Chapter 158: An Unfortunate Girl and a Lucky Boy (1)
Fortunately, after asking the broadcasting station staff, reporters, and police to keep his name out of it, Kim Si-woo was not mentioned in connection with Kim Ji-hyun’s stalker incident.
“Probably… if I had been named, it would’ve been a huge hassle, right?”
Imagining dozens of calls flooding his smartphone, Kim Si-woo let out a tired expression.
After the Kim Ji-hyun stalker incident, Kim Si-woo had been staying at his parents’ house.
He had made the excuse to his parents that it was because of the scandal with Arimura Noa.
But the real reason was the awkwardness with Hong Soo-yeon…
Somehow, after that day, he hadn’t run into her for quite a long time.
He only heard bits and pieces through Arimura Noa—whether she was reading the script or practicing her acting.
“Anyway… the script reading is coming up soon…”
Kim Si-woo felt anxious about facing Hong Soo-yeon at the script reading.
“But what can I do… it’s all my own karma.”
With a nervous heart, time passed quickly, and the day of the script reading arrived. Kim Si-woo headed to the agreed-upon studio.
When he arrived by car, even though it was an hour before the scheduled time, the Siwoo Film staff were already there preparing everything.
In truth, this movie could be considered Siwoo Film’s first fully self-produced project.
“Everyone doing well?”
“Writer-nim!”
When Kim Si-woo—who had been absent for a while—finally appeared, everyone greeted him warmly.
“Why haven’t you come to the office at all lately?”
“Well… there were some things going on…”
Kim Si-woo gave vague answers as he exchanged greetings with the staff.
Then he approached Lee Yoo-jin, who was working busily in the corner.
“Busy?”
“Huh? Writer-nim!”
Lee Yoo-jin, who had been so focused on work that she hadn’t even noticed his arrival, looked up in surprise.
“Are you finally done with your business?”
“Business?”
“You always disappear whenever something comes up.”
“Was I that obvious?”
While talking with Lee Yoo-jin and catching up on the production progress, time passed—and soon the actors began arriving one by one.
“Writer-nim. Hello.”
“Jung-ssi. How have you been?”
“Of course. These days I’m so busy it’s great.”
Jung Pil-gyu—who had once worried about not having work—was now sleeping only two to three hours a day, yet he never lost his smile.
He had always been confident in his stamina, and preparing for <Peerless Joseon> had boosted it even further.
“And my wife keeps nagging me to bring you over… Could you come just once?”
“Let’s go together after this movie wraps. Haha.”
Jung Pil-gyu bowed his large frame slightly as he chatted with Kim Si-woo.
Other actors from Siwoo Film also began to arrive.
“Hello!”
“Hey! Hurry up and get moving, will you?”
“Why?!”
When a fellow Siwoo Film actor arrived later than expected, the staff grumbled playfully.
“Then why don’t you become an actor yourself, hyung?”
“What? If I get popular, I’ll bury you so deep you’ll never rise again.”
“Ohhh, scary. But if you do that, you’ll get buried by Writer-nim first, you know? No abusing your position.”
“Argh…”
The studio atmosphere was bright and lively, filled with the actors and staff joking around.
At least until Hong Soo-yeon appeared…
“Hello…”
Her gloomy voice was enough to draw everyone’s attention the moment she stepped in.
She looked noticeably thinner—perhaps because she hadn’t been eating properly. Her already slender frame had become gaunt.
She looked like a wilted flower.
“Ah… Hong-ssi. Please take a seat over here.”
“Thank you.”
Guided by a staff member, Hong Soo-yeon sat in the chair with her name on it. She stole a quick glance at Kim Si-woo, who was still talking with Lee Yoo-jin.
‘Is oppa doing okay?’
Ever since the day Kim Si-woo left the house, Hong Soo-yeon had only heard through Arimura Noa that he was staying at his parents’ place—but she hadn’t asked what he was thinking.
