Mistaken Out of Nowhere (1)
The planning department office at Studio Miracle. The air in the room was gloomy and heavy, as if a storm were about to break.
"Ugh, for crying out loud. These bastards have lost their minds, both of them."
"Haah... Fine, they fell in love, whatever. But why the hell did they have to burn an innocent person's livelihood over it?"
Sighs and muttered profanities erupted from every corner of the room. Empty coffee cups and energy drink cans were piled into mountains on each desk, and the PDs all wore deep shadows under their eyes. It was little wonder — a flagship drama they'd been preparing for months had collapsed overnight thanks to the director and head writer's affair. For a planning team that had to fill next month's schedule, it was a five-alarm fire.
"Hey, did anything usable come in yesterday from the scripts other companies rejected, or the B-team synopsis pile?"
"Nothing. Wherever they scavenged this garbage from... if we patch the schedule with this, we won't even scrape one percent in the ratings."
"Overtime again tonight, then. Tsk."
Just as these despairing exchanges were flying back and forth—
BANG!
The office door swung open cheerfully and someone strolled in. Humming, no less — a complete one-eighty from the funeral-home atmosphere of thirty seconds ago. It was Ji Seoyun.
"Oh, Seoyun. You're looking awfully chipper? Get some good rest?"
"Right? Did you win the lottery or something?"
"Ahaha! I picked up something better than the lottery!"
"...?"
The surrounding PDs stared at her like she'd gone insane. Just yesterday she'd been moaning about quitting on the spot, and now one day off had turned her into a different person? A perfectly reasonable suspicion crossed their minds: had she finally worked herself mad? But even under those piercing stares, Ji Seoyun just kept grinning.
"Heh heh, the department head's inside, right?"
"Uh, yeah. He's here. Why?"
"Ah, I've got business with him~"
With that, she marched straight toward the back of the office, still humming. The PDs watched her swaggering back with dumbfounded expressions.
"Is she about to pull something today?"
"Right? She's got the energy of someone about to throw down a resignation letter and come to blows with the department head on her way out."
"Aish, stop gossiping and get back to revising your pitches. We're out of time."
The PDs' murmuring died down quickly. They had no bandwidth to spare for someone else's resignation rumors.
"Heh heh heh~"
Knock knock! Creeeak—!
A moment later, Ji Seoyun entered the department head's office after a quick knock. Park Hoseong sat there, his face a portrait of misery.
"Good morning, sir."
"Whew... Do I look like I'm having a good morning to you?"
Whenever she faced that goblin of a man, her knees went weak before she could even open her mouth. But right now, Ji Seoyun wasn't afraid of anything. She held the treasure that would make this cranky old goblin dance in the palm of her hand.
"Aish. The writers who actually live up to their names have all been snatched up and slotted into other stations' schedules already, and the scripts from the leftovers are so bad I can't look at them with my eyes open. I'm losing my mind, tsk."
"Ahaha. I'm sure."
"So what brings you here? Did you dig up something worth using?"
"Ah, yes sir! Would you care to give this a read?"
THUNK!
Ji Seoyun planted the stack of scripts she'd been cradling in her arms squarely on Park Hoseong's desk. He scrunched his brow and glanced back and forth between the script and her face.
"What's this? Whose is it?"
"Writer Kim Myeonghwan's. I combed through all the candidates yesterday, and this script was genuinely the best of the lot. I sharpened my knife and everything."
"Kim Myeonghwan? From that washed-up hack?"
Disbelief flooded Park Hoseong's face. Never mind that the man was yesterday's news — why on earth would a writer in his right mind hand a decent script over for a stopgap slot?
Sure as sunrise, it'd be some subpar practice piece, or a half-finished abandoned draft they were testing him with.
Tsk. I don't have time for this, and she brings me everything under the sun.
Still, she'd gone to the trouble of carrying it in, so he supposed he ought to read it. Park Hoseong reluctantly straightened his glasses and turned the first page.
Swish—
At first, he intended nothing more than a cursory skim. But one page, two, three — and as the pages kept turning, something in Park Hoseong's eyes began to shift. The slouch in his spine gradually straightened, and the fingers flipping through the pages grew more and more urgent. Watching him, Ji Seoyun was shouting for joy inside.
"...."
It was as if the office noise had been cut off entirely; nothing filled the room but the rasping whisper of turning paper. How much time had passed? When Park Hoseong closed the final page, he sucked in a sharp breath and slowly lifted his head. Both his eyes were bloodshot with shock and elation.
"...Ji PD. You said this was whose?"
"Writer Kim Myeonghwan's."
