I Spent a Night with a Top Star Actress Chapter 16 - A lucky day.

The connection with PD Choi Ho-cheol, executive producer of SBC’s Show! Music, came out of a very small incident.

Two years ago. Baekhak Entertainment’s flagship boy group.

It happened while I was handling Star Road. The girl group ‘Hi-Teen’, who had the slot right after ours, blew a hole in the live broadcast schedule.

Not a rehearsal, a live broadcast, so the whole site turned upside down.

That was when Star Road and I stepped up and filled the hole in the live schedule.

There wasn’t much reason to it.

I did it on one thought alone: we’d get to stand on the later stage slot.

But it seems PD Choi Ho-cheol saw it differently.

After that day, PD Choi Ho-cheol called me Star Kwon, with affection in it.

Star Road’s manager, Star Kwon.

Time has passed, and even now that hasn’t changed.

“How long has it been? About two years, Star Kwon?”

“I’m sorry it’s been so long since I came to see you, PD Choi.”

“Oh, listen to yourself. You don’t mean a word of that. Weren’t you glad not to have to look at my face?”

Our PD Choi is as prickly as ever.

Instead of answering, I quietly held out the mint choco latte and the macarons I’d brought.

PD Choi’s eyes went round.

“Oh my, what’s all this?”

“I can’t come see PD Choi empty-handed, can I?”

“Oh-ho? How did you know I like mint choco?”

“Time passes, but I still remember PD Choi’s favorite drink.”

PD Choi burst out laughing.

“Heh heh…your tongue’s as quick as ever. Wait here a minute! I’ll check the stage setup and come right back.”

PD Choi sucked at the mint choco and disappeared somewhere.

Standing there awkwardly felt odd, so I turned my head, and the road managers who’d been lined up in a single file and thrashed were gaping at me.

“…. Wow, what was that?”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that devil bastard PD Choi smile.”

“He’s got to be someone way up there, right? Otherwise that devil PD Choi would never act like that??”

No faces I know, so most of them are probably rookie road managers.

Or roads who’ve been handed a rookie idol.

Either way, they clearly had no idea what they were doing.

Normally I’d have just ignored them, but….

Today, how do I put it.

I was in a good mood, so I felt like sticking my nose in for no reason.

I thought about it for a moment and slipped them a bit of advice that wasn’t quite advice.

“PD Choi is at his touchiest around lunch, because of the live broadcast.”

“?”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to ask him for, but right now there’s no chance.”

At my words the rookie roads started and bowed their heads.

“Uh…. thank you.”

I bowed back.

The rookie roads glanced at each other and quietly left.

“Hey, hey, he’s got to be team-leader level, right? The air around him is no joke.”

“Whew! Never mind that, how the hell do we talk PD Choi around.”

“No idea. Maybe we should bring our team leader too.”

While I let the rookie roads’ muttering go in one ear, PD Choi, who had vanished, came back.

“Hm? What’s this? Why are you alone, Star Kwon?”

“I cleared them out so I could talk with you in peace, PD Choi.”

PD Choi burst out laughing.

“What on earth is our Star Kwon buttering me up this hard for.”

Like a proper music show PD, the man reads a room disgustingly fast.

Going around in circles would obviously leave me worse off than when I started.

So I threw a fastball straight down the middle.

“I’ve been put in charge of a girl group.”

“Hm? Baekhak has a girl group?”

“Rookies. Their showcase is next month.”

PD Choi pulled the corner of his mouth up in a grin.

“Oh-ho, so you came here with a purpose.”

“You know how I feel, right?”

“Ugh, my rotten luck. Why is every single guy who comes to see me like this.”

PD Choi shook his head, bit into a macaron, and answered.

“Slot twelve.”

“!”

“I’ll give you a waiting room of your own too. We’ll work out the detailed schedule after I see the showcase.”

My eyes went wide as saucers.

Show! Music runs roughly fifteen to twenty acts.

And slot twelve out of that….

is quite far back in the running order.

‘This is really a second-tier idol’s slot, isn’t it?’

I have a connection with PD Choi, sure, but I hadn’t expected him to push this hard for me, and my face went awkward without meaning to.

“Look at you, dying of happiness. Absolutely dying.”

Prickly as ever. His words snapped me back and I answered.

“That’s because PD Choi is being too good to me.”

“Stop with the embarrassing talk and get going. I’ve got to start the rehearsal soon.”

“Salute. I love you, PD Choi.”

Instead of answering, PD Choi waved a hand.

I walked out of the set with a light step, thinking.

‘…What is this? Is today some kind of day?’

My luck’s a little too good.

With everything unspooling this smoothly, my already high mood felt like it would punch through the sky.

Riding the momentum, I decided to stop by the variety department.

‘The people I’m on halfway decent terms with over at the SBC variety department are…. PD Kim and PD Park?’

