I'm Talking to You
"The role of Wi Ji-hye, for instance."
Sua's scheme for landing the part of Wi Ji-hye was simple. Make them curious. She was required to perform as Ha-ryeong, and she had ten minutes to do it. Put the two together, and the answer came easily enough: act with everything she had, then, somewhere near the end, set a hook—some gesture that looked as if an ad-lib were about to slip free.
Of course, it hadn't been as easy as it sounded.
Ugh. No matter how many times I act tough, I still shake.
All the more so in front of someone as fierce as Yang Ha-rin. Even so, she had done it. She'd had to spit lines far harsher than anything she actually felt, and now and then school her face into a mask of perfect calm.
So what? This was about winning a role with A-grade compatibility. A trembling heart could hold out for a little while. She had told herself, over and over, something along the lines of You're going to be a great actor, so don't be scared—and whatever else one might say about the attempt, it had clearly worked.
The proof was sitting right in front of her. Hadn't Park Joon and Yang Ha-rin asked to see just five more minutes? Yes. Sua's gambit had landed.
Now I just have to wait for an answer...
She waited, calm, for whatever they would say.
The silence ran longer than she had expected. For a long while Ha-rin and Park Joon did nothing but stare straight through her. Only after a considerable stretch of time did Park Joon speak.
"...Miss Sua, if I may—which agency are you with?"
"I don't have one."
"You don't have an agency? Ah. Right, of course. No credits, nothing at all.... No, but with skill like this? Why on earth?"
He was about to press further when a sharp voice cut in.
"The acting was certainly watchable."
It was Yang Ha-rin.
"No. The only one worth watching. Best of today's applicants."
It was nothing more than a brief compliment, and yet Park Joon, seated beside her, looked badly startled. Praise from her must have been a rare thing.
Is she going to give me Wi Ji-hye after all?
The thought had barely formed.
"But."
Ha-rin's voice went on, cold as hoarfrost.
"She's gotten arrogant. Why does she keep eyeing my place?"
"Sorry?"
"She won't stop provoking me. She doesn't know her place."
Provocation. Her place. At that parade of harsh words, Sua understood at once.
Tch. This woman has gotten the completely wrong idea.
In truth, she had expected as much, at least in part. Any actor would be desperate for a chance in front of a camera, and growing attached to a role one had claimed was only natural. Ask as carefully as she might, it was never going to land the way she meant it. Sua knew perfectly well that her face and her way of speaking struck people as sharp.
"What you were given is the role of Ha-ryeong. You ought to be grateful just to be let in as the maid, so why do you keep carrying on like you own the house?"
...Hearing it put like that, though, did sting.
When I think about it, there's no reason for me to grovel through some long plea either.
The short film Sword was Grade 2. It would make a solid line on a filmography, but if anyone asked whether she had to debase herself and stake her life on getting it, the answer was no. Right. If this was how it was going to be, there was no reason to push. She had already secured one Grade 1 in Special Task Force 808, and the soft-drink commercial still waiting on her was Grade 2 as well.
"I am never giving you Wi Ji-hye. Understand that."
Ha-rin drove the nail in, and Park Joon stepped forward at once.
"This was, after all, an audition to cast Ha-ryeong, and Miss Ha-rin has wanted the role of Wi Ji-hye so very badly..."
His voice was quite urgent. The tone of a man trying to smooth things over.
"I am by no means saying your acting wasn't excellent, Miss Sua. I'll give serious consideration to you for Ha-ryeong, so..."
"No, thank you."
Sua offered a polite bow of the head.
"The truth is, I only came with the role of Wi Ji-hye in mind."
It couldn't be helped. Ha-ryeong, an F in compatibility, was no different from a poisoned chalice. She didn't do dangerous things.
The moment she said as much, Park Joon's eyes went perfectly round—so round it seemed they might pop free and go rolling across the floor. He was probably afraid she meant to keep up a battle of nerves with Yang Ha-rin, so Sua added the rest more quickly.
