EMTM 03

Chapter 03

“So Representative Choi Hwa-ja is running Hwa-ja Entertainment, and she’s producing this drama too?”

At Su-i’s specific interest, Lee Hwan-su raised the corner of his mouth as though he found it amusing.

“She’s the biggest investor. So Hwa-ja’s side will probably have a lot of say in the casting as well. But why is Yu-na so interested in this? You never paid any attention to it before.”

Su-i didn’t have time to answer Lee Hwan-su’s question. She slapped her knee as a thought struck her.

This might be an opportunity.

“Yu-na? I need to approve this. But I’m not going to. We have to start filming the movie right away, so there’s no reason to waste time on something ridiculous like this. And… you know you can’t act either, don’t you?”

Yu-na had been in the entertainment industry for ten years, yet he was saying she couldn’t act?

On top of that, even though her contract was about to expire, Lee Hwan-su seemed to naturally assume that she would renew it.

‘Do you think I’m going to sign a contract like this again? As long as I’m here, there’s absolutely no contract renewal!’

“I’m going to take a few days off, so you should know that.”

At Su-i’s firm declaration, Lee Hwan-su and Jin-suk stared at her in shock.

“You have three schedules today alone. What are you going to do if you take time off?”

“Hey! Im Yu-na. Have you lost your mind?”

Of course, Yu-na taking a day off was like a bolt from the blue to them. They needed to squeeze every possible day of work out of her to make money.

But Su-i couldn’t let herself be dragged around by them here.

“I just got discharged from the hospital today. If I work my body like this and get sick, who do you think will suffer the loss? I’m leaving first.”

Ignoring their reactions, Su-i immediately walked out of the office.

Jin-suk and Lee Hwan-su glared at the door through which Yu-na had disappeared.

“P-President Lee! There’s something wrong with her. I told you, she talked back to me the other day too! The girl who couldn’t even squeak out a word before?”

“Calm down, Madam.”

“What are you going to do? Aren’t you going to bring her back right now?”

“She has no money, and her face is so well-known that she can’t even go anywhere outside. What can she do? She’ll come back before she starves to death.”

At those words, Jin-suk looked relieved.

“That’s true…”

“Then let’s start by meeting with the film director. I’ll contact them about revising the contract terms, Madam.”

Everyone was destined to die someday.

And everyone wanted to die without suffering as much as possible.

‘How did I die?’

There had been a time when Su-i, wandering through the afterlife, had deeply agonized over her own death.

But no matter how much she thought about it or tried to remember, she couldn’t recall.

It was as if it were a rule created by the heavens.

A taboo she absolutely wasn’t supposed to know.

Perhaps Hwa-ja knew.

For various reasons, Su-i absolutely had to meet Hwa-ja.

But…

Hwa-ja was no longer the Choi Hwa-ja from the old days, the woman who had holed up in a tiny room with Su-i, living a miserable life together.

She was now praised throughout the country as a genius composer and had even opened one of the biggest entertainment companies.

Her nose must have been held ridiculously high by now.

Knowing Choi Hwa-ja’s personality, that was only natural.

Besides, this body wasn’t Jeong Su-i’s.

It was Im Yu-na’s.

If she suddenly went to Choi Hwa-ja and acted as though they knew each other, it would only be a matter of time before Yu-na was branded as a crazy woman.

There was only one way.

The drama 《Surviving Fanatically》.

And getting into Hwa-ja Entertainment.

Then Im Yu-na would get the benefit of finding a good agency, while Su-i would get to meet Choi Hwa-ja.

Wasn’t that a win-win situation?

But…

For several days, Su-i had been loitering in front of Hwa-ja’s company building.

As expected, she couldn’t even catch a glimpse of Hwa-ja.

She hid her face with a mask and sunglasses and sat around in front of the building. Eventually, security stopped her, and she was even chased away from the area surrounding the building along with the other students.

Haa…

Starting life over really wasn’t easy.

“But doesn’t this unni kind of look like Im Yu-na?”

A student beside her suddenly leaned toward Su-i and spoke.

‘No way. Did they figure me out?’

Su-i covered her face a little more with her mask and turned away.

Apparently, the students didn’t think she was actually Im Yu-na, because they began chatting among themselves without much suspicion.

And naturally, the conversation turned into bashing Im Yu-na.

“Did you hear? There’s a rumor that Im Yu-na is going to shoot an adult film this time.”

“OMG, she must be crazy about money. Her image is already ruined, and now she’s completely going off the rails?”

“Honestly, doesn’t her face look kind of old-fashioned? I don’t get why people rave about how pretty she is. And her voice isn’t even cute. That fake coy act of hers is so annoying.”

“Her face is totally fake anyway. You can especially tell she had her eyes and nose done. If I had that much work done, I’d be prettier than her.”

“She can’t act, can’t sing, can’t dance, and her face is practically carved from scratch. Now that nothing else works, she’s even selling her body.”

‘Ah… They aren’t even talking about me, but somehow this is really pissing me off…’

Su-i abruptly stood up and glared at the students.

‘I’ll guarantee you this—Im Yu-na is completely natural, you idiots!’

Anger bubbled up inside her, and Su-i nearly grabbed the students by their hair in true Su-i fashion.

She needed to calm herself down with some vending-machine coffee.

Su-i stood in front of the vending machine behind the company building and searched through her pockets.

‘Oh, right. Im Yu-na doesn’t have any money either.’

She had carefully stretched the single 10,000 won bill she had in cash for several days, and now she only had enough left for transportation home.

Besides, the vending-machine mix coffee cost a whopping 500 won.

