...Why?
The CEO's office went quiet for a moment.
“...?”
For an instant, Sua's mind went pure white. Sua Malfunction. The shock was more than her brain could hold. Being allowed to choose even one would have been enormous, and instead she had been handed all of them in a blink. Put together, that was three cars.
From Kim Iseo's side of the desk, though, it was perfectly rational. In the worst case she had been prepared to go as far as a house; set against that, this was getting off cheap. Before long Sua would be covering the upkeep and insurance on six cars simply by breathing.
Sua tapped the box. She was still quite dazed.
“I really get to pick anything...?”
All at once the moment didn't feel real. She had been certain a car was something that would never exist in her life. The price of the vehicle itself was staggering enough, but the truth was worse: the instant insurance and maintenance landed on her, saving a single coin would have been impossible. It was a luxury past her means. She had assumed she would be on her own two feet forever.
Could a life really be torn up by the roots and remade like this? Even so, refusing was not an option. Bewildered as she was, Sua had no intention of punting the chance into the sky. Right — it wasn't as if she were receiving any of this for having done something wrong.
Already, inside her head, imagination was spreading its wings. An open highway. The accelerator floored. The exhaust howling like something unhinged as she shot straight on and on....
Yeah. Taking it first is the right call. But...
Sua added one more thought. She ought to ask why.
“You must have given this a lot of thought.”
What had Kim Iseo made of her, to arrive at a conclusion like this? It would be nothing but useful to know. Someday, when she sat down to negotiate with someone else entirely, it would make superb reference material. Having thought that far, Sua tilted her head before she realized she was doing it. What was that? Did I get a little smarter?
That was when Kim Iseo nodded.
“Of course it is.”
She regarded Sua steadily.
“In this industry, payment in advance — giving an actor something before the fact — is exceedingly rare.”
“Mm.”
“Actors are like plants. You can't take their measure until they're fully grown. That's why the first real settlement usually comes around the time a contract is renewed, or when someone transfers elsewhere. After the fact.”
“That's still the story I already knew.”
Sua pretended to know, perfectly calm. Sua Comprehends.
“Why is there no paying in advance in this industry? Think about it, and it's simple. Setting a price ahead of time is brutally difficult. Who will rise, who will drop straight into the pit....”
Kim Iseo's voice was clear, and calm.
“...You simply cannot predict it. That's how a human life works, isn't it? Until a price tag goes on, you can't promise a real price. You can't hand something over beforehand.”
“Right. That's how it usually is.”
“Of course, it isn't that they give nothing at all. Every so often a monstrous rookie turns up in this business. But even accounting for that, a car is out of the question. A few months' living expenses, at most?”
“Mm.”
“From that standpoint, if word got out that I was offering a rookie this much, anyone would call me insane. Even the people who know your acting would try to stop me, saying an investment on this scale is far too dangerous. The entertainment world is a place where you can't see an inch ahead.”
Kim Iseo nodded.
“So, Sua. Didn't something strike you as strange, right about there? You're an unknown, and a rookie — how are you receiving this much up front? Enough to make Mystic itself stagger.”
Sua was curious too. How had Sua ended up on the strong team...?
But she was, little by little, growing shrewd (?) about this sort of thing. She turned the problem over every which way, and before long she found the optimal answer.
“Because people don't usually say that kind of thing with their own mouth.”
“There it is. Sua does know a thing or two.”
Kim Iseo laced her fingers together and settled her chin lightly atop them.
“It means Mystic doesn't think of you merely as an actor.”
Then what do you think I am? Don't tell me — a chauffeur? Oh. So that was it?
Sua was thinking this privately when Kim Iseo went on.
“I thought I could become family with you.”
Sua reconsidered her own thoughts. Kim Iseo's words, contrary to everything she had expected, were genuinely warm.
“Your acting is excellent to begin with. You have an eye for choosing scripts, too. But those things alone aren't why you landed the lead in Special Task Force 808. They're not the driving force that got the short film Sword made, either. There's one more reason.”
“Let's hear it.”
“Every actor has a scent, and yours is a very particular one.”
Kim Iseo put a little weight into her voice.
“You have a scent that encourages the people around you. It brings them to a boil. It makes inspiration bloom. That's why I'm investing this much, and still trying to take you in as family.”
Having said that much, she held one palm out to the side, and Seo Yeon-ju set a document folder into it.
“Think of the cars as the measure of Mystic's regard for you. What comes now is the important part. Ta-da — the contract you called cute last time.”
