The Den of Malice

"Heeyoon keeps looking up family dramas these days."

Vice President Gam Soohan, who had been buried in evaluating Lee Heeyoon's next project, spoke up in a worried voice. At that, CEO Gam Seongbeom, who had been jolting himself awake with caffeine, and Team Leader Do Jaeyeon froze mid-motion and turned to look at him. Gam Soohan continued.

"Every time he reads a script, whenever it's a family drama, he goes back and reads it one more time."

Gam Seongbeom chided him.

"He's just reading, that's all. It's not like the kid's going to do another weekend drama."

"But what if he actually wants to do another family drama?"

"Not happening. Heeyoon needs to do films."

"Let him do what he wants to do. Why does it have to be a film?"

"Hey! What kind of attitude is that for a film school grad to have about movies?!"

"Hyung, Jaeyeon's still hungover. Don't shout so loud."

At Gam Soohan's intervention, Team Leader Do Jaeyeon gave a small nod of agreement. Seeing that, Gam Seongbeom belatedly remembered his own hangover and sank back into his seat.

Then Do Jaeyeon asked, "So, does he have a next project he actually wants? Actually, hold on—I'm his team leader, but somehow the scripts always end up going to the Vice President."

Gam Seongbeom answered on Soohan's behalf.

"That's because he's the Border Collie's primary owner. If it bothers you so much, why don't you read scripts with him yourself?"

"I don't have the stamina."

"If you're spent, imagine how I feel."

They grumbled on like that for a while, until Do Jaeyeon checked the calendar and turned to Gam Seongbeom.

"We should book a fanmeeting date for this actor, right?"

"...Is that actually the right call? Won't it just invite trouble?"

When Gam Seongbeom voiced his worry, Do Jaeyeon brought over a tablet.

"It's really strange, but the reactions to Lee Heeyoon's café visit have been overwhelmingly positive."

"Oh, right. I was listening from outside—the fans did seem happy. But really? Genuinely good?"

"Yes. Extremely."

"And here I thought they were just being generous."

The tablet Do Jaeyeon held out was filled to the brim with glowing reactions.

"...Lee Heeyoon wore rabbit ears? He wrote out the meaning of forget-me-nots? Was he possessed by something for a minute there?"

Gam Seongbeom read down the online reactions with a face full of shock. The eyewitness accounts of Lee Heeyoon sounded like a different person from the one they knew.

"Well, anyway, the fanmeeting... whew, I've never actually run a fanmeeting before, so I don't even know where to start. Would around three hundred seats work? Is that a lot?"

"Let's gauge the demand first."

After discussing the fanmeeting with Do Jaeyeon, Gam Seongbeom muttered under his breath.

"And what's with the forget-me-not flower language, like some old man in a kid's body? Did my mother teach him that?"

The moment he brought up the flower language, Gam Soohan spoke up as if he'd been waiting for the opening.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk about. It's... it's just..."

Gam Soohan faltered as if searching for difficult words, cleared his throat once, and pressed on.

"Heeyoon... maybe he should see a psychiatrist. Just once. Like a routine health checkup. No matter how composed Heeyoon seems, this line of work demands so much emotional output."

"Where's this coming from all of a sudden?"

When Do Jaeyeon looked puzzled, Gam Soohan explained.

"No, it's just... sometimes the kid seems like—how do I put it—like he has no intention of living a long life. Whenever we talk about plans past his thirties, it's always just the three of us getting excited. Heeyoon never answers. And it's not only that. Lately, overall, he just worries me."

Gam Seongbeom scolded him gently.

"Hey, kid. Is he the same as us? Heeyoon is nineteen. At that age, everyone's convinced they're a genius destined to die young around thirty."

"That's right, I was the same. He really is a genius, but still."

"See? Jaeyeon did it, I did it. Everyone does at that age, the little punk. Why are you saying such frightening things?"

With the two of them taking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turns talking him down, Gam Soohan forced a smile and nodded.

"Right? It's just needless worry, isn't it?"

"You worry too much. You're the one who should go to the hospital. You, not him."

Gam Seongbeom said his piece and popped a hangover remedy into his mouth. For a moment, none of the three said anything.

Because one of them had finally spoken aloud the anxiety they had all been carrying, yet none had dared to put into words.

Graduation performance rehearsal was fun.

Han Jeonghyeon and I had agreed, first of all, to rehearse both roles—Hamlet and Claudius. And we would each try performing the lines playing both parts at once. We were both certain that once we did, one role would clearly suit each of us better than the other.

Meanwhile, Woo Woongbae had scrapped his script.

