Chapter 18

With the tension in the air, Song Jae-Hee hesitated for a moment and wondered to herself if she was qualified enough to recommend anyone. Then, she thought of Chae Woo-Jin’s face and shook her head slightly. If she were to let him be, that boy would be lucky if he did not end up signing a slave contract with a strict agency. Before that happened, she had to put a safety net in place somehow. 

“Actually, there’s someone I’d like to recommend,” said Song Jae-Hee.

“By any chance, is his name Chae Woo-Jin?” asked Jang Su-Hwan.

“Ack! What!”

Forgetting she was a dignified female actress, Song Jae-Hee made strange noises as she jumped up from her seat. She stared at Jang Su-Hwan with a doubtful look, wondering if Woo-Jin had performed a blade dance. [1].

“There was someone who recommended Chae Woo-Jin before you.”

“Was it Manager Kim?”

“Manager Kim was the second person to recommend him. You are the third,” responded Jang Su-Hwan.

“I’m the third? Not the second, but the third? Who recommended him? Who had the audacity to recommend Woo-Jin before I did?” 

If it was Manager Kim who had recommended him before she did, she would acknowledge it, since he had seen Woo-Jin throughout the shooting on set. However, when she had heard that someone other than her or Manager Kim had recommended Chae Woo-Jin first, it fired up an unnecessary competitive spirit in her.  

“G&C Entertainment’s Supreme Witch,” replied Jang Su-Hwan.

Upon hearing Jang Su-Hwan’s answer, she gaped for a few moments, but soon after conceded. She had heard that CEO Choi had personally selected the main leads, as well as the supporting actor, for this movie. Hence, she logically concluded she must have been the first person to know about Woo-Jin’s value. However, she had guessed incorrectly. 

“She had never actually seen him act before, so I asked her why she recommended him.”

“...”

“She said that he looked like her son,” continued Jang Su-Hwan.

“Ah, that toad…?”

That was when Song Jae-Hee finally understood the meaning behind Woo-Jin’s words earlier on during the day. G&C Group’s general chairman was famous for looking like a toad. So that’s why he was in despair. 

“It’s true that in all honesty, the Supreme Witch, who thinks that her husband is handsome, has terrible taste. But all the people whom she thinks resemble her son end up making it big,” said Jang Su-Hwan, grumbling about how obscure the witch’s standards were. 

Jang Su-Hwan continued with his rant. “Regardless of how much the Supreme Witch recommended him, I said that I would think about it and see how it goes. But seeing as both you and Manager Kim have recommended him, he must have something special, hm?” 

“First of all, he has the looks and the acting down. He also has a unique vibe too, in a positive way. He has the so-called image and the aura of an actor.”

“You’re pretty aggressive about recommending him, huh,” remarked Jang Su-Hwan.

Since Song Jae-Hee was not the type of person to recommend someone else, or actively support them, Jang Su-Hwan glanced at her with a doubtful look in his eyes. Any potential scandals had to be managed properly in advance as long as the other party was a man, even if he was younger. 

“He’s not even an actress who will compete with me, so what do I have to be wary about? Most importantly, I’m just worried about him because he’s like a lost little child,” replied Song Jae-Hee.

Song Jae-Hee was the eldest child in her family. She saw Woo-Jin as a younger brother that was born late into the family. She thought that it would be really cute if he were to call her ‘noona’ while looking at her with sparkly eyes. If they were in the same agency, it would be a step closer to making it happen. As the thought popped into her head, she realized that she had another reason for bringing Chae Woo-Jin into DS. 

“All the people who recommended Chae Woo-Jin are people I trust to have a discerning eye, so I will seriously think about it. Of course, the final decision lies with me and Chae Woo-Jin himself, so stop worrying about this and focus on acting. Even if the movie becomes a flop, shouldn’t you use this as an opportunity for you to completely get rid of your image as a child actress?”

Ironically, the biggest reason why Song Jae-Hee was cast in this movie was because of her image as a young girl, rather than a mature woman. However, this girl was loved by two men, and her character, Na Mi-Yeon, gradually bloomed into a mature woman. So, playing that character was fun. There was a default mood or ambience set by the writer, but the overall outline would subtly change depending on how the actors portrayed their characters. With 15 years of experience as an actress, Song Jae-Hee was starting to develop a newfound love for acting again. 

As Song Jae-Hee left the office, Jang Su-Hwan grabbed the folder he was looking at right before she went into his office. 

<Chae Woo-Jin>

All the information he could find out about Chae Woo-Jin could be found under the title of the first page of the file. Jang Su-Hwan was confident that it contained information about Chae Woo-Jin that Chae Woo-Jin himself probably did not even know about. 

“If only he wasn’t a TM trainee…”

Jang Su-Hwan sighed as he read the document.

***

A month had passed by very quickly. Finally, all that was left was one final sequence. Choi Yi-Geon and Woo-Jin had a one-on-one talk. 

“Do Cha Hyun-Seung’s tears really fit his image here?” asked Choi Yi-Geon. 

It was a sincere question on Choi Yi-Geon’s part — not an attempt at arguing — because he could not come to a conclusion about the acting. 

“I think that it doesn’t matter whether or not he sheds any tears. If you can’t come to a conclusion, wouldn’t it be better to just act according to the writer’s intentions?” 

Perhaps it might have been the writer’s intention to use Cha Hyun-Seung’s tears to declare the end of passionate young love; a love that was unable to achieve anything was forgotten without leaving anything behind. The tears that were shed as a result of complex feelings could have had different types of meanings, ranging from sorrow to injustice. 

