Episode 48: The Crackdown Begins?
Episode 48: The Crackdown Begins?
"Good afternoon."
"Well, look who it is. If it isn't Sijun-ie."
"It's been a while, Manager."
There was someone I hadn't seen in a long time, so I went over to greet him first.
"I'm a team leader now."
"No kidding. Congratulations on the promotion."
I was genuinely impressed. Becoming a team leader typically required a career path that ran well into your late thirties, I'd thought—and yet here he was, already there.
"Yeah, yeah. So you came tagging along after your sister?"
"She asked me to be her manager for the day."
"Hah, what a piece of work. Your sister's ruthless. Working her own little brother like that. She could've let you just watch, but no, she had to make you a manager... and I do manager work myself, so I know—it's not easy..."
"Still, a team lead at a photo shoot..."
"Your sister's here, for one thing, and we've got a ton of rookies and new hires on set..."
He trailed off, but it sounded like he'd planned to take it easy himself and ended up coming anyway because it felt too awkward to skip.
So that's why the age gap between us isn't even that big, but he already made team leader. Not that you'd know it from the way he talks—sounds like a guy in his fifties...
He always claimed he picked it up from his mentor, but as far as I knew, no such person ever existed.
"Sijun-ah."
"Ah, I'd better go."
"Sure, sure."
From that point on, everything blurred together. I knew vaguely what a manager did, but I'd never actually done it, so I kept fumbling.
I didn't even properly know what the stylist noona wanted me to fetch, and when she asked me to move the car, I'd somehow managed to lose the key—so Sieun-noona let out a sigh and handed me her spare.
I did find the key later while tidying up the clothes.
I'm not usually this tense, but today, for some reason, I was wound tight.
And right around the time the tension was finally starting to ease, Noona's summons began. Since I couldn't move during the actual shoot, she told me to bring her water, so I took it over. She whispered in a tiny voice.
"This is way too cold."
"I'll leave it out ahead of time next time..."
"Good. Do better."
The stylist noona, who'd come over to touch up her makeup, let out a snort. Sieun-noona glared at her, and as she tried to stop laughing, her hand wobbled—it's a secret that the shoot got delayed just a little because of it.
While Noona was shooting, I stood in a corner, and the team leader I'd greeted earlier brought over a group of rookie actors and idols and had them introduce themselves.
"Hello."
"Hello!"
"We're OOOO!"
I lost count of how many times I dipped my head, and smiled so much the corners of my mouth ached.
"By the way, Team Leader..."
"Hm?"
"What kind of shoot is this that everyone's..."
"What, you came here not knowing?"
"Yes."
I had every right to be shameless. Truly. Sieun-noona had brought me without a single word of explanation.
"We're redoing profile photos for everyone in the agency, all in one go."
"Ah, really? But if the agency handled it, you could've taken it easy..."
"...Well, when you put it like that. You're right."
Even he seemed to realize his own presence was unnecessary, and he walked out of the studio with a deflated look.
After that, I kept trailing after Noona helping her, and helping other people too, so the time flew by.
"Great work, everyone~"
"Take care."
Everyone else left, but Noona stayed behind, saying she needed to redo her passport photo.
"I mean, you could've taken it while you were already shooting..."
"How could I take a passport photo looking like this?"
"Ah... right. Fair point."
Her makeup was way too glam.
"But getting a passport photo done at a place like this... talk about overkill..."
"Says who? Didn't you tag along to Eunhwi's shoot and get yours done there too?"
"Ah... right. My apologies."
"Wait."
After Noona did only light makeup and sent even the stylist noona away, she and the photographer were left alone in the studio and took the photos.
"Thank you for your work."
"Ah, it was nothing at all. I'll be off first."
"Sure~"
When I heard sounds of Noona finishing up, I went out, and the photographer had already left his camera behind and gone off somewhere.
"Wait, is it okay to just leave all this equipment in the studio with no staff around? How much does all this cost?"
"Who's going where?"
"No, I mean, the photographer and everyone..."
"They went to eat. I was the only one who finished early."
"Ah...?"
"I've got seniority, so of course I finish fast. Can't tough it out anymore at my age."
She hates talking about age, but at times like this she's perfectly happy to use it as a shield.
"Help me out a little."
"Sure."
Noona headed toward the changing room and called for me.
"Unzip me."
When I stepped inside, Noona was holding her hair with one hand and looking back at me.
As I approached to help with the zipper, Noona spun around and wrapped her arms around my neck.
"Sijun-ah."
"Yeah?"
"I still have my wish ticket left, you know."
"What...? You're using it to—mmph!"
Noona roughly sealed my mouth with hers. Her tongue moved back and forth, fierce.
"Mwah—slurp, sllurrrp."
"Hahh... hahh..."
"Hah... just one more thing, pretty please?"
I lightly tapped the forehead of Noona as she tried some cringey aegyo, and nodded.
"Don't ask for anything weird. Just say what it is."
"I want... to do it."
"What?"
"I want to do it..."
"Here?"
"Here's fine... outside is fine too..."
