Let's Help the Kid Out
"Come on, let's help the kid out."
[Director Lee!]
[Lee Seowon. It's been a while.]
[Why have you been hiding away for so long?]
Lee Youngchang, who had shut himself away citing edits on his next film, had finally emerged to join a gathering after a long absence.
The moment Lee Seowon laid eyes on him, he lit up like a child. It had been The Child that drew him into the film industry in the first place, and even now, his passion for it hadn't cooled one bit.
I really can't keep this up.
Keeping Yoon Jay's identity a secret right in front of someone who adored him this much pricked at his conscience. So he steered the conversation elsewhere.
[So how have things been? I heard you're nurturing a rookie.]
[Ah, well—there wasn't much nurturing to do, honestly.]
Lee Seowon had assumed the kid was a rookie, but he'd turned out to be a finished product. So there wasn't really anything for him to do, though he'd been planning to bring him to one of these gatherings sooner or later. Practically his own discovery, after all—of course he had to show him off.
[A drama, though... Didn't you used to prefer film?]
[I'll be pushing into film as well... For now, well, there are various circumstances.]
He had a good guess that the "circumstances" Lee Seowon spoke of had something to do with Yoon Jay himself.
"Aren't you getting plenty of offers for other projects?"
"I am. It's just..."
In truth, there had been many offers besides the one Lee Seowon proposed. Yoon Jay was a Rising Star at the height of his momentum, and having proven himself with both acting skill and buzz, lead-role offers now came his way without pause. Among them were overtures from high-profile writers and directors as well.
"To be honest, I'm a little scared."
That didn't mean he intended to stop working entirely. He'd already unburdened some of his trauma through a role, after all. Still, the hesitation was real. Yoon Jay pretended to be fine and laughed it off with an empty chuckle.
The cracks in his borrowed mask were widening faster than expected. Alone, he could manage—but film and drama production involved crowds of people, all of them entangled with one another. The fear of causing harm through his own private problems kept making him cautious.
[Is Jay still not awake?]
[Leave him be. He came back from a war zone—his nerves must be wound down.]
[Still, isn't this taking too long? What if something's actually happened and...]
Did he think mistaking Han Jinwoo for an enemy and taking him down was the first time something like that had happened? No—it wasn't.
The home he'd returned to after his discharge. Warm, welcoming parents. Even in a situation where nothing could possibly threaten him anymore, there had been a moment when he perceived his mother, gently trying to wake him from a long sleep, as a threat.
[Jay! Let go of her hand!]
[...Gah!]
By the time he came to his senses, he was gripping his mother's wrist hard enough to leave a bruise, while his father hovered beside them, pleading with his son to wake up. That was the beginning of his years of wandering.
Even now, he couldn't forget the expressions on their faces that day. If he couldn't even recognize his own family, what would happen with strangers? His anxiety seeped visibly to the surface.
"I'll have to choose my next project carefully."
"...If it's you, you'll do just fine."
Lee Youngchang gave Yoon Jay's shoulder a gentle pat. He didn't know the whole of Yoon Jay's life, but anyone who had survived that much was strong enough—stronger than he realized himself. Making him see that, well, that was the role he'd appointed himself to as mentor.
"Jay."
"Yes."
"Back when you were young, you were tangled up in endless rumors and scandals. Would you be all right if that happened again?"
Yoon Jay bit lightly at his lower lip. He himself would be fine—but if the people around him got dragged into it, his chest would ache. The people who cared for him might get hurt.
But there were people at his agency who would go to bat for him over anything concerning Yoon Jay, and whatever anyone said, resolving the problems he carried inside came first—there was no room to spare for anything else.
"I'm all right with that now. All of it."
Lee Youngchang had still been seeing Yoon Jay as a child. But that wouldn't do anymore. It was time to treat him as a grown man, as a full human being.
In that case...
After Yoon Jay had gone home, Lee Youngchang, still lost in thought, picked up his phone.
"Senior. Are you busy?"
(Not at all. Why?)
"Come on, let's help the kid out."
