Graduation
"Musik."
"What is it, Seo Eunwoo."
"You sure you're really okay with Hanbit Arts High?"
"Hey, if anyone overheard that, they'd get the wrong idea and think I was going there because of you."
"Huh? You weren't?"
"Ugh, the way you just casually spit out something that creepy…"
Cha Musik shook his head vigorously from side to side.
My longtime friend Cha Musik would be entering Hanbit Arts High School with me this year — and in the same Video Production Department, no less. From what I'd heard, he'd applied during the second round of admissions and gotten in without breaking a sweat.
"Then why are you going to Hanbit Arts High?"
"I'm going to spend the rest of my life at Muhan Newspaper anyway, right? Dad said I might as well start building connections in the entertainment industry early, so I jumped on it without a second thought."
"Then why Video Production of all departments?"
"Aigoo, you're full of questions today. Think about it. You really think I'd survive among those high-and-mighty acting department kids?"
No. Absolutely not. He would have been a hundred-percent lock to fail the practical audition from the start.
"Yeah. It's a little sad, but looking at your face, I can tell you get it. It'd be the same in any other department. I'm not particularly good at dancing, and I'm not particularly good at music either — so of course my eyes would land on Video Production, the one that looked the most manageable, right?"
"Look at you, making actual sense for once."
"Excuse me, you little—?"
For a moment, sparks seemed to fly from Cha Musik's eyes, but I casually averted my gaze and ignored him.
Either way, it was good news for me. Having even one friend around was far more comforting than being surrounded by complete strangers.
"Haa… Anyway, the media's been keeping a close eye on departments like Video Production these days. The second an article drops with a headline like The Birth of the Next Star Writer to Succeed 927! — that day's paper is basically sold out."
"Hmm, is that really how it is? I figure writers like 927 are only going to become more common in a few years."
"Oh? Don't tell me one of them is going to be you?"
"……?"
"Right. If it isn't our brilliant Mr. Seo Eunwoo, who else could possibly stand shoulder to shoulder with Writer 927? So let me ride your coattails a little, yeah? Once you make it big, I'm monopolizing every article about you."
Cha Musik said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then flashed a grin.
"……Do whatever you want."
I returned a wry smile of my own.
Well… that much I could probably do for him. Someday, maybe.
"Alright, shall we head to the auditorium?"
He stood up first.
Outside the window, snow had begun to drift down in soft, lazy flakes, and the parking lot was packed with parents' cars.
……Today was middle school graduation.
Looking back, the past few years had been packed with more than I could count. Starting with Welcome to Cafe Violet, then Fly High, and finally Itaewon Revolution — three works as Writer 927, and with them, a whole web of connections and memories.
And then that saying came to mind: if it was good, it was a memory; if it was bad, it was experience. I was pretty sure I fell into the former category. Aside from working with CEO Baek Junyeong on Fly High, I hadn't exactly suffered. The real hard work had all been done by Studio NMIX and the actors who poured themselves into the dramas.
Especially……
I pictured the face of one particular girl who had appeared in every single one of my works, and a wry smile tugged at my lips.
Thinking about it, everything had started in my second year of middle school — the day I ran into her by chance at a café.
She was probably going through her own graduation ceremony right about now, just like me.
And for the record, it was about time I offered her a brief farewell of my own. The official retirement announcement was set for early to mid-March, so giving her a heads-up beforehand was only proper, given everything we'd shared.
"Hey, Seo Eunwoo! What are you doing? If you don't hurry, you're not getting your diploma!"
Well… I'd think about that problem after the ceremony was over.
I hurried after Cha Musik toward the auditorium.
At the same time.
Before the main graduation ceremony began, Seol Soyoung sat in her classroom, staring blankly at the snow falling beyond the window.
Under ordinary circumstances, she would have been enrolling at Yeonggwang High School just a few days after this ceremony.
Yeonggwang High was the undisputed top school in South Korea — and the very place where her father, Seol Hanyong, and her mother, Lee Hwayang, had first met. Second- and third-generation chaebol heirs filled its halls in droves, and there was even a running joke that a Yeonggwang diploma alone could get you hired anywhere you wanted.
Naturally, Soyoung had no particular reason to turn down admission to the best high school in the country. She hadn't felt a strong pull toward any school to begin with. She had already achieved her dream of becoming an actress, and she no longer believed there was anything left for her to learn in a classroom. That was why she had planned to attend Yeonggwang — the school that carried the most weight on paper, if nothing else.
