Chapter 89
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Go First, I Have Someone to Meet
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"Go on ahead. I have someone else to meet."
CMTV's fifth floor, Paranormal team office.
Director Steven Hoover was in the middle of a meeting with casting director Rachel Ziegler.
Originally, the casting for Paranormal Season 3 had been contracted with Chris Weidman, not Rachel's RZ team.
Introductions for the other roles had gone quite satisfactorily, so that had been overlooked.
The problem arose with the role of "Brian."
The burly Black casting director, Chris, had come to the office with a proposal.
- Couldn't we change this "Brian" role to a woman?
Naturally, Steven couldn't help but voice his doubts. They already had two female leads, and now they wanted to make the main villain a woman too?
- What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?
Despite Steven's reaction, Chris spoke with considerable confidence.
- Melody Burns has shown interest in the role.
Melody Burns.
She was a female actor who had skyrocketed to the ranks of Hollywood's elite based on her leggy figure and striking features, having started out as a model.
She wasn't just on the rise—she was already treated as a top-tier star, headlining multiple films solo.
She was a guaranteed box-office draw with her fame, acting chops, and looks all locked in.
The idea that Melody was interested in the project was undeniably a sweet pitch for Steven.
- I know what you're worried about, Director. But Paranormal features superpowers, doesn't it? Viewers won't raise much of an eyebrow at a female villain showing up.
Chris wasn't entirely wrong. With "abilities" in play, the power gap between men and women could be seen as considerably narrowed.
But in the end, Steven's choice was refusal.
- Even if it's Melody, that's going to be tough.
Steven had his principles.
Different people might think differently, but to him, there were roles better suited to men and others that fit women more naturally.
The visual impact stemming from the physical differences between men and women was something you simply couldn't ignore.
- Hm. I'll look into other actors, but it'd be great if you could reconsider after giving it some thought.
And after that.
Chris did bring lists of other male actors, but none of them clicked.
To make matters worse, subtle pressure started coming down from CMTV's higher-ups.
- Is it because of the priest concept? Melody's got enough merit to overhaul things for, doesn't she? Just look at her last project—thanks to her...
The most crucial role in Season 3 remained vacant as time dragged on aimlessly.
So, Steven's final solution was.
To reach out to Rachel Ziegler, whom he'd worked with before.
And that choice turned out to be one of the best in his career.
"I really owe you one, Rachel. You got me out of a real bind."
Adjusting his round glasses, Steven Hoover extended a handshake to Rachel Ziegler, seated across from him.
Rachel elegantly tossed back her blonde hair and clasped his hand.
"I was just doing my job. But you'll sign with our team for the next season, right?"
"Haha. If I'm directing the next one, sure."
"With all of America buzzing about Paranormal right now, do you think CMTV would be crazy enough to switch directors if you showed any intent to continue?"
"You say the wildest things. You know how this industry is—nobody knows which way it'll go."
"Well, I don't think it'll come to that, but if it does, I guess we'd have to be satisfied knowing we've shown you what we're capable of."
"Thanks."
Steven shook Rachel's hand firmly, still holding it.
A capable director and a capable casting director.
No matter how vast Hollywood's market was, talented people always found their way back to each other.
In that sense, Rachel had called in a favor with Steven, and he'd acknowledged it.
With business wrapped up, Steven asked Rachel about something that had been genuinely nagging at him.
"But that thing you said earlier—is that really true?"
"What do you mean?"
"That actor Woo-jin only started acting seven months ago."
"He didn't exactly start then, but that's when he took on a proper role and got into production."
"Unbelievable... So that video you showed me was..."
"From a movie that opened a month ago."
"My God..."
Steven recalled the video Rachel had brought before, insisting he check it out.
It was a short scene of Jung Woo-jin making a flashy entrance like the star of the show at a private party.
He'd called Jung Woo-jin for an audition because of his mysteriously beautiful features and a physique as imposing as any Western actor's.
It wasn't about his "acting ability."
