Three Former Child Actors
The second part of the broadcast, which aired the following week, was much like the first — more scenes of the three siblings looking so heartwarming together that it brightened anyone's day just to watch.
"There's been some controversy lately, as you know. Were you aware of it, Jay?"
"I was."
"It didn't upset you?"
"I'm fine, but the kids seemed a little hurt by it."
Then the recent hullabaloo made its way onto the airwaves as well.
"A lot of people seem to think that because yours isn't a typical family structure, there must be some ulterior motive behind it."
At last, Yoon Jay's drama-of-a family history came to light. The Jenkins family — different race, no shared blood, and yet unmistakably shaped like an ordinary family. Yoon Jay smiled as he thought of them.
"So I wanted to give it back. The way my father gave it to me."
After the broadcast ended, the Flava members who'd been watching from their dorm sprawled across the sofa.
"...Dohwa, I'm seriously jealous of you."
"He was so cool."
"Our oppa only ever thinks about dragging us off to the army."
He'd already won them over with the tteokbokki, and seeing him look even cooler on the broadcast made it feel all the more special. Yoon Do-hwa cleared her throat with a hm-hm and headed into her own room.
"I want to play games with Jay hyung again."
"And when exactly is that guy supposed to have time for you?"
The Buster members weren't in much of a different situation. Among them, Yoon Do-jun hollered,
"Hey, that's MY brother!"
"Wow, doesn't it cringe you out to say stuff like that?"
"Yeonwoo hyung said the same thing before, so why are you switching sides now?"
"Man, that hyungnim really is the best, though."
With the Yoon Jay and twins special of Manager's Daily Life wrapped up, he'd become a modest trending topic. Plenty of people said they'd become fans after seeing him look after his younger siblings on the variety show, and protect the cast with his extraordinary reflexes.
"Wow, one variety show appearance and he's trending again."
Well, to be fair, the man had become famous off a single photograph even back when he was a civilian... Lee Seo-won turned off the TV.
But an actor has to act. What remained now was his next project — something that could land a follow-up hit after Along Along. Yoon Jay choosing a drama had been a shrewd decision; films took forever to reach the screen.
"These two are what Jay picked?"
"Yes."
Lee Seo-won leafed through the two proposals and synopses Kwak Do-hyun slid across the desk. One was a bit of an ambiguous bet, but the other, if he took it, would guarantee a firestorm of buzz. And knowing that writer's temperament, she wouldn't just let a character like this sit on a shelf...
"Hmm. Scheduled well, he could do both."
"You think that's possible?"
"This one's pre-produced."
Then I'll just have to make it happen. Lee Seo-won's eyes gleamed.
And the day after Manager's Daily Life aired, Yoon Jay made a brief appearance in a drama no one had expected.
Kwon Min-jae. Thirty-two years old. An actor of South Korea.
He had begun his career as an infant who could barely remember any of it — commercials of every kind, kids' modeling gigs. None of it was something he'd chosen to do.
"Yoon Jae-hee? They say that kid's already been to Europe and brought back an award. The youngest ever, a first in history."
"Min-jae. You can do that too, can't you?"
It was his parents' greed.
"I don't want to!"
"I'm not him!"
Back then, with a child's heart, he'd rebelled plenty and resented that boy named Yoon Jae-hee plenty too. I like hanging out with my friends at school, but Mom and Dad keep making me do things I hate.
"You! No dinner when you get home!"
"Ugh, why!"
A twelve-year-old couldn't defy his parents. And so he was dragged from set to set as though hauled along on a leash.
Then, at some point, his perpetually irritated mother changed. It was not long after Yoon Jae-hee brought home a trophy from an international awards ceremony.
"Director! We came to fill in at the last minute!"
"You did? Oh my, ma'am, I'm so sorry for the short notice. We thought Min-jae might suit it better after all."
"Not at all. Thank you so much for calling on us."
Even though her own child had been called in as a last-minute replacement — even though he was being compared to someone else — his mother beamed and bowed with excessive servility. Kwon Min-jae hated seeing her like that.
