I Spent a Night with a Top Star Actress Chapter 23 - The butterfly effect.

The day after the article exposing Choi Su-hyeon’s affair broke.

After finishing the morning’s work, I got on the phone with Reporter Seo.

[“Such a waste, seriously.”]

Reporter Seo smacked his lips.

[“Who’d have thought that gigolo Choi Su-hyeon had something going with Park Hui-won too! I should’ve gotten this one as an exclusive, ugh…!”]

Park Hui-won, here, was the top star known for a picture-perfect celebrity marriage, the one who’d had the affair with Choi Su-hyeon.

“So you’re saying you didn’t know, Reporter Seo?”

[“If I’d known, I’d have gotten the exclusive first.”]

“Got it. Thanks for the work. If you put out any follow-up on Choi Su-hyeon, send me a message first.”

[“Okay. You did good work too, Chief Kwon.”]

I hung up and dropped onto a bench.

I put a cigarette to my mouth and muttered.

“So the story about the celebrity power couple wasn’t Reporter Seo’s doing.”

I flicked the lighter and lit up.

I filled my mouth with smoke and fell into thought.

‘The Choi Su-hyeon exposé broke and threw the plan off?’

What Reporter Seo and I had planned was, strictly speaking, just Choi Su-hyeon’s “affair.”

But when the exposé broke that Choi Su-hyeon had also had an affair with Park Hui-won, the celebrity power couple’s wife, the scandal blew up way bigger than planned.

-[Exclusive!] Chungmuro’s Rookie Choi Su-hyeon, Affair With Celebrity Power Couple’s “Park Hui-won”…!

If I’m being a little generous with the comparison, the current scandal was hitting with the same force as the Director Kim Jang-hoon incident.

A top star who’d had an affair with a rookie actor.

The public, starving for sensation, was never going to let a target like this slip by.

Because of that, Baekhak’s position had gotten seriously awkward.

It hadn’t been long since the Director Kim Jang-hoon incident, and now an affair scandal had broken on top of it.

“…But well, Baekhak’s position isn’t really my problem.”

I wasn’t exactly brimming with company loyalty.

Baekhak being in an awkward spot had nothing to do with me.

“What bugs me is that a follow-up article broke and threw my plan off.”

The butterfly effect, was it?

The idea that one small flap of a butterfly’s wings can set off some huge, unexpected outcome or ripple.

That was exactly the feeling I had right now.

I couldn’t shake the thought that maybe things had blown up this big because I’d leaked the Choi Su-hyeon affair story earlier than planned.

And on top of that, not being able to control the situation left me feeling stifled.

‘Feels like an accident, sure, but it still leaves a bad taste….’

I put a new cigarette to my mouth.

I figured I needed some nicotine in me before my head would start working right.

Just then, new visitors showed up at the rooftop smoking area.

Nameless employees with cigarettes in their mouths started up a low, murmuring conversation.

“Hey, hey, you hear about Team 1?”

“Yeah, I heard. It’s a mess because of that Choi Su-hyeon they just signed, right?”

“Team 1’s leader really stepped in it.”

“Seriously…. who could’ve known the actor they signed as a free agent would turn out to be a cheater?”

“But am I the only one who finds this whole Team 1 thing kind of satisfying?”

My ears perked up without meaning to.

“Agreed. Honestly, Team Leader Kim Seong-hun was way too full of himself.”

“I mean, honestly, Team 1’s numbers are high because they’ve got a lot of talent under them, not because of Team Leader Kim Seong-hun’s skill, but he really let it go to his head.”

“Wonder if this’ll knock him down a peg.”

My eyes went wide.

“Karma, is what it is. Should’ve treated people better while he had the chance.”

Having finished their gossip, the employees left the rooftop smoking area.

With the smoking area all to myself again, I muttered.

“Karma, huh….”

Yeah.

Maybe that’s exactly right?

Both Team Leader Kim Seong-hun and Chungmuro’s rookie Choi Su-hyeon.

If they hadn’t built up this karma along the way, none of this would’ve happened.

‘If Choi Su-hyeon hadn’t had the affair in the first place, none of this would’ve happened at all.’

In other words, this situation was bound to happen sooner or later.

In that moment, the tightness in my chest eased up a little.

“…Yeah, well. No point overthinking it.”

Let’s just say it was an accident that was always going to happen and move on.

It wasn’t a problem worth digging that deep into.

Once I let my mind lighten up, the tangle in my head lightened up too.

But the situation kept moving forward regardless.

“…We’ll have to hold a press conference, right?”

“What’s PR saying about how to respond?”

“The evidence is too airtight. Forget responding, they said we just have to grovel.”

Team 1, sighing heavily over and over as they tried to clean up the mess.

“Haa, fuck, what even is this, seriously….”

“How many days of overtime is it now because of that Choi Su-hyeon bastard?”

“But hold on, if you really think about it, isn’t some of this on the Team 1 leader too?”

The PR response team, unable to go home for a week straight.

In the middle of it, Division Head Park Yu-hyeon came down to the management office in person to deliver instructions.

“Check into your talent’s private lives and have a report up by the end of the week.”

