Aftershock (5)

"Let's take a look, shall we?"

Back when the overnight location shoot had been dragging on, Jeong Yeo-un hadn't been able to visit the set. A shortage of staff colliding with the end-of-year rush had kept him away. He'd received regular reports from Nam Tae-woo, but reports were all he'd gotten — secondhand accounts, nothing more.

The silver lining was that Forest of Crime was a massive success.

And today, Episode 4 was airing.

Jeong Yeo-un switched on the TV in his office.

The next day.

"Tae-woo. Go pick Ara up for me…."

"Yes, sir."

Jeong Yeo-un had barely slept. Every time he closed his eyes, a pair of glowing yellow eyes floated up behind his lids.

"Ugh."

He slurped his coffee.

"What kind of acting was that…."

He already knew she was good. He'd seen it with his own eyes. But this was… something else. Something that sat wrong in the gut. He was starting to wonder whether it even counted as acting.

"Of course it was acting, obviously, but……."

Especially the director's cut that had gone up on Netflex. That thing just looked like a full-blown psycho. Tae-woo, who'd been on set, had said as much — that it had been so vicious it made him nauseous.

Word of mouth always inflated things, so at the time Jeong Yeo-un had taken it with a grain of salt. He'd even felt a little proud — their actress was that good. But after watching it himself, he understood exactly why Tae-woo had reacted that way.

It hadn't even been twenty-four hours. Barely twelve since the episode aired.

Ratings? No need to even say it. An absolute smash. Peak viewership hit a staggering 40.2%. The teen viewing restriction might as well have been a joke. Everyone had been glued to Ara's performance — and everyone had been left reeling.

The flood of articles and the atmosphere across SNS and community boards proved it.

And the viewers, unable to sit still for even a moment, were already spinning wild fan theories.

So their eldest had killed the youngest. And if you really thought about it… none of it was wrong.

Next up: YouTube.

Someone doing a detailed breakdown was live-reviewing the director's cut of Forest of Crime Episode 4.

The man on screen rewound ten seconds after his explanation.

He rewound once more.

"No…?"

"What the hell is he talking about?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Jeong Yeo-un and the chat were in perfect agreement.

Every clip the YouTuber pulled up was a moment where the camera angle shifted.

"Huh?"

That was when Jeong Yeo-un finally caught on to what the YouTuber was getting at.

A few viewers in the chat were starting to catch on too.

"One take?"

Jeong Yeo-un's words overlapped with the audio.

The YouTuber cut between scenes and kept explaining — starting with the breathing, then the placement of bloodstains, the position of hair falling across her face, the continuity of her movements. He laid out piece after piece of evidence until the skeptical comments quietly vanished.

Jeong Yeo-un paused the video.

"Hmm……."

Ara would be arriving soon.

Clatter-clatter—

Starting with his desk, he began inspecting the entire office. Scissors, box cutters — every sharp object went into a drawer.

"Just in case. It's dangerous, that's all……."

Right. What if someone happened to be nearby and got hurt by accident? Hazard removal was the responsible thing to do.

It was absolutely not because he was scared of Gwang-nyeon-i — no, of Ara.

"Ara. I won't touch anything else. But you are doing the Forest of Crime promo. It's a drama you starred in — if it does well, that's good for you too, right?"

"Yes."

Starting with Episode 4, Forest of Crime had kicked its promotional campaign into high gear. To lock in existing viewers, they were planning a surprise live talk show — word of which had only gone out to the cast and crew. Viewers would get a notice thirty minutes before it started. A genuine ambush promo.

Ara had already confirmed she'd appear.

"Then what about variety shows? We've gotten way more booking requests than I expected."

Variety shows, huh.

There was no question variety would be good for her. It would get her face out there even more, and more importantly, it would build a sense of familiarity with the audience. But she still wasn't sure. Right now, what mattered more to Ara was filling out even a single line of her filmography.

"I'll hold off for now."

"Alright."

Jeong Yeo-un respected her decision.

