About a month had passed since I entered Youth, and roughly three months had gone by since I took on the role of Seo Hanryul’s manager. Compared to his previous agency, things had become about ten times busier, making my body extremely exhausted, but seeing that bastard doing well also made me feel proud.
‘Only three months left now.’
After Seo Hanryul entered Youth, just as I expected, the flow of the original story was progressing smoothly.
There was just one problem—romance.
While the entertainment business was sailing smoothly, the romance business wasn’t making much progress at all. Over the past month, Seo Hanryul had barely run into Lee Dojun. At most, they’d occasionally bump into each other at the agency and exchange a brief nod. But since it hadn’t been long since he joined Youth and the bastard would need time to adapt to his new agency, I wasn’t too anxious about it.
‘That’s right, it’s not too late to start the romance later. Becoming a top star comes first.’
Today was the day of the first script reading for the Monday-Tuesday drama [Laws of the Universe]. [Laws of the Universe] was a series that lightly and pleasantly depicted the stories of youth, and Seo Hanryul had been cast as the second male lead, Do Jaejun.
The drama had been a hot topic even before production began, with a star writer penning the script and top star Woo Juhan being cast. Of course, there was also considerable interest in Seo Hanryul, a rookie who had landed a leading role immediately after joining Youth Entertainment.
Just like in the novel, the bastard’s entertainment career was slowly preparing to bloom fully.
“Hey, you’re a huge fan of Woo Juhan. You must be pretty excited, right? Getting to work on a production with your role model—you’ve totally made it.”
“Not really.”
Seo Hanryul put on an aloof expression and acted all high and mighty. Even if he acted all nonchalant on the outside, he was definitely dying of happiness on the inside.
‘He’ll never reveal what’s in his heart, even if it kills him.’
“As expected, you’re impossible to understand. If I were working on the same production as my role model, I’d be so excited I couldn’t sleep the night before… Just go and act well today. We’re almost there.”
* * *
After driving for another 30 minutes, we arrived at the script reading location.
Inside the large conference room, all the actors appearing in the drama were seated. So the day finally comes when I see this many celebrities all at once in my life. In particular, the drama’s female lead Lee Jian and male lead Woo Juhan were indescribably beautiful in person.
‘It feels like my eyes have been opened.’
“Hello. I’m rookie actor Seo Hanryul. When I received the call that I’d been cast in [Laws of the Universe], I was truly stunned. I even worried whether a mere rookie like me should bite off such an amazing project, but since it was an incredible opportunity for me, I decided to grab it tight. I’ll work hard not to be a burden among the excellent writers and constellation-like senior actors. Thank you!”
‘When he’s like that, he’s actually normal.’
Seo Hanryul completely hid his true nature and, as soon as he arrived on set, gave an energetic greeting full of fighting spirit to all the actors.
“Now then, let’s begin the script reading.”
The script reading started in a harmonious atmosphere.
‘Wow, it’s already interesting?’
[Laws of the Universe] was extraordinary from the script reading itself. In particular, Woo Juhan and Seo Hanryul had excellent chemistry, and every time a scene with the two of them appeared, small chuckles burst out from all around.
The character Seo Hanryul played was a rich boy who wasn’t completely without manners, but was missing about half of them, and he played the annoying role so well that I couldn’t help but applaud.
‘That’s right, that’s acting that comes from real life.’
Thinking about Seo Hanryul’s usual behavior, I realized that character wouldn’t be too difficult for him. Because that’s his true nature.
Needless to say, Woo Juhan’s acting was also excellent. As I watched his acting, my eyes naturally went to his face. Looking closely at Woo Juhan’s face, I thought he looked like a slightly more thick-lined version of Seo Hanryul.
‘He only picks people who look like him to like.’
An easygoing, meet-the-parents free pass type. Woo Juhan’s appearance was completely different from Cha Jaehyun’s. While there would be no disagreement that both possessed incredible looks, if Woo Juhan was an endlessly warm gentle handsome man, Cha Jaehyun was the type whose sharp impression could invoke fear in people seeing him for the first time when he had an expressionless face.
Cha Jaehyun’s appearance was at the extreme end of cold handsomeness, and his sharp eyes that looked rebellious were a bonus. That’s why I tried to smile more usually. Because I thought Cha Jaehyun’s expressionless face might cause people to misunderstand him.
