Hollywood star Tom Cross.
He is the world’s best action actor, known for his representative works like the Mission Possible series.
Even if it’s CG, it’s hard to believe the dangerous and spectacular actions he does without safety measures. His stories are world-famous.
He’s beyond the realm of acting, almost in the domain of a superhuman.
Of course, if you just look at skills, there’s no comparison to me, who was once an assassin.
However, as someone from an ordinary background, I deeply respect him.
As an actor, naturally, I wanted to meet him.
“Did Tom Cross really say he wants to see me?”
“Yeah. It doesn’t look like a prank email, and he even sent an invitation to a movie screening. What is going on here…”
Je-young looked quite flustered.
To be honest, my level of fame isn’t that big.
It’s true that my recognition is rapidly rising, but this is only my first year as an actor.
In absolute numbers, there are probably more people who don’t know me than those who do. How could this happen in the U.S…?
“Is there anything else in the email?”
“It just asks you to attend the screening. It looks like a normal invitation email, but it also says Tom Cross wants to talk to you.”
It seemed like a message that normal celebrities would receive.
I wonder if that’s how Americans usually contact people.
Since I’ve been invited, there’s no reason not to go.
It felt like my heart was racing just like when I received my first mission.
“Anyway, I have to go. No other plans, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Got it. I’ll get ready.”
Phew, meeting Tom Cross.
It was an unexpected event, but I’ll make sure to handle it perfectly.
Je-young smiled and started making calls here and there.
“Really? So you’re meeting Tom Cross?”
“Yeah. It’s happening.”
“G…”
Chae-young, who hadn’t met Ji-young and Siyeon for a while, was in a bad mood.
Despite all the efforts she made this year, she hadn’t achieved anything remarkable.
She had met her friends to refresh her mood, but all she heard were stories of her friends doing well.
She knew she shouldn’t feel that way, but honestly, Chae-young felt jealous.
A few months ago, she had been really angry at Siyeon.
After all, Siyeon had taken the role that was supposed to be hers.
Though that was okay now, the huge award news about Siyeon and the special screening invitation for Mission Possible 4 made her feel jealous all over again.
“Wow, this is amazing! Siyeon, you’re basically a superstar now, aren’t you?”
“Superstar? I’m just acting.”
Though she tried to hide it, Siyeon looked pleased.
She had been quite blunt when talking about the awards earlier, but now, when Tom Cross came up, Siyeon showed more emotion than usual.
Well, Siyeon had always liked Tom Cross.
Chae-young tried to hide her feelings and said,
“Really, congratulations. You’ve always liked Tom Cross.”
“Yeah. I hope one day we can make a movie together.”
“Could it be that he contacted you because of your action scenes? I heard Hereheart did pretty well in the North American box office.”
“Is that so?”
Siyeon let out a puff of air.
She seemed excited, but her reaction wasn’t very girly.
Sometimes, Siyeon acted like an old man.
You could tell by the fact that she preferred foods like kimchi stew or boiled pork over tteokbokki.
“Tteokbokki is ready~”
“Wow!”
“It looks delicious.”
“Thank you.”
Choosing what to eat today was difficult for the same reason.
Chae-young and Ji-young wanted tteokbokki, but Siyeon strongly opposed it.
“What’s wrong with tteokbokki? Today’s perfect for soybean paste stew. Let’s grill some pork belly with kimchi and have two bowls of rice with the stew. How about that? No tteokbokki for sure!”
She had been adamant about not wanting tteokbokki.
“Siyeon, doesn’t it look good?”
“Yeah. I purposely ordered it spicy because of you.”
“Got it. Let’s eat. It’s not that I don’t like tteokbokki, it’s just that you guys eat it all the time…”
Siyeon didn’t seem too thrilled, but she picked up some tteokbokki.
They had originally planned to go to a different restaurant, but they compromised and came to a place that sold “chadol tteokbokki.”
At least it felt a bit more like Korean food, and Siyeon ate it without complaint.
“Wow, this is really good. It’s been so long since I had tteokbokki.”
“I know, right? Ji-young, don’t you have to watch your weight?”
“I’m fine. The monthly evaluation just finished, so I’m good today. I’m eating all of it!”
“…You just ate it last week. Rice cakes make you gain more weight than rice.”
“Siyeon, stop grumbling! Here, have some fried squid.”
“Chomp, chomp…”
Still, it was nice to meet my friends after a long time.
We had been so busy lately that we barely had time like this.
Even Siyeon’s grumbling, which sounded like an old man, was oddly nice.
But she was my friend. An old friend.
Having such feelings for a friend wasn’t a bad thing.
So, the three of us played for a while and then went home.
“I’m back.”
“Mm… you’re back?”
Hye-won greeted Chae-young weakly while stretching.
Hye-won hadn’t been feeling too good lately either.
She had missed out on the Best Actress Award, which she might never get again.
Even though the movie hit 10 million viewers, Hye-won’s evaluation wasn’t something she could feel too happy about.
“Did you have fun today?”
“Yeah, but definitely, Siyeon gets recognized a lot. When someone asked for her autograph, she gave this super cool signature. I guess she made it recently.”
Chae-young chattered away about what happened today.
