An Eye for an Eye
AJU Entertainment. Want to Reach You. It was a work by an unknown director with no original source material, so its buzz was practically zero. Naturally, there were no expectations for box office success, and the agency had pushed a rookie actor—Lee Si-woo—into the role without much hope. It was just one more credit for his portfolio. That was the only reason he'd landed the part.
But then, something completely unexpected happened. The female lead, Kim Siyeon—the hottest idol star right now—had been cast in the role. Thanks to her, what had been a fringe project destined for obscurity, Want to Reach You, exploded into word-of-mouth hype and became one of the most anticipated films of the year. It was clearly just a nothing movie. Overnight, the tide had turned. All because of one actress.
The biggest winner here wasn't Lee Si-woo, but his agency, AJU Entertainment.
"Heh heh, at this rate, we could hit a million viewers? Nah, two million's possible too."
CEO Kim Yong-jin smirked as he scrolled through the articles popping up online.
No trailer had even dropped yet, but the public's interest was red-hot. If it just made it to theaters like this, success was a sure thing.
Then Si-woo's value will skyrocket naturally.
When an actor's price shoots up, the agency reaps all the benefits. Especially for a no-name rookie like Si-woo. Their exclusive contract was for five years, with an 2:8 split. That meant the agency took 80% of all revenue. It was basically a slave contract. And with five full years left on the deal... If Si-woo's star rose here, AJU Entertainment could sit back and rake in the cash. Kim Yong-jin had calculated it all from the start, luring rookies with sweet talk into these unfair deals.
"Hey, bring me that movie script."
"Here it is."
Kim Yong-jin lounged on the sofa, flipping through the script for the film Si-woo would star in. Want to Reach You. The overall plot wasn't bad, but since it starred teens, it lacked that punchy edge. That rubbed him the wrong way. To jack up Si-woo's value even a little more, the movie needed to leave a strong impression on audiences. Memorable scenes, viral moments—stuff like that was missing from the script.
Sentiment alone won't cut it. It needs buzz to sell.
Kim Yong-jin drew thick red lines through certain scenes, then started arbitrarily adding new ones that hadn't been there before.
"Now this is more like it."
Si-woo's manager, watching from the side, looked worried.
"...CEO, is it okay to tweak the script like this on our own? We'll need the director's approval, and more than that, I doubt Siyeon would go for it."
"The director'll come around with some convincing, and how old did you say Siyeon is this year?"
"Seventeen."
"Then no big deal."
Top idol or not, she was just a kid at seventeen. Talking her into it would be easy.
"Get the car ready. Heading to the set now."
"...Yes, sir."
**
"You want to add some content?"
"Yeah. I know this industry pretty well, and as it stands, this won't sell. So I added a few scenes like this."
He handed me the revised script with a smug, confident grin. I sat in my chair and pored over it carefully. It didn't take long for my face to harden.
...What the hell is this?
New skinship scenes that hadn't been there before, tons more moments glued to Si-woo. That was ridiculous enough, but the real shocker was at the very end.
"K-Kiss scene!?"
The film's sweet, heartwarming finale had been swapped out for a kiss between me and Lee Si-woo.
"What the...?"
I furrowed my brow, and the man brushed it off casually.
"It's a romance movie, after all. Gotta have a kiss scene, right? That way it sticks in the audience's minds."
I slammed the script shut. The sound echoed loudly.
"No."
I refused flat-out. From my position, it was a given. For an idol whose image is their life, a kiss scene? Unthinkable. As an idol, I couldn't allow it. And personally? No way. Plus, I had zero obligation to entertain demands like this.
"This is a movie my fans will see. A kiss scene—not to mention all this unnecessary skinship—will just make them uncomfortable. So I absolutely can't approve your requests."
I drew a hard line. We'd already agreed on the script beforehand; no changes without my sign-off. The man launched into persuasion mode, pulling out every argument in the book.
"Every actor does kiss scenes. Don't think of it that way—think of it as saving the film. Please reconsider."
"C-CEO..."
Lee Si-woo, who'd been watching the whole exchange, hesitantly chimed in.
"Siyeon's only seventeen now. Even I think scenes like this are a bit..."
He glanced nervously at the man, voicing his opinion carefully. The man's eyes changed in an instant.
"Hey, shut it. Who do you think is doing all this to make you successful?"
"I just..."
"Whose side are you on? You're supposed to be grateful, not getting in the way."
He started berating Si-woo with a nasty scowl. The atmosphere turned ugly fast.
"...Sorry."
Si-woo hung his head like a criminal. The set went deathly quiet. The extras all clamped their mouths shut, watching in silence. If you ignored everything else, it looked like a debtor facing a loan shark. Compared to our agency CEO, it was night and day. The sight hit me hard. My fingertips started trembling, and my eyes grew misty.
Huh? What's this?
"Uh..."
The man froze when he saw my face, looking flustered.
"S-Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you; I just lost my temper for a second..."
He fumbled, trying to soothe me. I turned to the window, checking my reflection. Anyone could see it: pure terror. But that felt off.
...Am I really this much of a scaredy-cat?
I'd always thought I had decent guts, but this was something else. Soon enough, I figured it out. Lee Ha-eun. I'd been so deep in the role that I'd started reacting like her for real.
"I'm truly sorry about today. We'll talk about that later."
The man apologized profusely to me, then bolted from the set.
"Siyeon, you okay...?"
Si-woo checked on me cautiously. I was back to my usual calm self, as if nothing had happened. Lee Ha-eun mode off, me again.
"I'm fine."
"Huh? But just now..."
"It was acting. Figured it'd shut him up otherwise."
"...Wait, for my sake?"
He got all emotional on his own. Now he was misunderstanding things. The vibe was weird, so I switched topics.
"That guy just now—was he your agency CEO?"
"Yeah. CEO Kim Yong-jin."
"What kind of CEO treats his own actor like that? I thought he was a debt collector."
"Haha..."
Si-woo just gave a hollow laugh. From his reaction, this wasn't his first or second time.
"...Will that guy come back to set?"
His pushy demands on a first meeting, the way he treated his own talent—I didn't want to deal with him again if I could help it. Si-woo looked troubled.
"Well..."
He seemed unsure himself. Even if he knew, his position wouldn't let him block it. Fine. I'd have to take action first. Drastic measures.
**
The next day, Lee Si-woo's agency CEO, Kim Yong-jin, showed up on set again.
"Sorry for all the rudeness yesterday. This guy's mouth runs away sometimes."
He passed out Americanos to me and the other actors, trying to polish his image. Then he slid into the seat next to me and brought up yesterday's unfinished business.
"About that script I mentioned. Since you didn't like it, I revised it again. Stayed up all night, so please take a look."
He held out another modified script. I was about to take it when—
"What do you mean by that?"
Someone behind me snatched it instead. None other than our agency's head honcho, CEO Kim Baek-ho.
"First I've heard of any script changes."
"Uh, who...?"
The man blinked in surprise. He was a big guy himself, but next to CEO Kim, he looked puny.
"This script..."
CEO Kim skimmed it, then gently closed it. His grip tightened slowly on the pages.
Riiip.
Veins bulging on his wrist, he tore the thick, 240-page script clean in half. Showing off his superhuman strength, CEO Kim wordlessly approached Kim Yong-jin.
"Who the hell came up with this script?"
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If they brought their CEO, I'd bring mine.