Soldiers K would air as a pilot under the new title Soldiers K: Assembly. Since the original contract had been for release on MyTube, a fresh broadcast contract had to be drawn up from scratch.
Kwak Dohyun, who had seized the opportunity, cooked up the terms in Yoon Jay's favor from every angle, and the new contract came back signed.
"You know how celebrity stalkers are causing a fuss these days? Are your acquaintances doing all right, hyung?"
"Stalkers?"
Yoon Jay's brow furrowed. He knew all too well exactly how vicious a stalker could be.
"What was that one actress's name? Anyway, she filed a police report and it became this whole scandal. But apparently the guy just paid a fine and walked free. Now she's tangled up in lawsuits, back and forth, total mess."
"Really? The law here must be lenient."
"The Managing Director was saying you should be careful too, hyung. I mean, obviously you wouldn't need it, but..."
"No, I should be careful."
He didn't let that conversation slide past him. He'd once, briefly, worked as a bodyguard for Emma Stewart—now a Hollywood superstar, but a nobody back then.
At the time, Emma Stewart had been tormented by a vicious stalker, and while protecting her, Yoon Jay had learned just how ugly and furtive human beings could be.
So now I'm the one being protected, huh.
He was the one who'd caught that stalker, of course. But stalkers were a different breed from terrorists—and just as chilling, all the same.
I hope the kids are all right.
Thinking of stalkers reminded him of the sasaeng fan stories his younger siblings had shared—those had been shocking too. Han Jinwoo read that momentary drift of thought as worry, and made a casual suggestion.
"Or should we start looking into hiring a bodyguard?"
"A bodyguard... Hmm. I'm not exactly that active, though."
"That's just because nothing's been released yet... who knows about later, right?"
For all the weight of the subject, Han Jinwoo said it far too lightly. He had watched with his own two eyes what Yoon Jay had done on Soldiers K. Who on earth would bodyguard him? Was there anyone alive who could?
"Hmm..."
But Yoon Jay gave it serious thought.
Maybe I'll need people to protect others from me...
It should never come to that, but safeguards were best arranged in advance. Yoon Jay's expression turned grave, and Han Jinwoo, gravitating along with it, swallowed hard.
"If we do pick a security firm, should I reach out to Wings first?"
"I'll contact them personally."
"Yes, sir."
The car wore such deep tinting that everyone on the street could tell it belonged to a celebrity—people slowed to gawk at it—and when its occupant finally stepped out, every eye in the vicinity locked onto him.
"Who is that?"
"Yoon Jay."
"No way."
Several people hurriedly raised their phone cameras. His breakout debut in Along Along had won him both a fandom and the general public; this year alone, his special appearance in The Garden of Evil had showcased his acting, and Crown—a mere five episodes—had captured the masses all over again.
The endorsement offers never stopped coming, and even after Kwak Dohyun picked and chose for the sake of image management, plenty of brands remained.
"Hello."
"Mr. Jay! Welcome!"
And so he stayed busy even in what should have been an off-season. Besides, his treatment on set had transformed as well. According to Kwak Dohyun, it was practically A-list treatment—but wasn't that premature? He hadn't shown them anything yet.
"If our new product does well, Mr. Jay, you're becoming our company's lifetime model. Looking forward to working with you."
"Like senior Park Nayoon?"
"Exactly. Though these days she seems more like a CF star than an actress. You won't end up like that, will you?"
"I'm only two years in. I intend to keep acting."
He'd even received an offer to become the face of an entire brand. Having spent another busy day like that, Yoon Jay discovered a missed call on his phone.
What's got her calling?
Before long, he dialed Cho Youkyeong back.
"Auntie, you called earlier."
He'd used a different title, mindful of other people's eyes, and Cho Youkyeong, apparently pleased by it, answered in a brightened voice.
(Jay. Are you free this evening?)
"Haven't you already memorized my whole schedule?"
(I can't win with you, can I.)
Cho Youkyeong carefully suggested he might like to meet some investors. This, from the same woman who had kept a low profile ever since he'd been embroiled in scandal because of her?
