The Trap of Fate
No matter how I looked at it, something was off.
An actress at Cheon Yua's level simply shouldn't need a company to take care of her. Scripts flew in from every direction even if she just sat still — all she had to do was read through them and pick whichever role she wanted. That was exactly why so many top stars stayed with one-person agencies, and Cheon Yua had presumably run her own company for precisely that reason.
Granted, having a company behind her made sense from a risk-management standpoint, but if that was the goal, a brand-new outfit like Flame Entertainment was hardly the right choice. I knew from experience that this was a good company to work for — but by all logic, Cheon Yua shouldn't have.
"And what's more, didn't that woman give me her business card? Told me to join her company."
That was the most baffling part of it all. Cheon Yua had handed me her card. There was no reason on earth for this woman to show me any human warmth, so it must have been a recruitment pitch — and yet she gives me her card, then slips into a completely different agency herself?
Reading between the lines, the heavyweight actor Team Leader Seo had mentioned was clearly Cheon Yua, which meant she'd been in contact with Flame before I was. Something didn't add up, front to back.
"What is this, a trap of fate? I threw away her business card specifically so I wouldn't have to run into her, and it turns out Cheon Yua approached Flame before I did?"
The world was always out to get me, sure, but this was genuinely crossing a line.
"Whatever. Focus. Think about countermeasures first."
Back in my own room in the officetel — a place that had somehow become more comfortable than my actual home in a mere three days — I opened the drawer immediately and pulled out my contract.
"If I breach the contract and run from Her Majesty the Modern Heavenly Demon... no, impossible. I'd be done for."
Breaking the contract at will meant returning the 300 million won signing bonus from the get-go. And since the contract explicitly stated a termination penalty of half the signing bonus, that was another 150 million on top. I'd paid off the family debt the moment the signing money landed, leaving me stone broke — there was no way I could shoulder that amount.
"So first I'd need to earn the money... ah, damn it. What kind of idiotic scheme is this? Do I really have to go this far?"
That part was doable, at least. If I hit it big, a paltry 450 million was nothing — one well-chosen project would cover it. But was it really worth the trouble?
Honestly, at this point I felt like I couldn't survive anywhere but Flame(?) anymore. Nowhere in the world was there a more comfortable company. Thanks to those absurd bodyguards, I was perfectly protected against stalkers and rabid fans — every security concern handled.
"And besides, would an actress of Cheon Yua's caliber even bother showing up at the office?"
As I'd mentioned more than once, actors rarely set foot in their agencies. Which meant that even at the same company, the odds of actually crossing paths with Cheon Yua were close to nil. To put it bluntly, she was a grand senior so far above my station that striking up small talk would be a struggle in itself.
She did seem to have some interest in my acting, but such passing curiosity was bound to fizzle out soon enough. I wasn't the only actor in the world who could deliver a performance, after all.
In the end, we'd only ever meet if we ended up in the same production — and I saw no reason to vacate such a comfortable perch just to avoid that. Yes, this was right. That whole absurd episode had rattled me for a moment, but no matter how I turned it over, this was the correct call. Best to keep my head down and quietly blend into Flame like a man who didn't exist.
(Cheon Yua)
The Flame Project was something Cheon Yua had been conceiving for a long time. Its purpose was simple: gather a small handful of talented actors and, through earnest support, bring that talent into full bloom. Because the project ran on her personal satisfaction rather than any bottom line, it wasn't a money-making venture at all. Call it a form of philanthropy, or scholarship support of a sort — it was enough that skilled actors stepped forward and delivered fine performances in fine works.
Flame, however, was never meant to be founded at this point in time. The plan had been to observe the entertainment landscape for at least another two years before starting slowly. That was the time she'd judged necessary to secure promising unknowns and marquee stars willing to serve as the company's face — but Baek Si-woo had forced her to scrap the plan itself. Resolving Cheon Yua's nightmares was worth more than any number of such projects.
"So you've finalized the contract with Mr. Baek Si-woo? He's moved into the seventh floor, then?"
"Yes. Everything went according to plan."
"I was a little worried, given it's a brand-new agency. I'm relieved."
"I shared those concerns, but Team Leader Seo handled it cleanly. The favorable contract terms helped as well, I imagine."
"True enough. Team Leader Seo always does tidy work."
With the news that her target had been secured, Cheon Yua could finally breathe a little easier. Now that a point of contact existed, she need only observe him at her leisure and search for the thread that would unravel her nightmares.
"Though I do wonder if it was necessary to go quite this far."
"Not at all — Secretary Ju, no, forgive me, Representative Ju. You know as well as I do how difficult the contact itself was. Even after I left my personal business card, there was no word from him."
"That's certainly true. I found that odd myself — you left your card personally, Miss, and still nothing."
"Exactly. Unless he was deliberately avoiding me, some kind of response would have been the natural thing, wouldn't it?"
After it became public that Baek Si-woo — the man who seemed to be the only clue to solving her nightmares — was an actor in his twenties, Cheon Yua had poured considerable effort into reaching him. But even after several requests routed through PD Yoo, Baek Si-woo sent no reply at all, and in the end she pivoted to a new approach: pulling him into the same company.
"But to build him living quarters inside the company, on top of everything..."
