Field Trip
Bzzzt—
Yeon-woo was stretching before his workout when the smartphone he’d left on the table started vibrating.
He walked over and checked the screen. It was Woo Seong-sik.
"Yeah. I was just about to call you, actually."
"Oh, Yeon-woo. Huh? You were gonna call me?"
"You guys are shipping out soon. We should meet before that. Ever since the play wrapped I’ve been so buried in personal schedules I haven’t seen you once."
He’d been moving at a pretty relentless pace. He’d had to save An Jun-ho, and he’d also had to track down an island someone had gone to great lengths to hide.
"Eh, we know you’re busy. Saw the articles lately—you shot a smartphone commercial, right?"
Yeon-woo scratched his cheek at Seong-sik’s words.
"Mm, something like that."
His busyness hadn’t exactly been the celebrity kind of schedule, but he simply agreed. The release date for the smartphone he’d filmed the commercial for was finally approaching. According to CEO Jeong Hyeok, the ads would probably start rolling out sometime next week to line up with awards season.
Everyone’s excited since it’s their first big commercial. Han Byeol’s going to be thrilled.
Yeon-woo pulled his thoughts back and asked Seong-sik,
"So this is just a check-in call?"
"Huh? Well, that too, but I’ve got a favor to ask."
"A favor? What is it?"
Yeon-woo tilted his head, and Seong-sik’s voice continued from the other end of the line.
"Jun-su and I and Yu-ri noona are all taking the same elective this semester, and the professor suddenly…"
Yeon-woo listened through the whole explanation and nodded.
"So I just need to do an interview? Easy. Interviewing’s literally my job."
"Oh, for real? Thank you, thank you! Then should we book a location and let you know? We’ll work around your schedule, obviously!"
Yeon-woo stroked his chin for a moment, thinking, then spoke again.
"Nah, no need to go through all that trouble. Just come to our company. We’ve got plenty of space for an interview."
"The company? We’re allowed in?! We’re just regular people. Won’t it cause you problems if we show up?"
"Problems? What problems would there be?"
Seong-sik’s voice dropped a little.
"Like… getting scolded for bringing friends or something…"
Yeon-woo actually laughed out loud for the first time in a while.
"Haha. Scolded? For what?"
Ever since his body had gotten younger, his mind seemed to be following suit; hanging out with friends no longer felt strange at all. He genuinely thought of them as friends, and even though he was far older by original age, he still called Son Jin-uk “hyung.”
Still, the age gap shows in little ways like this. They reek of college kids who haven’t done any real adulting yet.
Any group outside of school probably still felt foreign to them.
"Perfect timing. The course is called ‘Employment and Interview Strategy,’ right? Come by and take a company tour while you’re at it."
"We can really just show up?"
Yeon-woo nodded as he answered.
"Yeah. Of course."
It’s my company, after all.
Naturally he kept that last part to himself.
Meanwhile, Oh Yu-bin from the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy was only half-convinced by what her group members were telling her.
Three people all saying the same thing made disbelief a little weird, but still—best friends with that Ryu Yeon-woo…?
Even as she followed her groupmates on the subway that weekend to do the interview, needless worry kept bubbling up.
Once we get there they’re not going to tell me we have to hold a memorial service for their ancestors or buy some jade flooring, right…?
Looking at Woo Seong-sik sitting across from her on the subway seat, his eyes somehow gleaming, she couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility.
Ugh, what do I do. Still, surely not…
She was slumped over, exhausted from the chain of worries, when someone tapped her shoulder.
"Eek!"
"Ah! You scared me. Why’d you jump like that?"
Yu-bin jerked her head up to find fellow group member Hong Yu-ri looking just as startled.
"We have to get off now. You looked like you were dozing, so I woke you."
"Ah, I’m so sorry!"
Yu-bin stood and followed her groupmates off the train.
"Closest to Exit 4, right?"
"Yeah. First time I’m going to Yeon-woo’s company too."
Kim Jun-su pulled up a map on his phone and took the lead; the others fell in behind him.
They walked less than a block, turned down an alley, and almost immediately the Mokhwa Building came into view.
And surrounding that building were throngs of people.
"Whoa, why are there so many people?"
"Fans, maybe?"
"Do actor agencies get this many fans swarming them?"
Hong Yu-ri answered.
"There’ll be fans, sure, but most of them are just regular people looking for the bakery and restaurant that’ve been blowing up lately."
