The Rough Gem
4. The Rough Gem. I grumbled for a moment after hearing the word "ice queen." The silence from Yoon Ji-ah walking beside me naturally shut my mouth. It hadn't even been a year since she'd shoved that bizarre business plan at me, trying to turn me into a monster of capitalism. And now, not long after, the street-casting issue had popped up again. I'd thought most people had already handed over their business cards, leaving none left to receive, but apparently there were still some stragglers. In that moment, I wondered if Yoon Ji-ah's tiny brain was already calculating seventy or eighty years into the future. Her silence lasted the entire walk home. It continued even after we arrived, closed the front door, greeted Mom, and stepped into our room. In the end, I was the one who spoke first.
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
I nearly blurted out something about how long a subordinate was supposed to read the boss's mood. Back in my day!
"I was just thinking it might not be so bad to build a media empire."
"...What empire?"
Now she was talking about founding an empire. At this rate, I'd be getting a financial monster's founding story by the time I turned fifty. I let out a hollow laugh, half in disbelief.
"What, were you Alexander in a past life? What's with the empire talk?"
"Capitalism is far more efficient and destructive than war."
I'd meant it as a jab, but she countered with perfect composure. Yoon Ji-ah casually pulled over the chair beside my bed and sat down. At this point, I wasn't sure if this was my room or hers anymore. With the face of a cold-blooded businesswoman—or perhaps a slave owner—she pushed up her rimless glasses and continued.
"Unni, why do you think that manager, Choi Min-jun, was so desperate today?"
"Because we're pretty and cute."
"...."
A straightforward answer to a straightforward question. I shrugged, and Yoon Ji-ah shook her head as if I were hopeless. Hmm, how much violence would it take to make a neck only move up and down?
"On the surface, that's correct."
"Then why act like it's not?"
Yoon Ji-ah sighed.
"You can't actually become an elementary school kid just because you live like one."
"...This little—"
Hierarchy adjustment. I might actually need to do that soon.
"Um... If I simplify my blueprint to match your intelligence level..."
I perched on the edge of the bed, resting my chin on my hand as I waited for her to speak. She was rude, that much was true, but she was also a genius whose words often proved useful. So I stayed quiet.
"At first, we'll start with child acting or kid modeling. That's the primary industry. The stage where you sell your time and talent directly for profit. Most entertainers stay there their whole lives."
Yoon Ji-ah's eyes sparkled. The look of a hyena catching the scent of money. The gaze of a predator spotting prey.
"But that's not our goal. After building recognition as an actress, we'll expand into business using that recognition. The clothes Yoon Seo-ah wears, the cosmetics she uses, the food she eats—everything becomes money. Advertising is basic. Eventually, we could launch our own brands. Fashion, beauty, F&B. That's the secondary industry. Manufacturing and distribution."
It was common for entertainers who reached a certain level to start businesses under their own names. But if that had been the end of her plan, she wouldn't have brought it up in the first place. I waited for what came next.
"It doesn't stop there. The character 'Yoon Seo-ah.' We'll make movies and dramas from that story, publish books, create games. Your existence itself becomes a massive content platform. That's the tertiary industry. Once we reach that point, you won't have to work anymore. Your name and your IP will generate money around the clock."
As expected. Yoon Ji-ah had already drawn up the blueprint for a massive media conglomerate. The scale was on an entirely different level. I'd been thinking I might earn some pocket money doing kid modeling or something similar.
"But... isn't that just commodifying me and selling me to the media market?"
"More precisely, it's about assetizing your image and managing it as capital."
I lowered the hand propping up my chin and crossed my arms. Isn't that the same thing...? Before I could argue from my defensive posture—
"Unni will become the brightest gem in my media empire."
—my insane little sister had designated me as Investment Asset Number One.
"Prove your value before I cut you loose, Unni."
With those words straight out of a trashy drama, Yoon Ji-ah left the room. I stared blankly at the closed door for a while. The brightest gem in a media empire? I couldn't tell if she saw me as family or as a golden goose. Either way—
The word "cut loose" lodged itself in my mind. If it were her, she really might do it. A chill ran down my spine, and I rubbed my arms. Might as well read a manhwa.
"Are you insane? You're dropping a fixed cast member without any backup plan? And only two days before shooting?"
"...Exactly, sir."
Chae Kang-ho, the assistant director and maternal uncle to Seo-ah and Ji-ah, rubbed his stiff neck and shook his head. KBC Broadcasting Station, 7th floor, conference room for the children's variety show Kkureogi Tamheomdae. Cigarette smoke curled upward. The staff's faces were burning out. Cold coffee cups and crumpled planning documents littered the table.
