An Operating Manual for Han Jeonghyeon
Mobydick Entertainment's CEO, Han Tae-rin, asked me, "Did you come to visit a patient?"
"……I suppose I did."
"Good timing. Come here."
CEO Han Tae-rin beckoned, and following him felt like walking straight down the road to the underworld. He was completely ignoring the doctor's instructions that only family were allowed to visit the patient.
But he was connected to the fall of Leader Actors, so I followed him anyway.
The place he led me into was the ICU.
The memory of losing my own parents hit me, and my body locked up even before I reached the door. Pushed inside, the first thing I saw was Han Jeonghyeon's mother lying there as if she were already dead — the actress Im Hyunjoo.
……She looks exactly the same.
I had seen Im Hyunjoo once before. We'd shot a commercial together when I was a child — a milk commercial. She had been quite kind to me. Compared to the many pieces of trash who'd berated me on that set, she remained in my memory as a genuinely warm person.
Im Hyunjoo's consciousness flickered back for a moment. She turned her head, glanced once at her husband, then looked at me and greeted me warmly.
"Jeonghyeon-ah. My son."
Apparently her mind hadn't fully returned. She was mistaking me for her own son.
Oh.
Only now did it truly sink in that Han Jeonghyeon was the son of the Mobydick Entertainment CEO and the actress Im Hyunjoo. Before this, I'd heard it, but it never stuck in my memory.
It seemed CEO Han Tae-rin had figured that if he brought in a boy his son's age, the delirious Im Hyunjoo would react like this.
Im Hyunjoo held out her hand, asking me to come closer. I couldn't tell if words would reach her, but I walked to the bedside anyway. Having no other choice, I took her hand, and she said,
"Mommy's been thinking about what to say to our Jeonghyeon."
"What is it?"
"That dying must be easier than living."
You crazy bastard.
I forced down the curse that threatened to slip out. Im Hyunjoo continued gently.
"You know, if you keep living, funny things do happen now and then."
"……Yes."
"That's why I hope you live a long time, Jeonghyeon-ah. Don't do bad things, don't get sick, live and live and live. Find things that are fun, have a good cry once in a while, and……"
She was worried about her son. Even after her son had said something like that, she was worrying that he might find life meaningless.
All I could do was keep nodding. There was nothing else for me to do.
Im Hyunjoo went on.
"So promise me you'll live out every day of the lifespan you were given. You'll do that, won't you?"
"I will."
"Act a lot."
"I will."
"Will you think of me now and then?"
I turned my head to look for Han Jeonghyeon. These felt like words her actual son should be hearing.
But one look at CEO Han Tae-rin's expression told me he had no intention of intervening, so I turned back to Im Hyunjoo.
"I'll think of you."
"How many times?"
"How am I supposed to count that in numbers?"
At my answer, a faint smile crossed Im Hyunjoo's face.
"Well, look at you, my son. Still — set an alarm at least once a year. Just on the anniversary. Okay?"
That was Han Jeonghyeon for you, and Im Hyunjoo, tailoring everything to that son of hers, delivered all her instructions in remarkable detail. Set alarms to remember. Live 'until your lifespan runs out.' It was an operating manual for Han Jeonghyeon, one she had barely managed to finish.
Im Hyunjoo was so emaciated she seemed unable to take any food, her bones visible beneath the skin. I answered her.
"I'll think of you when I eat."
"When you eat?"
"And sometimes when I'm walking alone. When I have a long walk ahead of me. Walking gets boring, so I'll need something to think about."
"Hmm, when you have a long walk ahead……"
"Just those times."
"Thank you."
Im Hyunjoo clasped my hand tightly, smiling.
"Still, it's a bit of a comfort knowing you won't be sad. Jeonghyeon-ah, sadness hurts so much. It feels like sorrow is stabbing into your heart, over and over."
"……"
"What am I going to do with you, my son? Mommy's going first, and……"
It was strange. I found myself curious.
Had my parents felt this way too? Had they been more afraid of leaving me behind alone than of dying themselves?
If so, I wanted to see them once, just to tell them.
"I'm not scared of being the one left behind."
"……"
"Just think about your son a lot. That's enough."
"Will that…… be enough?"
"Yes, it will. Because thinking that way gives you strength."
I hoped my parents were thinking of me plenty, up in heaven. I hoped they'd come to me in dreams sometimes, to check that I was living well.
Thinking of it that way, it wasn't so frightening.
Thankfully, Im Hyunjoo smiled in relief. Then she slipped back into her coma, and CEO Han Tae-rin said to me,
"You're better than my son."
There was, truly, not a shred of emotion in that voice.
Ugh. Why does this feel so awful.
I turned to look at CEO Han Tae-rin. He was pulling a business card case from his inside pocket.
Then he handed me a single card. It was like his image in object form — white paper stamped with characters sharp as forged steel.
"Keep it. You may end up coming to our company. If you want to succeed bigger and faster, you'd better choose well."
I took the card and laughed in sheer disbelief.
"You're…… recruiting in the ICU? With your own wife lying right there?"
CEO Han Tae-rin shrugged at my words.