Why does she act like that?
Hidden behind his mother, Kwon Min-jae gazed at the small figure in the distance, gasping for breath.
"Hah... hah..."
"Jae-hee. It's okay. Mom's right here. Breathe slowly."
Jae-hee?
Could it actually be that Yoon Jae-hee? Kwon Min-jae crept closer to the two of them, little by little. He'd resented the boy plenty in secret, but watching him struggle like that stirred something strange in his chest.
And he's won all those awards, too...
Mom was always comparing him to me... He pursed his lips. Still, he envied a mother like that. Mine barely seems worried even when I'm sick.
He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out his favorite treat — a plum candy. Would the kid be happy if I gave him this? But it was his mother who grabbed his arm.
"Min-jae. You can do it, right?"
Kwon Min-jae knew perfectly well why his mother had been in such a good mood lately. He'd overheard her saying that with Yoon Jae-hee in a slump these days, there was so much more work for her Min-jae.
"...Yes."
If he said he didn't want to, there'd be another scolding waiting for him at home. So he had no choice but to nod.
The candy in his hand never reached that boy.
And so, the more Yoon Jae-hee struggled, the faster Kwon Min-jae was plugged in as a substitute, and his fame grew. Then, when Yoon Jae-hee vanished completely, word spread that Kwon Min-jae was the reliable child actor to hire, and his name recognition climbed steadily.
"Did you see the official notice that went up?"
"Ah, the Yoon Jae-hee Special Act?"
"Mister assistant director, what's that?"
But Kwon Min-jae wasn't happy. None of this had ever been what he wanted in the first place.
So he tried to use the Yoon Jae-hee Special Act to break free of his parents — by running straight off a film set and throwing himself, without a shred of planning, at some lofty big shot.
"Please, somebody save me!"
"What?"
"Hey! Kwon Min-jae!"
The young Lee Seo-won, his trouser leg clamped in a child's grip, stopped the secretary and bodyguards trying to peel the boy off, and tucked the child behind him first.
"Ma'am, let's all calm down for a moment."
"You want ME to calm down...? And who exactly are these people?"
"You're aware the Yoon Jae-hee Special Act went into effect yesterday, I trust?"
When the Special Act took force, the lives of many child actors changed — Kwon Min-jae's among them. Under the guardianship of his grandmother, who stepped forward to protect her struggling grandson, he was able to live free of pressure and in comfort.
But he didn't quit being a child actor. Whether out of lingering attachment, or simply because he hated studying... in any case, the Kwon Min-jae of today had changed a great deal.
He had no particular passion for acting. He didn't even watch films or dramas all that often. He had never seen The Child, the picture the vast majority of the industry worshipped.
He had simply endured to the end, and in enduring had climbed so high that no one was left beside him.
But there was one thing even he couldn't hold at bay — loneliness. There was no friend he could open his heart to. Only rivals, waiting to seize on any weakness and drag him down.
Even when he attended the gatherings people called the Cola Club and made small talk, an inexplicable hollowness remained.
If that kid had kept acting...
Maybe the two of them could have become genuine friends. No — if he hadn't disappeared like that, would I ever have escaped the parents who used me as a money-making tool?
And still, he'd wanted to meet him once. When The Child was re-released, curiosity about the film had driven him to attend the press screening.
What on earth was it about this boy that made Lee Seo-won, Moon Chang-min, and every other heavyweight senior and director sing Yoon Jae-hee's praises so extravagantly?
What — acting like THAT?
And then, Kwon Min-jae saw a new world.
Why was he thinking of the old days all of a sudden? Kwon Min-jae surfaced from his reverie and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Kwon Min-jae."
"Hey there, Da-eun."
"Four years since we were in the same production, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
Though it was probably the person standing in front of him who'd brought all this on.
Baek Da-eun.
She, too, was a former child actor, like Kwon Min-jae — though her case had been a little different. His clueless parents had fallen for an agency CEO's sweet talk and handed everything over to the man, and so from her very debut, Baek Da-eun had been locked tight into a slave contract.
