Chapter 20: The Rookie Who Took Down the Lead (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 20: The Rookie Who Took Down the Lead (2)
“Yes, I confessed my feelings to a rookie actress who is a high school freshman.”
Kim Ho-jin admitted to everything during the press conference.
“I disturbed the heart of a young girl who should have been focusing solely on her acting. Because of me, Miss L has been suffering from baseless slander, unable to focus on her practice, and living in agony every single day.”
He confessed that he had been relentlessly flirting with a minor and launched a confession barrage attack.
“I am a madman. Please, direct all your criticism toward me alone.”
If he had stopped right there, as written in the script his CEO gave him, Kim Ho-jin might have been able to salvage a future.
“But! My feelings for her were sincere! Even before she could accept my heart, I was seriously considering marriage! I only hate the fact that I was born a little too early!”
Watching from the corner with a racing heart, the CEO buried his face in his hands.
The management director also covered his mouth, letting out silent, sobbing wails.
“That crazy bastard... he just had to go off the rails again.”
*
—A reckless witch hunt by a certain fandom is drawing public attention. This incident involves fans of Actor A collectively spreading slander to force Actress B out of a drama.
—Public outrage is mounting as it has been revealed that Actress B is a minor who has just entered high school.
—The fans of Actor A even operated a secret group chat, showing the characteristics of a criminal organization by establishing detailed plans and issuing orders on how to slander Actress B...
—This case involves joint principal offenders in defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act and obstruction of business. Depending on the severity, it could also be viewed as the formation of a criminal organization...
An Si-yu, a die-hard fan of Kim Ho-jin.
With hollow eyes, she bit her nails and glared at the screen, watching the world pour out curses.
What did I do wrong? We were just trying to protect the drama! That bitch seduced our Oppa and tried to ruin the show!
She felt victimized, driven to the brink of madness.
The world was giving that rookie an absolute shield just because she was a minor.
Shit! If I’d known she was a minor, I would’ve gone about it differently! No, how can someone with that physique be a minor?!
An Si-yu covered her face with both hands.
She bitterly regretted the moment they had all laughed off the occasional comment in the group chat: “But I heard she might be a minor, is this okay?”
Bzzz. Bzzz.
Her phone vibrated with a text. She opened it reflexively.
[Seoul ○○ Police Station Cyber Crime Investigation Team]
[You are required to appear for investigation as a suspect (target of complaint) regarding a violation of the Information and Communications Network Act (Defamation)...]
An Si-yu dropped her phone.
*
‘I think that’s a wrap for him.’
That was my thought as I watched Kim Ho-jin’s press conference. The sight of him suddenly doubling down on his confession at the end, only to be dragged out by the CEO and the management director, felt like a short black comedy.
My mom, who had been incredibly tense beside me, had tears welling in her eyes once the conference ended.
“Oh, thank goodness. What a relief. So, our Yu-jin didn’t do anything wrong now, right?”
“Mother, Yu-jin didn’t do anything wrong from the start. Kim Ho-jin is just a skirt-chaser who hits on any pretty actress he sees, and his fandom is a bunch of fanatics who love him even for his sins,” Jang Ji-hye said.
“The entertainment industry is truly terrifying. I’m starting to regret pushing my daughter onto such a rough path.”
I’m not even going to keep doing this, Mom’s worrying over nothing.
“Don’t worry about me. I was just a bit annoyed. I’m not the type to get hurt and go around crying.”
“It’s a relief our Yu-jin has such a strong heart.”
I skimmed the internet reaction. The entertainment reporters who had joined the party were swinging their pens like a pack of hyenas.
Kim Ho-jin’s tiny remaining fandom had deleted all their traces, but even more screenshots were circulating defiantly.
I’m sure some of those were Jang Ji-hye’s doing.
“Jang Ji-hye.”
“Yeah?”
“You worked hard. Thanks for everything.”
“This is a given for a styling manager. Don’t mention it.”
Before I knew it, everyone around us considered Jang Ji-hye my stylist.
