The Answer Has Been Found
He had found his answer.
“Oh? Jay, what brings you to the office?”
“Came to look over some synopses.”
“You could have had Jin-woo bring them to you.”
“He just sprawls around at home.”
There can't be another actor in this whole agency who shows up to work this faithfully. Kwak Do-hyun narrowed his eyes at Yoon Jay, who was dressed in light running gear.
“Don't tell me you ran all the way here from that distance?”
“I did.”
“Oh... I'll call Jin-woo, so take a car on your way back.”
“I suppose it's serious, then? The stalker.”
“Well... nothing like that, but it's still better to be careful.”
Word had it through the grapevine that the stalker was a newly hired manager, but there was no need to bring that up... Kwak Do-hyun sighed. Why is it that this industry has no sane people in it?
There had been cases where a newly hired manager stole valuables from their celebrity's household, or dug up the celebrity's weaknesses and demanded money.
“Jin-woo's doing all right, I hope?”
“Hmm...”
“What? You think he's got some other agenda?”
“Nothing like that. Jin-woo's a good kid. He works so hard.”
“Is that so?”
If anything, I'm the one who owes Jin-woo an apology. Yoon Jay felt an odd twinge of guilt and busied himself flipping through the scripts. Just then, Lee Seo-won spotted him on his way in and strode over.
“Morning, CEO.”
“How could you go to such an important gathering without me?”
“Good morning, sir.”
“Yes, good morning.”
Having ignored even Kwak Do-hyun's greeting, Lee Seo-won only returned the courtesy once Yoon Jay spoke first. Kwak Do-hyun mouthed silently behind his boss's back. See? Told you he goes crazy over anything involving Jay.
“Did you hear from Vice Chairwoman Cho?”
“I did.”
“I heard you had a scheduling conflict that day.”
If Jay is participating, of course I'd have gone. Lee Seo-won gave an awkward laugh.
“It's not that I don't trust you — it's just that other actors do this much, so I figured...”
“That's true enough...”
It had been largely thanks to Lee Seo-won's efforts that Yoon Jay had been able to step straight into Along Along, last year's most anticipated drama, and reach the airwaves.
So what about the films he handled as his main focus? Surely he could wield even greater influence there.
“I'm not going anywhere.”
“Ah—ahem. I heard you appeared on a variety show. Was the problem resolved?”
Lee Seo-won suddenly found himself embarrassed and coughed for no reason. He was the one people clung to, not the one clinging to someone else.
“I couldn't solve it, but I found the answer.”
“How?”
“Just... I'll have to try.”
“Just like that?”
“Yes. I'd like your help too, sir.”
Lee Seo-won, catching a vague sense of what kind of help Yoon Jay meant, smiled.
“Will you be all right with that?”
“Are you saying you won't help?”
“Of course I'll help. You're my actor.”
Honestly, pushing an actor isn't such a big deal. But it does make me happy that an actor who took everything I gave him and grew so well on his own is now asking for my help.
Come to think of it, does he even understand what he's asking?
Film investment was a tangled business. Having a project you wanted didn't mean you could simply walk into it.
If Yoon Jay's past might disrupt a production, then the answer was to secure an advantageous position on set first.
It meant winning the production company over to his side, casting a relatively weak-willed director, or piggybacking on a major investment and distribution company.
Since the power dynamics on set were settled before production began, someone backed by a first or second investor couldn't be relegated to a simple supporting role — they'd end up more powerful than the lead.
In other words, this was nothing short of a declaration that he wanted to play the lead.
Now this is getting fun — raising him slowly.
Where should I start pushing him? Lee Seo-won sorted through the synopses spread across his desk one by one.
“Forget the rest. Focus on this one.”
“Yes, sir.”
Watching Yoon Jay review the synopsis, Lee Seo-won felt a flicker of familiarity.
Come to think of it... he does remind me of someone.
Crown, the most talked-about drama of the first half of 2023, ended its run with the highest ratings in the network's history.