I had generously saved a full year of his time, yet the people at Leader Actors, trustingly suspicious of me, had gone and asked Woo Woongbae to bring them the screenplay to read themselves. All three of them read it, and even Team Leader Do Jaeyeon—the very woman who'd threatened to beat my back bloody if we'd dared talk carelessly—was left speechless.

Vice President Gam Soohan read through the script Woo Woongbae had decided to abandon, then nodded. And that kind soul said nothing at all, only letting out a long sigh of relief. Relief, specifically, that the thing had already been scrapped.

For me, it was time to start hunting for my next project. Since the friendly cameo would take two days at most, I'd need something after it.

That said, friendly cameos usually don't pay, so directors tend to shrink your screen time to the absolute bone. Best to assume it'll take four days and plan accordingly.

But more than the schedule, the problem lay elsewhere.

The filming of Exorcism Investigation 2 was drawing near, and I still hadn't received the script.

"...This is starting to feel unsettling."

Whenever things turned this fishy, it usually meant the role was far too substantial to pass off as a friendly cameo.

Gam Seongbeom, who had apparently been burned by "friendly cameo" scams during his own days managing actors, kept calling the production company of Exorcism Investigation over and over. When no clear answer came, he called the director himself.

Director Jeon Changhwan of Exorcism Investigation had worked with the actor Gam Ihyeon before, so he and Gam Seongbeom were already acquainted. Being the son of a legendary actor was an unspoken privilege in this industry, and the man's social skills were excellent on top of that.

"No, hyung, come on. I'm not even asking for the script right now. Just—what role is it? That's all I want to know... Fine. Then just answer this one thing. Our actor—is he the one performing the exorcism, or the one getting exorcised?"

I'd done friendly cameos before my regression too. Not many, of course. It's hard to have relationships you'd call friendship...

But I was a good actor, and I had impact. Naturally, directors wanted to use an actor like that for even a single cut. Which was why a few of them had quietly endured my presence on set under the banner of 'friendship' until filming wrapped.

After one such cameo, a director said this to me:

'Hey, Heeyoon. You look good in short doses.'

...Now that I think about it, that was an insult. Apparently even doing a cameo for free makes me a pain in the ass.

Anyway, Gam Seongbeom grew more and more anxious, but I had nothing to be anxious about. As long as I didn't hear you look good in short doses again.

In any case, while I'd done friendly cameos before, every offer had come from directors wanting to inject impact into their own films. This was the first time a fellow actor had ever made the proposal.

Having accepted Seo Joongsung's offer, it almost felt as if Love in the Moon hadn't truly ended.

As filming drew closer, it turned out that almost everything the director had said about the friendly cameo was a lie.

The shoot he'd described as "just drop by for a day or two around summer, relax and have fun after Love in the Moon wraps" turned out to come with separate fitting and rehearsal schedules. That alone was three days.

The folks at Leader Actors resigned themselves to the conclusion that this was no ordinary friendly cameo.

In the meantime, I decided to visit the hospital where Han Jeonghyeon's mother was admitted for a single day. The Demon had brought up a system window about it.

"...Wow, I really, really don't want to go."

The feeling of walking into a den of malice is never a pleasant one.

But there's no helping it. This is the very reason I regressed.

Left with no choice, I headed for the hospital.

Team Leader Do Jaeyeon tagged along even for my strictly personal hospital visit. Lately, these people never seem to let me do anything alone. I complained.

"I'm telling you, I can handle my private schedule on my own."

"Hey, you think I'm following you for fun? I'm going so you don't screw something up somewhere. You're the face of our company."

The company trusts me ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not at all. Come on—what do they think I'm going to do? People tell me all the time I'm a decent human being.

So we bickered the whole way to the hospital.

While Do Jaeyeon waited in the parking lot, I went into the building alone. Only after I was inside did it occur to me that I had no way to contact Han Jeonghyeon.

Come to think of it, I knew very little about him. A faintly remembered face, a name, and the fact that he was an absolute piece of...

I was considering grabbing a passerby to ask when I felt a chill crawl up my spine from behind. Han Jeonghyeon? I turned around—only to find a man with a similar aura but a different face.

With some difficulty, I recognized him. CEO Han Taerin of Mobydick Entertainment.

As I narrowed my eyes, digging through hazy memories, Han Taerin spoke to me first.

"Ah, you're my son's friend. Actor Lee Heeyoon."

Son of a—so that's the information I'm supposed to confirm.

Before my regression, Mobydick had already swallowed Leader Actors whole.

Which meant that the CEO of Mobydick Entertainment being connected to our company's downfall was so obvious a fact I hadn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠needed to spend a single day of lifespan to learn it.

The Demon grumbled. My foreboding was bad enough that I didn't even bother responding to its complaints.