The Butterfly Effect
Since the early days after I joined the company, I’d read a lot of scripts.
To exaggerate it a little, there was even a time when I read every script for an entire quarter.
Strictly speaking, a manager assigned to actors doesn’t have to read scripts at all.
Most actors choose their own material anyway.
But back then, I was obsessed with scripts to an almost ridiculous degree.
Why was that, exactly…?
When I paused to think about it, the answer was simple enough.
Back then, I read scripts to survive.
Just a high school graduate with no skills and no degree.
Unlike me, my fellow recruits had graduated from respectable universities, and some of them were experienced hires who’d come over from other entertainment companies.
If I wanted to survive among them, I had to do something. Anything.
And what I happened to latch onto in that struggle was scripts.
I still remembered reading them desperately, because if I didn’t even do that much, I felt pathetic.
Looking back, it was a bit excessive, but it gave me an eye for scripts.
Good scripts, bad scripts.
At least that much, I could tell apart with confidence.
Through that lens, Director Park Jun-seo’s bride of darkness was…
Interesting.
Yes.
Interesting.
So interesting it gave me chills.
I swallowed down my slightly heated breath and thought it over.
What exactly is making this so interesting?
The characters? The story? The mise-en-scène?
Or was it the occult element that mattered most in an occult film?
After mulling it over, I soon shook my head.
It’s not just one element that’s interesting.
The characters, the story, the mise-en-scène.
And the occult itself, which was the most important thing in an occult film.
Bride of darkness had all of it, and all of it was fun.
At that moment, a low sigh slipped out of me.
Crazy.
No other word came to mind.
This script was just… crazy.
A thrill ran through me at the sheer pleasure of a story after so long.
And what was even more surprising was that Bride of darkness wasn’t even a finished script.
An unpolished first draft.
And if revising it would only make the story cleaner, then…
The finished Bride of darkness screenplay would be far more interesting than this.
In that instant, I knew it.
This is it!
A five-million-ticket occult film.
If it wasn’t Bride of darkness, it made no sense.
Of course, if you understood how this business worked, you weren’t supposed to be certain about anything.
Still, I decided to break that taboo.
This has to be right.
If Bride of darkness wasn’t the occult film that would hit five million admissions, then there was no point calling it anything else.
If my prediction was wrong, then I should accept that as fate.
The moment I thought that, my mouth moved on its own.
“Team Leader Choi, give me this one.”
“...?”
“Give me both lead roles from Bride of darkness. No, wait. Let’s just do a co-production with Baekhak from the start?”
Team Leader Choi blinked at me, stunned.
“...What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden? You want Bride of darkness?”
“Yes.”
“B-but this is still just a draft, isn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
“You want to make a verbal contract?”
A verbal contract?
If it were up to me, I’d have stamped my seal on it right then and there.
But I forced my excitement down and thought calmly for a moment.
I’m way too eager right now.
Yes.
I was too eager.
So much that I could see the emotion on Team Leader Choi’s face shift from confusion to greed.
Even if Bride of darkness was a five-million-ticket occult film, I had no intention of letting myself get strung along.
Managing my expression, I took a half-step back.
“Honestly, I’d love to do that.”
Team Leader Choi put a sly smile on his face.
“...Heh. Looks like you really like it.”
“If I’m being honest… yes. The screenplay is that good.”
“And who were you planning to give it to if you got it?”
That was the bait Team Leader Choi casually tossed out.
And I, pretending to bite, played along.
“A few people come to mind for the parts, but…”
“But?”
“First, I want to show it to the top star on my team.”
“!”
Team Leader Choi’s eyes widened.
Then the balance of power changed in an instant.
“The top star… under Chief Manager Kwon?” he asked, unable to hide his eagerness.
“You mean the actress I’m thinking of?”
“...”
I smiled.
Sometimes silence was better than a hundred words.
Meanwhile, Team Leader Choi’s eyes started gleaming with greed.
“It’s too early to make a rash decision, right?”
“That’s right.”
“We should make sure to get together again, Chief Manager Kwon.”
I’d taken the bait, and so had Team Leader Choi.
That left no reason to refuse the offer.
