I Spent a Night with a Top Star Actress Chapter 22 - The Butterfly Effect.

I’d read a lot of scripts since early on, right after I joined the company.

If I’m being a little generous with myself, there was a stretch where I read every single script that came out in a quarter, cover to cover.

Actually, being an actor’s manager doesn’t mean you have to read scripts.

Most actors pick and choose their own scripts anyway.

But back then, I was obsessed with scripts to an almost excessive degree.

Why was that….

Thinking about it for a moment, the answer wasn’t much.

Back then, I read scripts to survive.

‘A high school grad with no skills and no school name to speak of.’

Unlike me, the people who joined the same year were highly educated, graduates of respectable universities, and some had even come over from other agencies with real experience.

To survive among them…. I had to do something.

What I happened to grab onto in that struggle was scripts.

I remember reading scripts desperately, because if I didn’t at least do this, I’d have looked too pathetic to myself.

Looking back now, it was a bit much, but it gave me an eye for scripts.

A good script, a bad script.

That much, at least, I could tell apart with certainty.

Looking at it with that eye, Director Park Jun-seo’s [The Priest in Black] was….

‘This is good.’

Yeah.

It’s good.

So good it gave me chills!

I forced down a breath that had gone a little hot and thought.

‘What’s making this so good?’

The characters, the narrative, the mise-en-scène?

Or was it the occult elements themselves, the most important part of any occult film?

I mulled it over for a while, then shook my head.

‘It’s not that any single element is what makes it good.’

The characters, the narrative, the mise-en-scène.

And the occult itself, the most important part of any occult film.

[The Priest in Black] made every one of those things good.

A low groan of admiration burst out of me.

‘This is insane.’

No other word came to mind.

This script was just…. insane.

A thrill ran through me, the kind that comes from a story that’s good in itself, the kind I hadn’t felt in a long time!

But what was even more surprising was that [The Priest in Black] wasn’t even a finished script yet.

‘An unrevised first draft.’

Considering a story only gets tighter with each revision….

the finished version of [The Priest in Black] would end up far better than this.

In that moment, I just knew.

‘This is it!’

The 5 million occult film.

If it wasn’t [The Priest in Black], nothing else made sense.

Of course, if you knew how this business worked, you wouldn’t let yourself be that sure.

But I decided to break that rule.

‘This is it.’

If [The Priest in Black] wasn’t the 5 million occult script, nothing added up.

If my guess turned out wrong, the right thing to do was call it fate and accept it.

In that moment, my mouth started moving on its own.

“Team Leader Choi, give me this.”

“…?”

“Give me both leads of [The Priest in Black]. Ah, actually, no. Want to go straight into co-production with Baekhak?”

Team Leader Choi blinked, flustered.

“…What are you talking about all of a sudden? You want [The Priest in Black]?”

“Yes.”

“T-this is still a first draft.”

“Right, exactly.”

“You want to make a verbal contract?”

A verbal contract?

If it were up to my gut, I’d have just pressed my thumbprint on it right there.

But I calmed my excitement and thought it through.

‘Am I too eager right now?’

Yeah.

Way too eager.

Eager enough that I could watch the emotion on Team Leader Choi’s face shift from flustered to greedy.

Even if [The Priest in Black] really was the 5 million occult film, I wasn’t about to let myself get pulled around by it.

I kept my expression in check and took a step back.

“Honestly, that’s really what I’d like to do.”

Team Leader Choi hung a sly smile on his lips.

“…Heh heh. Guess you really liked it, huh?”

“Honestly…. yeah. The script’s just too good.”

“If you get the script, who are you planning to give it to?”

Team Leader Choi’s bait, tossed out casually.

I put on an act, pretending to bite.

“A few names that’d fit the roles come to mind….”

“Come to mind, but?”

“For now, I’m thinking I’ll show it to the top-tier name on my team first.”

“!”

Team Leader Choi’s eyes went wide.

In that instant, the positions flipped.

“The top-tier name you handle…?”

Team Leader Choi asked, unable to hide his eagerness.

“Don’t tell me it’s the actress I’m thinking of?”

“…”

I smiled.

Sometimes silence works better than a hundred words.

In that gap, Team Leader Choi’s eyes started gleaming with greed.

“It’s way too early to decide anything rash right now, isn’t it?”

“Isn’t it, though?”

“Looks like we’ll need to set up another meeting, Chief Kwon?”

I’d taken the bait, and Team Leader Choi had taken the bait too.

So there was no reason to turn down the offer.

“Let’s do that. Or how about we bring Director Park Jun-seo along to the next meeting too?”

“Oh! Good idea. Director Park would probably be into that too.”

“Once the script’s done, I’ll set something up at a good time.”

After we set the new dinner date, a few more rounds of drinks went back and forth.

After that, we wrapped things up at a decent point and I said goodbye to Team Leader Choi.

