Chapter 72
Chapter 72
I’m Allowed to Throw a Tantrum
Back home, Yu Yeon-seo collapsed listlessly onto his bed. Once the moment passed, regret washed over him.
‘Ah, so embarrassing.’
Why did I do that? Yu Yeon-seo pressed a pillow over his face. He hadn’t been able to stop the sudden surge of emotion.
‘...A grandson is allowed to throw a little tantrum at his grandmother.’
After all, so much had built up. Forcing himself to think that way, he shot up. The pillow fell limply to the floor.
‘Don’t get swayed.’
This body is mine now. I refuse to let the original owner’s emotions sweep me away and cause unexpected situations. Yu Yeon-seo clenched and unclenched his fist for the first time in a while, lost in thought.
[Yeon, Yeon-seo.]
Park Geum-ju’s shocked expression and trembling voice. For a moment, he’d almost stopped and looked back.
He didn’t know why his grandmother had pushed him away so much in the past. But the Park Geum-ju of today was filled with regret. And she had been trying, however clumsily, to reach out.
‘It wasn’t intentional, but I’ve made my grandmother indebted to me.’
Park Geum-ju was the matriarch of Juseong Group and a remarkably capable person in her own right. There would surely be a time in the future when he would need her help in some way.
Yu Yeon-seo took the phone from his inner pocket and looked at the screen.
There were still no messages from Park Geum-ju.
“Shin Ju-ho ended up turning it down.”
“But we even had the meeting. The atmosphere was great, wasn’t it?”
“He said the pressure was too much and apologized.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand, so the man bowed his head. Shin Ju-ho had been the most promising candidate for the role of Lee Tae-o in ‘People Who Lack Season 2’. The original author had clapped his hands the moment he saw him, the resemblance was so striking, and Shin Ju-ho himself had been full of enthusiasm.
“I think he was too conscious of what others would think. It hasn’t been long since he debuted as an actor.”
“Sigh... Would they only be satisfied if we cast an actual 2D character?”
“They still wouldn’t be satisfied.”
But even Shin Ju-ho couldn’t break through the wall of the dedicated fanbase. As a rookie, he felt that hastily joining a drama with such a massive following would be a losing game.
“Hmm... Should we hold auditions?”
Of course, it was a role countless aspiring actors coveted.
Just then, an employee who had been on the phone outside came in and said, looking bewildered.
“I just got a call from Halo Media. They said Yu Yeon-seo is interested in our script and wants to set up a meeting.”
“Yu Yeon-seo?”
“Yu Yeon-seo?”
The people who heard the news began to murmur. Was there anyone here who didn’t know Yu Yeon-seo?
“Did we send them a script too?”
“We sent them out to everyone we could.”
“He’s interested in the role of Lee Tae-o?”
“Yes.”
They had just been probing around for a new face, but they never expected to catch someone so unexpected.
“...His personality is a perfect match for Lee Tae-o.”
“Why didn’t we think of him?”
Not his recent, well-regarded personality, but the one from about two years ago. Arrogant, rude, with words and actions that seemed insane at a glance—it was a perfect fit for Lee Tae-o.
He wasn’t on their casting list, but... when they pictured Yu Yeon-seo as Lee Tae-o, it seemed plausible, and everyone nodded.
“I heard his character has gotten better lately, right?”
“His acting has improved, too. It’s so good there are even rumors asking if he’s actually on drugs.”
“Apparently, he’s been mentioned in fan castings recently.”
“That makes sense, since his acting has gotten better.”
The old Yu Yeon-seo would have probably rejected the offer immediately. His acting skills were terrible, and the project didn’t need his investment.
‘People Who Lack’ was already a massive hit as an original work, so it didn’t need aggressive promotion. Distribution was also secured with an exclusive contract on a global OTT platform, meaning the production budget was overflowing.
“The role of Lee Tae-o is a handsome psycho, but...”
An employee searched for Yu Yeon-seo and displayed the results on a large screen.
It was a press photo taken as Yu Yeon-seo entered the Juseong Art Museum with his brother, glancing back slightly. Though it was zoomed in from a distance and the quality wasn’t sharp, it had the distinct atmosphere of a scene from a movie.
“Wow...”
When he clicked to the next photo, a picture of the Juseong Group’s founding family, taken by the Juseong Art Museum’s PR team, appeared. Among them, Yu Yeon-seo, holding a champagne flute, looked as perfect as a painting.
“...Doesn’t he look too rich?”
