Chapter 50
“Seo Dongjin, about Dohee…”
Kim Doyun swallowed a thick gulp, unable to voice the words—She’s hopeless when it comes to handsome men.
“Dohee? How can she be so cute and kind? I heard she’s also a great student?”
Our Dohee, who had thrown a tantrum when her eldest brother didn’t grill her pork belly, must have been acting like an angel in front of Seo Dongjin’s face.
“Dohee… is still very young.”
“Huh? No, Producer Kim! What do you take me for? I just think she’s adorable, that’s all…”
“Don’t be fooled.”
A girl who was completely absorbed in dramas—who knew what Dohee might try with Seo Dongjin, who looked like he walked out of a romance comic?
Feeling a headache creeping in, Kim Doyun shook his head vigorously.
Right, she’s still young.
Still, he felt he needed to warn Seo Dongjin.
“I mean that she’s at an age where she doesn’t just see celebrities as mere celebrities. You didn’t give her your phone number, did you?”
“She already got it ages ago.”
“That’s a problem.”
It wasn’t hard to picture Dohee bombarding Seo Dongjin with calls non-stop.
This is all my fault.
Sighing, Kim Doyun grabbed Seo Dongjin’s shoulders firmly.
“Our Dohee went to an all-girls middle school and is now attending an all-girls high school. Now that she’s a first-year student, the only guys she talks to are me and my younger brother, Dohoon.”
“Not even a church guy?”
“We don’t go to church. At this age, emotions run wild, so she might act out on impulse.”
Seo Dongjin seemed to consider this for a moment before chuckling.
“But I think Dohee’s more into Eun Jihoon.”
Crack.
Kim Doyun’s fist clenched tightly.
“Ha, Eun Jihoon…!”
Now that he thought about it, Eun Jihoon was a year older than Dohee and had softer, more delicate features compared to Seo Dongjin.
To a lively and strong-willed girl like Dohee, someone like Eun Jihoon could seem like the ideal romantic interest.
Pressing a hand to his throbbing forehead, Kim Doyun watched as Seo Dongjin smirked.
“Don’t worry, Producer. I’ll keep an eye on Jihoon for you.”
Seo Dongjin patted Kim Doyun’s shoulder reassuringly, his expression one of playful amusement.
“P… Please take care of it.”
***
Shortly after, as they stepped out of the house together, Kim Doyun spoke.
“Tomorrow, Cha Dojin, who plays Suhyuk, will be arriving in Jeongdongjin. I need you to tell me exactly what kind of relationship you have with him so I can keep an eye on things.”
Even if Kim Doyun wasn’t there, he could at least instruct Young-gu to ensure there were no conflicts between the two.
“Cha Dojin was below me at the modeling agency. He’s been modeling longer than I have, but he was never really the designers’ muse.”
“So the same dynamic ended up happening in the drama too.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Seo Dongjin stopped walking for a moment, running a hand through his hair as the sea breeze ruffled it.
For a brief second, his lips parted as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, carefully choosing his words.
“Just say it all. I’m not here to decide who’s right or wrong. I just want to make sure your personal issues don’t interfere with the drama.”
“Then I’ll speak from my perspective.”
Making up his mind, Seo Dongjin bit his lower lip before looking straight at Kim Doyun.
“After the production announcement, during the dinner, Cha Dojin pulled me aside… and told me to drop out of the role of Yeonwoo.”
“And what did you say?”
Power struggles among actors were common in almost every drama. Sometimes, those fights escalated into physical altercations.
I can’t have that happening here.
If news got out about male actors throwing punches or female actors fighting over costumes, the show’s ratings would immediately plummet.
“What I want to know is whether you backed down. During the script reading, you felt like you were holding back.”
“He’s my senior, so I couldn’t just be rude. Also… I’m absolutely not the type to use my fists. I’m a martial artist.”
Seo Dongjin added that martial artists received harsher punishments for getting involved in fights.
“…I have black belts in judo and taekwondo. I practice MMA as a hobby, and aikido is more like a side hobby.”
“Wait, what?”
“The nuns at the orphanage told me to beat the crap out of anyone who bullied me for being an orphan, so…”
“Hallelujah!”
For a moment, Kim Doyun wanted to send a prayer of gratitude to the nuns who had raised Seo Dongjin.
Even though he wasn’t Catholic.
“Ha… Hallelujah?”
“Honestly, I was worried about you getting hit. If your face gets injured, you won’t be able to shoot.”
Seeing Seo Dongjin widen his eyes as if asking, So it’s okay as long as I get hit somewhere else?, Kim Doyun quickly corrected himself.
“What I meant is that no physical fights should happen on set. And absolutely no one-sided beatings.”
“Oh, right. The drama can’t get delayed because of that.”
“And besides, I don’t want you to get hurt either.”
After all the effort that went into getting him this role, there was no way Kim Doyun would let Seo Dongjin be forced out.
At the same time, no actor should ever physically attack another.
That would just mean the producer had no control over the set.
After strictly warning Seo Dongjin to avoid both hitting and getting hit, Kim Doyun asked,
“So what was Cha Dojin’s reason for trying to push you out?”
“…Back when I was modeling, designers often sponsored me with expensive clothes. Because of that, people assumed I was a rich kid.”
Seo Dongjin let out a dry chuckle before his expression darkened.
“But when Cha Dojin found out I was actually an orphan and used to work as a nightclub host, his pride took a hit. He said there was no way someone like me could be the lead while he was stuck in a supporting role.”
