The Cat Cries Meow - 3
What is this woman even saying right now?
She's cupping her face in her hands like a flower and spouting whatever shoots straight from her brain to her mouth without a single filter.
Those spinning star shapes I think I see in her pupils have to be a hallucination, right?
"F-first meeting between the male and female leads, and without even a spark of chemistry she just falls for some guy who mindlessly says let's do it, and they have car sex in a parking lot… This is just a pure brainless smut novel…!"
"Excuse me?"
"N-no! There has to be at least some buildup!"
"What on earth are you talking about…"
"And I'm not that kind of easy woman, okay?! I've never even had…!"
"I get it. So stop manufacturing blanket-kick material and just sign a contract with me for this work."
"Huh…? A contract…? What is this guy… writing up a contract so he can make me his sex slave… Kyaaah!!!!"
"Cut it out already!!"
I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, dragging Jeong Hana out of whatever bizarre fantasy she'd fallen into and back into the real world.
Just what kind of character was she?
"Ah… so, um… a contract for the work…?"
"Yes."
"Then you should've said that from the start! You cut out all the context and just said 'let's do it,' so of course I misunderstood!"
"I don't think misunderstanding it that far is my fault, though?"
"That's…"
"And I talk to myself sometimes too, but Hana, yours is pretty severe. You should fix that."
"I don't normally do this!"
"Doesn't seem that way…"
Once she returned to reality, the conversation moved quickly.
She reacted extremely positively when I told her we'd produce it as a web drama.
Almost excessively so.
"Really?!"
Her eyes went huge and sparkling, her nostrils flared wide as she huffed, both hands clenched tight under her chin.
And her face kept getting closer until it was about to touch mine.
Press—
I pushed her forehead with a finger and shoved her back into the passenger seat.
"If the response is good, I'm thinking of producing it as a TV drama as well."
"For real?!!"
"Stop reacting to every single thing and listen to the end."
"Yes…"
"For the web drama, we won't make major changes to your work. But if it gets a good response and we decide to produce a TV drama, you'll have to revise the script quite a bit. If it's too much to handle alone, collaboration with our production company's writing team is also possible, so we can discuss that later."
"Yes! And then?!"
"I think you'll need to add more detailed elements to this script—background, situations, atmosphere, emotions, that sort of thing. Otherwise, there's a high chance the director will end up filming it according to whatever picture they have in their head, which might not match your intentions."
"Ah…"
Honestly, reading the script had me a little worried.
Maybe because it hadn't been polished, the parts I'd mentioned were written far too sparsely.
Could it be that the original script was like this, and the director just pulled off an incredible visual interpretation?
If so, that would mean I'd need to bring in the original director of this work too—but I had no idea who that person was.
"Um, but… there's one problem…"
"Go ahead."
"It's that my parents… they really hate that I write… To convince them, I'd have to write something truly incredible and show them! Especially since my parents love crime and legal dramas so much!"
"Ah… so that's why you kept asking me to tell you?"
"Yes… it's exactly the kind of material my parents would love…"
A medical student daughter who excelled at her studies, parents who were both university hospital doctors, relatives from a family of prosecutors.
Her acquaintances were probably all similar types.
So of course they'd oppose their daughter's dream of becoming a drama writer who might or might not succeed.
In that case, this part was simple.
I just had to show them directly.
For a web drama based on six episodes, filming took two weeks at most—if things moved fast, not even ten days.
Editing and post-production took anywhere from a month and a half to three months, but if the production company was Future Studio, we could wrap it up in as little as a month.
Which meant we could turn Jeong Hana's script into a drama and show it to her parents before this break was even over.
"The daughter they dismissed has her work become a web drama. It racks up massive view counts and becomes a huge hit. Then it gets greenlit for a TV drama production. Wouldn't that be enough to convince them?"
"If it could really go like that… then let's go already!"
"Go where??"
"The production company! You have to give a writer a workspace at least! I can't work at home!"
"Ah…"
Her drive alone was top-tier.
We hadn't even signed a contract yet and she was already demanding we go to a workspace.
Well, the sooner the script was finished, the sooner production could start.
"Welcome, Representative."
"It's been a while."
"May I ask who the person accompanying you is?"
I introduced Jeong Hana to Gu Hongjun, the president of Future Studio, who was looking curious.
"This is Writer Jeong Hana. We'll be contracting for a work this time, and she'll formally sign as a writer with us later."
"A writer contract?? You never mentioned that."
"If this work becomes a hit, you convince your parents, and you become a writer—wouldn't I be your benefactor? I deserve at least that much of a bonus."
"Well, that's true. If this flops, I'll just have to become a doctor anyway. Fine."
