A Morning of Heat and Smoke
Good morning.
CEO Baek Ji-won swirled her wineglass with elegant poise.
"As Director Park knows, Ha-eun has been stubborn more than once, hasn't she?"
Division Director Park Yu-hyeon cut into a wedge of imported American cheese as he answered, "More than once? She's stubborn every day."
"I don't think that's a bad thing. Ego matters for actors."
Baek Ji-won smiled faintly.
"But sometimes that stubbornness heads in the wrong direction. Toward the wrong choices."
"...You mean this Hollywood offer."
"Yes. Exactly."
Red wine stained Baek Ji-won's red lips.
"When I failed to persuade her, I had that thought. Before I knew it, Ha-eun had grown this much. Far too much for me to lay a hand on carelessly."
Park Yu-hyeon's words trailed off. "So this investment is..."
"That's right. Once, I can let it pass as her being cute about it..."
The corners of Baek Ji-won's mouth lifted.
"But letting it pass twice? That wouldn't do, would it? So I'm going to put a leash on her in advance."
"..."
"She turned down a fifteen-billion-won offer, so I think a fifteen-billion-won leash is appropriate. Clear, Director Park?"
Park Yu-hyeon's lips moved slightly.
"I'll proceed with the investment, Representative."
"Please do. Also..."
Baek Ji-won gave a soft smile.
"For the time being, Director Park, keep an eye on Ha-eun and take good care of her."
"Do you mean Actress Lee Ha-eun?"
"Yes. She can be fierce on the surface, but she's actually rather delicate underneath."
Baek Ji-won's eyes curved like crescent moons.
"She's going to feel a lot of pressure over this. I'm worried the mental illness she's been dealing with might get worse."
Park Yu-hyeon's eyes gave a small, involuntary twitch.
Across from him, Baek Ji-won lifted her wine with a lightly exhilarated expression.
Watching her in silence, Park Yu-hyeon answered slowly, "Understood, Representative."
"Mm. But, Director Park."
"Yes?"
"Why do you look like that?"
Baek Ji-won pouted like a child.
"That hurts a little, you know... If even you look at me like that, Director Park, I feel a bit slighted."
I took Ga-eul straight to a nearby hospital.
Fortunately, it wasn't the flu. It was a bad case of body aches.
Between the grueling schedule and the lack of sleep she'd been juggling lately, it would've been stranger if her body hadn't started acting up. She hadn't even been eating properly.
"It isn't influenza, but just in case, it would be difficult for you to continue filming."
At the doctor's warning, we decided to keep the mini fan meeting to a simple round of greetings.
"It's a shame, but if it's body aches, there's nothing to be done."
"I'm sorry, PD Jo. Please let PD Park know as well."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Please tell Ga-eul to forget about filming and focus on getting better first."
I accepted PD Jo's kindness without refusing it.
After explaining the situation to the fans who had come to the fan meeting venue and offering a brief greeting, we headed straight to a large hospital nearby.
Ga-eul lay on the bed with an IV in her wrist and looked at me quietly.
Apology, gratitude, worry, regret.
I could feel so many emotions in that hot gaze, things that couldn't be put into words.
"...Manager."
"Yes, Ga-eul."
"I'm sorry."
Her voice quivered at the end, as if her throat had closed up.
Compared with the girls in To.Any, who were a little rough around the edges, she was a delicate one.
From the look on her face, it seemed she was worrying about things she didn't need to worry about at all.
When you're sick, the best thing is to rest without a care in the world.
How could I ease that worry for her?
But when I thought about it, it was a kind of worry I couldn't remove for her. Body management was part of a professional's field.
She was a rookie who hadn't even been active for a full year yet, but if she looked ahead, this would be a good lesson for Ga-eul.
So instead of offering empty comfort or preaching at her, I tossed out a joke like I always did.
"They say even a fool doesn't catch a summer cold..."
"?"
"There are two fools on our team."
Ga-eul blinked, then burst out laughing.
"I'm not sick with a cold, Manager."
"Body aches, cold..."
"Maybe I caught it from Ye-ji unnie."
"Weren't you just saying it wasn't a cold?"
"Did I?"
"You're repeating yourself. You're not in your right mind. Hurry up and sleep."
Ga-eul tugged at the end of my sleeve.
"Are you leaving?"
"No. I should stay here until the drip's done."
In a self-mocking voice, Ga-eul murmured, "I'm sorry, Manager."
"What's there to be sorry about? The shoot ended safely."
"No, it's not that..."
She trailed off and slowly closed her eyes.
"I want to do well, but I just can't."
"Can't what?"
"I always end up needing help from Manager..."
Ga-eul's low voice tickled at my ear.
"I want to be useful to Manager too. Why is that so hard?"
When I heard her breathing settle into a soft, even rhythm, she must have finally fallen asleep.
The moment I confirmed it, the tension that had been stretched tight in me finally snapped loose.
