how firmly she stood, I decided to take a more extreme approach. Better that I earn a little of her resentment than send her into a drama that would torment her with failure and scandal.
Seol Soyoung carefully pressed back.
What would I do if she ignored me?
Ssss……
Carrying a guilty heart, I began composing a message to her.
This was the point in time before Seol Soyoung exchanged those texts with Writer 927.
"Hmm……"
For some reason, Seol Soyoung was staring at her phone, sunk deep in thought. The reason was simple.
At the Cheongsang Arts Awards that day, she had conveyed her feelings to someone. The other party had probably roughly grasped whom those words were directed at. And yet their conversations had continued as ordinarily as ever, and he didn't seem particularly conscious of it either.
From Seol Soyoung's position, that was a little unsettling. A premonition had begun to take root—that if things went on like this, it might end as nothing more than her one-sided crush.
That was when it happened.
A lead casting offer for a project called Demon's Temptation arrived from White Box—and not long after, a strange text came from him.
Somehow he already knew about her casting and was asking about it. Well… PD Na Yeongjin, who had wide connections throughout the drama industry, was always near that man, so she figured that explained it.
For the record, Seol Soyoung was viewing White Box's proposal positively. Studio NMIX still had no clear plans for its next drama, and she was eager to keep her momentum going. On top of that, the role had a slightly different flavor from anything she'd played before, which made it interesting.
But then—
Why was it……
Seol Soyoung sensed something off in the text Writer 927 had sent. Since she was already thinking positively about the casting, she replied as much—and then asked why he was suddenly posing such questions.
And then—
Reading Writer 927's reply, Seol Soyoung dimly began to understand. Today's version of him was decidedly unlike his usual self. In the content of his messages, there was none of his characteristic composure, none of that shameless ease. He felt like someone being chased by something—nothing but anxiety came through.
So then… why?
Wanting to draw out more of his reaction, Seol Soyoung wrote out—as sincerely as she could—the reasons she wanted to appear in Demon's Temptation, and sent it.
But what came back was nothing more than a reply bordering on coercion.
He was probably feeling it himself even as he typed.
That what he was saying right now amounted to little more than a child's tantrum, pure stubbornness……
In the first place, the usual him would never have gone this far. He would have offered a few words cheering on her challenge and let the matter end lightly.
And so Seol Soyoung carefully thought through why this situation had arisen—and found the answer surprisingly quickly.
In truth, every single time he had ever moved, there had been one identical common thread.
For a moment, Seol Soyoung's cheeks flushed a little red.
Right. It was a slightly embarrassing thing to admit, but it had always been for her sake.
Then… might the reason this time be similar?
Mixing in a little wishful thinking—perhaps he simply couldn't bear the thought of her appearing in a drama that wasn't his. Or perhaps there was some problem with Demon's Temptation itself, and he was trying to keep her from getting hurt.
Hmm… the former had a bit of her own hope mixed in, and considering his personality, the odds were rather slim. But under the premise that he was acting for her sake, the latter was entirely plausible.
Reaching that conclusion, Seol Soyoung began to roughly understand the position he was in.
There's something wrong with Demon's Temptation, and you could get hurt. But I found out through circumstances I can't tell anyone—so I can't properly explain it even to you. I'm sorry, but that's why I have no choice but to force the issue like this. Even if it means you end up hating me for it.
……Truly exasperating—and so very like him.
But he was overlooking a few things.
Something of that level would never make her hate him. And if it were her…… she could understand him perfectly well, no matter how strange the things he said.
Seol Soyoung murmured to herself, "Still a long way to go," and let out a sigh.
Then, to gain one final confirmation, she asked him this:
If she ignored his words this time—what would he do then?
And to that question, he sent this reply.
A reply so ruthless it was practically a threat. But it was so extreme that Seol Soyoung was, if anything, convinced.
He must really, desperately want to stop me from appearing in Demon's Temptation.
A smile rose to her lips of its own accord. He had probably agonized and agonized again before carefully sending even that reply. Had she received that threat knowing nothing, it might well have worked.
But what could he do?
The woman who liked him was not nearly so easy to handle.
For now, Seol Soyoung decided she would play along with him as far as she could—until the reason came to light.
Well… even so, she fully intended to tease him a little until the truth came out.
She understood that he was doing it for her—but him shouldering everything alone was not the picture she wanted.