Chapter 147: Export and Re-import (3)
The moment the doorbell rang, Kim Si-woo checked the front door camera and saw his parents’ faces.
“Mom?”
For a split second, he debated whether to hide Arimura Noa or just explain everything—until she suddenly dashed toward the entrance.
“Hey… where are you going!”
“To greet my in-laws.”
Arimura Noa reached the door, opened it, and bowed politely to Kim Si-woo’s parents.
“Hello. Mother-in-law, Father-in-law. My name is Arimura Noa. I’m currently staying at Writer-nim’s house.”
Kim Si-woo’s parents froze when a beautiful young woman—not their son—opened the door and greeted them. Then they spotted their son rushing over and looked back and forth between the two in confusion.
“Son… what in the world is going on?”
“Uh? Well… it’s kind of complicated…”
“Honey, Si-woo’s thirty now. It’s normal for a woman to be at his place. That’s how he’ll get married sooner or later.”
“Let’s go inside first. We can talk inside.”
Kim Si-woo ushered his parents into the house.
“So… what brings you two here?”
“We saw the article. You’re dating a Japanese actress, right?”
“Huh?”
His parents, who hadn’t seen the clarification article, had come all the way to his house under a huge misunderstanding.
“You weren’t answering your phone, so we thought you hadn’t seen it either… But why did you only read half of it?”
“Half?”
“You didn’t see the follow-up clarification article I put out?”
“Ah! Really? Then who’s this girl? Her name was really long when she introduced herself earlier.”
“She’s the Japanese actress from the article.”
“What?”
His mother’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at Arimura Noa, who simply smiled brightly.
“You’re living together when you’re not even dating?”
“Well… there are some complicated circumstances…”
“I like Writer-nim. I’ve already been rejected, though.”
“What?”
“Cough!”
His mother raised her voice in surprise at Arimura Noa’s interruption, while his father—caught off guard—spat out the coffee he was drinking.
“Our son’s popular, huh…”
“So please take good care of me, Mother-in-law. I may not look it, but my family is very wealthy. When we get married, I plan to have three children. I’ll live in Korea too. And during holidays, I’ll visit my in-laws first. Oh—Japanese and Korean holidays don’t overlap much anyway, so it’s fine.”
Watching Arimura Noa suddenly promote herself to his parents, Kim Si-woo felt deeply troubled.
Everything she said was exactly the kind of thing his parents would love to hear.
“Our family isn’t exactly poor either, you know? Our son earns a lot of money.”
His mother tried to counter with overflowing confidence, but Arimura Noa’s bright smile remained unshaken.
She really was from a conglomerate family, after all.
“Roughly… about this much.”
“Two?”
Arimura Noa held up two fingers.
“Like… number 20 or so? My father does run a film production company, but that’s mostly because of my mother. His main business is something else.”
“?”
This was news even to Kim Si-woo, who was sitting right beside her. He looked at Arimura Noa in surprise.
“What do you mean…?”
“Did I never mention it? When my father was young, he started the film company just to impress my mother—who was a Korean actress back then. Technically, our family has been wealthy for generations anyway. His main business is construction and security companies.”
Only now did Kim Si-woo understand why Only One Film had wielded such overwhelming influence in Osaka all this time.
“Well, construction hasn’t been doing great lately, so our ranking dropped a bit… but we still have more than enough money to last a lifetime, don’t worry.”
“Uh… uh…”
Overwhelmed by Arimura Noa’s staggering family background, Kim Si-woo’s parents fell into deep thought.
Seeing their reaction, Kim Si-woo hurriedly spoke up firmly.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m going to marry the person I like.”
“Who said anything? I was just imagining for a second—what it would be like if our son married into a conglomerate family.”
His mother, caught off guard, raised her voice defensively.
Seizing the moment, Arimura Noa boldly moved her seat right next to Kim Si-woo’s mother.
“Mother-in-law, I’m fully prepared to change my surname whenever needed.”
“Ahem… Still, since she’s the woman living with our son, it should be up to him to decide. So… does your family own any golf courses?”
“Ah, Father-in-law enjoys golf? We have several private golf courses reserved exclusively for the family. I’ll book one for you—please go with Mother-in-law for a few days.”
“Ahem… My prospective daughter-in-law is quite thoughtful…”
“Dad!”
“Honey!”
The mention of exclusive golf courses had already won over Kim Si-woo’s father completely.
“I’ll handle my own marriage, so please just eat and go home.”
“Ugh, tch. So cold-hearted for a son.”
After the storm passed, Kim Si-woo and Arimura Noa each returned to focusing on their own work.
However, they had agreed that she would stay at his place until she found a suitable house of her own…
***
Kim Si-woo met with Lee Yoo-jin to hear how far preparations had come.
She explained that she was still contacting actors and, with Hwang Ji-yoo’s help, had already eliminated anyone likely to cause trouble.
Because she was being extra cautious, quite a bit of time had passed, yet casting was still incomplete.
“Who are you thinking for the male lead?”
“For now, I’d like to use this person… What do you think, Writer-nim?”
Kim Si-woo looked over the profile Lee Yoo-jin handed him.
“Park Jin-soo? He’s a minor?”
“Yes. But he recently played a supporting role in a drama, and his acting was really good. He matches the image I had in mind perfectly.”
“Really? Can I see some footage?”
At Kim Si-woo’s request, Lee Yoo-jin played a clip of Park Jin-soo on her laptop.
Despite the ordinary name, his face was anything but ordinary.
‘His face is seriously the size of my fist…’
Beyond the small face, he wasn’t overwhelmingly handsome—but Kim Si-woo immediately understood why Lee Yoo-jin had chosen him as the male lead.
He had an incredibly charming smile.
“Radiant.”
“What do you think?”
