Irreplaceable
“Before that, can I ask you just one thing?”
“When have I ever said no to you? What is it?”
“What criteria do you use when you cast an actor, Director?”
Yoon Kang-yeon wrinkled his nose, apparently finding the question to have come completely out of left field.
“Well… I've only ever had one. Can this actor bring to life a character I've created?”
“Anything besides that?”
“Not a thing. I couldn't care less.”
Not a thing?
I fired back a follow-up at the unexpected answer.
“What about the actor's reputation, or their moral character?”
“Nope. Why would it matter how that actor lives their day-to-day life? All that ends up inside my lens is the character anyway.”
Director Yoon smiled brightly.
It was the smile of a child. And at the same time, the smile of a devil.
“Whether that actor killed someone or committed a crime, I don't give a damn. All I need is for them to embody my character perfectly.”
“……”
“I mean, that's just my thinking. Investors see it differently.”
“Because audiences wouldn't like it?”
“Exactly. There's the possibility of boycotts too, so they usually try to talk me into cutting the actor.”
“And if you still had to use that actor anyway — would there be any reason for that?”
“I said one question.”
“If you answer this one too, I'll really tell you.”
“Tch. Greedy little thing.”
Director Yoon turned his gaze back to the ceiling and only spoke again after a long while.
The answer that slipped out was simple.
“There's exactly one case. An irreplaceable actor.”
“……An irreplaceable actor.”
“Yeah. If the shoot is impossible without that actor, then no matter what problems come trailing after them, you just have to push through.”
It was a remarkably simple answer.
And at the same time, it held the solution to the very thing I'd been agonizing over all this time.
Was Seol Seungjun an irreplaceable actor?
'No.'
He wasn't, not by that standard. Of course, to other people he might be.
But that was none of my concern.
The moment my deliberation ended, I put it straight into action.
I checked the three-digit number on my phone screen and pressed the call button.
“Yes. This is the 112 emergency line.”
Ahh, that felt refreshing.
Having cleanly taken care of everything I'd planned, I made my way back to the workshop.
When I opened the door and stepped inside, Director Yoon, sprawled across the sofa, asked, “You just up and left — where did you go?”
“The convenience store.”
“Tell me if you need anything. What'd you buy?”
“Nothing.”
At the look on his face that plainly asked then why on earth did you go to a convenience store, I smiled faintly.
“I went to report something to the police.”
“What?”
“Actor Seol Seungjun is gathered with a bunch of people having a drug party right now. If I hadn't made the excuse that I had a prior appointment with you, I probably would've been dragged along too. He texted me to come over as soon as I was done talking with you, so I borrowed the convenience store owner's phone and reported it anonymously.”
“……”
I grinned at the dumbfounded face staring back at me. Ah, refreshing.
Director Yoon, mouth hanging open in a daze, stammered for a moment.
“Wait — what — hold on. Did you think through the consequences before you pulled this stunt?”
“Of course.”
“I told you not to get tangled up with Seol Seungjun — who told you to touch him? Do you have any idea who's standing behind that guy?”
“Yes. I do.”
The other man's face was plastered with the words how the hell do YOU know that.
Since I didn't feel the need to explain that far, I simply shrugged.
“No, wait — then do it yourself! Why are you telling me about it!”
“That's why I warned you. That it might end up becoming your problem too.”
“……”
Director Yoon rubbed his forehead like he was developing a headache.
“Yeonjae. Listen. You just… you made a mistake. You think it ends with reporting it to the police? The cops in that neighborhood already know what goes on there, anyway. It's a fixed game of go-stop — everyone's in on it.”
“Probably.”
“Why are you answering so calmly? This is driving me crazy. Am I the crazy one right now? Where's your manager? Go bring him here.”
Jinbae had dropped me off at Director Yoon's workshop and gone home. When I told him I wanted to talk with the Director alone, he pressed his fingerprint stamp down three times — call me the moment you want to come home — before finally leaving.
“I'll call when I head home later. You said taxis are dangerous, after all.”
