Group Project
With Yeon-woo's help, his friends successfully wrapped up their interview.
They paid a visit to Saebyeol Entertainment's YouTube editing team to thank them for cutting the footage, bowing deeply as they offered a modest gift of snacks. The YouTube staff, faced with the fresh, green energy of college students they hadn't seen in a while, broke into warm, motherly smiles.
A few days later, on the eve of the Korean Arts Awards ceremony, came presentation day for Woo Seong-sik and his teammates, who had been assigned a mid-range slot in the order.
Seong-sik headed for the College of Humanities' general education building with a light step. The USB tucked in his pocket, like a secret royal inspector's hidden badge of authority, put a swagger in his stride.
"Come to think of it, this is the place. Where Yeon-woo shot his scenes."
Stepping into the building, he looked up at the European-style architecture. He remembered coming here for a campus tour back when they were still high schoolers, vowing they'd get into Yonha University someday—and watching Yeon-woo film Summer's Closet.
"Man, we've come a long way."
Thinking of Yeon-woo, now a full-blown star, and of himself and Kim Jun-su sniffling their way through that campus visit, desperate to get in—it hardly felt real that military enlistment was already on the horizon.
"Ugh, there I go thinking about the army again. Mood killer. Better get inside."
Lately, no matter what he started thinking about, every train of thought somehow ended at military service.
He opened the classroom door and found the rest of his group already there.
"Hey, we said meet twenty minutes early, and you're all here with thirty to spare?"
"It's presentation day. Gotta come early, check the computer setup, make sure the video plays clean."
Presentation day or not, beyond what they'd just said, there wasn't much left for the group members to do.
Then another team scheduled to present today filed into the classroom.
"Hey, who did that group from last class interview again? Some company president or whatever."
"Water purifier company? Or was it coffee machines? Dunno. Zero impact. Already forgot."
"Right? We're the only ones who got an interview inside the National Assembly. When we drop this today, those broke kids are gonna freak at the scale. This is Poli-Sci class, baby."
"Please. That's not Poli-Sci class—that's your family class, Jae-un."
Watching the noisy group swagger in, Oh Yu-bin frowned.
"Hmm? Poli-Sci—that's Political Science and Diplomacy, right? Your department?"
Seong-sik, close enough with her by now to drop the formal speech, asked casually. Yu-bin nodded.
"The guy who was department head freshman year and his little clique. His family's supposedly so important—he's got a National Assembly member for a relative, a hospital director, whatever—and he brags about it three hundred sixty-five days a year. The hangers-on just kiss up and freeload off him constantly."
"Oho. So that's the guy. My friend told me about him. So the relationship with his crew is crocodile and plover bird?"
For the most part, once people leave high school for university, the so-called "school bullies" disappear. Not because those bullies mature emotionally—but because the size of the group they belong to simply grows too large for them to matter. Being top dog among twenty or thirty kids in a single classroom might still carry some weight at the grade level, but once you enter a university with a student body in the tens of thousands, that meager influence is nowhere near enough to cover the scale of the community.
Still, the form merely shifts from fists to wallets. The way people sort themselves into groups within any collective is, in a sense, a law of nature.
Seong-sik watched the guys amble toward one side of the classroom. Sensing his gaze, the Poli-Sci students glanced over.
"Yo, why's that guy been staring at us?"
"Dunno. They're already here, so they're probably presenting with us today. Poor things. Bet they wish they could switch groups right about now."
"There's one way. Get reborn into a better family."
"Ohhh, Go Jae-un, that is cold."
Seong-sik watched them snicker among themselves and strut to the opposite side of the room, then finally looked away.
"Ah, this is a little awkward."
He shook his head, and Kim Jun-su asked, "Huh? What is?"
"I just feel kind of bad. From what they were saying when they walked in, they actually went all the way to the National Assembly. They put in real work, right?"
"Yeah."
"And of all days, they have to present the same day as us. You think the professor or the other students are going to remember their interview after ours?"
Jun-su nodded at that.
"Hmm. Still, the project grade isn't weighted enough to make or break the whole course… They'll just study hard for the exam later."
"I guess."
The only reason Seong-sik had been looking at them was sympathy and a twinge of guilt.
Time passed, and class began. To set the order for today's presenting groups, the professor asked for volunteers to go first. Seong-sik raised his hand.
"Um…"
"Us! We'll go first!"
But the Poli-Sci students, who'd raised their hands faster, snagged the slot.
"I figured going first might do less damage. Looks like they're taking it."
At Seong-sik's worry, Jun-su just shrugged.
"What can you do."
The first group's interview video began to play. Footage of the team entering the National Assembly itself drew mild surprise from the other students—and even from the professor.
In truth, the professor had known his class had devolved into a so-called "easy A" in the worst sense of the phrase, thanks to the same formulaic assignment year after year. He'd added a twist this semester for that very reason—but he hadn't expected competition among the students to intensify quite like this.
He scratched his thinning hair as he watched the screen.
Hmm. Interviewing someone hard to meet doesn't automatically mean extra points, but…
Even so, compared to groups that had submitted written Q&As, or ones that had merely gone through the motions by interviewing a family member or relative, he couldn't help awarding higher marks. How much could one really expect from a college group project? The main criterion was simply how much sincerity they'd shown.