If I want to run schedules for the Twenty kids, they’re people I’ll have to meet sooner or later, so it seemed smart to start laying the groundwork now.

I went back into the cafe, picked up carriers full of americanos in both hands, and headed for the variety department.

‘It’s the variety department, so I am a little tense.’

Variety department PDs have a reputation for being strong-willed.

One wrong move and I’d hand over the coffee as tribute and get nothing back.

I let out a light, deep breath and pulled myself together.

So I walked into the variety department with a decent amount of tension in me.

“Well! Look who it is!?”

Against my expectations, the welcome was far too warm.

I tilted my head at it, and PD Park, the one I knew, said with a broad smile,

“‘Queen of Joseon’ hit huge, didn’t it? Isn’t this year going a bit too well for you, Chief Kwon?”

Ah.

So that was the reason?

---

It didn’t take long to work out the situation.

So I smiled, playing dumb.

No need to lay my cards down in a hurry.

“Have you been well, PD Park?”

“You’ve been doing well too, Chief Kwon?”

“Same as always for me. Shall we sit down and talk?”

“Yes, yes! Let’s sit and talk.”

PD Park headed for an empty meeting room.

As soon as we sat down, a few PDs who’d been watching us since earlier stuck their heads in.

“Knock, knock, knock….?”

“Mind if we join the conversation?”

“Oh my, what an honored guest we have!”

PD Park glared.

“What do you lot think you’re doing! Chief Kwon is my guest!”

“Come on, PD Park. Why so stingy. If he’s PD Park’s guest, he’s our guest too.”

PD Park scrambled to block the meeting room door, but variety department PDs aren’t the type to back off quietly.

They shoved their way in by force and beamed at me.

“This is the first time we’ve met like this, isn’t it, Chief Kwon?”

“You and I have met, right, Chief Kwon? We had a company dinner together last time!’

“‘Queen of Joseon’ has been so good lately. Is actor Lee Ha-eun doing well?”

Wow….

Are these really the famously haughty SBC variety department PDs?

It was a little much for me, but I didn’t let the strain show.

I’m not an amateur, right?

Keeping a smile on, I passed my business cards around.

“Some of you I’m meeting for the first time, and PD Kim, you look healthier than the last time I saw you.”

I played along, and the variety PDs’ faces brightened.

Haha….

Hoho….

Hiding what we actually thought, we traded pleasantries without a break.

“‘Queen of Joseon’ is so good~”

“Actor Lee Ha-eun is busy these days, right?”

“Still, it’s an SBC drama. Not one variety appearance feels a bit cold~”

Back when I was a new road, situations like this made my skin crawl, but….

By now I’m worn smooth too.

It’s a business relationship anyway, and wearing the mask is easier on both sides.

Inside it, I worked the calculator.

‘”Queen of Joseon”, a hit against everyone’s expectations.’

Thanks to it, interest in the “Queen of Joseon” actors is at its peak.

And among them, the interest in Lee Ha-eun was blazing hot.

Because if they could book her, she’d obviously be a guaranteed check for the ratings.

So variety PDs bowing and scraping to me isn’t all that strange.

‘I thought I was the one begging…. and now I’m the one being begged.’

But it’d be idiotic to actually start throwing my weight around.

I became the one with the power in a moment, and I could lose it just as fast.

I set the direction in my head and started steering.

“…. Actually, it’s been a while since I stepped away from Lee Ha-eun-ssi.”

The variety PDs’ faces stiffened fast.

“R, really?”

“Uh…. the assignment changed?”

“Still, Chief, you manage her, don’t you?”

I nodded with a smile.

“Well, I do manage her. Either way, Road Jeon Hyeong-woo, Lee Ha-eun-ssi’s manager, is on the same Team 5.”

“…. Right? Right! With our Chief Kwon’s years, it’s about time you started stepping back from the field!”

Here I threw out the bait.

“Ah, you didn’t know?”

“…. Hm? Know what?”

“I’m still running the field.”

“Uh…. really?”

“Yes. I’ve been put in charge of the girl group Baekhak is launching. They’re called Twenty, and their showcase is early next month.”

“!”

The variety PDs’ eyes widened.

Their faces looked like….

the face of someone who’s walked into the wrong thing.

But the initiative was already mine.

I didn’t let the flow slip and kept going.

“Actually, the reason I came to SBC today is Twenty. To ask you all to look after them once they debut.”

“….”

“But hearing you all talk, maybe I shouldn’t have come alone. Maybe I should have brought Hyeong-woo-ssi, who handles Lee Ha-eun.”

“!”

There. The bait was out.

Now, who would bite it first.

I folded my arms, unhurried, and waited for the PDs to finish their arithmetic.

PD Park, the one I knew, quietly raised a hand.

“…. Hm. Their debut is early next month?”

There we go.

