NOVEL WEB Chapter 28
It was a very clear day.
I felt like I could spit on the sky.
The words Ham Yejin said to me made a deep impression, but in the end, they did not change my decision. It would be more accurate to say I couldn’t change it. The day I called Ham Yejin was Thursday. The broadcast was scheduled for Saturday.
It wasn’t physically too late to make a change. However, the editor had already signed a contract on my behalf, and the problem was that if I broke the contract, I would have to pay a penalty.
The editor and Gu Ji-ye told me that if I stayed quiet, they would come to get me, and all I needed to do was show up. What I had been given was clearly a hastily written script.
Since it was a talk show, the script wasn’t absolute, but for a beginner, it could serve as a kind of manual.
I arrived a little late. They said they would first cover my story and then bring out that person of interest. After that, I would answer the MC’s questions and finally, Jin Seo-hye would appear… After we both apologized and reconciled, I would say what I wanted to say to the camera.
Of course, what I wanted to say was already written in the script.
It was something like a vague reflection on my foolish past, an apology to everyone I hurt because of it, and gratitude for providing this opportunity so that I wouldn’t do it again or some such.
If this talk show aired at 7 PM, it would be the person of interest! It was a star talk show. Recently, it seemed that fewer people were watching TV, and since TTBS wasn’t a huge broadcasting station, the ratings would likely be just okay. It wasn’t that big of a broadcast, so it was a level I could handle.
In fact, doing it this hastily was somewhat strange. However, this talk show invited people who were hot topics at the time as guests, so the process was usually fast, and I suppose there was also the concern that my thoughts might change.
They were right about that. After talking with Ham Yejin, my thoughts had changed a bit.
If I could have canceled, I would have definitely done so.
But now that it had come to this, what could I do? Just bear with it.
If I swallowed my pride and bent a little, everything would work out smoothly.
It felt unpleasant, but it was something I could endure.
While waiting quietly at home, I heard a voice calling me around lunchtime. It was a call asking me to come outside. I went out wearing the plain black t-shirt and gray shorts that Muk Ha-neul had given me. Of course, I also wore a hat.
Outside, Gu Ji-ye was waiting for me. She glanced at me briefly and clicked her tongue.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing, it’s just a waste to let the clothes hang like that. Let’s go.”
Where did she pick up the habit of comparing people to hangers? It was the broadcast day, so I held back. After all, she was a woman I wouldn’t have to see again once this was over. I didn’t want to deal with hopeless education.
Outside, there was a car with tinted windows, the kind that seemed like it could belong to a celebrity. Was it a van? The inside seemed pretty ordinary.
It felt like nobody would know if I got kidnapped in there.
“Doesn’t it feel like nobody would know if I got kidnapped this way?”
… The overlap in thoughts with Gu Ji-ye was unpleasant, almost humiliating. I shot her a glare for her annoying jokes and sat down. When I tried to buckle my seatbelt, it was stiffer than I expected, making it a struggle.
“Need help?”
“No, thanks.”
“With you grunting like that, it’s kind of cute, you know?”
“Shut up.”
Gu Ji-ye was genuinely a woman I didn’t get along with (though whether such women existed was another matter). She managed to get a curse to slip out of my mouth, after all. Anyway, with the seatbelt finally fastened, the car started moving. It took quite a while to reach the studio. It was seemingly far from where I lived, though I didn’t even know the location.
Naturally, I suffered from severe motion sickness again. It was even worse because Gu Ji-ye didn’t drive slowly like Ham Yejin. Even Gu Ji-ye seemed to worry about me. Eventually, as soon as we arrived and I got out, I felt nauseous. Luckily, I hadn’t eaten anything because I was too tense.
Still, I recovered more quickly than before. Gu Ji-ye asked, “Should I help you?” but I refused.
I entered the studio, with Gu Ji-ye and other employees, wearing a big hat pulled low over my eyes. As I walked, all eyes were on me. They probably didn’t know who I was since my face was covered, but a kid wearing a big hat must have drawn attention just for that reason. Perhaps there was even a pervert who remembered the hat from leaked photos.
