The Black Hand
"Ah, how are we supposed to break this to Jin Yu-han? Casting Director Yoon, you should make the call. That's the casting director's job, isn't it?"
"Excuse me? You're the captain of this ship. You make the call, Director."
Director Lee grinned mischievously as he lobbed the bomb at the casting director, only for Casting Director Yoon to refuse it flat.
"I'll do it myself. Sigh. Too much casting luck can be a problem of its own."
Yeon-woo left the casting negotiations entirely to Team Leader Jeong and walked out of the broadcasting station with Min-su.
In the car heading back to the officetel, Min-su spoke up.
"Actor, moments like this give me such a rush."
"The audition?"
Min-su eased the car to a smooth stop at a red light, glanced back, and grinned.
"Honestly, I wasn't even watching your performance. I was watching the directors' faces."
He turned his eyes forward again and continued.
"At first, their eyes had this look — like they weren't expecting much."
"Jin Yu-han must have done really well before me."
Min-su nodded at Yeon-woo's words.
"Exactly. They were going to watch your performance, sure, but you could tell their minds were already made up. But the more you acted, the more their expressions changed — by the end, they looked like hearts were about to shoot out of their eyes."
Min-su seemed especially fired up today, and the corner of Yeon-woo's mouth lifted in a quiet smile.
Meanwhile, in Jin Yu-han's car on the way back from the audition, Manager Han Young-ho's phone rang.
"Ah, yes. Director."
Han Young-ho answered with a bright expression — which immediately crumpled.
"What? Ah, I see. Hmm, well, nothing to be done about it. It's not something you need to apologize for, Director."
Listening to the call, Jin Yu-han realized the conversation was taking an unexpected turn. He pulled down his eye mask and looked at Han Young-ho.
"Yes, all right. I'll see you another time."
Han Young-ho's face darkened as he hung up.
"This is absurd. They say the other guy's image fits the role better? Do they even have eyes? How do you watch Yu-han's Seo-hui and still hold back?"
"They're saying Ryu Yeon-woo's image fits better?"
Jin Yu-han's voice was calmer than expected.
"That's what they said. I can't understand it. They're stuck doing the same old KBC historical dramas year after year — they don't know a thing about trends."
"I thought I'd prepared thoroughly, but Ryu Yeon-woo must be really good."
Rather than wounded pride, Jin Yu-han's face held a look of genuine interest.
"Manager, sorry, but could you call Director Lee back for me?"
"Why? Yu-han, I know it's ridiculous, but just let it go. There's nothing good about picking a fight with a network PD."
Jin Yu-han let out a short laugh at Han Young-ho's words.
"Come on, you know I'm not that kind of person. They evaluated us fairly through an audition."
Looking dubious, Manager Han placed the call and handed the phone over.
As the ringing tone sounded, Jin Yu-han spoke to Han Young-ho.
"The one clause I insisted on when we signed the contract is still valid, right?"
The clause that, barring low-budget independent films or roles that would seriously damage the company's image, the actor could choose the projects he wanted.
"Yeah, that still holds. But it sounded like they'd already settled on Ryu Yeon-woo."
Then the call connected.
"Yes, Manager Han?"
"Director, this is Jin Yu-han."
After hanging up and heading into the conference room with the staff for a meeting, Manager Han Young-ho's call came through again.
Director Lee Sang-hun tilted his head, gestured for his team to wait a moment, and answered.
"Yes, Manager Han."
"Director, this is Jin Yu-han."
"Ah, Jin Yu-han."
"I heard that Actor Ryu Yeon-woo has been cast as Seo-hui."
Director Lee Sang-hun's face twisted as if he'd bitten into something foul.
Is he calling to protest the casting? It was a fair audition. Did he get so famous so young that he's lost all sense of reality?
"Yes, and?"
Already jumping to conclusions, Director Lee's voice came out curt.
Then came Jin Yu-han's completely unexpected words.
"In that case, I'd like to take the role of Yi Ji-baek. Would that be possible?"
Director Lee Sang-hun's eyes went wide.
"What? Yi Ji-baek is a supporting role. The part has significant weight, sure, but it's nothing like a rom-com's second male lead."
"That's fine. I really want to be part of this project."
"Yi Ji-baek has a sequence where he's dispatched as an envoy to the Song Dynasty, so there will be overseas location shoots. Are you all right with that?"
Jin Yu-han's answer came without a moment's hesitation.
"Yes. Of course."
At the unexpected offer, Director Lee Sang-hun's mouth stretched into a grin from ear to ear.
"Oh my, then this is like gaining a thousand troops and ten thousand horses. That's wonderful."
"Then please discuss the detailed appearance negotiations with my company. I look forward to working with you throughout the shoot."
After exchanging repeated courtesies, the call ended.
Walking into the conference room where the directing team and key staff were gathered, Director Lee beamed as he announced,
"Jin Yu-han is joining our project as Yi Ji-baek."
The staff stared in shock at the sudden news and started talking over each other.
"What? As Yi Ji-baek? Jin Yu-han?"
"Whoa — our male lead is Ryu Yeon-woo and our second male lead is Jin Yu-han? That's insane."
"Uh, that's great and all, but even if Jin Yu-han's side is generous with the guarantee negotiations, the budget for the female lead is going to be tight, isn't it?"
It was a historical drama where product placement was nearly impossible, and with location shoots plus post-production CG work, the production budget was already razor-thin.
"Eh, it'll be fine. We'll just bring in more investment or get more budget from the network. Don't worry about that — let's start looking for an actress whose image fits."
