How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor Chapter 129

Chapter 129

 

Choo Seomok thought to himself,

‘He’s truly one of a kind.’

At the end of his gaze stood Yoo Seulho, wearing a bewildered expression.

He was buried beneath a crowd of people frantically demanding to know where he’d disappeared to.

“Were you outside the villa? Were you hiding in the mountains??”

“No, I was in that room. But… were you all really that shocked?”

It seemed he’d only intended to play a harmless prank, yet judging by the way he looked genuinely startled after seeing Ajin crying from fright, he clearly hadn’t expected this.

Just looking at his wide, innocent eyes, anyone could tell he was thinking,

‘Was it really that surprising?’

Which somehow made him even more irritating.

The staff, meanwhile, let out relieved sighs now that everything had ended without anyone getting hurt.

“We should never prank Mr. Seulho again.”

“Yeah… I want to live a long life.”

Everyone shook their heads, saying their hearts were still racing.

Watching the scene unfold, Choo Seomok recalled the conversation he’d had with Yoo Seulho an hour earlier.

“Hey.”

Right after the second rock had flown toward them, Yoo Seulho quietly studied the traces someone had left behind.

Then, in a voice only Choo Seomok could hear, he asked,

“Are you in on it too?”

“Huh?”

For a moment, Seomok had no idea what he meant.

Tilting his head in confusion, he watched as Yoo Seulho, apparently lacking time to explain, simply asked,

“You’re definitely on my side, right?”

It was an incredibly random question.

He couldn’t understand either the intention or the context behind it.

Still, Choo Seomok was the kind of person who instinctively answered whenever someone asked him something.

“Of course. I’m your manager.”

“Okay. Then play along with me here.”

The moment he said that, Yoo Seulho suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs that he was scared.

Then, before anyone could stop him, he sprinted down the mountain as though he’d mastered teleportation.

‘…What?’

Like Ajin and Hyun Jingae, who stood there with their mouths hanging open, Choo Seomok was also taken aback.

But he stayed where he was.

Having once been a soldier, he was accustomed to orders and obedience.

His actor had told him to play along here.

So he didn’t follow.

“Should… should we head down too…?”

When Ajin asked in a dazed voice, Choo Seomok silently nodded.

Countless scenarios had already crossed his mind, so even seeing the large crowd gathered in front of the villa didn’t surprise him.

“It was actually a hidden-camera prank. We couldn’t tell you either, Manager Choo… Sorry for tricking you.”

Ajin apologized awkwardly.

He had nothing in particular to say.

‘So that’s what it was.’

He’d wondered why Yoo Seulho had suddenly acted so strangely.

Apparently, he’d figured everything out beforehand.

‘His instincts really are unbelievable.’

Choo Seomok sincerely admired him.

Several months earlier, before Team Leader Ahn assigned him to become Yoo Seulho’s dedicated manager, he barely knew anything about him.

The only impression he’d had was,

“Some celebrity playing around thanks to rich parents.”

He hadn’t found him particularly likable.

Still, it was work assigned by the company, so he had no complaints.

“I’m Choo Seomok. I look forward to working with you.”

When he met Yoo Seulho in person for the first time…

His impression changed completely.

They’d done nothing more than shake hands.

Yet Yoo Seulho immediately recognized that Choo Seomok had served in the military.

That level of awareness and judgment…

Was simply innate.

‘It’s fascinating.’

Choo Seomok hadn’t been a manager for very long.

Even taking that into account…

Yoo Seulho didn’t seem like a celebrity at all.

If anything…

He looked far more suited to being a soldier.

At his core, he was someone accustomed to giving orders.

To Choo Seomok, who’d spent years living within a strict chain of command, that made working with him remarkably efficient.

‘The type who lulls you into lowering your guard by looking lazy…’

On the surface, he seemed like a laid-back soldier nearing the end of his enlistment, lazily yawning.

Yet the moment a crisis erupted…

He looked like the type who’d be the first to finish preparing for battle.

