Chapter : 09
The day I first received the script and stayed up all night reading it, only one female lead came to mind.
It was none other than Yoon Hae-in from Hypnotic, living somewhere out there in a dazzling life.
Hae-in slowly put down the biscuit in her hand. Seeing the eager expressions staring at her, a disgusting feeling she had buried deep inside started rising again.
“…Hae-jin! Hae-jin! Move, I said move!”
“Someone grab Yoon Hae-in! Stop the reporters from following her!”
That day, when she hadn’t even removed her heavy makeup to take pictures with her younger sibling, she noticed her sibling’s white foot, now cold and lifeless.
“Ms. Yoon Hae-in.”
“I’m not doing it.”
“Please, just listen to me.”
“AJ Entertainment is the largest in the country. They have dozens of trainees and more than thirty actresses. Take them instead and film with them.”
Hae-in followed Do-jun but looked at him with a cold expression. Was he really capable of such a look?
Despite Hae-in’s sharp gaze, Do-jun spoke calmly, determined not to back down until she was convinced why it had to be Yoon Hae-in.
“I watched the making-of video you filmed five years ago.”
Ha.
Five years ago, she was the lead actress in Hypnotic, the youngest actress to ever attract ten million viewers, basking in a brief, brilliant moment of glory. That dazzling, fleeting time flashed through her mind, and at the end of that brilliance, a cruel gift surfaced.
“…I don’t want to hear it.”
Hae-in’s feelings didn’t seem to matter. Do-jun’s gaze held no hesitation.
“‘I want to be an actress for a long time. I want to show people another world through me. I want to be a window to another world.’ You said that, didn’t you?”
“Stop. Just stop.”
As Do-jun spoke her own words, Hae-in covered her ears in desperation. She didn’t want to hear it. Yoon Hae-in, who once confidently revealed her dreams in front of the camera, had died five years ago.
Yet Do-jun didn’t stop.
“I have the capital, the ability, and the eye to nurture talent. My judgment has never been wrong. I’ll help you rise again. I’ll get you to the top.”
Was he speaking so desperately because of the ambition of a producer? Or was it because he was truly mesmerized by the lead actress of Hypnotic at first sight?
“…I said stop.”
“Why did you give up on your dream?”
Give up.
“Hae…jin! Hae-jin! Someone help! My sister, she’s not breathing! Please, Hae-jin…”
The day she shone most beautifully on stage, her sibling’s light disappeared. The day the award for Best Actress at a global film festival was placed in her arms, a knife pierced her sibling’s chest.
“Hae-jin…! No, no! Huhhh.”
She remembered collapsing three times at the funeral. She remembered clearly the cameras of broadcasting stations thrust at her and the endless gossip speculating about her sibling’s death.
And she remembered the former CEO who spent his own money to suppress all the articles and gossip to protect her.
Despite losing something precious and having someone sacrifice for her, there was only one reason she couldn’t leave the filthy entertainment industry.
She feared that if she left, her sibling’s death would be forgotten. So even under ridicule and contempt, she had to stay.
Hae-in slowly removed her hands from her ears and looked at Do-jun. Her gaze was unwavering, even though his towering height—easily twenty centimeters taller—made her posture feel awkward.
“Do you know me?”
“Huh?”
“Not the actress Yoon Hae-in. Do you know me?”
“…Ms. Yoon Hae-in, I apologize if the word ‘give up’ made you uncomfortable. I just felt it was unfortunate that a talented young actress would abandon her dream.”
“If you feel it’s unfortunate, keep it to a mild pity. Don’t act like you know my life.”
Do-jun looked at Hae-in, her expression on the verge of tears. She was speaking sharply, but a faint sadness seeped into her words.
“Why? Do you need attention-grabbing drama? Do you need the spectacle of a former ten-million actress starting from auditions again and becoming a laughingstock?”
Do-jun grabbed Hae-in’s shoulders and lowered his head to meet her eyes.
“Ms. Yoon Hae-in, you are overly agitated. I don’t need that kind of spectacle. And your premise is wrong.”
His gaze held hers. Calm, yet firm, he continued.
“You will not become a laughingstock. You have great potential, and I intend to bet on it.”
He had watched Hypnotic countless times, losing himself in her eyes, her tone, her every expression. He could even sense the density of the set and the smell of the air.
“I’ll give you time to think. I’ll wait.”
“I don’t need time to think. I’m not doing it.”
His hands slowly left her shoulders. Hae-in fled from the scene.
“Director Kang, have you found anything?”
Without a word, Kang handed Do-jun a stack of documents about the thickness of a book. To persuade Hae-in, they needed to know her past—what happened in those five years.
Kang spoke quietly.
“I checked everything from her debut in Hypnotic, including whether there were any issues during the casting process. We needed to know if she got hurt in some way, leading to her retirement after that film.”
Hurt…
Do-jun stared intently at Kang, who was carefully hinting at problems such as sexual bribery during casting.
“And?”
“Nothing. But that winter, after she was invited to the Cannes Film Festival and won Best Actress, the next day at the Busan International Film Festival, an incident happened.”
Do-jun vividly remembered her walking on stage, tears streaming, as she was called. Even the pure white dress she wore that day shone in his mind.
“What incident?”
“There was a brief article at the time, but it was deleted within two minutes at the agency’s request. Since then, no related articles can be found anywhere online.”
Kang quietly handed over a paper.
[Actress Yoon Hae-in’s disabled younger sister has died.]
“I tried contacting the reporter who covered it, but there’s no connection. From what I’ve gathered, Hae-in’s younger sister, who lived with her, was killed by a stranger on the day of the awards ceremony. A script from Hypnotic was found at the scene.”
…Ah.
“It seems her agency desperately tried to prevent this incident from being exposed to the media. Perhaps to protect Hae-in… Regardless, almost no one in the industry knows about it.”
Deleted in two minutes. Behind the agency’s request must have been an enormous effort by someone to protect Hae-in. That much was obvious without seeing it.
Do-jun couldn’t speak, staring at the paper Kang handed him. Discovering the unimaginable reason for Hae-in’s retirement brought a sudden, inexplicable guilt.
He wondered whether her sibling’s death had left a lingering guilt, and whether that wound still held her back, feeling an indescribable, complex mix of emotions.
