Episode 160: An Unexpected Encounter (4)
Two groups with contrasting expressions came into view.
The relatively larger group looked gloomy, while the smaller group had faces so bright it seemed like they had won the lottery.
Well, his own face was probably closer to the latter.
But he could empathize more with the gloomy side of the former group.
It was only natural that their expressions couldn’t be good.
After all,
“Ah, Producer Han is here?”
“Yes, Director. Did you have a good holiday?”
“Just so-so. Now that I think about it, you filmed a drama, right?”
“Ah, did you watch it?”
“I couldn’t watch the live broadcast, just the clips. You did well.”
“Ah, no. It’s because the editing was good.”
“Come on. I actually asked a junior I know from that camera team, and he said it was no joke. I heard the writer is still following you around?”
“Even that story got out? Ah, this is embarrassing, haha.”
The holiday was over, and now it was time to work.
He tried to lighten the mood a bit and draw out some laughter, but it wasn’t enough to completely lift the deep shadow that lay at the root.
Of course, even so, showing such unfiltered expressions in a business setting like this was not at all desirable as a professional.
Nevertheless, there was another reason he could sympathize with them.
“By the way, what a shame you couldn’t rest more.”
“What can I do? Should I blame Producer Han for making the program so successful, or what? I should blame the job that earns me a living like this. Hehe.”
The fact that today, which was originally a substitute holiday, should have been a rest day.
Plus, tomorrow was also originally a holiday, Hangeul Day.
No matter how much money one earned by working and how familiar such schedules were,
While others enjoyed up to ten days by adding a Friday off, having to come back to work after only three days of rest would naturally bring a considerable sense of deprivation, right?
‘Of course, it’s a deprivation I don’t know.’
Well, having lived a life of working intensely for five or six months and then resting for two months or so, he couldn’t fully empathize with their feelings.
Still, even for things one hasn’t experienced, people have the capacity to feel some level of empathy, don’t they?
‘In that sense… those guys are the crazy ones.’
From that perspective, the five people who were smiling were the strange ones.
They had only rested for two days out of ten and were still smiling like that.
It wasn’t even that they were managing their expressions because the camera was on.
The camera wasn’t even rolling yet, and those kids had been like this yesterday too.
“Ah! Teacher Yujin!”
One of the smiling kids spotted him.
As if that was the signal, they all rushed over without anyone going first and bowed their heads.
“Hello!”
No matter how you say you can’t spit on a smiling face, it wouldn’t be strange at all for an ordinary person to step back at such a sight.
Moreover, considering the amount of exercise these kids had done all day yesterday, that smile was nothing more and nothing less than pure madness.
In fact, the camera director who had just been talking with him had already moved quite far away.
“Yeah. Did you sleep well?”
“Yes! Please take good care of us today too!”
However, his heart as he faced the kids remained peaceful without the slightest disturbance.
He was just a little more socialized than these inexperienced kids. In the end, he was the same type as them.
If that weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have felt only satisfaction at the current appearance of these kids, who could be called practice monsters beyond mere practice bugs.
“Roa. Did your parents get back safely?”
First, he checked on Jin Ro-a.
Jin Ro-a, who was from Yunnan Province in China, had a hometown so remote that even after getting off the plane, it took several hours by bus to reach.
With only a two-day holiday, she could only see their faces briefly before returning to Korea, so instead of going back, Jin Ro-a had chosen to bring her family to Korea.
‘It was her first time seeing her parents’ faces in four years.’
If her mentality would crumble over something like that, she wouldn’t have been able to live alone in this faraway foreign land for four years. Yesterday, right after meeting her parents, she had seemed no different from usual, but he couldn’t just let it pass.
Even if yesterday was fine because it was right after meeting them, today, after a hard day of practice, there was no telling what kind of aftereffects might hit.
“Yes! They just contacted me saying they boarded the plane!”
Fortunately, Jin Ro-a answered brightly with exactly the face he had expected.
Considering the generosity of her parents, who had chosen a Seoul tour instead of watching how their daughter, whom they hadn’t seen in four years, worked, that mental capacity made sense.
Well, even if not, Pressure Entertainment would have taken good care of it anyway.
“OK. Then Jin Ro-a, return your phone again. Any other special issues?”
“None!”
“Good. Then let’s start hard today too. Did everyone memorize the lyrics I gave you yesterday?”
“Yes!”
“Alright. Then, starting with Nari in part order, go that way. The rest can do self-practice.”
Just as he was about to begin today’s schedule, which wasn’t much different from before the break,
Vrrr.
A sudden vibrating phone grabbed his ankle.
He took out the phone and saw an unknown number.
“I’ll take a quick call. Nari, you go first.”
If it had been before his regression, this would have been impossible.
He was in a position where he absolutely shouldn’t answer unknown numbers, and he was in the middle of work.
‘What if something happened to Zia?’
But now it was different.
During his Polaris days, there would have been no calls that bothered him, but now there was a reason he couldn’t ignore it.
Of course, he knew Zia had no separate schedule today.
Even if she suddenly went somewhere, the manager would be with her, so if anything happened, contact would come from that side.
Still, since it might be related to Zia, he couldn’t stay completely cold.
Should he call it fortunate?
Nari answered shortly with “Yes” and resumed her stopped steps, while the staff who had been preparing for filming also showed consideration by lowering the cameras.
He bowed lightly to the staff in thanks and went out to the corridor, heading to a place with no people.
In any case, he had already put all the worst possible calls that could come to him on block.
‘Father, mother, things like that.’
If it was spam, it would just be a brief happening, and if it was voice phishing, he could just call Su-hyeok and have him contact Zia’s manager.
And then,
“Hello.”
The same number called again after it had cut off once while he was moving spots. When he answered,
“Yes? Who is this?”