Yoo Si-hyeon is murdered by an unknown assailant, and Jeong Hwi-yeon only belatedly realizes her feelings for him. So the vengeful Jeong Hwi-yeon, sharpening her blade for revenge, easily lets go of Jang Seong-geon, who is pressing her for a divorce.
[The new chairwoman, Jeong Hwi-yeon, is entering!]
[What?!]
The transformed, vengeful Jeong Hwi-yeon seizes the upper hand over Jang Seong-geon, who holds the directorship. Then, armed with the evidence Yoo Si-hyeon had gathered, she drags him step by step into ruin — and the drama ends with her revenge complete.
And I watched the whole thing for nothing.
Honestly, it wasn't to Lee Da-hyun's taste. She hadn't planned to watch at all, since Yoon Jay left partway through, but her compulsive need to finish anything she started left her no choice.
Though she was Astra's marketing team leader, she was also a personal fan of Yoon Jay — so devoted that she had appointed herself manager of his official fan café.
Did he know this would happen and bow out midway on purpose?
She monitored community after community, gauging the reactions.
The production values had been gorgeous enough to raise expectations, but the plot itself was no different from any other makjang melodrama. So the prevailing verdict was that he'd made a clean exit at exactly the right moment.
Because Yoon Jay had dominated the early episodes and drawn in such a flood of new viewers, he was the one being picked apart and used as ammunition. People were propping him up just to tear down writer Choi Hyeran or the leads, Jang Seong-geon and Im Si-ran.
Well, my actor is a little too good, I suppose.
This wave would pass soon enough anyway. Lee Da-hyun smiled contentedly.
Strange how much his fandom has grown, though.
Did that mean the marketing needed a refresh? She pondered. More fans meant more content to feed them — season's greetings, fan meetings, fan-oriented content would all be worth planning.
In fact, Yoon Jay had generated plenty of buzz-worthy material already.
Before Crown aired, he'd appeared on a promotional variety show with the lead actors, though his screen time had been minimal. The leads' sensitivities had probably been a factor.
Then, the moment Yoon Jay swallowed up all the buzz, they'd scrambled to release behind-the-scenes footage on MyTube, and for The Garden of Evil they'd rushed out additional content as well.
When Lee Da-hyun flipped on the TV, a program doing deep-dive analysis of films and dramas was in full swing. Its guest lineup was glamorous and expert, yet it kept its entertainment value, giving it a devoted following among cinephiles.
(Director Yoo, are there any actors or projects you're looking forward to this year?)
On screen, Director Yoo Seung-jin was a master filmmaker who stood shoulder to shoulder with Lee Young-chang. As if he'd been waiting for just that question, he answered immediately.
(A while back, I watched a Netflix drama, The Garden of Evil.)
(Ah, yes! That was incredible, wasn't it?)
The panel chimed in. Though The Garden of Evil was an OTT release, it had surprisingly wide public recognition, and industry insiders had all made a point of watching it.
(Moon Chang-min's performance was absolutely ferocious, wasn't it?)
(Yes. Though... Moon Chang-min is already a proven actor, so there isn't much for me to say about him.)
(True. Then who has your attention, Director?)
Yoo Seung-jin recalled the scene where Baek Jin-ri first appeared in The Garden of Evil. It was a speech to his followers, but something about his eyes felt deeply wrong from the very first frame — he's no passing side character, Yoo had thought. And he'd been right.
(There was that fellow who played 'Baek Jin-ri,' wasn't there?)
(Yoon Jay?)
(Yes. That young man... I simply couldn't take my eyes off him.)
Yoo Seung-jin's face, polite and monotonous throughout the entire recording, flushed slightly. He had rewatched the confrontation between Baek Jin-ri and Moon Chang-min again and again. How could a human being portray something so viscerally unpleasant?
(Funny — I found myself looking away, actually. Wasn't it disturbing? Not Yoon Jay himself, I mean — his performance as Baek Jin-ri.)
