# Chapter 52
No matter the reason, Mo Eunje’s happiness level rose with Tae Igyeol’s pretty gestures. Writer Kwon Jiyeon was so busy that it was typically difficult to schedule even a single appointment with her, but they would at least be able to see her face through this business meeting, and along the way, Mo Eunje could introduce Tae Igyeol, his most precious friend.
“I’m going to ask the teacher to buy us lunch later… you’ll come with me, right?”
He asked timidly, pretending to be cautious, though he already knew how Tae Igyeol would answer.
‘Why would I go there? I don’t like eating with people I don’t know. It’s tiring.’
That had been Tae Igyeol’s typical answer in similar situations. Today, he had naturally accompanied Mo Eunje as if it were a given, but private meals were still another matter, so Mo Eunje needed to hear the answer in advance to secure time for aegyo, pleading, hanging on him, and begging him to come along.
In such cases, Tae Igyeol would accompany him reluctantly while scowling, but when he refused completely, Mo Eunje would give up on the meal. He felt uncomfortable bringing Tae Igyeol along on his schedule only to send him back alone.
However.
“…I’ll go if she’s buying me lunch too.”
The response was completely different from what Mo Eunje had expected. Since he hadn’t even hoped for a positive answer and was already preparing his aegyo, this was the first time something like this had happened, and Mo Eunje felt more surprised than happy. His eyes widened involuntarily. This guy never agreed to anything on the first try, so it was truly strange. Mo Eunje wondered how much profit Tae Igyeol must have made to transform a person 180 degrees like this.
He desperately wanted to tease Tae Igyeol about when he’d become so compliant, but he held back because even though the atmosphere seemed different, he never knew when Tae Igyeol might suddenly change his mind, get irritated, and reveal his nasty temperament. Instead, he decided to show how happy he was.
“Of course she’ll buy for both of us! Our teacher is so kind and has such a good character. When I went to treat her to a meal after hearing I’d won the competition—which I was so grateful for because it was thanks to her—she ended up paying for me. I should have treated her then, but she told me not to be cheeky and paid the bill…”
When Mo Eunje had been selected in the competition and gained the opportunity to debut as a writer, he sincerely believed it was thanks to Writer Kwon Jiyeon’s teachings. After all, he had learned not just about writing from her, but about life itself.
But Writer Kwon had told Mo Eunje not to even think about buying her meals until he’d been in the industry for ten years. She said that if he lasted ten years in this field, she would then eat a very expensive meal on him.
Since then, he never thought about impertinently taking out his wallet in front of Writer Kwon. Instead, he prepared small, cute gifts that reflected her preference for adorable knickknacks. Today’s gift was a small mood lamp about the size of his fist, wearing a very-berry colored hat, and he hoped Writer Kwon would like it.
Just like last month, the standby call time was 10:30 AM, but Mo Eunje arrived shortly after 10:00. He entered the book platform live broadcast studio on the second floor of the building and greeted the producer and the scriptwriter, but Manager Yoon Hyesu, who had messaged that she’d arrived ten minutes earlier, was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, the MC’s seat position has changed.”
“…”
For some reason, the host’s seat position had changed to the opposite side from its original position. When Mo Eunje sat down, it seemed like the left side of his face would be captured on the live broadcast screen. He felt good thinking that he was being treated well from the start after being selected as the permanent MC, even though Tae Igyeol didn’t give any reaction.
He put down the bag containing the book he’d brought to get Writer Kwon Jiyeon’s autograph and sat side by side with Tae Igyeol on the standby chairs set up behind the main camera. There was a separate waiting room, but when he was inside, he couldn’t grasp what was happening in the studio, so he hadn’t used it even when he appeared as a guest.
Looking over the cue card, he couldn’t find any particular differences from the script he had received, reviewed, and practiced in advance. Writer Kwon Jiyeon’s answers from the preliminary interview had been somewhat modified, but that wasn’t his responsibility, so it wouldn’t affect his hosting at all.
“Novelist, you’re here?”
Manager Yoon Hyesu greeted him as she lowered the phone she had been holding to her ear, perhaps having stepped away to make a call. When Mo Eunje stood up, Tae Igyeol rose with him but only nodded his head slightly from the side.
“Hello, Manager-nim. But it looks like you used some muscle. I noticed the host’s seat position has changed.”
“I strongly appealed to the PD-nim since our novelist has a more handsome left side.”
“How did you even figure out that my left side is more handsome? My right side isn’t bad either, but the left does stand out a bit more. Thank you for your effort.”