"……"
I liked how cool she was about it.
Of course, President Gu Hongjun looked quite flustered hearing this for the first time, but when I casually mentioned she was the writer of the script I'd been looking for, he nodded as if he understood.
"Wow… I had no idea a place like this existed in Seongsu-dong… I really didn't know!"
"Everyone only moved in recently."
The ten-story building I'd purchased in Seongsu-dong.
Floors two through four were Lime Entertainment, five through seven were Future Studio, eight and nine were Witch, and the tenth floor was Dawon Media's office.
The tenth floor also housed Witch's server room, but since Dawon Media had fewer than twenty employees, a single modest office was enough, so they shared the space.
"But this whole building and all these companies are yours, Cha Sunwoo?"
"That's right."
"Insane… My unnie told me she had a weird little brother with a lot of money, but I never imagined it was this much. You're only twenty—how did you make all this money??"
"Someone brought it over from the future for me."
"Ah… right~ right~"
With an expression that clearly didn't believe a word, she looked around the private workspace she'd be using.
It was a fully equipped workspace, so she wouldn't need anything beyond her personal items.
There was even a dedicated rest area with a bed right behind the door further inside.
"Perfect for living alone while working."
"Huh??"
"What?"
"Don't tell me you're planning to room and board here?"
"Yes. There's a bed, the workspace is nice, and there's a cafeteria on the first floor."
"What are you going to tell your parents?"
"Don't worry about that."
Jeong Hana called her parents and said she wanted to go backpacking to clear her head, and they coolly gave her permission.
The trip was for about two weeks.
Jeong Hana vowed she'd finish detailing the script within that time, and only three days later, I got a call.
"You're already done??"
"Sunwoo…"
"Yes."
"Help me…."
"With what?"
"I have no idea what this woman is feeling!! Please help me! Please..!!"
"H-hey, let go of me first!! Ugh..!"
She grabbed my clothes and rubbed her face against my chest.
Whether she was suffering from creative agony or just wiping off the oil streaming down her face, I couldn't tell.
What I could tell for certain was that a foul smell was rising from hair that seemed unwashed since that day.
"What do you think..? What would you feel if it were you, Sunwoo?!"
After I finally calmed her down and started reading the problematic part of the script, Jeong Hana went and showered and changed clothes.
And I found the problem.
"Hana."
"Yes! Tell me!"
"Does this even matter?"
That was the problem right there.
It didn't matter at all.
She was just a subway passenger who briefly passed by.
Of course she had a slight role.
The male lead helps a woman being molested on the subway, and the female lead—who for some reason has developed a slight interest in a male lead she has no connection with—sees that and becomes even more interested. That was the setup.
"How can you even say that?"
"Huh?"
"Of course it matters! This woman is the trigger that makes the female lead feel that spark for the male lead!"
"The spark came from him feeding the stray cats, didn't it?!"
"That's just an unexpected side of him—that's not a spark!"
"Exactly! The core is the female lead taking interest in the male lead—why does it matter what the molested woman is feeling?!"
"It matters! If I can't understand that part, I can't move on to the next!!"
It was one of two things.
She was either crazy, or an extreme perfectionist.
Then how did she write it the first time?
"Well… I just wrote it roughly for my own satisfaction back then… But it's different now! My writing is going to be made into video, and 7.6 billion people around the world are going to see it! I can't make other people accept a scene that I myself can't accept!"
"That's why..! The 7.6 billion people of the world aren't going to watch it, and even if they do, they won't care at all about this molested woman..!"
"Ha! Even I'm this hung up on it—how can you be so sure nobody cares?!"
She wasn't a perfectionist.
She was just a crazy woman.
And yet I was going along with this crazy woman's crazy antics.
"Do we really have to go this far?"
"Yes. I'll sit in that corner over there, so keep an eye out and help if things get dangerous."
"No..! Hoo… Fine, alright."
After finishing his part-time job, the male lead heads home; after finishing academy, the female lead heads home—and they happen to run into each other on the subway.
Of course neither acknowledges the other. The male lead stands facing the door, and the female lead sits in the empty seat right next to him, looking at her phone.
Then a middle-aged man with a face flushed red from alcohol takes the seat next to a woman sitting across from the female lead.
Ahem..!
One fake cough, then a scan of the surroundings.
The legs in the short skirt are slightly parted, and the woman, unaware of who sat next to her, has fallen asleep.
Confirming no one is looking and that the woman is asleep, the middle-aged man casually lowers his hand to the seat and places the back of it against her thigh.
Ah…
That's when the female lead witnesses it.
At first she thought it was coincidence.
