Chapter 915. Crank Up 3

"Madam, we"ll do that again. Also, are you tired today?"

There was a thorn hidden in the polite question. Lee Miyoon frowned, but then just let loose. She didn"t have any energy to get angry.

"Director Kim, why don"t we take a 10-minute break?"

"Okay. You should get some fresh air too, madam."

Her pride was hurt. She had been making mistakes for 20 minutes straight in the same scene at the same line, so she had no excuses either. This was the first time such a thing happened. Her mind was in chaos, and she found it disgusting that she couldn"t digest that easy act. Her stomach was hurting as though it was being squeezed as well. Whenever a pickling pain jolted her head, she was reminded of Hong Janghae. Unless she cut off the root of all trouble, she might as well die of stress.

She went to the rooftop and put a cigarette in her mouth. One disaster struck after another. The fact that she swung her bag at Han Gaeul"s face also bothered her mind. Although that wrench said that she was okay, she might make use of this weakness at any time. She threw away the cigarette after puffing twice. The sparks at the end of the cigarette b.u.t.t that was being extinguished without burning all the way looked just like herself. Lee Miyoon stomped on the cigarette b.u.t.t with her heel and put it out. It was supposed to be her job to decorate her finale. She did not plan to walk out bitterly because of someone"s whim.

She went down to the set while calming down her mind and body. Right now, she had to look after herself. Now that she lost her support, she could no longer be the topic of controversy, at least in acting. She walked past the staff members who gave her secret glances. It was still okay now. She could feel that her authority as an actress was still alive. She had to protect it while she still had it.

"Director Kim, let"s start," she said like it was nothing.

Producer Kim sat down in front of the monitor and had everyone get back to their positions. Under the lead of the a.s.sistant director, the background actors walked past her eyes. Cue – signalled the director.

"Did president Choi order you to do this?"

The male actor sitting in front of her shook his head. He was a young boy that had decent acting skills. His face was also quite good-looking, so she took a liking to this kid.

"No, ma"am."

"Then how did that USB end up in Gyeongmi"s hands?"

"I don"t know either. I handed it to Park Joowon just as you ordered me to."

"This is troublesome. Joowon told me he doesn"t know anything about this, and yet you tell me that you handed it to him. Consequentially though, Gyeongmi got her hands on the USB and President Choi benefitted from it, so one of you must be lying to me."

"I only acted as you ordered me to, ma"am."

He scattered a manly gaze as he spoke firmly. This kid would rise as long as he was given the right foothold. If it was before, she would have scheduled a meeting with him and dote on him, but the situation didn"t look too good right now. Cut – Lee Miyoon loosened her strained eyes at that sound. If she made a mistake this time, she might have been disappointed with herself.

"Thank you for your work."

The kid who would usually leave the moment the shoot ended, spoke out to her this time. This was one of the rare pairs of respectful eyes in a situation where she was surrounded by enemies. She felt good for a moment.

"Yes, you too. And you"re…."

"Yoo Jiseok, madam."

"Right, I"m sorry. I"ve been caught up with a lot of things these days, and I"m having trouble remembering names."

"No problem at all."

She liked his smile. She thought that he was a pretty decent kid when she met him during weekend drama shoots, but now that they acted together like this, she realized that his foundation was solid as well, not just his looks. Miyoon had a look at Jiseok"s face in detail. Although he looked rather unfamiliar because of his hairstyle, she definitely saw that face before.

"Have I seen you before?"

"I played a supporting actor in a sitcom a few years ago. I was the friend of the grandson of the character you played."

When she heard that, she was reminded of a face. A kid who kept grinning nonstop. Ever since she warned him not to smile, he never showed his expression in front of her, so her impression of him had gotten faint over time.

"Oh, I remember. You grew up splendidly."

"Thank you."

"If we knew each other, you should have reached out to me before. I would have looked out for you."

"I"m happy just being able to watch your acting, as I can learn a lot from it. But today, you looked like you were having a bad day, so I talked to you because I was worried."

He was young, but the way he talked was quite nice. It felt comforting after dealing with people like Han Gaeul who would raise her claws at her like some kind of feline animal. This was the kind of treatment she deserved.

"Oh, thanks."

"Was I overly worried for nothing?"

"No, it"s true that I"ve been having a bad day."

"I knew it. Madam, you should look after your health more. Only when people like you hold on and guide us will young people like me learn from you."

