That's Why I Found Him
Being a road manager was, in fact, remarkably similar to the work I used to do with Mr. Jubong.
It was the role of an escort secretary, essentially. You drove. You waited. Then you moved the person you were assisting on to their next destination.
"Why don't you come into the set and take a look? It's pretty interesting."
The ghost, seated in the empty passenger seat, had spoken up, so I glanced at the rearview mirror.
Darkness had settled over the road. The heavy window tint left the interior dim, revealed only in flickers by the streetlights sliding past — but I could still make out Ha Eun-yul's expressionless face. She'd been on her phone the entire time.
Ha Eun-yul... Ha Eun-yul... twenty-three years old... She'd played high school students more than once, and had only recently begun to make a name for herself as an actress.
Honestly, I still didn't have a precise read on what kind of person she was. As an aide, the first priority was always to understand the person you served more accurately and in more detail than they understood themselves.
But I hadn't chosen her. She'd been assigned to me — and abruptly, at that, as of today. I hadn't had time to get a proper grasp of her yet.
In the meantime, the car had already pulled into the apartment parking garage.
"We've arrived."
I looked at Ha Eun-yul through the rearview mirror, and a flicker of puzzlement crossed her face. So I asked,
"Shall I walk you to the front entrance?"
The question was for Ha Eun-yul, but —
"If there's a lot of luggage, we do that sometimes. But Yujeong's here, and you're a manager she just met today — we don't usually go that far. Hehe."
The ghost answered for her.
Ha Eun-yul answered anyway.
"Let's go, Unnie."
Once again, she was looking at me while speaking to someone else.
Just as she'd said, Lee Yujeong got out of the car with her. I put a few questions to the ghost.
"Does the stylist, Lee Yujeong, live with Actress Ha Eun-yul?"
"I wouldn't know? That's not how it usually works. Though if Yujeong's been assigned to Eun-yul exclusively, maybe. She might be living with her to take care of her. Ah — it's not because it's a sweatshop company or anything. It would've been good for Yujeong too, so she would've agreed. Burning through rent living alone versus living with someone you're close to — that's an easy choice."
Not certain, then. But the odds they were staying together were high. It could also just be for a few days.
"It'd be nice if you could just drive the car around from now on, right? Then you could drop Eun-yul off and go straight home."
"That would be nice, yes."
"Once you've spent a few months together and built up some trust, you'll be able to. Hang in there."
I started to pull out to return the car to the company, then stopped and looked at the seat beside me.
"...Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because I have every reason to."
"Hnnngh..."
"Thanks to a certain someone, I got the job — and got branded as a gaming addict in the process. I'm not sure a few months is going to be enough to build any trust."
The ghost, who'd been avoiding my eyes, put on that good-natured smile of his again.
"Don't live clinging to the past, Jaewook."
"......"
Enough. What was the point of complaining to a ghost? I hadn't found a better alternative, so that was on me. I'd just return the car and get on with my work.
"He's gone."
Ha Eun-yul, looking down at the apartment grounds through the veranda, said it quietly.
"Get in here. Don't just stand on the veranda looking creepy."
At Lee Yujeong's words, Ha Eun-yul broke into a small smile.
"Why? Afraid I'll fall?"
"Don't even joke about that."
At Yujeong's scolding, Ha Eun-yul came over and sat down.
"Unnie."
"What?"
"Can't you just be my manager?"
"I don't have a license."
Yujeong's deadpan reply must have tickled something in her, because Ha Eun-yul burst into a giggle.
"What's your excuse? You still haven't gotten a license? So if you get one, you'll be my manager?"
"Can't. Being a manager is hard."
"Right. Being a manager is hard."
Ha Eun-yul smiled in a strange way and picked up the water bottle in front of her, bringing it to her mouth.
"Put a straw in it. If it becomes a habit, you'll do it on set too."
"What's wrong with drinking it like this?"
"It looks unsightly. An actress can't look unsightly."
"So that means I don't look unsightly yet?"
At Ha Eun-yul's faintly gloomy words, a shadow settled over Lee Yujeong's face — which until then had been indifferent through and through.
Why did you even come into this industry... Eun-yul.
She already knew the answer. Pretty things, as a rule, were never left alone by the people around them.
Six years ago, it had been the same.
Director Kim Taewoo had always been the company's atmosphere-maker, but even he wasn't the type to make that much of a fuss. That day, though, whatever had gotten into him, you'd have thought his feet were halfway off the ground.
"JACKPOOOOT! I found a real diamond in the rough!"
"For Choi Chil-goo and Shin Chaeyoon. And for Kim Taewoo... ta-da...!"
From behind the fussing Director Kim Taewoo, a girl in a school uniform peeked out shyly.
Lee Yujeong knew it then. Yeah. That was a gemstone, all right. If even Yujeong — a stylist — could see it, how stunning must she have been?
Of course, comparing her to Shin Chaeyoon, who was already dazzling, would have been a stretch.
"Hey, Kim Taewoo."
"Oh... noona? You were here? What brings you?"
"What brings me, huh. Say that again. Who's for Kim Taewoo?"
Director Kim Taewoo looked fairly flustered, but everyone in the office burst out laughing. They all knew a few words weren't going to shake whatever existed between Kim Taewoo and Shin Chaeyoon. And Shin Chaeyoon wasn't the type to get jealous or territorial anyway.
