Rookie Talent Agent Knows It All

Chapter 10: Unknown Truth

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Before I traveled back in time, Yoo-Jin stopped working for a year after Miso’s death. Then she played the role of a villain for the first time in her acting career in a drama called Murderer, making a name for herself.

Her versatile acting skills and ability to play both an innocent girl and a ruthless psychopath at the same time had captivated the viewers. However, being casted for similar roles even after the drama ended had a lasting impact on Yoo-Jin’s image—she was referred to as the best female psychopath actress.

Having gained significant popularity, Yoo-Jin made a move to Ace Entertainment, the leading entertainment company at that time, after her contract with Hoop Entertainment ended. She then landed a role in the movie Just for Today, directed by Producer Director Kim Moon-Jin.

Yoo-Jin’s portrayal of a mother grappling with the profound emotions of losing her daughter moved the entire nation to tears and instantly catapulted her to the status of a top-tier actress in Korea.

However, that was when she began to face unexpected challenges.

Around the time Yoo-Jin made a comeback, I was managing Ju Yung-In, my former wife, who often competed with Yoo-Jin for lead roles during auditions. At the time, I thought Yoo-Jin was constantly trying to steal Ju Yung-In’s role because she wanted to seek revenge against me.

Looking back, I now realized that I had been mistaken. Although Yoo-Jin would turn away from me whenever we ran into each other on set, she had never spoken ill of me or blamed me.

It was only when I traveled back to the past that I finally saw the truth.

It wasn’t that Yoo-Jin wanted to crush Ju Yung-In, but it was Ju Yung-In who wanted to crush Yoo-Jin’s career, and that was the reason she kept auditioning for the same roles as Yoo-Jin.

Knowing their personalities made me sure this was the case.

I wasn’t able to think straight back then because I believed that Yoo-Jin hated me, but my judgment now was clear.

I recalled how Ju Yung-In used to keep Yoo-Jin in check all the time, while Kim Dong-Soo always looked after Ju Yung-In. Furthermore, Coach Choi Hyun-Min’s biased evaluation of Yoo-Jin and the fact that he graduated from the same university as Kim Dong-Soo allowed me to form my own understanding of the situation.

My hypothesis was that Kim Dong-Soo had intentionally tried to crush Yoo-Jin’s career, as she had the potential to rival Ju Yung-In in the near future and Kim Dong-Soo wanted to win Ju Yung-In’s favor by doing so.

Suddenly, this train of thought began to generate a series of questions in my mind.

Though it initially seemed like an absurd notion, pursuing this line of thought allowed me to make sense of all the questions I had in the past, present, and future.

I finally understood the reason Yoo-Jin’s internal profile was so harshly evaluated.

‘Ju Yung-In was well aware of Yoo-Jin’s exceptional acting talent all along, which was precisely why she sought Kim Dong-Soo’s help to sabotage Yoo-Jin’s career and Kim Dong-Soo did so by getting Choi Hyun-Min to give Yoo-Jin a negative evaluation!’

The moment I figured out the truth, my body started trembling and I was unconsciously clenching my teeth.

‘If...Just if...’

If my thoughts were correct, Miso’s death in my past life was likely Ju Yung-In and Kim Dong-Soo’s doing.

***

There were two factions in Hoop Entertainment: they were President Kang Gam-Chan’s line[1] and Suhyaejong line, consisting of those who graduated from Seoul National University of the Arts.

Actor Division 1 was predominantly composed of the Suhyaejong line, and Actor Division 3 and Singer Division 1 were almost entirely composed of the Suhyaejong line.

On the other hand, Actor Division 2 and Singer Division 2, which housed girl group Cherry Blossom, were composed of Kang Gam-Chan’s line.

Despite Kang Gam-Chan being the president of the company, the dominance of the Suhyaejong line within Hoop Entertainment was indisputable. The reason was because about 70% of the actors and staff at Hoop Entertainment were graduates of Seoul National University of the Arts.

My heart began to race wildly the moment I found out that Kim Dong-Soo, who was second in power after Operation Director Lee Gi-Cheol within the Suhyaejong line, tried to mess with Yoo-Jin.

‘Something bad might happen to Yoo-Jin if I let my guard down.’

On top of that, I realized that Kim Dong-Soo was already romantically interested in Ju Yung-In early on. That explained why Kim Dong-Soo, who took care of countless actors so that he could leave Hoop Entertainment with them to set up his own company, targeted only Yoo-Jin.

‘So that was it, huh?’

What needed to be done from this point forward became clear.

First of all, I had to remove Coach Choi Hyun-Min from his role as Yoo-Jin’s acting coach. Subsequently, I had to protect Yoo-Jin from Ju Yung-In and Kim Dong-Soo.

I thought I had let go of all the negative emotions after going through the five stages of grief, but it turned out I had not. Perhaps I should get a refund from the doctor I saw in my past life.

‘What an incompetent doctor. Five stages of grief, my ass.’

