Chapter 7: First Day (5)
Yoo-Jin’s shoot was just about to end when I returned to the set. In the meantime, I took the chance to check the planner.
[Everyday V10]
[Date: December 12th, 2019]
-05:30 PM <Deleted Schedule>
(Deleted Schedule: Kangdongkyung University Hospital Funeral Hall. Miso died.)
The schedule about Miso’s death had finally disappeared from the planner.
“Phew.”
I finally let out a deep sigh of relief.
As I was checking my planner, Yoo-Jin finished her shoot. She waved her hand and ran towards the parking lot.
“Yoon-Ho oppa~! Miso~!”
I placed my phone back in my pocket and got out of the car with Miso to greet Yoo-Jin.
“Was there any problem with the shoot?”
“Of course not! It went well.”
Yoo-Jin smiled proudly and made a victory sign with her fingers as she told me she finished the main shoot without making a single mistake.
‘Well done. I’m so proud of my actress.’
“What about the coffee?”
“Oh, right. I gave the entire thermal bottle to Ms. Kim. She really liked it! Your coffee is truly a masterpiece, oppa!”
“Ah, that was nothing. I’ll show you what really delicious coffee tastes like next time.”
“Wow, I look forward to it!”
Yoo-Jin smiled brightly and noticed Miso hiding behind me.
“Miso. Why are you hiding behind Uncle Yoon-Ho?”
“W-well…I was told to stay at the kindergarten but I didn’t listen. I’m sorry.”
Miso fidgeted with her fingers and looked like she was about to cry. It seemed that seeing Yoo-Jin’s face reminded her of her mistake.
‘Aw, what a sweet kid.’
“Hmm. Then you’re in trouble, aren’t you?”
“Um…yes.”
Seeing Yoo-Jin’s angry face, Miso retreated and was prepared to be scolded. But at that moment, Yoo-Jin burst into laughter and opened her mouth.
“Well, I’m in such a good mood today that I’ll forgive you. But you need to listen to what I say next time. Okay?”
Miso’s face brightened up in a heartbeat.
“Really?”
“But remember. There will be no next time. Understood?”
“Okay. I’m sorry, auntie. I promise I won’t do it again!”
“Promise?”
“Promise!”
“All right. Let’s stamp it with our thumbs.”
“Stamp! Boom!”
Twenty-three year old Yoo-Jin and six year old Miso were written as mother and daughter on legal records. However, they always acted like an aunt and a niece in public to hide this fact.
I couldn’t help but smile when I saw their happy faces.
‘Well done, Jung Yoon-Ho.’
What I had gone through from the time of my death and up to Miso’s rescue came to my mind. I resolved never to give up in the future even if the god of fate interfered again, because there was nothing I wouldn’t do as long as I could see the two happy like this.
I only had one thing left on the schedule now—after today’s work, I planned to go back to my one-room apartment and have a cold beer for the first time in a while, and then a good sleep. I wanted to celebrate my second chance at life and reward myself for saving Yoo-Jin and Miso.
“All right, then. Shall we take a tour of the broadcasting station?”
“Okay~.”
I drove Yoo-Jin and Miso toward MBS Broadcasting Station for the last thing on the agenda.
***
Perhaps it was because of the confidence she had gained from successfully shooting The Morning Takes Off, but Yoo-Jin’s recording of the last schedule, MBS’ Quiz Quiz, also went smoothly.
Yoo-Jin had only one job—to sit and look pretty. Her role was a simple guest without even a microphone to speak, but her radiant, smiling face looked great on camera.
Thanks to that, she even got an offer from the PD to appear on the show again next week.
And now, we were having dinner at the Original Grandma’s Gamjatang[1] House located in front of the MBS Broadcasting Station.
Originally, I had planned on taking Yoo-Jin and Miso to Pizza House, but because Miso liked Korean food, I quickly made a reservation at the Original Grandma’s Gamjatang House.
I ladled the boiling gamjatang into bowls and placed them in front of Yoo-Jin and Miso.
“Thank you, Uncle Yoon-Ho.”
“Oppa, let me serve you a bowl.”
Still unaware of her status as a celebrity, Yoo-Jin offered to serve me the soup.
“No need. Celebrities don’t do such things, so leave it to the agent.”
Compared to the celebrities of Top Entertainment who thought it was only natural to be treated like royalty, Yoo-Jin was nothing short of an angel.
While ladling the soup into my bowl, I carefully mentioned to Yoo-Jin about the gas leak incident from earlier.
“T-there was a gas leak at our place?”
“Yes, so I think it would be best for you guys to stay at a motel tonight. You don’t have any plans tomorrow, so it should be fine.”
“Oh my goodness. I had no idea…”
“It wasn’t a big deal, so there’s no need to worry. It was just a slight leak and it was fixed immediately. The firefighter said that such a minor leak wouldn’t cause a fire.”
I told Yoo-Jin several times not to be concerned about the exaggerated stories broadcast on TV and to only listen to me.
Yoo-Jin nodded and looked at Miso.
“Are you okay, Miso?”
