Chapter 28

A while later, all the filming wrapped up and evening came.

Since it was Your Blue Name‘s first location shoot, word was we’d be having a team dinner tonight at a samgyeopsal place nearby.

When I opened the door and walked in, the crew members who’d arrived first were already setting the tables, waiting. The spicy, savory smell of meat grilling brushed past my nose.

“Ooh, that smell is killer!”

“Didn’t I tell you, Director? I’m basically a samgyeopsal artist!”

At the comic actor’s cheerful boasting, Director Woo Byeong-hwa threw both hands up and clapped.

Since I had to look after an outsider—Woon Seong-ha—I went and sat in a corner spot.

Teacher and Park Yeon-hui, who were supposed to sit at the same table, hadn’t arrived yet, so it ended up being just Seong-ha and me eating together.

“Eat a lot, Sae-i.”

Apparently he’d worked part-time at a meat restaurant before, because Woon Seong-ha’s grilling skills were seriously impressive.

“You eat some too. Stop giving it all to me.”

“But……”

Even so, Seong-ha kept passing every piece of meat that finished grilling straight over to me. No matter how many times I told him to eat some himself, he wouldn’t listen at all.

With no other choice, I wrapped a piece in lettuce for him, and after waving his hands in refusal several times, he finally gave in. I pushed it into his open mouth in a hurry.

How does his face not fall apart while eating a wrap……

I was watching Seong-ha chew it down neatly, his face faintly flushed, and taking a sip of water to wet my throat, when—

“Do-yeon’s cheating on Ha-jin~”

“I just filmed him feeding me and sent it to Je-hyeon.”

“Oh my, did he answer? Did he? Let me see!”

“He read it and hasn’t replied, you guys!”

The seniors seemed to have filmed Seong-ha feeding me and, just for fun, sent it to Do Je-hyeon.

There’s no way Do Je-hyeon would actually react, right?

……Or so I thought.

Buzz, buzz.

I checked the screen at the vibration.

[☎ Incoming video call]

Do Je-hyeon was calling me directly on video.

When I declined once and he immediately called right back, I surrendered. The instant I picked up the video call, he asked with a cold expression,

“Joo Sae-i. Who’s that? Is he an actor? Who is he, that you’re feeding him? What’s going on?”

“……Ask one thing at a time. And I told you, I’m your noona.”

“That’s not the important thing right now.”

What could possibly be more important than me being your noona……

“He’s not some weird guy, right? If someone’s threatening you into feeding him, tell me. I’ll go over right now……”

“No!”

Just as I was about to say something, Woon Seong-ha snatched the phone out of my hand and cut in instead.

“I’m Sae-i’s friend from school.”

“Friend……?”

“Yes, her only one.”

Why was he emphasizing “only”? It’s not like I’m advertising the fact that I have no friends……

Woon Seong-ha wouldn’t easily let go of my phone.

“Joo Sae-i, tell him you’re closer with me.”

“Sae-i can’t tell lies.”

“What did you just say, you……!”

“She’d probably be closer with someone her own age than a kid brother who won’t even call her noona. And besides.”

Why was he acting so unlike himself all of a sudden?

Woon Seong-ha provoked Do Je-hyeon again.

Watching Do Je-hyeon sputter in outrage with obvious satisfaction, Seong-ha looked exactly like a big dog that had just won a fight against a hunting hound.

Hey, you two are going to be filming projects together and even going on trips later……

Before the sparks could fly again, I confiscated the phone and cut the video call dead. Do Je-hyeon tried calling a few more times, but I made a point of ignoring him.

Before long, Teacher and Park Yeon-hui, having finished their conversation outside, came in together.

Once the chaotic mood had more or less settled down, the director picked up a mini loudspeaker and read out an announcement.

“Alright, everyone eat up early! Writer Choi is coming today too!”

“Oh no……!”

At the news that the formidable Choi Gi-jeong was coming to join the dinner, the mood stirred up all over again.

In the midst of the commotion, Park Yeon-hui, sitting across from me, gave me a careful little poke.

“Have you been well?”

“Ah, yes! And you, senior……? Have you been well?”

“Me, I’m the same as always.”

Park Yeon-hui smiled weakly.

“I was too aggressive last time. Sorry for tearing up that business card so suddenly.”

“Not at all! I was actually grateful. It felt like you were looking out for me……”

“Of course I’d look out for you. Whenever I see you, Sae-i, it’s like looking at myself back when I was a child actor……”

Well, we did even look alike, come to think of it.

Maybe that was why she’d reacted so strongly the day she saw me receiving Mora Planning’s business card. Something like a trauma response.

“This might sound heavy, but I went through a lot because of that company.”

