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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Yeongin
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“I’ve reviewed the script you sent. We’ll contact you once our internal review is complete. Yes, you may go.”
After finishing the call with the planning director of a new film production company, Yeongin put down the phone and leaned her head back against the chair’s headrest.
She was about to rest her tired eyes when a knock came from her partition. Her half-closed eyelids lifted, revealing the chubby face of a man over the top of the partition in front of her.
It was Kang Yugeon, the Daepyo of Hyesung Entertainment.
“Team Leader Chae, didn’t you sleep last night?”
“I did.”
Was it about three hours?
Yeongin swallowed the words that she hadn’t just been having trouble sleeping last night, but recently, and straightened her back.
“Is there something you wanted to say?”
“Come see me for a moment.”
Yeongin rose from her seat and followed Kang Daepyo into his office.
Sitting across from Yeongin on the sofa, Kang Daepyo immediately got to the point.
“Hyesung has been sold to SL Entertainment. Under a comprehensive succession agreement.”
After his mother passed away last year from a long illness, he had suffered severe burnout and decided to close Hyesung Entertainment. Being betrayed by a trusted artist also significantly influenced his decision. He planned to liquidate the company, rest for a while, and then conceive of a new business.
“...SL Entertainment?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“No, it’s not that... but you never considered SL Entertainment before.”
“An offer came in with terms that gave me absolutely no reason to refuse.”
“Ah, I see...”
Yeongin felt uneasy inside. It was natural that she couldn’t dismiss it lightly, given that SL Entertainment was one of SL Group’s subsidiaries.
“Yeongin, you’re not going to quit even if Hyesung transfers to SL, are you?”
Kang Daepyo was the older brother of Yeongin’s friend. Because of this, their relationship was much closer than a typical daepyo-employee dynamic.
“That sounds like you’re telling me I shouldn’t quit.”
“Exactly. That’s it.”
Kang Daepyo brightened and continued.
“SL wants to take you, specifically, even if not anyone else.”
“Me?”
Kang Daepyo looked at the puzzled Yeongin with an even more puzzled expression.
“Isn’t it obvious? You’re Hyesung’s ace.”
“Ace, my foot...”
“You’re not going to quit, right?”
Yeongin hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“Actually, I’ve always wanted to experience how a large company operates.”
Though not SL Group’s primary business, SL Entertainment was large enough to be counted among the top five entertainment companies in Korea.
Yeongin’s decision not to quit was due to something that happened a few days ago. If she hadn’t heard that Seonghyeok was going to the SL Group’s Management Planning Division, she would have flatly stated she was quitting without even a moment’s hesitation.
“Exactly, exactly. That’s all valuable experience. It’ll be a great help when you start your own company later.”
“Yes.”
With so many subsidiaries in SL Group, why would they bother focusing on the entertainment business?
Yeongin brushed away the lingering unease with that thought.
***
That night.
Yeongin, who had been trying to force herself to sleep, eventually opened her eyes again.
Counting hundreds of sheep hadn’t brought sleep, so she figured it was better to just work. A wave of regret washed over her for wasting time when she had a pile of scripts to read.
She reached for the nightstand beside her bed and turned on the lamp, its orange glow filling the room.
Sitting up and leaning her back against the headboard, Yeongin picked up the tablet PC from beside the lamp and turned on its screen.
10:52 PM.
She had gotten into bed around 9:30 PM, meaning she had tossed and turned for nearly an hour and a half.
Yeongin gently stretched her stiff neck and shoulders, then opened the script she had been reading.
As a management team leader, her duties were endless: supporting artists’ activities, meeting industry insiders, monitoring projects, identifying trends, drafting press releases, and more. But what Yeongin focused on most was script review.
Every script submitted to Hyesung Entertainment passed through Yeongin. Her keen eye for projects was well-known, not only within the company but throughout the industry.
She gently pressed her dry eyes with her palms, and just as she was about to concentrate on the words, a faint vibration sound came from somewhere under her blanket.
Yeongin reached under the blanket and pulled out her cell phone. An unsaved number was displayed on the screen.
It wasn’t saved in her contacts, but it was a number she knew.
It wouldn’t have been strange if she’d forgotten it long ago, so she wondered why Cha Seonghyeok’s number hadn’t faded from her memory even after three years. She was even more curious about why he was calling.
Her mind knew she should ignore it to avoid getting entangled again, but her finger moved toward the call button.
Perhaps, it wasn’t about the reason for the call, but simply that she wanted to hear his voice.
Even if she would regret this moment after a sentimental night passed.
“Yes?”
“It’s me.”
The voice heard in the same room felt different from the voice heard through the phone. It was a little lower, a little heavier.
“Sounds like you knew it was me when you picked up.”
“...”
“It’s one of two things, isn’t it? Either you lied about deleting my number, or you still remember it.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“Then it must be the latter.”
