We've Never Dated
Even when I worked for Assemblyman Choi Giseok, day and night used to trade places now and then. It was never like this.
A week after that conversation with the Ghost. The sun hung high overhead.
I pulled the newly installed blackout curtains all the way shut and lay down on the bed.
A manager's body clock takes a harder beating than an aide's ever did. Back then, pulling all-nighters was something you did around a particular stretch or a particular issue. As a manager, once an actor's shooting schedule starts clustering at night, day and night literally reverse.
So when the hours flip like this, the smart move is to sleep as much as you can during the day.
It's different from Melancholy Romance, too. She's the lead now, so the night shoots don't wrap in a day or two.
Sleep wouldn't come right away, but I closed my eyes anyway...
[...I liked her.]
"......"
Click—
I sat up and switched on the sleep lamp. In its faint glow, a male ghost looking down at me... I'd seen this picture enough times to be used to it. That didn't make it pleasant.
A full week of silence, and the answer he finally comes out with is that he liked her... I'm certain, of course, that he's not talking about liking me.
It's not an emotional issue. It's the context.
"I already knew. That you two dated, too. So when I asked at the company, it wasn't a question. It was confirmation."
[How? That was a secret only the two of us knew...]
I took a light breath and spoke.
"It'd be weirder if I didn't know. Every time Im Jinseo's name comes up, your pattern changes. You said you'd never dated, then spent a whole week not coming near me — just hovering around the edges. Not a word. You've never done that before."
[...I see.]
It's a very, very simple story. A pattern that breaks from the usual. A negative reaction. A takedown of someone that doesn't sound like the Ghost at all.
A man who, even as a ghost, still thought about his company and his actors. Would he really tear down a particular actress that harshly just because she left the company?
There was something more than that. That's why the criticism cut so deep.
A kind of... emotional action and reaction.
Even so, I put a rational assessment in my mouth instead of an emotional one.
"You met, you broke up. I don't care. What matters to me is that a quality asset named Im Jinseo wants to come onto the market. Do you know the hardest part of bringing someone in?"
[...A little.]
The Ghost and I. Aide or manager — the purpose and direction of the work is similar.
Making someone look like a better person to other people. Raising a person's value. In the end the work is similar enough that the Ghost caught the answer without much trouble.
"Since you know, I'll keep it simple. The hardest part is making them want it. Making them feel like they want to."
[Yes...]
Listening to his answer, I got out of bed and walked into the living room. I could stress the reason I focused on Im Jinseo a third time and it still wouldn't be enough.
An actress of that caliber is what we need. But that's our need — not the actress's.
And in that situation, Im Jinseo — who, according to the Ghost, isn't the type to just pick up the phone — sent Director Choi Yoona a congratulatory message?
Then wanting her is the normal response. Taking an interest, wondering what's going on — that's only natural.
I glanced sideways to confirm the Ghost was quietly following, then continued.
"From a business standpoint, Im Jinseo is a quality asset. An excellent one."
[...I know. She's a good... actress. She just wasn't a good woman.]
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that last part. Right now, Nine Entertainment needs a good actress who can bring in immediate revenue. And an actress like that doesn't come to Nine Entertainment under normal circumstances."
I picked up one of the two document envelopes sitting on the dining table and checked the contents.
The Ghost had been avoiding me all week, so investigating Im Jinseo hadn't been difficult. Even with him around it wouldn't have been a problem — I just didn't particularly want to do it that way.
Of course, I'd only investigated a portion of it myself. Most of the information had come from Detective Park Daesu.
Anyway, the fact that I'm even considering the Ghost's feelings means I'm picking up a little of this ghost who's more human than most humans.
The old me would've reached a conclusion fast, without caring about any of that.
I pulled out the documents and started spreading them across the table.
[...What's this?]
"Actress Im Jinseo's current situation."
The Ghost slowly read the text on each sheet I'd laid out for him to see. A few photographs, too.
This is the blue pill.
Near actress Im Jinseo's house.
Detective Park Daesu pressed the shutter on a camera fitted with a massive lens and reviewed the shots. It was a long way off, but a camera that expensive delivers on the investment.
"Good... good... that one's a miss... this one's good too."
For two days of shooting, he'd gotten as many photos as he needed. Im Jinseo wasn't working, but she moved around outside more than you'd expect — which was why.
"Her sister's place, her own place... and then the agency again. Why's she running around this much?"
That was why Park Daesu muttered it. Regular people go to work, come home, meet people. That's normal.
Celebrities are a little different. He hadn't investigated that many of them, but he hadn't never investigated them either. Back on the force, he'd tailed an actor suspected of drug use. He'd also followed a few celebrity colleagues to check for signs of homicide on a case that was ruled a suicide. So he knew.
They didn't tend to move around enough to stand out.
Im Jinseo, by contrast, moved around far too much. It could just be a small sample — it was only two days, after all.
The man and woman in Detective Park Daesu's photographs. One was Im Jinseo. The other was the agency's CEO.
This was similar, too. Only two days, but they were definitely seeing each other a lot.
And...
"No matter how you look at it, there's something going on here, right?"
They didn't look like a typical agency CEO and actress. Even in just two days... it was clear.
The man and woman in the photos were mostly angry at each other. In the shots taken through the agency window. In front of the parking lot at Travel Entertainment, Im Jinseo's current agency. Even right now.
Detective Park Daesu started to raise the camera toward the man and woman far off beyond his windshield, then stopped. He'd already captured plenty of similar shots.
I'd need audio to be sure.