During military service, there were rare occasions when you met someone you’d genuinely want beside you on a battlefield.

For Choo Seomok…

That person was Yoo Seulho.

‘He’s promotion material.’

Even after leaving the military, Choo Seomok had never lost the desire to recruit capable people beneath him and build the strongest possible team.

But the instant he realized it’d be far more likely for him to become Yoo Seulho’s subordinate than the other way around…

He immediately opened his heart to him.

The idea of Yoo Seulho outranking him didn’t wound his pride in the slightest.

‘Someone like him would make a good superior.’

He was certain Yoo Seulho would’ve been exactly the same during his military service.

Choo Seomok would even bet that, when Yoo Seulho was discharged, countless people had tried convincing him to become a career soldier.

He was already a fully developed non-commissioned officer.

He looked completely at ease managing people and taking responsibility.

When those under him made mistakes, he instinctively blamed himself.

He prioritized situational judgment over emotion.

And in moments of crisis…

He became calmer, not more flustered.

‘He’s definitely not the kind of celebrity who’s simply used to ordering people around.’

Choo Seomok found himself hoping they’d work together for a very long time.

He’d originally become a manager simply to make a living.

Yet the job suited him far better than he’d expected.

Especially after becoming Yoo Seulho’s personal manager…

Life had improved dramatically.

For his own sake as much as anything else…

He wanted to keep working with him.

‘Was his name Hyun Jingae?’

Choo Seomok watched Yoo Seulho’s former manager smiling awkwardly.

“Mr. Seulho… I’m sorry too. About the hidden camera…”

“Ah, it’s alright. Couldn’t be helped.”

Yoo Seulho simply shrugged with an expression that practically said,

‘I didn’t expect anything from you anyway.’

Just then, Ajin finally recovered enough to interrupt.

“Oh, right! When did you two become so close?”

“Huh?”

“Back on the mountain, Junho oppa called you ‘Hyung Jingae!’ I was so shocked! I couldn’t even react because I had to keep acting.”

Yoo Seulho hurriedly explained.

They’d only recently started speaking casually.

He smiled naturally as he said Hyun Jingae was actually a really good person once you got to know him.

‘So he doesn’t want people knowing they used to work together.’

Choo Seomok agreed completely.

After all, if Yoo Seulho’s past connection with Hyun Jingae became public…

There was absolutely nothing for Choo Seomok to gain.

‘I’m never letting him go.’

He couldn’t entrust such a valuable professional partner to someone as absent-minded as that man.

‘Maybe I should pretend to be jealous one more time, just in case?’

The emotions Choo Seomok felt toward Hyun Jingae weren’t jealousy.

They were hostility and caution.

Someone who knew his own worth couldn’t possibly feel jealous over a bone someone had already thrown away.

Still…

Judging from everything he’d observed about Yoo Seulho so far…

Pretending to be an abandoned puppy lingering nearby seemed like the strategy with the highest success rate.

Sure enough…

It worked.

On the surface, Yoo Seulho scolded him for acting disgustingly.

Yet every time he spoke with Hyun Jingae…

He kept glancing back toward Choo Seomok.

See? He’s looking again right now.

The moment their eyes met, Choo Seomok gave him a slight nod.

‘I kept your secret.’

That was the message.

Reading the signal, Yoo Seulho quietly chuckled.

‘How did he think of hiding in the secret room so quickly?’

As expected…

An extraordinary person was extraordinary.

When Ajin emerged from the villa ten minutes later, wearing a bewildered expression after failing to find Yoo Seulho…

Choo Seomok immediately understood what had happened.

‘So that’s why he told me to play along.’

There was no reason to disobey his instructions.

So while the staff and actors desperately called Yoo Seulho’s name…

He simply stayed where he was.

Apparently satisfied with the final result, Yoo Seulho returned after talking with everyone and lightly slapped Choo Seomok on the arm.

“Well done.”

“Yes.”

Choo Seomok answered obediently.

There was only one person in this place whose opinion mattered to him.

