Ripples of a Downfall
"Hey, did you guys hear about Seol Seungjun?"
"Ugh, you walk in and it's this again. That's all I've been hearing for three days straight."
"Come on~. You guys are the only friends I've got, so I've got no one else to talk to. Just bear with it even if you're sick of it."
The bar where celebrities gathered was loud. A star who had just walked in was chattering away, and the gossip filled the private room.
"So why did it suddenly blow up? It's not like Seol Seungjun started doing drugs last week."
"His sponsor went down with him, didn't she? There's nobody left to shield him now, so he's just reaping what he sowed."
"Sponsor? Oh, Park Yehee? What happened to her?"
"No idea. Word is she got shipped off to study abroad somewhere overseas. Study abroad, at her age? Please. Seonghui Group just threw her away."
The chatter filling the room droned on and on. Kim Seokjun, slouched in the corner, shook his head.
"Let's change the subject. I'm sick of Seol Seungjun."
"Didn't he slap you across the face once, Kim Seokjun? Doesn't that feel satisfying now?"
"A slap is nothing. Back when I was a nobody, I went through worse. I forgot about it a long time ago."
Kim Seokjun snorted a laugh and poured liquor into his own glass. The celebrity seated beside him snatched the bottle away, saying he shouldn't pour his own drinks, and filled it for him instead.
I guess I've really climbed up the ladder.
Kim Seokjun thought to himself as he accepted the drink being poured with such careful deference. This was the man whose potential had exploded when he played the adult Prince Yuhyeon in The Butterfly Flower on the Zelkova Tree. Since then, he had landed his first romantic male lead, and the response had been glowing. He'd shot plenty of commercials and made plenty of money.
I was supposed to retire the moment I'd banked this much.
What he'd said just now wasn't bravado. A slap from Seol Seungjun was something he could shrug off with a laugh. In his unknown days, someone at an audition had once bluntly ordered him to take his clothes off; another had leered at his body and made their crude jokes. Each time, he had gritted his teeth and sworn to himself: the moment the money was real, he'd walk out of this industry for good. And yet…
"You seem to really love acting, sir."
"Huh?"
"I said it seems like you really love acting, hyung."
That damned brat.
Kim Seokjun let out a long sigh. He could feel the celebrity next to him carefully reading his mood.
"Hey, what's wrong? Something bothering you?"
"No. Sorry. Let's just drink."
Kim Seokjun did his best to shake off the thought of Lee Yeonjae and raised his glass. But all that effort came to nothing when the "damned brat" became the talk of the table anyway.
"Word is Lee Yeonjae just signed on as the lead of a Nexflix original."
"……"
Kim Seokjun froze.
"What, seriously?"
"So jealous. When do I ever get to be the lead?"
"Well, the kid genuinely can act. I've watched Twins four times."
As the chatter drifted around the room, Kim Seokjun asked quietly, "Which project is it?"
"No idea. Nothing's been released yet. Oh! But apparently he's starring opposite Lee Jeonghyeon."
"Lee Jeonghyeon AND Lee Yeonjae together? Wow. That's a guaranteed hit at the very least."
"Right, so everyone's lining up right now hoping to squeeze in even as an extra."
"Huh. Maybe I should feel out my agency tomorrow too."
Lee Yeonjae and Lee Jeonghyeon. That insufferable, maddening pair again. Squeezing himself into their project would obviously pay less than taking a lead role anywhere else. There was nothing in it for him. And yet… something felt strange.
…I want in.
Kim Seokjun's gaze drifted toward his phone.
It's finished.
Having confirmed every last article about Seol Seungjun, I turned off my phone. Drug offenses in Korea were punishable the moment you were caught merely possessing the substance — and with the evidence photos stacked wall to wall, there wasn't a single crack for him to slip through.
Serves him right. Why did he ever come back to Korea?
He could have stayed in Rome where arrest would've been difficult, but no — he just had to whine at Park Yehee about how suffocated he felt and ask to come home. That one move did him in. Talk about timing working out in my favor.
And with that, Seol Seungjun is truly finished.
As I stretched with a satisfying crack, Team Leader Woo came over.
"Yeonjae, I'll file the final report with the CEO on this, then."
"Yes. Do I not need a separate audition?"
"Audition? Are you kidding me? You're the youngest Best Actor winner in the world—"
"I understand. My mistake."
I shut my mouth immediately under Team Leader Woo's "youngest-in-the-world-something" offensive. There was nothing to say to that.
Team Leader Woo smiled in satisfaction, then tilted her head with a curious look. "You know what's fascinating, though? When we were discussing it among ourselves we did agree this was the strongest option, but I honestly didn't think you'd pick it. It just didn't seem like your taste."
"It's really not my taste."
"Then why this one?"
Because Jeonghyeon-hyung is in it, that's why.
It was too embarrassing to say out loud, so I just smiled.
Killing Horn, now decided as my next project, was a Nexflix original drama. An award-winning director. A seasoned, capable writing staff. Deep pockets. In Team Leader Woo's words, it was a "safe" project that simply could not fail. Jeonghyeon-hyung and I would headline it as a dual lead.
