No Wonder She Didn't Take It
An actor who had worked at his craft with tireless diligence, until the public at last granted him a nickname: Classy Trash. Kim Seonil.
...She's incredible.
He watched Sua without so much as blinking.
...Senior, you run. You said you know the streets, didn't you?
Every stray thought wiped itself clean, and he sank wholly into Sua's performance. It was only natural.
Kim Yu-han.... This is close to the Kim Yu-han the writer first shaped. Kim Yu-han before a single revision. The Kim Yu-han no actor had ever managed to pull off...!
Kim Seonil had yearned for the completion of this script more than anyone alive. He knew, down to the last detail, why the role of Kim Yu-han had been built the way it was and every revision it had passed through—and now that finished product had finally manifested before his eyes.
It suits her. It fits perfectly. Even though she's a woman.
Kim Yu-han was a male role. Sex was something heaven ordained, and failing to overcome that limit was not a question of skill. To overturn heaven by mere human power was, by nature, impossible.
But then what was standing in front of Kim Seonil now? Kim Yu-han. No matter how he looked, it was Kim Yu-han.
I... I never managed to break out of my own image.
He had wanted to shatter the ceiling of Classy Trash. In truth, he had wanted Kim Yu-han for himself—to step free of his villain-specialist image and take on that airy genius. The difficulty had forced him to fail every time. What even he had failed to do, that rookie had just proven, as if daring him to watch.
That rookie... her own limits, that easily....
Sex. The impression a face imposes. Sua surpassed them all. And that was not even the whole of it.
It's only natural for readings of a single role to split. And yet I can't find a single point to refute. There's no gap in the interpretation.
No collision. Even her grasp of the script was perfect. The conclusion was not difficult to reach.
Lee Sua. The role of Kim Yu-han has to be Lee Sua. She is the last piece that will complete this script.
He turned his head on impulse and met the eyes of Seo Yeon-ju, her lovely hair set with that signature hairband. The two of them wore exactly the same expression, as if they had come face to face with a mirror.
"..."
Without a word, they nodded at the same time. The meaning was only one. Cast Lee Sua as Kim Yu-han. Without fail.
"Sua, please take the role of Kim Yu-han. It has to be you. No one else will do. Only you, the one who interpreted Kim Yu-han, can do it. Let's give the viewers a proper shock."
It was the first time any of them had seen Writer Lee Geumsuk this worked up, and yet it never once read as theatrics. They could not even spare a thought for the coffee cups rolling across the floor.
It was then that Sua carefully asked a question.
"I have a question. Why the crossdressing?"
"Ah, about that."
As if they had been waiting for it, Jung Soyen, Seo Yeon-ju, and Kim Seonil pressed in around Writer Lee Geumsuk. They fixed the laptop with tremendous intensity, and an impromptu meeting began on the spot.
"Sua is the only one who can play Kim Yu-han, but if we openly pair a male detective with a female detective, the whole thing starts smelling awfully like a romantic comedy. That would be a problem."
Jung Soyen nodded as well.
"Have her crossdress. I actually think this is really good. Kim Yu-han is the kind of man who'll do anything to catch a culprit, and he investigates by deceiving his own teammates first. Excellent."
"Right? And Sua's so pretty to begin with. Just think about the reaction once it's revealed she's a woman in the back half.... God, I'm already losing it."
"But how exactly are you planning to make the crossdressing work? I hugged her from behind earlier, remember."
Seo Yeon-ju moved her arms in a somewhat awkward way, as if she were trying to mime an enormous full moon.
"I mean, um, I was pretty jealous. This doesn't seem like something the makeup team can fix by trying a little harder...."
"Bind things down with bandages, make the costume baggy, and if that still doesn't work, we do special effects. The editing team will just have to suffer. We're making a masterpiece here—they can manage that much, can't they?"
There was an old saying: too many boatmen, and the boat runs up a mountain. Today, it was wrong. Perhaps because Lee Sua had served as such a superb compass, the meeting huddled around a single laptop moved with crisp precision, and the answer key to the role of Kim Yu-han wrote itself, line after flowing line.
They were all still on their feet. The ice spilled across the floor was melting, and still they were nothing but focus, as if they had forgotten everything else.
Seo Yeon-ju let out a gasp of admiration.
"Wow, now that Kim Yu-han's role is locked in, I'm liking this too. Ha Yun-jin's position came into focus."