Sudden fatigue washed over me, and without meaning to, I rubbed at my eyes.
I considered lighting a cigarette, then remembered I was in a hospital room and forced myself to stop.
Even so, the tiredness that had rushed in wouldn't leave easily.
My eyes kept closing like I was a sick chicken.
Afraid I might actually fall asleep, I turned on my smartphone.
In that short time, I had accumulated thirty missed calls and fifty messages.
Feeling my limp thoughts stir awake a little, I scrolled through them.
Any source on Actress Lee Ha-eun...?
How about the Black Bride Seo Tae-jun side?
When's the reading? Give us some info...
People were reaching out from everywhere, trying to snatch up any crumbs from the Black Bride buzz currently setting the place on fire.
Before I realized it, the corner of my mouth had twitched.
"Well, look at that. The people who never contact me are the ones calling only when it's like this."
I wasn't the type to fill my self-esteem with things like this...
But maybe it was because I was facing such naked desire, something you rarely got to see up close.
A faint thrill rose from deep inside my chest.
I had somehow climbed into a position where I could control people's desires.
Compared with my first year as a road manager, I really had changed a lot.
But the past five years hadn't just changed my position.
They had changed my relationship with one person too.
"Why hasn't she called?"
Top actress Lee Ha-eun had gone quiet.
Thinking back to the expression I saw that day...
It wouldn't have been strange at all if she'd caused some kind of incident, but this impossible woman had been completely silent ever since.
"What is she thinking?"
Even I, Lee Ha-eun's former manager and the only one who had lasted a full year with her, couldn't guess.
The expression I saw at the dinner that day.
Breath, gestures, emotion.
That day, Lee Ha-eun had been holding herself back so she wouldn't cross the line.
Why, then, had she become so quiet?
After thinking it over for a while, I muttered, "Could she be playing hard to get?"
...The thought that popped into my head sent a chill through me.
That Lee Ha-eun, playing hard to get?
Absolutely not.
Feeling my fatigue suddenly burn off, I muttered, "Or she could have gone into a project and be buried in script study."
People outside call Lee Ha-eun a genius just by looking at her image.
But I knew better, because I had watched her closely.
That acting belonged partly to talent, yes, but it also belonged to effort.
Once she enters a project, Lee Ha-eun's world becomes the script and nothing else.
She eats for the script, sleeps for the script, and adjusts her entire routine for the script.
With that kind of effort added to her natural gift, there was no way her performances could be anything less than excellent.
Having thought that far, I let out a snort of laughter.
"Well, I guess all I can do is trust her and wait."
Whatever else I couldn't count on, I could trust Lee Ha-eun once she was immersed in a project.
Of every actor I'd ever seen, she had the strongest sense of professionalism.
The moment I finished sorting out my thoughts, my smartphone rang.
My eyes widened slightly.
"Director Park Jun-seo?"
I stood and answered the call.
"Yes, Director."
"Manager Kwon? Do you have a minute to talk?"
After glancing once toward the sleeping Ga-eul, I slipped out of the hospital room.
"Yes, of course. I do."
"Oh, nothing serious. I just wanted to call and ask when you might drop by the office again."
"Ah... I've been tied up this week and haven't been able to reach out. I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's fine! My phone's been practically on fire too, so of course you're busy as well. Still, I felt I really had to tell you this, so I called..."
Director Park's voice suddenly heated up.
"After talking with Baekhak's PR team, we've decided to move the production forward!"
I came to an abrupt stop.
"You mean..."
"Yes, it's been decided!"
My heart began to pound.
In that pleasant surge of excitement, Director Park shouted, "The reading date for Black Bride has been set for the end of this month, Manager Kwon!"
A fresh wave washed over my entire body, cool and exhilarating.
The next day.
As I arrived at Baekhak headquarters with a cigarette in my mouth, I turned on my smartphone.
When a top actress joins a project, there is a strange kind of pull to it that brings other actors with her.
The title of top actress itself was practically a guarantee of success.
And Lee Ha-eun was, at this point, one of the best actresses in the business.
Since Lee Ha-eun's addition, the casting pace for Black Bride had been anything but ordinary.
Veteran actor Park Tae-sik had joined as Cardinal Seo Jun-hyeong, a major supporting role.
A supporting actor with two separate ten-million-ticket hits under his belt had signed on to Black Bride.
On top of that, the remaining smaller supporting and bit roles were drawing interest from actors whose quality far exceeded my expectations.
So I thought the reading date might get moved up earlier than planned...
I never dreamed it would be set this quickly.
After thinking it through for a moment, it wasn't hard to guess why.
"Looks like Baekhak wanted it that way."
There is one rule in the chaotic world of publicity, where you can never predict what will happen next.
When the tide comes in, you don't just row harder. You put a motor on the boat.
In other words, when the public's attention gathers, you have to keep feeding it material so the issue keeps reproducing itself.
