Chapter 68…
What Could Have Happened? (1)
“Hyung…”
“Yeah.”
Gam-dong’s voice trembled.
Maybe that’s why? I was trembling too.
“Your eyes… why…”
“My eyes? Why? Do they look cool?”
“They’re red.”
“Hmm, maybe… I guess I’ve been tired lately.”
[That’s not true! He was fiddling with his phone all night long!]
Of course Yeonju, that brat, immediately tattled.
Still, at times like this, it’s really fortunate she’s a ghost.
“Really? My eyes are like that? I didn’t know. Thanks for telling me.”
[Argh! That’s a lie! Ugh, so frustrating!]
“It’s fine. That happens sometimes.”
Be quiet already. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have stayed up all night doing research.
“Ah, they’re really bloodshot.”
Gam-dong stopped eating breakfast and studied my eyes closely, his voice worried.
I forced a calm expression and told him as casually as possible.
“I’ll try to grab some sleep on the way to the set. Sigh… maybe I’ve been feeling more pressure lately since it’s your project, Gam-dong.”
“Hyungnim…”
“It’s okay. And I’m sorry. Not managing my condition properly—that’s all my fault.”
“Come on, don’t say sorry. So… what were you looking at?”
“Mm. I did some web searches, watched a few YouTube videos…”
“……”
There was a flash of menace in Gam-dong’s eyes. Was that a leading question?
“I’m kidding!”
“Sorry. But it was necessary.”
“You’re the lead actor! What are we supposed to do if your eyes look like that?”
[Exactly!]
“You—quiet!”
This damn brat! It was because of you!
I was digging into that Pure Entertainment company to figure out what they were about.
Can’t even explain it, how frustrating.
Now I finally get why Hong Gil-dong stormed out of his house.
“Anyway, let’s calm your eyes down as much as possible first.”
“Sorry.”
And I really was sorry.
Every day of filming costs money, so I understood why Gam-dong was practically jumping out of his skin.
“Should I wear sunglasses?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Sorry.”
Damn. Guess it was obvious I was joking.
Anyway, I managed to find some old articles about Pure Entertainment online.
Nothing especially bad, but there had apparently been some disputes with their actors and singers in the past.
That was about it.
YouTube was another story though.
Maybe it was just because there are so many clickbaiters there, but there were tons of rumors.
Among them was a claim that Pure Entertainment was “first-tier” in fistfights among entertainment CEOs.
Some said the owner used to be a gangster.
Of course, back in the day some entertainment companies really were like that, so rumors spread.
But then you’d also see tons of suspiciously positive comments like, “Nah, it’s actually a great company.”
Still, there wasn’t any confirmed report of real scandals.
Did they bury them?
Hmm, maybe they’re just really good at covering things up.
I glanced carefully at Yeonju.
But no, that didn’t seem to be the case.
[Kyaaahaha! Serves you right for lying and getting caught!]
Ugh, I swear…
Ghosts who were buried alive look different anyway.
Sometimes when they talk, dirt spills from their mouths… I know because I’ve seen it.
Once, when I was broke, I worked a side job in the mountains and ran into a ghost like that.
It kept coughing up dust, so I asked if it had died at a construction site.
It said it had been buried.
Creepy.
Now that I think of it, I saw a few more similar ghosts in those mountains.
When I asked if they had all been buried too, it said they were its “neighbors.”
After that, I got scared of going to the mountains—afraid I might get buried myself.
“Yeonju, you’re grounded today. Don’t follow me.”
[Huh? Why not?]
“Because you’re grounded.”
[Nooo!]
“Bring fried chicken when you come back.”
[Wha—!]
“Actually, we’re shooting something sexy today. It’d be awkward if you came.”
Well, it was kind of sexy—
a scene imagining a harem, drunk on dream powers.
Not R-rated, more like a bikini pool party vibe.
But the real reason I told her not to come was because Ye Si-yeon, a fellow ex-trainee still in that agency, would be on set today.
Maybe if I asked, she’d tell me something.
The only people from that agency I knew were Si-yeon and… some bastard.
Who?
Ridiculously, Kwon Soo-hyun—the guy who once covered for me—was signed with them.
[Ohhh! So you stayed up all night watching dirty stuff to prepare for the scene, didn’t you?]
“……”
For a second I wondered if she needed an exorcism instead of helping her rest in peace.
Then Gam-dong and I climbed into the company car.
Jo Gam-dong let out a sigh as he took the wheel.
Today, instead of Manager Park Yoo-chun, he would personally drive Woo Soo-han.
Since Park usually handled actor Kim Dae-sung, if Dae-sung had a schedule, he took priority.
Normally, Soo-han wouldn’t get a manager of Park’s level.
The reason was simple: the fewer people who knew Soo-han could see ghosts, the better.
Of course, Soo-han wasn’t the type to go around shouting, “I see ghosts!”
But he also wasn’t exactly cautious either.
If he were, he wouldn’t have pretended to see that puppy ghost in front of Kim Dae-sung and Manager Park.
Sometimes his mouth moved faster than his brain.
That’s why Park had been handling him personally.
