“Where did Kyun go?” the producer asked me.
“How should I know?” I replied, giving him a noncommittal shrug. The producer then turned to look at Kyun’s manager.
“Hey! Manager!”
“Yes?” The manager ran over.
“Where did Kyun go?” the producer asked him.
“Oh…well…he told me that he needed to go to the bathroom, but for some reason, I can’t reach him right now.”
“What? You can’t reach him? Ugh.” The producer’s face hardened in response. He asked, “Is he playing hooky?”
“I’m sure that’s not it. He got a good scolding from our company president last time.”
The manager sounded very confident, but the producer clearly didn’t believe him.
“It’s not like it would be the first time. The producers talk, you know. We may keep casting idols from U Entertainment because we have to stay on good terms with the agency, but don’t you think that this is a bit too much?”
It seemed like the producer had been keeping this in for a while. He then kept going.
“Didn’t you tell me that he’d behave this time?”
“Well…I’m very sorry. I’ll go find him.”
The manager gave a quick and low bow before running off.
“Oh, does he do this often?” I asked the producer with a sympathetic smile.
The producer gave a vehement nod.
“That’s an understatement. He’s incredibly rude to everyone and can’t keep commitments. This kid thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he’s a celebrity. He’s just lucky that he’s in the group. That’s why producers usually try to avoid casting him. But the thing is, U Entertainment is rather powerful, so it couldn’t be helped this time, but…sigh…I should just quit. You know, the kid promised to do well this time because of you. That’s why we casted him, but…ugh. This little brat.”
As the producer continued to speak, I could feel the smile widening on my face. I felt rather proud of myself for taking care of Kyun right now. I made sure to ruin that pretty face of his. Of course, once the swelling goes down, his face would be back to normal. But for now…well, I’m sure that the producer would enjoy seeing it.
As we were chatting, the manager suddenly showed up and started screaming for help. Upon closer look, we saw him holding Kyun on his back like a ragdoll.
“Tsk tsk,” I said, shaking my head. Who could’ve hurt him so badly? Oh wait, that was me. I felt a little bad, but on the whole, I didn’t really care. After all, he tried to attack me. No, wait, he did attack me. Touched my boobs and everything. Considering all of that, he got off easy. I would’ve killed him if it weren’t against the law. If this were the olden days…
“Who’s that on his back?” the producer asked.
“It looks like Kyun.”
“What?!”
With a gasp, the producer ran towards the manager. As he did, I caught a quick glimpse of his face. He seemed rather excited.
Soon, the producer then arrived where the manager was and took a good look at Kyun.
“Is he okay?” the producer asked, not sounding the least bit concerned.
“I’m not sure. I need to take him to the hospital. I’m really sorry, but I think we may have to leave early…”
“Oh, of course! Of course! It looks serious,” the producer said, but I caught another fleeting smile pass over his face. I knew he was a fellow kindred spirit. Just then, the manager passed me and as he did, Kyun’s eyes burst open. The moment he saw me, he jumped off the manager’s back. He was like a zombie being resurrected.
His sudden movements shocked the manager and the producer, who both stared at him. Of course, I was also shocked. His face was swollen like a pumpkin, while you could just barely see his eyes. Anyways, Kyun was continuing to stare at me, so I spoke up.
“What?”
Then, all of a sudden, he began to yell at me. Well…tried to yell at me anyway. Nothing came out of his mouth. I may or may not have injured his tongue as well in the process. So, he started to gesture, trying to tell the others through body language.
[It was her! Her! She’s the one who made me this way! Oy! Look here, you producer! Call the police! Huh! Hurry! I’m serious! She’s a monster!!! Hey, manager! Hurry!!!]
In response, I whispered to him, “Fuck off, you perv.”
I made sure to lay some of the murderous wrath within those words, making him shut his mouth immediately as his body keeled over. Soon enough, he disappeared out of my sight before I looked down at my wedding dress. It really did look rather spectacular.
“I can’t believe I’m wearing this.”
I mean, really?
“I should take this off.”
I turned to the VJ filming me.
“I can take this off now, right?”
“H-here…?” the VJ asked, drooling.
“Not here,” I said, giving him a threatening glare.
The VJ immediately spoke up afterwards. “Oh! R-right. Sure! Go ahead and change.”
“Cool.”
I quickly headed for the dressing room.
***
When I came out, the producer was waiting for me.
“Where’s Kyun?” I asked, pretending to be concerned. On the inside, I was praising myself, but luckily, I was a pretty good actress.
“Oh, he went to the hospital.”
“Can he talk?”
“No. It seems like he received a huge shock. They say that he’s going to need therapy as well.”
“A huge shock?” I asked, sounding confused.
“Yeah. I’m not quite sure what happened, but apparently, they gave him a notebook. He kept writing your name for some reason, saying that you kept hitting him.”
“Wow.”
