Chapter 58

Joo Su-yeon kept glaring at me.

“…You really are something.”

“What?”

“You look a lot like your father. A lot.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?”

She’d said I looked like my dad, and I’d asked if that was supposed to be an insult. If anything, I’d be flattered — my dad was handsome and smart, and he’d gotten into the legal team entirely on his own merit.

Su-yeon’s brow creased sharply.

“And why are we even talking about your dad? Don’t change the subject.”

“Just saying, since we look alike.”

“Whatever. Just know your place. Do-gyeong oppa is the heir to Seohae Group, and you’re…”

“Joo Su-yeon.”

I cut her off sharply.

Consider yourself lucky. I’d just saved her from delivering a line straight out of some third-rate morning drama’s supporting cast.

“You’re the one who should be careful, Su-yeon. It’s a small world.”

“Ha, now you’re threatening me?”

Su-yeon scoffed, but I wasn’t shaken. In my mind, the contents of the file Secretary Park had handed me not long ago rose up vividly.

[Report: People Around Joo Su-yeon and Notable Incidents]

What was inside that file had been nothing short of shocking.

A social circle for chaebol heirs? No — it was a playground for beasts. And Joo Su-yeon stood right at its center.

“Don’t you remember? Middle school.”

“…What?”

“Just because he turned you down, you turned him into a laughingstock and drove him out of school. You led the bullying. Tormented him.”

Su-yeon’s eyes flickered, just slightly. I didn’t let the opening slip by — I drove the wedge in deeper.

“You did the same to Seong-ha, didn’t you?”

“…!”

Su-yeon’s face went white in an instant.

Woon Seong-ha. My friend.

Just because he’d turned down her confession, Su-yeon had crushed him without mercy — spreading his family’s private business all over school.

“H-how do you even know that…”

She was clearly wondering how someone like me could know, when her father had spent good money to bury it.

Su-yeon, here’s something you don’t know.

One of the classmates you tormented ended up taking his own life. Not now — in the future I once lived through.

Back then, all anyone knew was that it had been some anonymous chaebol kid. But reading the report, it was exactly what you’d done.

You killed someone.

“Then there’s the crowd you used to run with. One of them’s working as a child actor these days, isn’t she? Still in touch with you?”

“…Hey!”

“This industry’s small. No secret stays buried forever.”

Su-yeon’s body trembled. She was furious, but she had nothing to say back — because every word of it was true.

“So keep it in check. You never know when the things you’ve done in the past will come back to trip you up.”

“Are you insane? Shut your mouth!”

Su-yeon shrieked and lunged at me, but I turned away coldly.

“Don’t shout. My head’s splitting.”

My head really was pounding. I was sick, after all. I hadn’t even taken my medicine yet, for god’s sake…

I shut the door right in Su-yeon’s face and locked it for good measure. From outside, I could hear her ragged, furious breathing as she failed to swallow her anger.

Good. Go on and stew in that unease.

Just like your father did to me. This time around, I’d be the one slowly, surely, choking the life out of all of you.

With trembling hands, I tipped the medicine into my mouth and closed my eyes. The resolve that had slackened drew taut again with vengeance.

Monday morning, a hot topic erupted across the online communities.

The official cast lineup for the new drama by Choi Gi-yeong — the elder of the “Choi sisters,” who held Korea’s drama industry in the palm of their hands — had just been revealed.

The male lead was Do Je-hyeon, who had long since outgrown his child-actor days and become an undisputed top-tier star.

That much, everyone had expected.

But the female lead listed alongside him was someone nobody had seen coming — unless they were a drama fanatic who’d already caught wind of the casting spoiler.

[Entertainment] Do Je-hyeon’s Next Project — Choi Gi-yeong’s Pick Is Rookie Actress Joo Sae-i… A “Bold Casting Choice”

[Chanran Daily / Reporter Chae]

The veil has been lifted ahead of the premiere of writer Choi Gi-yeong’s — the “Midas touch” — new work, May the Mountain God Protect You. With Do Je-hyeon confirmed as the male lead, news that rookie actress Joo Sae-i has been cast in the female lead role of “So Ji-min” has drawn the broadcasting industry’s full attention.

(Omitted)

The production company stated, “Joo Sae-i was Choi Gi-yeong’s inspiration itself.” Still, concerns have surfaced over whether a rookie with next to no filmography can carry the project.

(Continued)

The moment the article went up, communities and social media alike caught fire. The reaction was cold. More than anticipation, it was a mix of skepticism and disappointment over the female lead casting, voiced in sharp words.

The complaint was simple: why throw an unproven, “never-heard-of-her” rookie into a pairing between a current top-tier star like Do Je-hyeon and a proven hitmaker writer?