And since today’s shoot was Gam-dong’s own film, it made sense he would drive from the start.
“Gam-dong-ah.”
“Get some sleep. We don’t have budget to CG your eyeballs.”
At Soo-han’s words, Gam-dong grumbled back. Then Soo-han continued.
“You know much about Pure Entertainment?”
“Why? Because of Kwon Soo-hyun?”
As soon as Pure was mentioned, Gam-dong thought of Kwon Soo-hyun.
Their connection had started badly.
Even when this film began, he’d tried to parachute into the project, and when that failed, he even used a friendly reporter to probe.
No way Gam-dong would have good feelings about him.
“No.”
“Wait… are you interested in actress Ye Si-yeon? Hold it in, hyung. She’s still a rookie. A scandal now would…”
“Yeonju used to be a Pure trainee.”
“……”
Gam-dong fell silent.
The only thing he’d seen was a youthful face floating around the internet.
If her trainee photos were still online, she must have been really good.
But then suddenly her name came up like this.
“They said it was a heart attack, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Is there something else?”
“I’ve got a feeling.”
“What kind of feeling do you have…?”
“The kind that sees ghosts?”
Gam-dong had no reply.
It wasn’t wrong.
“She seemed envious when she visited the set the other day.”
“Of you?”
“No, of Ye Si-yeon. Said she was her friend.”
“Oh, so Si-yeon is older than us.”
“Don’t say that around her. She hates it. You can’t hear it, but I can. Anyway, something she said stuck with me.”
Gam-dong thought carefully about Pure Entertainment.
He didn’t know everything about the industry, but a company of that size—he’d heard some things.
“There were stories about them being… strict.”
“Like ‘first-tier in fistfights’ strict?”
“You watched YouTube, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Articles were whatever, but YouTube had stuff like that.”
Gam-dong hesitated, then carefully said:
“They used to beat their trainees. Baseball bats, even. It was a long time ago though.”
“Bats? As in baseball bats?”
“Yeah.”
“What? Seriously?”
Gam-dong gave a bitter smile.
“Not common, but not unheard of in old agencies. These days it’s almost gone.”
“Then why didn’t they beat Kwon Soo-hyun too? That bastard needs it.”
“…Yeah, no argument there.”
At least on that point, Gam-dong agreed.
“But like I said, it was all under the excuse of ‘discipline’ back then. Nowadays, times have changed.”
“Too bad. Soo-hyun might’ve straightened out if they had smacked him around.”
“Mm.”
This was going nowhere but back to Kwon Soo-hyun.
“Sorry. Keep talking.”
“There’s really nothing more. That’s about it. I didn’t know Pure was raising actors now though—I thought they only did idols.”
“I see. Anyway, if you hear anything, let me know.”
“Ah… sure.”
Gam-dong couldn’t say no.
He wanted to tell him to stop worrying and just focus on acting, but since this was about Yeonju, who lived with him, he couldn’t.
Besides, Gam-dong himself owed Soo-han, so all he could do was agree.
And really, he would help.
Now he understood why Soo-han hadn’t been able to focus the previous day.
And why the man who usually fell asleep the moment his head touched something had shown up today with bloodshot eyes.
“Sunbae-nim, hello!”
“Hello, Soo-han.”
Ye Si-yeon greeted Woo Soo-han with a smile.
He was once a beggar, but now stood in a far better position than she did.
In this industry, the present mattered more than your past—even if your background sometimes added shine after you became famous.
So from her point of view, befriending him was only beneficial.
“You’re shining as brightly as ever today.”
“Ohoho, thank you!”
“You dance well too.”
“Eh?”
“I watched some of your old trainee videos again.”
“Oh… that’s still online? Hahaha… how embarrassing.”
She laughed awkwardly to smooth things over.
“Not embarrassing. Impressive.”
“Thank you.”
And she truly felt grateful.
For a relatively unknown actress like her, the fact that someone had gone out of their way to look her up was touching.
“Director Jo Gam-dong said he thinks you’ll become a big star soon. He praised you a lot!”
“Ah… really?”
Her heart skipped.
She remembered how thrilled she had been when she first passed the audition.
And compared to past roles, this one had much more weight.
Since her agency had barely cared for her, this chance was precious.
Though, when the company later learned the film was high-profile and tried to shove Kwon Soo-hyun into the cast, she had panicked—afraid the fallout would reach her.
So hearing that even though it was his debut, the director thought highly of her, it felt like another chance might open.
“I need to work even harder then.”
“Fighting!”
She smiled as she watched Soo-han walk away with his fist raised.
After he was gone, she instinctively pulled out her phone to search.
Since he said he had seen her videos, she found herself checking too.
“This must be it.”
It was an old clip, but back then it had been the most talked-about.
And among the familiar faces was one he had mentioned.
“Yeonju…”
Back then, they had been both close friends and rivals.
Now, with time passed, her feelings were more regretful than anything.
Jo Yeon-ju had been one of the brightest among the trainees.
What had started as a lighthearted trip down memory lane now left her heart heavy.
And from afar, someone was watching her.