The person who answered from the other side was an existence that far surpassed his imagination.
“I am Manager So Young-hoon from Our Group’s secretary office. Is this Han Yujin’s phone?”
Why is this uncle looking for me?
***
“Teacher?”
“Uh, yeah?”
At the voice calling him, he snapped back to his senses and saw So Young-I pushing her face close.
‘Where did Nari go and why is So Young-I here?’
The thought lasted only a moment.
He quickly remembered that Nari’s turn had ended, he had sent her off, and then called So Young-i.
“Is something wrong?”
Not only So Young-I who asked that, but also the staff surrounding them had their eyes wide open.
Well, it was probably because he had never shown this kind of expression before.
“Ah. Sorry. I was thinking about something else for a moment. I’m sorry. I couldn’t focus.”
No matter what excuse he gave, it was an action close to failing as a professional.
He bowed his head and apologized to So Young-I and the staff, and soon their wide eyes curved into smaller arcs.
“Seeing this, he really is human after all.”
The laughter carried a nuance roughly like that, even if the exact wording differed for each person.
Well, he had no intention of unnecessarily tightening the atmosphere on set now, but it was still embarrassing.
“Aigo. The camera seems to be acting up a bit. Writer-nim, I think we need to stop for a moment.”
“Huh? Ah, understood. Producer-nim, let’s take a short break.”
In the end, filming was paused briefly.
‘There’s no way the camera actually had a problem with such perfect timing.’
It was right to think they were making an excuse for him.
The camera director giving an awkward wink.
The writer making a bitter smile as if sweat was about to drip down.
‘I’m really sorry for making you worry unnecessarily.’
Anyway, most of the footage being shot now would be cut during editing, and at best it would only be used in the full practice videos uploaded to the YouTube channel, so there wasn’t much burden, but consideration was still consideration.
His head was already complicated, so this break was actually welcome.
‘After the meal, should I lightly treat everyone to a cup of coffee?’
Even while thinking that, he recalled the phone call that had come earlier.
‘So Young-hoon…’
He had never met the man, but he couldn’t possibly not know him.
He was the person who served as both the right and left arm of Woo Hye-yeon, Vice President of Our Electronics.
In the distant future, when Woo Hye-yeon was promoted to Vice Chairman overseeing the entire Our Group, he would be recognized for his contributions and rise to the position of President of Our Electronics.
‘He said he was a manager right now?’
If he was a close aide to someone who could be called the successor of Our Group, it was impossible to think of him as a simple manager-level personnel just because he held the title of manager.
‘He must be at least at the level of an affiliate company director.’
The reason there wasn’t much about him left in his memory was simply because he hadn’t been interested, not because the concept itself didn’t exist.
‘But why would someone like that want to meet me?’
And why go so far as to match my schedule completely to meet me.
If it was business-related, contacting me directly like this was strange in itself.
It wasn’t difficult for him to find my number, but rather than going behind my back, it would be easier, faster, and simpler to contact me through the company that was publicly exposed.
‘Above all… I’ve never heard of Our Group approaching anyone in this way.’
This was the biggest reason his head was complicated.
Among all the various rumors of this kind that had reached his ears from multiple directions, he could confidently say that the name of Our Group had never been properly entangled.
The fact that even he, who had lived in the entertainment industry for over ten years, could say this was proof that Our Group was truly clean when it came to matters related to the entertainment industry.
‘What the hell is going on, really…’
Even though he tried not to think about it, the thought that had lodged in his mind wouldn’t come out like a thorn, and his brow was about to furrow slightly without him realizing it.
“Is it because of Unnie?”
“Huh?”
So Young-I whispered in a very low voice.
He blankly asked back because he didn’t immediately understand the meaning of her words. The moment he saw the sparkling stars in So Young-i’s eyes, he instantly realized what the kid was trying to say.
Was this what it felt like for the blood to drain from one’s face?
The wave So Young-I whispered completely erased the remnants of So Young-hoon from his mind.
There was no need to even ask who the “unnie” the kid was referring to was.
No matter how cut off they were from outside news, the timing when articles about Zia came out was when they had gone home for the holiday.
“You little…!”
“Ah!”
When he hurriedly tapped near her collarbone, the kid finally realized the existence of the microphone attached to her clothes and let out a silly exclamation full of stupidity as she realized her mistake.
“Go… go look at the lyrics some more…”
It was literally trolling itself, but at this level, she had actually held up pretty well.
Still, if she stayed next to him any longer, he felt like he would smack her on the head like he used to before regression, so he waved her off.
“Hehe. I’m sorry…”
So Young-I retreated backward with a smile that seemed full of affection, yet her sparkling eyes remained the same. It seemed the misunderstanding about Zia had solidified as established fact inside the kid.
‘It’ll probably reach Nari and Chaekyung’s ears too…’
Seeing her eyes sparkle at such gossip was somewhat reassuring.
Just like how So Young-I had made a “Teacher is human after all” face at his mistake earlier, it made him realize a little more that these kids weren’t just practice ghosts but girls of that age.
Well, since that gossip wasn’t entirely a lie, he didn’t feel particularly embarrassed.
‘If I can take care of their mentality like this… this could also be part of a producer’s job, right?’
Thinking that way made his mind feel a bit more organized.
Of course… he knew he was roughly covering up the important issue and turning his eyes away while pretending otherwise.
It was just to the extent that there was no particular problem handling the work given to him right now.
***
And it didn’t take long for him to realize that this had been a mistake.
The moment he realized that the person who appeared at the appointment with So Young-hoon was not So Young-hoon, he understood that he should have at least heard the reason why they wanted to meet.
“Nice to meet you. I am Woo Hye-yeon.”
This… he really hadn’t expected…
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