.
“Wow, awesome!”
Though we became so excited, getting free foods made us, instead, walk on eggshells, so we couldn’t order more than one beverage per person.
We kept on thinking seriously about what cake we should have. As if it drove her crazy, Yeo Ryung couldn’t stand us anymore but just took the liberty of ordering a bunch of stuff on behalf of us.
Crossing her legs, she spoke straightforwardly, “Even if we have ten pieces of cake each, my uncle won’t go out of business.”
“But still…” I murmured.
Yeo Ryung added, “Besides, my uncle decided to support the place where Yoo Chun Young is working part-time in this TV drama. There will be a bunch of customers now.”
“Eh?”
“Ah, right, we didn’t talk specifically about it,” said Ban Yeo Ryung. That was when she realized the purpose of our hangout today. Sitting straight, she began to explain about it.
The title of the TV drama that Yoo Chun Young was gonna star in was <Black Rain>, a crime drama surrounding the death of the female lead’s twin sister. Lee Nara, casted as the lead role, was playing a homicide detective.
I nodded, ‘Indeed, the title didn’t sound like a rom-com.’ Besides, Yoo Chun Young would have not accepted those kinds of scripts meekly.
On the other hand, Yoo Chun Young, in the drama, was a young next-door guy, who’d been close friends with the female lead and her family for a long time. Not only did the two know each other well but also he was working part-time right across the female lead’s police station. Every time the female lead stopped by at the café to grab some coffee, they had no choice but to bump into each other.
At that moment, I lifted my head and looked outside the café. I uttered, “Okay, so…”
“Uh-huh.”
Over the window right across the street, a police station came into view. This place was, therefore, a perfect location to sponsor the drama.
Switching my gaze to Yoo Chun Young, I asked, “How old are you in the show? Are you a high school student like right now?”
“No, a sophomore in college,” replied Yoo Chun Young.
I said, “Wow, that’s a big leap.” Well, since he was tall, he could deceive his real age to the viewers.
While I looked up at Yoo Chun Young blankly, Ban Yeo Ryung raised her hand out of the blue.
“Um, hold on for a sec here,” she said excitedly.
I turned to look at her. Just as expected, Yeo Ryung was showing a swiveling smile. She asked with a big grin, “Why do you think they particularly increased Yoo Chun Young’s age?”
“Eh?”
Diverting my gaze back onto Yoo Chun Young, I blinked swiftly and opened my mouth.
“Because no one’s gonna believe that he’s a high school student.”
Yoo Chun Young’s eyebrows met in the middle.
I quickly uttered, “Uh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you look old. It’s just that you’re tall…’
Ban Yeo Ryung then cut off my indecent excuse.
“He’s gonna have a romantic relationship with the female lead!”
My face turned pale at her words while looking at Yoo Chun Young. I wondered, ‘What? A romantic relationship? Is Yoo Chun Young able to do that kind of acting with actress Lee Nara, who even had a scandal with him?’
Being startled, I was at a loss of words for quite a while. On the day when we had the courage test, I saw Lee Nara in person who was walking out of the passenger seat from the car that Jooin took to the abandoned school. Her raving beauty sincerely shocked me; however, I was even more struck dumb right now than the moment that day.
Doing modeling wasn’t even Yoo Chun Young’s thing; He just modeled from time to time since his photographer uncle pushed him to stop wasting his gorgeous appearance. Making connections or raising a degree of recognition had never interested him.
However, that Yoo Chun Young suddenly declared that he would start his acting career, which surprised me very much, but what…? Did I just hear that Yoo Chun Young was gonna have some romance with the female lead in the TV drama?
Then I sensed Yoo Chun Young gazing at me. Perhaps he was carefully observing my reaction; however, I couldn’t say anything.
Being dazed and confused for quite a while, I buried my head in my hands. ‘Geez, I can’t imagine that at all,’ I groaned in my thoughts. At that moment, Eun Jiho detached his lips and uttered something, which made me turn my head to his side.
Pointing at Yoo Chun Young, he said, “Now I come to think of it, it’s very odd since Nara noona and Yoo Chun Young were in the newspaper last time too. If they are casted in the same drama, people will bring out and gossip about even the past interviews. Although the drama can become the talk of the town, won’t it be too much damage for a top star like Nara noona? Doesn’t her agency say anything about this?”