I found myself breathing heavily out of anger without realizing it.

At that moment, Yoo-Jin’s trembling voice snapped me back to reality.

“Oppa, is everything okay? Is there...is there something wrong with my acting? Your expression is...”

“Huh?”

I realized that Yoo-Jin had stopped acting and was staring intently at me. Miso was also looking at me with a slightly frightened expression.

It seemed like I had been visibly triggered.

“Ah, no. There’s nothing wrong. I just had a sudden toothache.”

It seemed like I became better at lying after traveling back in time.

“Does it hurt a lot? Should we go to the dentist?”

“I’ll book an appointment soon. Don’t worry about it.”

‘But I’ll be good to her now since I’ve received a second chance at life.’

In the meantime, Yoo-Jin stopped crying and asked.

“But what should I do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Mr. Kang[2] told me to call and inform him immediately if anyone finds out about my relationship to Miso...”

It was only natural for Kang Gam-Chan to say so, because if everyone found out a newly-debuted twenty-three year old female celebrity had a child, her career would be over. Once an actress was labeled with terms like ‘a single mom’ or having ‘dirty private life,’ even clarifying the truth wouldn’t help.

“I’ll tell Mr. Kang about it myself. He probably instructed you to inform him right away because he’s worried about reporters writing absurd articles. You trust me, right?”

When I cautiously asked, Yoo-Jin responded with a smile and nodded.

“Of course I do. Who would I trust if not you? Things are going well and it’s all thanks to you. You even saved Miso, oppa.”

Having gone through the tough first day together, Yoo-Jin seemed to trust me a lot.

“Thank you. Now, shall we go back in and continue practicing your acting?”

“Let’s do it!”

Yoo-Jin wiped away the remaining tears in her eyes with her sleeve and took a deep breath, determined not to cry in front of Miso.

As we were heading back to my apartment, I decided to ask one more thing.

“Oh, by the way. Just out of curiosity, why did you choose to sign a contract with Hoop Entertainment? Didn’t you receive offers from ACE Entertainment and other successful companies?”

Yoo-Jin shrugged and answered as if there was no special reason.

“Oh, that? Other companies don’t pay their trainees, but Mr. Kang offered me a salary. That’s why I chose Hoop Entertainment.”

“What?”

“Out of all those companies, only Mr. Kang offered me a monthly salary of 3 million won with full-time employee benefits, so I signed the contract. I’m currently treated as an assistant manager at Hoop Entertainment.”

“Wait, you get a salary? But you’re a celebrity.”

‘Her position is even higher than mine.’

I was relieved she didn’t insist on me calling her Assistant Manager Jung Yoo-Jin.

“Yes. I used to make 2.2 million won when I worked part-time at Burger Queen. But Mr. Kang offered me more money and a full-time position. He even said I could stay with the company if I didn’t succeed as an actress. So I signed the contract in a heartbeat.”

It was somewhat surprising that Kang Gam-Chan recruited someone who was initially not interested in the entertainment industry as an employee first.

However, there was something I still couldn’t understand.

“Hold on. But you said you couldn’t work many hours a day because you had to look after Miso. So how did you make 2.2 million won at Burger Queen?”

Yoo-Jin looked at me and made a victory sign with her fingers.

“My hourly wage was 20,000 won.”

‘Huh? 20,000 won per hour at Burger Queen?’

I suddenly felt the world was unfair. When I was working part-time in 2018, I only received a wage of 7,530 won.

‘But an hourly wage of 20,000 won? That’s just...ugh.’

I felt like grabbing someone and exclaiming this wasn’t right. However, I understood the reason Yoo-Jin was paid so much after hearing her story—whenever Yoo-Jin was working, customers would fill the restaurant just to catch a glimpse of her, hence, increasing sales which justified her rising hourly wage.

She said the manager of Burger Queen in Cheonho-dong still called her even now, offering a full-time position with a monthly salary of 3.5 million won.

At that moment, I grabbed Yoo-Jin’s shoulder.

“That is nonsense! You are going to succeed as an actress. I know you will! You know that you will receive additional income when you succeed, right? Right?”

Yoo-Jin nodded as I badgered her.

“Yes. Mr. Kang said he’d adjust my salary once thirty percent of my earnings as a celebrity exceeds the salary that I draw as an employee. Um, oppa. You’re hurting my arm...”

“Oh, sorry. I was just surprised to hear that Burger Queen still calls you.”

I shuddered at the thought that I almost lost the future top star, Jung Yoo-Jin, to a Burger Queen store manager.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

As I watched Yoo-Jin express her excitement about acting right in front of Lee Ji-Yeon, I promised myself once again that I would definitely help Yoo-Jin reclaim her place as a top star, or perhaps even surpass it.

The same held true for the members of Faithful.

Thinking about living my second life as a talent agent who knows it all, my heart began to flutter.

1. Line refers to the group of people following or led by ‘fill in the blank(person’s name)’ ?

2. Kang Gam-Chan ?

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