"Is that a problem?"
"I'd say so. If you're a human being."
"You're a remarkably insolent kid."
CEO Han Tae-rin laughed.
"But you'd better be careful about who you're insolent to."
"……"
"Go on. Thanks for your trouble."
I left the ICU immediately. And the moment I was outside, I crumpled the card I'd been given and shoved it into the first trash can in sight.
Then I stopped for a moment, standing there.
Before my regression, too — had Leader Actors really not fallen because of this very revulsion of mine?
"Ugh, something feels really off."
Do Jaeyeon, Team Leader, had been waiting in the car, murmuring in an uneasy voice.
Eventually, she pulled out the drink she'd prepared for Lee Heeyoon to soothe her own anxiety — a green tea and spinach blend. It was a drink she'd gotten ready out of worry ever since VP Gam Soohan had first brought up the subject of psychiatry.
For now, she'd drink it herself since she was the one feeling anxious, and she planned to make Lee Heeyoon a new one with even better ingredients.
"Honestly, that VP. Why does he say things he shouldn't. So much to worry about, this man."
Do Jaeyeon had also, deep down, sensed that Lee Heeyoon didn't seem to think about anything beyond the age of thirty. Learning that others were worried about the same thing had only made her more anxious.
And today, coming to this hospital of all places, that uneasiness had grown even stronger. For no reason she could name.
So there she was, sipping her spinach green tea to calm herself down, when Han Jeonghyeon — just passing by — spotted her and walked over.
"Oh, hello there. Do Jaeyeon…… Director-nim?"
"That's Team Leader, actually. Hello, actor Han Jeonghyeon."
"Right, Team Leader-nim."
Why on earth did he say director? But having answered that way, Do Jaeyeon reconsidered and found it so strange that she asked again.
"Have we ever met before?"
"Haven't we?"
Han Jeonghyeon said that, then added,
"I must have been mistaken."
Strangely, the sound of Han Jeonghyeon's voice set off a headache. That voice. She felt like she'd heard it somewhere before. Something about it was oddly chilling, vaguely menacing.
Do Jaeyeon suppressed the strange feeling and asked,
"Have you seen Heeyoon? He went in quite a while ago."
"Haven't seen him. I'm about to head in now."
"We must have crossed paths. I'll call and have him come this way."
"Sure, go ahead."
Do Jaeyeon immediately dialed Lee Heeyoon, sneaking glances at Han Jeonghyeon as she did.
Over the past year, Han Jeonghyeon had been, quite literally, the rising deity of the theater world. His acting was excellent, his looks were stunning, and his family owned Mobydick Entertainment, which had the media in an iron grip. Starting with Voyage of Evil last year, he had sold out three consecutive plays completely, and an enormous fandom had already formed around him.
Tickets to any play featuring Han Jeonghyeon were impossible to get, and by now they were being resold at a premium.
It was only natural that Lee Heeyoon — the same-age genius at the same school, in the same industry — would constantly be lumped in and compared with him.
Nothing like our angel of an actor, vibes-wise.
Thinking this, Do Jaeyeon found herself marveling anew at Han Jeonghyeon's looks. Lee Heeyoon was always grumbling about "pretty-boy idiots" and warning people, "Don't go following around anyone just because they're handsome" — and he wasn't wrong. The Leader Actors staff, exactly as Heeyoon feared, were the type to trail after a handsome man who bought them nice food. The one saving grace was that Lee Heeyoon had raised everyone's standards so sky-high that the bar for "handsome" had climbed with them. And Han Jeonghyeon slipped well within that raised bar.
Just then, Lee Heeyoon answered the phone.
"Hey, why didn't you pick up? Where are you right now…… You were in the ICU? How did you even get in there? You're not family."
Hearing this, Han Jeonghyeon spoke up.
"That's bad news. If he met my father, that means he was told to come to Mobydick Entertainment."
Wha— wait, hold on a second……
Do Jaeyeon compared Mobydick Entertainment and Leader Actors. She tried to think if there was a single thing, even one, where Leaders came out ahead.
……We buy them a lot of pig's trotters?
……Wait, does Heeyoon even like pig's trotters? Is that just us? Come to think of it, he's never once said he liked them, has he?
No, no. There are other advantages. We're like family to him, after all.
……Is that even an advantage?
Just as the color was draining from Do Jaeyeon's face, she spotted Lee Heeyoon walking out of the hospital building.
Heeyoon came walking toward the two of them and said to Do Jaeyeon,
"Why do you keep calling so much? It's only been a little while since I went in……"
Mid-sentence, Lee Heeyoon looked toward Han Jeonghyeon. Despite standing right beside him, he shifted his gaze around several times as if he couldn't locate him, then finally fixed his eyes on his face and clicked his tongue.
"……Ah, my mood just got worse."
Normally she'd have scolded him for saying such a thing about a friend, but today, strangely, the words wouldn't come.
Because she had the feeling he'd said it to exactly the guy who deserved it.
Strangely enough, looking at Han Jeonghyeon gave her a faint, unmistakable sense that her life was in danger.