As a long-time admin of Woo’s, she at least knew what was in the new agency building from what other fans had said.
"Noona, you’ve been here before?"
"Nope. I’m a graduating senior, so I’ve been too busy to come even once."
"Still, thanks to this assignment we get to see Yeon-woo completely legally. Absolute win."
Kim Jun-su lifted his phone.
"Yeon-woo said to call him once we hit the first floor."
When the phone rang, Yeon-woo answered as he stepped into the elevator.
"Yeah. You’re on the first floor? Ah, okay. That’s the glass door. I’m coming down now, so wait right in front of it."
Ding—
The elevator reached the first floor. Yeon-woo stepped out and saw his friends beyond the security door.
He swiped his card through the double security doors. Familiar faces—his friends and Hong Yu-ri—came into view first, and behind them stood a young woman he’d never met, eyes round and mouth slightly open.
"Yeon-woo!"
"It’s not like it’s been that long since the play ended, but how’ve you been?"
"Yeah, I’ve been fine. Getting more and more nervous the closer the enlistment date gets, though."
Yeon-woo huffed a quiet laugh at his friends’ words, then looked at Hong Yu-ri standing behind them.
"Yu-ri noona, job hunting going okay?"
"Aagh. Don’t ask me like some relative at a holiday gathering. It’s stressful enough."
Yeon-woo smiled at that, then looked at the woman behind Hong Yu-ri. Kim Jun-su hurriedly made introductions.
"Ah, this is our group member, Oh Yu-bin."
"Ah, Yu-bin-ssi. Hello. I’m Ryu Yeon-woo."
"Y-yes! Hello!"
A thoroughly tense Oh Yu-bin bent at a full ninety degrees in greeting; Yeon-woo returned the bow in kind.
Just then a murmur rose from outside the building entrance.
"Mm, since I’m already downstairs, I’ll go say a quick hello."
"Ah, yeah yeah. There were tons of people out front, right?"
As Yeon-woo approached the first-floor entrance the murmuring swelled, then broke into cheers.
He smiled at the people pulling out their phones, waved in greeting, gave a polite bow just like the one Oh Yu-bin had given him, and came back inside.
"All right, let’s head up."
Yeon-woo unlocked the door with his security key and went through; his friends followed.
They stepped into the waiting elevator.
"Ugh, I’m weirdly nervous. First time I’ve ever been to an agency."
"Once you’re inside, are there just other celebrities walking around or what?"
Hong Yu-ri shook her head at Kim Jun-su’s question.
"Celebrities don’t usually hang around the agency much. Even idols mostly just go between the dorms and practice rooms—they’re barely at the main building. Actors even less so."
Under normal circumstances, Hong Yu-ri would have been right.
But Yeon-woo shook his head.
"Mm, our agency’s a little different."
"Huh?"
Ding—
The third-floor doors opened onto a luxurious café, and his friends’ eyes went wide.
"Huhhh? This isn’t an office."
"Yeah. The other floors have the usual company look. Since you’re here for a tour, grab a drink or coffee first and then we’ll get started."
Yeon-woo walked up to the counter and smiled.
"Representative."
"Oh, these must be the friends of Yeon-woo’s you mentioned earlier?"
"Hello!"
They had no idea who the barista in front of them was, but they bowed in greeting anyway.
"Yes. Nice to meet you. Take a look at the menu and tell me what you’d like."
At CEO Kim Ju-seong’s words the friends hesitated a moment, then each chose something.
"Understood. I’ll make them delicious for you."
"Thank you. Let’s go wait inside."
Yeon-woo led his friends deeper into the café. Son Jin-uk, sitting by the window with a laptop, waved.
"Yo, Jun-su and Seong-sik. You two are shipping out soon, huh?"
"Whoa! Jin-uk hyungnim!"
Delighted, Kim Jun-su and Woo Seong-sik hurried over and bowed. Behind them, Hong Yu-ri’s eyes filled with pure confusion.
Having rewatched Summer’s Closet more than ten times, the sight of Son Jin-uk right in front of her felt completely unreal.
"Ah, Yu-ri noona’s never met Jin-uk hyung before, huh?"
"O-of course not…"
And behind her stood someone even more thoroughly drowning in chaos.
Oh Yu-bin’s eyes were spinning in every direction; she couldn’t process anything.
