NOVEL WEB Chapter 25 - The Real Actors is Right Here
Chapter 25: The Real Actors is Right Here
TL: Aniea
“Sunbae-nim, how are you?”
“Oh, look who’s here, my dear grandchild.”
I bowed my head in greeting to Kim Young-ho, who had arrived earlier and was preparing for the shoot.
He warmly smiled back in welcome, a stark contrast to his demeanor during the last script reading, which made a small laugh escape my heart.
‘It feels like I’m being acknowledged.’
I had to put a lot of effort into keeping my smile from fully breaking out.
If other people hadn’t come to greet him, a little bit of my laughter might have leaked out.
“Hello!”
“Thank you for the beef.”
“It was the happiest day of my life.”
Everyone from the staff to the actors, who initially were cautious around me, now greeted me casually.
It seems that the card Kim Eun-ha gave during the last script reading, which they used for the team dinner, was a clever move indeed. Even Kim Young-ho laughed heartily and praised me.
“I’ve been acting for quite a long time, but it was the first time I’ve filled my stomach with top-quality Hanwoo beef. I wondered several times if it was really okay to do so.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course! Our profession isn’t exactly well-fed, is it? You, a green young junior, threw your card and ran off, and we all worried it might exceed the limit.”
Even if the head of the broadcasting station came and offered to pay, it would be suspicious, let alone a rookie actor treating the entire production crew to a beef dinner. It would be hard for me to believe it too.
“Right. And suddenly, writer Jung Ha-rin shows us a ‘Black Card’, right? I’ve only heard of it, never seen one in person.”
“Ah, that color is still vivid in my eyes.”
“Just numbers instead of a name on the card.”
“And it was just two digits.”
“Really, it was.”
The people who participated in the dinner all nodded in agreement with Kim Young-ho’s words.
At the same time, they glanced at me, subtly asking for an explanation.
However, the character I was playing was not kind enough to satisfy their curiosity, and I couldn’t think of the right words to explain even if I wanted to.
‘…What if I say it was my girlfriend’s card?’
Since the card didn’t have a name on it, everyone firmly believed it was mine. Probably, Kim Eun-ha also counted on this.
Then, I too should fully utilize it. There’s no need to ruin the expensive red carpet she laid out.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the meal.”
“……!!”
With ordinary politeness and a light smile, everyone around suddenly flinched and stepped back.
For a moment, I wondered what I had done wrong as I looked around, only to find everyone avoiding my gaze, their mouths shut.
Except for one person.
Kim Young-ho.
“Hehe, so you do know how to smile.”
“What do you mean?”
“Both during the last script reading and all of today, you’ve had such a frozen expression. Just like the real Kang Joo-heon.”
“Kang Joo-heon smiles when necessary.”
“Right, when he’s about to kill someone?”
“……”
Chuckle-
Kim Young-ho laughed as if he found the situation amusing. Then I understood why everyone avoided my gaze.
To them, I appeared exactly like the character [Kang Joo-heon].
Though he is more of a sociopath than a psychopath, such gentle smiles are indeed rare from him.
‘It’s better to loosen up here.’
If I were Kang Joo-heon, how would he have acted in this situation? That question popped into my mind.
He isn’t just a rude chaebol third generation; he’s a man who manipulates everyone around him using whatever means necessary, including feigning love or leveraging his enormous wealth.
Sometimes, even using fear as a tool.
‘Surprisingly, his way of thinking is simple.’
If it’s something that benefits me, I will do it, even if it means acting.
So, the position I need to take here is not that of a cold-hearted person.
Rather, by showing them my human side, it’s better to make everyone feel a sense of commonality, that we are all the same.
“There seems to be a small misunderstanding.”
“Hmm? What misunderstanding?”
“I’m just very shy.”
“……”
A moment of silence followed.
Even Kim Young-ho couldn’t find words to continue. People just rolled their eyes, not sure how to take it.
In the midst of my pondering whether I had pushed it too far, writer Jung Ha-rin, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, suddenly burst into laughter.
“Hehehe- Right. Actor Kang Woo-ju has quite the tsundere aspect to him. Otherwise, why would he treat us to beef?”
“…Now that I think about it, yes. If someone owns a black card, they must be making a staggering amount of money and have extensive connections.”
“Right. At first, I thought he might not want to mingle with the likes of us, but then I saw the <Being Insulted> Challenge video and it wasn’t like that at all.”
“Oh, that trendy thing on SNS?”
“Yes, I’ve seen that too!”
The Being Insulted Challenge, of all things.
Why would anyone participate in such a thing?
From my point of view, I couldn’t understand why I was doing such things, but everyone seemed convinced, so I decided to listen a bit more.
“These days, there are all sorts of strange trends.”
“But up close, it seems to make sense. Kang Joo-heon… I mean, actor Kang Woo-ju has that mysterious aura.”
