By Zephyria Director Kang Woo-hyun’s
Following the death of the actor cast in the lead role, the film
Production company ‘J Company’ officially announced the audition schedule today to cast new actors for the vacant role.
The plan is to find new actors not only for the role confirmed as Choi Hong-seo’s but also for several other parts. This is because many of the actors previously cast have already taken on other projects due to the production delays lasting several months.
Meanwhile,
As expected of director Kang Woo-hyun’s ambitious work, which prioritizes aesthetic perfection, it was known that the set production alone would require over 15 billion won. Industry analysis suggested that the fact that director Kang Woo-hyun’s works, which focus on artistry rather than mass appeal, had not been particularly successful at the box office also worked against attracting investment.
Production was fortunately able to begin after film investor ‘Hieutsiut’ decided to invest, but the future became uncertain due to the sudden accident of the lead actor. However, recently, ‘Hieutsiut’ conveyed their intention to continue supporting the production without terminating the contract, allowing
Who will be the actor to take over the lead role from Choi Hong-seo is already garnering interest and anticipation from film fans both domestically and internationally.
I must have fallen asleep at some point.
When I opened my eyes to the sound of footsteps from the living room, the sunlight beyond the blinds had softened. The sound of slippers shuffling, the rustling and clattering of someone moving and putting things down. Those small noises made by a person were pleasant. They were reassuring.
Choi Hong-seo, stirring from his sleep, went out to the living room.
Yong-jae was in front of the kitchen refrigerator, organizing items, as if he had bought some simple food despite being told he was fine.
“Hyung, are you not feeling well? Your complexion isn’t great.”
“I’m fine. I was just lying down because I was a bit tired, and now I’m better.”
“Drink this. You haven’t even had water since you got home, have you?”
“Thank you.”
As Yong-jae handed him a bottle of water, Choi Hong-seo suddenly felt thirsty. While drinking the cool water in several sips, Choi Hong-seo glanced at the pet carrier placed on the island counter. More precisely, at the cat squirming inside the carrier.
“This little one wants to come out now. Tiffany, I’m home. Hyung is home too.”
Yong-jae placed the carrier on the floor and opened the door.
The cat peeked out from the carrier, then cautiously stepped out. It circled Choi Hong-seo for a moment, but then turned away without hesitation and trotted over to Yong-jae. The cat’s small meows as it rubbed against Yong-jae’s calves sounded pathetic.
“Hey, that’s Hyung. You always cried because you missed Hyung, why are you acting like this?”
Yong-jae, flustered, picked up the cat and approached Choi Hong-seo. But the cat didn’t seem to pay much attention to Choi Hong-seo.
“Huh? What’s wrong with this one?”
“Maybe it’s because it’s unfamiliar.”
“What? Unfamiliar? Hey, Tiffany, look. It’s your favorite Hyung.”
Even if he didn’t have many close friends, at least his pet cat seemed to have liked Yoon Hye-an.
Yong-jae tried to coax the cat a few more times, looking puzzled, but when it continued to show resistance, he finally put it down.
“It’s probably because it’s back home after a long time,” he said, offering words of comfort.
The freed cat then trotted over to its bed next to the sofa, curled up, and began to leisurely lick its paws. Choi Hong-seo, gazing at the cat’s peaceful posture, turned his head back to Yong-jae.
“Yong-jae-ssi, I’m still under ENA, right?”
“Yes.”
“How much time is left on the contract?”
“Until next year, so a little over a year left.”
“Then please put this house on the market. Since the contract period is still valid, the landlord won’t say much if I say I’ll cover the brokerage fees.”
“The house?”
“My bank balance is depleted… and there’s the advance from the company. I need to pay it back quickly.”
To Yong-jae, who looked reluctant, Choi Hong-seo then showed him his phone screen.
“And here. I’ll do this audition. Please prepare it.”
Needless to say, it was the audition notice for
“Hyung, you don’t mean…”
Choi Hong-seo chuckled and shook his head.
“No, I still don’t think I’m Choi Hong-seo. I don’t know why I acted like that back then… I must have been flustered because I had no memories of myself. I’m still anxious, but… I don’t have those crazy thoughts anymore.”
Whatever he thought inwardly, he decided to stop insisting to others that ‘I am Choi Hong-seo, not Yoon Hye-an.’ It wasn’t something that would be believed even if he insisted.
Yong-jae’s stiff expression brightened again.
“I can find you other work. Actually, since you woke up, we’ve been getting quite a few offers from various places.”