Everyone else was fixated on Son Jin-uk, but at the table to his left, Jeong Su-yeon was chatting with Seo Ji-eun.
Th-that’s really Seo Ji-eun and Jeong Su-yeon.
She’d thoroughly enjoyed both Sketch and White Blood, and she regularly watched the variety show Seo Ji-eun was currently on, so the surreal scene unfolding before her short-circuited her brain completely.
At least having Hong Yu-ri next to her with equally saucer-wide eyes was some small comfort.
R-right. These male group members just have freakishly good connections, that’s all.
Just then Jeong Su-yeon, who’d been talking with Seo Ji-eun, turned at the noise.
"Oh? Yu-ri unnie!"
"Su-yeon!"
Unfortunately for Oh Yu-bin, her only ally walked off toward the celebrity she knew.
"Ji-eun unnie, just a second. I know her."
"Sure! Take your time and come back!"
Jeong Su-yeon stood and clasped hands happily with Hong Yu-ri.
"Unnie! It’s been forever!"
"It really has! How’ve you been? Well, I see how you’re doing every day on my phone, but still."
Jeong Su-yeon and Hong Yu-ri had even gone on a pension trip together. That had also been the day the Jun-su–Yu-ri couple was born, but for Jeong Su-yeon it had been the first time in her life she’d gone out and played with people her own age, so seeing Hong Yu-ri again after so long made her genuinely happy.
That left Oh Yu-bin standing alone and dazed. Yeon-woo noticed and took care of her.
"The others will be back as soon as they finish saying hello. Why don’t we sit at that table over there for a bit."
"Y-yes?!"
Oh Yu-bin whipped her head around in flustered surprise at Yeon-woo’s words.
Honestly, among all these celebrities, wasn’t the most unreal one the Ryu Yeon-woo standing right in front of her?
She could no longer tell whether this was Earth or Neptune.
Yeon-woo guided her to a seat; a soul-departed Oh Yu-bin followed in a daze.
Before long, just as Yeon-woo had said, the rest of the group returned to the table.
The vibrating buzzer went off at the same moment. Yeon-woo stood to go get the drinks, and Kim Jun-su and Woo Seong-sik rose with him.
"Yeon-woo, you’re already doing us this huge favor. At least let us handle something like this."
They waved him back down, went to the counter, and brought the drinks over.
Soon the friends were seated, sipping their drinks and still looking around as if the inside of an entertainment company remained endlessly fascinating.
Watching them, Yeon-woo spoke.
"You said ‘interview,’ but what exactly do you need me to do?"
"Yeah. It’s basically an assignment where we ask people who’ve succeeded in their fields about their experiences and the know-how behind their success."
"Hmm. If that’s the case, is the focus maybe more on successful employment?"
Yeon-woo wasn’t exactly a regular office worker, so calling it “employment” felt a little awkward.
Woo Seong-sik shook his head.
"We thought that at first too, but I heard from a friend in the group next to ours—apparently one of their members has an uncle who’s a National Assembly member. So they’re going to interview him at his office."
Kim Jun-su nodded in agreement.
"Right. You can’t really say a National Assembly member ‘got a job.’ Somehow it just turned into a connections-flexing contest."
Yeon-woo grinned at his friends’ words.
"That so? Well, my schedule’s free today, so film as much as you want. Did you bring a camera?"
He’d had a photoshoot that morning, so he was already in full makeup.
At his words Hong Yu-ri pulled out the digital camera she normally used.
"I was thinking of using this. It’s a little old, though."
"Hmm. Better to go upstairs—we’ve got professional cameras set up for acting practice. We were going to use that studio anyway, so let’s shoot with those. Our YouTube editing team happens to be free right now, so I’ll even get subtitles put on for you."
"Wha… Seriously?! No, but is that okay? I don’t want to be a bother."
"Yeah. It’s fine."
This was still, strictly speaking, a schedule for one of their signed actors.
Not every schedule had to generate revenue.
In principle, even personal congratulatory videos or any other footage shot for miscellaneous purposes all went through review to make sure nothing could cause social controversy before being released. Once something was turned into a video and left the building, given Yeon-woo’s position it would inevitably end up online through one channel or another, so having the company handle a certain amount of editing put everyone’s minds at ease.
Call it a pre-enlistment gift.
If this was going to be a connections-flexing contest, he might as well let them flex properly.