“Right, taxis are dangerous… No, forget the taxi — you're the dangerous one right now!”
Director Yoon slammed a fist against his own chest in frustration.
“Kid. You think Seol Seungjun is the only celebrity doing drugs? They're all connected to each other — what were you thinking? No — why? Why would you do this?”
“I told you. Even if he slides through today somehow, it's only a matter of time before he gets hauled in. And I can't keep using you as my excuse every single time.”
“……Haah.”
Director Yoon's mouth opened and shut, utterly flabbergasted, and then he simply lost his words.
After a long stretch of silence, he asked quietly, “Well — at least borrowing someone else's phone was smart. That was about tracing the caller, right?”
“Yes. Though honestly, it won't amount to much. If they ask the phone's owner, he'll just say a customer borrowed it. And if they pull the convenience store CCTV from that time, I'll show up. Even with a hat and a mask on, anyone who knows me would recognize me instantly.”
Above all, the police had shown up at that location the very same day Seol Seungjun texted me the address.
Even a fool would have read a signal that blatant.
But it wouldn't matter even if Seol Seungjun figured out that I was the one who made the call.
By tomorrow, he wouldn't have the presence of mind to spare me a single thought.
As I calmly sorted through the list of things that needed doing in my head, Director Yoon waved his hands as if shooing away a fly.
“I don't know. I don't wanna know. You are genuinely strange. Huh? Really, truly strange.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn't a compliment! Ah, you're giving me a headache.”
“Then I'll get going. Thank you for making time for me today.”
The moment I stood up without a trace of regret, an incredulous look came back at me.
Wondering if he wanted me to stay, I sat back down on the sofa — and Director Yoon exploded.
“GO! Go already!”
“Yes, sir. Take care.”
I rose obediently once more and contacted Jinbae.
When the text arrived saying he'd arrived downstairs, I was slipping on my shoes when I sensed movement behind me.
“Yeonjae. Let me ask you one thing.”
“Yes?”
“Can you really handle this?”
The anxiety lacing his voice sounded, today of all days, heartbreaking.
Which meant the scale of what I'd set in motion was anything but light.
But my own heart wasn't light either. This wasn't something I'd stirred up unprepared.
I answered with a quiet smile.
“Even if I can't handle it, I have to.”
It was a choice I'd made with my own two hands — far too late for complaints now.
“F***ing bastard, not answering his phone….”
Seol Seungjun dialed the same number with enough force to snap the phone in half.
But all he got was the automated notice that the phone was powered off — for the fifteenth time already.
“Ah, seriously — how the hell do I kill this little punk?”
He could feel his rage corroding his reason.
His mood made him want to deck the next stranger who walked past, but he gritted his teeth and simply glared death at the saved name on the phone screen.
[Lee Yeonjae]
Something about the kid had rubbed him wrong from the very first meeting.
He clearly wasn't Seol Seungjun's type of person, so he'd only planned to toy with him a few times and be done with it.
'If he's going to come at me this shamelessly, then I'm not holding back either.'
It had still been fine when Lee Yeonjae first contacted him, apologizing profusely and claiming he had a prior engagement with Director Yoon Kang-yeon.
There was plenty of time, after all. He couldn't very well postpone a party he'd already arranged just because one kid was running late.
So he'd simply gathered with his usual crowd and enjoyed himself as always.
Then the doorbell rang — the one sound that must never, ever ring — and when he answered, there stood a police officer.
Fortunately, it was a cop friendly with Seol Seungjun's crowd, and even he wore a troubled expression as he gave nothing more than a light warning and left.
The officer said he would try to keep things contained within his own reach as much as possible, but that since a report had come in, he'd have to file the paperwork.
In other words: the gathering spot had to change.
Irritation surged at having to abandon a location that had been set up perfectly.
'What am I supposed to tell the kids?'
As his juniors raged about the bolt from the blue, he couldn't bring himself to admit that the kid he'd invited today was probably the one who'd reported them.
When the officer offered to look into tracing the reporting party, he told him to sit tight for now and sent him on his way.