And right now, Black Bride was drawing enormous interest thanks to Lee Ha-eun's involvement.
There was no way Baekhak, the company that had decided to invest in Black Bride, would let this opportunity slip.
They were probably thinking of generating as much buzz as possible before filming began.
The corner of my mouth lifted.
"...So that means filming starts next month?"
It had been, what, two months since I first learned about the Black Bride script?
And now the payoff was rushing toward me all at once.
"Wow. So this day really does come."
But the bud that had bloomed wasn't the only one.
The public reaction to To.Any was no joke.
After securing a place near the top of the music charts, they were being mentioned steadily in YouTube Shorts and on social media.
In the middle of all that, Star Observation! had joined forces with Baekhak's publicity team and officially entered promotion mode.
If Star Observation! produced the kind of result I was expecting...
It looked like To.Any could hit No. 1 on the music charts before the Black Bride reading date.
At that moment, an exclamation burst out of my mouth on its own.
"Baek Representative's gift... I'm finally getting it."
A shiver of thrill ran down my spine as I lifted my head.
The sun was still warm, but it already felt like autumn had arrived.
And autumn is the season of harvest.
It meant it was time to reap the seeds I'd already planted.
That realization sent my already good condition straight through the roof.
Tension, excitement, joy.
My dormant nerves had just started buzzing with dopamine again when a strange whisper drifted into my ear.
"That Manager Kwon bastard is all about Lee Ha-eun, isn't he?"
"?"
"Hey! Let's be honest. Was Queen of Joseon a hit because of that Manager Kwon bastard?"
My eyes widened.
"Manager Kwon is just pure luck, isn't he? Right?"
An unexpected doglike bark of a voice, coming from the rooftop smoking area.
I decided to hold my breath for now.
After grinding out my cigarette and putting it out, I hid in a corner of the smoking area.
In the meantime, the new visitors who had come to the smoking area started chatting among themselves.
"Did you hear? Apparently Actress Lee Ha-eun's next project has been decided."
"Huh? She's already starting her next one?"
"Doesn't Actress Lee Ha-eun usually take about a year off after a project ends?"
"That's not the issue. I heard the project she's joining this time is occult."
"What? Occult?"
"Why would Actress Lee Ha-eun choose to do a minor genre like that?"
They were road managers from Management Team 3.
"From what I heard, Team 5's Manager Kwon recommended the script."
"Manager Kwon? Isn't that the guy the company gave a Benz to this time?"
"Probably. The one who got a Benz as a reward after Queen of Joseon blew up."
My gaze fixed on a man in his early thirties with a half-bald head.
Manager Lee Jae-min of Team 3.
He was a fairly senior manager, four years into the job.
Under Lee Jae-min's lead, the trash talk about me began in earnest.
"Isn't Manager Kwon just riding Lee Ha-eun's coattails?"
There are times like that.
Words that feel worse than an insult thrown straight to your face.
Right now, that line reaching my ears felt exactly like that kind of thing.
"Honestly, let's be real. Queen of Joseon didn't succeed because of Manager Kwon, did it?"
"Yeah, that's true, Manager Lee."
"Honestly, that one was all because of Actress Lee Ha-eun."
"To.Any was basically a group Baekhak was backing hard from the start anyway, right?"
"It was all temporary hype, but he got the wrong idea and puffed himself up."
"Maybe he recommended occult to Actress Lee Ha-eun because he doesn't know his place. Heh..."
Don't know my place? That's rich.
I thought I knew my place pretty well.
Even while they kept talking, the Team 3 road managers didn't stop spewing all kinds of rumors about me.
That I had forced Seo Tae-jun into a buzz cut...
That I was just a lucky bastard who succeeded thanks to Lee Ha-eun...
That now that I'd had a little success, my shoulders had gotten arrogant...
Honestly, some of it I could let pass, but why was Seo Tae-jun's head my fault?
Didn’t he choose it himself?
With a dry laugh, I shook my head.
Just looking at this, Director Seok-du's warning was starting to feel real.
He'd said the managers aiming for the team leader position would keep me in check, and this was how they did it?
All right. What should I do now?
The best method would be to pretend I hadn't heard anything and stay hidden.
If I simply acted deaf and covered my ears, this situation would probably pass without incident.
But as I've always said, my personality is a little rough around the edges.
I was the kind of bastard who couldn't repay kindness even if he wanted to, but would repay a grudge tenfold.
So, with my shoulders still squared as they said, I walked out from the corner where I'd been hiding.
The Team 3 road managers, who'd been enthusiastically tearing into me, flinched and started stammering.
"Ma-Manager Kwon?"
Some time ago, Director Ma Seok-du had said something to me.
Kwon Chan, you're a crazy bastard who smiles while threatening people.
So I decided to put that into practice right then and there.
With the brightest smile I could manage, I greeted the Team 3 road managers.
"Good morning, isn't it?"
At my morning greeting, the Team 3 road managers began to sweat coldly.
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