LJ and Lee Taehee didn’t bother to stop them, watching from the side as if this was amusing.

Im Seoyoung, who was speaking gibberish, suddenly shouted.

-Euaah! I don’t know! Anyways, it feels like you’re being snatched from us!

“What? Hey, wait, wait.”

I felt stinging gazes landing on my back at some point. Maybe it was because of their voices, but a few staff members were looking in my direction. There were too many eyes to continue this private conversation.

“Let’s talk about this later.”

I hung up and put my phone down. Only then did Kim Taewoong and his cousin, who were crouching on either side of me, stand up. Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t properly introduce him as my friend to the girls. While thinking this, my cheeks kept itching.

Without me knowing, my lips had curled up and were trembling.

Kim Taewoon stared at me blankly before saying,

“Hey, you bastard.”

“What?”

“I suddenly recalled the nonsense you said before. What? Think that you rejoined the army? Where in the army are there people like them, bastard.”

He sat back down with a dispirited face.

“Was that just now your usual conversation? Is that how you live? While working like that, you receive a salary and a car? Wow, damn… But you were fine talking to four faces like that, amazing bastard.”

“I have a mouth so obviously I’m going to talk to them. Or what? Should I use sign language?”

“But are all celebrities like them? It’s not like it’s computer graphics, how could they look like that?”

Kim Taewoong stared at his cousin sitting next to him.

“Hey, blockhead. The center? Ceeenter? There’s nothing more to say, it’s definitely a scam.”

“What?”

“Think that you would be amongst people like them. A baby octopus amongst mermaids. That CEO person, he definitely has other plans.”

His cousin snorted at him.

“Do you think I’m a fool? If it was a scam, he’d try to rip money off me. Why would he pay money and make an album? That company has already debuted a girl group. While they are unknown in Korea, they are active in China and the Philippines. Also, if I also constantly have cameras pointing at me, I bet I’ll be as pretty as them!^{2}”

“You won’t, idiot. Quit dreaming.”

While they were cursing each other, I examined the business card I received from her. It would be great if the company was fine, but I had seen too many dirty things in the past six months to only be optimistic.

There were more than 1,700 companies registered as an entertainment management company. There were more if you considered unregistered, illegal ones as well. Among them, countless of them used the entertainment management company as their front business and dealt with escort services in secret.

I first asked whether Team Leader Park or Reporter Park Woojeong knew anything about this company. Next, I searched for information regarding the girl group that had debuted from that company. A message came quicker than I thought. From both of them simultaneously to boot.

I clicked my tongue after reading the messages.

“Hmm, you see, that company. I asked around about it.”

“Yes!”

His growling cousin immediately looked at me.

“How is it? They say they are okay, right? Right?”

She urged with eyes filled with expectation and hope. I thought that she was just excited from being scouted, but beneath that were unease and worry as well as a desperation, urging me to tell the company was okay.

When I turned my gaze, Kim Taewoon was also looking at me with a serious expression.

It felt bitter.

The company had a lot of bad rumors. They released a single album with a sexy concept with 20-something-year-old trainees, who were desperate to debut due to their age. That was it. Then, with the title as a Korean girl group, they earned money by going to clubs in China.

While there were only rumors regarding what went on during that process, if even one of them was true, this was a company people shouldn’t even associate with.

I told them while putting it as nicely as possible, but it was no use. His cousin’s face was already pale when she heard that about the sexy concept and going around clubs in China. Her eyes looked like they would cry tears of sorrow at any moment.

“Hey, just think that you’re lucky to avoid that pile of shit-“

He seemed to have become soft-hearted as Kim Taewoong tried to comfort her, but-

“That CEO, I’ll kill him, that asshole! I boasted a ton to my mom and friends that I was going to be a celebrity! So embarrassing!”

“What? Hey, right now’s not the time to be embarr-“

Her reaction broke my expectation. The veins in Kim Taewoong’s neck even bulged. Unconcerned whether her cousin was clasping the back of his neck or not, she kept looking at me with a sad expression.

