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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: A Sudden Star
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4.
Back then, Eun-seong often visited Yeon-joo's studio apartment.
“We should get a robot vacuum when we get married.”
Eun-seong said while cleaning her apartment, and Yeon-joo laughed in agreement. As they chatted idly about what to have for dinner or whether to go to a café to finish their assignments, Eun-seong received a phone call.
“It's the CEO. Just a second.”
Hello. Eun-seong stopped cleaning and answered the call from his agency. It was from Tae-gon, the CEO who had managed him since he first entered college.
“Yes, CEO.”
As Eun-seong spoke comfortably on the phone, Yeon-joo turned her attention back to her assignment. Watching Yeon-joo lying on her stomach, focused on her work, Eun-seong perched on the edge of the bed.
“Yes, it's a good time to talk.”
He pulled down the hem of her short dress, which had ridden up, and placed his hand on her pale thigh. Then he began to knead it gently, his hand slowly moving upward.
Yeon-joo squirmed, telling him to stop, but once he started teasing, he didn't stop easily.
“What?”
Then, suddenly, his hand stopped.
Yeon-joo, who had thought nothing of the CEO's call, turned her head at the sound of Eun-seong's dazed voice, her eyes widening.
Eun-seong slowly closed and opened his eyes, as if thinking for a moment, then parted his lips slightly. Ah. A sigh filled with meaning escaped him, and Yeon-joo, sensing something was wrong, sat up straight.
“So, I... no, the movie...”
Unable to finish his sentence, Eun-seong looked at Yeon-joo. Staring into Eun-seong's eyes, which were frozen in shock, Yeon-joo also parted her lips.
On the other end of the line, the CEO's excited voice boomed. His voice was so clear that she could hear it without even trying to listen.
The news was that the independent film Eun-seong had finished shooting last year and started screening this year had been nominated at a prestigious American film festival.
─ Eun-seong! We made it! We finally made it, you punk!
Eun-seong and Yeon-joo just stared at each other, blinking slowly. The sudden news was too much to handle; it took them a long time just to process what was happening.
─ Eun-seong! We've hit the jackpot! The absolute jackpot!
A long moment later, as reality began to sink in, Eun-seong dropped his phone. Then, he tightly embraced Yeon-joo, who ran to him with a scream of joy, and could only breathe raggedly.
“Oh my god! Congratulations!”
Nominee for Best Male Lead in the Independent Film category at the Independent Spirit Awards.
He was the first Korean ever to be nominated.
*
The world turned upside down overnight. Eun-seong was dumbfounded by the sudden flood of public interest and reactions.
It wasn't a film he'd made hoping for any kind of box office success or fame. He didn't have that kind of recognition; it was just an opportunity he'd gotten through the CEO's connections, something to add another line to his portfolio.
Since it wasn't a commercial film, the unknown Eun-seong had agreed to a low fee to play the role of a schizophrenic patient suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations.
The film, which had no expectations, became the first Korean nominee and was then invited to dozens of film festivals, as if they had all been waiting. The prefix "first Korean ever" was attached to everything, and his life was turned upside down overnight.
Until yesterday, the world didn't even know a person named Im Eun-seong existed. After the news broke, his name was plastered in huge letters across every major web portal. He hadn't even won an award, but just being the first Korean nominee was enough to draw massive attention.
Time passed, and the day came for Eun-seong to depart on an evening flight. Around noon that same day, Yeon-joo went to the agency at Tae-gon's request.
“Yeon-joo, you're here? It's been a while.”
“Yes. Hello, sir.”
Though it was called an entertainment agency, it was undercapitalized, so its office was a small basement space. Yeon-joo sat on a secondhand sofa that Tae-gon had bought for the agency, and Tae-gon joined her after finishing several phone calls.
Yeon-joo set down the bouquet of flowers she had bought on the way.
“Congratulations, sir.”
“Ah, yes. Thanks, Yeon-joo. Phew, I'm losing my mind because of Eun-seong.”
Tae-gon tossed the bouquet that Yeon-joo had carefully chosen and had beautifully arranged onto his desk as if it were nothing, then sat on the sofa.
Tae-gon had never been particularly kind, but he had never been as subtly cold as he was today. Yeon-joo quickly felt a seed of anxiety sprout in her chest.
“Yeon-joo. I called you here because there's something I need to say.”
Tae-gon rubbed his palms together as if about to start a difficult conversation. Yeon-joo swallowed nervously without realizing it.
“I thought, you know, the two of you dating wasn't so bad. But that was only because Eun-seong was unknown.”
“...”
“Yeon-joo. You've had your fun. It's time to let Eun-seong go.”
“What?”
“You've seen what's happening with Eun-seong. He's a star now. A star. He's hitting it bigger than you can possibly imagine.”
As confusion clouded her large eyes, Tae-gon sighed heavily and tossed a file from his desk onto the coffee table.
The calendar was packed with schedules, all for Eun-seong.
“Take a look. This is all Eun-seong's schedule. And this is after we've already turned down a ton of offers.”
It was no exaggeration to say he had a schedule that would take him around the world. There were thousands of interview requests from both broadcast and print media.