“Mother, we should also change Yu-jin’s car to a van. There will be many times she’ll need to change clothes and fix her makeup inside the car. A mid-sized sedan just won’t cut it.”
“I might have to break a savings account. How much do those cars cost?”
“I’ve looked into some leases first...”
I was mindlessly scrolling through web pages, feeling like I was poking at the embers of a dead forest fire, when I found a post that made the hair on my neck stand up.
[So who’s the minor actress Kim Ho-jin was obsessed with? Any photos of her face?]
└ Here you go. <Photo> <Photo> <Photo>
└ Oh, she looks gorgeous just from her eyes.
└ Anything without the veil?
└ Is she a mask-fraud? You can’t tell until the veil is off.
└ Considering the actresses Kim Ho-jin has dated or almost dated, she’s likely an S-grade beauty.
└ She’s only a freshman, so her potential is limitless.
└ But she seems tall? Looking at the two-shot with Kim Ho-jin, the height difference isn’t that big.
‘I knew that forest felt suspicious.’
It seemed Kim Ho-jin’s fans had been lying in wait in those woods with telephoto cameras.
Fortunately, the photos were only of me in my costume as the bodyguard warrior Yeon Si-ho. Every single one had me wearing the veil.
‘My name hasn’t popped up, so surely my brother won’t recognize me from just this.’
“Mom, Yu-seok doesn’t know, right?”
“He wouldn’t. Your drama appearance is a secret, so how would he find out?”
I heard from PD Jang Hyun-soo that Kim Ho-jin’s sudden outburst at the end of the press conference wasn’t planned.
He could have returned after a few years of reflection, but because of that outburst, even that became uncertain.
“The plan was for him to say he didn’t know she was a high schooler when he liked her, and that he tried to apologize and drop out as soon as he found out her age. The CEO told him to say that, but Mr. Kim Ho-jin just lost it.”
Since he dug his own grave and even covered it with dirt himself, I decided not to care anymore.
Now, I just needed to do a good job to earn the hairpin Eonnyeoni gave me.
*
“Noona! Noona! Do you have any idea how far my score has plummeted because there are nothing but feeders in the Rift all day? I need your help!”
“We can’t even duo in our tier, what are you talking about?”
Seeing my brother’s attitude, I felt relieved that he seemed completely unaware of the situation.
On the other hand, I realized that no matter how wild things got, it was ultimately just a tempest in a teapot.
I was exhausted, so I flopped onto the sofa like a piece of dried squid. My brother approached me holding electric massagers in both hands.
“Noona, does it feel good?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“You’re someone who’s going to be big, so you need to keep your muscles massaged. That way, I can diligently pick up the golden scraps you drop.”
“Crazy brat, am I a Golden Goblin or something?”
“No way. You’re not a Golden Goblin, you’re a Golden Dragon.”
Suddenly, my brother’s bulky muscle armor caught my eye. How great would it have been if I had something like that?
‘I could’ve beaten thirty Japanese soldiers by myself, not just three.’
Was it just my imagination in this life that he looked exactly like the sobbing boy rower who was so scared?
Mom brought over a plate of sliced fruit.
She picked a piece up with a small fork and put it in my mouth as usual, and I accepted it out of spinal reflex.
“Oh, right, Yu-jin. There’s a gathering at your grandfather’s house soon. What are you going to wear?”
“Do I have to go? He’s quite uncomfortable with me. I’m starting to not want to go anymore.”
“It’s not that he’s uncomfortable with you, it’s just his personality.”
“The relatives’ gazes are awkward too. I really don’t want to go.”
“It’s because I want to brag about my daughter. Please?”
“You have to go so my allowance increases too. I’ll split my share with you, so let’s go, okay?”
Relative gatherings are such a chore.
And it’s such a large family that it’s dizzying...
*
The slander and defamation against me vanished as if they had never existed.
The burning interest in Kim Ho-jin also shriveled up to a surprising degree.
As always, the world was busy talking about the KOSPI, the S&P 500, semiconductor facility investments, and so on.
