Together with Kim Eun-ha, Jun-seong and I headed to a café near the Myeongseong Daily office.
That was where we’d arranged to meet Park Jae-jun, the reporter who wrote the most trashy piece of “initial-based” gossip—“Director K” and “Female Director.”
“I’m Reporter Park Jae-jun from the Myeongseong Daily.”
Contrary to the typical scruffy image of a reporter, he was quite well-dressed, from his expensive-looking watch down to his shoes—luxury brands most ordinary reporters couldn’t dream of buying.
“Yeah. Have a seat,” I said, jerking my chin at the chair. Park Jae-jun glared at me for a moment, then sat down.
“How much did you take from Baek Jin-cheol?”
“What kind of nonsense is that right off the bat? Who do you think you are, a prosecutor? Who gave you the right to interrogate me?”
“If you didn’t take anything, that’s a relief.”
“….”
At my sarcastic remark, Park Jae-jun’s face twisted slightly.
“You do know why I didn’t bother to contact the Myeongseong Daily for the press conference, right?”
“You probably messed up.”
“You guys are key players in Baek Jin-cheol’s media manipulation.”
“I’m here to do an interview, not get cross-examined.”
He sounded pretty confident.
“Sounds like you and Baek Jin-cheol are still thick as thieves.”
“I’ve got nothing to be afraid of.”
“KMD will move soon.”
At the mention of KMD, his forehead creased.
“What kind of crap is this? Why bring up KMD out of nowhere?”
“KMD holds the largest share in our film, Night (밤). We really didn’t want to call on them, but here we are.”
“You think KMD would do you a ‘simple favor’ like that? What a flowery view of the world. You guys sure are optimistic. KMD is—”
It looked like he was about to lecture us on KMD Group, but none of us cared to listen.
“He’s the son of Chairman Lee Jeong-ho.” I gestured to Jun-seong with my thumb.
Park Jae-jun’s expression said he found that absurd.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Chairman Lee’s son? Don’t you know everyone says he’s in the States, studying abroad?”
“He even served in the military,” Jun-seong said, lips twitching.
“The son of KMD’s chairman, serving in the army? In a world where even celebrities dodge their draft? You guys sure are entertaining. So you’re trying to pull off some kind of noble ‘obligation to society’ act, huh? Guess what—it doesn’t exist, people.”
He turned to glare at Jun-seong again.
“You don’t resemble Chairman Lee at all. If you’re going to lie, at least bring someone who looks like him.”
He just wouldn’t shut up, spitting out words along with flecks of saliva.
“These days, we’re not living in the ’80s. Impersonating somebody else’s son to run a scam? Get real.”
“Wow, you sure talk a lot.”
Yawning, Kim Eun-ha finally cut him off.
“What?”
“I asked if you’re done talking, you jerk.”
“Huh? You… I don’t even know you—”
“You don’t remember me? I saw you once at The Film H, you damned dog.”
“….”
“Pretending you’re wielding a sledgehammer to kill a chicken? You two—Jun-seong, Chan-hyeon—are you idiots? Just crush him already. Don’t mess around. What, you don’t want to call on KMD? Feeling too proud for that?”
She lit a cigarette as she spoke.
“Honestly, Jun-seong, your name hasn’t been in the articles yet, so the response is half-hearted. But for those of us whose names are plastered all over the place, it’s hell, you know? Meanwhile, Chan-hyeon here is too guilty to ask you for help, so he’s just shutting up. Let’s cut the crap. Don’t beat around the bush. Whether it’s Myeongseong Daily or whoever, sweep them all away—that’s how you fix this.”
Neither I nor Jun-seong said a word; Park Jae-jun just blinked in confusion.
“…Alright.”
With that, Jun-seong flipped open his phone and dialed the legal team. Out of the corner of his eye, Park Jae-jun took note of the number as though trying to match it to KMD’s law firm.
“Hello?”
“KMD Legal Team. How may I help you?”
“Ms. Kim Mi-seon? It’s me, Jun-seong. How are things going for you?”
“Oh, Master Lee Jun-seong? Is something wrong?”
