# Chapter 21
“Wasn’t I really cool today?”
Mo Eunje whispered to Tae Igyeol as they entered the parking lot, keeping his voice low enough for only him to hear. Even though there was no one else in sight, it couldn’t hurt to be careful, so he lowered his decibels.
“You definitely stood out next to that bastard.”
“You crazy jerk, I’m not talking about my looks. That guy was thirty minutes late, but I wasn’t flustered at all—not even a little bit—and carried on absolutely seamlessly. That’s why I got offered the permanent MC position.”
“…Good for you.”
Tae Igyeol replied with a contemptuous tone to the grinning Eunje, then opened the back door to place a bakery bag on the seat before getting into the driver’s seat.
“Don’t you think I was born for this? What is there that I can’t do?”
Mo Eunje settled into the passenger seat, praising himself as he pulled down the sun visor and opened the mirror. He vigorously wiped his face with the cleansing tissues he’d received from the shop. His father, a dermatologist, would have a fit if he saw this, but his skin felt so stifled he couldn’t bear it. If he hadn’t made the excuse of having another schedule afterward, he would have rushed to the studio bathroom to wash his face as soon as the show ended.
“You brought me along as your shield again today.”
Tae Igyeol, with his sleeves casually rolled up, grumbled as he lightly turned the steering wheel to exit the parking lot. He always complained like this even though he knew exactly what he was getting into when he came along.
“If I refuse directly, I’d look rude. And if I asked the agency to do it, it would make me look like I have a trash personality.”
“You’re already rude. And it’s not like you have a particularly good personality either.”
“Thanks. But I’ve also heard rumors from the novelist hyungs.”
“That bastard was a total piece of work. He reeked of alcohol, I nearly punched him.”
If Tae Igyeol had been the one directly involved, he would have thrown a punch first and dealt with the consequences later. The only reason he ended up just glaring and keeping his clenched fist down was to avoid ruining the novelist image Mo Eunje had built up.
“You did well to hold back. No matter the reason, the one who throws the first punch is at a disadvantage. You protected my image today. Thank you.”
“…You said you heard rumors, so why didn’t you refuse today’s schedule? What kind of grand life are you trying to live that you’d go all the way to the shop at the crack of dawn when you can barely even get up in the morning…”
Tae Igyeol’s grumbling wouldn’t stop today. He must have been quite displeased. Either that, or he’d suffered losses in stocks again.
It was probably the latter. At the studio, he’d been fixated on his phone the entire time, but started watching with burning eyes from the moment Writer Seong arrived. That probably meant he’d already suffered losses and had no reason to keep checking the stock market.
“When there’s complete silence about my new work, I need to show signs of life somehow. The agency needs to make a living too. Besides, I got the permanent MC position thanks to this.”
“Is that why you’re doing it? A novelist should focus on writing well, not being an MC.”
“I’m both a great writer and a great host, so I’m a genius? Yeah, I know.”
“Haah… I must be crazy. What grand life am I trying to live, playing chauffeur again…”
Because he was so used to Tae Igyeol, no matter how good the agency representative was, it was more convenient in many ways to go with Tae Igyeol. Beyond anything else, the psychological comfort was exceptional. If Tae Igyeol was going to become the CEO of Ila Actors someday, it would be nice if he could also manage a writers’ agency on the side and take Mo Eunje under his wing.
“I should have punched that bastard after all. Was that what he looked like after coming from the emergency room? No, he was just passed out drunk, and when the PD called, he rushed to get up and went to the shop. It’s ridiculous that such a thoughtless bastard lectures about ‘friendship that can only be love.’ What is the world coming to…”
In any field, there are decent people and not-so-decent people. And character and ability are separate domains. Someone with terrible personality and no consideration might prove their worth through outstanding skills, while a person with good character and diligence might be incompetent.
“Whoa, whoa, no rampaging giants allowed. What do you want to eat? Samgyeopsal? Hangjeongsal? Marinated ribs? Black pork? Just say it, hyung’s treating today.”
“Just throw that book away.”
*That fucking bastard, why’d he have to write his phone number…*
The muttered words that followed were so quiet that Mo Eunje couldn’t be sure if he heard them correctly. But since Tae Igyeol had good eyes, there was a high possibility he saw a phone number written inside the book when he glanced through it. Though there was no need for such harsh cursing, a dog who’s suffered stock losses needs somewhere to vent.
“What did the book do wrong? Just rip out the first page. Since it has my name written on it, I’ll put it through the paper shredder when I get home.”
Mo Eunje tore out the signed page demonstratively to cheer Tae Igyeol up. Whatever intent Writer Seong Giha had when writing his phone number, it was destined to be shredded into tiny pieces.
“Does that thing even work?”
“It’s been resting for almost a year, so it’s time for it to work again.”