What did Director Lee say to her?
That remark earlier, too... Whatever her concerns were, Yoon Jay answered readily.
"What time should I be there, and where?"
And his guess proved correct. The moment she laid eyes on him, Cho Youkyeong came over briskly and said, her face turning serious:
"You asked me before—at the airport—to just watch and see, didn't you?"
"I did."
"Do I have to keep on just watching?"
So she got a hint from Director Lee. He didn't feel bad about it. Cho Youkyeong was someone who knew his past, after all, and she'd come to her realizations late but real all the same.
Why didn't I think of that?
If he worried about harming a production, then he simply had to receive enough backing to offset the harm.
"...Please help me."
"Good. Let's go. There are a lot of people who've been dying to see you."
Where they headed was a restaurant that seemed to have been booked out entirely for the occasion.
"There's no need to be nervous. They're all people who like you."
"Yes."
He wasn't particularly nervous, but he nodded out of courtesy. Chatting with the other actors there, he picked up a thing or two about how these investor relationships worked.
[You mean they make strange demands under the pretext of investment? Well, that may have been the case back in the day...]
[I don't know what rookies these days go through.]
[But you'll be fine, Jay—Vice Chairwoman Cho has you on a tight leash. Haven't you heard? Minjae would tell you the same.]
Dining with investors wasn't exactly a difficult affair.
Actors who could draw investors on their own clout sometimes went golfing with them, or drank with them regularly, building easy rapport through casual conversation. And among the actors who managed their investors that way were plenty of A-listers.
Films run on capital, after all.
Director or actor, what came first were the distributor and the investors. He could certainly lean on Lee Seowon's help if he made a film, but one could never have too many safeguards.
"Hello. I'm Yoon Jay."
"Finally, we get to meet our actor."
"Vice Chairwoman Cho has been singing your praises nonstop—says this one's a diamond she'll polish without a scratch..."
So Cho Youkyeong had been shouldering all his investor relations on her own until now. But still—there were so many people here. Were other actors' investors normally this numerous?
"I had no idea there would be this many of you. I'm a little overwhelmed."
"I came too, you know."
"It's been a while."
Rayna Yang's eyes gleamed as she looked at Yoon Jay. He'd sensed it at the after-party too, but the faces gathered here were dazzling. These weren't mere investors—they were people of tremendous influence.
My eye for talent hasn't failed me yet.
With acting like that, she'd been certain he'd rise someday—but his innate luck was an art form in itself. And that magnetic charm, drawing people in...
Meanwhile, Yoon Jay was deep in conversation with Hong Jiwoong.
"Don't tell me... you're the one who lent us that land back then?"
"Well now. You caught on fast."
"Yes. Thank you for that time. I never expected you'd support a variety show as well."
"I'm personally invested in it. I'm a Marine myself, you know..."
He flattered the notoriously picky Hong Jiwoong without ever once looking servile.
Huh. He's good.
Cho Youkyeong smiled. Yoon Jay managed himself perfectly well, even without her looking out for him.
It really wasn't so hard. To put it simply, Yoon Jay was well accustomed to attracting the attention of 'people above.' In his military days, he'd caught the eye of his superiors as early as Navy SEAL selection, earning an early deployment and rapid promotion.
[A snot-nosed brat like that already deployed overseas?]
[He's not even academy-trained, and they say he hadn't finished his unit courses?]
[What did he do? Does he have connections? Or maybe he lobbied the lieutenant colonel in some other way?]
Because of that, he'd endured contempt and ridicule too vile to repeat. He went through it again transferring to Six Team, and again when he moved to Delta. But in the end, he'd proven himself with skill.
I should use everything I can.
He couldn't stay timid forever.
"So—what do you want to do for your next project? Another drama?"
"I'm thinking it's about time to try my hand at film."
At Yoon Jay's answer, the investors broke into knowing grins. Film was their home turf, after all.
"Try my hand," he says. He's simply returning.
Only Cho Youkyeong, the sole person who knew who Yoon Jay really was, swallowed her laughter.