When the video ended, the students briefly explained their preparation process and why they'd chosen those particular questions, then stepped down from the platform. Their shoulders were hiked so high that the word "triumphant" practically floated over their heads. The other students clapped, even as their faces said, Did they really need to go that hard?
Then Seong-sik's group took the front.
The moment they went to play the video, a sudden wave of embarrassment hit. Seong-sik whispered to Jun-su beside him.
"The more I think about it, this might be a little much."
"Too late for that now. Just say hello and hit play."
The group members nodded, offered a brief greeting, plugged in the USB, and started the video.
On screen, Ryu Yeon-woo appeared, seated in a studio styled like a carefully appointed wood-toned study.
The watching students tilted their heads.
Huh? That group brought the wrong USB. When they opened the folder earlier, there was only that one video in it. Did they leave the real one at home?
The rest of the class was thinking roughly the same thing. There was no way Ryu Yeon-woo would just pop up out of nowhere. Everyone assumed they'd loaded the wrong file by mistake.
Wow. That group is toast.
Eyes naturally drifted to the presenters' faces. Strangely, though, they didn't look particularly flustered.
Then a voice came from the video.
"Hello. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview."
On screen, Ryu Yeon-woo smiled warmly and answered.
"Of course. Nice to meet you, students of Yonha University. I'm Ryu Yeon-woo, working as an actor."
"Kyaaah!"
"Whoa, what is this?"
At the unexpected turn, someone let out a thin scream. Students turned to look at the friends beside them, pointing at the screen. A few even lifted their phones to film it.
The professor was just as stunned, but with the classroom descending into chaos, he quieted the students first.
"All right, settle down! The presentation isn't over yet!"
At his words, the room calmed again, and the interview with actor Ryu Yeon-woo continued to play.
The image quality alone was a world apart from anything amateurs shot. And though Saebyeol's YouTube team had only added simple subtitles, the professional polish of the edit was unmistakable.
As the video went on, Go Jae-un of the Poli-Sci group—realizing he had been completely buried—twisted his face. Seong-sik spotted it, quietly pointed with a finger, and whispered to Jun-su.
"Ah, look at that guy's face. I knew this would happen. Now I feel even worse."
"Hmm. Yeah."
But from Jae-un's perspective, the two of them pointing at him looked like pure mockery—like they were laughing at how pathetic he was. His face flushed a deep, furious red.
The news that actor Ryu Yeon-woo had appeared in a group project video became the hottest topic on campus, and Yonha University's community app went up in flames overnight.
While the app burned through the night, morning arrived, and Yeon-woo headed to Director Jeong Ha-neul's salon to get ready for his schedule.
Stylist Lee Ye-eun prepared the outfit for the day while conferring with Director Jeong on the concept.
"Today Yeon-woo is nominated for both drama and film—for Sketch and White Blood. But Jay and Jeong Do-jin are such completely different characters…"
Director Jeong considered Ye-eun's words carefully.
"What's the wardrobe concept today?"
"Black with gold accents."
She studied Yeon-woo's face in the mirror from every angle, then nodded.
"Then let's go for a cool, cold-handsome vibe with a strong presence. Black with gold accents—it should feel aristocratic, right?"
Ye-eun nodded.
"Both Jay and Jeong Do-jin are characters with a strong sense of responsibility, so please bring that out."
"Okay! Got it."
Listening to the two women discuss his face as if it were a separate object, Yeon-woo alone tilted his head.
How exactly do you express a strong sense of responsibility with makeup?
Assuming there was some other world he would never understand, he surrendered himself to their hands in blank-minded calm.
With his eyes closed, Director Jeong's hands worked over him, and the soft quality his gaze usually carried sharpened into something intense. His hair was set with one side of the forehead swept cleanly back, the other left to fall from above.
After a long stretch of adjusting his face and hair, Director Jeong and her assistants nodded.
"This is perfect, right?"
"Yes, unnie. Absolute perfection."
Yeon-woo opened his eyes.
"Hmm, all done?"
The face in the mirror looked no different from usual, yet carried a strangely powerful impression—enough that he felt it suited the practical head of an agency. He was satisfied.
I'm still young, so a bit of charisma is probably for the best.
Then Ye-eun came in with the clothes.
"A perfect black suit with gold accents."
It was the concept they'd agreed on as a dress code for all of Saebyeol's celebrities—Jin Yu-han included.
"A three-piece suit?"
"For a luxurious image, classic is always best."
Hearing Ye-eun repeat the exact words he himself had said a few days earlier when they'd discussed the concept, Yeon-woo smiled.
"I think so too. Classic is best."
He changed into the clothes Ye-eun had prepared. The slim-fit black suit held a gold boutonniere, and even the shirt collar was finished in elegant gold. The vest worn underneath was embroidered along its outline in gold as well, heightening the sense of luxury.
When Yeon-woo stepped out in the full look, Ye-eun's eyes lit up.
"Wow. You really look like European nobility."
Hearing that, Yeon-woo laughed to himself.
I met plenty of European aristocrats in my past life… and they almost never dressed this flashy…