Honestly. Anyone can take photos if they know how to position themselves and work a camera. Getting audio is something not just anyone can do. And it takes a lot of prep.
"Whoa...!"
Im Jinseo's hand struck the agency CEO across the face. Regretting that he'd already put the camera down and missed the shot, Park Daesu turned the car around.
"Without audio, I can't tell why they're fighting. Can't get to the heart of it..."
Two days after episode 2 of You Are My Straw aired. Around lunchtime.
The CEO's office at Travel Entertainment.
Im Jinseo sat with her legs crossed and her arms folded, staring at the CEO. The first to speak was Jung Joon-min, the agency's head.
"Jinseo."
"Don't call me by my name. Are we close?"
Jung Joon-min, CEO of Travel Entertainment, shook his head at her words.
"Hah... Jinseo."
"I said don't call me by my name. Is your head empty? Or are you already going deaf?"
CEO Jung Joon-min tore open the wooden chopsticks in front of him and set them down in front of Im Jinseo's lunchbox, handle toward her so she'd have an easy grip.
"Eat first."
"I told you I don't want to eat with you."
"Eat anyway."
"You go stuff your face."
Im Jinseo let the words fly without hesitation — words you'd never expect from the mouth of an elegant actress. CEO Jung Joon-min forced himself to pick up a piece of sushi, then set the chopsticks back down.
"Just shoot the next project I picked for you. An actress's prime is short. Don't get it twisted thinking you're Shin Chaeyoon."
"That's my business, so stay out of it. And why do you get to decide my next project?"
"Then what? You keep refusing to shoot anything. What am I supposed to do? You just going to sit around like this?"
"I'm not working with you."
Jung Joon-min could see the venom flooding Im Jinseo's face as she finished speaking. He let out a deep sigh.
Where did this all go wrong?
It had gotten too tangled. After he'd brought Im Jinseo to Travel Entertainment, they hadn't grown particularly close, but things had been decent enough.
Travel Entertainment hadn't mishandled a top-star actress like Im Jinseo. They'd built her an excellent filmography. Im Jinseo, in turn, had delivered strong results and agency commissions. A reasonably win-win arrangement.
And within that, maybe they'd grown closer than he'd thought... Jung Joon-min recalled.
But now the relationship was broken. When a bowl shatters, you're supposed to throw it away... and yet Jung Joon-min wouldn't stop trying. Because of all the years he'd waited. Because he liked Im Jinseo that much.
"The second you say okay, we start. And yes, that includes giving you time to learn the script."
"Shut up. Is that supposed to make you impressive?"
"...Whatever else. If Director Hong Chan-dong is willing to wait, you bow and say thank you and you take it."
He wasn't wrong. This wasn't just any Hong Chan-dong. This was Hong Chan-dong.
Nearly twenty years ago he'd burst onto the scene with The Face, and now he was a director without peer in action-entertainment cinema. Even his flops still broke even. That was Hong Chan-dong. The artistic quality hadn't drawn much praise since his debut with The Face, but the entertainment value was rock solid.
Jung Joon-min finally said the thing he hadn't wanted to say.
"Is marrying me that repulsive?"
"Yeah. It's filthy. I hate it. The fact that you've been looking at me like that this whole time is fucking disgusting. So, so much."
"You're just going to waste time like this, irresponsibly?"
"...You son of a bitch."
Im Jinseo's eyes flashed like a vengeful spirit, but Jung Joon-min found himself laughing instead. Not ease, not mockery... just hollowness.
Back to the same refrain, in the end.
"I've waited a long time, Jinseo."
"Don't give me that shit. If you'd been waiting with this kind of filthy thinking, I'd have left a long time ago."
"You can't leave. There's no one else who can handle you."
"You...!"
Im Jinseo's mouth worked as she searched for a word, then she shifted tactics and pleaded.
"I'll cover the penalty fee somehow, so let's just end this filthy connection here. Okay? I'm asking you."
"Just eat and go."
At Jung Joon-min's words, Im Jinseo shoved her chair back first. She'd felt that any further conversation was pointless.
Jung Joon-min stood and kept following her.
"Let go."
"Eat something and go. You've gotten too thin lately."
"I said let go! You fucking bastard!"
Travel Entertainment staff glanced at the two of them for a split second, then hurriedly dropped their eyes.
Pretending not to notice was the right call. Weird shit in this industry wasn't a one-off. Cursing out the CEO was a bit much, but Im Jinseo was the kind of person who'd do it. Over three years, her managers had thrown up their hands and given up entirely.
Their argument stretched on all the way down the stairs.
And then.
"A thug who grabs people's weaknesses and blackmails them — who the hell do you think you're grabbing?!"
"When did I ever blackm—"
CRACK—!
The scuffle that had followed them all the way to the parking lot entrance ended with a slap. Im Jinseo climbed into her car.
It wouldn't have registered in either of their eyes. Inside a car some distance away, a certain former detective was regretting it.
Unwind all the coiled time. Back to the present.
The Ghost, having gone through every document and photograph, slowly turned his eyes toward me. I didn't wait any longer.
"The CEO of Travel proposed to Im Jinseo."
[...Hah.]
"And Im Jinseo refused."
At my words, the Ghost's expression shifted by the second. It went pale and rigid. Then it eased with relief. Then he bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut.
I decided to finish administering the blue pill to the Ghost first. And then the red pill — the one that would make him know a painful truth.
[...What?]
It was a claim as absurd as a virgin conceiving a child. The Ghost's incomprehension was perfectly normal.