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Chapter 10: Unknown Truth

Having gained significant popularity, Yoo-Jin made a move to Ace Entertainment, the leading entertainment company at that time, after her contract with Hoop Entertainment ended. She then landed a role in the movie Just for Today, directed by Producer Director Kim Moon-Jin.

Yoo-Jin’s portrayal of a mother grappling with the profound emotions of losing her daughter moved the entire nation to tears and instantly catapulted her to the status of a top-tier actress in Korea.

However, that was when she began to face unexpected challenges.

Around the time Yoo-Jin made a comeback, I was managing Ju Yung-In, my former wife, who often competed with Yoo-Jin for lead roles during auditions. At the time, I thought Yoo-Jin was constantly trying to steal Ju Yung-In’s role because she wanted to seek revenge against me.

Looking back, I now realized that I had been mistaken. Although Yoo-Jin would turn away from me whenever we ran into each other on set, she had never spoken ill of me or blamed me.

It was only when I traveled back to the past that I finally saw the truth.

It wasn’t that Yoo-Jin wanted to crush Ju Yung-In, but it was Ju Yung-In who wanted to crush Yoo-Jin’s career, and that was the reason she kept auditioning for the same roles as Yoo-Jin.

Knowing their personalities made me sure this was the case.

I wasn’t able to think straight back then because I believed that Yoo-Jin hated me, but my judgment now was clear.

I recalled how Ju Yung-In used to keep Yoo-Jin in check all the time, while Kim Dong-Soo always looked after Ju Yung-In. Furthermore, Coach Choi Hyun-Min’s biased evaluation of Yoo-Jin and the fact that he graduated from the same university as Kim Dong-Soo allowed me to form my own understanding of the situation.

My hypothesis was that Kim Dong-Soo had intentionally tried to crush Yoo-Jin’s career, as she had the potential to rival Ju Yung-In in the near future and Kim Dong-Soo wanted to win Ju Yung-In’s favor by doing so.

Suddenly, this train of thought began to generate a series of questions in my mind.

Though it initially seemed like an absurd notion, pursuing this line of thought allowed me to make sense of all the questions I had in the past, present, and future.

I finally understood the reason Yoo-Jin’s internal profile was so harshly evaluated.

‘Ju Yung-In was well aware of Yoo-Jin’s exceptional acting talent all along, which was precisely why she sought Kim Dong-Soo’s help to sabotage Yoo-Jin’s career and Kim Dong-Soo did so by getting Choi Hyun-Min to give Yoo-Jin a negative evaluation!’

The moment I figured out the truth, my body started trembling and I was unconsciously clenching my teeth.

‘If...Just if...’

If my thoughts were correct, Miso’s death in my past life was likely Ju Yung-In and Kim Dong-Soo’s doing.

***

There were two factions in Hoop Entertainment: they were President Kang Gam-Chan’s line[1] and Suhyaejong line, consisting of those who graduated from Seoul National University of the Arts.

Actor Division 1 was predominantly composed of the Suhyaejong line, and Actor Division 3 and Singer Division 1 were almost entirely composed of the Suhyaejong line.

On the other hand, Actor Division 2 and Singer Division 2, which housed girl group Cherry Blossom, were composed of Kang Gam-Chan’s line.

Despite Kang Gam-Chan being the president of the company, the dominance of the Suhyaejong line within Hoop Entertainment was indisputable. The reason was because about 70% of the actors and staff at Hoop Entertainment were graduates of Seoul National University of the Arts.

My heart began to race wildly the moment I found out that Kim Dong-Soo, who was second in power after Operation Director Lee Gi-Cheol within the Suhyaejong line, tried to mess with Yoo-Jin.

‘Something bad might happen to Yoo-Jin if I let my guard down.’

On top of that, I realized that Kim Dong-Soo was already romantically interested in Ju Yung-In early on. That explained why Kim Dong-Soo, who took care of countless actors so that he could leave Hoop Entertainment with them to set up his own company, targeted only Yoo-Jin.

‘So that was it, huh?’

What needed to be done from this point forward became clear.

First of all, I had to remove Coach Choi Hyun-Min from his role as Yoo-Jin’s acting coach. Subsequently, I had to protect Yoo-Jin from Ju Yung-In and Kim Dong-Soo.

I thought I had let go of all the negative emotions after going through the five stages of grief, but it turned out I had not. Perhaps I should get a refund from the doctor I saw in my past life.

‘What an incompetent doctor. Five stages of grief, my ass.’