“Looks good. Still, let’s meet him in person and talk before deciding.”
“Yes, Writer-nim.”
New actors always carried the biggest variables.
They could suddenly improve dramatically and become breakout stars—or they could get into scandals or have past school violence exposed and crash completely.
That’s why unknowns required extra caution.
“What about the production team? You have two options: hire new people, or use the Siwoo Film staff.”
“…”
“The kids will obviously say yes, but honestly, they still don’t quite match the level of the pros. Not that they’re bad—just that they’re not there yet…”
The Siwoo Film team was more than capable of holding their own on set.
But they still couldn’t quite reach the level of the people Park Woong-deok brought in.
Those were some of the top professionals in Korea—it would take more time for the team to get to that level.
“If you want to try anyway, I won’t stop you. I said I’d go with whatever you decide.”
Lee Yoo-jin now looked more conflicted than she had about casting actors.
“Sigh… Could you give me just a little more time for the production team decision?”
“Sure. But don’t drag it out too long—one week. By then, decide clearly whether we’re using the Siwoo Film team for main staff or bringing in new people.”
“Understood. By the way… would it be okay if I came along to meet Park Jin-soo?”
“Hm? Uh… sure, why not.”
Without thinking much of it, Kim Si-woo agreed to Lee Yoo-jin’s request.
After the Arimura Noa scandal article, the anxious Lee Yoo-jin had simply wanted to spend some time alone with Kim Si-woo—and used the meeting as an excuse.
***
A few days later, on the way to meet Park Jin-soo, Kim Si-woo tilted his head at Lee Yoo-jin, who seemed unusually dressed up today.
“Do you have plans after the meeting?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing, never mind.”
Kim Si-woo had no idea Lee Yoo-jin might be planning to ask him out after the meeting.
Together, they headed to the appointment location.
When they arrived, Park Jin-soo and his manager were already seated and waiting.
“Hello. I’m Writer Kim Si-woo.”
“Ah… Hello. I’m Park Jin-soo.”
At Kim Si-woo’s greeting, Park Jin-soo extended his hand, visibly tense.
“Hello. I’m Director Lee Yoo-jin.”
Even to Lee Yoo-jin’s greeting, Park Jin-soo remained stiff as he bowed.
“Then… shall we talk?”
“Ah… yes.”
Once seated, Kim Si-woo began asking Park Jin-soo questions in earnest.
“If giving all the world’s misfortune to one person could make everyone else happy, would you agree?”
“No.”
“Why not? Isn’t it better for one person to suffer than many?”
“Still… how could you possibly dump all that misfortune on just one person?”
Kim Si-woo frowned at Park Jin-soo’s answer and asked the next question.
“This shoot will be very different from anything you’ve done before. Are you confident?”
“Yes! I’m confident.”
“Got it. That’s all from me.”
After Kim Si-woo finished, Lee Yoo-jin continued with her prepared questions.
She asked why he dropped out of school, questions related to the film, and everything else she had prepared.
In reality, this felt more like an interview than a casual meeting.
But Park Jin-soo showed no discomfort.
After seeing his acting as well, both Kim Si-woo and Lee Yoo-jin made up their minds.
After the meeting ended and they left the room, Kim Si-woo and Lee Yoo-jin discussed it in the car.
“How was he?”
“What about you, Writer-nim?”
“Honestly… I’m not feeling it.”
“Huh? Why?”
“For starters, he looks worse in person than on screen. And he doesn’t really match the image I had in mind.”
“I felt the same way.”
“His acting was just average too.”
The personality Kim Si-woo had written for the male lead didn’t seem to align at all with Park Jin-soo’s real personality.
Usually, when an actor’s real personality was similar to the role, the chemistry improved, increasing the chances of a strong performance.
That’s why, for new actors especially, it was common to prioritize those who naturally fit the character.
Of course, even if the personalities didn’t match, a genius-level performance could still work—but that was a realm reserved for true prodigies.
From what they’d just seen, Park Jin-soo didn’t give off that kind of genius vibe at all.
“Probably not, right?”
“Yeah…”
“From his answer alone, I already knew. The male lead in this story is someone who genuinely believes that sacrificing one person for everyone else’s happiness is a good thing.”
Kim Si-woo’s mind had already turned away from Park Jin-soo after that first response.
“Sigh… Anyway, let’s go eat something. All this stress made me hungry.”
“Yeah. Let’s eat and think it over.”
At Kim Si-woo’s words, Lee Yoo-jin secretly clenched her fist behind his back.
They arrived at a restaurant in Seoul.
After leisurely ordering, Lee Yoo-jin subtly began asking the questions she was really curious about.
“Writer-nim… so there really was nothing between you and Arimura Noa?”
“Nothing.”
“Really? You two looked so happy together in the photos.”
“No, the pictures just happened to come out that way.”
Lee Yoo-jin teased him by showing the article photos.
“So she went back to Japan?”
“She said she’s going to work here in Korea for a while.”
“What kind of work? Acting?”
“No. Fashion.”
“Ah… right. She runs a fashion brand too…”
For a moment, Lee Yoo-jin felt something off about how naturally Kim Si-woo answered.
“Writer-nim.”
“Hm?”
“Can I come over to your place today?”
“Well… shouldn’t we focus on casting the lead actor first?”
“That’s why we can do it at your place. I haven’t seen Danbi in a while either.”
When Lee Yoo-jin stared at him with sharp eyes, Kim Si-woo broke into a cold sweat and avoided her gaze.
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TL Note:
This novel is now translated and finished at Chapter 176
If you’d like to continue right away, the remaining chapters are available on My Patreon Premium tier and Plus Tier, but if you want to read my other 5 translated novels, join the Premium Tier
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
For this novel specifically, check the collection under “Genius Writer”
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