“…But honestly, our agency doesn’t seem great. They mostly focus on idols, so they don’t take care of us properly. Mom, you’ve been with TM since the early days, but Siyeon is definitely getting much better treatment from her one-person agency.”
“Really? Do you know where Siyeon’s agency is?”
“Yeah, it’s AS Entertainment. Don’t you know?”
“No, I know the name of the agency. But no one knows what they actually do. Someone just picked up Siyeon and took care of her. You can tell it’s a company founded by people with real skill. Siyeon hasn’t said much about her agency, though.”
“Oh, the CEO of that place is the one who takes care of Siyeon. Didn’t Siyeon mention it? She said it was created by PD Je-young.”
“…What? Je-young? Are you talking about that PD Je-young I know?”
“Yeah. Didn’t Siyeon say she got a business card from PD Je-young? Maybe she didn’t say it. I can’t remember.”
Hye-won, who had been stretching, jumped up in shock.
If it’s Je-young, she should know who he is, since he was originally an idol planner at TM.
Hye-won was with TM during the Sweet Black member suicide incident, so she knew how chaotic things were back then.
“Why didn’t you tell me that before!”
“Didn’t I mention it? Nom.”
While Hye-won was still in shock, Chae-young leisurely ate some ice cream.
She eats so much already, and now she’s eating more? Wait, did Siyeon really join PD Je-young’s agency? Or maybe not?
Hye-won couldn’t quite remember but had a feeling she had heard something similar before.
This year, Hye-won had also been busy, so she didn’t pay much attention to the details.
What mattered now wasn’t that, but the fact that Siyeon was in a new agency created by Je-young.
“Wait, but you just stayed quiet after seeing all that? Knowing what kind of person PD Je-young is?”
“Of course, I tried to stop her! But you know Si-yeon; she wouldn’t listen to anyone. How could I stop her when she wanted to go? If I disagreed, it would’ve hurt. And honestly, Siyeon isn’t the type to get hurt in that kind of situation. It’s more likely that PD Je-young would be in danger.”
“Well, that’s true…”
Chae-young said it as if it wasn’t a big deal.
When Hye-won thought about it, Chae-young was right. If anything, Siyeon would have hit PD Je-young, not the other way around.
“Still! That’s a bit much. There are so many good agencies out there. Why go there of all places?”
“I don’t know. It’s Siyeon’s choice.”
“You… this kid…”
Hye-won’s expression grew serious.
The feeling of sadness she had earlier vanished.
It’s said that my daughter’s best friend is under Je-young’s management.
No matter how much Hye-won has ruined her image because of Siyeon, it’s not a situation where I can just watch.
“…I can’t let this go.”
“Why? Are you calling someone, Mom?”
Hye-won quickly got up and grabbed her cell phone.
I can’t just watch this happen.
I have to think about Siyeon, and also about Ji-hye, who is Siyeon’s mother and my friend.
“…You’re not planning to reveal this, are you?”
“Well, what should I do? Are we supposed to keep Siyeon under PD Je-young?”
“But…”
Chae-young hesitated when she saw Hye-won trying to make the call.
Up until now, she hadn’t really thought much about it. In fact, Siyeon seemed satisfied with her agency.
And Je-young was taking really good care of her.
But if the truth about Je-young and AS Entertainment came out, Siyeon’s growth would likely come to a halt.
Je-young’s company would undoubtedly face criticism, and once again, Je-young would be pushed out of the entertainment industry.
Siyeon, being young, might receive sympathy from the public, and there might even be calls for her to leave that company.
It’s unlikely that Siyeon herself would be directly attacked.
But it’s certain that Siyeon’s image would be hurt.
And most importantly, Chae-young knew Siyeon didn’t want this.
What Hye-won was trying to do wasn’t what Siyeon would want.
It would definitely put the brakes on Siyeon’s rapid rise.
If there’s chaos because of her agency, at least for the next year or two, Siyeon’s career would be in trouble.
Knowing Siyeon’s personality, it’s unlikely she would just jump to another agency right away.
“…Mom, you’re not trying to hold a press conference or something, are you?”
“Do you think I’d do something like that alone? I’ll talk to the company and have them handle it.”
“But if you do that, Siyeon’s growth will be completely cut off, won’t it? She’s in her prime now, and she won’t be able to work at all next year…”
Pause
At Chae-young’s words, Hye-won’s hand froze.
Hye-won’s hand, holding the cell phone, trembled slightly.
An uncomfortable silence hung between the mother and daughter.
“…It’s something that has to be done eventually. Siyeon’s not the type to leave on her own, so I’ll make her leave, even if it’s by force.”
But Hye-won’s mind was made up.
She shared the same thought as Chae-young, but in the end, this was something she believed was for Siyeon’s own good.
“But…”
Chae-young knew that this wasn’t the right thing to do.
But for some reason, she couldn’t stop her mother from acting.
She knew this wasn’t really for Siyeon’s benefit.
She knew this would be a setback for Siyeon’s career as an actress.
If things continued as they were, Siyeon would have become an even greater actress by next year.
…Yeah. It’s for Siyeon’s sake, right?
Perhaps Chae-young didn’t like seeing her best friend rise to stardom on her own.
After all, Chae-young was the one who wanted to become a star more than anyone.