Yoo Seulho.

‘Though he does tease me a little too much sometimes…’

Fundamentally…

Yoo Seulho belonged to the category of good people.

Having encountered every imaginable kind of human trash during his military service…

Choo Seomok considered him a superior, far better than he deserved.

‘I just wish he’d stop teasing me about kissing scenes.’

Coming from a family that had produced generations of soldiers, Choo Seomok was fairly conservative.

He had almost no resistance when it came to romance or women.

Whenever those subjects came up, he couldn’t help acting like an idiot.

The other day…

When Yoo Seulho had deliberately turned up the volume in the living room and replayed the kissing scene over and over…

Ugh…

His face had become so hot he thought he might die.

He’d been so embarrassed it genuinely felt like an attack.

For the first time…

He’d actually shouted at Yoo Seulho.

Only after snatching the remote, returning to his room, and slamming the door shut…

Did he realize he’d overreacted?

‘I brought that upon myself.’

He wasn’t thrilled about having such an obvious weakness exposed.

Even so…

He still wanted to continue working with Yoo Seulho.

‘Then I need to do my job properly.’

He had to be prepared for battle at any moment.

Renewing his resolve once again…

Choo Seomok walked behind Yoo Seulho.

 

***

 

“Are you people serious?!”

Director Seo, who’d missed the hidden-camera prank because of a personal schedule, exploded with rage the moment he heard what had happened the following day.

He’d specifically emphasized that the actors’ safety came first.

Yet they’d chosen a mountain at night as the location for scaring Yoo Seulho?

“What if someone had gotten hurt?! These people didn’t come here to play… they came here to work!”

“…We’re sorry.”

“If even one actor gets injured, the entire filming schedule could shut down! And you threw rocks at people?! Honestly, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

“W-We threw them toward the ground, though…”

One staff member timidly tried to explain.

Director Seo glared at him.

“In pitch-black darkness, were you 100% certain you could aim perfectly? You’re willing to bet everything you have on that?”

“…No. I’m sorry.”

Director Seo’s anger refused to subside.

Even when I told him it was fine…

It made absolutely no difference.

‘The one who actually threw a rock directly at someone was me…’

Later, after finding out my rock had struck a staff member squarely in the stomach…

I apologized more times than I could count.

Fortunately, his thick winter coat had prevented any bruising.

Still…

It could’ve easily turned into a serious injury.

‘I really need to get rid of that old habit.’

Even though I knew I had to be careful about every action now that I was a celebrity…

I still let my guard down like this every once in a while.

“If I’d known it’d come to this, I never would’ve approved it! Delete everything you filmed yesterday!”

In the end, Director Seo ordered all the footage from the previous night destroyed.

Honestly…

He was right.

It had been unexpectedly funny.

But it wasn’t the sort of content that fit today’s social climate.

‘Yoo Seulho’s fans might watch it and end up worried.’

No matter how important the promotion was…

If something could make people uncomfortable, it was better not to upload it.

“Mr. Seulho… we’re sorry.”

“Oppa… I’m really sorry.”

The staff and actors, freshly scolded by Director Seo, lined up one after another to apologize to me.

Technically, I was the victim.

But honestly…

I hadn’t suffered any real harm.

Since no one had actually been injured…

Having everyone apologize like this just felt awkward.

“We got too excited and crossed the line… We’re truly sorry.”

Only after about thirty minutes of apologies did we finally begin preparing to film.

Honestly…

Who would’ve guessed the twenty-three-year-old director would end up being the most mature person here?

It was the first time I’d ever seen Director Seo get angry at everyone.

The people he’d scolded quietly prepared for filming with their spirits dampened.

The atmosphere was colder than usual.

“Let’s all keep our heads in the game!”

At his shout…

I answered louder than anyone else.

I knew that once everyone became absorbed in filming…

This mood would disappear soon enough.

So I didn’t dwell on it.

“Let’s do this. Ready–”

Listening to Director Seo…

I took a deep breath.

“Action!”