"We treated the child actors like actual actors, gave them everything they asked for, and now they're so arrogant they've climbed over our heads?"
Main PD Kim Chul-min pressed his temples as he spoke, his voice thick with anger.
"So what did Kim Su-jin's agency say? Even after we threatened them with penalties, they're still acting like they don't care?"
The youngest writer glanced around nervously before answering in a voice that was almost tearful.
"...Yes. They said they'd pay the penalty, just remove her from the cast... It seems like she's been contacted for a new project in a hurry."
"Ha... After everything we did to promote her, this is how she repays us."
The sound of the desk being slammed made everyone in the conference room flinch.
"PD-nim... Honestly, we don't have time to be angry right now. Shooting is the day after tomorrow, and finding a replacement child actor for Kim Su-jin is already cutting it close..."
"Then what do we do? Scrap the episode? Should I report to the department head that we couldn't even manage our flagship MC and ruined the special?"
Silence fell over the room. Everyone hung their heads with despairing expressions. Then the youngest writer, who had been sniffling in the corner, cautiously spoke up.
"Um... PD-nim."
"What now."
"I heard AD-nim's nieces are unbelievably pretty and cute?"
"...Kang-ho's nieces?"
Chae Kang-ho, widely known as a doting uncle, had always shown off photos of his nieces to the people around him. The youngest writer, remembering that, offered the suggestion.
"Kang-ho, let me see those niece photos again. I only glanced at them before, so I don't really remember."
"...Huh?"
Chae Kang-ho, who had been gauging the mood, pulled out his phone, opened the photo album, and slid it to the center of the table. It was a photo of Yoon Seo-ah and Yoon Ji-ah taken at their elementary school entrance ceremony. Yoon Seo-ah, baring her fangs in a mischievous grin, arms stretched out in an upside-down V sign. Yoon Ji-ah, arms crossed, staring coolly at the camera. Every gaze in the conference room focused on that small phone screen. The two children in the photo were unrealistically beautiful. It wasn't just that their features were distinct. Even through a photo, there was a strange magnetism that drew people in. A mysterious aura.
Everyone in the meeting let out sounds of admiration.
"Whoa... Incredible, they're really pretty."
"They've grown so much! It feels like just yesterday I saw their kindergarten photos."
"They've already started elementary school? Time really flies."
Main PD Kim Chul-min's eyes gleamed.
"Twins? Kang-ho, do they have any broadcasting experience?"
"None at all. Complete civilians."
"Hmm."
Kim Chul-min stared intently at the photo with a serious expression. Kim Su-jin's sudden departure was a crisis, but it could also be an opportunity to discover a comet-like new talent. Still, the risk was high. Entrusting the show's hosting to two complete amateurs with zero broadcasting experience was a gamble. If they froze in front of the camera or became uncontrollable, filming would end on the spot.
"What are their personalities like?"
"Well, sunbae... Isn't there another way?"
"Why? If this works out, it'll be good for your nieces too, right?"
"First, the one on the left, Seo-ah, is a troublemaker. On top of that, she's so smart that no one can handle her."
"That's even better. Those kinds of kids perform well on broadcast."
The atmosphere in the conference room shifted subtly. The staff's eyes were filled with curiosity. Describing someone as an unmanageable troublemaker would normally be grounds for rejection, but in this dead-end situation, it had become an intriguing point instead. Chae Kang-ho looked flustered by their reactions.
"No, sunbae-nim... If you're just thinking they're cute, we're in trouble. She's really uncontrollable."
"Haha, Kang-ho really dotes on his nieces."
Kim Chul-min brushed it off with a laugh, but his gaze remained fixed on the phone screen.
"Then what about the one on the right? Ji-ah, was it?"
Chae Kang-ho let out a deep sigh. From Kim Chul-min's tone and inflection, he could already tell there was no turning back.
"Ji-ah is the complete opposite of Seo-ah. Quiet, mature, polite. She might even be smarter than Seo-ah, and she actually does well in school. But she's terrifyingly intelligent..."
The main writer, who had been listening nearby, chimed in with sparkling eyes.
"Well-behaved and smart? That's good too. The visual is perfect."
In her mind, new character settings and relationship charts were already being drawn.
"An uncontrollable free spirit and the rational, sharp younger sister who keeps that older sister in check. And the expedition members who follow those two. This is definitely going to work, isn't it?"
The staff looked at the two children in the photo, each letting their imaginations run wild.