Life, Once Again!

After Story 100

Dawoon unlocked her hands. There was no end that made her sit on the edge like this among the dramas she watched this year. The internet was raging about it as well. How thrilling must it have been to watch it at the scene?

If it weren’t for that Choi Seungah, she would have participated as a minor actor too. Dawoon bit on her thumb. If it weren’t for Seungah, it would have been her who would’ve received the recommendation from instructor Miso. The role Seungah was playing was just a simple character that anyone could play. It was such a pity as it meant that she had been deprived of an opportunity to work with good actors.

Looking back, she was quite foolish. When instructor Miso talked about the audition, she should have been more proactive about getting it instead of yielding it to Seungah.

This was the result of thinking that Seungah was someone closer to her and that she had another opportunity.

“Next time….”

Dawoon got off the indoor bike and went to the bathroom. She let some hot water into the bath and opened the aroma bottle that Han Haneul recommended. A good fragrance covered her body.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was losing weight every single day. She tried turning her head slightly. She could see a glimpse of Han Haneul through the steamed mirror.

She let out a short cheer. She was catching up. She was changing. There was not long left until she would be reborn.

For a very brief moment, she recalled Haneul, who was walking alongside Maru. Her heated body cooled down instantly.

What would Maru think after looking at the changed her? She dipped her body into the bath. It was morally not right to get in between a man and a woman dating. However, it wasn’t illegal. Breaking up while dating was something common. The woman standing next to Maru changing into another was also ‘possible.’

She touched her lips which had curved upwards.

* * *

“President. Good morning.”

“That’s a very business-like greeting.”

“Even if it’s business-like, a greeting like that is better than not doing it.”

Junmin waved his hand at the employee before going into the CEO’s office. He scanned the headlines of the morning newspaper that his secretary had brought and grabbed a copy.

“President, what will you do for breakfast?” said the secretary while opening the door. Next to her was a new secretary.

“Just some tea will do. Also, Miss Kim Jungyeon,” he called out to the new secretary.

“Yes, president.”

“Don’t be nervous, and don’t try to read my mood. You just need to do what you have to. Also, there’s not much you have to do either. You just have to do what secretary Kang who is standing next to you tells you to do.”

“Yes.”

“And are you wearing heels because you’re comfortable with them?”

The new secretary rolled her eyes away. Junmin said once again, that she shouldn’t try to read his mood and that she shouldn’t be nervous.

“I wore them because I thought it would look formal.”

“If you are wearing them because you’re comfortable in them or you like them, I won’t stop you. But if you’re doing it because you felt like you had to do it or because of the atmosphere, then change them. Secretary Kang is a great example.”

Secretary Kang smiled and lifted up the slippers she was wearing. The new secretary nodded.

“I’ll give you your first task. The deadline will be 7 p.m. this Friday. Scrape together the articles related to the RBS drama ‘The Witness’ after midnight today. Then, sort and classify them into positive and negative contents and report to me the overview.”

“Yes, sir.”

“When did I say the deadline was?”

“Friday, 7 p.m.”

“Perfect. You may leave now. Oh, can you call head manager Choi?”

Secretary Kang replied yes before leaving the office.

Junmin slowly read the newspaper, starting with the politics part. As for the economics part, he only read the parts he was interested in before moving to the entertainment section. A celebrity accused of consuming methamphetamine took a large portion. It was something unrelated to him, so he just moved his eyes elsewhere.

There was a critique article of newly released dramas. They were mostly ordinary. However, the last paragraph was to his liking. It said that people should remember minor actors who might be suffering hardships to make enough money for everyday life.

“My nose is freezing.” Head manager Choi came in.

In his hand was a cup and he had a paper bag with him.

“It’s some tteok.”

“I told secretary Kang that I won’t be having breakfast.”

“You see, your wife’s words take priority over secretary Kang. We got a call in the morning to feed you something.”

Secretary Kang put down the tteok and told him to eat. Junmin had no choice but to eat the tteok for nutrition.

“How is the state of the journalists who got money from us? Are they working without slacking?”

“They have to; they got something from us after all. I had them upload articles so that they didn’t overlap, both in terms of content and in terms of time. Well, they’re good with things like that, so there was no need for me to worry.”

“How’s the response on the other side?”

“For now, the responses are good in the large communities that we are monitoring. The attention has gone up so high that we might not have had to spend any money at all. Although it always happened when a new mini-series started, it’s been a long time since minor actors received so much attention instead of the main characters.”

Head manager Choi gave him a file. There was a short report of responses from large community sites that many large TV stations and entertainment agencies monitored. He flipped the page over. There was a list of news articles that came out yesterday, sorted by title.

“Park Sinseo is something alright. There are many people who flop when they do dramas after staying in the film industry, but this man sure is different. Shooting a movie and shooting a drama is structurally different, but he adapted well.”

“It’s a pity about him. I had my dibs on him and almost got him, but he said he wanted to stay loyal, so what could I do? I had to let him go.”

“He’s got both skill and loyalty.”

“I’ll have to see him again after his contract ends this time.”

“Let him keep his loyalty. At this rate, all the major actors might as well be under the JA banner.”

“Monopoly isn’t a bad thing.”

“It is if you do it, president.”

“Head manager Choi, do you know the reason you don’t get a pay raise? It’s because you lack respect for the president.”

“I know that. That’s why I gave up on getting a good salary and just decided to joke around with you. Also, I can just ask your wife for the pay raise. She’s on my side.”

Junmin smiled bitterly. This guy wouldn’t be so hateful if he were bad at talking.

“Also, I’ve handed over the report material that you told me about. The article will go up as soon as I contact them.”

“Tell them to upload around five.”

“Yes, sir.”