But the middle-aged man's hand began openly stroking the woman's thigh.
The hand holding her phone trembled.
Then she suddenly turned her head.
Press—
The female lead stretched out her trembling hand and very lightly tugged on the clothes of the athletic club male lead she'd never even spoken to.
The male lead turned his head to look at her and pulled out the earphones that had been in his ears.
"What?"
"Um…"
"……"
Turning his head and confirming the molestation, the male lead strode over, grabbed the middle-aged man by the collar, and threw him to the floor.
It was right then that the female lead felt the spark Jeong Hana kept talking about.
No matter how I thought about it, the molested woman had no real weight.
So why was she over there pretending to sleep, waiting for a molester who wasn't even coming?
"Ugh…."
A sigh came out on its own.
Don't worry about it.
What mattered right now wasn't that.
Jeong Suyeon had started investigating Burning Moon in secret.
The report had probably already gone up to Jeong Seokmun, Chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.
Which meant the stock price of one of Korea's top three entertainment agencies could crash at a different time than in my memories.
Originally, the stock currently surging in the thirty-thousand-won range would enter a decline starting February 2019 and hit rock bottom by the end of August.
With a free float of 74%, if I could just scoop up this stock when it bottomed out, I'd get my hands on Dark Pink—the group that would go on to have more YouTube subscribers than any other artist in the world.
But whether Jeong Suyeon's intervention would make that timing earlier or later—like Jeong Hana chasing perfection—I didn't know.
What I couldn't afford was it coming earlier.
I didn't have that kind of capital right now.
If it came later, that was fine.
After sweeping up over 50% of the shares, I could acquire the remaining major shareholders' stakes through OTC trades.
They wouldn't cling pitifully to a company that had been covered in filth and fallen into someone else's hands.
If the price was right, they'd dump the stock.
"How long is she seriously going to keep this up..!"
We'd ridden the loop line this many times and still hadn't encountered a molester—it was time to give up.
I turned from where I'd been standing with my back to her and sat in the seat next to Jeong Hana.
"Let's go now."
"……"
"I said stop and let's go? No molester is coming no matter how long you wait."
"……"
"Hey. Are you actually asleep?"
"Mmph..!!"
I lightly placed a hand on her shoulder to shake her awake.
But her body trembled all over.
She wasn't asleep. She was clearly awake.
"Hey? Hana?"
"Mmm… keep going…"
"……"
Did I mishear that?
I was pretty sure she said keep going…
"Mmm… hurry…"
"……"
I hadn't misheard.
Jeong Hana wanted me to become the molester for her right now.
Her goosebumped arms and thighs kept twitching.
And she still showed no intention of opening her eyes.
"You really want me to?"
"Mmm…"
Nod—
She nodded ever so slightly.
Then went back to pretending to sleep.
I'm going crazy… Do I actually have to do this?
I couldn't look around openly, so I just flicked my eyes around, checking the other passengers.
Nobody was paying attention.
Just like in the script Jeong Hana had written.
So why was I getting so turned on?
Slide—
This insane hand of mine..!
Before I knew it, the hand that had fallen between my thigh and Jeong Hana's was rubbing the back of it against the thigh exposed below her short skirt.
"Eut…"
With a tiny nasal sound, the thigh that had been against the back of my hand pulled away.
But her eyes were still closed.
So I followed.
Slide—
I flipped my hand over and this time stroked and fondled Jeong Hana's thigh with my palm.
I had become the perfect molester from the script.
No—I was even bolder than that.
"Euut..!"
This thrill was no joke.
My eyes scanned the passengers across from us and around us while my hand moved even more boldly.
Not the outer side of her thigh—I slid up along the top of her thigh and stroked her crotch.
"Ah…!!"
She finally opened her eyes.
But the eyes looking at me slanted sideways, and someone grabbed me by the collar.
"You perverted bastard..!"
"H-hey! That's…"
A man built as massive as Park Daeseok, wearing a tight shirt that fully displayed his rock-hard muscles, hauled me to my feet.
"A decent-looking bastard with nothing better to do groping a sleeping woman's thigh?! You picked the wrong day, you pervert."
"It's not like that..!"
Not just the man—every gaze around us focused in.
All the passengers murmured, treating me like trash.
And then, in that moment.
"It's roleplay!!"
Jeong Hana jumped up, announced it was a misunderstanding, and fled to the next car. The man, blinking blankly, released my collar with the same expression I was wearing and apologized.
"I'm sorry… I really thought you were a molester…"
"Haha… We're the ones who should be sorry… Well, we'll be going now…"
Mortifying.
I wished everyone would just forget my face.
I must've been out of my mind, seriously..!