"I understand that Wi Ji-hye already has a firm owner, and I think you were right, Director, when you said the chemistry wouldn't be good. I'd be grateful if you would simply mark me as rejected."
Sua thought, not for the first time, that the Special Task Force 808 production team were absolute angels. True, the trouble there was that they thought far too well of her. Even so, pressure was a hundred times better than this unpleasantness, wasn't it?
"Um, Miss Sua..."
Park Joon's voice reached the back of her head once. Sua decided to pretend she hadn't heard. Her mind was already made up.
Yang Ha-rin's agency. The CT Entertainment building.
An unexpected guest was seated in the lavish, spacious office of the CEO. If one sculpted an exceptionally fine crow into the shape of a man, the result might feel something like this.
A presence, black and refined. The CEO addressed the man who was slowly steeping the room in his own dignity.
"Kim Seonil. You're looking much better, I see. I caught the news that Writer Lee Geumsuk's script has gone into production."
Kim Seonil took a quiet sip of tea and nodded. The handle of the cup, of course, had been wrapped once in a handkerchief before his fingers ever touched it.
"Even so. Am I supposed to learn from the papers that Actor Kim has joined a project? You might have called me first."
"I was busy."
"Cold as ever. Same as when you left our company."
The CEO smiled, showing no sign of offense.
Once, they had been of the same house. Kim Seonil had debuted as a rookie out of CT Entertainment, and he had remained so until he moved to the same agency as Seo Yeon-ju. Because of that move, the two of them now had little ordinary reason to see each other. Even so, Kim Seonil's reason for coming here was simple.
"Still, old ties are a comforting thing, aren't they? You've even promised a special appearance in a project I invested in."
"What old ties."
The project the CEO of CT Entertainment had invested in was the short film Sword, and Kim Seonil had promised a cameo.
"The script was decent. That's all."
He drew the line with absolute clarity. He was not a man who promised appearances on the strength of personal sentiment. He was always looking for clean work, and Director Park Joon's script for Sword had simply happened to be quite good.
The CEO was still smiling.
"A shame, though. It doesn't look as if Actor Kim will actually be making that special appearance."
"What do you mean."
"The call came in just now, as it happens. Seems the film is simply going to be scrapped. Even with me putting up the money, slotting Ha-rin in, and locking down Actor Kim's cameo..."
"So it came to that after all."
Kim Seonil nodded as if he had expected it. From the beginning, he had heard Director Park's declaration of retirement at close range. He had thought the script too good to throw away and resolved to lend his support, but it would hardly be strange if Park Joon folded the project anyway.
"Then I'll go as soon as I finish this."
"Since you're here, won't you at least see Ha-rin before you leave? You know how it is. Ha-rin is terribly fond of Actor Kim."
"It'd be a waste of time."
The door burst open—but two people came through it faster than Kim Seonil could leave. Park Joon and Yang Ha-rin had returned from finishing the auditions.
The CEO greeted them first.
"You're back? Those faces don't look good, I must say."
"What rotten luck."
Ha-rin muttered it irritably, throwing herself down onto the leather sofa that swallowed her in softness at the same moment.
The CEO spoke to her before anyone else could.
"Ha-rin. No need to rush. Sit one of these out and no one will even notice. You're still the strongest candidate for Best New Actress."
"Being annoyed is a separate matter.... Oh? Seonil Oppa?"
She paid the CEO's words no mind at all. Something else had stolen her attention, and the irritable set of her face smoothed out at remarkable speed.
"Seonil Oppa, what brings you here?"
"What."
"I'm just glad to see you. Have you been well? I've been working hard lately. Best New Actress is my goal, the way it was yours back then."
"Yeah."
It was only natural. Kim Seonil was the actor Ha-rin liked best of all.
Kim Seonil himself, however, had little interest in her. Strictly speaking, it was closer to dislike.
The way she feeds on other people.
