How a Loan Shark Survives as an Actor Chapter 43

Chapter 43

 

“Mr. Seulho, are you okay??”

“Yes. It’s just an egg, after all.”

I answered calmly to the staff member who had brought me a towel.

I wasn’t pretending to be okay; I genuinely was.

Thanks to Choi Ran wiping it off with tissues right away, none of it got on my clothes, and my face was cleaned up with a few wet wipes.

The problem was my hair.

‘There’s no fixing this without washing it.’

Raw egg had soaked into hair that had already been set with wax, so wet wipes weren’t enough to completely solve the issue.

I considered dropping by a nearby salon for a quick shampoo, but even that sounded like a hassle, so I simply put on a cap.

“How is it? Does it look okay?”

“Uh, yes. Yes. It does look okay, but…”

Fortunately, the cap I had brought without much thought happened to match the university’s signature color.

It was a little awkward to suddenly wear a cap after not having one on during the opening segment, but it seemed natural enough.

“Then let’s proceed like this.”

“Are you really sure it’s okay?”

“If I wash my hair and get it styled again, there’ll be delays. It’d be difficult enough to coordinate our schedules again, and discussing it with the university would be another headache. Let’s just finish everything today.”

The staff member’s face visibly brightened.

Realizing he’d shown it too obviously, he quickly regained his composure and said, “Just a moment,” before running over to the PD.

The PD, who had been looking troubled by the unexpected incident, immediately turned toward me after hearing the explanation.

“Mr. Seulho! Are you really okay with continuing the shoot?”

“Yes. It was my decision. Don’t worry.”

Only after hearing my firm answer did the PD relax.

“As expected, men are different. You must’ve been startled. But you don’t need to worry anymore. Once we go inside, outsiders won’t be able to enter. Alright, let’s get moving.”

“Yes.”

The exhausted staff, worn out from trying to manage the ever-growing crowd, gathered their equipment and prepared to move.

Choi Ran suggested I rest for a while, but I shook my head.

‘We need to finish filming first.’

I wanted this matter resolved quietly just as much as the production team did.

Just as we hurried to move inside the university…

“Beep! Everyone step aside! Police!”

…Ha.

So much for the cap.

 

***

 

The police did not reveal who had reported the incident.

‘Probably one of the onlookers.’

After someone threw an egg at me, people had swarmed the area, so crowd control had become necessary.

The police efficiently dispersed the crowd, assessed the situation, and returned after some time.

“So, this person suddenly threw a raw egg at Mr. Yoo Seulho?”

“Yes. We have video footage. There are plenty of witnesses too.”

“Goodness. Politicians get things thrown at them, but celebrities usually don’t. You must’ve been shocked.”

The officer clicked his tongue.

“Anyway, we spoke with the perpetrator separately. Maybe they’re acting, but they seem a little unstable. They kept rambling. Something about how people who hit their family members all deserve to die. Does that mean anything to you?”

Everyone’s expressions turned awkward.

Then they all looked at me, and I could only smile.

‘So it was because of the drama.’

Even while wiping my face with wet wipes, I had wondered why someone would throw an egg at me.

I wasn’t some pushover. I’d been hit out of nowhere, and I had no intention of simply letting it slide.

Still, there was filming that needed to be finished, and the culprit had already been caught, so I planned to take care of my responsibilities first and find out the details afterward.

‘I thought it might’ve been one of Yoo Seulho’s anti-fans.’

But I guess people really could get that immersed in a drama.

At first it sounded ridiculous, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

Yoo Seulho had been disliked by many people, but he had never done anything evil enough to deserve death threats.

Even after entering Yoo Seulho’s body, while I had seen plenty of people who disliked me, I had never seen genuine hatred or murderous intent in their expressions.

In that case, it made far more sense that this had happened because of the character I played rather than Yoo Seulho himself.

While I was internally reaching that conclusion, the police confirmed through the hospital that the perpetrator was indeed undergoing treatment for a mental illness.

‘I see.’

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

Anyone with even a little rationality would have waited until I was alone, not pulled something like that at a filming location packed with people.

You’d need an unwavering determination to see things through no matter what happened afterward. Unless that person was some kind of independence activist, it was far more likely they were simply a patient in urgent need of treatment.

“They seem to have suffered abuse for a long time. You know, that thing… PTSC?”

“PTSD.”

“Ah, right. That. Seems like that’s why they did it. Poor thing.”

The two officers chatted back and forth in front of me.

Then they asked whether I intended to press charges and suggested that settling might be better.

I agreed without resistance.

‘If I plan to continue as a celebrity, filing charges isn’t really an option.’

Suing an ordinary person was difficult enough.

Suing someone who, because of trauma from domestic violence, couldn’t separate fiction from reality would fall short of the moral standards the public expected from celebrities.

The officers visibly brightened at my response, asked me to visit the station whenever I had time, and left.

“Mr. Seulho, perhaps…”

“Yes. Let’s continue filming immediately.”

I spoke to the staff member who was studying my face after the police departed.

The situation had been settled, and I still had filming left to do.

We moved into a classroom inside the university and attended an actual lecture taken by architecture students.

A man who introduced himself as a professor spent a long time talking about structural mechanics and other things, but honestly, I understood less than half of it.

‘Thank goodness Yoo Seulho never went to university either.’

As a loan shark, I had never once lived a life that was close to academics.

Of course, calculating money was part of my job, so I wasn’t exactly slow-witted, but there was no hiding my lack of education.