“This is just the first six months, and only the urgent stuff. So, what do you think? Do you think you two will even have time to see each other?”
“No. That's for the two of us to decide. This isn't something for you to...”
“Why is this a problem for the two of you? It's my problem. Eun-seong is my actor.”
A shiver ran down her spine.
“Yeon-joo. Let's think about this logically. You continuing to see Eun-seong is just going to hold him back. Are you that kind of person?”
Tae-gon skillfully painted Yeon-joo as a clingy, malicious person.
To Tae-gon, who had been in this industry for a long time and had seen it all, the soft-hearted Yeon-joo was no more than a child playing in a hamster wheel.
Crushing her spirit would be child's play.
“Your boyfriend has finally gotten his big break. You can't do this, Yeon-joo. You know Eun-seong. If you cling to him, he's the type to give up success and everything else. Is that what you want?”
“...”
“Do you think a chance like this will ever come again for Eun-seong? It's hard to soar, but it only takes a moment to crash. If rumors spread that he was practically living with his girlfriend, visiting her studio all the time... it won't be easy for him.”
Living together? That's not what we were doing.
A sense of injustice welled up inside her, but she couldn't utter a single word. They had occasionally woken up together in her apartment, so it wasn't a complete lie. And with one sensational headline, any denial afterward would be meaningless.
After a long moment, Yeon-joo managed to meet Tae-gon's gaze, which seemed unwilling to listen to anything she had to say, and finally spoke.
“I need to see him first.”
She felt like a parrot, just repeating herself.
“And if you see him? What are you going to do then?”
“...”
“What are you going to do? Ask him to date you in secret? Or are you going to tattle to him that I told you to break up?”
Her words caught in her throat at every turn, and she grew unbearably anxious. Where did this dull ache spreading from behind her sternum begin? It was hard to breathe, and she started to feel dizzy.
Even the faint scent of the flowers began to feel cloying and unpleasant. Yeon-joo squeezed her eyes shut and continued to take short, ragged breaths.
“Yeon-joo. If Eun-seong goes to the States now, he won't be back in Korea for a while. Companies are lining up to sign him in America. It's only a matter of time before he becomes a global star. Do you really want to be a burden to him? Do you insist?”
Tae-gon muttered, grinding his molars, his words pressing down on her like a heavy weight. Did it work? He could clearly see layers of fear building up behind Yeon-joo's eyelids.
As if delivering the final blow, Tae-gon spoke the last words in a slightly softer tone.
It was, in effect, the final nail in the coffin.
“If you still refuse to give up after all this, then I'll leak a story about Eun-seong myself. If he's not going to make it big because of you anyway, it's better for me to ruin him with my own hands before his contract is up.”
“...”
“You know, right? Eun-seong can't go anywhere until his contract with me is over. I'm the one who can make him a success, and I'm the one who can send him to rock bottom. So you listen carefully and act accordingly. Got it?”
The words, impossible for a twenty-three-year-old's heart to bear rationally, echoed relentlessly.
Just as the awl-like words pierced Yeon-joo's heart, Tae-gon's phone rang. Tae-gon glanced at the caller ID, then looked straight at Yeon-joo as he answered the phone.
“Yes, yes. Where? Ah, hello. Yes. Ah, what to do? Our actor, Im Eun-seong, his schedule is a bit tight right now. Yes, yes. The earliest... well, I can't promise anything.”
Even at a moment like this, the calls to cast him were endless.
This was his path of flowers, just beginning to bloom. It felt as though she had come face to face with the reality of his path of flowers—a path he could never walk with her, a path he had to walk alone. Yeon-joo could only let out ragged breaths.
*
Yeon-joo returned home.
She was resentful and miserable, but everything Tae-gon had said was right. She hated herself for admitting it, but she also knew there was no other way.
Eun-seong would probably fight to the end not to let her go. She knew that all too well.
Just like his senior in the theater and film department, just like his classmate who became an actor, Yeon-joo had indirectly witnessed it several times: the existence of a lover vanishes the moment their partner rises to stardom.
There was even a time she had resolved that if it happened to them, she would break up gracefully and let him go. Because it had always seemed like he was truly destined to become a star. The world could not possibly fail to recognize his sparkling talent and image.
She just never thought it would happen so quickly. She just never thought he would soar so far, so fast.
After meeting Tae-gon and returning home, she felt as if she were the only person left on Earth—no, in the entire universe. No matter how hard she tried to think positively, she couldn't deny that Tae-gon was ultimately right.
As she sat in her studio apartment, she started getting messages, one by one, from Eun-seong's classmates. The news was that reporters were on campus, digging into Eun-seong's college life.
[Yeon-joo, the reporters keep asking about Eun-seong's private life. Be careful what you say.]
[Yeon-joo, a reporter asked me if Eun-seong has a girlfriend, and I said no. Just so you know.]
Her dazed mind snapped into focus. The students of the theater and film department were all protecting Eun-seong's privacy as if in a well-rehearsed play. It was like an unwritten rule among classmates to protect their own.
Yeon-joo stared endlessly at the messages, and only after a long while did she slowly close and open her eyes.
It was while he was busy preparing for his departure.
