Someone with Something to Protect (5)
In that instant, the eyes of the staff who had been watching from behind with uneasy looks went perfectly round. A heartbeat later they ducked their heads, faces twisted into something grotesque as they barely choked down laughter that threatened to burst.
Team Leader Park spoke as if she could not believe her ears.
"That wasn't the division head."
"What?"
"The division head didn't take Songha. Ahem."
She cleared her throat and went on.
"It was Sunwoo. Jung Sunwoo, Songha's manager. We already laughed ourselves sick when we heard that ridiculous story was going around, so where on earth did you even..."
The longer the explanation ran, the more Son Chae-young's face flushed and darkened by turns.
The staff gulped coffee that was still throwing off steam, anything to keep from laughing.
And right then.
Beyond the partition, another employee shot to their feet.
"Team Leader, I think you need to see this!"
"What is it?"
Team Leader Park walked over and looked at the monitor. Then she froze where she stood, like someone who had just had cold water dumped over her head.
Her gaze was nailed to the headline of an article that had gone up only moments ago.
An insider connected to Cat Guardian Spirit told this paper, "It would hardly be an exaggeration to call Lee Songha, now caught up in an acting-ability controversy, a born acting genius," and added, "Once the first episode airs, the controversy will be wiped away at a stroke." According to this insider, at the script reading Lee Songha drew the admiration of the other lead and supporting actors all at once...
"What is this? Which outlet?"
"Seven Days!"
Team Leader Park yanked out her phone and dialed. She had barely traded a few words with the Seven Days contact when a male staffer's rattled voice cut in.
"Team Leader, it's not just one article. I don't know who it was, but they said it somewhere crawling with reporters."
"The clickbait rehashes are already up too!"
Team Leader Park raked a rough hand through her hair.
This controversy was a powder keg, the sort that had to be handled with care. After yesterday's script reading, Director Shin Tae-gyun himself had even asked that interviews mentioning Lee Songha be held off for the time being.
And someone, unable to wait even that long, had run their mouth to a reporter.
An acting genius.
It was a grandiose label, grand enough that some people would look on it sourly even if it were pinned to a veteran actor. Fastened to Lee Songha, already hounded by an acting controversy, it went without saying. That was not praise. It was a spark flung onto the powder keg.
As the PR staff turned the office upside down, Son Chae-young took one step back and pulled out her phone. With keen interest she read the articles as they kept coming in.
Before long the savage set of her eyes softened, and the lips she had pressed tight curved into a faint smile. She went so far as to claim an empty chair. Then she watched the PR team rushing about as if she were taking in a show.
Team Leader Park clicked her tongue and dialed another number. It belonged to CEO Baek Han-sung, who was in China.
Before the company took any action, he had to hear of this first. The moment the call connected, she laid the situation out as fast and as cleanly as she could.
"Calling it an 'insider' sounds worse than if they'd given a name. Some people will think the script reading improved the reaction and the company saw its chance to spin the press, and before the internet explodes we ought to..."
"Mm. Team Leader Park."
"Among the people at that script reading, which actor is senior enough to count as a veteran?"
"Ms. Jang Yoon-ok is the most senior."
"Then track down Ms. Jang Yoon-ok's personal number and send it to me."
More and more people gathered in front of the outdoor stage. A few recognized the idols appearing on Next K-Star and were waiting for them, but most were passersby who had simply stopped, not even knowing who was coming out, to watch what looked like a special event.
The sun sank, and when the sunset dyed the world red as if someone had switched the lights on, the Next K-Star guerrilla concert finally began.
The songs were unfamiliar, but the fast, addictive beat set shoulders bouncing, and the idols—handsome and pretty enough to have just stepped out of a television, names or no names—were a pleasure to look at. The usual nasty asides drifted through the crowd: someone's face was worse in person, idols were nothing but bones up close, they all looked the same so you couldn't tell them apart. Remarks like that were buried almost at once.
Caught up in the thrill of an outdoor concert, the audience was generous with its response. Every time a team came out, bowed, and performed, Hongdae's streets rang with cheers and furiously waving hands.
The heat spread even into the cafés nearby. When the noise outside grew loud, people stepped out onto the second-floor terraces to watch the stage. Plenty of them had their phones up, filming.
"Let's go watch too. They said eight teams are performing. If we don't see it now, when will we?"
The woman glanced toward the terrace, and the man beside her—shoulders broad as an athlete's, his build solid and compact—answered without much interest.
"We don't know the songs, and we don't know the singers. Why go? They'll just pile out, chirp for a bit, and go back in."
"How would you know if you won't even look? Come watch. Who knows—maybe you'll fall hard for a girl group and be lining up at a fan signing a month from now."
"Cut the crap."
"Ugh, fine, fine. I'll watch by myself."
In the end the woman left, and the man sat alone at the table. Similar scenes played out all over the café's second floor. It seemed only the people with no interest in idols remained in their seats.
He shot a pathetic look at the crowd packed shoulder to shoulder along the terrace, then scooped up the little butter cookies by the handful.