"This is a man who ignored even my personal phone number. You think sharing a company makes contact easy? I'll need to observe him steadily for at least several months — frankly, this arrangement is better."
Representative Ju had agreed with the core idea of bringing Baek Si-woo under the same roof — just not in this form. There had been no intention whatsoever of furnishing the place as lavishly as if setting up an entire household. But something must have struck her fancy along the way: Cheon Yua had involved herself actively from the very founding of the company, and the result was that preposterous headquarters building. She even fully intended to move in and live there herself.
For Representative Ju, who understood Cheon Yua's nightmares better than anyone, this had become an impossible bind — wrong to block, wrong to leave alone.
"At least the guards were allowed in. Small mercies."
"Aren't those guards the bigger problem? I still don't understand why they had to be brought into the country at all. Should I just pull S&M's investment?"
"Wouldn't that create an even larger problem?"
"...Fair point. Best to simply endure it."
Unlike Representative Ju, who reasoned that some protection was better than none when it came to her safety, she considered the guards themselves to be the single greatest problem of all. They occupied two entire floors for their quarters alone, for heaven's sake. But she knew all too well that spurning them would invite a far greater calamity, so she'd resolved to let them be. They weren't obstructing her plans, and in the end, they were people prepared for her own safety.
"Never mind that side of things — it'll work itself out. Tell me more about Baek Si-woo instead. What's your read on him, Representative Ju?"
"It felt like a rushed recruitment, given the matter of your nightmares, but I believe Actor Baek Si-woo is genuinely promising."
"Right? I think so too. This is acting that fooled even me — and I pride myself on a sharp eye. A man in his twenties playing a seventy-year-old goes beyond 'he acted well'; it simply can't be dismissed that easily."
"That said, I wouldn't say he's entirely without issues."
"What sort of issues?"
"There was apparently some trouble with Actor Jo Yooshin. Namely..."
However impure the underlying motive, it was acknowledged by everyone from Cheon Yua down to Representative Ju that Baek Si-woo possessed the caliber to justify joining Flame. What worried the Representative was that the man might be rather quick with his fists. Since they'd all be living under the same roof going forward, he decided Cheon Yua needed to know this side of him too, and began explaining in detail the trouble with Jo Yooshin as uncovered by Team Leader Seo.
"...And how exactly is that a problem?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"If the man who got punched has kept his mouth shut until now, doesn't that mean there's no problem? SD isn't run by fools."
"That's true, but..."
"And you know as well as I do by now, Representative Ju — this industry doesn't roll over for anyone. Frankly, I like it. Better to throw the punch than come home having taken one. No fallout afterward is even better."
"That does seem to be how it played out. SD hasn't made so much as a peep."
Yes, this is who our Miss has always been. Representative Ju couldn't help but admit his worry had been misplaced. The young lady he served had been like this from the very beginning.
Back at her debut, knowing nothing of how this industry truly worked, Cheon Yua had landed herself in a rather thorny situation from her very first production. She'd been cast in a teen drama alongside a swarm of similarly aged young actors and found herself the target of relentless, concentrated cold-shouldering. Any other actor would have refused to film. Cheon Yua's answer was a straight frontal assault. What exactly she did and how she did it, no one could say — but by the time the drama wrapped, not a single one of them dared meet her eyes.
"It was a genuinely bloody set. Even now, when I think back on..."
"Representative Ju?"
"Ah — nothing. Then we'll let that matter pass as is. In exchange, I'll keep it firmly in mind when assembling the team."
"Do that. I'm leaving that part entirely to you, Representative Ju."
Having worked alongside Cheon Yua for years, Representative Ju knew better than anyone how difficult it was to rein in an actress who charged straight ahead. He'd broken out in cold sweat over her escapades plenty of times himself. That she'd never once drawn public scandal amid it all spoke to how thorough a person she was — though it was also, undeniably, bad for one's mental health.
This newly arrived Baek Si-woo reminded him of Cheon Yua in certain ways, which was precisely why he planned to assemble the team with particular rigor. With any other actor, you could simply cut ties if things went sour — but with Baek Si-woo, even that option was off the table.
"Yes. Oh, and on a different note — Mr. Baek Si-woo has requested acting lessons. Says he needs someone well-versed in performing for the camera."
"Ah, that makes sense. PD Yoo looked after him wonderfully, but there were still small awkward edges here and there. Of course, viewers probably never noticed."
"Then shall I arrange..."
"Oh, right — I can simply take that on myself, can't I?"
"You'll do it personally, Miss?"
"Yes. Killing two birds with one stone — perfect. Nine years a veteran, the Goddess of the small screen. Camera acting alone for nine straight years — I'd say I'm qualified."
"Well, that goes without..."
"I need to observe Baek Si-woo closely anyway. It works out nicely."
"...Understood."
There was something about the arrangement he couldn't quite put his finger on, but Representative Ju had no choice but to concede the point: if they wanted to observe Baek Si-woo in detail — or more precisely, to seize the thread that would unravel the nightmares — Cheon Yua teaching him acting herself was the best possible method.
To think he gets to learn acting from Cheon Yua herself. That Baek Si-woo kid is truly a goner.
And so, another event that would make Baek Si-woo shriek in horror if he ever found out was quietly being set in motion at the fingertips of Cheon Yua and Representative Ju.