Having suddenly landed two of the hottest young male actors in the industry, the directing team lit up and dove into the meeting.
"What about Yeo Min-seo?"
"She says she's already locked into another schedule, so it's difficult."
Director Lee Sang-hun flipped through files as he searched for actresses.
"Anyone else you'd recommend?"
"Um… what about Seo Ji-eun?"
All eyes turned to the assistant writer sitting at the end of the table.
"Seo Ji-eun? The one who got famous playing a high school idol?"
She had broken out a few years earlier in a high school youth drama, then taken a downturn when the lead actor of her first starring mini-series dropped out over a drug scandal.
"Yes. If it hadn't been for Han Jun-gyeong's drug problem, things would have gone well for her. Watching Actor Ryu Yeon-woo, I've always thought she and he would look great together."
In truth, assistant writer Jeong Ye-na was a member of Woo's. When she'd heard Ryu Yeon-woo might be cast, she'd been over the moon.
Having joined the team when writer Kim Jin-ju took on the project, Jeong Ye-na had run countless virtual casting combinations through her head.
The absolute best pairing among them: Ryu Yeon-woo and Seo Ji-eun.
She never imagined Jin Yu-han would come on board as well — but if those three came together, she was certain it would be perfect.
"Hmm, that could work. Let's look into it."
The director flipped through more files and continued.
"Oh, and while we're casting — just to be safe, let's thoroughly check the actors for any drug issues. Weirdly enough, drug scandals keep exploding in the entertainment industry these days."
"Yes, sir."
At that same moment, in the car heading back to the officetel, Ryu Yeon-woo was watching his smartphone in real time.
An Jun-ho… drugs?
Breaking headlines kept flooding in.
An Jun-ho was the actor who had co-starred with him as Hwang Jae-il in Summer's Closet.
"He didn't seem like the type to do drugs."
He was a cheerful guy who didn't even smoke, let alone touch narcotics.
Hearing Yeon-woo's words, Min-su asked from the driver's seat,
"Who? Drugs as in narcotics?"
"Yes. Articles are saying Jun-ho hyung did drugs."
"Jun-ho hyung — you mean Actor An Jun-ho?"
"Yes. The one we shot Summer's Closet with."
Min-su was startled by the unexpected news.
"He didn't seem like that kind of person…"
Just then Yeon-woo's phone rang. Checking the screen, he saw it was Son Jin-uk.
"Yes, Jin-uk hyung."
"Yeon-woo. Did you hear?"
"About Jun-ho hyung?"
"Yeah. What the hell is this? Jun-ho, drugs, out of nowhere? I haven't seen him socially since he switched agencies, but still… this is a shock."
Hearing Jin-uk's sigh through the receiver, Yeon-woo continued.
"You two were pretty close originally, right?"
"Yeah. That guy debuted with a bit part in Your Name."
"He switched agencies recently?"
A sigh came with the answer.
"He was at the same agency as me, but when we signed with LN Entertainment, he was up for re-contract too, so he moved. I think it was Plus10."
"Plus10 — CEO Byeon Hak-gyu?"
The moment Yeon-woo heard the agency name from Jin-uk, the name clicked into place.
"Well, I don't know the CEO's name offhand."
It was certain. The same CEO who had tried to push Jeong Su-yeon into a sponsorship arrangement.
"Jin-uk hyung. I've got a call I need to make — I should hang up."
"Ah, sure. Talk later."
The moment he hung up, Ryu Yeon-woo dialed Jeong Su-yeon.
The ringtone barely sounded before she picked up.
"Hey, Yeon-woo. I was just about to call you."
"Huh? You were going to call me?"
Su-yeon answered in a bright, happy voice.
"Yeah. The agency suddenly notified me they're terminating my contract! They used to threaten that they'd lock me out of work for the rest of the term, and now this."
"Ah, I see. Congratulations, Su-yeon. That's a real weight off, huh?"
"Really. It feels like the chains holding me down just fell off."
Since Su-yeon volunteered the information he'd been about to ask for, they chatted about nothing much and hung up.
Something about this is definitely rotten underneath.
By then Min-su's car had arrived at the officetel.
Even after the car stopped, Yeon-woo was still lost in thought, so Min-su called out to him.
"Actor, we've arrived."
"Ah, right. Thank you for your hard work, Min-su hyung."
"Um, Actor. Don't take it too hard."
Apparently Yeon-woo's contemplative look had struck Min-su as deep distress.
Yeon-woo smiled faintly and said he understood.
After saying goodbye to Min-su and going up to the officetel, Yeon-woo sat down at his computer and started researching the drug cases.
Separate from An Jun-ho's case, drug scandals seemed to be hitting the entertainment industry with unusual frequency lately.
Even with Summer's Closet, the drama he'd debuted in — he'd heard at a cast dinner that if the drug scandal hadn't happened, the role of Cha Woo-joo would originally have gone to an idol-turned-actor named Jeong Min-ho.
Entertainment industry. Drugs. Sponsorships.
Something ugly kept snagging on Yeon-woo's instincts.
Back in his agent days, whenever he got this feeling, things always went in a bad direction.
It felt like something was almost within reach — one puzzle piece missing in the middle.
Bzzzz—
His phone vibrated.
Checking the caller ID, he saw a number he deliberately hadn't saved for security reasons — but one he knew.
It was Han Hae-un's phone number.
He and Han Hae-un had agreed to communicate through a secure application. A phone call meant something was wrong, or urgent.
Yeon-woo answered.
"This is Ryu Yeon-woo."
"…Team Leader. I need… some help right now."