Chapter 62

Ryu Do-gyeong was in the middle of working through a practice workbook. If he wanted to get into Hanguk University’s business school the way Chairman Ryu hoped, he couldn’t afford to slack off on his studies.

They’d offered to send him abroad to study, but Do-gyeong had turned it down.

Simply… he barely got to see Joo Sae-i as it was, and he was afraid that with a time difference on top of it, they’d drift apart for good.

Anyway.

The phone sitting on his desk buzzed. A message from Joo Sae-i.

What’s she doing texting me out of the blue.

Ever since she’d gone back to Jaedamjae, Sae-i rarely reached out to him first.

Only when she had some actual reason, and even that was rare. And today’s “reason,” such as it was, had just been a heads-up that she was going to school alone.

So for Sae-i to message him first, out of nowhere, like this —

Do-gyeong set down his pen at once. He checked the message without a moment’s hesitation.

[Link]

He stared at the screen, certain something more would follow, but no further message came.

Had she sent it by mistake? He suddenly felt foolish for having scrambled to check it.

He clicked the link, and a drama trailer that had just been uploaded came up.

So Sae-i sent this to me the second it went up?

Wanting him to watch it? That was almost… cute of her.

Do-gyeong caught himself smiling without meaning to and quickly straightened his face, forcing the corners of his mouth back down.

May the Mountain God Protect You. The drama where Sae-i played the lead.

He’d heard in passing it was the new work of some famous writer, but Do-gyeong, who had no real interest in dramas, didn’t recognize the name at all.

Do-gyeong watched the video in silence. On screen, Sae-i was livelier than the version of her he knew. She seemed to be playing a bubbly, high-spirited high school girl as the female lead.

Her co-star, on the other hand, seemed to be the grumbling type. Watching him keep saying no, stop that, don’t, trying to rein her in, Do-gyeong frowned.

Why’s he talking to her like that.

A reaction with absolutely zero self-awareness about how he himself treated Sae-i.

The moment the trailer ended, he scrolled down into the comments.

With an utterly stony face, Do-gyeong’s eyes darted back and forth as if he were parsing a college entrance exam passage.

@potato-qwu2poy · 3 minutes ago

Whoa, the female lead’s face is seriously fresh.. great vibe

Scanning the comments with a blank face, Do-gyeong hit like on that one. Nice comments were a good thing.

@kimjeho-23sd · 4 minutes ago

Girl can really act, huh? I called it from the Your Blue Name trailer — this one’s gonna blow up. Buying stock now~!!!!

Scanning on with that same blank face, Do-gyeong liked that one too. Stocks were a good thing.

@ene-fdm29 · 3 minutes ago

This looks insanely good lol the female lead is gorgeous

Scanning with that blank face, Do-gyeong liked that one as well. Sae-i was pretty, after all… so.

@choiyeonja-djnsd · 3 minutes ago

The little one is pretty as my own granddaughter^^ go get ’em, Je-hyeon~^^

Scanning with that blank face, Do-gyeong liked that one with the faintest trace of a smile. Respect your elders.

Do-gyeong’s finger moved like a machine. Praise for Sae-i was, to him, praise for his own good taste, so he didn’t hesitate for even a second.

Then his finger stopped.

@jehyeonsavedthecountry-jeasf · 2 minutes ago

female lead’s had Je-hyeon as her co-star two projects running now, starting from her debut~d.d must’ve saved the country in a past life

Do-gyeong’s brow furrowed as he scanned on with that blank face.

If she’d saved the country, she wouldn’t have had to go through all that.

If anyone had saved the country, it was probably her co-star. This time he didn’t hit like, and scrolled mercilessly on.

But the next comment, he couldn’t just let pass.

@delusionbug-dii2h · 3 minutes ago

oh my god are their faces really that good together?? the height chemistry and the vibe match so well…….. i’m already shipping it, their basically soulmates..

Snap. Do-gyeong’s eyebrow twitched. Match well? Height chemistry? Faces together?

Scanning with that blank face, Do-gyeong hit the dislike button for the first time.

Even that didn’t settle his temper. And on top of it, that grating spelling. To Do-gyeong, who had never once failed to come in first, mixing up “their” and “they’re” was an unforgivable error.

He pressed the reply button with grim resolve.

↳ It’s “they’re,” not “their.” Mind your grammar. And keep your delusions to yourself.

Leaving the comment felt satisfying. Do-gyeong was just about to set his phone down with a contented look when—

Buzz, buzz…

Within a minute, a flood of reply notifications started pouring in.