The one who freed her was, once again, the Yoon Jae-hee Special Act.
"Shall we run lines?"
"Min-jae, YOU want to run lines? Did something change in that heart of yours?"
"I guess... ever since I watched The Child, you could say a little passion for acting sprouted."
"The Child this, The Child that — did everyone catch a zombie virus or something? Every time I turn around, it's all anyone talks about."
Baek Da-eun scrunched up her face in exasperation. Unlike Kwon Min-jae, she had loved being in the spotlight from childhood. The dream of becoming a celebrity, an actress, had never been some fleeting childhood fancy.
The two of them had been cast as the leads of Big Company People — a comedy-human drama about new hires discovering the unglamorous reality of a corporation that ran far more sloppily than they'd imagined, and the colorful cast of characters entangled around them.
Coming from a famous director-writer duo, the shoot had drawn attention from long before cameras rolled, and with Kwon Min-jae and Baek Da-eun headlining, overseas distribution rights had already sold — talks of a second season were already flying back and forth.
"Who's the special cameo today?"
"No idea. Some rookie, apparently."
"A rookie? How does a rookie land a cameo?"
"Word is it's someone Seo-won hyung's been nurturing lately."
And the star-studded cameo lineup was fueling expectations. Since Lee Seo-won and his company were producing it, everyone from heavyweight Cola Club members of the film world to famous idols, announcers, and figures from every field were slated to appear.
"That ajussi is raising a rookie?"
"Right? Apparently he's completely obsessed. Keeps going on about how an acting genius has appeared."
"The first time anyone's been praised like that since Yoon Jae-hee."
Baek Da-eun said it with a dry expression.
You promised you'd keep acting...
You just leave me behind and disappear like that? For reasons of her own, she hadn't liked Yoon Jae-hee much.
"Speak of the devil — I think he's headed this way."
"Let's see."
At Kwon Min-jae's tilt of the chin, Baek Da-eun turned — and seeing the man greeting the staff from a distance, her eyes widened slightly.
"...He's handsome."
"Got a crush already?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
In this business, you saw so many pretty faces and handsome ones that they stopped registering. That was why she felt nothing much for Kwon Min-jae beside her — and yet she couldn't take her eyes off Yoon Jay as he drew closer. That face, though, was a little fresh.
"Hello, sunbaenim."
"Yes, hello. Speak comfortably with me — we're the same age."
"I heard the CEO singing your praises plenty already."
"He texted me too. Something about a monster rookie?"
Same sex, same age, and the same industry. Kwon Min-jae's interest was piqued. Besides, Yoon Jay had a strange aura about him — easy, gentle, the kind that made you want to drift closer without meaning to. If Lee Seo-won was going to be hauling him around to gatherings anyway, they'd cross paths at the Cola Club. It couldn't hurt to get friendly in advance.
"It's a shame I'm only here for a cameo. I'd like to talk more."
"I'm sure we'll meet in a project someday."
By the time the two had exchanged numbers and fallen into easy conversation, Baek Da-eun was arching an eyebrow in interest. Was Kwon Min-jae always this easy to get along with? How starved for a same-age friend had he been?
"Sorry, but what did you say your name was?"
Even if Along Along had pulled off a rare 20 percent rating for a drama these days, he was still a rookie with a single credit to his name — there were people in the industry who didn't know him.
At Baek Da-eun's question, Yoon Jay lifted the corner of his mouth into a smile.
"It's Yoon Jay."
"...That name sounds familiar."
"Sorry?"
"Nothing. Nice to meet you."
Watching him nod with composed dignity, she could see another face overlaid on his — a face from the past.
No wonder he felt familiar...
Back in the days before he'd developed his fear of the camera, they had crossed paths on the set of Everything About First Love, before the Cannes announcement — the two of them playing the childhood versions of the leads. He remembered that the kid had been quite the handful back then.
Nice to meet you too.
He greeted her silently, in his heart.