IJLMT 65

Chapter 65

Up until last year, I was poor. Because of that, I didn’t really like people who said, “Money isn’t that important.” I thought all my unhappiness came from not having money. Cooking ramen on the floor of my studio apartment made me feel miserable.

But now that I have a huge amount of money, I realize that thinking I was unhappy simply because I lacked money was a little inaccurate. I still sit squatting on the floor eating ramen sometimes. I don’t feel particularly miserable. I mean, ramen is delicious.

It wasn’t that I was unhappy because I didn’t have money—it was that the fact I had no ability to earn money felt devastating. The numbers stamped in my salary account and the meals I ate seemed to prove that I was someone inferior to others.

Whether you have money or not, don’t people live constantly anxious, always checking whether they’re “doing okay” as a person?

That thought came to me after receiving a message from Jua.

— Don’t you think I’m the least active among the celebrities you manage?

Wouldn’t someone find Jua saying this completely absurd? This was Lee Jua—lead actress of the ten-million-viewer movie Thief, Lee Jua who had appeared in four photo shoots for the French fashion magazine Delle. What could she possibly be lacking?

Well… maybe. Yuzu even won a trophy on Singer Is Singer. That doesn’t really make sense, though.

I was already grateful that she had willingly joined the movie I picked and was performing so well—she shouldn’t be putting unnecessary pressure on herself. With that thought, I headed to the set. Normally, a road manager accompanies her on set, but today was finally the last day of filming.

I also had something to discuss with Director Shin Dong-jae, so I went to the filming location—an elementary school. After the morning shoot ended and during the break, I approached Jua and asked:

“Jua-noona, you’ve been steadily working—shooting movies, doing photo spreads. How could you be lacking in activity?”

“Maybe I’m lacking… drama?”

At her answer, I thought:

What? She doesn’t look intimidated or discouraged at all.

Her expression was calm. Was she just saying it offhandedly?

Jua continued.

“I’ve thought about it in various ways, and in the end it all came down to one answer. Instead of double majoring, I need to do a deep specialization.”

What does that even mean?

I was about to ask when a staff member shouted,

“We’re going back to filming! Everyone get ready!”

Jua stood up. I stepped back so as not to interfere with the shoot.

“Whew, it’s finally over.”
“Being crushed by that intensity is finally over too. Seriously, these days Actress Lee Jua shows up in my dreams, you know?”

Kim Soyeon, a supporting actress from JM, was chatting with a staff member. I casually approached and asked,

“Intensity? What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, Director Yoo Hyun-jae. You’ve been busy lately, so you haven’t been able to come to the set for a while, right?”

Jua was checking her makeup and blocking one more time. Yuzu was doing the same—but for some reason, Yuzu looked unusually solemn, like a boxer right before stepping into the ring.

I kept my eyes on Soyeon’s mouth. What was Jua doing that she’d appear in people’s dreams?

“I don’t know what happened exactly… but lately, Actress Lee Jua’s acting feels so real—too real. For rookies like us, it’s like getting completely devoured….”

“Pardon?”

“Oh, looks like we’re starting again. Just watch.”

The staff quieted the surroundings. Soon, the signal to start filming was given. On the school rooftop, Jua—playing Yoojeong—approached Yuzu, who was playing Onyu. One step, two steps, until the distance between them was barely a palm’s width. Then she spoke.

“Hey.”

At that moment—

“Cut!”

Director Shin Dong-jae shouted.

“That’s an NG! Let’s try it again.”

The reason was clear. When Jua said “Hey,” Yuzu had flinched.

This scene was supposed to show Yoojeong’s final struggle, with Onyu calmly enjoying it. Onyu was meant to remain unshaken by Yoojeong’s hatred and rage. But just from Jua saying “Hey,” Yuzu had flinched.

“You see? It’s on that level….”
“Ah… I see.”

It wasn’t Yuzu’s fault. Honestly, even I flinched, and I was watching from quite a distance. In comics, there’s often a line like “I felt killing intent!”—that was exactly how it felt.

When school bullies call out “Hey” in middle or high school, doesn’t your heart drop? But the voice of Yoojeong that Jua acted was on a completely different level. The moment I heard it, the thought flashed through my mind: This person genuinely intends to kill me.

For a second, I even wondered if Jua actually disliked Yuzu personally.

Was this what she meant by “deep specialization”? Jua had already been flawless as an actress—but now… she was truly overwhelming.

“NG!”

The second NG was called. This time Yuzu didn’t flinch, but—

“Yuzu, you need to be more relaxed. This is a scene of complete victory.”
“…I know. I’m sorry.”

Her expression was too tense. After two more NGs, they finally got an OK. And when I saw the completed scene—

This is insane.

The weight of the latter half of the movie was no joke. Yoojeong exuding murderous intent beyond mere hostility, and Onyu calmly declaring victory in front of her… Who wouldn’t be impressed watching this?

“I really respect Yuzu too. Being able to act ‘relaxed’ in front of that… I still have a long way to go.”

Soyeon said,

“During the last shoot, I caused over twenty NGs… I almost cried because I felt so sorry. But during the break, Actress Lee Jua comforted me so kindly… I barely managed to film by keeping that image in my head.”

“I see.”

She was right. Ordinary people simply couldn’t handle Jua’s current acting.

“Everyone, you’ve all worked hard!”

After the final scene was shot, the director called out. Everyone applauded and began packing up the equipment.

“The quality has gone up even more than before.”

When I said that, Director Shin Dong-jae smiled brightly.

“It’s thanks to Lee Jua awakening. Trying to somehow match her level, every take turned into a masterpiece. The other actors also leveled up absurdly during filming—especially Im Yuzu.”

