Chapter 23
“See? Even Dohee wants to meet our fairy Sera.”
Go Dongsoo sighed deeply as he handed the phone back.
Although the fire had been put out with Dohee, now it was Dongsoo’s turn to ignite.
“Ughhh, how could you go on a two-day, one-night trip with Sera the fairy! Ughhh! How many times did you save the country in your past life? I spent the entire weekend running the Chuncheon marathon course.”
“You worked hard, my friend.”
Kim Doyun patted Dongsoo’s shoulder and said.
“That’s why this hyung got you Jeon Sera’s autograph and even gave you photos.”
“Hah, I didn’t want to say this because I’m upset, but why are you in the photos with our Sera? And why is Sera standing so close to you in the group photo? This is killing me twice over. Ugh, I can’t believe our Sera likes a cold-hearted guy like you.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
It was just a few photos taken by Jeon Sera’s manager. Everyone was smiling broadly, but somehow, Dongsoo had misunderstood.
Doyun closely examined the photos on the table.
Jeon Sera, sitting between Seo Dongjin and Doyun, was leaning ever so slightly closer to Doyun.
“This is just the camera angle.”
“Ah, you good-looking people are so used to getting attention that you don’t even notice it. Ugh, let’s just eat!”
Usually, Dongsoo could devour three bowls of rice when kimchi stew was on the table, but today he only ate two.
Is he sick?
***
While Dongsoo prepared for work, Doyun cleaned up by doing the dishes and vacuuming.
The sunlight felt particularly harsh.
In just a few days, temperatures would rise sharply, heralding the arrival of summer. After a brief rainy season, an unprecedented heatwave would sweep across the nation.
‘Jeong Woon-Young must be feeling the pressure too.’
As he returned to his room and packed his laptop into his backpack, his phone vibrated.
“Yes, Writer Han?”
It was a call from Han Jiseon.
Considering she had just returned from Jeongdongjin, he expected her to sleep off the exhaustion and wake up late. Instead, she was calling early in the morning.
Something must have happened.
“I feel like I’m going to lose my mind. Guess what? CEO Jeong cast Cho Sangwoo. He’s signing the contract today! How can someone handle things so recklessly? I’m completely losing it.”
“Don’t worry about that issue. Cho Sangwoo will not be cast. By the way, have you had breakfast?”
Doyun gently changed the subject to keep Han Jiseon from losing her temper and overturning everything with a dramatic “I can’t do this!”
“Yes, I ate. How could I not when your mother packed so much delicious food? The pickled perilla leaves were absolutely incredible.”
“I love those too. Since you’ve eaten, have a cup of coffee. I’ll come pick you up.”
“Alright.”
Calming her down, Doyun quickly got ready for work.
A little while later, he entered the office of H Production with Han Jiseon.
“Oh, you’re here? Writer Han, Sangwoo’s been eagerly waiting to meet you. Sangwoo, come greet Writer Han Jiseon.”
Cho Sangwoo stood and bowed with a warm smile.
“Writer Han, it’s an honor to meet you.”
“Ah, yes.”
But having been thoroughly captivated by Seo Dongjin’s charm, Han Jiseon couldn’t bring herself to see Cho Sangwoo in the same light.
Of course, as an actor, Cho Sangwoo had a charismatic appearance.
He had the kind of face that exuded the friendly charm of a “handsome church boy” you might encounter in the neighborhood.
If cast in a role that required such relatability, he could bring a movie to life.
However, A Summer’s Cantabile was an emotional drama, meant to evoke the feeling of a pure and dreamy romance.
No matter how she looked at it, Seo Dongjin was a better fit than Cho Sangwoo.
“Writer Han.”
Cho Sangwoo turned to her and spoke.
“I’ve read the latest script you revised. It’s a role I’d love to play, so I asked for this opportunity to meet you.”
He turned to Jeong Woon-Young, silently asking for support with his eyes.
Jeong Woon-Young laughed heartily and said.
“Well, what can I say? He’s so passionate he’s even willing to do it for free. Alright, maybe not for free, but he’s asking for the role regardless of compensation. With an actor this eager, how could the drama not succeed?”
“So what?”
Han Jiseon asked with a sharp expression, prompting Jeong Woon-Young to shrug.
“Well, we’re all going to work well together with Sangwoo.”
At that, Kim Doyun smirked.
‘Not a chance.’
Doyun pulled out a script from his backpack.
“Strategic Living with the Enemy. Lead role: Cho Sangwoo. Filming begins in one month.”
Through Dongsoo and his academy friends, Doyun had thoroughly investigated Cho Sangwoo’s schedule.
One of the projects on his list was Strategic Living with the Enemy.
Cho Sangwoo hesitated as he picked up the script.
“Where did you even get this?”
“Is that the important question?”
“What, are you worried the drama’s schedule might be delayed because of this?”
Waving the script in front of Doyun’s face, Cho Sangwoo then tossed it onto the table.
“You clearly don’t know how to read a script. Strategic Living with the Enemy is mostly set-based, so it can be filmed all at once.”
“Oh, set-based filming?”
Kim Doyun pulled out a second script and placed it on the table.
“Lovers’ Dinner. This one has scenes set in LA.”