----
Choi Sieun was annoyed. No, scratch that—she was in the middle of being annoyed.
She'd brought him to work as her manager, and yet she kept boiling over inside watching her boyfriend-slash-younger-brother Choi Sijun, who seemed unable to stop looking at other people.
Seeing him grinning like a fool while greeting all those idols made her so heated she couldn't concentrate on the shoot.
"Oh! The vibe is amazing today! So pretty!"
The director beside her kept saying things that seemed wildly off the mark.
She knew perfectly well they were compliments meant to encourage and lift her spirits, but her mood, already twisted into knots because of Sijun, couldn't take them at face value just then.
Still, she pulled herself together like a pro and tried to focus on the shoot. But that guy at the edge of her vision was still over there laughing it up with rookie actors and idols alike.
"Ugh, what's wrong with me?"
"Hm? Unni? What's weird?"
The stylist who'd come to touch up her makeup had caught the muttering and asked again, but Sieun just shook her head and said it was nothing.
"Ah, ah, don't shake your head."
"Oh, sorry."
While the makeup was being fixed, she moved only her lips and made a request of the stylist.
"Can you call Sijun over for me?"
"Sure—SIJUN-AH!!!"
The stylist was just as slim as she was, but she called out Choi Sijun's name in a totally different voice, loud enough to shake the whole studio.
"Whoa... you really are a singer..."
"Enough about that. Unni, I don't want to be a celebrity..."
She was a good singer too, and Sieun wished she'd just put out an album, but the girl always said she liked doing this and stuck to being a stylist.
Of course, she was so absurdly good at makeup that she got scouted from all over, but she never went.
"Yes, Noona? You called?"
"I called him."
"Oh, Sijun-ah, bring me some water."
Truth be told, the water was an excuse. She'd been forced to invent an errand just to pry Choi Sijun away from the women somehow.
"This is way too cold."
"I'll leave it out ahead of time next time..."
"Good. Do better."
The stylist next to her was laughing, finding the two of them adorable, so Choi Sieun shot her a single glare and quelled that instantly.
Even after that, whenever he showed the slightest sign of lingering near anyone else, she immediately called him over and peeled him away.
"Huff... huff..."
Seeing him rush over and gasp for breath did make her feel a tiny bit sorry, but she was still too irked to even ask if he was okay.
To get everyone to leave, she deliberately said she had to retake her passport photo and skipped eating.
And then she called Choi Sijun into the changing room.
"Sijun-ah."
"Yeah?"
"I still have my wish ticket left, you know."
"What...? You're using it to—mmph!"
"Mwah—slurp, sllurrrp."
Even she had to admit it was absurd, but her nice little brother went along with it anyway.
Her boyfriend, who'd said doing it at the studio was probably not right, changed clothes, got in the car, and was being driven to a hotel.
As she stared blankly out the window, the light turned red. He reached over, gently laced his fingers with hers, and asked:
"What got you that angry?"
"Hm?"
"You had some grievance with me—that's why you worked me that hard."
He knew her way too well.
"No... it's just, you were laughing and chatting with all those young kids... That got me a little heated."
Even Choi Sieun was embarrassed by it; she said it in a tiny voice only he could probably hear.
"What was that?"
Her clueless boyfriend asked again. No—when Choi Sieun turned her head and looked at his face, he was smiling.
He'd clearly heard her.
Even so, he wanted to hear it again, and was forcing the corners of his mouth down, putting on an act of a serious expression.
"Stop acting!"
Annoyed, she grabbed his laced hand and pulled, pinching the back of it with her other hand.
"Aagh! That's dangerous, Noona. I'm driving."
"S-sorry."
"It's fine. So? You didn't like me getting flirty with other people?"
"Yeah..."
"That's sudden. What brought this on?"
He was a boyfriend and younger brother who was much younger, but whenever she was in front of this man, she wanted to seem younger, to be younger. She even used an aegyo tone she'd never do in front of others, wanting to look cute.
Of course, as a woman, she didn't just want to be cute—she wanted to look alluring too.
Lately, the thought that he might be seeing some other woman kept nagging at her. That she might get abandoned.
'Maybe I shouldn't have told him he could see other people.'
"Sijun-ah."
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to abandon me? Hngh!"
He must have been startled by her words; he suddenly hit the brakes hard.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She loved this boyfriend of hers, who asked in a low, serious voice and expression completely unlike his usual self.
"It was just a joke."
"Don't joke like that. Got it?"
Before she knew it, he'd pulled the car over to the side of the road, and was looking at her intently while stroking her hair.
If her job were an ordinary office worker's, she was the kind of Choi Sieun who wanted to just live every day in a lovey-dovey haze with this man.
'Ugh, I don't want to start the next movie.'
After the summer ended, she'd have to leave for the States again, and she'd started to hate the thought of going.
"I'd better do a crackdown before I leave."
"Hm? What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing. Let's go."
"Yeah."
But before she left for the U.S., she was Choi Sieun, and she was thinking she'd better do a once-over crackdown on her friend Ji Eunhwi and her boyfriend's new women before she went.