With a soft scrape, Kim Iseo slid it toward Sua.
“I revised the settlement split and the term. I'm confident it's grown quite a bit prettier, so have a look.”
The moment Sua saw the paper, dizziness washed over her. All that met her eyes was a wall of difficult words, so she shut the contract at once.
“...I don't need to look. I'll hear it from you, CEO.”
Kim Iseo let out a short breath of a laugh.
“The truth is, saying this sort of thing out loud is something a great many agencies avoid. No two actors can be offered the same terms.”
She indicated Seo Yeon-ju and Kim Seonil beside her with her chin.
“Think about it. I sign at five to five, someone else at six to four, someone else at seven to three. Wouldn't the air in the agency turn strange all on its own? But.”
Kim Seonil and Seo Yeon-ju nodded at the same time, as if none of it concerned them in the least.
“Yeon-ju and Seonil actually agreed to these terms. So the conditions we finally settled on for you are—”
Sua's ears pricked. So what are my terms?
“The split is eight to two. The term is one year. The same as Yeon-ju.”
The same terms as Seo Yeon-ju? She couldn't believe it.
“That's as far as the explanation goes. So — your thoughts?”
Sua didn't answer.
She simply signed.
Meanwhile, at Lee Yeonhwa Hair Studio.
A space that on any ordinary day would have been full of the snick of scissors was, just now, unusually quiet. Director Lee Yeonhwa and the entire staff had drawn into a circle for a meeting, and among them sat Manager Seo Jae-woo — the very man who had confidently declared that Lee Sua was at her lowest point right now.
The veins stood out on his neck.
“I'm telling you, later on her price is going to get so high you won't even be able to hold onto her. You have to grab her now, no question. You all felt it the second you saw her in person, didn't you? She's a jackpot, right?”
Everyone nodded as one.
“Her bone structure really was something else. A model from birth.”
“Guess celebrities aren't celebrities for nothing. She definitely has a different air from ordinary people. She was kind of scary, honestly.”
“But no matter how much I search, I can't find a thing on her?”
Manager Seo Jae-woo nodded.
“Which is exactly why now is the chance. She's about to show her face on something huge. I can't tell you what, but I'm dead serious.”
He went on, his tone grave.
“To begin with, that promotion you all wanted so badly — grab Lee Sua and the whole thing gets solved at once, doesn't it? Nothing complicated about it.”
“That's true. Even if we just filmed the haircut like a vlog, we could use it for all sorts of things.”
“Right. And if, on top of that, she actually hits it big — this salon blows up right along with her. I'm saying every problem you're staring down gets solved by Lee Sua alone.”
That was when Director Lee Yeonhwa shrugged.
“She really did seem like an incredible person, but all we can do is wait. We've already reached out. Of course, she might not have seen my message at all....”
“Hmm.”
“Still, thank you. When you think about it, this isn't even your affair, Jae-woo oppa, and yet you're stepping in this far. I'm really grateful.”
Lee Yeonhwa was right.
Seo Jae-woo worked in film distribution. Strictly speaking, he had nothing whatsoever to do with this hair studio. But there was a calculation running in his head as well.
He had, in fact, already talked Sua up to a master director. But the director's answer had been to bring her in person, and Seo Jae-woo had been at a genuine loss for how to connect the two of them....
...If I just broker it cleanly from the middle, wouldn't even delivering her to the director flow as naturally as water?
The director was desperate to cast the role of the youngest daughter of a chaebol family. He had reached the point of promising enormous compensation to anyone who brought him a suitable actress, as if he were posting a bounty — which said everything. Seo Jae-woo couldn't even begin to guess how much of the spillover would shake loose onto him. It was already sweet. He would be recognized by the master director as a capable right hand, and to Yeonhwa he would be the splendid oppa who had solved her problem.
And once he was her oppa, becoming Daddy would take no time at all.
Seo Jae-woo took out his phone.
“Yeonhwa. Don't worry. Oppa's going to give her a call right now.”
He stepped outside the salon and dialed.
Three rings, then a click — someone picking up. Luck was with him. The other party had answered.
“Ah, yes! Hello! The reason I'm calling—!”
This was why he had placed the call from outside the salon. He hadn't wanted Yeonhwa to see him bowing and scraping.
But.
“Huh? Who is this? This is Miss Sua's number, isn't it?”
Confusion bled into his voice.
“Uh? Ah — the CEO of Mystic? Yes?”
Seo Jae-woo blinked, toad-slow.
“Uh.... You're coming here right now...?”
He asked it back before he could stop himself.