Truthfully, she didn’t have the courage.
The fear kept growing: What if Kim Si-woo truly came to hate her…?
What if his feelings had cooled…?
What if he never wanted to see her again…?
She couldn’t bring herself to ask.
‘He’s with Yoo-jin unnie. Looks like oppa wasn’t that worried about me after all… That’s a relief.’
Seeing Kim Si-woo looking brighter than she expected, Hong Soo-yeon felt relief rather than anger.
What she didn’t know was that, beyond her line of sight, Kim Si-woo had been stealing glances at her the whole time.
‘Her condition seems even worse than I thought… Noa-ssi said she was doing okay…’
Seeing how gaunt Hong Soo-yeon had become, Kim Si-woo’s mind grew complicated.
‘I’ll talk to her after this is over.’
Just as Kim Si-woo resolved to speak with Hong Soo-yeon once the script reading ended, someone entered through the door with a loud greeting.
“Hello everyone!”
The person who announced himself so energetically was none other than Choi Do-hyun, the male lead of the film.
Choi Do-hyun greeted Kim Si-woo and Lee Yoo-jin first, then went around greeting the staff one by one. When his eyes landed on the noticeably thinner Hong Soo-yeon, he approached her with a look of genuine curiosity.
“You… changed, huh?”
“…”
At his words, Hong Soo-yeon didn’t reply. She simply stared at him with blank, emotionless eyes.
“Hmm… Well, anyway, today should be interesting.”
Looking satisfied, Choi Do-hyun returned to his seat, and the script reading officially began.
“Now that everyone’s here… shall we get started?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll do the scenes with the child actors separately later, so let’s begin with the adults.”
Although the script included child roles, the young actors hadn’t been called to the reading today.
And so the script reading began with a scene between Jung Pil-gyu and Hong Soo-yeon.
“Hey, you crazy bitch!!!”
From the very first line, Jung Pil-gyu’s rough voice echoed through the room.
Fully immersed in the role of an abusive father, his tone sent a chill through everyone watching.
The opening scene depicted the female lead’s father committing domestic violence against her.
In truth, he hadn’t always been violent.
After his wife died giving birth to their daughter, his business failed one after another, and his life completely fell apart.
One day, while drunk every night, he struck his daughter for the first time—and on that very day, great fortune came to him.
He found an envelope containing 5 million won on the street and pocketed it.
At first he thought it was a coincidence, but every time he got drunk and hit his daughter, luck followed. Before long, he became addicted to it—he couldn’t stop.
“Hit me.”
Hong Soo-yeon’s flat, emotionless voice followed, and everyone’s heads instinctively turned toward her.
Her eyes were utterly empty.
The longer they looked, the more they felt themselves being pulled in.
It was exactly as the movie’s title suggested—the very picture of the end of misfortune.
The next scene showed the daughter, already accustomed to it, offering her face as her father struck her.
Slap. Slap. Slap.
Jung Pil-gyu mimicked the slaps with claps of his hands—three sharp sounds rang out.
When the scene ended, the actors and staff all stared at Hong Soo-yeon in stunned silence before bursting into applause.
Clap clap clap clap.
The applause filled the room, but Hong Soo-yeon’s expression showed no joy at all.
Her gaze was fixed solely on Kim Si-woo.
And in return, Kim Si-woo’s gaze was locked on her—and inwardly, he was the most shocked person in the room.
‘What just happened…? The density of her acting suddenly changed completely.’
Choi Do-hyun, looking thrilled, licked his lips and quickly spoke up to move things along.
“Alright, let’s hurry to the next scene.”
At his urging, the script reading continued.
As the male lead, Choi Do-hyun had many exchanges with Hong Soo-yeon, the female lead.
In their intense back-and-forth, one side frowned while the other smiled.
Naturally, the frowning side was Hong Soo-yeon.
The smiling side was Choi Do-hyun.
Watching them, even Jung Pil-gyu and the other actors caught fire and began pouring their full energy into what had started as a light reading.