What a miserable second life this was.

Just then, a long arm holding a crisp 1,000-won bill extended beside her shoulder.

“W-What?”

Su-i was so startled that she nearly blurted out a very unladylike curse with Yu-na’s innocent face.

She followed the straight arm holding the 1,000-won bill and looked up.

A large man was standing firmly behind her.

“Get one with mine.”

And he was unbelievably handsome.

The kind of handsome man Jeong Su-i had never seen in her entire life.

The kind of man whose appearance could leave someone speechless and dazed.

Su-i stared blankly up at him, twisting her neck so far that she nearly gave herself a crick.

He was so handsome that she wanted to keep looking even if her neck twisted a full 180 degrees.

His face didn’t look like it belonged to this world.

Perhaps Su-i’s dazed expression looked strange, because the man’s eyebrow moved slightly.

“Not taking it?”

The man’s chilly voice snapped Su-i back to her senses.

But why was he giving her 1,000 won?

“Why… are you giving this to me?”

“Didn’t you want a drink? You were staring at the vending machine while counting your coins.”

Su-i was seriously irritated by the words counting your coins.

Somehow, that one remark made her pitiful financial situation feel even more miserable.

She looked the man up and down.

Judging by his appearance, he didn’t look like someone who drank 500-won vending-machine coffee.

He was wearing a neat, well-fitted suit that showed off his physique, while his hair was swept back, revealing a clean, handsome forehead.

Although he spoke respectfully to Su-i, judging by the way he looked down at her while speaking, he seemed accustomed to giving orders from above when dealing with people.

Su-i was quite good at reading people.

The look in the man’s eyes as he looked down at her as though she were a beggar was unmistakably the look of someone accustomed to treating others condescendingly.

Su-i was always fiercely strong toward those who were strong and endlessly gentle toward those who were weak.

Did Yu-na, who had been pushed around by everyone, really have to be treated like a beggar even by some complete stranger?

She had her pride.

What was so special about a measly cup of coffee?

“If you don’t want it, forget it.”

“Excuse me.”

Su-i called out to him in a solemn voice.

The man tilted his head and looked at her.

“I only need to get two cups, right? Milk coffee?”

Forget about being strong or weak.

She really wanted that coffee.

The man’s neatly shaped eyebrows moved at her words. Then he gently nodded and held out the 1,000-won bill.

Su-i snatched the bill from his hand, immediately put it into the vending machine, and bought two cups of milk coffee.

No matter how she thought about it, charging 500 won for a cup of vending-machine mix coffee was proof that the world had gone mad.

But it was free, so she decided to let it go.

“As expected, vending-machine coffee has to be milk coffee.”

With a deeply satisfied expression, Su-i handed one of the two steaming cups to the man.

The man obediently accepted it.

Su-i sat down with the hot coffee steaming in her hands, as though she had completed an important mission, and took small sips.

Ah…

How long had it been since she had tasted coffee?

The sensation was so heavenly that her head almost spun.

But the man didn’t go on his way.

He stood directly in front of her and stared at her.

It was already chilly outside, and with such a tall person standing in front of her and blocking the sunlight, Su-i became slightly annoyed.

Does he regret spending that 500 won?

There was another 10,000 won hidden at Yu-na’s house.

She had really wanted to save it.

“I’m coming here again tomorrow, you know? I’ll give you the 500 won tomorrow, so move aside. Ah, you’re blocking the sunlight.”

“You’re coming here again tomorrow?”

“Why? Can’t I come again? Did you buy the rights to this vending machine?”

The man seemed dumbfounded by Su-i’s tone. He stood at an angle with one hand on his waist.

Judging by his appearance, he didn’t seem like someone who would desperately fight over 500 won.

But perhaps he had some business with her, because he showed no intention of moving.

“Tell me. Why are you hanging around here?”

“Whether I’m hanging around or not is none of your business. Ah, I said move! It’s cold!”

The man narrowed his eyes and whispered.

“…Are you really the Im Yu-na I knew?”

Su-i, who had been sipping her coffee, suddenly froze.

Ah…

Was he someone who knew Yu-na?

Even though she was wearing both a mask and sunglasses, he recognized her. He must have known her fairly well.

But nothing about this man surfaced in Yu-na’s vague memories.

Whenever Su-i encountered someone, she could vaguely see the relationship between Yu-na and that person.

But there was no information whatsoever about this man.

Not knowing how to respond, Su-i stared at him awkwardly before deciding to give him a vague answer and leave.

Loitering around Hwa-ja Entertainment didn’t guarantee that she would actually meet Choi Hwa-ja.

And staying too long in a place where strange people kept approaching her probably wouldn’t end well.

She decided to change her plan.

“Never mind. I’m leaving.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m a little busy.”

“You don’t look very busy.”

The man immediately shot back.

Su-i raised her eyes and glared at him.

The man smiled brightly.

“You’ve been hanging around in front of our company the whole time. Just tell me why you’re here. What are you waiting for?”

Does he work for Hwa-ja Entertainment?

He was asking even more questions than the security guards, making it impossible to brush him off anymore.

The man waited for her answer with a face full of curiosity.

“If, if I’m standing in front of Hwa-ja Entertainment, who do you think I came to see? I came to see Representative Choi Hwa-ja.”

“Representative Choi?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Do I really have to tell him that?

Su-i wanted to ask who he was, but since she had no idea what his relationship with Yu-na was, it felt awkward to ask.

“Why are you questioning me so much when you aren’t even going to show me Representative Choi Hwa-ja?”

“What if I did show you her?”