“We’ll take a short break! We’ll start part 2 in 10 minutes.”
I was deeply analyzing Cha Jaehyun’s appearance when an unexpected break time was given. My back was starting to hurt anyway, so I thought it worked out well. Seo Hanryul was looking at the script even during the break.
‘When I see him like that, I feel proud of him again.’
“You’ve been staring at me this whole time, haven’t you?”
I was about to go outside when Woo Juhan suddenly spoke to me. Woo Juhan’s face seen up close was even more beautiful. The situation of a top star approaching me first felt completely surreal.
“Haha, it’s because you act so well and you’re so handsome. I’m a fan. I’m Hanryul-ssi’s manager, and since Hanryul-ssi’s role model is Juhan-nim, I was even more interested.”
“Is that so? You were staring so much I thought you were going to drill a hole in my face.”
‘Did I stare that much….’
“Actually, seeing a top star this close doesn’t feel real, so I was watching thinking I was watching TV and ended up being rude. I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”
“Haha, not at all. I’m also very happy to meet a fan who likes me up close. Then would you like to have a meal with me sometime?”
Asking another actor’s manager to eat? It was an unexpectedly down-to-earth remark for a top star.
‘His personality is genuine too.’
I didn’t know if the offer to eat was sincere, but watching Woo Juhan smile without hesitation, I thought I really wanted to eat with him. Apart from him simply being a handsome top star, my heart seemed to melt when I realized he was the first person I’d met in the novel who had approached me kindly.
“A meal? Really? That would be an honor for me.”
“Sunbae-nim, I’m really sorry. My manager has a packed schedule. It seems difficult to have a separate meal.”
Seo Hanryul, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly walked in front of me and blocked between the two of us.
‘Why is this bastard acting up again?’
“Seo Hanryul-ssi, aren’t you holding onto your manager too tightly? You shouldn’t hold people down like that from when you’re a rookie. Manager-nim, contact me secretly.”
The good-natured Woo Juhan gently laughed off Seo Hanryul’s sudden behavior with a chuckle. Moreover, he even showed an impossibly sweet side by lightly taking my phone and putting his number in it.
‘Wow, did I just get a top star’s number?’
“Cha Jaehyun, from now on, get my permission when making appointments with anyone.”
I was admiring Woo Juhan’s warm behavior when Seo Hanryul whispered those words and returned to his seat.
* * *
“Great work, everyone! Let’s keep it up like this! We’re going for number one in viewer ratings!”
The script reading ended very satisfactorily, and Seo Hanryul and I quickly returned to the car for the next schedule.
‘It really is busy.’
“Hey, give me your phone.”
Just as I was about to leave, Seo Hanryul snatched my phone away.
“Why?”
“Hand it over while I’m asking nicely.”
“Ha…. Here.”
That crazy bastard. I had no choice but to unlock the screen and hand over my phone to the bastard.
“Are you insane, what are you doing?”
Seo Hanryul was deleting the phone number Woo Juhan had given me from my phone.
“Don’t go around doing stupid things.”
“This seems a bit much? Don’t interfere with my personal relationships.”
I glared at him for crossing the line.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have even seen Woo Juhan today.”
Ah, is he doing this because he doesn’t like me getting close to his role model? It was childish to the point I couldn’t stand it, but I decided to let his behavior slide.
“And why do you go around smiling at just anyone?”
Smiling brings good fortune. I was willing to understand up to deleting the phone number, but I absolutely couldn’t understand what came after. I’m a manager after all, so always smiling and behaving well would have a positive influence on Seo Hanryul’s reputation.
“Ha…. Now you’re even complaining about me smiling. Then would it make you feel better if I went around yelling at people instead? …You’re not someone who’s only done social life for one or two days, you should know this kind of thing, so why are you like this? Are you really a brat throwing a tantrum?”
“Shut up. Whatever, just don’t go around smiling at just anyone.”
The bastard definitely heard what I said but threw a fit first no matter what. And how much did I even smile today that he’s acting like this? I only smiled briefly in front of Woo Juhan, yet seeing his hypersensitive reaction made me feel wronged.
I thought that once he entered Youth, even if his nature didn’t change, his personality issues would decrease a bit, but that wasn’t the case at all. Watching him become an increasingly difficult-to-handle annoying elementary schooler, I only felt the desire to immediately send him to a child behavior correction program.