“I’ll push Director Park to finish the script fast, so make sure you check in, Chief Kwon!”

The alcohol caught up with me late, and my head slowly started to ache.

Even so, [The Priest in Black] kept surfacing in my mind, over and over.

One of the lead characters in particular, the nun ‘Seo Rin-bi,’ left an especially strong impression.

‘Now I get why the director said he modeled her on Lee Ha-eun.’

The Seo Rin-bi in [The Priest in Black] was….

just Lee Ha-eun, plain and simple.

A person with an awful temper, impossible to read, who never spared a thought for anyone else, yet was endlessly professional when it came to her own work.

The nun Seo Rin-bi in [The Priest in Black] was exactly the Lee Ha-eun I knew.

Just then, I suddenly got curious.

Wasn’t “Queen of Joseon” airing today?

I turned on my phone and checked the ratings.

-Drama “Queen of Joseon” Ranks No. 1 in Ratings for Six Straight Weeks!

I let out a hollow laugh without meaning to.

“Wow….”

CEO Baek and I had made predictions about “Queen of Joseon”‘s ratings.

CEO Baek said 20%.

I said 25%.

If it picked up some buzz, I figured even 30% was possible.

But Lee Ha-eun’s acting blew past both our predictions.

-[HOT] The Whole Country’s Got Lee Ha-eun Fever! “Queen of Joseon” Hits 28.5% Ratings Today!

With the final episode coming up, “Queen of Joseon” was right on the edge of hitting 30%.

Lee Ha-eun’s acting had turned out to be far better than either CEO Baek or I had predicted.

---

That dawn.

I couldn’t sleep at all, because of [The Priest in Black].

The moment I closed my eyes, Director Park Jun-seo’s script flickered up in my mind.

Because of that, I wasn’t in great shape, but once I actually got to work, motivation came bubbling up anyway.

The reason wasn’t much.

Twenty’s showcase was right around the corner.

“…”

I checked Twenty’s debut showcase cue sheet one more time, on my seventeenth pass through it.

[1. Opening]

[2. Intro Video]

[3. First Performance]

[4. Talk Session 1]

….

Whether anything had been left out, whether anything was overdone.

I checked and checked again for any mistakes.

After that, I checked the articles about Twenty, pouring out like a storm.

-Rookie Idol Group [Twenty] Set for Debut Showcase Early This Month…!

-[S Talk-Talk] Baekhak, the Entertainment Industry’s Giant, Puts Forward Girl Group “Twenty.” Industry Insiders Say It’s Worth Watching….

-Most Watched Group of the Quarter! “Twenty” Has Fans’ Hearts Racing Ahead of Debut Showcase…!

I clicked my tongue without meaning to.

“Even for promotional articles, isn’t this way too much?”

The sheer volume of articles pouring out wasn’t normal.

Just the ones published today already numbered over ten.

The promotion, running far beyond what I’d expected, told me something at a glance.

‘They’ve decided to really push this.’

Then again, after pulling off the midway inspection that perfectly, it’d be strange if they didn’t push it.

But compared to the flood of promotion, the public’s response was more lukewarm than I’d expected.

-There’s too many rookies these days, won’t it be tough without something special?

-Baekhak’s Twenty, huh… meh.

-Saw the teaser, looks pretty average?

-There’s so many idols these days they all start to look the same…

-Feels like something’s missing to really get into them…lol

I smacked my lips.

“Not bad, but not great either.”

Baekhak was a full-spectrum entertainment agency.

Called the entertainment world’s giant for a reason, it held top-tier talent across every field in the industry.

But when it came to girl groups, every single one it put out had tasted the bitterness of failure.

Because of that, even hardcore idol fans’ expectations stopped right at that level.

Curious because it was a Baekhak girl group, but not quite expecting much.

Still, it wasn’t as if there was nothing positive to find.

-Visuals are better than I thought??

-Is the brown-haired one the leader?

-The one with straight black hair is so pretty;;

-Is every member the visual? They all look good.

-Feels like Baekhak really went all out on this one, or is it just me?

The public’s reaction was lukewarm, but visually, they were definitely getting noticed.

And for a girl idol, visuals are the single most important thing people judge them on.

‘Singing, choreography, personality, charm. All of that comes after the visuals are already backing you up.’

In that sense, the public’s eye on Twenty wasn’t bad.

Good visuals meant they’d already cleared the passing line.

“All that’s left is the showcase live.”

Whatever first impression they left on this stage would decide Twenty’s identity as a group going forward.

In other words, they had to put on a stage even more perfect than the midway inspection.

“I need to work my ass off.”

Since the showcase was running as a live performance, it wouldn’t be strange if something went wrong.

The stage, bookings, the camera director, the staff.

And going further, even the list of reporters invited to the showcase.

I spent my days busy, checking even the smallest details all over again for the sake of a perfect live show.

Maybe it was because I’d pushed myself too hard.