I found myself breathing heavily out of anger without realizing it.

At that moment, Yoo-Jin’s trembling voice snapped me back to reality.

“Oppa, is everything okay? Is there...is there something wrong with my acting? Your expression is...”

“Huh?”

I realized that Yoo-Jin had stopped acting and was staring intently at me. Miso was also looking at me with a slightly frightened expression.

It seemed like I had been visibly triggered.

“Ah, no. There’s nothing wrong. I just had a sudden toothache.”

It seemed like I became better at lying after traveling back in time.

“Does it hurt a lot? Should we go to the dentist?”

“I’ll book an appointment soon. Don’t worry about it.”

“Uncle Yoon-Ho, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine now. Don’t worry, Miso.”

“Uncle Yoon-Ho, I don’t want you to be sick!”

Miso gently blew on my right cheek as if she were blowing on a wound.

Looking at Miso, Yoo-Jin smiled.

“You always tell us not to worry, oppa.”

“Well, that’s because you don’t need to. What is there to worry about when you have an amazing talent agent like me?”

I used to make lots of mistakes in my first year back in my first life, but I would always tell Yoo-Jin not to worry as I didn’t want to burden her.

But now, there really was no need to worry. After all, the current me was entirely different from how I was back then.

Yoo-Jin continued to speak with a smile.

“You’re right. Strangely, my worries seem to go away when you say that.”

“Alright. Let’s continue practicing.”

“Okay!”

However, Yoo-Jin was distracted by our short conversation and asked if I could analyze the script together with her instead.

“Sure.”

Since I used to analyze her script all the time in my past life, I knew what Yoo-Jin would ask.

In the meantime, perhaps because she had a full stomach, Miso began to doze off. I carefully picked Miso up and laid her on the bed. I suggested a short break and called Yoo-Jin out into the hallway outside my studio apartment.

“What is it? It’s too cold. We could’ve just talked inside.”

Yoo-Jin folded her arms and shivered.

I hesitated for a moment but soon brought up the story about Miso.

“Yoo-Jin. I wanted to tell you I know that Miso isn’t your niece but your daughter.”

Upon hearing my words, Yoo-Jin was flustered and began to stammer.

“H-how did you...how did you f-find out?”

I gave her the answer I had prepared in a calm manner.

“I accidentally found out when the firefighter was looking up Miso’s identity to find her guardian. Your name popped up and it said you were her mother.”

Once again, it seemed like lying became second nature after traveling back to the past.

Yoo-Jin was visibly troubled but eventually confessed that Miso was her daughter. Then it was time to ask her about how that came to be.

“But what exactly happened? How did your niece become your daughter?”

Yoo-Jin hesitated but began to share what had happened to her with a deep sigh.

“Well...”

***

The story was that Yoo-Jin’s older sister and her husband, along with their parents, went on a trip to Jeju Island four years ago and they all met with an accident. Fortunately, Miso was spared from the tragedy because she was under Yoo-Jin’s care at the time.

Left alone with only Miso, Yoo-Jin began to raise her like her own daughter. However, the decisive moment came when they attended a relative’s funeral. Upon hearing that her uncle wanted to send Miso to an orphanage, Yoo-Jin decided to adopt Miso and take care of her with the insurance payout left by her parents.

At that perfect timing, a special law was enacted to ease the adoption conditions for single individuals. Moreover, there was no need to change Miso’s surname because Miso’s deceased father’s name was Jung Sung-Han.

‘So that was how Miso became Yoo-Jin’s daughter.’

Hearing her painful experiences made me think that this was likely the reason why the always cheerful Yoo-Jin sometimes also showed a resolute side to her.

Yoo-Jin began to tremble, perhaps because she was reminded of those painful memories.

“Whenever I think about that time...”

Yoo-Jin’s eyes were filled with anger, sorrow, and a mix of emotions. Soon, tears welled up in Yoo-Jin’s big eyes.

I began to comfort the trembling and crying Yoo-Jin.

“You did well. Thanks to you, Miso can be happy like she is now. Orphanages aren’t that great of a place, you know.”

“Ah, I’m sorry...”

As if she belatedly remembered where I grew up, Yoo-Jin wiped her tears and bowed her head as she apologized to me.

“No, it’s all right. It’s all in the past now. The principal there was really nice.”

Ms. Michaela from the orphanage came to my mind. She was the nun whom I wished was my real mother. She warmly welcomed and loved me even when I caused trouble daily, but I couldn’t open up to her at the thought that she wasn’t my real mother.