A former idol-turned-actor who had been in a coma for months after jumping off Dongho Bridge.
It was indeed material that would pique people’s interest. But any offers would likely be for low-quality talk shows focused on gossip. It wasn’t the time to waste on such things.
“No, I’ll do this one. And please arrange acting lessons with a good teacher.”
“But Hyung, why do you keep calling the company debt ‘myking’?”
“What?”
“It’s the debt host bar players or room salon hostesses owe to the establishment that’s called myking. What you borrowed from the company is just an advance.”
He spoke and looked as if the two were distinctly different, as different as the sky and the earth.
“No, it’s just that… I’m not trying to argue with what you’re saying…”
“……”
“I’m trying to say… don’t treat me the same as those people. Celebrities and those people are completely different.”
Perhaps taking Choi Hong-seo’s silence as displeasure, Yong-jae, unable to shed his old habit of treating Yoon Hye-an, started making excuses, sweating profusely.
The word ‘myking’ was slang from his host days, one he was accustomed to.
However, there were quite a few people in the entertainment industry who lived lavishly on advances and ended up becoming puppets of the company, bound by their debt. Less than 5% of all industry professionals earned stable incomes in the tens or hundreds of billions.
Imposing debt to prevent escape and controlling the other party at will.
In that context, the advances in the entertainment industry and the myking in the pleasure industry were not much different. At least, that’s how Choi Hong-seo saw it.
Choi Hong-seo, standing with a bitter, ambiguous smile, picked up the empty water cup and walked to the sink. Yong-jae’s voice, still sounding unconvinced, followed him.
“And this house, you insisted you absolutely had to live here, even if it was a strain. Are you really moving?”
Placing the cup in the sink, Choi Hong-seo turned on the tap and washed his hands.
“Whether it’s myking or an advance, I’m sick of debt now.”
“……”
“So much so that I hate installment payments on cards.”
He turned around, shaking the water off his hands, and gave a forced smile as if joking, but a bitter taste lingered on his lips.
After Yong-jae left, saying he would visit again tomorrow, Choi Hong-seo settled down at a distance in front of the cat’s bed.
He took a toy from the storage room and dangled it before him. The cat showed interest in the toy but didn’t get off its bed. Its eyes, full of curiosity and wariness, simply alternated between looking at Choi Hong-seo and the toy.
He had never owned pets, neither cats nor dogs, but the way it twitched its ears and tilted its head made him laugh.
Choi Hong-seo, who had been weakly chuckling and shaking the toy, sighed, resting his chin on his raised knee.
The investment company supporting the production of
‘Hieutsiut’ was a film investment company operated with personal funds by Lee Hae-sung, the future head of ARA Group and current vice president of ARA Electronics. Previously, it was more of Lee Hae-sung’s personal endeavor than a formal company. After deciding to invest in
The name was derived from the initials of Haesung and Hong-seo.
“The film investment has already been decided, and no matter what answer Mr. Hong-seo gives, the investment will not be reversed. Then the suspicion that I was trying to have sex with Mr. Hong-seo by holding the movie hostage is gone, right?”
During their time together, he had never lied.
Even having just one such person by his side made the world bearable, worth enduring. He didn’t know that then. He only realized it now, after making foolish decisions, losing everything, and then returning to confirm with his own eyes that he had lost it all.
It would have been easier, and more worthwhile, to kneel and beg him not to hate me.
The cat, torn between curiosity about the toy and wariness of Choi Hong-seo wearing Yoon Hye-an’s mask, chose to maintain its caution. In front of the cat, which had completely retreated onto its cushion, Choi Hong-seo now dangled a treat.
“Want a treat?”
Upon seeing the cherry tomatoes in the transparent tube, the cat’s head shot up. It looked like it might finally get off the cushion, but it snatched the treat from Choi Hong-seo’s hand and immediately returned to its cushion.
With skillful precision, the cat began to devour the cherry tomatoes from the head. It didn’t forget to glance warily at the person who looked like its owner in between bites. Choi Hong-seo, sitting with his knees up, resting his arms on them and his chin on his hand, watched the cat’s actions.
The setting sun, now casting a reddish-orange glow on the living room floor, flickered.
“Still, you know.”
The cat licked its lips and looked towards him.
“That I’m not Yoon Hye-an.”
The cat, which wouldn’t come to him, was strangely comforting.
Because at least this little one seemed to know he wasn’t Yoon Hye-an.
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