Manager Yoon Hyesu’s eyes widened as she laughed at Mo Eunje’s smooth talk. Even though it was a business relationship, she was definitely on his side until the contract ended, bound by an implicit closeness.
“By the way, the PD-nim mentioned having a company dinner. What do you think?”
“A company dinner?”
“Yes. He said he couldn’t properly treat you to a meal since you became the permanent MC, so he wants to celebrate with a dinner.”
“Ah…”
Mo Eunje was deeply conflicted. It wasn’t that he disliked company dinners themselves. However, there were stories he’d heard from fellow novelists about the PD in charge of “This Month’s Book” that bothered him. The person was genuinely sociable and friendly, but apparently became rude and spoke informally after drinking.
Of course, since Mo Eunje hadn’t experienced it directly, he didn’t completely believe it, but it still made him uncomfortable. Speaking casually only at drinking gatherings was one thing, but this PD supposedly carried that over into business relationships, which was the problem.
For example, when Mo Eunje had appeared as a guest on “This Month’s Book” last year, he saw the PD speaking informally to the novelist who appeared as the host and lightly assumed they were close. However, after hearing the inside story, he learned that they didn’t even have each other’s contact information, and their so-called friendship amounted to nothing more than having attended one drinking party together with several others.
The PD could speak informally since he was older than Mo Eunje, but was it necessary to drop formalities in a professional relationship? Especially in Korean society, when one party speaks informally in a business context, a hierarchical relationship is subtly established, and depending on the other person’s character, rude moments could arise. This was a basic issue of respect and manners between people. If one-sided rudeness from the other party affected business and created a hierarchical relationship, it would become awkward for an agent to intervene, even if there was one.
The relationship between the PD in charge and the scriptwriter was a perfect example. They appeared to be around the same age and were colleagues, yet the PD used informal speech while the scriptwriter used formal speech. Though Mo Eunje couldn’t know exactly how this dynamic had developed, the hierarchical relationship was clearly visible to outsiders.
However, there wasn’t a good excuse to refuse a dinner meant to celebrate his becoming the permanent MC. Even though Mo Eunje was quick to call people “hyung” or “noona” in personal relationships, he didn’t want to suffer even the smallest disadvantage in professional matters.
The reason he consistently called Manager Yoon Hyesu “Manager-nim” despite knowing she was four years older was because he had personally experienced how relationships changed the moment he switched to calling a previous manager “noona” after becoming friendly with her. Of course, Manager Yoon Hyesu’s personality seemed strong enough that she wouldn’t let the professional and personal boundaries collapse, but still.
In any case, he wanted to avoid the company dinner if possible, but without a way out, his only option was to keep his wits about him and set appropriate boundaries. If Tae Igyeol could attend with him, he would cut off any uncomfortable situations before they arose, even if it meant dampening the mood, but if they were setting a separate date for the dinner rather than having it right after the live broadcast, there would be no justification for bringing him along.
“When might the dinner be? Will it be right after the live broadcast?”
“Since the PD-nim mentioned after work, I think he wants to set a separate date that’s convenient for you.”
“Ah…”
“Should I politely decline on your behalf?”
Suddenly, Manager Yoon looked like an angel to Mo Eunje. He couldn’t even bring himself to say the word “decline,” let alone ask her to refuse on his behalf for fear of putting her in an awkward position, but she had brought it up first.
“Would that be alright?”
“This is exactly what agents are for. I’ll handle it well so you won’t be put in an uncomfortable position.”
“I’d really appreciate that.”
“Don’t worry. If it becomes difficult, we could invite our CEO to the dinner too. Surely no uncomfortable situations would arise with our CEO present, right?”
“Oh!”
Mo Eunje couldn’t help but admire Manager Yoon, thinking she might be a genius. He had received a greeting call from the agency’s CEO the day before yesterday, but he hadn’t thought about the possibility of having such a powerful ally accompany him to the dinner. The way Manager Yoon was speaking suggested she’d probably heard stories about the PD in charge as well.
“Then I’ll discuss the dinner matter with the PD-nim separately after you leave following the live broadcast.”
“Yes, please do that for me.”
“But this is just my opinion, I think it would be good to have a dinner at least once, even with our CEO present. Since your permanent MC contract runs until the end of this year, the topic might come up repeatedly.”
“I understand. Let’s decline for now and look for another opportunity later.”
With the monthly schedule, excluding today, there were seven more meetings left. Though they would meet only seven more times, it actually spanned almost eight months. Therefore, it seemed best to follow Manager Yoon Hyesu’s advice.