“Sounds good. Or maybe next time, Director Park Jun-seo can join us too?”
“Oh! That’s a great idea. I’m pretty sure Director Park would like that too.”
“Once the script is finished, I’ll set up a proper meeting at the right time.”
After setting up a new dinner appointment, a few more drinks followed.
Then, at a reasonable hour, I wrapped things up and parted ways with Team Leader Choi.
“I’ll keep badgering Director Park and get the script finished as soon as I can, so make sure you check it, Chief Manager Kwon!”
Only after he’d gone did the alcohol hit me belatedly, leaving my head with a dull ache.
And yet, even in that state, scenes from Bride of darkness kept surfacing in my mind.
Especially one of the lead characters, the nun Seo Rin-bi, whose presence was so intense it practically burned.
I get why the director said he modeled her after Lee Ha-eun.
Seo Rin-bi in Bride of darkness was…
She was just Lee Ha-eun, plain and simple.
A foul-tempered, unpredictable woman who didn’t spare a thought for anyone else, but when it came to her own work, was endlessly professional.
Seo Rin-bi, the nun in Bride of darkness, was exactly the Lee Ha-eun I knew.
And then it occurred to me all at once.
Wasn’t today the broadcast day for Queen of Joseon?
I turned on my smartphone and checked the ratings.
-Drama Queen of Joseon records first place in viewership for six consecutive weeks!
Before I even realized it, a snort of laughter escaped me.
“Wow…”
I’d predicted the ratings for Representative Baek and Queen of Joseon.
I’d figured Baek would hit 20 percent.
I’d said 25 percent.
With buzz behind it, 30 percent seemed possible too.
But Lee Ha-eun’s performance surpassed all of our expectations.
With only the final episode left, Queen of Joseon was standing right at the doorstep of 30 percent.
Lee Ha-eun’s acting was far beyond what Representative Baek and I had predicted.
That dawn, I barely slept at all because of Bride of darkness.
Whenever I closed my eyes, Director Park Jun-seo’s screenplay drifted up in front of me.
As a result, I felt rough when morning came, but once I got to work, my energy surged back.
The reason was simple.
The To.Any showcase was right around the corner.
“...”
I checked the cue sheet for the To.Any debut showcase for the seventeenth time.
[1. Opening]
[2. Intro Video]
[3. First Performance]
[4. Talk Session 1]
....
I went through it again and again, making sure nothing had been missed, nothing was excessive, nothing had been overlooked by mistake.
After that, I checked the flood of To.Any articles pouring in like a storm.
I clicked my tongue before I realized it.
“Even if these are just promo pieces, isn’t this a bit much?”
The volume of articles was no joke.
There were already more than ten pieces out for today alone.
And the promotion was far beyond what I’d expected, so I could tell at once.
They’ve decided to push this properly.
Then again, after that flawless interim inspection, it would have been strange if they hadn’t.
But compared to the avalanche of promotion, the public response was colder than I expected.
I clicked my tongue again.
“Not bad, but not good either.”
Baekhak was a full-scale entertainment agency.
As one of the giants of the industry, it had top-tier stars across the entire entertainment field.
But every girl group it had launched so far had tasted failure.
Thanks to that, even hardcore idol fans were setting their expectations at exactly that level.
It was Baekhak’s girl group, so they were curious, but not hopeful.
Still, it wasn’t as if there were no positive signs at all.
The public response was lukewarm, but visually, they were definitely drawing attention.
And for a girl group, the most important evaluation factor was visuals.
Song, choreography, personality, charm. Those come after the visuals hold up.
In that sense, the public’s view of To.Any wasn’t bad at all.
If people were saying the visuals were good, that meant they’d already cleared the passing mark.
“That just leaves the live showcase.”
The first impression they made on that stage would decide To.Any’s identity going forward.
In other words, we had to deliver a performance even more flawless than the interim inspection.
“I’ve got to work hard.”
Because the showcase would be held live, there was no telling what kind of accident might happen.
The stage, the lineup, the camera director, the staff.
And even the list of reporters invited to the showcase.
For the sake of a perfect live performance, I spent my days checking even the smallest details once more, staying busy from morning to night.
