“Aren’t you being a little too much?” asked Taemin, who had been keeping his calm while Jiyeop’s ears turned beet red.

“I’ll apologize if my words were a little rude. I can apologize, but I hope you can leave now. You know well that both you and I are busy people.”

“In any audition, they decide after looking at the acting. I think that’s common sense.”

“Common sense is good, but I said before, didn’t I? Mr. Jiyeop, Mr. Taemin. No matter how good you two’s acting skills are, it’s no use if you can’t get along with me. Of course, if your acting skills are on the level of Park Taeho, Choi Changhyun, or Yoon Donggil, I’d welcome you with open arms. But it isn’t, is it? Whether it’s the two of you, or me, we’re all little ducklings who haven’t made ourselves known in the industry. And for us little ducklings to survive, we need to have our own philosophies for survival. The two of you regrettably don’t fit my life philosophy nor work philosophy.”

“I think you may change your mind once you see our acting.”

“No. Good acting to a certain level isn’t good enough. I am prepared to suck up to the people who are way beyond my level, but unless it’s like that, I’m planning to match everything to myself. The only reason I didn’t use a casting director nor my connections to various...