“I’m still very lacking.”
“In this industry, they don’t like it if you’re too modest either. It’s not like you came out to do volunteer work…”
Seo Kyungju’s face replying with an empty laugh seemed to momentarily contain contempt. He immediately fanned himself with a hand fan and grumbled that the tension wasn’t coming because it was hot, so he thought he’d seen wrong, but the last words muttered couldn’t be anything but sincere. Muyoung, who couldn’t particularly add any other words, stood still and listened to Seo Kyungju’s words.
“It’s about time you did a lead role once.”
“Ah… I wonder if there’ll be an opportunity…”
If it had been Muyoung from a while ago, an answer would have come out saying he should work hard, but now even if there was an opportunity, he was in a position where he couldn’t take it. Since doing his best to avoid causing damage was all he could do, it was bitter that answers to passing words like this weren’t easy.
“Well, desperate people tend to grab them well.”
“Yes…”
Perhaps seeing signs that filming would start now, after patting Muyoung’s shoulder and muttering words that somehow seemed mixed with sarcasm too. It seemed Section Manager Kim kept telling him to be careful, so even he was making needless misunderstandings. He bowed his head to the back of Seo Kyungju leaving at the filming staff’s call.
A desperate person. Did he see that in him? Or was it telling him to grab it desperately? The latter probably fit better. He decided to treat the appropriately cold words left in passing lightly, as it was ambiguous whether they were advice.
Muyoung approached beside the staff waiting for filming. After having his costume and makeup checked again, it was immediately the shoot. To safely spend today as well, he had to stay sharp until filming ended.
* * *
He finished filming in not-bad condition and returned to the van, but the door was locked. Since the car was parked on the roadside, he came out and around to check the driver’s seat as he’d entered between the wall and car. But there was no one inside the car. Since they’d said they’d wait until filming ended today then commute together, it was strange that he’d left without a word. Then he saw Section Manager Kim running urgently from afar.
“Muyoung-ah!”
“Where have you been? I was surprised you weren’t in the car.”
“Quickly, quickly get in the car.”
A face that looked somehow urgent whispered quickly to Muyoung, filled with tension. Section Manager Kim, with a face completely distorted unable to contain his anger, made several fumbling mistakes while opening the car door while hissing. Only after Muyoung, who had been standing beside watching that, finally told him to do it slowly, did the car door barely open.
“Get in first.”
But Section Manager Kim couldn’t calm down easily, as soon as the door opened, he pushed Muyoung into the car first. Coming straight into the driver’s seat, starting the engine and quickly departing the car, he was in an atmosphere where words couldn’t be broached throughout. The appearance of continuously being wary of the surroundings and constantly checking the rearview mirror acted as if he wouldn’t let it go if anything caught.
“Section Manager-nim, really what’s going on?”
“…Some-something happened. Saying to come to the office right away, CEO Choi.”
“Why is he doing that…”
Muyoung, who had become anxious along with him, asked. He met eyes with Section Manager Kim looking at Muyoung through the rearview mirror with his forehead deeply furrowed.
“A tabloid broke about you.”
He didn’t broach more words in case it would torment Section Manager Kim who was driving in the accelerating car. Still, it didn’t feel real. He thought what business would he, of all people, have appearing in a tabloid.
His head was blank not knowing how they arrived at the parking lot. He moved getting out of the car together following Section Manager Kim who hurriedly entered the office. He was saying CEO Choi had already arrived too and to go in and talk.
Muyoung, who still couldn’t grasp what kind of problem it was, nodded at Section Manager Kim’s words then didn’t give any particular reply. Though the distance from the site to the office was a bit over an hour, unlike usual, inside the car was quiet.
As soon as they got out of the car, they both looked around then entered the office immediately. CEO Choi was sitting with a sensitive face as if he’d waited quite a while.
“Did filming finish well?”
“Is that important right now?”
Muyoung ended up being a bit surprised because of Section Manager Kim’s quick retort. He didn’t know what content the tabloid had, what kind of sensitive issue it was that they had to urgently come to the office. In fact, because Muyoung had things he was hiding, this situation becoming burdensome was unavoidable. He could only hope the tabloid’s content was to a degree he didn’t need to worry about.
“Muyoung, sit down first. Section Manager Kim, you calm down a bit. These things happen.”
“Ha… These things? Sponsorship is one of these things?”
“You…!”
When a loud voice finally burst from Section Manager Kim’s mouth, Muyoung’s head whipped that way. He thought he’d heard something wrong.
“What do you mean? Sponsorship?”
The three who sat down after all letting out deep sighs were all out of their minds. CEO Choi, who had to explain the situation, was troubled as CEO Choi, and Section Manager Kim and Muyoung were the same. Even if they were desperate or struggling, they were people far from behind-the-scenes work like sponsorship or bribery. Though he couldn’t know where the words flowed from, Muyoung could tell it was contained in the tabloid he appeared in.