In the end, though, she chose Hanbit Arts High School.
Because a reason had appeared.
An important reason she had to go there……
Seol Soyoung slowly closed her eyes and let that day's conversation rise to the surface of her mind.
It had been only a few days before the second-round application deadline for Hanbit Arts High. Yoo Yeonjung, Executive Director at Studio NMIX, had suddenly requested a meeting, saying there was something she absolutely needed to discuss. Soyoung had no reason to refuse, so she accepted.
As arranged, she visited Yoo Yeonjung's office. It was the first time the two of them had sat down face-to-face alone, and a faintly awkward current hung in the room.
"Miss Soyoung."
Yoo Yeonjung was the one who broke the silence — the one who had asked for this meeting in the first place.
"Are you familiar with Hanbit Arts High School?"
It was a thoroughly unexpected question. Soyoung had assumed this would be about the next drama — and then, out of nowhere, high school?
Whether she answered or not, Soyoung already knew a fair amount about Hanbit Arts High. Park Hajun, her co-star from Itaewon Revolution, was enrolled there, and during breaks on set he had often talked about the school.
But why bring it up now?
"I was wondering if you might be interested. Personally, I'd love to see you enroll there. I heard Chairman Song Hayul even extended an invitation……"
"I declined. I didn't see any particular merit in it."
"Yes. I imagined as much. The curriculum there wouldn't mean much to someone at your level."
The more they talked, the less Soyoung could grasp what the woman sitting across from her was after. Even Yoo Yeonjung herself seemed to acknowledge that Soyoung had little to gain from attending Hanbit Arts High.
"Judging by your expression, it seems I'll need to explain a proper reason before you'll be convinced."
Faced with Soyoung's lukewarm response, Yoo Yeonjung offered a wry smile, as if she had expected exactly this.
"Then tell me — what do you think of Writer 927?"
And so Yoo Yeonjung made the decision to speak his pen name in front of Seol Soyoung. Because she was the single most important insurance policy for bringing Writer 927 back into the industry. But for that, Soyoung's own will was what mattered most.
Yoo Yeonjung watched her reaction from the corner of her eye. Young as she still was, Seol Soyoung was a full-fledged actress now. Managing her expression should have been as easy as breathing. And yet the moment Writer 927's name was spoken, a subtle shift flickered across her face — brief, but unmistakable.
……That was agitation.
Yoo Yeonjung thought back to this year's Cheongsang Arts Awards. Soyoung's acceptance speech had sounded like a girl in the throes of first love, gathering the courage to confess. Listening to it, Yoo Yeonjung had kept wondering who that confession was meant for. And now, seeing this reaction, the pieces snapped into place all at once.
"Have you never once thought about meeting Writer 927? If I were you, Miss Soyoung, I'd want to meet him this very instant."
"……That almost sounds as if going to Hanbit Arts High would let me meet him."
Yoo Yeonjung said nothing. She simply smiled.
Soyoung understood exactly what that smile meant.
"And given that you went out of your way to tell me this much, you clearly want something from me."
"Bingo. You catch on fast. There's only one thing I want from you, Miss Soyoung."
When the time came to persuade Writer 927, she wanted Soyoung's help — as much of it as possible. That was what Yoo Yeonjung wanted from her.
"If you grow closer to Writer 927, persuasion will become that much easier. Honestly, I'd love nothing more than to tell you his identity right now — but I have a feeling he'd genuinely resent me for it."
"Director Yoo."
In an instant, Soyoung's voice turned ice-cold, and Yoo Yeonjung's eyes widened.
"I have just one question. Who is that persuasion for?"
Yoo Yeonjung met the piercing gaze fixed on her without flinching. There was nothing friendly in Soyoung's eyes. One wrong answer here, and she could find herself in serious trouble — she could feel it.
"……For now, let's just say it's for everyone — Studio NMIX, you, and Writer 927 included. What's certain is that the best outcome would be if that situation never arises at all."
Soyoung considered the answer for a moment. Then she made her declaration to the woman sitting before her.
"Very well. But if that claim about acting for everyone's sake turns out to be a lie — or if I determine that it would harm Writer 927 — then today's conversation never happened."
Faced with the girl's unyielding declaration, Yoo Yeonjung had no choice but to nod.