Frankly, judging purely on acting skill, Steven saw it as decently "good"—nothing more.
To be blunt, there were parts that felt a bit flat due to lacking detail.
But.
"He made that kind of progress in just that short time?"
Generously speaking, not even half a year.
Yet the performance Jung Woo-jin delivered in the movie Inner Beauty and what he'd shown yesterday here were worlds apart.
When asked to show "overwhelming presence."
Jung Woo-jin didn't just pull a heavy expression or posture up.
His eyes clearly gleamed with contempt for the person in front of him, and every small movement dripped with an obsessive arrogance and towering pride.
The brief hesitations, blinks, twitches in facial muscles—those tiny details made all the difference between having them and not.
"Vitality."
Those precise details breathed life into the character.
To the point where the "Brian" Steven had envisioned felt like a real, living being.
"A true genius...?"
Actors who were decently good were a dime a dozen.
But those who took it a step further and made the scripted role come alive and breathe? They were rare as hen's teeth.
For someone to evolve from "decently good" to that level in less than a year.
Could that really be his limit?
"I want to start shooting right now."
Steven shivered at the thought of the Eastern genius actor who would grace his drama.
After wrapping up her meeting with Director Steven at CMTV, Rachel said to her team member.
"Go on ahead. I have someone else to meet."
Rachel climbed into her sports car and turned the ignition.
Vroooom-.
She was heading to some nearby hotel called Annabel or whatever.
After parking in the hotel lot.
"Hoo..."
Rachel Ziegler lightly bonked her head against the steering wheel and let out a sigh.
"Why is this happening to me...?"
Something was subtly going wrong.
She still loved money and sex just as much as ever, but it felt like the focus was off.
And the cause was unmistakably Jung Woo-jin, staying at that hotel.
Everything had started after meeting him in Korea and enjoying sex.
Her body craved it constantly, heating up at the slightest provocation—more than before.
But she couldn't drag team members to hotels to use as sex slaves like old times, or mobilize actors held hostage by contracts for sex parties.
She couldn't explain how, but it just felt wrong.
Once, unable to hold back her boiling lust, she'd impulsively grabbed some guy in a dark alley.
But it hadn't gone all the way.
After shoving a gun in the face of the guy freaking out about what the hell this was.
Rachel finally realized it.
Jung Woo-jin's cock.
Her body—or maybe her mind—wouldn't accept anything else anymore.
Bam-!
Rachel slammed the steering wheel and yelled.
"Damn it...!"
Her pride was wounded.
She'd gone out of her way to hook him up with a great role unprompted.
But instead of coming to thank her in person, he'd just sent a single text telling her to come to him.
She felt disgusted with herself for rushing here anyway, but it was baffling too.
Why was she so hung up on this guy who'd left her passed out at the villa without a second thought?
Sizzle-.
Even with her head against the wheel, thinking of Jung Woo-jin made her ears burn.
A tingling current raced through her body.
In the end, Rachel got out of the car.
Click-.
She adjusted her sunglasses and headed into the Coast Annabel Hotel.
The guest room corridor was quiet, sparse with people in the awkward afternoon hour.
Rachel strode confidently down the hall, her high heels clicking. Each step sent her wavy blonde hair shimmering dramatically.
Click-clack-.
"This the place...?"
In front of the door marked "314," Rachel lifted her sunglasses slightly.
Rachel leaned in and pressed her ear to the door.
"......"
No sound came from inside.
Her face twisted as she listened intently with a cautious expression.
"What the hell is he doing...?"
Rachel stepped back from the door and knocked.
Knock knock knock-.
It was just knocking on a door.
But Rachel's heart began pounding like when she was a kid ringing the neighbor's doorbell and running away.
Because she knew what came next was beyond her control.
No matter how rich and successful she was.
One second, two, three. In just those three seconds, her heart beat even faster.
Unable to bear the anxiety, Rachel tapped her heel on the spot.
And when five seconds had passed.
Click-.
The door opened.