"No— wait, this is? Kim Myeonghwan could write like *this*? It's absolutely brimming!"
There was a faint tremor in Park Hoseong's voice. He started rereading the script, then abruptly pushed himself out of his chair.
"Whew... This is far too good to burn on a stopgap slot. We go at this properly — attach an A-list director and turn it into a prestige production. Ah! Ji PD!"
"Yes, sir."
"You contact Kim Myeonghwan yourself! Hammer it into him — absolutely no shopping the synopsis around to other production companies — and book a meeting for the day after tomorrow. Now!"
"Yes, sir!"
Park Hoseong chuckled heartily, clapping Ji Seoyun on the shoulder again and again.
"Haha, anyway, good work. I just got chewed out by the managing director earlier and my neck was killing me, but one page of this script you brought and the pain's completely gone. I thought you'd never settle in around here, but turns out you're a lucky charm, haha!"
"Thank you, sir!"
"Heh heh heh. Right, right — you mentioned you've been so busy you've been skipping breakfast? Here! Take the company card and go get yourself something nice today. Take it easy on the workload for once. Haha!"
"Wha— oh! Thank you so much!"
Gifted with the company card, she bowed her thanks and turned to go.
Recognition and generosity from the goblin supervisor who did nothing but ride her every day — and above all, the satisfaction of finally having accomplished something. Ji Seoyun was glowing.
Ha-ha! Now THIS is what work should feel like...!
Waving the company card in her hand, she breezed out of the office. Her steps were as light as feathers, ready to take flight. What she couldn't have known was how the mistake she'd just made would one day come back as a catastrophe.
Warm morning sunlight filtered through the thin curtains and tickled the corners of my eyes. I squirmed a bit under the covers, then slowly opened my eyes and dragged my heavy body upright.
"Mmm..."
It had already been months since I flung my resignation in and walked out without a shred of regret. In the beginning, I'd lain awake at night worrying — what was I going to eat tomorrow, was my life really going to be okay like this? But now I seemed to have adjusted just fine; I greeted my mornings feeling refreshed. Of course, once my savings ran dry, I'd no doubt be scrambling around in a panic hunting for a job again, but that was a problem for future me.
"Man, I just want to win the lottery and laze around for the rest of my life."
Anyway, my current life was perfect in every way. No tedious work, no managers spouting nonsense. Even the obsessive compulsion to make a debut had melted away — not a single reason to be stressed...
...or so I thought. Actually, there was exactly one.
"Oh, you're up? Morning~"
"...."
Something must have gone right for her lately, because Ji Seoyun's energy had shot way up these past few days. Today, too, she waved at me with a beaming smile.
"Ugh, creepy. Thanks to you, this is a disgustingly miserable morning."
"Aww."
"Cut it out. You're actually making me want to commit murder."
By the way — had she completely given up on finding her own place? She'd been leeching off me for over a month now, and there wasn't the slightest sign of her leaving.
"Are you ever moving out? Or are you just squatting here for good?"
"Oh come on, it's not that I *won't* leave, I *can't* leave~ What if you get lonely without me around~"
"Spare me and just go."
"Aww, why~ I'll stay just a little longer."
Aish, no point in arguing. Talking to a beast like that is nothing but a waste of my time. Still, she handled all the housework and paid her share of the groceries without fail, so my complaints weren't all that serious. Losing my privacy stung, but once she left for work I'd have my perfect freedom back. Even now I could see her curling her hair with a flat iron and dabbing puff powder all over her face — unmistakably getting ready for work.
"Off to make money? Bring home lots~"
"You should be the one finding a job. Stop lazing around like a bum."
Just seconds ago she'd been chirping at me in a cutesy voice, and now she flips her attitude one-eighty. God. I can't even smack her for it.
"I'm heading out. I'll be back late tonight, so don't wait up — eat on your own. And..."
She'd finished getting ready to leave, and now she looked me up and down. Then she grimaced hard and, with an air of deep pity, loaded up her nagging cannon.
"Ew, look at the state of you. Go shower. You're not even broke yet, but you're filthy as hell. Seriously."
"What? Broke? Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden? You wanna die?"
"What's that supposed to mean. You ARE broke. Do you have even a hundred won in your bank account? Out of a job and living it up day after day, of course your account's bone-dry by now."
"...I'm managing it just fine, so mind your own business."
"Yeah, sure you are. Quit hammering away at writing in your room all day and go find a job. At your age you need employment, not a hobby. You're not a kid anymore."
What a nuisance. I answered by raising my middle finger, and Ji Seoyun returned the salute with a middle finger in each hand.