A wail of pain went up from the management department.

No, a wail went up from the whole of Baekhak’s head office.

The fallout from the Choi Su-hyeon incident was shaking Baekhak, the entertainment industry’s giant, to its core.

My eyes naturally went looking for Team Leader Kim Seong-hun.

“He’s wrecked.”

The once-arrogant Team 1 Leader Kim Seong-hun’s shoulders had come apart at the seams.

But for some reason.

His shoulders were wrecked, but his eyes, if anything, looked a little…. unhinged.

‘Is he going to snap and do something stupid?’

The scariest person in the world is the one with nothing left to lose.

But had Team Leader Kim Seong-hun lost everything?

‘Not exactly.’

Team 1’s reputation had fallen off a cliff because of this incident, but it was still the top-performing department.

On top of that, being honest about it, the Choi Su-hyeon incident was hard to pin as Team Leader Kim Seong-hun’s fault.

Who could’ve known a free-agent actor he’d signed would turn out to be a cheater like this, really.

He was catching heat because of his past reputation, but given time, Team Leader Kim Seong-hun would find his footing again.

‘His shoulders getting wrecked…. yeah. I should just call it karma and accept it.’

Who told him to get greedy and grab Choi Su-hyeon for himself, anyway?

Or he could’ve just treated people better while he had the chance.

And so the Choi Su-hyeon incident got its happy ending.

The cheater was dealt with, and with Team Leader Kim Seong-hun’s shoulders wrecked, office life got easier too.

Now all I had to do was focus completely on Twenty’s showcase.

Maybe it was the gloomy mood around the office.

Work wasn’t moving as fast as I’d expected.

With the office mood sunk low, my own energy felt like it had sunk low too.

That’s how it went, another day of clocking in at Baekhak’s head office, still wailing in pain, with that same uneasy feeling in my chest.

“Chief Kwon!!!”

My name rang out through Baekhak’s head office.

In the middle of it, the office mood flipped completely.

-[HOT] A Brilliant Rise, a Brilliant Finish! “Queen of Joseon” Delivers the Ultimate Emotional Payoff! Clears the 30% Ratings Mark…!

“Queen of Joseon,” now finished with its finale, had gone and pulled off something big.

A very different kind of incident than Choi Su-hyeon’s. A good one.

---

SBC’s ten-year drama history had just been rewritten.

-[Starry Night Rankings] “Queen of Joseon” Writes New History for SBC, Clears 30% Ratings…

The Wednesday-Thursday miniseries “Queen of Joseon.”

After a long three-month journey, it had finally hit 30% ratings on its very last episode.

-This was genuinely moving TT TT

-Cried buckets watching the last episode… happy ending is the best!!

-Lee Ha-eun is just insane….

L Agreed. She acts so well, lol

L Seriously thought she was possessed by the character… but her visuals looked possessed too TT TT

L She was so pretty, our princess…

-This drama made me happy for a while. Season 2, let’s gooo!

-Was on edge all the way to the last episode, but so glad it wrapped up with a happy ending, lol

The reaction was the best it could be.

Praise poured in across social media, online communities, and comment sections on every news portal.

Lee Ha-eun, in particular, who’d given a performance in “Queen of Joseon” that felt possessed, wasn’t just getting praise. She was getting worship.

-[One-Line News!] A Top Star Above Top Stars, the Actress Who Shook All of South Korea, “Lee Ha-eun”

And the agency Lee Ha-eun belonged to was Baekhak.

The day after “Queen of Joseon” ended its run.

Baekhak’s head office was, quite literally, turned upside down.

“Wow…. she really hit it, she hit it.”

“Gotta hand it to her. 30% ratings, are you kidding me?”

“I mean, it wasn’t even 20 episodes. How is this even possible?”

“Chief Kwon…. I’m jealous!”

The gloomy mood at the head office turned into a festival.

My own energy, which had been running rock bottom, shot right up along with it.

In the middle of it, congratulations kept pouring in without a break.

“Chief Kwon! Congrats!”

“This one really blew up.”

“Wow…. 30% ratings, what is happening?”

“Argh! I’m jealous, so jealous! Share scripts like that around, Chief Kwon!”

Even employees I’d never even met came up to congratulate me.

After all that unexpected commotion first thing in the morning, I got to the management office just as Team Leader Ma Seok-du, back from a field trip, threw me over his shoulder.

“Kwahahahaha! This is the guy who picked out the script that hit 30% ratings!”

I genuinely freaked out!

‘What are you doing, hyung!’

Why’s he suddenly hoisting me up like this?

I was so flustered no words would come out.

Meanwhile, the whole management department watched Seok-du hyung’s out-of-nowhere piggyback show with warm smiles and applause.

“With 30% ratings, he’s earned that kind of treatment!”

Unable to fight off the wave of embarrassment, I pounded on Seok-du hyung’s shoulder.

“Team Leader! Put me down!”

Barely managing to break free from Seok-du hyung’s grip, I fled to the PR team.

But here too, well….

it wasn’t all that different.

“Chief Kwooon!”

“?”