Before Kim Si-woo could approach Hong Soo-yeon after the exhausting script reading, Choi Do-hyun reached him first.
“Hyung-nim. How did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“I’m telling you, her acting did a complete 180. Is that even possible?”
Knowing the reason, Kim Si-woo scratched his head and pushed Choi Do-hyun aside.
“Move.”
“Hyung-nim! How did you do it?!”
“You don’t need to know. Get out of the way.”
After shoving Choi Do-hyun aside, Kim Si-woo carefully spoke to Hong Soo-yeon.
“Soo-yeon-ah. Want to talk when we get home?”
“…Yes.”
Once the script reading ended and the staff began cleaning up, the actors returned to their homes. Kim Si-woo also went back to his house together with Hong Soo-yeon.
The car ride home was filled with silence.
“Your acting improved a lot…”
“Ah… yes.”
Kim Si-woo mistook Hong Soo-yeon’s short, clipped responses for anger.
In reality, Hong Soo-yeon herself was in a state of complete confusion—unsure of what emotions she was feeling or what she should say.
“Are you mad?”
“Ah… no.”
“I see…”
Another stretch of silence followed, and Kim Si-woo closed his mouth as well.
When they finally arrived home, Danbi—the cat—rushed over at the sight of her owner after so long.
“Nyaaang~.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while.”
“Nyaaang nyaaang~.”
Apparently still upset, Danbi kept rubbing against Kim Si-woo and meowing.
“Yeah, sorry.”
Only after Kim Si-woo petted her for a long while did Danbi return to her cat tower. Now it was finally time for him and Hong Soo-yeon to talk properly.
“How have you been? You’ve gotten really thin…”
“Just…”
Hong Soo-yeon wanted to continue.
That it had been so hard.
That she missed him.
That she was afraid he would hate her.
That she wanted to pour out everything inside her heart—but her lips refused to move easily.
Seeing her like this, Kim Si-woo felt relieved that—at the very least—she wasn’t pitying herself right now. He offered an apology first.
“I’m sorry. For yelling and storming out… Honestly, I planned to come home much sooner, but something came up outside… It was never because I hated you or was angry at you.”
“…”
Even after his apology and explanation, Hong Soo-yeon kept her head down and simply listened.
She had no choice but to listen.
If she opened her mouth even a little, she felt like she would burst into tears.
“So… honestly, I still hadn’t fully sorted out my feelings about Hae-soo… That’s why this movie…”
None of Kim Si-woo’s explanation reached Hong Soo-yeon’s ears.
She struggled desperately to open her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
In the middle of his explanation, Hong Soo-yeon’s choked voice broke through with an apology.
“I… I was the one who did everything wrong.”
As the emotions she had been holding back finally poured out, tears began to flow with them.
“I was just so frustrated. It was my first time feeling like this… It might sound like an excuse… but it’s the truth. I’m sorry.”
Kim Si-woo gently comforted the crying Hong Soo-yeon.
“Yeah. Don’t do that again. How can you put yourself down like that? You’ve always worked harder, lived more kindly and diligently… and more beautifully than anyone.”
Rather than scolding her for being upset with him, he was reprimanding her for pitying herself—and offering comfort in his own awkward way. Hong Soo-yeon hit his chest.
“What is that… so annoying.”
“Yeah.”
“Oppa is an idiot. A dummy.”
“Yeah.”
“Really… really… I like you.”
Even at Hong Soo-yeon’s sudden confession, Kim Si-woo didn’t panic. He simply held her in his arms.
“What the… Did you two make up already?”
Arimura Noa, who had just come home from work, saw the scene and shook her head in disbelief.
**************
TL Note:
This novel is fully completed.
You can either:
- Unlock this novel individually through its Collection “Genius Writer” and access remaining 18 chapters for only $3
- Or join the Premium Tier ($7) for access to all 6 novels and ongoing updates
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
**************