(How does anyone deliver such chilling acting? And they say this was his first project since debut?)
Yoo Seung-jin, who was also friends with Park Hyun-seung, director of The Garden of Evil, nodded.
(Remarkable, isn't he? You forget that handsome face entirely.)
(Especially his eyes... and that wasn't even CGI, was it?)
(Can an actor really act with their pupils?)
Actors who can convey everything through their eyes alone are rare. Rarer still are those who make the audience feel the emotion for themselves. Take, for instance, Yoon Jae-hee of The Child... He turned and glanced at the man beside him.
(If the opportunity arises... I'd love to hear our professor's take on the character of 'Baek Jin-ri.')
(Oh, I have plenty to say about Baek Jin-ri myself.)
Professor Park, the criminal psychologist who had been listening quietly beside him, cleared his throat and composed himself.
(Baek Jin-ri is a textbook psychopath, but... you find that expression tiresome, don't you?)
(I do.)
(Rather than a cult leader — there's something rougher, more violent about him. Less a religious figure, more... a terrorist, perhaps? It's a fascinating ambiguity.)
(Now that you put it that way, I see it.)
With his field of expertise on the table, Professor Park explained with enthusiasm.
(My guess is that the performance was modeled on some real reference.)
(Even with a reference, being able to express it is a separate matter entirely.)
(Exactly, I agree. That's why I'm looking forward to Yoon Jay's full-fledged villain roles. I have a feeling he'll deliver something weighty.)
A deliberately crafted villain performance, hm... that could work too. Should I sound out the director about it? Lee Da-hyun refocused on the TV.
(Any other actors? What about you, writer Park?)
(For me... not anything recent, but I did catch the re-release of The Child... Yoon Jae-hee, as always.)
(There he is again!)
(Every single guest on this program brings him up — Yoon Jae-hee.)
Both the hosts and the production staff belonged to the generation that had lived through the Yoon Jae-hee craze of The Child. Some had chosen theater and film as their major citing his unforgettable performance, or played Yoon Jae-hee's role in school productions. Others had entered the film industry because of The Child itself.
(Come to think of it, the two actors you both mentioned have such similar names, don't they?)
(Turns out they're related, apparently?)
The Child... Lee Da-hyun had watched it too, since her CEO loved it so much.
It really was remarkable.
The fact that Yoon Jay was Yoon Jae-hee was known to no one outside his family, Cho Yoo-kyung, and Lee Young-chang.
Some of his childhood face surely remained — so why did no one recognize him? Because, strictly speaking, Yoon Jae-hee had been a pretty, soft-featured boy — a delicate, pretty-boy type.
Comments often appeared saying that if he'd grown up like that, he could have outshone most idols.
But Jay Jenkins's life had been anything but smooth. In school he'd exercised briefly to build up his frame, and as his baby fat melted away, that soft prettiness gave way to chiseled, sharply defined lines.
He'd enlisted the moment he graduated, shuttling between deployment after deployment, and his whole aura had changed. That was why the gap between him and Yoon Jae-hee was simply too wide to bridge.
Only someone sharp-eyed and perceptive might suspect the two were the same person.
Time to get to work, I suppose. Lee Da-hyun sent out the press releases based on what Kwak Do-hyun had compiled for her.
The higher an actor's standing, the further ahead they lock in their next project, the one after that, even the one after that — and fill their schedule to bursting.
Yoon Jay, too, had decided against rushing into anyone's vacant slot; instead, he would line up his projects in order and commit to filming them one by one.
He was joining a film stacked with A-list stars, and his other projects were steadily being confirmed as well.
“It's still too early to celebrate.”
Lee Da-hyun glanced at the clock and smiled slyly.
Before long, the teaser for Soldiers K: Reunion dropped simultaneously on JBTC and MyTube. The mysterious figure taking on all the former cast members was mosaic-blurred, but hidden throughout were little tells that any fan couldn't help but recognize.
For instance, distinctive features like the scar on his arm were deliberately left unblurred.