“Right now a tabloid broke with your initials, Muyoung.”
“Yes, I heard. But what’s the content…”
“It’s content saying you and some businessman are in a sponsorship relationship…”
CEO Choi took the printed paper and placed it in front of Muyoung. Muyoung’s brow furrowed involuntarily as he held the paper and read the content. Inside was a story Muyoung couldn’t ignore. The word sponsorship actually had little impact. It was because Muyoung himself was upright with nothing to be caught on and thought it didn’t apply to him. The problem was that the part describing the identity of the person entangled with him was strange.
Supporting actor L-kun, about to suddenly rise to lead role? Is it legitimate skill or sponsorship power?
L-kun, who is showing stable acting as a supporting role as the protagonist’s close friend in a currently airing romance drama, is a supporting actor who has steadily built a foundation step by step after debut and continues activities with a somewhat low recognition but sincere and clean image. There’s a lot of talk because he’s said to be a candidate as the lead for a famous PD’s next work.
While it’s common for supporting actors to be selected as leads, according to an insider, the ‘level’ isn’t there yet to suddenly be discussed for a large-scale drama lead. The most likely speculation is whether some invisible power worked in this background. Since the famous PD who is the head of that drama also has tremendous power in the industry, if there’s a sponsor pushing L-kun to such a person, what kind of figure they are is also worth noting.
According to a reliable source, the person being pointed to as the sponsor is likely a certain Mr. Han, who is a major corporation-affiliated entertainment CEO with nothing to oppose in the broadcasting entertainment industry. For reference, L-kun has never changed agencies since debut, and with this drama’s lead position, he may receive groundbreaking treatment and renew his contract or transfer.
This businessman sponsor who made L-kun into Cinderella is also a publicly known Alpha in society, so if you think about the meaning of sponsorship, it can’t help but be strange. Because L-kun is a Beta. So it’s a point that raises suspicion that it’s certain sponsorship is attached. If he’s cast in a large-scale work backed by a sponsor, this suspicion will probably be confirmed as fact, won’t it?
Though the tabloid content was filled with all kinds of speculation, to the eyes of people who knew the surrounding circumstances, it was too clear it was Muyoung’s story. It was even more so from the currently airing drama supporting role to the image in the industry laid out. Probably not knowing otherwise, the scene of people who discovered it all whispering about this story while looking at Muyoung once each was predictable.
Moreover, even talk about traits came out. People who didn’t want to could not reveal their traits, and speculating or asking about others’ traits was considered rude.
However, talking behind backs about Alphas and Omegas, or malicious comments and stalking becoming more rampant toward entertainers active while opening as Omega trait had been openly happening. It was a tabloid that cleverly revealed the sponsor was an Alpha while simultaneously making one imagine what kind of treatment Muyoung, known as Beta, would receive.
“For now it’s just a tabloid… but the content is strange. This is the first lead-level work that came to you, and it’s also strange that it popped out as if waiting.”
“It’s not that the lead is important. In the end, it’s a story that Muyoung saw and received sponsorship.”
Muyoung’s body flinched and trembled at the word sponsorship. He read the content written on the paper he was holding several times. He could understand why Section Manager Kim was angry. CEO Choi was trying hard to have a rational, calm conversation, but Section Manager Kim, whose anger hadn’t subsided, even fanned haphazardly with the paper visible before his eyes, fluttering it.
“…Muyoung-ah.”
“Didn’t I say I wouldn’t enter that work?”
Muyoung, with a face much more sunken than when he’d entered the office, asked while looking at the two.
“Right, you did. Moreover, that wasn’t even confirmed as you. I know there was even talk of an audition, so I don’t know why this story popped out.”
“Is what’s discussed here really that work? Isn’t it just randomly taken and stuck on our Muyoung?”
“Section Manager Kim, first calm down and think rationally. That’s why I called. To discuss how to handle it well.”
It was as CEO Choi said. It wasn’t a drama where Muyoung was precisely selected for casting, and if an audition was scheduled, at most he would have been one of the actors to whom proposals went. Nevertheless, the reason CEO Choi had welcomed that drama matter at the time was both because it was the first time a lead-level casting proposal came in and the work itself was decent. He thought it wasn’t something to suddenly break, moreover with a nonsensical tabloid like this.
“Still, still… it’s not like an article broke either. I think it’ll just disappear if we leave it…”
Most recreational tabloids mixed truth and falsehood and were just used as means to sway public opinion this way and that. He thought wouldn’t controversy at this level disappear on its own if they stayed quiet without any response? No, it had to.