“Actually—”
Thump.
Before he could finish, Park Jae-jun grabbed the phone and ended the call. He looked panicked.
“Just… hold on…”
“Give the phone back.”
“No, I just—”
“I said, hand it over.”
At Jun-seong’s annoyed glare, he immediately returned the phone, babbling apologies.
“S-sorry. I understand now. Myeongseong Daily won’t bother Seong-hyeon Productions again. So please…”
“You want us to leave KMD out of this?”
“Y-yes. I… I just need to use the restroom…”
He shuffled off, practically fleeing.
“You satisfied?”
Grinning from ear to ear, Kim Eun-ha glanced at me and Jun-seong.
“You ever think of being an actress, not a director?” I joked.
“I can’t do anything but blow my top. I’ve got so much anger in me.”
“With that alone, you could win Best Actress.”
“Agreed.”
We’d come prepared for the scenario in which he wouldn’t believe us. The script we acted out—calling the legal team—was all set up beforehand. We even arranged a staff member from KMD’s law firm to pick up, just in case.
“He believes it now.”
“Sure he does—that’s why he wet his pants and ran off.” Jun-seong flashed a grin, then turned to Kim Eun-ha. “Your diction’s great, especially when you swear.”
“You want me to give you a personal demonstration?”
And this is the same woman who’d become famous for her social-critique films? Hard to believe.
“Well, that’s the end of his media attacks. All that’s left is to pile up more evidence against Baek Jin-cheol.”
“But can’t we just pin everything on him right now?” she asked. “All you need is a statement from that reporter, right?”
“So far, we’d only have slander or bribery to work with. We should wait until he does something more blatantly gangster-like. I want him rotting in prison for a good long time.”
This was the man who destroyed my life in the previous timeline. A mere slap on the wrist wouldn’t cut it.
Not long after, Myeongseong Daily stopped publishing attacks on Night (밤).
In fact, it started praising it to high heaven:
[Night Nears 2 Million Viewers—A Triumph for Korean Cinema!]
[Heading for 2 Million: A Beacon of Hope—Night Craze Sweeps the Nation!]
“What the heck is Myeongseong Daily doing now? How about Kim Eun-ha’s family—what happened with them?” Baek Jin-cheol demanded, throwing the paper aside.
“Well…” one of his staff mumbled.
“What do you mean, ‘well?’”
“They seem to have… moved away, vanished without a trace.”
“What? They don’t have money—how could they just disappear?”
“I don’t know. All records have been wiped, and nobody around them will talk.”
It’s that damn Gyeong Chan-hyeon again, Baek Jin-cheol fumed, glaring at a photo in the paper showing me grinning broadly.
Wham!
He slammed his fist down on the desk.
“Who the hell is that brat?!”
He picked up the phone and dialed Reporter Park Jae-jun.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Now you’re praising Night? You lost your mind?”
< “…I—”>
“What? You remember the money I gave you? The good times we had at those room salons? You want me to spill it all?”
<“…Look…”>
Something was off: Park Jae-jun sounded scared, not belligerent.
“<Don’t mess with them. Seong-hyeon Productions… they’re not just some upstart.”>
“What are you talking about?”
<“It’s Chairman Lee Jeong-ho’s son. The rep over there.”>
“Are you spouting nonsense? Chairman Lee’s son, a movie producer? You idiot—”
<“It’s real! Lee Jun-seong is the son! KMD’s legal team confirmed it!”>
Dumbstruck, Baek Jin-cheol sank into his chair.
Park Jae-jun rarely sounded so certain. He normally didn’t pass on any info unless it was solid.
“So Kim Eun-ha…? You telling me she’s doing all this because of some philanthropic reason?”
<“I don’t know about that.”>
“Damn it. I’ve really stepped in it.”
<“Just lay low for a while. Don’t try anything. If you get a chance, maybe go apologize—blame it on ‘business.’ Otherwise you’ll be in bigger trouble.”>
“Like that’ll help? I tried to bury them; it’s a wonder they don’t kill me first.”
<“That’s your problem. I’m out. I need to keep my head down too, so I’ll be writing different articles. Deal with it.”>
Click.