I shrugged, looking incredulous. But then, the producer was giving me a weird look. A rather suspicious one, if I may.
“Do you really think I did it?”
“Haha…well, no. I mean, I did hear you’re really good at fighting.”
“I am, but you’ve seen Kyun. He’s really tall. How could I win against that?”
“I’ve seen you beat Sung-hwan Lee on TV,” the producer pointed out with a smile.
Ah. Sung-hwan. The UCIVA heavyweight athlete that I met while filming 24-Hour Jungle. The wrestling match where I won against him was aired during the episode.
“He was just going easy on me,” I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Finally, the producer nodded.
“Well, we can always just check the security cameras,” he added with another smile.
I smiled back. Since it had been done in a blind spot, there was no way we were caught on any cameras. Anyways, that ended the filming of the show. We would’ve continued except apparently, Kyun had been adamant about never seeing me again.
“What’s wrong with him?”
***
After that, I just continued on as usual. I appeared on music programs, shot commercials, and basically just remained as busy as ever.
Even now, I was in the waiting room after finishing a music program.
“Who farted on the stage?” I asked.
Everyone shrugged.
“It really smelled.”
“Pfft.”
Suddenly, Hainan laughed. Everyone turned to look at her.
“Was it you, Hainan?”
“Maybe,” Hainan replied, giving me a sheepish look.
I was shocked. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hainan fart before. I never pegged her as the type.
“I guess even pretty people have smelly farts.”
“I’m human too, you know.”
“Well, here I thought you were a deity.”
Hainan laughed again at my reference. All of a sudden, someone knocked on the door.
Knock knock.
Before we could tell them to come in, they just opened the door and stuck their head in. With a beautiful and adorable face to boot.
“Oh!”
It was a face I knew well. It was Heejin. The youngest member of Clover that I had filmed with during ‘Army Body.’ The one who kept farting all the time. The one who became a top star when she won everyone’s hearts with her cute whining. But what was she doing here? Was she here to see me?
“Heejin,” I said with a wave. The moment Heejin spotted me, she skipped into the room with a huge smile. She greeted everyone warmly.
“Hello! I’m Heejin Kang, the youngest member of rookie girl group Clover!”
“Hi~” all the members of Lovely Girlz said in response.
“Wow, so pretty.”
That was Jia. Pretty people really do recognize their own. Anyways, her words made Heejin incredibly happy as she gave everyone another round of greetings before approaching me.
“Sian!”
“Yeah.”
“Are you free?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, let’s go get coffee,” Heejin said, taking my hand. With a nod, I got off my chair and we walked out of the waiting room, holding hands. But wow, how could anyone be this pretty? She was wearing a flaring red mini skirt which contrasted beautifully against her snow white skin. The heels she was wearing made her look all the more beautiful.
“Have you lost weight?”
“No? Maybe your cornea’s gotten smaller.”
“….”
Anyways, we reached the café located in the lobby and took a seat at a table across from each other.
“Long time, no see,” Heejin said, still holding my hand. I remember her practically clinging to me while we were filming ‘Army Body.’ This girl really enjoys skinship. Whoever she ends up dating will probably be very happy about that.
“Yeah, it’s been a while. How’ve you been? I see you on TV a lot.”
“I’m definitely a celebrity now,” Heejin replied with a shrug. Now that I’m looking at her, I can see some of that star confidence radiating off of her.
“Must be tiring though.”
“Not really. I’m making the best of it now. I can’t waste this chance. Who knows when it will be this good in the future.”
“True.”
Well, well. Seems like our Heejin has grown up a bit since the last time I see her. Back then, she was so naïve.
“But then again, it’s not like I can totally fail. Not when I’m this pretty.”
Ah, never mind.
“Sure.”
“Oh, right. Did you know that I’m going to be in a drama?”
“You From the Star?”
It was the title of an upcoming drama that was already getting a lot of hype from the public. Especially since the female lead was announced to be Heejin.
“Yeah. They told me that they needed someone to play a female bodyguard in one of the scenes.”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. Heejin then continued.
“We’d normally use a stuntman, but I recommended you.”
“Me? Why?”
“You’re really good at fighting.”
“….”
“And you’re pretty as well.”
“….”
“If I were to choose a bodyguard, I’d want it to be you.”
“….”
“Anyways, when I pitched the idea, the director really liked it and asked me to ask you. That’s why I came to see you. You’ll do it, right?”
“….”
I really changed my mind. This girl was still just as shameless and naïve as ever.
“It’s just one episode. Can you do it for me? Please? Please~”
All of a sudden, Heejin was next to me and whining into my shoulder. The sight immediately melted my heart.
There is nothing truly more dangerous than a woman who knows she’s cute.
“I’ll ask my company president.”
“Okay! Thank you, Sian! I love you!” Heejin said, giving me a big hug. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.
‘Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…’
