A Quiet New Year

The memorial proceeded with quiet solemnity. Though it was the depths of winter, the afternoon sun was strong, and the weather was comparatively warm.

Everyone from the President to the U.S. Ambassador to Korea attended and gave speeches, and a famous ballad singer performed a song of remembrance.

Yoon Jay sat upright beside Jayden, his attention fixed on the ceremony.

The eulogy was delivered by a young man who had lost a leg in the Gangnam tragedy — now a college graduate, a working member of society.

He held out a small bouquet of flowers to Yoon Jay.

"Thank you…"

For what, exactly? For avenging them? The feeling was a strange one.

Perhaps it was because this was the first time he had ever been thanked for something like this. To him, Asad Yasin Qadir — the deputy leader of LIS — was an unforgettable, horrific past. No doubt the same was true for the victims of the tragedy.

"How is it?"

"How is what?"

"How you feel. Feels strange, doesn't it?"

"It does."

"That's why I've been thinking of switching careers to mascot duty. I was the same way at first."

Jayden clapped Yoon Jay on the back.

"You couldn't fully accept the attention. Those bastards deserved to be torn apart a hundred times over — but a lot of civilians died in the process. Some people call us murderers."

It was a scar every soldier came to carry. Yoon Jay unconsciously loosened the stiffness that had crept into his shoulders. As always, these were the men he could truly relate to, and it put him at ease.

"Anyway, I watched your work. The Garden of Evil, was it?"

"What did you think?"

"Made me want to throw up."

Jayden's sharp eyes swept over Yoon Jay. One of the reasons he had come out so eagerly for this event was Yoon Jay himself.

"You looked just like that Lion bastard."

"…"

"Are you really okay?"

Before an answer could come, Owen and Ryan crashed into their backs.

"What are you two talking about so seriously?"

"Come on, let's get to that restaurant JJ mentioned."

"Galbi! Bulgogi!"

"Friends, I regret to inform you that lunch will be held at the U.S. Embassy."

"No way!"

"Could I perhaps sit this one out?"

"JJ, obviously you're coming too."

"Director, I'm hurt. Really?"

"What is it this time, that you start the moment you see me?"

"Yoon Jae — why didn't you tell me that kid of yours was Yoon Jae-hee?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Hong Jiwoong, one of the heavyweight hands of the investment world, grumbled the instant he laid eyes on Lee Seo-won. He, too, was a man who had thrown himself deep into film investment after the runaway success of The Child.

"I know exactly how you feel. You have no idea how shocked I was when I heard the news."

"Wow. An actor I'd been keeping my eye on turns out to be Yoon Jae-hee…"

Some actors golfed and dined regularly with investors to build rapport. Yoon Jay had done his share of polite networking, but he wasn't one to meet them often, so Lee Seo-won attended in his place.

"I only found out recently myself. He walked into my office out of nowhere and — plunk — set a trophy down on my desk!"

"Kwak said you looked like your soul had left your body?"

"Ah, so there's a spy in my company. Kwak, I didn't see that in you at all."

Cho Yoo-kyung laughed heartily. They had gathered thanks to their common connection — Yoon Jay — but by now the gatherings were pleasant even without him.

Since every single person who had volunteered to invest in Yoon Jay was a titan of the industry, plenty of people wanted in not so much to invest in Jay himself as to forge ties with these moguls.

"Ugh, anyway, I'm being worked to death over this. This is why keeping a too-perfect actor is exhausting, I keep telling you."

Those around him had long since grown accustomed to Lee Seo-won's romance-fantasy noble-lady manner of speech.

"Phone calls coming in from the U.S. Embassy, no less… I feel like my management difficulty rating has gone through the roof, don't you?"

"And yet you're loving every minute of it."

"Honestly, though… the Gangnam tragedy."

Hong Jiwoong's expression turned complicated. He was the real estate magnate of the Gangnam district, and he had been close by when the attack happened — close enough that he had lost a beloved employee.

The man who had gunned down the perpetrator of that atrocity was Yoon Jay. And Yoon Jay was Yoon Jae-hee of The Child. It induced a faint cognitive dissonance.

"And this time, on top of everything, he's received an offer from a Hollywood film."

"Hollywood?"

Rayna Yang, who had kept her eye on Yoon Jay ever since The Garden of Evil, reacted at once.

A former Nflix executive, she had continued to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quietly support Yoon Jay from behind the scenes. Hollywood was a neighborhood she knew well.

"Ah, we've only been exchanging offers so far."

"Might I ask which studio? That side of the industry has more than its share of con artists, after all."

Having said that, Rayna Yang hurried to add:

"Oh! Not that I doubt you, Director—"

Lee Seo-won had been acting rather carelessly these days because of Yoon Jay, but he remained a man of enormous influence in the film world. There was even a saying that if you wanted to cast a great actor, you went to Lee Seo-won first.

"Ah, that's quite all right. There is a great deal I don't know about that side of things."

"Which company is it? I could look into them for you."

"Not the kind of company you'd believe capable of being a scam. The offer came from Palace Film Company."

"Palace? Isn't that one of America's major studios?"

Another investor looked up in surprise.

"What kind of offer? Action? A superhero movie?"

"Honestly, an Asian actor almost never gets a substantial role over there. A one-off villain at best."

"These days OTT is booming, so a global launch might actually be the best route?"

"Yoon Jay already had his brush with the trend with Garden of Evil, didn't he?"

The investors chattered briskly, the Hollywood talk energizing the table.

Lee Seo-won found himself recalling Yoon Jay returning from the 1224 tragedy memorial.

And Rayna Yang, upon seeing that card, opened her eyes wide.

"Oh my — this man…"

"You know him?"