“Dammit! Why is everyone doing this to me?!”
He’d spent hundreds of millions paying off reporters to manipulate the press. Now, all that money had gone to waste in one fell swoop.
Seething, he pounded his fist on the wall, rattling the entire office.
Thud! Thud!
His employees froze at their monitors, silent.
“Do some work, you worthless worms! Damn it—damn it all!”
His punches soon stained his knuckles with blood. One of the staff ran over with tissues.
“That damned Gyeong Chan-hyeon… that son of a bitch!”
A few days later, Myeongseong Daily issued a front-page correction about the so-called “Director K’s sexual harassment” story. Placed right at the top of page one, it cleared up the false accusations. As a result, membership in my fan café surged once again.
“Three thousand members, four thousand… now we’re at thirty thousand?! I bet most of them are people in their teens or twenties. You’re a total star now.”
[I want the recording of Director Gyeong Chan-hyeon’s interview! I’ll watch it every day on video!]
┗ “Snap out of it, dude.”
┗ “He’s kinda good-looking, isn’t he?”
┗ “No, he’s uglier in person.
┗ “You’ve seen him in person? Liar!”
“Hey, did you write this?” I asked.
“Yeah. Gotta be honest.”
Smack!
“You idiot. That’s practically hate speech toward me.”
“I’m just being truthful. You’re not exactly handsome.”
From my room, I yelled out, “Mom! I look like you, right?”
“Yes, dear, you do! But why? I’m busy!”
“Jun-seong—mph!”
Before I could finish, he clamped a hand over my mouth and called back:
“He says he’ll treat everyone to dinner tonight!”
“Well, that’s wonderful!”
Slam.
He shut the door.
“You lunatic?”
He gave me a look like What’s with this guy? and I just laughed, then asked:
“How many viewers left until 2.5 million?”
Checking the internet, he stared at me, eyes anxious.
“We’re 100,000 short. Exactly 100,000.”
“And our guerrilla events? They still going?”
“Yeah, but the actors are busy, so it’s only about once a month now. I can’t even remember how many batches of photo cards we’ve printed.”
“Then I’ll just pull in that last hundred thousand myself.”
“What…? You?”
“I’ll scrape the souls off the pavement if I have to.”
So I embarked on a whirlwind guerrilla event tour under my own name—traveling around Seoul and into the provinces for a few weeks, meeting audiences to push those last 100,000 ticket sales.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing.
“You’re so cool! Are you dating Director Kim Eun-ha? You two look great together!”
Or…
“Sorry I misunderstood you!”
Some apologized for believing the rumors.
And…
“Wow! Gyeong Chan-hyeon! Awesome!”
I even had one male fan—this big burly dude—who screamed my name and ran over to hug me. That was… interesting.
Still, it worked. Between all the behind-the-scenes drama and the quality of the film itself, my popularity skyrocketed. Now the real question was the next project: after all this hype, meeting people’s expectations would be entirely up to me.
Not long after…
[Night Passes 2.5 Million Viewers—Will They Keep Their Promise?]
[A Miracle in Korean Cinema: Night Hits 2.5 Million]
[Director Gyeong Chan-hyeon—When’s the Next Project?]
“Chan-hyeon… it… it happened…”
Early in the morning, Jun-seong’s eyes were swollen. He must have been crying even before he came into my room, because his nose was still runny.
“Waaah, it’s real… you maniac!”
“I knew it would happen.”
“Bawwgh!”
He threw his arms around me, yelling:
“Korean cinema’s new miracle! Two point five million! Aaaaargh!”
Tears streaming, he started bouncing around my room. My mom opened the door at the racket, but seeing him red-eyed and flailing like a madman, she just slowly shook her head and shut it again.
“Kyaaaah! We did it! We did it! Do you know who I am? I’m the producer of a film that hit 2.5 million admissions!”
For a few minutes, he leaped around, weeping and shrieking.
“Time to celebrate,” I said.
“With the whole crew and the cast?”
“Of course. Gangnam, Korean beef—those two words will show our ambitions to the world!”
“Kyaaaah!”
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