How long he sat in that racket, he could not have said. Then he turned his head, and the thought arrived on its own. What is this. They're good?
It was a song he had never heard, but it seized him and dragged his attention along. The singing was good enough that he caught himself humming. After high notes that wavered so badly they made a listener anxious even on a live broadcast, and rap he could not tell was Korean or some other language, his ears felt suddenly washed clean.
"The ones on now can really sing, huh? Did they put a track on?"
"Right? This is actually worth hearing. Maybe we should have gone out to watch."
People at the surrounding tables began glancing toward the terrace, one after another.
"Oh, oh, I know them. Neptune. Neptune. I watched Next K-Star and they sang that song. I thought it was all editing and pitch correction, but they really are good."
Neptune?
The man took out his phone and searched the name he had just heard. For a rookie girl group, an awful lot of articles came up. Most of them let the name Neptune pass in a single line; the pieces were focused on one of the members.
After reading a few, he rose quietly and slipped in among the people on the terrace.
His head sat far above everyone else's, so even without a good spot he could see straight down. Four of them in stage outfits were sweeping the stage as they sang. Under lights the color of the sunset, their faces showed in flickers.
Pretty. He folded his arms and settled in to watch. Each face was pretty in its own distinct way, but his eyes went to their expressions more than their features. The crowd was cheering and waving, and even from here you could see how startled and dazed they were by the response.
The smallest, roundest member in particular looked so overcome that he half worried she might cry onstage. She seemed to be holding it in, eyes squeezed tight with effort, and then, midway through her own part, a tearful catch crept into her voice. Maybe because of that, the cheers grew louder.
"Worth waiting out in the cold, right?"
"Yeah. I wish they'd do a few more songs before they go."
"This is that show with the popularity vote, isn't it? We've got to give them a vote."
Friendly assessments kept coming from all around, until a man with his hair dyed yellow smacked his lips and said,
"That team could build a bit of a fandom, if Lee Songha doesn't tank the image."
A woman who seemed to be with him chimed in with a scoff.
"She already tanked it. Did you see the article on Lee Songha earlier? An acting genius, they say. A genius."
"I defended Lee Songha a lot, but that's a bit much."
"They say she had the other leads and supporting actors in awe, so why was the interview just some insider? Isn't that hilarious?"
"Did W&U spin it?"
"Then their PR team might as well be antis. Public opinion was finally improving a little, and this is about to wreck it all over again. You don't think Lee Songha herself, or her manager, went and told a reporter?"
A provocative topic pulled people's attention fast. Here and there, the name Lee Songha started popping up more often than talk of the show.
Until then the man had been watching the stage in silence. Soon the performance ended, and the four members of Neptune were greeting the people near the front, taking their hands.
Must be nice. He caught himself thinking it, and tapped the yellow-haired man's shoulder.
"Excuse me."
"Yeah?"
The yellow-haired man turned with a bored look, then flinched at the size of him. The crown of that yellow head barely reached the other man's collarbone.
The man scowled hard.
"You run your mouth like that when you've got the story wrong, and it turns into a malicious rumor and spreads. You unbelievable people."
"W-what are you..."
When the yellow-haired man shrank, the woman with him cut in.
"Are you a Neptune fan? It's all over the articles and a total mess. What's wrong with what we said?"
"Articles?"
"Whoever this insider is won't even give a name, and the genius talk is so ridiculous that we're making a reasonable guess. It's not just us. Plenty of people online suspect it's a planted article. Don't pick a fight over nothing."
"Unbelievable. Look at the article again. With your eyes open."
At his sarcasm the woman huffed and pulled out her phone. The people around them, who had been sneaking glances at the standoff, fumbled theirs out as well.
A moment later, having searched up the article, she spoke as if to say see for yourself.
"Who's unbelievable? It's right here. An insider says she's a genius... huh?"
The flustered woman blinked.
The main article about Lee Songha was a little different from before.
On the acting of Lee Songha, which became a topic once again after the Cat Guardian Spirit script reading, veteran actress Jang Yoon-ok spoke.
Praising her highly, Jang Yoon-ok said, "That girl Lee Songha is an actress born with the talent," and revealed, "She is also a genius who puts in the work. She came to the first script reading with nearly all her lines memorized. Everyone on set was in awe."
She added, "I hope we see more talented, passionate rookie actresses like her from here on."
"Anything else to say?"
"..."
At the man's question, the woman who had been hemming and hawing dropped her head and slipped off the terrace with her companion. People clicked their tongues at the retreating backs, as if the pair were fleeing. At the same time, those who had checked the article started murmuring.
"So Jang Yoon-ok gave the interview herself. And there we were with the media-spin this, the planted-article that..."
"It blew up online too. Whoa. Look at people running their mouths when they don't know a thing. So this is how a rumor starts. I'd be seriously furious if that were me."
"But this Lee Songha—can she actually act? Jang Yoon-ok wouldn't lie. Well, she might have rated her a little high so the show would do well."
"Now I'm curious enough that I've got to watch this drama."