I woke up one morning and couldn’t get any strength into my body.

A groan burst out of my mouth.

“Ugh… I’m dying here.”

The urge to rest crept up, little by little.

“Should I take today off?”

….But if I rested today, I’d just have to work harder tomorrow.

If I put things off like that and something went wrong on the day of the showcase, I’d obviously spend forever regretting this one day.

In the end, I dragged my heavy body to the head office and clocked in.

“?”

The mood in the office wasn’t normal.

-Murmur, murmur.

Every employee was up out of their seat, pacing around, and shouting was coming from the PR team like they were on emergency alert.

My eyes, worn out from exhaustion, went wide at the office atmosphere, so different from yesterday.

“Ah, right, today’s the day.”

I’d completely forgotten.

That today was the day the Choi Su-hyeon article went up.

---

The management office came into view, its mood sunk low.

“…”

Everyone’s faces were heavy.

In the middle of it, coworkers gathered in twos and threes, murmuring.

“Did you hear?”

“…Hear what?”

“An article dropped this morning!”

“Wow… they really stepped in it, huh?”

“Team 1’s about to have one disaster after another this morning.”

I let out a laugh without meaning to.

At the same time, the fatigue that had built up over the past few days vanished like a lie.

With a clear head and a body that suddenly felt refreshed, I headed for the PR team.

“Get the rebuttal article up, fast!”

“Say our side had absolutely no idea!”

“Management’s the one who screws up, so why are we the ones cleaning up the mess every single time!”

“Answer the phone instead of complaining, you little brat!”

The PR team was, quite literally, at war.

Watching the scene at my leisure, I plopped down next to Team Leader Seo, whose dark circles had sunk all the way down to her chin.

“Team Leader Seo.”

“Oh my, you scared me!”

Team Leader Seo glared and said.

“Chief Kwon? Could you make some noise when you walk up next time!”

“Ah, sorry. But….”

I trailed off and asked, pretending I knew nothing.

“Why’s the office like this so early in the morning?”

“Haa… you didn’t see this morning’s article?”

“Article?”

“…Ugh! Keep up with what’s going on in the world!”

Team Leader Seo handed me a tablet PC.

My eyes read down through the articles filling the screen.

-[Breaking!] Chungmuro’s Rising Star “Choi Su-hyeon,” Now in Baekhak’s Arms, Caught in the Act of an Affair…!

It was chaos.

-This is genuinely shocking….

-Doesn’t match his usual image at all?

-What did his family ever do? This really isn’t right….

-Info. Choi Su-hyeon used to be called the ace of a Gangnam host bar.

L Really??

L Word is his nickname was Married Woman Killer, lol

L Insane. Married women;;

-Anyone in the know already knows. Choi Su-hyeon was a well-known gigolo in Gangnam, lol

-Honestly surprised this only blew up now

The comments were hotter than I’d expected too.

But wait, this guy Choi Su-hyeon….

turns out to be a bigger deal than I thought?

‘Ace of a Gangnam host bar?’

That alone was surprising enough, and apparently his nickname was Married Woman Killer.

I let out a hollow laugh and got up from my seat.

On my way back to the management office.

A rough shout reached my ears.

A voice both familiar and strange.

In that moment, my heart started pounding.

-Thump, thump.

Twenty’s showcase, right around the corner.

I’d briefly forgotten about it because of Director Park Jun-seo’s new project, [The Priest in Black], but…. right.

Today’s Choi Su-hyeon incident was a huge event for me too.

‘What kind of face is Team Leader Kim Seong-hun making right now?’

I couldn’t picture it, but one thing was certain.

‘It’s probably a work of art.’

Yeah.

It’ll be a real masterpiece.

Team Leader Kim Seong-hun’s face, hearing this news!

With anticipation building, the corner of my mouth twitching, I threw the management office door open.

In that moment.

“Fuck! How is this my responsibility! This happened before he even came to headquarters!”

Team 1 Leader Kim Seong-hun’s shout struck my ears like lightning.

A low sound of admiration burst out of me on its own.

“Wow….”

Whatever it was, I’d expected a huge reaction.

“How is it my fault Choi Su-hyeon had an affair!”

But reality always exceeds expectations.

I clicked my tongue at the sight in front of me and muttered.

“Now that’s a real picture.”

Yeah, a picture.

Team 1 Leader Kim Seong-hun’s face, burning red like an active volcano, was a masterpiece that blew right past my expectations.

But sorry to Team Leader Kim Seong-hun, the Choi Su-hyeon affair scandal was only just getting started.

-[Exclusive] Rookie Cheater Choi Su-hyeon Also Linked to Top Star ‘A,’ Famous for a Storybook Marriage…!

It came out that one of the women Choi Su-hyeon had the affair with was an A-list actress, famous in the industry for having a picture-perfect marriage.

In that instant, the scandal started ballooning, with no time left to contain it.