"He's such a famous film producer that I've never met him face to face, but I know the name very well. Wow — this is a personal business card?"

"Personal card?"

Cho Yoo-kyung, taking the card from Rayna Yang, was surprised as well. She had accompanied countless overseas campaigns for Korean cinema. She might well know more about him than Rayna did.

"Jay, did the boy have ambitions of breaking into Hollywood?"

"Not that I know of. But he isn't flatly refusing either — he seems torn, so it looks like part of him wants to…"

"Really?"

"What do you think, noona?"

"This is… far too good an opportunity to pass up."

Was that man really so formidable? For the time being, Lee Seo-won tucked the business card carefully away inside his jacket.

Yoon Jay sought out Park Hyun-ah — his companion for spending the year's end alone, and someone who could now fairly be called family.

The twins were at the broadcasting station for their year-end stage schedules.

"You came?"

"Wow — what's all this?"

"I put a little muscle into it. Been a while."

Park Hyun-ah gazed at Yoon Jay as he marveled at the food spread across the table, her face glowing with pride.

The Yoon Jay who once thanked her so stiffly for having him over — the one who had felt just slightly out of reach — now wore an unmistakable ease.

"I brought some wine. You prefer dry, don't you?"

"Indeed I do."

In truth, Yoon Jay had been closing the distance with Park Hyun-ah bit by bit, out of consideration for her.

He had already lived through every shape a family could take. An ordinary household, then a remarried one, and after his mother's death, a quasi-adoptive family.

There were two younger siblings whom no stranger would ever pick out as blood relatives, and the existence of half-siblings — and of their mother — had never been something he found hard to face.

"You were writing, weren't you?"

"How on earth did you know?"

"The marks from your glasses are quite deep."

"Ah… sharp eyes, as always."

Park Hyun-ah rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I should get back to it soon. I've rested far too long."

She was a writer with real name recognition in the drama world. A specialist in romance and romantic comedy, her ratings had always landed comfortably in decent territory.

"Do you think the slump is behind you?"

"I honestly don't know yet. I'll have to keep writing to find out."

Her most recently aired drama had been savaged by critics, plunging her into a long slump.

Park Hyun-ah studied Yoon Jay — the tall, strikingly handsome young man. A face like that cast as a romance male lead would be almost violent…

"Well, since it's come to this — want to play the lead?"

"Yes. I'll do it."

"Isn't that an awfully quick yes? What if I'm conning you with a fake synopsis?"

"That would be an experience too. If it's you, Mother, I'd forgive even a bait-and-switch into a side role."

"Enough of that. You'd get absolutely torn apart online."

Park Hyun-ah found it hard to accept Yoon Jay as her own child. If she had raised him from infancy, perhaps — but they had met when he was already fully grown.

Still, she did see him as the dependable older brother of her own children. Like watching over a quasi-nephew, one might say?

In any case — writing a romance script with someone almost her son as the male lead? That was… a strange thing indeed.

"If I write with you as the lead, even a script that's guaranteed to hit won't come out right."

"Why not?"

"I'm a romance specialist, remember?"

"Ah…"

Yoon Jay understood, and nodded. After the meal, they turned on the broadcaster's year-end music festival.

"You said you're going into Ye-jin's drama?"

"Yes. Somehow I keep ending up in genre pieces."

"Genre's good. Is the network settled?"

"Not a network — Nflix. It's pre-produced, so I imagine it'll be comfortable to shoot."

String of Memory — which had cast Yoon Jay alone while it was still nothing more than a concept — had been picked up by a global OTT platform. Filming would begin soon.

"What are writer Kang Ye-jin and director Kang Pil-hyun like?"

"Hm? Haven't you had meetings with them?"

"One or two meetings don't tell you much. Would you say they're receptive to ad-libs?"

"They're not rigidly conservative — if something suits the piece, they'll accept just about anything."

Park Hyun-ah's eyes rolled thoughtfully.

"Ye-jin… that one loves twisting things, you know?"

"Twisting things?"

"Mm. I hear she went back and forth with the networks over it. Why must you complicate everything with these plot twists? Keep it light. Add some romance. But her personality just couldn't swallow that."

She doesn't compromise in her own work… Sounds like a good thing to me.

"But after Yoo Sang-hyun stabbed her in the back, she turned cynical. Though with Nflix, I suspect she'll pour her own tastes in freely enough."

"I see…"

Yoon Jay stared blankly at the television. Goodness, there were so many idols he didn't recognize.

Reporter Kang Chang-hoon — the man who had blown open the truth that Yoon Jay was Yoon Jae-hee — kept churning out follow-up reports. Damaging ones, of course. Outrage drew more clicks.

Going after a deceased father meant you could tear down three A-list celebrities in a single stroke. Cheap bait with excellent returns, apparently — and sure enough, several named malicious commenters gleefully ripped into Yoon Su-heon. Such people paid no mind to landing on the receiving end of lawsuits. They'd been served plenty of times already.

"…What was my father like, all that time?"

Park Hyun-ah froze. It had been nearly three years since Yoon Jay came to Korea. And in all that time, he had never once wondered how his biological father had lived.

"Isn't this just about the first time you've brought him up yourself?"

"I… suppose it is."

"Then how about we all talk together, when the kids come home for Lunar New Year? It'll be good for everyone."

"I'd like that."

Park Hyun-ah was quietly thrilled. Remembering, together, the person they had all loved — now that the children's wounds had healed to the point where remembering no longer meant grieving, having Yoon Jay at that table felt like it would be a wonderful thing.

"By the way, why aren't the kids on yet?"

"They said their stage is the very last of the night."

"Ooh… isn't that a tremendous honor?"

And so, quietly, they welcomed the new year.