“…So Cha Dojin must come from a wealthy family.”
“His father is a vice president at a major corporation. A cosmetics company, I think.”
Hearing this, Kim Doyun’s eyebrows lifted.
“A cosmetics company? Do you know the name?”
As someone who had worked with numerous sponsors, Kim Doyun was well-versed in all the major cosmetics brands in Korea.
“I think it’s Judith.”
“Oh, Judith?”
“You’ve heard of it?”
“Of course.”
The company Judith, which outsourced work to Do Suyeong’s father, Do Jeongsoo’s company.
Judith had once dealt a severe blow to Do Jeongsoo’s Cosmetan.
A scandal erupted when mold spores were discovered in Judith’s luxury skincare line, which had been heavily marketed as high-end cosmetics.
That incident became the infamous Traditional Skincare Mold Scandal that once shook all of South Korea.
The raw ingredients for Judith’s traditional skincare line had been sourced from the Gyeongdong Market, using leftover herbal scraps after medicine had already been extracted.
Some of those scraps had gone bad, and Do Jeongsoo had requested to personally purchase the raw ingredients himself.
But Judith had brushed off his request.
Why?
Because they suspected Do Jeongsoo of trying to steal their ingredient formula—an absurd reason.
Then, when the mold scandal broke, Judith took a massive hit and began to falter.
Meanwhile, Do Jeongsoo’s Cosmetan soared in popularity, selling like hotcakes.
Unlike Judith’s murky glass containers filled with pungent herbal scents, Cosmetan used clear containers showcasing pure, transparent herbal extracts.
That clarity is what won consumers over.
Feeling threatened by Cosmetan’s rapid success, Judith, which had once looked down on the company as nothing more than a subcontractor, tried to trip them up by nitpicking Cosmetan’s use of plastic containers.
“This is going to be fun.”
“Excuse me? What is?”
“If Cha Dojin and his father are the same kind of people, then I see a very interesting story taking shape.”
“What kind of story?”
Seo Dongjin blinked his large eyes in confusion, as if he had no idea what Kim Doyun was talking about.
“There was once a renowned bakery chain whose CEO instructed his employees to use only the highest-grade flour. But then, customers started finding mold spores in their bread.”
“…So someone in the middle was skimming off the top?”
“Exactly. And not just a little, but a lot. Now, what should be done about that?”
The obvious answer was to slap handcuffs on the culprits.
People couldn’t just ignore the fact that moldy bread was being sold to customers.
***
“So, what you’re telling me is that you came all the way here… to ask me to add a scene where Seo Dongjin gets beaten up? Is that it?”
Han Jiseon hadn’t slept a wink because she was so frustrated with the ending of episode four. Her head was on the verge of exploding.
Yet now, Cha Dojin had the nerve to barge into her office, acting all serious, saying there was a major problem with the drama script.
And what was that problem?
According to him, it lacked realism.
Even as Han Jiseon’s fists clenched and her entire body trembled with rage, Cha Dojin continued pressing her buttons.
“I just don’t understand why Hyein would fall for someone like Yeonwoo, an uneducated country bumpkin.”
“BECAUSE HE’S HANDSOME!”
Han Jiseon exploded.
Was he the director? Was he the producer? Was he the production company’s CEO?!
Ever since filming had begun, too many people had been interfering.
They had to move Hyein’s parents’ bedroom scene to an outdoor garden because there wasn’t enough studio space.
Then, the unexpected late monsoon forced them to shift Yeonwoo’s courtyard scene indoors.
That wasn’t even the worst of it.
A women’s university that had granted them permission to shoot on campus suddenly started exterior wall renovations.
On the day they planned to film the downtown date scene, they had to change locations to Samcheong-dong due to a massive rally.
And now, the weather forecast predicted an incoming typhoon as soon as the rainy season ended.
This year, they’re saying there will be twice as many typhoons as usual. Unbelievable.
Her two assistant writers were so busy handling constant calls from the set that they had no time for research or brainstorming meetings.
“But can viewers really believe that Hyein falls for Yeonwoo just because he’s handsome?”
“Of course, they can! Dajeong, if Dongjin looked at you and said he loved you, wouldn’t you fall for him?”
“I’d drown in love. Completely sink.”
Ham Dajeong had been head over heels ever since Seo Dongjin was cast as Yeonwoo.
She muttered daily about how no one could possibly resist the unwavering devotion of such a pure-hearted man.
“What do you think, Seulgi?”
Lee Seulgi, who had been examining the expensive skincare products in the shopping bag Cha Dojin brought, cautiously put them back before answering.
“Hyein already fell for Yeonwoo in high school when he saved her from drowning.”
“See? And by the way, what’s that?”
Han Jiseon nodded toward the shopping bag.
“Oh, it’s Judith cosmetics. My father is an executive there.”
“I’d accept bread or coffee, but I don’t take bribes like this. Take it back.”
“But as a token of goodwill—”
“I don’t even wash my face. What would I do with skincare products?”
As Han Jiseon scratched her unwashed, tangled hair, Cha Dojin instinctively took a step back.
“Cha Dojin, just focus on your acting. Weren’t you supposed to head down to Jeongdongjin today? Sera already left.”
It was a clear dismissal, but Cha Dojin dropped a bombshell before leaving.
“There are rumors that Seo Dongjin used to live with a hostess from an entertainment bar.”
—
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