“Seriously, you little cutie! You’re going to drive me insane!”

The PR team leader grabbed my hands and started dancing around.

….Flustered, I opened and closed my mouth, no words coming out.

But wait, why’s PR going wild??

“Of course we’re going wild! ‘Queen of Joseon’ made the affair story disappear completely!”

My eyes flew open.

‘The Choi Su-hyeon affair story disappeared?’

I scrambled to think it through.

And then….

I slowly reached a conclusion.

‘Makes sense, actually?’

The entertainment press, which had been gleefully beating up on Baekhak over the Choi Su-hyeon affair scandal just days ago.

But now that “Queen of Joseon” had cleared 30% ratings, they were busy worshipping Lee Ha-eun, Baekhak’s flagship star, instead.

‘The affair story that had been shaking Baekhak….’

had been swept out of the public’s mind by “Queen of Joseon.”

In that moment, it hit me.

‘So that’s what this was about.’

The head office’s mood, suddenly flipped completely.

The congratulations from every single person I ran into.

All of it finally made sense.

A low groan of realization burst out of me on its own.

‘This is…. this is really the butterfly effect, isn’t it?’

If I hadn’t changed the timing of the Choi Su-hyeon exposé….

none of this would’ve happened.

Because the timing of the Choi Su-hyeon exposé and “Queen of Joseon”‘s finale had lined up in exactly opposite ways.

Just then, the PR team leader shouted.

“You really lucked out big time, didn’t you, Chief Kwon?”

The PR team leader made a face like she was dying of jealousy.

“How much of a bonus is this going to be? Won’t you get a whole year’s salary out of one month’s pay?”

My eyes flew open.

….Is this how this turns out?

“Ah, but honestly, fair enough. This time you’ve genuinely earned it.”

“…”

“Everyone was miserable dealing with the Choi Su-hyeon story, and ‘Queen of Joseon’ bailed us out. The company should reward something like that.”

At the PR team leader’s rambling, I found myself nodding along without meaning to.

Just going by the situation…. yeah.

Surprisingly, the PR team leader had a point.

Going by the way things were flowing, it wouldn’t have been strange at all if a huge bonus or performance payout came my way, just like the PR team leader said.

‘And now…. this is how it turns out??’

A small butterfly’s flap of wings had dragged a storm in with it.

A storm called a performance bonus.

And the next day.

My anticipation turned into reality.

“The division head is calling for you! Get going, Chief Kwon!”

Hop, hop.

I bounced off toward the division head’s office like a rabbit.

---

The division head’s office, a place that had once just made me nervous whenever I visited.

But for some reason.

my heart was pounding now, for a completely different reason.

-Thump, thump!

The sound of my heartbeat rang through my skull like a drumbeat.

Dopamine and adrenaline kept bursting out of me without a break.

I forced down the excitement threatening to spill over and looked at Division Head Park Yu-hyeon.

The corner of Division Head Park Yu-hyeon’s mouth, which always carried a hint of a smile, was sagging today, of all days.

‘The mask cracked?’

It was definitely different from the usual Division Head Park Yu-hyeon.

That made it a little scary.

But at the same time, my anticipation exploded.

It meant the fallout from the Choi Su-hyeon incident had been so massive that even Division Head Park Yu-hyeon couldn’t keep a grip on their expression.

My guess turned out to be exactly right.

“‘Queen of Joseon’ saved us.”

“!”

Division Head Park Yu-hyeon, who’d never once dropped formal speech with me, dropped it for the first time!

“That Choi Su-hyeon bastard had the whole company in an uproar, inside and out….”

The corners of Division Head Park Yu-hyeon’s eyes curved into a pleasant crease.

“‘Queen of Joseon’ came in like a closer and pushed ratings past 30%, and the mood around the company flipped like a switch.”

Stay calm, Kwon Chan.

I need to play this humble, humbly!

I answered in a calm voice.

“I was surprised myself. I didn’t think it’d actually clear 30%….”

“That’s not what I heard.”

“Sorry?”

“The CEO told me you said it would clear 30%, Chief Kwon?”

“!”

For a moment, I lost my words.

Division Head Park Yu-hyeon let out a low laugh.

“Since when are you the type to play modest, Chief Kwon?”

….In the end, I answered honestly.

“I did have a guess, but I thought it would only be possible if it came with some kind of buzz.”

“Either way, you predicted 30%.”

“…”

“Good eye. ‘Queen of Joseon’ was a highly anticipated project, sure, but predicting 30% ratings isn’t easy.”

Division Head Park Yu-hyeon leaned forward.

“Well, that’s not the important part, so let’s move past it.”

“!”

“The CEO, out on a business trip in China, said it herself.”

Weight settled into Division Head Park Yu-hyeon’s voice.

“To make sure Chief Kwon, who turned the whole company’s mood around, gets properly rewarded.”

Excitement running through my veins made my shoulders twitch.

“So I’m thinking of handing over that reward right now….”

Trailing off, Division Head Park Yu-hyeon tossed out a question.

“Chief Kwon, what do you drive?”

A gift I hadn’t seen coming at all dropped out of the sky, just like that.