"This scene works out as well."
"...This is insane. How does it fit together like a puzzle."
Every last one of them was alight with excitement, and somehow the very person who had asked the question—Sua—was left standing there alone.
"..."
Sua quietly scratched the back of her neck.
So it worked out, then? And this Special Privilege finds answers even in an unfinished script. Genuinely insane.
The passion of the people standing right in front of her was anything but ordinary, so cutting in felt wrong. Ill at ease, Sua started picking up the spilled ice, cube by cube.
Then, all at once, it registered with Jung Soyen.
"Oh no. Without even realizing, we neglected the most important person here."
"Huh? Right! Hey—hey, hey! Sua! Don't clean that up!"
Seo Yeon-ju came running and transferred every bit of ice from Sua's hands onto her own palms. The sunshine smile came with it, free of charge.
"You were seriously scary, Sua, but you've got a good heart, surprisingly?"
"What?"
Sua thought about it. They had spilled it, so of course they ought to clean it up—right? No. Had she really had Sua down as that much of a slob...?
"You make someone like Seonil do this. He happens to be a germaphobe."
"...What?"
Was it really all right to use a germaphobe like that? Sua's head was spinning for more reasons than one, but Kim Seonil himself showed no particular reaction.
Seo Yeon-ju crooked one corner of her mouth.
"Usually he'd throw a fit if I said that, but he's quiet today. Your acting must have left that much of an impression, Sua."
Only then did the writer's laptop finally close.
"Sua, I'm sorry. I can't settle until I've written down every spark of inspiration the moment it hits, and you gave me far too much of it."
"I'm fine."
But then.
"...I don't understand."
A low voice cut in. Kim Seonil.
He stared straight through Sua as he spoke.
"Lee Sua. You remember the role of Kim Hyo-jin."
"Yeah. I remember."
Of course she remembered the name. She simply hadn't experienced the role.
"Kim Hyo-jin is an easy role with a stable amount of screen time. Kim Yu-han isn't even finished. I want to know the reason for your choice."
He went on in a perfectly calm voice.
"Because most rookies think like this. Just pass the audition with a safe role. First, get into this writer's drama somehow. Somehow."
At that, Seo Yeon-ju's eyes sparkled too.
"Now that I hear it, I'm curious as well. You're a rookie, Sua. If you challenge Kim Yu-han and fail, your chance to be in this disappears completely. Weren't you scared?"
"This is the kind of topic that makes you lean in, I'll give it that."
Even Jung Soyen joined them, and all of them waited only for Sua's answer. The person in question, however, was simply baffled.
...They're giving me this much credit?
Kim Yu-han had simply been one of the options in the experience menu. But Sua was not foolish enough to reveal even that.
"I—I already told you. If it isn't the lead, I won't do it."
She had stumbled, just a little. Hopefully it hadn't shown. Sua tried to force courage into herself. Confidence. Get some confidence!
In any case, the reaction to her words was tremendous.
"Whoa..."
"That's guts I couldn't have faked back in my rookie days."
That was when Writer Lee Geumsuk caught Sua's hand.
"Sua, I have something serious to say."
"Yes?"
"Kim Yu-han means I'll essentially have to rewrite every scene, so you'll often be receiving the script with only a few days left before filming. And even that may still be revised. Will you be all right?"
Instead of answering, Sua checked the Special Privilege space first.
▶ Implementation Elements: Sufficient
▶ Experience: Complete / Grade 1
▶ Kim Yu-han — 001 ....
Kim Yu-han was still in a state she could experience. She nodded.
"Yes. I'll be fine."
"Sua... you would go that far..."
The rims of Writer Lee Geumsuk's eyes reddened. Why.
Then the writer moved as if possessed and drew several sheets from a file. A sidelong glance told Sua they were, roughly, contract forms.
"Sua, let's draw up the contract right now. Today."
"...A contract? Ah. A contract."
She answered as if she understood. In truth, her mind had gone white.
Why else. Sua was someone whose head spun at any number past the times tables, which meant a contract packed with difficult words was no different from a manuscript in an alien tongue....
And there was more.
One phrase had been branded into her with absolute thoroughness, in her previous life and in this one. A phrase she had heard countless times.
The Special Privilege helped her act. It did not pick apart contract terms. Which meant Sua needed time to understand what she would be signing.