I thought so too. She might have felt frustrated about the NGs, but now she could easily be called a skilled actress.

“Just like you said, Director Yoo… I really think this might hit ten million viewers. I never thought something like that would actually happen in my life….”

“It will happen.”

“Ha ha… whenever I hear you speak, I feel energized. I don’t sense even a shred of doubt.”

Of course. Yangpa had shown me a future where the movie reached ten million viewers. But that was a result from when I hadn’t done anything yet.

“You said we could prepare for release in about two months?”

“Yes. I don’t think there’s that much post-production work. If we push manpower, we could do it even faster.”

“What about the official trailer?”

“We’re planning to release it within two weeks.”

“Let’s release behind-the-scenes footage together.”

Director Shin nodded.

“That would be better for promotion. But… I’m conflicted. We have a lot of behind-the-scenes footage worth showing, but there are too many good moments. And since you also showed a certain side through public service ads, deciding which direction to take….”

“It should be scenes that show our lead actors’ charm best, while avoiding spoilers.”

At my words, anticipation filled the director’s eyes.

“Do you… already have something in mind?”

I nodded. I had already received the on-set footage that could be used for behind-the-scenes content.

Watching it, a thought had occurred to me—a conclusion derived through the Yangpa learning method.

“Jua-unnie, could you teach me too?”

Yuzu spoke from the back seat. It seemed the two of them had dropped formal speech at some point. Well, they were from the same company and had filmed together for so long—it made sense.

I was driving Jua and Yuzu back to the company. I suddenly remembered that just half a year ago, driving had been my main job. Half a year with Yangpa… it really was an incredible amount of time.

Having these two in the same car as me suddenly felt surreal. You know those moments, right? When you think, Wow, when did I end up here?

Im Yuzu, representing brightness and freshness, and Lee Jua, representing sophistication and aloof elegance… It felt like I might be carrying the sun and the moon of the Korean entertainment industry in my car. What if my standards for women skyrocket like crazy? That would be dangerous. I’m spending too much time around beautiful people.

“Teach you what?”

“…Acting. How did you grow like that? Like a protagonist awakening some ultimate skill… I don’t think I managed to keep up with your acting until the very end.”

“You kept up just fine. I even forgot you were originally a singer. You were a total pro.”

“I don’t think so. What’s the secret…? Ah, actually, it’s rude to even ask. It must be the result of your own hard 고민 and effort.”

“It’s not like that. If I had to say, my secret is you—and Hyunjae.”

“What?”

Her words surprised me too. What did that mean?

“You talked about it on Singer Is Singer. How an emotion people just lump together as ‘sadness’ actually contains so many different feelings. Listening to that made me realize something too—that I’d been glossing over things in my own life.”

As I listened, I thought: even a top-tier actress like Lee Jua had things she’d glossed over?

“What is my heart feeling? What is my sadness? What is my anger? And what should I add or subtract to turn that into Yoojeong?”

“I thought about that a lot too… so what was different? It was different in the end, wasn’t it?”

“Hmm… maybe because I kept thinking about it in everyday life?”

“In everyday life? For example?”

“For example…”

Jua didn’t hesitate long before answering.

“For example, even right now I’m thinking about it. I feel good right now. But why do I feel good? Because filming ended? Because you praised me? Because I’m riding in Hyunjae’s car after a long time? All of those feelings are there—but which one is the biggest? I was thinking about that.”

For some reason, after a brief pause, Jua added,

“I think I like the fact that you asked me this in front of Hyunjae, and I get to answer—because it’s a chance to show off that I’m a great actress.”

“Aren’t you being too honest, unnie? Do you have to be this honest to reach your level?”

“You do. You have to look straight at what makes up your emotions before you can create a strategy to convey them to people.”

“…That’s not that different from singing, actually. Hmm….”

Yuzu seemed deep in thought. Inside, I felt a quiet thrill. Wasn’t this the virtuous cycle Yangpa had created? Both Jua and Yuzu were becoming far more impressive than what Yangpa had shown at the beginning.

“Hyunjae, you were listening to us, right?”

Jua asked.

“Yeah. I agree with you.”

“That’s it?”

“Your acting was amazing. It felt like your words turned into awls stabbing people. Even I got intimidated.”

“You heard why I’m feeling good right now too, didn’t you?”

“Of course.”

It sounded a bit suggestive, but I decided not to read too much into it.

“Remember that well.”

Jua said.

“Wait a moment… this is….”

I examined the Stock Gift Agreement Jongmuk handed me. Number of gifted shares… one million?

“The gift tax will be a headache, but I’ll handle it so no money comes out of your pocket, Hyunjae. Simple. You just gift the money needed to pay the gift tax.”

“……”

I had already received 6,600 shares of JM stock as RSUs. What was originally worth 100 million won was now valued at over 600 million. No matter how rich you get, seeing your stock app light up in red is always pleasing—I’d been thinking that lately.

But one million shares? The current price of JM stock was 100,000 won per share. One million times 100,000… It was such an easy calculation, yet the result was so enormous that I kept redoing it.

“I originally held 3 percent of this company. When the market cap was under one trillion won, that was less than 300 billion. But now the market cap has grown more than tenfold, to about three trillion. Thanks to you, Hyunjae, I’ve become one of Korea’s ultra-wealthy.”

“Does that justify gifting me stock worth a hundred billion won? I did my job well as an employee, and the increase in company value is the result of your investment.”

“I’m gifting it precisely because I want to get rid of that ‘as an employee’ part.”

“…What?”

Jongmuk smiled.

“Hyunjae, after everything you’ve done, you should be an executive. You expected this, didn’t you?