"I want to do that too."

She would be able to return to her livelihood as long as she chased out those pesky flies and regained everything that she had lost. She would only be able to get back to good acting once she was back in an environment where she no longer had to worry about just acting. She could see actors whispering among themselves as they walked by behind Jiseok. They weren"t giving a single glance this way, but Miyoon could tell that her name was being talked about among them.

"How rude of them," Jiseok said.

He was also looking at the actors that just walked past.

"It must have been a mistake or an accident, but there are people who are talking as if you did that on purpose. Madam, don"t worry about them. They"re all just jealous."

Those words scratched her where it itched. She left the hostility-filled shooting set and walked outside, waving at Jiseok to follow her. After having her manager go buy some coffee, she gave one to Jiseok.

"Thank you."

"Don"t thank me. I"m only grateful that right-minded people like you still exist today. Just as you said, it was a slight accident, but they blame everything on me. Heck, even Gaeul herself knows that it was an accident, but those who don"t know anything are blabbing on about it, so it bothers me a lot."

"You should ignore those words. Doing anything else is more nutritional than listening to things like that."

"You"re good, Jiseok."

He was a polite kid. Why had someone like him never entered her eyes before? Miyoon reached out and grabbed Jiseok"s hand. His hand was quite masculine. His face still had a trace of when he was a child, but his hand definitely belonged to a rough man. She also tapped on his thigh. It was st.u.r.dy. When she tried grabbing it, she could feel a nice sense of tension in the muscles.

"Do you like working out?"

He only smiled awkwardly when asked that question. She also liked his docile att.i.tude. She should definitely give him some support if things were good. While drinking coffee, Jiseok took out his phone.

"Excuse me, madam. I"ll just go pick this up."

Jiseok talked over the phone a little bit away. During his call, he would often look over and smile at her, and it made her aching head refreshed.

"Sorry about that, but I think I need to get going."

"What a pity."

"Me too. I"d love to listen to your words a little more, but I have something to do."

Just as he was about to go back, Jiseok stopped on the spot.

"Madam, can you give me some advice as a senior in life?"

Miyoon gladly agreed. Jiseok thanked her before starting his story,

"It"s somewhat awkward of me to say this, but my relations.h.i.+p with someone I knew for quite a long time went awry. To be precise, I was betrayed."

Miyoon clicked her tongue. She was also in such a situation.

"And?"

"I tried persuading that friend – let"s call him A – that we should go back to the old days in consideration of our old friends.h.i.+p, but it didn"t work. Money was one thing, but it concerns some people so it"s quite a sensitive thing. I"d love to get this sorted out as soon as possible, but then, a person called B suddenly reached out to me. I found out that B also has things to sort out with A. B says I should grab his hand and sort the problem out with A, but I"m a little hesitant."

"What makes you hesitant?"

"Working with B wouldn"t make me look cool, and if B turns his back on me, I think I"ll be the only one getting in trouble."

"Do you think you"ll get some progress on that problem of yours if you join hands with B?"

"Yes. B is quite persistent. He"s good at work."

"Then there"s no need to hesitate. What you"re worried about is getting betrayed by B later on, right? Then if you get yourself prepared beforehand, you won"t fall into a trap so easily. Meanwhile, you have to sort your problem out with B in order to get money or people back, right?"

"Yes, that"s true."

"Then you should join hands with B first. You should watch out for B while you still work with him so that you can counterattack if you feel like he"s going to attack you."

"So an enemy of an enemy is a friend, and I should join hands with him first, right?"

Miyoon nodded. If it was something that could be predicted beforehand, prevention was just as easy. The same could be said for what happened to her. Had she noticed Hong Janghae"s schemes a little earlier, she wouldn"t be in this situation.

"Thank you, I think I"ll be able to sort this out."

"Alright. Don"t make a dejected face just because you"re facing a problem. You should smile since it will ruin that pretty face of yours."

Jiseok smiled and stood up. It had been quite a while since she talked to someone who she could get through to. It would have been great if everyone under her was like that too.

"So now, you don"t say anything to me because of my smile."

Jiseok said those words before saying goodbye. Miyoon scoffed. It seemed that he was mad about what happened before. Even that looked cute though. She decided that she would meet him once things were sorted to an extent.

Miyoon put the empty coffee cup on the bench and stood up.