"The terms... um. Let me think for a moment first..."
Who was it that knew about this kind of thing? Go home and look it up.
Writer Lee Geumsuk pressed her once more.
"Sua, are you worried we'll treat you badly? You don't have to worry. I'll make sure you have no cause to feel shortchanged."
"No, um..."
Setting aside whether the terms were good or bad, if Sua stood there staring blankly at a contract, the full extent of her foolishness would show. That absolutely could not happen. She had to keep up this image of someone not to be taken lightly. Only then would her treatment going forward be better. Sua understood that much, if only dimly.
Is there any excuse I can use to buy time?
She searched hard, and soon she managed to catch one. Right—now that she thought about it, there was one more thing that needed sorting out before they filmed this drama.
"Um, but will we even be able to film?"
Sua carefully extended her index finger and pointed at one person.
"Kim Seonil. He's playing Lee Kang-cheol, isn't he."
That was Classy Trash himself. Kim Seonil.
"He seemed to really dislike me. I'm a little scared to work with him."
A small, timid remark, half an attempt to buy time and half the truth. But the meaning that reached the other side was apparently different. Every face across from her went pale, without a single exception.
"Please contact me again later."
Sua turned and swept out of the room.
The cafe restroom.
"Haaaaah..."
Only after she arrived here did Sua finally breathe at ease. Even so, just in case, she held back from punching the mirror....
The moment the tension released, fatigue crashed over her—and at the same time, a fact dawned on her only now.
"The contract. Huh? Did I not even take a copy...?"
Sua realized she hadn't taken the provisional contract either.
"..."
She had said she would think over the terms, and she hadn't even taken the papers. Was there really a moron like this in the world. Sua savagely mussed her own hair.
"Damn it, I'm losing it. What do I do? Go back in and get it? No. That would look seriously stupid."
On top of that, she had walked out after calling out the attitude of a top-tier actor like Kim Seonil. How was she supposed to walk back in.
"...Whatever. It's the age we live in. They'll email it."
It was as she stepped out of the restroom.
"Lee Sua."
A familiar low voice called her name. Sua nearly jumped out of her skin. Kim Seonil had been waiting.
"..."
She swallowed dryly before she knew it.
They said he specializes in villains. Is he about to stab me...?
She forced her trembling legs still and asked.
"...What is it?"
Kim Seonil approached slowly. Sua resisted the urge to back away with superhuman willpower. He was seriously tall. Close enough to touch, he spoke.
"I heard my attitude didn't sit well with you."
Sua gave a timid nod. It was true that Kim Seonil was a top-tier actor, and true that he was famous, but it was also true that he had not been kind to her.
"...Your attitude wasn't good, though?"
"..."
She wanted to deliver it like a proper villainess, but it kept coming out timid. Kim Seonil's brow drew even tighter. Scared to death.
Of course, Kim Seonil's actual thoughts were entirely different.
Just how angry is she?
Sua's tone, cold and sharp as frost. Her hair, roughly mussed all over. Kim Seonil, who had been confident he would not be intimidated by anyone, was tense for the first time in a very long while.
...But I have to hold on to her. She's a talent we cannot do without.
That was the conclusion he had reached. And he could do anything for the sake of completing the script. Truly anything—even if it meant bending his pride, he would do it gladly.
Just as Sua, trembling, was about to flee.
"If that is the case."
Kim Seonil's head lowered.
Sua's eyes went wide.
He had folded at the waist, a full ninety degrees.
"..."
"I was rude."
Sua quickly scanned her surroundings first. Fortunately, the cafe had already closed. It was late at night, and with such heavyweights gathered, it seemed they had been left the building to themselves.
In any case, the shock was enormous. She had never even imagined he would chase her down and apologize on the spot.
"I wore out my shoes for the sake of completing this script, but all I found were actors with nothing but pride and no skill. I assumed you would be the same, and I tested you."
"Uh... um..."
"But that was my misunderstanding. This script needs you. If the problem is my attitude, I will correct it."
To Sua, it was nothing but shock. His attitude hadn't been good, yes, but she was a newcomer and Kim Seonil was an actor of a very high rank. She had privately accepted that not receiving an apology was something she would have to live with. She had thought that merely buying time to think about the contract was profit enough.
...He was actually apologizing? To this extent?
Did I act that well? Is his passion for the script that great? Or is it both?