“……”

“I didn’t want you ending up stuck in a bad contract like I foolishly did, suffering because of it.”

Park Yeon-hui folded her characteristically wistful eyes and forced a smile. Why did it hurt to look at, even though it was clearly a smiling face?

I wished that no kind, talented person would ever have to suffer, tossed around by a contract like that.

Maybe this is why Grandfather, too……

Maybe this was exactly why he’d started Wave Actors. To keep a talented performer from withering away, unable to properly bloom, while being jerked around by a contract.

When I’d first learned about the business with Mora Planning, I’d agonized the whole time over whether it was really my place to interfere. I was afraid that jumping in without thinking it through might not lead to a good outcome for anyone.

Now I’d finally made up my mind.

I need to tell Grandfather about this.

Right in front of me was an actress about to step back without ever getting the chance to show her full ability—was there really any reason to hesitate?

You’ve worked so hard……

I set a few well-cooked pieces of meat onto Park Yeon-hui’s plate.

Maybe she found it touching that someone so much younger was looking out for her, because only then did a smile spread across Park Yeon-hui’s face.

Several dozen minutes later.

“Our genius Writer Choi has arrived!”

“Waaaah!”

The moment Choi Gi-jeong opened the door and stepped in, Director Woo Byeong-hwa, as if he’d been waiting for this exact moment, waved his hand and welcomed her.

“There’s a seat right here!”

One of the crew members, having drunk enough to forget his fear of her, tapped the spot beside him. Choi Gi-jeong turned him down lightly, then turned her head, searching for one particular person.

The reason she’d come all the way to this dinner, right after wrapping up a deadline and finally getting some rest.

“Sae-i, why are you hiding in a corner like that!”

It was none other than Joo Sae-i.

Today, she had business with her.

Dragging over a folding chair, Choi Gi-jeong wedged herself in right beside where Joo Sae-i sat and leaned in close, her face taking on the air of someone about to share a secret.

“……Listen, Sae-i.”

“Yes?”

“You know my sister, right? Writer Choi Gi-yeong.”

The moment one star writer’s mouth brought up the name of another star writer, Joo Sae-i, who’d been about to drink some water, set the glass back down instead.

People often lumped the two of them together as “the Choi sisters,” but going by individual standing alone, the elder sister ranked above the younger.

“Of course I know her! I really admire her.”

“Oh my, more than me?”

“Th-that’s……”

“I’m joking, joking.”

Choi Gi-jeong gave a small laugh and picked up a nicely grilled piece of meat.

“My sister’s just finished prepping her new project.”

Having already laid the groundwork, Choi Gi-jeong put the meat in her mouth to draw things out a little and studied Joo Sae-i’s reaction.

So far, Sae-i’s expression still said she had no idea why she was being told any of this.

This isn’t going to work. I’ll have to just drive it straight in for her to catch on.

No matter how skilled an actor she was, a kid was still a kid, it seemed. Given the setting, Choi Gi-jeong had meant to ease into it, but she decided to just put it plainly instead.

“My sister wants you, Sae-i. As the lead of that project.”

“……The lead?”

“Mm-hm, not as a child actor. Just the lead.”

“Me……?”

Joo Sae-i’s eyes went wide, and she asked again.

Flustered, the volume of her repeated question came out loud enough that the actor sitting at the next table couldn’t help glancing over.

That Choi Gi-yeong, Korea’s representative star writer, wanted to cast a newcomer as her lead—it was hard to believe even for someone just hearing about it secondhand.

What are you going to do if you don’t believe it? It’s the truth that my sister wants this actress.

Choi Gi-jeong rummaged through her bag. Before long, she pulled out a memo pad.

“It’s not like I’m saying sign for the next project right this second, so just get in touch here first. My sister will sort out a meeting time on her own.”

As she handed over the memo with her sister’s number and email written on it, watching Joo Sae-i take it like a treasure, Choi Gi-jeong felt a faint twinge in her stomach.

She’s my actress!

Even if it was her own sister, she couldn’t shake the feeling of having her rough gem snatched away.

“Ugh, Sae-i, you’re going to end up incredibly famous at this rate.”

Choi Gi-jeong went on, teasing.

“Then make sure you mention me in your interviews. Say it was Writer Choi Gi-jeong who discovered you, not Choi Gi-yeong!”

“Y-yes, yes……! I will!”

Watching this unpolished genius of a newcomer take a writer’s joke completely seriously, Choi Gi-jeong wanted, maddeningly, to keep her all to herself.

If she could have Joo Sae-i all to herself, she felt like she could work herself like an ox and still put out five projects a year, and be happy doing it.