The situation that had seemed so dire was now relegated to a mere happening, and traces of Kim Ho-jin were becoming hard to find.
And the atmosphere on set toward me had changed.
“Yu-jin, you’re here?”
“Hello, Sunbae. But you don’t have any filming today, what brings you here...?”
“What, am I not allowed to come visit if I don’t have filming?”
“It’s not that.”
Yoon Se-rang had started showing up every day.
We were still filming the child actor parts, and they were still in the process of finding a new male lead.
“To take down Kim Ho-jin, who was a headache for so many actresses, in one shot... Yu-jin, you really have the qualities of a star. Whoever came up with it, the title ‘The Rookie Who Extinguished a Star’ really suits you.”
“Pardon? The Rookie Who Extinguished a Star? What’s that?”
Yoon Se-rang covered her mouth and laughed.
“You didn’t know? ‘The Rookie Who Extinguished a Star.’ That’s your new nickname on set. You extinguished the Hallyu star Kim Ho-jin, after all.”
“...”
I realized that was why everyone’s gaze toward me had changed subtly.
Still, it wasn’t negative. If anything, it was closer to awe.
“Yu-jin, please don’t extinguish the star who comes in as the replacement. We’ll make sure to recruit someone who isn’t weird this time.”
“Did I extinguish him? He exploded on his own.”
I even played along with PD Jang Hyun-soo’s joke.
The set returned to normal like that.
Filming proceeded in a peaceful atmosphere.
It was a tranquility that came just from one person, Kim Ho-jin, disappearing.
“PD-nim, PD-nim. The atmosphere on set is a bit unsettled, how about a team dinner to wrap things up?”
“A dinner? During filming? Writer Jung, that’s a bit...”
“The situation is a bit special this time. The actors and staff must all be feeling uneasy.”
“Well, then let’s have a dinner as a meet-and-greet once we find the new male lead.”
The traces of the storm weren’t entirely gone.
The 1+1 child actors were a bit discouraged, so I took it upon myself to manage their morale.
It wasn’t my fault, but I felt unnecessarily sorry for the kids.
‘Will filming be finished before summer vacation?’
*
The first Saturday after Kim Ho-jin was ousted.
I finished filming as usual and returned home with Mom around 6 PM.
But before opening the door, a strong sense of crisis suddenly sent me a warning.
“Mom, I’ll open it. Stand behind me.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Something’s strange.”
I hid my body and carefully opened the front door.
With the mindset that I would either dodge or crush whatever lunged at me from inside.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Confetti exploded noisily, decorating a red carpet that had been laid out from the entrance to the living room.
I stood frozen in absurdity, while Mom peeked over my shoulder to look inside.
“Oh my goodness! What is all this? What’s going on?”
“That brat Yu-seok, what on earth...”
At the end of the red carpet, a large, ornate white chair had been set up. It looked like a throne prop for a king.
And to the left of the prop throne stood my brother.
Unbelievably, my dad was standing on the right.
Seeing Dad, Mom was so shocked she almost tripped.
“Honey? Why are you there? What about your overseas business trip?”
“My daughter is making her acting debut, do you think some American hamburgers matter right now?”
Seeing my brother’s proud face as he wore a clumsy historical drama official’s robe, my head began to throb.
“The greatest output of the current generation of the Korean entertainment industry! The new king who brought down Actor A has arrived!”
“...Since when did you know?”
“With those photos circulating like that, how could I not know? That’s why I said guys like that hit on you because you don’t have a reliable muscle manager like me by your side!”
“...Dad, did you hear it from Yu-seok and come back?”
“A colleague at work sent it to me saying it was news from Korea, and as soon as I saw the photo with the veil, I knew it was my daughter. So I threw everything aside and rushed back.”
“What about the company?”
“If a company creaks just because one dad is missing, wouldn’t it be better for the global economy if it just collapsed entirely?”
I guess Mom and I are the only normal ones in this family.
Come to think of it, I can’t exactly call myself normal either, so is my mom the only normal one?