That was when Seo Yeon-ju hurried over. She, too, saw Kim Seonil folded at ninety degrees, and her eyes went wide.
"You're bowing? With your personality?"
Her voice was full of surprise.
"Aigoo, this is why I told you to be a little kind from the start. How many times did I say to fix that personality..."
Sua parted her lips first.
"Please get up. Don't do this."
Only then did Kim Seonil rise. Seo Yeon-ju added,
"Sua, please cut him a little slack, just this once. He was wrong, that's true, but his passion for the drama is real. He'll be fine during filming. And he has his reasons, sort of..."
"Seo Yeon-ju."
At Kim Seonil's words, she stopped mid-sentence.
"...All right. Anyway, please think it over, Sua."
In the meantime, Kim Seonil opened his wallet. He took out three bills and slipped them into Sua's pocket.
"...Huh?"
Sua checked them without much thought, and then the shock hit. Not even hundred-thousand-won notes. Three cashier's checks for a million won each.
"The cab fare I promised. And a small token of sincerity."
And even that was not the end. Seo Yeon-ju forcibly pressed a card into Sua's hand.
"A card?"
"I didn't do anything wrong, but I'm making an appeal so you'll think well of me."
She went on with a bright smile.
"Spend as much as you like for now, all right, and I'll take it back the next time we meet. In exchange, please look favorably on joining the shoot."
"..."
While Sua short-circuited and fumbled for words,
"Hey, this is going to overwhelm Sua. Let's head up."
"...Yeah."
Fortunately, the actors withdrew first.
A short while later, Sua left the cafe and caught a taxi. Only after the door shut did she lean her head against the seat in front of her and let out a sigh.
"Hooo... I thought I was going to die..."
She suddenly retraced everything that had happened today. A contract offer on a Grade 1 script. A top-tier actor apologizing while pressing three million won into her hands. Seo Yeon-ju, surging into fame as the epitome of pure, refreshing innocence, hugging her and handing over a card....
...Was this allowed? Really?
She shook her head soon enough.
"Ah, whatever, whatever, whatever.... Let me just rest a little first..."
She was tired to death. Not a joke. For real.
Meanwhile, on the way back upstairs, Seo Yeon-ju and Kim Seonil.
"What is this? Kim Seonil bowing his head. To a rookie, of all people."
"It's the script I've longed for that much. For the sake of completing it, I can do worse than this."
"Anyway, I'll grant you this much. Your passion is unhinged too."
Seo Yeon-ju clicked her tongue.
"...More than that. Is she even a rookie?"
"She's a rookie, I tell you. No career to her name, anyway."
"An overseas career, maybe."
"Oh? That could be. Should I ask later?"
As if something had occurred to her belatedly, Seo Yeon-ju combed her hair with her fingers.
"Ah, right. I should ask about her agency too."
"Regardless, we have to lock her down. The role of Kim Yu-han. If it isn't her, it doesn't work."
The two of them weren't even particularly close, in truth. They were simply talking as if possessed, now that they had the outrageous subject of Lee Sua.
When they returned upstairs at last, Writer Lee Geumsuk and Jung Soyen were waiting with faces full of worry.
Seo Yeon-ju spoke first.
"Unclench your faces. For a Kim Seonil apology, that was well done. I even gave her my card, so we just have to wait."
"No. That's not the problem right now."
Jung Soyen went on, her face utterly grave.
"Sua didn't even take the contract."
"What?"
"Setting Seonil's attitude aside, the terms themselves must not have sat well with her..."
Right then.
Kim Seonil, having run his eyes over the provisional contract, offered a single line.
"Three million won. Yeon-ju's card. Even after receiving all of that, the look on her face was nothing more than someone who had picked up a piece of trash. A contract like this would never even enter her sight."
If Sua had known, it would have been a truly dumbfounding conversation.
The next day.
"Sua left the contract behind."
A line Writer Lee Geumsuk murmured.
A residence in the form of a luxurious mansion. Jung Soyen, the assistant writers, and even the drama's production staff had gathered. Drinks and delivery lunch boxes were piled like mountains on every side, and yet no one here was pleased.
It was understandable. They had gathered over an extremely important matter. If anything, their faces held nothing but tension.
"From this moment, a production meeting. In other words, we will discuss the terms on which we bring Sua in. Do you understand what that means."
Writer Lee Geumsuk said it with a face utterly serious.