"Anyway, you'd better find your own path soon too, Oppa. Honestly — who's going to hand you money and feed you because you scribbled a few words in your room? Get a real job, you unemployed freeloader."
"Oh, for god's sake — first thing in the morning with this!"
As I flared up and moved to fire back, Ji Seoyun stuck her tongue out at me wickedly and bolted for the front door.
SLAM!
The door crashed shut with a racket, and the previously noisy apartment sank back into silence.
"Aish. Ungrateful brat. Only acts like family when she needs something; the rest of the time she just crawls all over me like that."
From now on, no matter how desperately she begs for help, I'm never helping again. She can handle her own messes. I filed the grievance away in my mental ledger with generous interest and headed for the kitchen. As always, I slapped together some ramyeon for breakfast, then went to the bathroom and finished a shower.
After that, my feet carried me naturally to my desk. The familiar chair I always sat in, the worn texture of the desk under my hands — only then did my mind clear, and a sense of calm settled over me, as if I'd returned to a quiet world that belonged entirely to me.
"Alright. Let's pump out a good chunk of pages today."
With practiced fingers I powered on the laptop and opened my word processor. I took a breath as I watched the cursor blink at even intervals across the blank white page, then began pouring onto the screen the story I'd been fiercely developing in my head right up until I fell asleep last night.
Tak-tack, tatakatak, TAK!
The only sound in the quiet room was the bright, rhythmic clatter of the keyboard, pulsing in steady time. How long had it been? I'd sunk completely into the zone and been scribbling away for ages. I'd lost all track of real time, wholly immersed in the emotional arcs of the characters on my monitor, madly writing out a suffocating conflict scene — that was the moment.
—Bzzzzt!
I stopped typing and pulled out my phone. The name on the screen was Yoon Dongwoo. He'd been quiet for a while — what was up with him now? I pushed the question aside and picked up.
"Hey. What."
"—Yo! You know what today is, right? You so nervous you couldn't sleep properly?"
Yoon Dongwoo's overheated voice blasted through the speaker and hammered my eardrums. Quite the set of lungs for first thing in the morning.
"Today, what. What is it now. Drinking?"
"—Are you serious right now? Like last time, you remember absolutely nothing."
"...? Fine, so what day is it?"
"—You idiot. It's the final results announcement for the script contest."
That's it?
Good grief, and here I thought something major had happened, what with all the gravity in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm aware? Is that why you called?"
"—Look at you, Mr. Calm. What, you think the grand prize is already yours?"
"It's the opposite, genius."
Making it past the second round of judging had been luck and a fluke, and he's talking about the grand prize? I wasn't even holding out hope for an honorable mention, let alone anything above it.
"—Why? Didn't you have that meeting with the PD? Did it go badly?"
"Ugh. Don't even get me started. Those con artists."
"—?"
Dongwoo made a puzzled sound for a moment, then changed the subject.
"—So you're just going to keep writing as a hobby? Even passing the second round shows you've got real talent. Why not commit to that path?"
"Whoa whoa. Hold the kimchi soup. If I had talent, the top ten spots in the contest would all belong to the god of drama."
Yoon Dongwoo only talked that kind of romantic nonsense because he knew nothing about the drama industry. I'd been in this business for years; I knew the brutal reality all too well. Amateurs like me would never, ever pry open a crack in that world. That's why I'd never even entertained the idea of writing as a career in the first place.
"—Hmm, shame. I was hoping you'd at least give it one shot. So what's the plan now, then? Crawl back to a broadcasting station?"
"I'd rather die. Besides, I did hear back from one place."
"—Where?"
"A celebrity I happened to connect with is launching a personal YouTube channel and looking for a main PD. The pay's not bad, so I'm considering giving it a try."
"—Oh, for real? Who? A girl-group idol?!"
"A crazed female peacock, you moron. He's a male actor."
"—Disappointing. Why would you do it for a male actor?"
My sister had a point — I did need to find work sooner or later. I'd played around to my heart's content without limits; now it was time to earn my keep.
"Anyway, if things work out down the line, I'll buy you dinner. Go suffer through your shift."
"—Okay, see you later, man."
We wrapped up our aimless banter and hung up. I was stuffing the phone back in my pocket, about to return to my draft, when it buzzed again. What now — we just talked, why the follow-up text?
But when I looked at the screen, it wasn't Dongwoo. It was a single email notification. Figuring it was just spam, I tapped it without thinking.
"Huh?"
A screw-loose, idiotic sound fell out of my mouth.
...I'm sorry, what?