“Umm, chief. No, oppa. W&U isn’t recruiting any more trainees, are you?”

“Nope, we aren’t.”

“Then, as a rookie actress! I can get you my profile right away!”

“BS! Get your head out of the clouds! Because of this, I…!”

Kim Taewoong exploded, shaking the back of his cousin’s neck. His cousin didn’t give up and fought him back. The staff members’ gazes also fell on me. After tossing them my keys and telling them to fight in my car did my surroundings finally quiet down.

Was this considered ending it well?

I walked towards the film shoot. While Kim Taewoong apologized multiple times for bothering me with his cousin, I didn’t regret coming here at all.

My eyes instantly landed on Nam Joyoon amongst the staff members preparing for the next shoot. He was helping them set up rails with a dry expression. His forehead, which he had cooled on the ride here, was beaded with sweat.

“Don’t worry so much.”

Someone suddenly said beside me. When I turned around, a handsome man with a well-proportioned face was smiling at me.

“Pardon?”

“Your friend’s cousin. Since she wants to be a celebrity rather than an actor, she’ll probably give up after failing a few auditions. Only those who like acting endure until the end.”

His expression read, ‘like me.’ As though wanting to let me listen, the man mumbled,

“Well… It’s a problem if you keep enduring when things aren’t working out no matter how much you like acting. If you don’t see a future, you need to throw it away and find a way to survive.”

The man’s gaze lingered on Nam Joyoon before turning to me.

“I am Lee Sunghyun, a rookie actor. I came to leave an impression since I heard you’re a W&U chief.”

He continued by promoting himself. He talked about how he was currently cast as a minor speaking role in a commercial film and how he was carefully choosing a management company. He also handed me his business card, telling me to contact him if I liked his acting.

I did as he said and asked the director’s permission to watch the actors act.

How much time had passed? A presence behind me brought me to my senses.

“What are you gaping at?”

Kim Taewoong appeared with an exhausted expression. He followed my gaze and quietly exclaimed,

“Hey, that person looks like a real celebrity.”

“Who?”

“That person with the striped shirt.”

The person he was gesturing to was Lee Sunghyun. It was true. Objectively speaking, the most eye-catching person among the actors acting right now was Lee Sunghyun. That was why he was the lead.

However, the person my eyes followed wasn’t the lead but the one next to him.

“How about the actor next to him? Mr. Nam Joyoon.”

“Your preference? Well, I think he’s doing well? But my eyes keep going to the lead.”

As expected, it seemed I was biased. And my bias was getting stronger. My ambiguous thoughts before seeing him act were now becoming more concrete and an impulse was growing in me.

My lips were dry because I felt frustrated and sad and that it was a shame.

There clearly was a role that suited him better. A role that could better compliment his mood and acting skills. The countless scenarios and roles I had read recently crossed my mind.

I felt like I was going crazy. Why was I like this?

Even if I shook my head, this impulse wouldn’t calm.

Fine, let’s think of reasons why I couldn’t. What I had to prioritize right now was Lee Songha’s next project. I was running on thin ice, unsure whether her next project would be a success or not.

To be fixated on a rookie actor at a time like this. I couldn’t. Of course not.

But what was I to do even if I felt it was a shame? Even if I received his profile, it was another matter whether the company would sign him or not.

Since rookie actors were taken care of by Team 2, his profile would eventually be handed to the team 2 leader. There was a question of if that person would look at the profile I recommend in a positive light.

I could end up hurting someone who suffered from management company issues in the past.

Above all, it was different from Lee Songha, where I knew that she would be a success because I saw the future. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t have any hints on whether he would succeed as an actor in the future or on a project that I could bet on.

Even still, despite knowing this, I really wanted him as an actor.

My mind felt like it would explode from my complicated thoughts.

Damn it, what should I do?

^{1} Kim Taewoong is saying this teasingly, they are most likely the same age.

^{2} The raws used the term ‘Camera Massage’ – Getting prettier/more handsome as they are constantly exposed to cameras and gain experience in the entertainment world.