But Ms. Michaela had passed on after ten years. It was not till after her death that I understood the advice to appreciate people while they were still here.

‘But I’ll be good to her now since I’ve received a second chance at life.’

In the meantime, Yoo-Jin stopped crying and asked.

“But what should I do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Mr. Kang[2] told me to call and inform him immediately if anyone finds out about my relationship to Miso...”

It was only natural for Kang Gam-Chan to say so, because if everyone found out a newly-debuted twenty-three year old female celebrity had a child, her career would be over. Once an actress was labeled with terms like ‘a single mom’ or having ‘dirty private life,’ even clarifying the truth wouldn’t help.

“I’ll tell Mr. Kang about it myself. He probably instructed you to inform him right away because he’s worried about reporters writing absurd articles. You trust me, right?”

When I cautiously asked, Yoo-Jin responded with a smile and nodded.

“Of course I do. Who would I trust if not you? Things are going well and it’s all thanks to you. You even saved Miso, oppa.”

Having gone through the tough first day together, Yoo-Jin seemed to trust me a lot.

“Thank you. Now, shall we go back in and continue practicing your acting?”

“Let’s do it!”

Yoo-Jin wiped away the remaining tears in her eyes with her sleeve and took a deep breath, determined not to cry in front of Miso.

As we were heading back to my apartment, I decided to ask one more thing.

“Oh, by the way. Just out of curiosity, why did you choose to sign a contract with Hoop Entertainment? Didn’t you receive offers from ACE Entertainment and other successful companies?”

Yoo-Jin shrugged and answered as if there was no special reason.

“Oh, that? Other companies don’t pay their trainees, but Mr. Kang offered me a salary. That’s why I chose Hoop Entertainment.”

“What?”

“Out of all those companies, only Mr. Kang offered me a monthly salary of 3 million won with full-time employee benefits, so I signed the contract. I’m currently treated as an assistant manager at Hoop Entertainment.”

“Wait, you get a salary? But you’re a celebrity.”

‘Her position is even higher than mine.’

I was relieved she didn’t insist on me calling her Assistant Manager Jung Yoo-Jin.

“Yes. I used to make 2.2 million won when I worked part-time at Burger Queen. But Mr. Kang offered me more money and a full-time position. He even said I could stay with the company if I didn’t succeed as an actress. So I signed the contract in a heartbeat.”

It was somewhat surprising that Kang Gam-Chan recruited someone who was initially not interested in the entertainment industry as an employee first.

However, there was something I still couldn’t understand.

“Hold on. But you said you couldn’t work many hours a day because you had to look after Miso. So how did you make 2.2 million won at Burger Queen?”

Yoo-Jin looked at me and made a victory sign with her fingers.

“My hourly wage was 20,000 won.”

‘Huh? 20,000 won per hour at Burger Queen?’

I suddenly felt the world was unfair. When I was working part-time in 2018, I only received a wage of 7,530 won.

‘But an hourly wage of 20,000 won? That’s just...ugh.’

I felt like grabbing someone and exclaiming this wasn’t right. However, I understood the reason Yoo-Jin was paid so much after hearing her story—whenever Yoo-Jin was working, customers would fill the restaurant just to catch a glimpse of her, hence, increasing sales which justified her rising hourly wage.

She said the manager of Burger Queen in Cheonho-dong still called her even now, offering a full-time position with a monthly salary of 3.5 million won.

At that moment, I grabbed Yoo-Jin’s shoulder.

“That is nonsense! You are going to succeed as an actress. I know you will! You know that you will receive additional income when you succeed, right? Right?”

Yoo-Jin nodded as I badgered her.

“Yes. Mr. Kang said he’d adjust my salary once thirty percent of my earnings as a celebrity exceeds the salary that I draw as an employee. Um, oppa. You’re hurting my arm...”

“Oh, sorry. I was just surprised to hear that Burger Queen still calls you.”

I shuddered at the thought that I almost lost the future top star, Jung Yoo-Jin, to a Burger Queen store manager.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

As I watched Yoo-Jin express her excitement about acting right in front of Lee Ji-Yeon, I promised myself once again that I would definitely help Yoo-Jin reclaim her place as a top star, or perhaps even surpass it.

The same held true for the members of Faithful.

Thinking about living my second life as a talent agent who knows it all, my heart began to flutter.

1. Line refers to the group of people following or led by ‘fill in the blank(person’s name)’ ?

2. Kang Gam-Chan ?