“Isn’t crying too easy of a way to play it out?” asked Choi Yi-Geon.

“It certainly is,” answered Woo-Jin. 

There was nothing easier than using tears to release and express emotions. It was difficult for actors to cry naturally, but if said actor could shed tears to tell the audience how sad the character was, there was no more effective method to convince them and get their understanding. 

“I feel like our hard work up until now would have been in vain if we use nothing but tears to unravel Cha Hyun-Seung’s complicated feelings. I’ve also been thinking. When Cha Hyun-Seung happened to run into Na Mi-Yeon ten years later, he has already gotten married. I mean, I don’t think that Cha Hyun-Seung will simply accept reality and marry a random person he did not love,” said Choi Yi-Geon. 

Woo-Jin concurred with what Choi Yi-Geon said and nodded. 

“I feel the same way. My version of Cha Hyun-Seung is someone who knows what love is. That person is someone who would rather live alone than marry a woman he doesn’t love.” 

The emotion that Woo-Jin chose when he acted as Cha Hyun-Seung was patience instead of a sense of inferiority. He played a character that knew what patience was when it came to love; someone who wanted to protect the love of the woman he loved, prevent her from getting hurt, and wish for her to shine more brilliantly than anyone else. 

“Yeah, such a man, who already has a wife that he loves, cried because he saw the person he used to love?” asked Choi Yi-Geon. 

“There is a saying that a man cannot forget his first love, even though in this case, it was his first unrequited love,” said Woo-Jin.

“In that case, what do you think would happen if you were him? Would you cry if you were to run into your first love ten years later?”

Choi Yi-Geon asked Woo-Jin this cautiously, as he knew that Woo-Jin had experienced a painful relationship, despite not knowing the details. That sudden question was something Woo-Jin had never thought about before, so he was a little caught off guard. 

However, knowing Choi Yi-Geon’s intentions, Woo-Jin earnestly thought about it. It had been almost two years since he had seen his ex-girlfriend. Since it was completely different from not seeing a former lover for ten years, coupled with the fact that Cha Hyun-Seung was also in an entirely different position, it was hard to make a comparison. But the one thing they had in common was that they had both lost the woman they loved. 

Right now, Woo-Jin was not in love with anyone, but he could imagine it. If he were to unexpectedly run into her one day and find out that she had completely forgotten about him, how would he have reacted? Not forgetting the fact that he had someone else by his side now. 

He felt like he would be about to cry, but ultimately never did, partly due to pride, partly to respect the one he was currently with.

“Ah…”

Cha Hyun-Seung clearly had a different personality from Chae Woo-Jin, but they seemed to have similar feelings for their significant other. If anything were different, Cha Hyun-Seung would have put her wellbeing and emotions first and his pride second. It would not have been different just because he had a wife. 

Just because his love had ended did not mean love itself was over. It was not that he had lingering feelings for her, or that he could not forget her. It was the minimum courtesy and self-respect he could have for his past relationship. He would have wanted to cry but he would not cry, also out of courtesy and respect for the person he loved now. 

“If it were me, I wouldn’t cry. Cha Hyun-Seung wouldn’t cry either. He’s more emotional than anyone else, but he’s a rational person when it comes to his actions,” said Woo-Jin.

“That’s exactly right! It’s a very common cliche to squeeze out tears because you cannot forget your first love.”

Choi Yi-Geon had been working very hard in order to shoot a movie that portrayed uncommon emotions despite having a cliched premise. This was the first screenplay that the writer of Glooming Day had ever written. The reason why Choi Yi-Geon had ignored the writer’s intentions was not that he was inexperienced, but because the sub-par dialogue and the trite content in the script had caused his blood pressure to rise throughout the production. 

The scriptwriter had compiled all the imagery people had of how “first love" should be and put it into the script. Choi Yi-Geon was only satisfied with the movie ending. He truly only liked the ending; the inconsistent flow of the movie caused by the ending was unbearable. The first half of the movie was very beautiful, as though they were traveling in a fantasy world, but towards the end, they were brought back to reality. This was similar to the typical development of a comedy that was designed to be funny throughout, but was given forced emotions and a sense of reality towards the end, adding weight to it. In truth, Choi Yi-Geon was curious about how such a work landed in CEO Choi’s hands, but what could he do even if he knew? It was useless unless he could go back in time and stop it from happening.

“Just ignore the writer’s intentions, like what you’ve been doing. Follow the emotions of your version of Cha Hyun-Seung,” said Choi Yi-Geon.

If the writer were to watch the movie later on, they might doubt that it was a movie based on their screenplay. Most importantly, it was highly likely that CEO Choi would not like it. This was because all the romance movies that had been produced so far under her company were tailored to her taste and adhered to the script. But this time, the movie had deviated far from the script, much less her tastes. Beyond adding and removing parts of the content of the movie, the mood and ambience had completely changed compared to usual. 

However, Director Choi Yi-Geon was proud that he had produced a better movie than the previous romance movies. By making the characters more three-dimensional, he made their actions legitimate. At least, while watching the movie, he was confident that there would be no criticisms or debates about how the movie had excessive emotions or how it did not have verisimilitude.  As soon as he had resolved the last thing he was worried about, he prepared for the final scene.

Ten years later, Cha Hyun-Seung had become a professor, and he was traveling to Busan via KTX for a seminar. Out of boredom, he took out his phone and scrolled through the headlines of the articles. 

1. Blade dances were performed by Korean shamans to channel supernatural powers from the gods and seek answers <i class="far fa-hand-point-left">