PD Park couldn’t hold out and snapped the bait right up.

I nodded at once.

“The showcase is on the tenth, to be exact.”

“…. Mmm. Our [Star Watch!] does have some empty schedule next month.”

“That’s perfect. Going on Star Watch right when the interest boils over after debut?”

PD Park shrugged.

“Let’s watch the timing for now, Chief Kwon.”

PD Park, pulling a foot back with a straight face.

There’s a reason they call PD Park the old guard of the SBC variety department.

“Booking rookies who haven’t even done their showcase is a bit much. Let’s take it slow, slow.”

I’d thrown bait, and PD Park threw bait right back at me.

I thought it over and nodded.

‘Not bad.’

He was right: getting a verbal promise of a schedule for a rookie girl group that hasn’t even had its showcase makes no sense in the first place.

This much meant I could safely call today’s visit to the variety department a success.

The corner of my mouth lifted without meaning to, and just then,

my smartphone buzzed.

-[Seok-du hyung: Chan, I found the scripts.]

A text arrived like a period at the end of a dull conversation.

---

I promised PD Park a next meeting, left the SBC station, and headed for Baekhak’s head office.

Looking at roads that were unusually wide open today, I muttered without meaning to.

“…. Is today really some kind of day?”

Traffic’s clear.

I got a late slot on the music show.

And I got a verbal promise of a schedule on a variety show that’s doing well right now.

Even I had to admit my luck today was too good.

“But that story, ‘A Lucky Day’, has a bad ending, doesn’t it?”

Surely I’m not headed for an ending like that?

Worrying about useless things, I walked into the office.

Seok-du hyung wasn’t there, out on an errand maybe, and five scripts sat alone on my desk.

“This is all he could scrape together….”

Well, sure.

It’d be stranger if there were a lot of scripts with occult material.

I sat down and opened the scripts.

‘If it opens this year, the 5 million occult script should be in here….’

Just how good does a script have to be to pull that many admissions with occult?

Not hiding the expectation rising in me, I read down through the scripts.

And a little while later.

Having read all five carefully, I muttered.

“…. These aren’t it?”

I went through them carefully one more time.

But….

No matter how I looked, they weren’t it.

“5 million admissions…this is supposed to be that occult script?”

For a 5-million-admission occult script, the class was far too low.

‘Narrative, character, mise-en-scène.’

Even the occult itself, the most important thing in the occult genre, missed what the public wants.

At this level it’s fair to call them amateur scripts, not professional ones.

Just in case, I searched the writers’ names.

“Three of them don’t even come up on Google…. and the other two write short film scripts.”

The scale in my mind tipped.

In the occult genre, years matter more than talent.

Because one slip in occult and you get called minor.

In that sense, the scripts in front of me most likely weren’t the 5 million occult script.

I clicked my tongue without meaning to.

“Tsk…is this really going to turn out like ‘A Lucky Day’?”

A little disappointing.

I scratched my jaw slowly and muttered.

‘If it’s like this, do I have to ask around and hunt the script down?’

But could I actually find an occult script that doesn’t even come to Baekhak just by asking around?

I folded my arms without meaning to and thought.

‘This is hard.’

Seen this way, the texts from the future aren’t all-knowing.

Making an opportunity out of nothing but fragments was quite hard work too.

‘If I even knew the date the article ran, I could narrow the search and do something about it.’

Right.

If I just knew the date the article ran…. Hm?

My eyes flew open!

“Doesn’t the time and date usually show under an article’s headline?”

I hurriedly turned on my smartphone and clicked any article.

-31st in salary, Son Heung-min, will he become a Tottenham legend?…’Long-term renewal’ talks through 20XX

20XX.06.10. 12:19 p.m.

My breathing went a little rough.

‘The time and date show under the headline.’

Then what about the texts from the future?

With a shaking hand I clicked my saved messages.

The four future messages I’d kept safe were there.

Of them, I clicked the third one.

-“Shocking Exposé” The entertainment empire: an affair between a famous Baekhak actor and a mystery woman!

20XX.06.25. 17:20 p.m.

The corner of my mouth twitched without meaning to.

“…. Ha. The text is this small, no wonder I missed it.”

The future text articles had dates on them too!

‘The affair is two weeks out, and the occult film…. no wonder it isn’t out on the market.’

The 5 million occult film is a next-year release, of all things.

Just about every decent script comes to Baekhak, but for a film opening next year, it makes sense the script isn’t around.

Barely holding down the excitement rising in me, I muttered.

“If that’s how it is…. I think I’ve got the answer on the affair too.”

The crown prince of romance, Seo Tae-jun.

Chungmuro’s rising newcomer, Choi Su-hyeon.

I pictured the two of them and the corner of my mouth went up.

“So Chungmuro’s newcomer to watch was the man in the affair?”

The bomb had shown its face.