"I'll give you the scripts — take them home and read through them. If anything else comes in, I'll email it over."

"Yes. Thank you, sir."

"And for the time being, stay home quietly. Don't go wandering around outside. Watch out for reporters. Tae-woo~"

Several days had passed since Thursday's Episode 4, and the heat around Ara showed no sign of cooling off.

At this very moment, with Gil Ara dominating every conversation, there were people who'd been thoroughly shaken by her.

"Haa— I don't even know what's going on anymore."

"Last time Woo-bin's worries turned out to be so pointless they actually backfired, huh?"

"Right? What kind of acting was that? I was watching the rebroadcast and nearly jumped out of my seat."

They were Team Train to Ulsan — the zombie film Ara and Ha-yeong had done cameos for.

Yu Hui-min, who'd been lost in thought, finally spoke up.

"Hmm……. Alright. I've decided."

"Sorry? Decided what, Director?"

"Ara. We need to call her back in."

"What? Why?"

The assistant director asked.

"Why do you think, you idiot. Additional shooting!! Call her, now!!"

"What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden!!! Our shoot is basically done!!! The schedule for an April release is already insanely tight!!"

"You little— just do what I damn well tell ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you!!!"

Thwack—

"Ow!! That hurt!!"

"Quit whining! Damn it, you wanna die? Just one more scene. So hurry up and call her."

While some people were reeling, elsewhere a completely different atmosphere hung in the air.

"Let's begin the meeting."

A stifling silence filled the room.

"If anyone has an opinion, please speak freely."

"……"

"……"

No one answered the man who'd spoken. His name was Ahn Jae-hyeok — the main director of the drama I Love You Who Loves Me.

He had a lot on his mind. Their once-thriving drama's ratings had gone into freefall. Not only had the competing show caught up — it had stolen their entire audience. Of course the drama still had a long way to go before it wrapped, and if you factored in a late-season surge there was no need to panic just yet. But the investors, the division head, and the bureau chief clearly didn't see it that way.

They needed a countermeasure. But how?

He had no idea.

Ahn Jae-hyeok had watched Forest of Crime. No — everyone in this room had watched it. That was why they could talk about it. A natural disaster was something human hands simply couldn't stop. And on top of that, a promotional blitz that had hit them like it had been waiting for exactly this moment.

"Haa……."

Sighing was about all he could do. Caught completely off guard by an impact none of them had seen coming, they'd been hit square on with nowhere to run.

"Um……. What if we used the press to chip away at their image a little……?"

One staff member raised a hand quietly.

"How? Every single actor on that show has a reputation for being a good person. It'd just backfire."

"There's Gil Ara, isn't there?"

Gil Ara. The root cause of this entire mess. The Gwang-nyeon-i who did insane acting with a face that could stop traffic.

"No. I don't know what that kid did in the past, but even with this much heat on her, not a single story about her history has come out. She's not someone you mess with lightly."

The industry consensus was that Gil Ara was foreign-trained. Looks like hers simply hadn't been seen or heard of before. And personally, Ahn Jae-hyeok was reluctant to smear her. At the end of the day, he was a director who made works. Great actors inspired people. Someday, he wanted to work with Gil Ara himself.

"Then how about this?"

The staff member held up their phone, showing an Instastar post.

A photo of Gil Ara taken with a cute-looking young woman.

"A fan who ran into Gil Ara by chance just posted this. Is there any way we could use it?"

"How?"

No matter how you looked at it, it was an ordinary photo. If anything, it radiated a warmth and approachability completely different from her on-screen presence.

"Well. Like this."

The staff member began explaining.

"Hmm……. Kid, you'd be better off as a journalist. The press really lost out on you."

Everyone in the conference room agreed. This guy was unhinged.

Fine. Go with this approach first, and worry about the fallout later.

"No choice. Let's contact a reporter."

"Yes, sir."

If there was anyone as desperate for views as YouTubers, it was reporters. Reporters always wanted the most sensational story possible — and just now, one such article had gone up.

A single article was kicking up a bigger wave than anyone expected.