It looked similar to his own method, and it was not. As far apart as heaven and earth. Unlike him, who pursued the perfection of the work, Ha-rin pursued only her own perfection. She didn't care if a production was torn to shreds, so long as the spotlight found her. The exact opposite of him. For a work he meant to make perfect, Kim Seonil could do anything—even if that anything was going down on his knees.
The CEO shook his head.
"Honestly, she loses her head the moment she lays eyes on Actor Kim. Director Park, did you know? Actor Kim promised a special appearance in that short film of yours. Says the script is rather good."
"...Really?"
Ha-rin answered by raising her voice.
"Then we should have pushed it through somehow...!"
"Didn't you say there was no real talent among the applicants? What can you do."
At that, Park Joon carefully slipped in.
"In truth, it isn't that there was no talent at all. There was one applicant who stood out rather remarkably."
"Oh? Then why did you scrap it?"
The CEO showed a flicker of interest, but Ha-rin's face crumpled at once.
"Director Park. Don't even start with that crazy bitch. Lee Sua or whatever her name is—she's nothing but bad luck."
Kim Seonil, in the middle of reaching for his coat, went utterly still.
He stopped every movement and thought for a moment about the name he had just heard. Whether it might be nothing more than a shared name.
In the end he opened his mouth. His curiosity was too great.
"You. What did you just say."
"Oh, it's nothing you need to worry about, Oppa. It's not a big deal. I'll probably forget the whole thing after a night's sleep."
"Not that. The name you just said."
"The name? Her name? I said Lee Sua..."
Lee Sua. He had heard right.
Kim Seonil's brow drew tight.
"Why? Do you know her too, Seonil Oppa?"
He didn't bother to answer. He only thought.
Lee Sua. Why had that kid gone to an audition?
No—it wasn't strange, really. She was a rookie. Pounding the pavement for the sake of her filmography was only natural. There was, however, one thing that gave him pause.
It means she signed off on the same script I had my eye on. So even her eye sits a cut above?
Kim Seonil was the actor whose fans called him admirable for picking out only good scripts, and Lee Sua had picked the very script he had picked. Yes. Her eye was exceptional. That much was certain.
"So. What did Lee Sua do."
Ha-rin was only too glad to open her mouth. It was truly rare for Kim Seonil to address her at all.
"She just acted, I guess. It was an audition."
"Ha."
He had heard only that much, and already the corner of his mouth lifted as he nodded. He could guess well enough what Yang Ha-rin and Director Park must have witnessed.
She must have shown them something incredible. Knocked them clean off their feet.
His gaze turned to Director Park.
"Director Park. How was she."
"How am I even supposed to put it..."
"She probably became the role itself."
"That's right. There wasn't a single thing to criticize. If anything, I caught myself thinking, ah, that's right, so that was the sort of character it was, and turning it over again in my own mind."
"And that's acting she picked up as a hobby."
"What? Oh, come on, don't joke. No, wait. Kim Seonil isn't an actor who jokes. Huh? More than that—you know her...?"
While Director Park was still short-circuiting, Kim Seonil asked one thing more.
"If Lee Sua had joined, there would have been no reason to scrap this film."
"Ah, well, about that..."
Director Park scratched his head.
"Miss Sua asked for a different role, but that one was already a part Miss Ha-rin had locked down. And the chemistry between the two of them looked terrible."
"So it came to nothing. Is that it."
"Yes."
This time his gaze turned to Ha-rin.
"Why didn't you give up the role."
"How could I hand a role to some raw rookie? I have my pride."
She answered as if the question were absurd.
"The rookie was arrogant. She didn't know her place—not even a little. And acting at that level? I can do it whenever I want."
"So you just sent her away."
"Of course. I told her flat out it wasn't happening."
Listening, Kim Seonil let out a short breath of laughter.
"True enough. Somebody really doesn't know their place."
"Right? She ought to be grateful just to be tacked on as a supporting part."
"No."
He cut the words off, utterly flat.
It was then that the man's eyes and Yang Ha-rin's met in the empty air.
Ha-rin tilted her head slightly, as if she could not believe what she had just heard. Kim Seonil's gaze was perfectly clear.