At five, two news outlets would release the news that Han Maru has signed an exclusive contract with JA. It was the right time to spread the news since he got publicity through the drama.

“Shall I schedule interviews as well?”

“No, let’s keep watching for now. He said he’s also starting a film, so let’s watch until that one. We might fall over while trying to get ahead of ourselves.”

“You got him a film already?”

“I didn’t get him anything. He got it himself. Isn’t it interesting? He started acting last June, but he’s already doing everything. It’s like he knows the path he should walk on better than I do.”

Head manager Choi drank some tea before asking, “What do you think about him? Do you think JA finally managed to get a 20s male actor that could be at the top?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“If you don’t know, who else in the country would know?”

“You know well that this industry is one where things that look like they will go well will flop and things that look hopeless will do well. The start is good, but we don’t know if it’s just the start that will be good, so we have to keep watching.”

Head manager Choi reached out to some tteok, but Junmin blocked his hand with the hot teacup. Head manager Choi twitched his mouth.

“I thought you weren’t eating it.”

“It’s in my hands now, so I don’t want to give it to someone else.”

“I’m someone else?”

Head manager Choi snatched some tteok quickly.

“What happened to that fellow Park Joohwan? Are you going to sign a contract with him?”

“Unfortunately, I was a step late. He already signed with another place.”

“There’s someone faster than you, president.”

“There’s a lot. I can’t go around meeting all the new faces.”

“Well, you are doing it as a hobby of sorts when you don’t have to do it. It’s not like JA’s lacking talent either. Moreover, the business profits are more focused on production and logistics.”

“But we are an actor agency at heart. I’ll bring good actors in if I see them.”

“Good actors, you say. Park Joohwan, that fellow felt good too, so it’s a pity. I personally liked Park Joohwan better than Han Maru. I mean, Park Joohwan wins in terms of appearance. He looks fair on the outside, but there’s strength in his eyes. He’ll probably be able to take to the skies among dramas if you get him a romantic comedy, you know?”

“Maybe. In terms of appearance, I’ll definitely give more points to Park Joohwan.”

“And yet, you decided to approach Han Maru first, and we lost Park Joohwan thanks to that.”

“So it’s my fault?”

“Who said it’s your fault? I just want to see your insightful eyes fail at least once.”

“Why don’t you be the president? I’ll retire.”

“There you go again. You’re half of the name of JA Entertainment, so if you quit, the company will start going downhill. Also, I know you. If you leave JA, you’ll probably start a new company and put me in my place. I don’t want it. I’ll live a comfortable life under you my whole life.”

Junmin snorted and looked at the monitor screen. He looked at the awardees of the Short Film Festival.

Park Joohwan, acting award. Grand prize, Han Maru. They were both good talents. Their future paths would be decided depending on what kind of work they appear in.

“But what’s the movie that Han Maru got himself? The ones that held auditions recently are all big titles.”

“Giant.”

Head manager Choi exclaimed in admiration. “Wow. That should’ve gotten a huge influx of participants, and he managed to get a role. You are talking about director Song Daejin’s work, right?”

“I am.”

“It’s been four years huh? As far as I know, he refused all the scenarios he received until now, yet now he’s revving up. What role is he playing?”

“A con artist.”

“A con artist? I think he got the wrong role. I saw him in the drama last night, and he’s definitely the upright, just type. He might as well be the one being scammed instead.”

Junmin recalled the Han Maru formed by the abandoned dogs public commercial advertisement and the drama. As director Choi said, a good guy image did suit him.

However, taking those characters away from him, Han Maru honestly didn’t give off a soft impression. In fact, he looked like a villain role suited him better. He should probably fit well with characters that hide their vengeance and sneakily carry out evil deeds.

That was in line with a con artist. Sneaky, yet not sneaky; evil, yet not evil.

“We’ll see,” Junmin said as he looked at Maru on the screen.

* * *

Some snow landed on the large leaf. He tapped on the leaf and let out a short breath. The cold air that brushed past his lungs cooled his heated body.

Maru took off the hoodie and took out his phone. It was 7 a.m. He took out his earbuds and put them on before turning on the FM radio.

-Friday, 3rd of April. Good morning, everyone. I hear the roads are slightly slippery because it rained throughout the night. You should be careful during your morning commute.

He headed home as he listened to the morning broadcast. On his way, he visited the market to buy some eggs, milk, and cabbages.

“I’ll give you food, so don’t look at me like that.”

He fed the grumbling cat before washing up. He put some cereal in milk and went to the TV. He watched a program related to everyday living, and it said that milk in the morning wasn’t good for the intestines, even though just a few days ago, they said that having milk on an empty stomach was good.

He finished washing the dishes before starting to clean. It seemed cats had a fur-shedding season, as the amount of fur produced was on the level of a factory.

He lifted up the fur generator and combed her. This was the best treatment she could get from him.

-The afterparty for the hot drama with a 25% viewing rate, ‘The Witness’ occurred last night. We managed to get some of the actors who maintained the tension until the end, on our cameras.

Maru sat down on the sofa. Many cameras were shooting the actors going into the get-together restaurant.

Getting over 25% viewing rate with a minor genre drama didn’t happen that many times in history, so the interest was big.

Starting with Park Sinseo, the actors showed up on the screen. Yoo Jichan, who appeared midway, did right-angle bows wherever he went. His face was full of smiles.

He watched TV for a while before getting his jacket. While the lead actors were basking in their glory, minor actors had to work busily.

“Yes. This is Han Maru who contacted you last time. I’m going to Suwon station. Yes. It’s the 11 o’clock train to Busan. I’ll see you on platform five.”

Maru grabbed the bag with some clothes and daily necessities and left the house.

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