But maybe I’d pushed myself too hard.
When I opened my eyes that morning, there was no strength left in my body.
A groan escaped my mouth.
“Ugh… I’m dead.”
The desire to rest slowly raised its head.
“Should I take today off?”
...But if I rested today, I’d just have to work even harder tomorrow.
If I kept putting things off and something went wrong on showcase day, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.
In the end, I forced my heavy body into motion and punched my attendance at headquarters.
“?”
The office atmosphere was strange.
Murmur, murmur.
Every employee had stood up and was pacing around their desks, and from the PR team I could hear shouting, as though some kind of emergency had broken out.
The company’s mood was different from yesterday’s, and my exhaustion-worn eyes widened.
“Ah, today’s the day, isn’t it?”
I’d forgotten.
Today was the day the article about Choi Su-hyeon went up.
The management office looked dark and depressed.
“...”
Everyone wore a heavy expression.
Among them, clusters of coworkers were gathered together, whispering.
“Did you hear?”
“...Hear what?”
“The article broke this morning!”
“Wow... he really stepped in it, didn’t he?”
“Team 1 is going to be holding a joint funeral from first thing this morning.”
Without meaning to, I let out a laugh.
At the same time, the fatigue I’d been carrying for days vanished like a lie.
With my mind suddenly clear and my body feeling light, I headed for the PR team.
“Get the rebuttal article up fast!”
“Say our side had absolutely no idea!”
“Why do we always have to clean up the mess when management causes the accidents?”
“Stop complaining and take the damn calls, idiot!”
The PR team was, quite literally, fighting a war.
Watching the scene at my leisure, I dropped down beside Team Leader Seo, whose dark circles hung all the way to his chin.
“Team Leader Seo.”
“Oh my, you startled me!”
Team Leader Seo shot me a look.
“Chief Manager Kwon? Could you make some noise when you come in?”
“Ah, sorry. But…”
Trailing off, I asked as if I knew nothing.
“Why is the whole company like this first thing in the morning?”
“Sigh... you didn’t see this morning’s article?”
“The article?”
“Oh, come on! Try to keep up with the world!”
Team Leader Seo handed me a tablet PC.
My eyes moved across the headlines filling the screen.
The comments were hotter than I expected too.
No, wait. This guy Choi Su-hyeon…
He was more of a heavyweight than I’d thought.
A Gangnam host-club ace?
That alone was surprising, but apparently his nickname was Wife Killer too.
With a dry laugh, I got to my feet.
On the way back to the management office, a rough shout reached my ears.
It was a voice I knew, and yet it felt strangely unfamiliar.
At that moment, my heart started pounding.
Thump, thump.
The To.Any showcase was right around the corner.
And though I’d temporarily forgotten it because of Director Park Jun-seo’s new Black Bride screenplay… yes.
Today’s Choi Su-hyeon incident was a big event for me too.
What kind of expression is Team Leader Kim Seong-hun wearing right now?
I couldn’t quite predict it, but one thing was certain.
It’s going to be art.
Yes.
It would be absolute art.
What expression would Team Leader Kim Seong-hun make when he heard this news?
My mouth twisted with rising anticipation as I flung open the door to the management office.
And at that very moment—
“Fuck! How is this my responsibility? This happened before he even came into headquarters!”
Team Leader Kim Seong-hun’s shout slammed into my ears like lightning.
A low murmur of admiration escaped me before I could stop it.
“Wow…”
Whatever it was, I’d expected a huge reaction.
“How is what Choi Su-hyeon did cheating on his wife my fault?”
But reality always went beyond expectation.
Staring at the scene before me, I clicked my tongue and muttered,
“This is really a picture.”
Yes, a picture.
Team Leader Kim Seong-hun’s face, red-hot like an active volcano, was a masterpiece beyond anything I’d imagined.
And I felt a little sorry to Team Leader Kim Seong-hun, but the Choi Su-hyeon affair scandal had only just begun.
It was revealed that one of the women involved in the affair with Choi Su-hyeon was a top actress known as part of a famously devoted celebrity couple.
At that moment, the scale of the scandal began to swell beyond anything anyone could contain.