I can't wait to start filming.
Ever since the youngest-Best-Actor title, a trickle of Hollywood scripts had been coming in — though every single one was a stereotype.
A Korean supporting character who's great at math. A quiet foreign exchange student secretly pined after by the school's queen bee. That was the entire menu.
CEO Jang took the fact that Hollywood had reached out first as a positive sign, but insisted our next project needed to target both the international and domestic markets. Under that criteria, Team 1 held meeting after meeting and narrowed down the candidates, and from that shortlist I picked the one Jeonghyeon-hyung had already committed to.
It does feel like I'm indulging myself a little too much…
Acting was fun no matter the role, so honestly, any project would've been fine. It was a job I was being paid for, after all — sneaking in personal favoritism just felt a bit guilty. But every road leads to Seoul, as they say, and the experts ranked this script their top recommendation anyway, so it shouldn't matter.
And that faint sliver of guilt melted away the instant I saw how deliriously happy Jeonghyeon-hyung was.
"This is insane! I get to film with Yeonjae!"
"Ow. That hurts."
"Sorry. I can't control my strength. What can I do, I'm just so happy!"
Jeonghyeon-hyung was really, really happy. He got so worked up that Jinbae-hyung had to step in and calm him down midway. Watching a 192cm man get hoisted clean off the ground, he looked absurdly small. How was that even cute.
"Hyung, calm down."
"You're telling me you're not excited to work with me?! Why are you so calm!"
No, hyung — you're the reason I picked this in the first place.
I couldn't lay my heart out on the table and show him that, so all I felt was frustrated. Only after Jinbae-hyung and I took turns soothing him into some measure of calm could we finally hold something resembling a conversation.
"You're enrolling at the same action school as me, right? Then couldn't you stay here for a while? We could commute together — it'd be so convenient."
"If Jinbae-hyung is okay with it, I'd love that."
"I'm obviously fine with it!"
Jinbae-hyung's eyes lit up with what looked like genuine delight. I studied him carefully, wondering if he might be swallowing some reluctance, but he truly seemed satisfied. Apparently his parents had been busy with work since he was little, and as the youngest with a much older sister, he'd grown up alone a lot. Hearing that he actually liked a house full of people was a relief.
And so, on the day Jeonghyeon-hyung arrived lugging armful after armful of luggage to live with us for the foreseeable future, I invited this guy over too.
"A big house really does make even a crowd feel comfortable."
Noh Bihyuk muttered as he looked around the guest room that had become Jeonghyeon-hyung's room.
It's just me, Jinbae-hyung, and Jeonghyeon-hyung. Three people, that's all it's ever been.
Compared to the crowded orphanage, there were so few of us that his words struck me as strangely hollow. But then I noticed Bihyuk's expression had turned oddly dark as he surveyed the room, and before I knew it, the words slipped out.
"Then move in too."
"Huh?"
"One more person and this place would still feel spacious."
"…Are you serious?"
On his dazed face, I simply shrugged. I'd expected him to laugh it off, but to my surprise he agonized over it for a long moment before slowly shaking his head.
"Haah… I can't."
"Why? Your parents?"
"No. It'd take them a month to even notice if I ran away. It's just — I've got the dorm training coming up, remember?"
Tension crept into Noh Bihyuk's face.
"I heard the debut lineup's getting decided soon."
"Already?"
"Yeah. I mean, I'm only in my second year of middle school, so it's not like I have to debut this time… but if I miss this window, I get pushed back three years. And who knows what things will look like then."
His voice had gone uneasy, like a man about to walk into an audition at any moment. It wasn't like him at all, and wondering what was wrong, I gave his back a light pat.
"Then you become the kid who debuts three years later."
"……"
"Don't worry so much. Come on, let's go lie down in my room for a bit. I'm tired."
"You haven't done anything all day — why are you always tired? That's a lack of exercise, that is."
"Spare me the nagging, Bihyuk."
Typical. One little pep talk and he bounced right back — it was almost infuriating. Then again, that was exactly what made him who he was.
We went into my room and I flopped onto the bed, and he plopped down beside it.
"I watched Twins again yesterday. You were seriously good."
"Thanks."
"I still can't get that last scene out of my head. I'm going back to see it once more this weekend. So how did it feel when Lee Jinwoo got strangled? No wait — Kang Taeil—"
Noh Bihyuk was a chatterbox. I watched him ramble on, face lit up with excitement, and then asked, "Bihyuk."
"Hm?"
"So would you really keep hanging out with me even if I was no use to you at all?"
"……"
He fell silent. Then he raised his hand.
"Hey—!"
Thwack! He'd knuckled me square on the forehead, and I could only gape at him in disbelief.
"…?? Why'd you hit me?"
"Because I'm a person too, you know? Hearing you talk like that over and over hurts my feelings."
Why would it hurt? No, wait — even if it did hurt…
Just say it out loud, idiot.
I was speechless.