“He does, a bit. Lee Tae-o is supposed to be a guy from the bottom.”
“With the right makeup and styling, I think he could pull it off...”
The role Yu Yeon-seo was interested in, Lee Tae-o, was a character with a screw loose, driven mad by sleep deprivation. He wasn’t completely on the protagonist’s side; he was an endlessly flippant, neutral character who lived by the motto, “I’m on the winning side.”
The employee then played a behind-the-scenes video from ‘White Tiger’.
“Wow...”
“Did he really do that without wires?”
Everyone stared, mouths agape, at Yu Yeon-seo in the video.
“Honestly, his mental game is top-notch.”
The employee gave a thumbs-up. Lee Tae-o was a scene-stealer in ‘People Who Lack’, garnering immense attention from his very first appearance in the original work. He was so popular that when he died in the story, his name was the number one trending topic of the day.
The character had an equally formidable fanbase, but Yu Yeon-seo wasn’t the type to be swayed by the pressure from the original work’s fans like Shin Ju-ho was.
“Should we at least feel him out?”
The production team’s hearts were already leaning toward Yu Yeon-seo.
Casting Difficulties for ‘People Who Lack Season 2’... Idol-Actor Shin Ju-ho Ultimately Declines
Yu Yeon-seo Considered for ‘People Who Lack Season 2’
[Official] Yu Yeon-seo in Talks for ‘PWL Season 2’... Agency: “Reviewing Positively”
-Yu Yeon-seo as Lee Tae-o? Seems like a good fit.
Wasn’t he in the fan casts?
└After Dreaming and White Tiger succeeded, a lot more people probably started wishing for it.
└But can Yu Yeon-seo handle the action scenes?
└└Go watch the behind-the-scenes for White Tiger. It’s insane.
Since he had shown a good performance in ‘White Tiger’ and ‘Dreaming’, there were many favorable reactions.
-Yu Yeon-seo as Lee Tae-o? That’s fucking weird.
Why are they trying to use a problematic actor? It’s not like there’s a shortage of actors.
Shin Ju-ho was a good fit, but of all people, Yu Yeon-seo lol
└A bit disappointing. Wish another actor got it.
└Does Yu Yeon-seo have any major scandals?
└└Not really.
└He hasn’t committed any crimes, so calling him ‘problematic’ is fucking weird.
└└Not crimes, but he’s done a lot of cringey stuff.
└OP is being so extra lol. Are you part of the PWL Mothers’ Club?
└└As a fan of the original webtoon, am I not allowed to express my opinion?
└You said Shin Ju-ho sucked before lol
However, because the work had attracted so many obsessive fans, a critique session of the actor, who hadn’t even been confirmed for the role, had begun.
-Isn’t Yu Yeon-seo not an actor with a proper pedigree?
Honestly, Shin Ju-ho wasn’t great either, but Yu Yeon-seo was originally an idol, and I think people are overhyping him just because his acting got a little better.
└He’s not a ‘sacred bone’ actor, that’s for sure.
└He was only an idol for a few months. Lumping him in as an idol-turned-actor is a bit much.
└But honestly, it’s true that it’s ambiguous to see him as a real actor. He should just inherit the company, why is he loitering around the acting scene lol
└Here we go with the sacred bone/true bone bullshit again. Damn it.
People even appeared to argue about forced pedigrees. The logic of these obsessive drama and film fans was that actors from major theater and film departments or with a theater background were ‘sacred bone’, model-turned-actors were ‘true bone’, and idol-turned-actors were ‘sixth head-rank’.
Y__Yeonseo
Looks like a good fit.
But Yu Yeon-seo was not one to be intimidated by such things. He posted fanart that photoshopped him as Lee Tae-o from the webtoon onto his social media, openly taunting his detractors.
Yu Yeon-seo’s fan club, Love Letter, also joined in.
-I hate the original fans’ nitpicking.
If PWL fails, it’ll be because of the PWL Mothers’ Club.
└A masterpiece of an original work with shitty fans fr
└The drama rights were already sold, so some adaptation is a given, but them mistaking it for a live-action replica is legendary lol. They’re so extra.
-The whole thing about Yu Yeon-seo’s pedigree is hilarious lol
Isn’t the game over since he’s Yu Chang-ho’s grandson? What’s with all this pedigree bullshit, dividing people into sacred and true bone.
└If he’s a third-generation Juseong heir, he’s not sacred bone, he’s the Crown Prince.
└└LMAO the Crown Prince hahaha
“Mother, I’m here.”