Being absentminded for a moment, I soon nodded and thought, ‘Yeah, it’s also quite strange from that point.’
Jooin, who was drinking his beverage with a straw, replied, “Ah, to talk about that thing, Nara noona is currently having a scandal with another actor in her agency. It’s still just a rumor, but I’ve heard it’ll soon make the headline.”
“What? Really?”
“I can’t tell who that person is, but that actor is on a high income than Nara noona since he’s very popular overseas.”
Speaking that way, Jooin put his forefinger on his lips with a grin. Eun Jiho and the rest of the kids looked enigmatic.
Thinking about the list of actors in Lee Nara’s agency, I slightly nodded too. Although Jooin said that he couldn’t tell us who that guy was, the answer was already there when it came to the actor who had that much of a successful career in her agency.
Stirring the drink with the straw, Jooin continued, “Nara noona says it’s just a ridiculous rumor, but anyway, if scandals make headlines, they are strong enough to cause damages to the people directly involved regardless of the truth.”
‘Hmm, yeah, that’s true,’ I nodded while thinking about the co-star’s power of influence.
“If the actor gets hit hard, even the company’s stock can become affected. That’s why they’re trying to, instead, make some romance between Nara noona and Chun Young first. They can explain or clarify things at the production press conference or on-the-scene reporting of the filming site in spare moments.”
“Oh…” nodding again, I roughly re-arranged Jooin’s words in my head. Since it was quite an unfamiliar story and I usually didn’t watch the news, things didn’t touch my heart that much. However, I kind of understood what Yoo Chun Young’s role was in the overall situation.
Then I directed my eyes to Yoo Chun Young again. ‘So, in other words, you’re like a bait kindly hung on the rod so that people can bite you off instead!’
However, there was a problem. A fish would get hurt by the fishing rod while devouring the bait, but Yoo Chun Young wouldn’t end up only with a rod. I furrowed my brows.
‘Isn’t this kind of dangerous. Even if the tabloids tried to adjust the level of their articles for the heir of Balhae Group, there will still be some limits to handle the situation. Besides, no one could stop the online users talking about all kinds of craps on the web.
What if actress Lee Nara’s fan club attempted to attack or harass Yoo Chun Young because of the issue? Thinking about those possibilities, my face stiffened in fright.
I began to get severely concerned. The drama would be, of course, exceptional since Lee Nara was in the cast, but would it have that much merit for Yoo Chun Young to star in?
If people found out any terrible acting skills, the situation would become worse. Since Yoo Chun Young had a wealthy background, they were able to gossip that his family had pressured the production or agency to cast his son.
I stared at Yoo Chun Young with mixed feelings while having no idea why he suddenly decided to work in this field.
Did he actually dream of being an actor? However, Yoo Chun Young usually had no interest in TV dramas, actors, or actresses. Instead of watching TV, he always sat down in front of the computer day and night.
Then why did he decided to start off this risky thing? Fame? Money? What on earth was he looking for?
After rambling those thoughts in mind, I just suck my drink through the straw nervously. At first, I felt just happy to see his face more often through the TV and that he was building a new career, but ever since I heard that story, I couldn’t even focus on our conversations while being too concerned.
Glancing at me, who was slightly in a daze, Eun Jiho called abruptly, “Hey.”
Even at his sudden call, I didn’t look at him but just fastened my gaze at the table. I said, “Uh-huh.”
Eun Jiho continued, “The reason why you’ve been blanked out is that you’re worried about Yoo Chun Young’s terrible acting skills, right?”
“Uh… what? N… o, not at all!” I shouted and got up from my seat, but it was already too late.
Yoo Chun Young was looking at me bitterly, which made me shake my head desperately. I shouted, “No, I never thought that way!”
“I’m doing my best taking acting lessons.”
“I mean, of course… I trust you,” I replied. However, my voice sounded as if it didn’t have even a bit of sincerity.
In the end, I failed to make an excuse and just disheveled my hair with a shriek. ARGH!!! Eun Jiho and Jooin giggled like crazy at that sight.