He had been in and out of Tae Igyeol’s house so often that when he was preparing for the writing competition, he had ordered two paper shredders, sending one to his own home and one to Tae Igyeol’s. Currently, the shredder that had been in Mo Eunje’s house was being neatly stored in the moving company’s warehouse. Come to think of it, it had been so long since he’d used it that he wasn’t sure if it would still work.
After parking the car in the Ritz Ville underground parking lot, they walked about 10 minutes to their usual samgyeopsal restaurant. They ordered two portions of fatty samgyeopsal for Mo Eunje and three portions of leaner moksal for Tae Igyeol, along with one bottle of soju and two bottles of beer.
“Should I grill it?”
Seeing how busy Tae Igyeol looked, constantly glancing at his phone while grilling the samgyeopsal, Mo Eunje asked generously, but Tae Igyeol just frowned with an incredulous expression.
“Are you kidding? I don’t know about other things, but you don’t even have the common sense that meat should be eaten deliciously.”
It wasn’t that Mo Eunje couldn’t grill meat well, but Tae Igyeol was exceptionally good at it. When Tae Igyeol grilled the same meat, it was tender and melted in your mouth. He would have been successful if he had opened a samgyeopsal restaurant.
“Ah… something came for you.”
Tae Igyeol sat up slightly and pulled Mo Eunje’s phone from his back pocket. Come to think of it, he’d completely forgotten about the phone’s existence since entrusting it earlier. This was precisely why he gave it to Tae Igyeol rather than Manager Yoon Hyesu. Even if he forgot to retrieve the phone, he’d still be with Tae Igyeol and could get it back anytime.
The message from Manager Yoon Hyesu included several photos of Mo Eunje hosting the live broadcast today. There was also a request to select the ones he liked and upload them to his SNS account. Mo Eunje replied that he would upload them when he got home, and thanked her for her hard work today, asking for her continued support.
Thanks to the agency representative taking such nice promotional photos whenever he had a schedule, he didn’t have to beg Tae Igyeol to take pictures for him. Still, no photos were better than those taken by Ban Hajun. Anyway, Mo Eunje was happy to get photos he liked without bothering Tae Igyeol, and Tae Igyeol could check his stock market screen, so it was a happy ending for everyone.
“I think the new manager today really does a good job.”
“How much have you even seen of her work?”
“Didn’t you notice when the MC and guest seats were switched earlier? My left side is more handsome, and if it weren’t for Manager Yoon, I would have broadcast with my right side showing.”
“…I heard the PD suggested that first.”
“Oh, really? The PD must have felt really sorry then. I thought Manager Yoon worked hard for that and was impressed by her sense. I was going to send her coffee coupons to thank her, but I guess I don’t need to. No, since I received the castella, I’ll just send them as a token of appreciation for future support.”
It was close to talking to himself, so there was no response. Instead, several pieces of perfectly browned samgyeopsal were placed on the plate in front of Mo Eunje. He picked up two pieces at once, blew on them, and put them in his mouth. As expected, they were incredibly delicious.
“Are you going back to school next semester?”
“No.”
Tae Igyeol answered while alternately looking at his phone and the grill. Seeing how he occasionally put down the tongs and scissors to type something on his phone, he seemed to be exchanging messages with someone.
Mo Eunje and Tae Igyeol had synchronized their enrollment and leave of absence periods, so they were both on leave this semester. Mo Eunje, in the creative writing department, had no particular attachment to university, while Tae Igyeol, in the theater and film department, was supposed to learn management at his father’s company, Ila Actors, after graduation. But since he didn’t yet feel like commuting to work, he intended to delay graduation by using his full leave of absence period.
When Tae Igyeol applied for the theater and film department, Mo Eunje had thought he had dreams in that field. That made sense, as Tae Igyeol’s father was a former film actor, albeit with a short career, and currently the CEO of an actor management agency, while Tae Igyeol’s younger brother, Tae Iden, was an actor who had started as a child actor and had earned most of the modifiers used in national titles. Contrary to expectations, however, Tae Igyeol found people’s attention annoying and hated being in the spotlight.
‘Then why did you go into theater and film?’
‘Because there was no department I wanted to go to.’
‘Isn’t the practical exam for theater and film really tough?’
‘Well… I thought it might help when I inherit my father’s company later.’
True to his words, Tae Igyeol was uncooperative with department events and had hardly ever properly participated. This was the opposite of Mo Eunje, who had attended every event from the opening ceremony to MT and never missed a drinking party no matter what happened. Of course, Tae Igyeol did show his face a few times when Mo Eunje followed Ban Hajun to theater and film department drinking parties. Such incidents had repeated so often that the juniors in the theater and film department mistook Mo Eunje for a senior from their department.