If Yoo Seulho had graduated from some prestigious university, I would have inevitably been exposed someday.

‘Still feels unpleasant.’

I had wiped myself down thoroughly, but it was impossible to completely erase the traces of raw egg.

The hair hidden beneath my cap seemed to carry a faint fishy smell, and it bothered me.

“Ran, does my hair smell?”

“No. It doesn’t smell like anything.”

“Really? Maybe it got under my nose.”

“Don’t worry so much. You only smell good.”

“Over there! You should be paying attention, shouldn’t you?”

Choi Ran and I had been whispering to each other and got caught by the professor.

After hastily apologizing, I focused on the lecture.

Though I still had no idea what he was talking about.

“Man, maybe it’s because I’m a humanities guy. I can’t understand any of this.”

After class ended, the MC yawned.

“Mr. Seulho, did you understand it?”

“As if.”

“Haha. Alright, let’s wrap things up. Just a little more, everyone. Let’s head to the room over there.”

We followed the MC to a space beside the classroom.

The original schedule included practical training, but because of the egg incident, the filming had been delayed too much, so this was as far as we could go.

“How was today?”

Everyone gave brief impressions and took the opportunity to promote the drama.

After Choi Ran thanked everyone for today, Woo Junseo suddenly spoke with a faintly mocking expression.

“I’m grateful too. Thanks to you all, I got to witness a lot of interesting sights today.”

There was definitely a barb hidden in those words.

The MC wasn’t stupid; he clearly noticed it.

But he apparently didn’t want to dig deeper and tried to smooth things over.

“Right. I still can’t forget the video we saw during the lecture. I had no idea constructing buildings was that complicated. Whew. Mr. Seulho, you were surprised too, right?”

The MC turned toward me.

As I naturally opened my mouth to answer, everyone on set looked at me.

Everyone except one person.

‘He’s not even looking at me.’

Woo Junseo had apparently decided to treat me as if I were invisible.

Well, I understood.

‘The whole “you’re just a supporting actor while I’m the lead” mantra has probably stopped working for him by now.’

‘But I’ve reached my limit too.’

Filming was already more than halfway done.

There was no reason for me to keep tiptoeing around Woo Junseo and catering to his moods.

So today, I had deliberately avoided speaking to him or acting conscious of him.

Maybe he had noticed the change, because his expression had only worsened.

The only time Woo Junseo had smiled all day was when I got hit by the egg.

At first he had looked startled, but the moment he saw me covered in egg, he had unconsciously smiled.

Then he had immediately fixed his expression.

Very… celebrity-like.

“I hope everyone continues to show lots of interest in our drama. And I hope ‘Today, I’m a Freshman Too’ becomes a huge hit too.”

“Wow, you’re even looking out for us. Thank you so much for those kind words.”

The MC responded appropriately to my closing remarks.

“Looks like Mincheol still doesn’t know much about Seulho.”

Woo Junseo suddenly cut in.

The MC tilted his head.

“Huh?”

“Seulho looks really sweet, but he’s actually a bad boy. Lately he won’t even answer my calls and keeps avoiding me.”

The MC forced an awkward smile.

“Wow, really? Mr. Seulho was a bad boy? That makes him even more attractive.”

“He’s definitely not an easy man. Maybe that’s why I want him even more. Haha.”

Woo Junseo flashed the eye-smile he used whenever he wanted to look charming.

If he had openly insulted me, that would’ve been one thing.

But because of that actor-like ambiguity, it was hard to tell whether it was praise or something else.

Choi Ran seemed dumbfounded.

Breaking the pure and innocent image she had maintained all day, she said,

“He answers my calls just fine, though.”

I didn’t even bother responding.

“Ah~ Thank you to these three guests for showing us such unexpected sides of themselves today!”

Perhaps worried that an actual fight might break out, the MC quickly wrapped up the shoot.

The moment filming ended, Woo Junseo immediately got into his car and disappeared.

The MC’s expression as he watched him leave was rather strange.

“It’s ironic. The public has no idea he’s really like that…”

Just like PD Jang on the drama set, the MC had been the one dealing with Woo Junseo’s nonsense all day.

While I was consoling the MC, who seemed to have aged years over the course of half a day, Choi Ran walked over.

“It’s not like people know nothing. There was that drunken livestream incident.”

“Oh, right. True. That got completely buried, didn’t it? I totally forgot about it.”

The MC laughed heartily and said we’d all worked hard today before leaving.

After saying goodbye to Choi Ran and telling her I’d see her tomorrow, I got into the car.

Hyun Jingae had heard what happened from the staff and was carefully watching my mood.

“Seulho… well… you really went through a lot today. Sorry I couldn’t stop it.”

“It’s fine. What can I expect from a manager who likes golf courses more than filming sets?”

“Come on, don’t say it like that. I had my reasons. Anyway, I’m really sorry. I couldn’t stop it…”

My manager shrank into himself.

I was about to ignore it, since things like this happened all the time, but suddenly something felt off.

I instinctively asked:

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“You knew beforehand, didn’t you?”

“Knew what?”

“The egg.”

The question left my mouth before I fully processed it myself.

It was pure instinct.

A suspicion with no evidence whatsoever.

Only after speaking did it briefly occur to me that he might take offense.

Briefly.

Very briefly.

Because the moment I saw his face, I became certain.

“……”

“You really did know?”

Hyun Jingae’s complexion turned deathly pale.