“...”
Silence answered instead of a denial.
“I called to tell you something.”
“What is it?”
Yeongin wrapped one arm around her bent knees and listened intently to his voice, which sounded unusually sweet tonight.
“Oh Changgeun became a father. A woman he had a one-night stand with apparently came looking for him, saying she was pregnant.”
The content was anything but sweet, though.
“Oh, really?”
Yeongin’s expression was indifferent.
“Just so you don’t think birds of a feather flock together, I’m not close with Oh Changgeun at all. I’m different from that guy.”
“...”
Yeongin remained silent, feeling that even saying “I know” would somehow insult him.
Perhaps Chae Beomjun and Oh Changgeun, but how could Cha Seonghyeok and Oh Changgeun ever be lumped together as “birds of a feather”?
“It means there’s no woman who’s going to come looking for me saying she’s pregnant. I haven’t done anything that would result in a child with another woman since we broke up.”
“...”
A flicker of surprise washed over Yeongin’s face.
The fact that Cha Seonghyeok hadn’t slept with another woman in the past three years was thousands of times more surprising than the fact that a pregnant woman had sought out Oh Changgeun.
Because she had thought he would quickly find another woman after they broke up. Because she had thought women wouldn’t leave him alone.
It wasn’t unreasonable to think that way, not only because she had known of his popularity since he was just her brother’s friend, but also because, given the nature of her job, she had seen countless celebrities and had never encountered a man more charming than him.
“This is called fidelity, isn’t it?”
Yeongin’s eyes widened in confusion.
“We broke up cleanly, didn’t we? Why would I keep fidelity?”
“It wasn’t intentional. My body just didn’t react to other women.”
Yeongin decided to say what she hadn’t been able to say a few days ago when Seonghyeok came to her room.
“Seonbae, why are you doing this to me? What do you want?”
“You.”
“...”
Her heart dropped with a thud at the short, single word. It was a reply without hesitation or wavering.
“I want us to go back to how we were.”
Yeongin bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and spoke with firm resolve.
“I have no intention of going back to how we were with you, Seonbae.”
“If you don’t like our old relationship, marriage is fine too.”
Yeongin was old enough to know that marriage wasn’t a system where only the parties involved needed to agree.
If that was true for ordinary people, it was even more impossible for Cha Seonghyeok, a member of Korea’s leading royal family. That’s why she had let him go before she fell for him even more, before she became a blemish on his record.
“Seonbae, I’m seeing someone.”
“Don’t lie.”
Her desperate measure to silence his nonsense was exposed almost immediately, to her dismay. But she couldn’t concede right away.
“Why do you assume I’m lying?”
“If you were seeing someone, you wouldn’t have gone to that blind date, no matter how much your family pressured you. I know Chae Yeongin well.”
“...”
A bitter smile touched Yeongin’s lips.
He doesn’t even know why I broke up with him. He doesn’t know that his mother came to see me.
“Chae Yeongin.”
“...”
“Yeongin.”
Yeongin bit her lip hard. His low voice felt like it was piercing her heart.
She wanted to beg him not to call her that. She wanted to plead with him, tell him they were over, and to stop shaking her resolve.
“Didn’t you miss me all this time?”
“...”
Yeongin had to clench her teeth to prevent herself from blurting out that she had missed him.
“I missed you. Very much.”
After a brief silence, his resonant voice enveloped her ears.
“Save my number, not just in your head, but on your phone too.”
Yeongin stared at the disconnected phone for a moment, then saved Seonghyeok’s number.
After three years, his name was back in her contacts.
***
Four days later, Yeongin and Kang Daepyo visited the SL Entertainment building together.
The building, with three basement levels and eight above ground, was unique and artistic, fully embracing the aesthetics of curves.
“Wow, this is incredible.”
Exclamations of awe continuously poured from Kang Daepyo’s mouth.
“I’m starting to get embarrassed.”
“...”
He only closed his gaping mouth after Yeongin reprimanded him.
The two had come there to sign the acquisition contract, which had been fully negotiated. Yeongin had only come along because Kang Daepyo had strongly insisted on her accompaniment.
Upon arriving on the 8th floor, they found the Legal Team Leader waiting by the elevator.
“Welcome. The Daepyo is waiting for you.”
The two were immediately escorted to the Daepyo’s office.
“Please, come in.”
As they stepped into the Daepyo’s office, Yeongin and Kang Daepyo simultaneously froze the moment they saw the face of the SL Entertainment Daepyo.
For entirely different reasons.
Kang Daepyo, flustered by the unfamiliar face, whispered quietly to the Legal Team Leader standing beside him.
“Daepyo Hwang Seonju... isn’t here...?”
“This is the newly appointed Daepyo Cha Seonghyeok.”
Yeongin’s certainty that Seonghyeok would never get involved in the entertainment business was spectacularly proven wrong.