“Yes! I’m fine. This gamjatang is really tasty!”
Miso had already eaten all the meat in her bowl and had even finished the broth before I knew it.
“Uncle Yoon-Ho. Can I have another bowl?”
Miso extended her bowl toward me with both hands.
“Of course you can. I’ll give you as much as you want.”
I began to ladle a huge amount of gamjatang into Miso’s bowl. Watching the backbone meat piling up in her bowl like a mountain, Miso exclaimed in admiration.
“Wow! Wow! Uncle Yoon-Ho is the best!”
In the meantime, Yoo-Jin kept looking at Miso, still thinking about the gas leak. Only after confirming that Miso looked completely unharmed did Yoo-Jin slowly let relief show on her face.
“Oppa, thank you so much. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to Miso.”
Yoo-Jin’s eyes became teary. Because the restaurant was crowded, I quickly changed the subject before she cried.
“Don’t mention it. I’m telling you, it wasn’t even a big deal. Anyway, should we call the landlord?”
“Oh, right. I should call her.”
After finishing the call with the landlord, Yoo-Jin let out a sigh of relief. Then, she suddenly grabbed my right hand tightly and politely bowed her head.
“Please keep Miso safe in the future and also help me succeed.”
‘Wait. Is she praying right now or what?’
Soon, Miso also grabbed my left hand as well and began to imitate Yoo-Jin.
“Uncle Yoon-Ho. Please keep yourself, auntie, and me safe.”
The gazes of the other customers in the restaurant turned toward us.
“Hey. People are staring. Stop it.”
Yoo-Jin and Miso clinging onto me and praying must’ve looked strange in their eyes. Surely enough, one of the customers slightly raised their phone.
‘I’m not a bad person!’
I silently defended myself to them in my head and quickly called out to Yoo-Jin and Miso.
“Yoo-Jin. How about we take a photo to celebrate today’s successful shoot? Let’s take one with Miso too!”
“Okay~!”
Yoo-Jin and Miso came closer to me with a smile. When the three of us took a wefie in a cheerful manner, the customers finally stopped staring and went back to eating their backbone soup.
Flash!
I let out a deep sigh of relief and checked the wefie we took.
But the moment I saw the photo, I burst out laughing.
Yoo-Jin was smiling with tears still in her eyes, Miso was smiling brightly holding a backbone in her right hand, and I was smiling with a twenty-six-year-old face. We all looked so happy.
‘Yes. I won’t ask for a lot. Please let me be happy just for today.’
That was when I heard the loud vibration of my phone and snapped out of my thoughts.
Brrrrr.
[Missed calls: 12]
[Caller: Kim Dong-Soo, Third Division Talent Chief]
‘What does he want?’
But the moment I saw the pile of unread KokoTalk messages, I understood why Kim Dong-Soo had called so many times.
[Chief Kim Dong-Soo: Hey, where are you?]
[Chief Kim Dong-Soo: You punk! You were in Cheonho-dong earlier, right?]
[Chief Kim Dong-Soo: How dare you lie to me?]
[Chief Kim Dong-Soo: Come to the office now if you don’t want to be fired!]
It seemed like the day’s chaos wasn’t over just yet.
***
I headed to my studio apartment in Jamsil with Yoo-Jin and Miso.
I thought about getting them a motel room, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving them in an unfamiliar place after the ordeal we had earlier.
Yoo-Jin, who was sitting in the backseat of my car, asked with a worried expression, “Oppa, are you okay? Chief Kim Dong-Soo sounded really mad.”
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
I responded nonchalantly, but it was true that the situation had gotten a little messy. Just a moment ago, Lee Yung-Jin, my colleague, had sent me a video from the KBC 9 O’Clock Today’s News featuring my interview.
[KBC 9 O’Clock Today’s News - (Exclusive) Cheonho-dong Gas Explosion Control]
(Reporter) There was almost a massive gas explosion in Cheonho-dong this afternoon. Thanks to a brave citizen's report, the gas leak was quickly......
The thin mosaic covered my eyes as I requested for a censor, but anyone from our company would have easily recognized me.
‘I can’t believe that Jang Moon-Ki passed my photo to a broadcasting station, not his own newspaper.’
My brain was frozen, as if I’d just downed a whole bingsu.[2]
‘I’ll deal with you later, Jang Moon-Ki.’
At that moment, Yoo-Jin, who had been looking at me with a concerned expression, carefully opened her mouth.
“Oppa, you can just give us the keys and drop us off here since we know where you live. You should really rush to the office before they actually fire you.”
The sincerity in Yoo-Jin’s words almost made me tear up. But as a rookie talent agent who had traveled back in time, this wasn’t a big deal to me.
“Don’t worry. More importantly, Yoo-Jin—I did tell you that you can start your diet tomorrow, but keep in mind that you’re a celebrity now. Once today’s episode of The Morning Takes Off airs, people will start to recognize you on the streets. You have to start taking care of yourself. I saw you eating too much fried rice earlier, you need to cut down on carbs, okay?”