Jeong Woon-Young’s sharp gaze turned toward Cho Sangwoo.
Trying to film two movies and one miniseries at the same time wasn’t just ambitious—it was borderline fraudulent.
‘It’s practically a scam.’
Even if just one of those projects succeeded, Cho Sangwoo would survive. But the film companies or drama production teams? They might not.
Getting investments for projects was hard enough as it was.
There were countless production companies that had gone under this way.
Film or drama company executives who pinned all their hopes on one top actor often realized their mistake too late—after going bankrupt—that the actor had been focused on something other than acting.
In Cho Sangwoo’s case, that something was money.
Having spent years in the industry, Jeong Woon-Young recognized this instantly.
“Hey, Cho Sangwoo. Do you even realize how many people’s livelihoods depend on just one drama?”
Jeong Woon-Young’s voice was sharp as he shouted.
“Come on, Director. Do you think I don’t know that? No matter what, I’d never slack off on a drama produced by your company.”
“So you think you can handle two movies and a drama at the same time?”
“The movies are spaced out, and I can manage that much. I came here because I’m confident.”
“Is that so?”
Doyun reached into his backpack again. Honestly, there wasn’t much in it except his laptop and a few documents.
But Cho Sangwoo, unaware of this, flinched and began confessing.
“The marine police project… I signed that contract last year. The filming was delayed for ages because we needed the coast guard’s cooperation, but we finally started shooting a few days ago…”
This was why Doyun hadn’t been able to get his hands on that script.
It had been rewritten and reworked last year, with input from the coast guard.
“Damn it, have you been digging into my private affairs?”
Cho Sangwoo reached out, seemingly to grab Doyun by the collar.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Jeong Woon-Young grabbed the script from the table and threw it at Cho Sangwoo.
“Hey, Cho Sangwoo. Were you trying to ruin someone’s life? You signed all these contracts like they’re nothing and still tried to involve me?”
“No, Director…”
“Don’t call me Director. I haven’t been one at MBS for years. If I were still at MBS, I’d have blacklisted you.”
“What? Bl-blacklisted?”
“Do you even know how much it costs when a day of filming is canceled because we’re waiting for an actor to show up? You don’t even have the basics down! Get out of here!”
Jeong Woon-Young’s face turned red as he shouted. Realizing he wouldn’t get anywhere if he stayed, Cho Sangwoo slowly stood up.
“Well… maybe you could discuss this further over a meal with our company president?”
“You think I don’t know that CEO Hong is a scumbag? I was going to trust you, not have dinner with some swindler!”
“I just really liked the script…”
Not wanting to hear any more excuses, Han Jiseon turned her head away, clearly disinterested.
Feeling even more humiliated, Cho Sangwoo bowed deeply and left the room.
“What a shameless guy. We were this close to disaster.”
Jeong Woon-Young muttered angrily, shifting all the blame onto Cho Sangwoo as if he had no fault in the matter.
Watching him with a mix of exasperation and disdain, Han Jiseon spoke bluntly.
“CEO Jeong, you should at least praise PD Kim for this. Without him, you’d have been stuck on set, wasting time waiting for Cho Sangwoo.”
“Oh, yes. Our PD Kim really does excellent work, doesn’t he?”
The lack of sincerity in the compliment was apparent, but Doyun simply took a sip of his coffee.
Failing to confirm an actor’s schedule, refusing to admit mistakes, and resenting that Doyun informed Han Jiseon before him—these all exposed Jeong Woon-Young’s true nature.
“…Writer Han, what should we do about the male lead?”
Ignoring the hollow compliment, Doyun shifted the topic to casting.
“We’ll go with Seo Dongjin.”
Han Jiseon made the decision without hesitation. Jeong Woon-Young nodded, as if there was no room for debate.
“Is that so? Fine, let’s do that.”
“I’ll also cast Eun Jihoon for the role of young Yeonwoo.”
“Eun Jihoon?”
Unfamiliar with the name, Jeong Woon-Young tilted his head. Anticipating this, Doyun handed him Eun Jihoon’s profile photo.
“This kid.”
“…He’s got a good look. If Writer Han is okay with it, I have no objections. Let’s go with Seo Dongjin and Eun Jihoon.”
As soon as the words left Jeong Woon-Young’s mouth—
A translucent window appeared in front of Doyun.
[Success Satisfaction for Eun Jihoon: 70%.]
Eun Jihoon didn’t even know he’d been cast, yet his success satisfaction had increased?
This likely meant that being cast had already altered the course of Eun Jihoon’s life.
[A Channel Change Token has been granted. Would you like to change the channel now?]
‘Not yet.’
Since he couldn’t pinpoint the exact date of the news, changing the channel now wouldn’t help.
‘If I increase the success satisfaction to 80%, I’ll be able to see news from a specific date, right?’
Raising Eun Jihoon’s success satisfaction to 80%—this became Doyun’s next short-term goal.
—
Read More at – GENZNOVEL.COM!!
PLEASE JOIN OUR DISCORD AND SUBSCRIBE THE ROLE TO RECEIVE LATEST NOTIFICATIONS!!
Click here -> https://discord.gg/S8c2kGVr2g
Comment