And then, after vaguely wrapping up the gathering, he spent the entire ride home calling Lee Yeonjae over and over.
'So that photo really was from Lee Yeonjae, then.'
Word was that the reporting party had told the police, in no uncertain terms, that a group of people was gathered doing drugs.
How had that little bastard known he was on pills?
Heat shot up to the crown of his head and he seethed, boiling over — but after a few hours, he cooled down.
'He's just a kid, after all.'
Second year of middle school, was it? A face still brimming with baby fat.
Some of the crowd at today's party were the same age as Lee Yeonjae, so he knew it all too well.
What could a kid that age possibly do?
No matter that he was a Wooyeon Entertainment actor — he didn't have a 'backer' as solid as Seol Seungjun's own.
It did nag at him how the kid had gotten that photo in the first place, but his drug-soaked brain quickly twisted it optimistic.
'Whatever. First thing tomorrow, I drag Lee Yeonjae in front of me.'
Remembering how he'd been tied in knots by a threatening photo sent by a middle schooler was laughable.
To be outplayed by a clumsy little kid whose best move was calling the police.
He planned to repay that humiliation twofold.
Picturing Lee Yeonjae's terrified face as he groveled and apologized made the corners of his mouth curl into a smirk.
'I'll think it over after some sleep. Tomorrow I'll crush him.'
Having finished a refreshing shower, Seol Seungjun closed his eyes just like that.
And the next day, a phone screen crammed with missed calls greeted him.
“…?”
What is this.
Still unable to grasp the situation, Seol Seungjun stared blankly at the phone.
The long list of missed calls had all been left by a single person.
By someone whose behavior couldn't have been less suited to such a thing.
'Why would this person….'
Why had they called me this many times?
Just then, the phone in his hand vibrated.
[Noona]
A short saved name, without even a proper title, flashed across the screen.
The same number as the one filling his missed call log. He felt it in his gut.
'F—. It's over.'
A head stuffed full of Lee Yeonjae went white in an instant.
Bzzz—
With every vibration of the phone, the dread bloomed larger.
'Answer it. First things first.'
This was someone he must never keep waiting.
Hiding his confusion, he dredged up the warmest voice he could manage.
“Noona, what a surprise! Why so many calls? I missed you like crazy—”
“Come down to the parking garage. I'm waiting downstairs.”
“……Sorry?”
The only thing that escaped him at that icy voice — one he had never once heard from her — was a idiotic non-answer.
Paying him no mind whatsoever, she gave the order.
“Right now. Crawl down here if you have to.”
“So Seol Seungjun-ssi really dropped out of the drama? Without even an explanation?”
“Yeah. All that showed up was the contract termination paperwork… So my uncle— no, sorry, the PD went straight to his agency in person, but apparently they're in chaos over there too. They say nobody on their end can reach him either.”
Seong Ijun's voice on the other end of the line looked — sounded — remarkably unsteady.
Naturally so, with a fellow lead suddenly dropping out of the production.
Feeling that I bore some share of the responsibility, I soothed him calmly.
“Don't worry too much, hyung. It's not a common situation, a lead actor dropping out mid-production, but there are plenty of other talented actors out there.”
“Yeah. I guess so….”
“Besides, with how many times Seol Seungjun-ssi no-showed, you barely have any footage banked anyway, right? Once they recast, you can just shoot harder. It'll be fine.”
“Thanks, Yeonjae…. Hearing your voice is calming me down.”
A few minutes later, Seong Ijun returned to the composed tone I knew well.
“Seol Seungjun-ssi…. Why on earth would he do something like this? Acting like that, there's no way it stays out of the news.”
“I know, right.”
“He's not in some dangerous situation, is he?”
No. Seol Seungjun was alive and perfectly well at this very moment.
I had confirmed it with my own eyes through Angae — he was at an overseas villa, together with his girlfriend.
'Well, if we're judging by whether he's "safe"….'
Everyone's definition of safety was different, wasn't it?
By my standards, Seol Seungjun was safe.
For reference, my standard was: all four limbs intact.
'That much should be enough.'