“Right, and now it’s like he’s become a complete meme. They’re just starting to shoot the drama posters and it’s already creating buzz?”
“We’re benefiting again. Thank you!”
…I didn’t want to be thanked for this.
Everyone, not knowing my feelings, casually thanked me with sly smiles. They must be used to facing the camera.
“Actor Kang Woo-ju, I have a question!”
At that moment, one of the actors, who had been part of the gathering, raised her hand energetically. Her child-like action was effective in grabbing everyone’s attention.
“Please speak.”
“…Uh.”
Anticipating a strange question, I gave her a sharp look, and she hesitated to ask.
But she was a confident actress.
Soon, with a determined expression, she spoke up.
“Who is the woman you often go to the cafe with? I’ve read in articles that she’s your family, and others say she’s your girlfriend.”
“She’s my girlfriend.”
“What?”
His straightforward answer left her, and everyone else, dumbfounded. They gaped open-mouthed in disbelief.
“Really!?”
“Not a female friend, but a girlfriend!?”
“Wow, I never really believed it until now.”
I was the one surprised by their reactions. Isn’t it normal to assume they’re a couple if they sit together at a cafe continuously?
Upon gently probing their opinions, their responses were interesting.
“First of all, there’s no couple-like behavior.”
“They barely talk to each other.”
“Their distance seems a bit too much for a couple.”
Everyone spoke as if they had seen it firsthand, which wasn’t strange given the proliferation of videos and photos on SNS.
What shocked me was that we appeared to the general public more like a business couple or siblings.
‘Listening to them, it’s pretty clear…’
Whenever Kim Eun-ha and I went to a cafe, I was always busy memorizing scripts, and she wasn’t one to chit-chat as she read her books.
Both of us tend to be so engrossed in what we are doing that we don’t see anything else around us, often spending hours just reading until one of us had to leave for a schedule.
‘…Lack of physical contact is the biggest issue.’
We really are a business couple.
Like other couples, it’s impossible for us to look into each other’s eyes and smile sweetly or interlock fingers, at least not in front of others.
When it’s just the two of us, the atmosphere is quite good, and there was even a historic (?) instance of physical contact last time. But that was a special case.
‘The human touch is truly frightening.’
The Being Insulted Challenge, was it? Maybe this public perception influenced such an unbelievable act.
If people really thought we were a couple, there would have been quite a few uncomfortable with it.
Unlike now, there might have been more comments scolding the man with a girlfriend, asking what he was doing.
‘I’ll have to discuss this with Eun-ha next time.’
Although it would be resolved if Kim Eun-ha officially acknowledged it, it’s difficult for her to express it directly due to her position.
With hyenas lurking around her, eager for any slip, and significant potential impact on the company’s stock price,
‘In the worst case, I need to create a way out for Eun-ha.’
If Kim Eun-ha doesn’t officially acknowledge it, the narrative could be set as ‘the man thought it was true love, but in fact, he was just a toy to the woman’.
Her image might suffer somewhat, but by then, a strategic marriage would be assumed, and the media manipulation would begin, so it wouldn’t really matter.
“Woo-ju, then perhaps…”
“Alright, everyone, let’s stop chatting and get to work.”
Yes-
Just as someone was about to ask another question, Director Kang In-ho cleverly intervened.
With his natural charisma, perhaps even stronger than Kang Joo-heon’s when he’s holding the megaphone, he quickly dissolved the gathering of staff and actors, taking control of the shooting atmosphere.
“Really, everyone behaving like amateurs. This is why being popular is exhausting. This is why I chose to be a director, not an actor.”
“Did you have a choice, Director~nim?”
“Hey.”
In the meantime, Jung Ha-rin, showing off her chemistry with Kang In-ho and easing the atmosphere on set, seemed truly to be his soulmate.
“What are you doing here today, Writer Jung? You have no work to do during the poster shoot.”
“Who says I don’t have work?”
Suddenly, Jung Ha-rin looked at me and smiled slyly. Director Kang In-ho’s gaze then intensely shifted to me.
His look was so fierce that even Kang Joo-heon himself would have flinched if he were here.
“Actor Kang Woo-ju, here’s your card!”
“I’m sure I said you could return it later···.”
“Ah, how could I? I was holding onto it tightly even on my way here in case I lost it.”
Hehe-
Jung Ha-rin returned the card with a mischievously sweet smile, which made one side of my face heat up.
Not because of her, but because of Kang In-ho’s intense stare.
A foreboding feeling that the shoot would be grueling.
“Director~nim! Can I sit next to you during the shoot?”
“…Uh? Well, sure.”
“Yay! I’ll write the script while watching the actors.”
However, my worries proved to be unfounded as Jung Ha-rin’s few words magically lightened the mood. Watching this scene unfold, a thought suddenly struck me.
‘…Am I being used right now?’
The real actor is right here.
There’s a reason she writes the script so well.
I swallowed a hollow laugh as I headed to the set.
******
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