↳ delusionbug: ? sir are you like… older? lolololol

↳ 2912: sir… that’s a deliberate meme misspelling, don’t take it so seriously T_T

↳ notanon: lecturing people when you don’t even know the meme is so infuriating, seriously, old-man vibes, get out of here!!!!

“…Sir?”

Do-gyeong’s pupils trembled like they’d been hit by an earthquake. He was used to being called an old soul wherever he went, but “sir,” to a nineteen-year-old whose ID card ink hadn’t even dried yet?

“I’m still a minor…”

His lips jutted out in indignation. Chaebol heir or not, numbers won out anonymously online. The great Ryu Do-gyeong had been struck speechless.

Every reply that followed treated him, without exception, as a clueless, out-of-touch old man.

…Ngh.

His face burning, Do-gyeong hastily flipped his phone face-down. Even if he wanted to argue back, he didn’t know what “infuriating” even meant in that slang, and having to open a search bar to find out felt pathetic.

Bzzt…

Thinking it might be another reply, he glanced over — only to see another message had come in from Sae-i.

[Did you see the comments?]

[The response is great, right?]

Yeah. I saw them. And got wrecked.

Do-gyeong couldn’t bring himself to reply. Instead, he just dropped his head onto the desk and groaned.

“…Yeah, the response is great. Red hot, even…”

Trying hard to look away from the fact that he’d left a comment out of some unexplainable jealousy and ended up treated like an old man for it, Do-gyeong let out a deep sigh.

It was a nineteen-year-old’s night where not knowing his own peers’ slang felt especially irritating.

I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

The trailer for May the Mountain God Protect You was getting a red-hot response, and filming on both projects had wrapped without a hitch. Everything was going smoothly.

Just then, the phone by my pillow buzzed. Was it Ryu Do-gyeong, finally replying after leaving me on read?

I checked the screen, and my eyes went wide on their own.

[Park Yeon-hui]

An unexpected call.

Park Yeon-hui. The lead actress who’d played the adult version of the female lead, Yeon Do-yeon, in my first project, Your Blue Name — and a senior in the industry.

She’d always been warm to me on set and at cast dinners, but we weren’t close enough for a personal call like this.

“…Hello? Senior?”

I picked up, tense, and her distinctively languid voice came through the line.

“Oh, Sae-i. You’re not asleep yet? Sorry for calling so late.”

“No, it’s fine! I’m okay! What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing much. I just heard some news.”

“What news?”

“You signed with a company recently, didn’t you?”

A company…?

I went quiet as I thought it over. Park Yeon-hui didn’t waste time getting to the point.

“I heard you joined Wave Actors. Congratulations.”

I couldn’t help being flustered.

It was true I’d signed with Wave Actors in Grandfather’s hospital room, but there hadn’t been any official article about it yet.

It was something only a handful of people — Grandfather, and the CEO of Wave Actors under him — were supposed to know. How did Park Yeon-hui know?

“Oh, um, thank you…”

Unable to hide my confusion, I asked cautiously.

“But how did you know, Senior? There’s not even an article out yet…”

A low laugh came through the line.

“How do you think I know?”

There was a strange note of delight in Park Yeon-hui’s voice.

“I know because I belong there too, now.”

“…What?”

My thoughts stalled for a moment. What had I just heard?

“Y-you’re at Wave Actors too, Senior?”

“It was contract renewal season.”

“Oh, what about Mora Planning…”

“I dropped them. This place made me an offer, so I put my signature down today. The CEO’s pretty well known in the entertainment industry too, and apparently they’ve got good investment lined up.”

That was a relief, but what if Mora Planning tried to make trouble over it…

I hadn’t said a word of it aloud, but Park Yeon-hui went on as though she’d read my worry.

“Seems like the CEO’s got some big backer. He told me I don’t need to worry about my old company at all.”

“…Ah.”

That big backer is my grandfather.

I suddenly remembered the time I’d told Grandfather about Park Yeon-hui’s situation.

If Grandfather already knew all about Mora Planning’s wrongdoing, then he must have already taken care of Park Yeon-hui’s situation too.

Still, I hadn’t expected him to actually bring her into Wave Actors like this. In my last life, Park Yeon-hui never managed to get free of Mora Planning so easily.

It hit me — my involvement really was changing the future.

“While I was signing the contract, the CEO mentioned it himself — that you’d signed too, Sae-i.”

“Ah…”

“Small world, isn’t it? We already had a bond from playing the child and adult versions of the same role, and now we’re family eating out of the same pot.”

Park Yeon-hui sounded utterly at ease, as if she could picture the dazed look on my face.

Her contract with Wave Actors must have brought her some real peace of mind.

“Let’s get along well from here on, junior.”

Somehow, it felt like I’d gained a reliable ally.