As I scolded her for eating three portions of the fried rice mixed with the backbone soup, Yoo-Jin covered her ears with both hands.
“Ughhh. I can’t hear you~ I’m not listening~.”
“I know you can hear me.”
“Geez. Always nagging people about losing weight. Do you really think that I’d become a star just by showing my face on TV once? That would make everyone in Korea a star. You know that’s nonsense, right?”
Yoo-Jin was right. Realistically speaking, it was hard to become famous. But I knew better than anyone that Yoo-Jin could do it. Whether she wanted it or not, she was bound for stardom.
Then Miso, who was listening to our conversation from the side, offered me something in a shy manner. It was a pink glowing sticker about the size of two quarters combined.
“Uncle Yoon-Ho. This is my favorite sticker, but you can have it. Put this on before you leave.”
Miso handed me her most cherished glow-in-the dark sticker. Taking a closer look, it was a character from a famous animation called Powertuff Girls.
“Thank you. But I feel like I’ll be more cheered up if you stick it on my hand for me. What do you think?”
Miso carefully stuck the Powertuff Girl sticker on the back of my outstretched right hand with her tiny hands.
“Okay! Here you go!”
Tap, tap.
“Wow~. I feel so strong and energetic now!”
The bright pink light glowing in the dark was so vivid that I was slightly overwhelmed. However, I wasn’t lying when I told Miso that I felt energetic.
Miso stretched her right hand above her head and shouted out loud after putting the sticker on my hand.
“Powertuff Girl! Give energy to Uncle Yoon-Ho!”
‘Is this some kind of a cult chant?’
When the car stopped for a short moment, I started chanting with Miso.
“Powertuff!”
Following my lead, Yoo-Jun also stretched out her right hand over her head and shouted.
“Powertuff!”
After dropping off the two at my place, I headed straight to the company.
***
[Hoop Entertainment]
Having been established for ten years, Hoop Entertainment was a company ranked 7th in the industry. Hoop Entertainment was co-founded by the legendary Talent Agent Kang Gam-Chan—now the President— and Lee Gi-Cheol, a talent agent who graduated from Seoul National University of the Arts.
The hands-on work was overseen by Kang Ji-Yung, Kang Gam-Chan’s daughter. Many used to think that Kang Ji-Yung was merely privileged by her father’s position. But it turned out that she was a competent individual who had previously worked at an entertainment company called K-Net, where she had raised the company’s rank by ten.
Not only was she skilled in her work, but she also boasted strong connections with the presidents of the top three broadcasting stations at the young age of thirty-three. It was said that she was so close to them that she even had drinks with them sometimes.
Under her supervision were Actor Division 1, 2, and 3, and Singer Division 1 and 2. Actor Division 1 managed lead actors, while Actor Division 2, which I belonged to, mostly managed new or supporting actors and therefore had the weakest performance record.
The problematic Actor Division 3 was a recent addition created when Kim Dong-Soo, referred to as an ace ever since he first joined the company, was promoted to the Chief.
Actor Division 3 managed ten actors. All of them were famous stars, but each had controversial personalities that were often the subject of gossip.
And in about three years from now, using the name value of the stars in Actor Division 3, Kim Dong-Soo would attract external investments and absorb the primary foundation of Hoop Entertainment to establish his own company called Top Entertainment.
He was very likely trying to draw actors and staff to his side even at this moment.
But I planned to put a stop to that now.
With these thoughts in mind, I arrived at the company building in Apgujeong.
Du du~ Du du~ Du du du du~ Du.
Inside the company elevator, the background music from the famous movie Jaws was playing.
Ding!
The elevator chimed as I arrived at the sixth floor.
When I got out of the elevator, I could see the talent agents from Division 2 and Division 3 facing off near the conference room, growling at each other.
Na Kyu-Chul, the team lead of Division 3, spotted me first and said deridingly, “Look who’s here. It’s Star Jung.”
‘Star Jung?’
I was puzzled for a moment but soon realized that they were teasing me for appearing on TV even before the celebrity I managed.
“I thought you said you couldn’t follow your superior’s orders because you were too busy on set. But you somehow ended up on Cheonho-dong, huh? Have you gone mad or do you just not care about anything anymore?”
“Hey, Star Jung. You looked pretty good on screen. People might mistake you for a celebrity.”
“Getting carried away after just a year in the industry, huh?”
When the staff from Actor Division 3 mocked me, Team Lead Oh Duk-Gu from Division 2, my immediate supervisor, came to my defense.
“Hey, enough is enough. Each of you have had your own major screw-ups before, remember?”
Ju Yung-Hoon, another team lead from Division 2, glared at Division 3 and yelled at them to mind their own business.
However, I didn’t hate the nickname Star Jung too much.
‘Did going back in time make me more optimistic?’
“I’ll be heading in. Take care, everyone.”
I politely lowered my head before the superiors and headed toward the noisy conference room.
It was time to meet Kim Dong-Soo.
1. Spicy pork backbone soup ☜
2. Milk-based Korean shaved ice dessert with sweet toppings ☜
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