"What? For Kim Taewoo, ta-da? Listen to this guy. 'Ta-da.'"
Everyone was laughing — everyone except the girl, who was the only one tense. Shin Chaeyoon turned to her and said,
"Do your best. If anyone gives you a hard time while you're acting, you can drop unnie's name."
Lee Yujeong, who'd been lost in thought, asked quite directly. Like this.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"The ones that aren't real always sink below the surface. Don't worry."
"I'm really fine. I'm not worried."
At Ha Eun-yul's answer, Lee Yujeong picked up the remote and turned on the TV.
Twenty-three wasn't young enough to call her a child. But it wasn't quite old enough to call her an adult, either.
Twenty-three is still a kid... She's just bigger on the outside. Inside, she's still...
Lee Yujeong wrapped her arms around her knees and watched Ha Eun-yul staring at the TV, her eyes full of pity.
Ever since the umbrella that had kept the storm off her had collapsed, the kid kept getting soaked. And so the words she'd only meant to repeat to herself slipped out.
"Keep doing what you're doing. Don't let it show — that you're an easy person."
"I'm doing a good job. I'm an actress."
"A good job, my ass. I told you so many times not to let it show. Look at that Moon Cheol-sik guy. The moment he thought you'd gotten a little close and figured out you were a pushover, he started in with 'mind if I stop by for a bit?' and 'can you do this for me?' ... Ugh. That's how the whole mess started."
At Lee Yujeong's words, Ha Eun-yul lowered her head.
"I miss Tae-woo oppa."
"Director Kim is gone now. I've told you this over and over — you have to stand on your own. This place is crawling with people who'll stab you in the back the second you lean on them."
That was the conclusion Lee Yujeong had reached after a long time in the industry. And it wasn't a wrong one. Of course, if you met genuinely good people — the kind who became a sturdy umbrella for you — then sure, you could turn your back, lean on them, even act spoiled.
But Ha Eun-yul didn't have that anymore. She had to endure it alone.
"That guy today is probably the same, right?"
"That guy? The new manager from earlier — Lee Jaewook, or whatever?"
"Yeah."
"Of course. Manager? Sounds nice. But think about it. Who's actually born to take care of other people? When it really matters, they look out for themselves first."
"He seemed a little different, though... He didn't really ask anything... wasn't curious... and he didn't overdo it, either..."
Lee Yujeong cut her off clean.
"In this business, those are the ones you have to watch out for the most — the ones who just look put-together."
I returned the car to the company and took a taxi to the location Detective Park Daesu had pinned for me.
"What's with the look? I'd walk right past you on the street without recognizing you."
A man in his mid-forties grinned in front of a convenience store and stubbed out the cigarette he'd been smoking.
"You're looking better, Detective."
"I keep telling you I'm not a detective anymore, and you still call me that."
Instead of a handshake, Detective Park Daesu pulled me into a light hug.
"What are you doing? This is uncomfortable."
"I'm just happy to see you."
"...You smell like cigarettes."
"You really never change, do you."
Even as I pushed him off, Detective Park Daesu laughed good-naturedly — huh huh — and pointed a finger upward.
"This is it."
I followed his gaze up, and a sign came into view.
COMMAND PC CAFE
"Going into hiding at a PC cafe. It's like a formula at this point."
At that, Detective Park Daesu smiled in a rather grim way.
"Guys who do something dirty and run all do the same thing."
"Hide. Check the news."
"Right. If you want to do both, it's either a motel or a PC cafe."
"Shall we go up?"
"Yes."
Detective Park Daesu went up first. I was about to follow when the ghost asked,
"Who are you here to find?"
Detective Park Daesu, climbing the stairs, paused and looked back, so I waved him on ahead.
And then —
"Ha Eun-yul's previous manager."
"Ah... wait? They said even the company couldn't find him?"
He was asking the obvious.
"How? No, wait — what are you going to do once you catch him yourself?"
"Assault. Extortion, intimidation. And... extracting a confession?"
At that, the ghost flinched and took a few steps back.
"...Did you do things like this back when you were an aide, too...?"
"What, did you think I came here to do a handover?"
I needled him one more time and took the stairs two at a time. The ghost looked thoroughly rattled.
I climbed the rest of the way, pushed open the glass door of the PC cafe, and found Detective Park Daesu already standing there with a bright smile, his hand on the shoulder of the man I'd only seen in photographs.
"Say hello."
"Huh?"
"Hey. I told you to answer when your hyung talks to you."
Smack.
Detective Park Daesu gave Moon Cheol-sik a light tap on the back of the head, and Moon Cheol-sik bowed toward me with a dazed look on his face.
"Ah, hello..."
Detective Park Daesu was genuinely good at this. It felt like putting the right man in the right place.
Then, from behind me, the ghost shouted in a rather agitated voice.
"Ask him who put him up to it, hurry! No, wait — ask him why he did it in the first place!"
A minute ago he'd been asking what I wanted to catch him for, and now he was the most worked up of anyone.
Even so, I did it my way. I opened my mouth with a fairly calm expression.
"I told you to ask who put him up to it — what's that even supposed to mean?"
As long as the person who needed to understand it, understood it.
At my first question, Moon Cheol-sik's face crumpled all at once.