[Whoa, the female lead for Choi Gi-yeong’s new drama just dropped, who even is she?]

Since it’s Do Je-hyeon, I figured his co-star would be someone at least a little known, and it’s Joo Sae-i?

Checked her filmography and she’s got a Choi Gi-jeong project lined up too — are the Choi sisters out of their minds, casting a rookie?

[Comments: 82]

-Who is Joo Sae-i? Seriously never heard of her, wtf. She’s gotta have connections, right?

-Wow… I was hyped for Do Je-hyeon’s next project but this really deflates it. For real, Do Je-hyeon’s gonna have to drag this whole thing by the collar.

-And it’s not even a full 16-episode run — apparently it’s dropping on InTube like a web drama, with just a short TV slot. Probably best not to expect much.

Right as the hate comments kept piling up in real time — accusations that she must have connections, warnings that they wouldn’t let it slide if the female lead turned out to be dead weight dragging down Do Je-hyeon’s starring vehicle — a video went up on KDS’s official drama channel.

It was a special teaser for the soon-to-air drama, Your Blue Name.

[Special Teaser] “Was It You I Left Behind That Summer?” Do Je-hyeon X Joo Sae-i, a Heart-Wrenching Childhood Romance😭│#YourBlueName #KDSDrama

Under dazzling summer sunlight, the quiet scenery of Oksong-ri unfolded onscreen, cicadas droning in the air.

A boy, Yoo Ha-jin, hid behind a wall, stealing glances at a girl standing beside a moving truck. She was Yeon Do-yeon, a girl who’d just arrived from Seoul.

— A girl my age, they said, come down from Seoul. I’d never in my life seen anyone so fair and so pretty.

Ha-jin’s narration played over footage of Do-yeon.

The scene cut, and rain poured down in sheets. A sharp-edged Do-yeon snapped at Ha-jin, who kept hovering around her.

“Who do you think you are, lurking around? Is it because of the rumor that my mom’s crazy? Did you come to gawk?”

When Ha-jin, flustered, couldn’t get a word out, Do-yeon’s pent-up grief burst out of her all at once.

“Why can’t anyone just leave me alone, why?! You think I wanted to come to this godforsaken town?!”

Before long, the mood flipped, sweet background music swelling. Scenes passed of the two of them riding bicycles, lying side by side on a wooden bench beneath a big tree, soaking in the summer.

Their warm, affectionate voices played over the footage.

“Do-yeon-ah. Yeon Do-yeon.”

Do-yeon answered, shy but gruff.

“Why do you keep saying my name like that…”

“Because your name’s pretty. Like spring green.”

Ha-jin said, a laugh threaded through his voice.

The music cut off abruptly, and a moving truck pulling away came into view. As it showed young Do-yeon’s eyes gazing out the window, her voice played over it.

— I left my first love behind in Oksong-ri and went back to Seoul. For my mother. For the life she wanted for me.

The screen shifted.

A close-up of a man’s feet in brand-new sneakers. As the camera slowly rose, an adult Yoo Ha-jin, his eyes clouded, stared off at something. He murmured, low.

“Found you, Yeon Do-yeon.”

The screen faded to black, then Your Blue Name’s title logo and the KDS Drama Division mark appeared.

It was a short clip, barely a minute and a half long.

But its impact was enormous. The fingers of people who’d clicked in doubting Joo Sae-i’s acting came to a stop.

The overwhelming atmosphere that came through the screen, and the depth in her eyes that didn’t look like a rookie’s at all — everyone held their breath, fully absorbed for all ninety seconds.

Criticism turned to shock, and shock turned straight to praise. The public opinion that had mocked it as a reckless gamble by Choi Gi-jeong and Choi Gi-yeong flipped in an instant.

[Did anyone just see Choi Gi-jeong’s new child-actor teaser????]

Everyone who dragged the May the Mountain God Protect You female lead as a nobody, go watch this..

Just watched the teaser and got chills;;;

It’s a teaser edited together from child-actor scenes with Do Je-hyeon and it’s insane

[Comments: 93]

-Wtf… the Choi sisters didn’t pick her for nothing lololol

-Wow the Choi sisters’ eye for talent is insane, they’re just a perfect match??????

-“A girl my age, come down from Seoul… I’d never in my life seen anyone so fair and pretty” < sounds like a cheesy melodrama male-lead line, but then the exact right female lead shows up and it just clicks, wtf

-Retracting everything I said earlier. With that face and that acting, I gotta admit the Choi sisters’ pick, lolol. Buying stock starting today.

-I didn’t even know there was controversy and just watched it, and she’s really good? Even just from the teaser her diction’s insane, I’m shook..

And just like that, cleared of her tarnished reputation, actress Joo Sae-i’s name began to etch itself into the world’s memory.