Choi Yu-jin, the Vice Chairman of JSENM, visited Chairman Yu’s residence. Park Geum-ju greeted her with a smile.
“You’re already so busy, isn’t visiting your mother-in-law a bother? You come so often.”
“But you’re happy to see me, aren’t you?”
Park Geum-ju shook her head as if to say she was hopeless. As they sat in the living room, a servant expertly prepared a tea set and brewed some tea.
“So, what brings you here today?”
“Yeon-seo’s variety show premieres today. I came because I wanted to watch it with you, Mother.”
“...Is that so?”
Park Geum-ju said with a sigh. Ever since her grandson left the charity event like that, she had only glared at her phone, but she hadn’t yet made the first move to contact him.
‘I thought I had lived long enough...’
She had no idea what to say if she contacted him first.
‘Should I contact Dr. Hwang...’
Dr. Hwang was the physician who had been in charge of her psychiatric counseling for several years.
[Do you know how I see my mother?]
At the time he said those words, Yu Yeon-seo’s expression had been devastating. His fear and terror were palpable in his trembling voice.
‘If that’s the case, it means he’s still seeing Hui-seo...’
The phrase “how I see” bothered her.
After that, Park Geum-ju gently probed her husband, Chairman Yu, and her son, Yu Geon-min.
[Yeon-seo, isn’t he admirable these days?]
[Mother, he doesn’t open up easily. I can tell something is difficult for him, but he won’t talk about it at all... Should we have a meal together soon?]
Chairman Yu was simply delighted by his changed grandson, while Yu Geon-min had noticed his son’s recently darkened expression and was searching for a way to handle it.
[Did he say anything about seeing things?]
[Seeing what?]
[No, it’s nothing.]
But when Yu Yeon-seo was young, Park Geum-ju had been the only one he had reached out to for help.
‘Not now, later... I should contact him later.’
In truth, she was afraid to face how the grandson she had turned away from had lived his life.
Choi Yu-jin looked at her mother-in-law’s dark expression with concern.
“It seems your talk with Yeon-seo didn’t go well?”
“How did you know?”
“Actually...”
Choi Yu-jin confessed that she had told Yu Yeon-seo that Park Geum-ju was the one behind the media play. Park Geum-ju narrowed her eyes and looked at her daughter-in-law.
“Why would you tell him that?”
“He was misunderstanding, thinking it was me. It was going to be revealed eventually anyway. You weren’t going to keep it a secret forever, were you?”
Park Geum-ju realized she had been sighing much more often lately.
“I don’t know what to say to him. Do you?”
“I haven’t known Yeon-seo for long either, so I’m not sure.”
As she said this, Choi Yu-jin’s expression looked quite bright.
“He’s not even a child you gave birth to yourself, yet you like him that much?”
“Of course. I can’t get pregnant anyway, so where else would I find two handsome, capable sons without having to ruin my body with childbirth?”
Watching Choi Yu-jin speak so brightly, Park Geum-ju stroked her hand sympathetically.
One of the reasons Choi Yu-jin had been able to marry into the Juseong family was because she was infertile, meaning she posed no threat to the positions of Yu Eun-ho and Yu Yeon-seo.
“Yes, you two seem to have a good relationship.”
Going to the awards ceremony together, and the way you two talked with gentle smiles during the holidays—it was nice to see.
“I just kept approaching him.”
“That you did...”
In that respect, Choi Yu-jin was much better than Park Geum-ju. Yu Yeon-seo had thrown even bigger fits at the sudden appearance of a stepmother. But Choi Yu-jin didn’t back down and tried hard to get along with her new son.
When the entire family was focused on Yu Yeon-seo’s trauma, it was Choi Yu-jin who reached out to the neglected Yu Eun-ho. She was enjoying her life these days. It felt like her efforts were finally being rewarded.
“I think it’s time for you to reach out now, Mother.”
“...”
“Just like I did.”
Hit right on the mark, Park Geum-ju sighed.
“By the way, were the commercials always this long? Wow, this is too much,” said the de facto owner of JSTV. Park Geum-ju looked at her daughter-in-law with a fascinated expression. How could she adore a child she hadn’t given birth to so much? In fact, if someone said Choi Yu-jin was the blood relative and not Park Geum-ju, she would have believed it.
“Oh! It’s starting. It’s starting, Mother.”
The long commercial break ended, and ‘Welcome to the Guest House’ finally began. Park Geum-ju turned her head from her fussing daughter-in-law and fixed her gaze on the TV.