It was my first time in a place like this, but there wasn’t a moment to gaze around. They immediately ushered me into the makeup room. Unsurprisingly, a makeup artist was waiting there. She was a woman.
Gu Ji-ye went straight to the artist and said, “Hello, could you do some makeup for this person?”
“Oh, um…”
The makeup artist didn’t seem surprised to see me, as if she had already heard about me.
Instead, I was the one taken aback.
I took off the deeply pulled hat and casually placed it on a chair beside me. Soon, the makeup artist approached and began examining my face.
Then, she let out a small cheer and started gently touching my face.
“Wow, is it really true that your body has been completely remade? Your skin is like a baby’s. Wow, your eyes are big. Look at how bright they are. It’s really amazing!”
“Isn’t it?”
I shuddered at the sight of the women gushing over me.
“I don’t think you need much makeup…? I think just a light enhancement would be enough. What kind of image are we going for?”
“How about a slightly sad and melancholic image?”
“Doesn’t that seem a bit too much?”
“Well, for now, this level is good.”
“Then let’s go with that.”
It was my first time wearing makeup. The feel of something touching my face was biologically very uncomfortable. But no matter what, once the makeup was done, I was a bit shocked.
“… That’s amazing.”
“Right? The original was already something else, but with makeup, it looks even better. This is just because we’re going for a slightly gloomy image. If we go for a bright image, it would be phenomenal!”
I was looking at the face I saw in the mirror every morning. Even I thought my original form was pretty. However, what I saw in the mirror now was even more striking.
It wasn’t simply that I had become much prettier.
It was that my image had completely changed.
“Your gaze was quite fierce, and when you opened your eyes, there was a wildness to it, but now that it’s toned down, you look much softer and gentler.”
It meant I had a perfect face to garner sympathy. Anyway, it was surprising. Changing a person’s image this dramatically is no easy feat.
“But are you going out wearing those clothes?”
“I am.”
“I feel like there are some pretty clothes here that would fit you nicely; would you like to try some on?”
I didn’t even respond to the makeup artist’s nonsense. I didn’t see what kind of clothes they were and couldn’t imagine it. Even so, I hoped I wouldn’t find out going forward.
“I really think this would suit you! Isn’t it nice?”
My hopes were dashed. The makeup artist brought out a small dress. The dress, with a navy blue background and stars embroidered on it, was pretty, but it definitely had a feeling of being for children.
This troublesome woman knew I was originally a young man but was still doing this. There was not a trace of the thoughtfulness Muk Ha-neul had shown.
I contemplated saying something but held back.
She was a woman who only touched others’ faces. If she had the intelligence to understand if I said something, she probably wouldn’t be doing this work. Ignoring the makeup artist who was insisting on dresses, I fiddled with my smartphone.
[I’m in the studio now. The broadcast will air at seven.]
Not long after, I received a reply from Ham Yejin.
[Don’t get too excited, and please approach it with a calm mind. I wish you well.]
After that call, Ham Yejin and I started exchanging texts. There wasn’t any everyday conversation; it was mostly just reports about this event, but well, that was just how it was.
Ham Yejin still seemed put off by the fact that I was going on air, but now that there was no way to cancel, it seemed she just hoped for the best.
“Shall we move to the next place for now?”
“Where to?”
“To the waiting room. There won’t be anyone else there, so it’s a place where you can stay alone. You can read the script, and we’ll call you out when it’s time. Oh, please be careful not to mess up the makeup in the waiting room either.”
Of course, since this was the makeup room, other guests would come. It seemed they arrived a bit earlier on purpose to avoid running into others, and the general direction of consideration was indeed correct.
As I entered the small waiting room tucked away in a corner of the studio, there were small chairs and a couch. Gu Ji-ye went out, and I laid down on the couch to relieve the fatigue that had secretly accumulated. My head hung over.
Come to think of it, it hadn’t been long since I cut my hair, but it was already long again. It was shorter than when I had just been released from the hospital, but still. I should have cut my hair again before coming here.
While I was dazed in the waiting room, the door suddenly opened. Was it already time? But it wasn’t Gu Ji-ye who walked in. It was a boy who looked to be in middle school, someone I didn’t recognize at all.
“What, there’s someone here?”