🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 32
Hyun placed it in Seungtae’s hand without offering any objection.
When Sara grew bored of being held in his arms, she deliberately rolled her shoulders excessively and squirmed.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be? Aren’t you busy? Yun—hm. Mr. Seungtae?”
“How could I just leave when you’re this sick? Sara is more important to me than work.”
He casually spouted such embarrassingly sweet words despite not even being an actor.
Sara found the situation extremely uncomfortable and unsettling, having to continue this improvised scene without a script. Still, she imitated an actress with a beautiful smile and said,
“Oh my. Mr. Seungtae. All you’re doing while sitting beside me is feeding me fruit with a fork… Don’t worry about me and go. If you can’t work because of me, I’ll really feel terrible. It makes me feel like I’m holding you back.”
“If it’s you, Sara, you can hold me back as much as you want. So you don’t have to worry about that.”
“If you keep saying things like that, I’m going to become too dependent on you.”
Her tone was so sweet and affectionate that it sounded as though there were a dozen hearts floating around her, but the actual meaning was completely different.
Park Hyun awkwardly glanced between the two of them before taking a few steps backward.
“I guess I came at a bad time. You two were having a nice moment. I’ll be going, then.”
“No, you must have had a reason for coming here. Let’s talk. I’ll step out.”
Seungtae rose from his seat as lightly as when he had first arrived.
Then, as though he had done it hundreds of times before, he gently kissed Sara on the forehead.
“I’ll contact you. Get plenty of rest this week.”
“No. Ah… yes. Go.”
Sara forced down the trembling corners of her mouth and casually waved from the bed.
Meanwhile, Hyun bent at the waist nearly ninety degrees as he saw Seungtae out.
He was so excessively polite that he looked ready to open the hospital room door for him himself.
“Please get home safely, Executive Director.”
The moment the door closed, however, Hyun spun around, and his expression completely changed.
“What the hell is going on, Actress Seo? Are you really dating Executive Director Yun?”
“Yeah. Well… it just happened.”
“When did this start? You didn’t say a single word to me!”
It had only happened ten minutes ago, so saying she hadn’t had time to tell him would have sounded like a ridiculous excuse even to herself.
Instead of giving him a proper answer, Sara changed the subject.
“President Park. But don’t we have something more urgent to deal with than that?”
“What could possibly be more urgent than this? Seo Sara and Executive Director Yun!”
“We need to deal with Kim Se-yeon first. You heard the whole story, right?”
“…Yeah. I heard it. Ah, right. Kim Se-yeon. Ahem.”
Fortunately, it seemed the new topic had stolen his attention.
Just moments ago, the veins in his neck had been bulging with excitement, but now his shoulders suddenly drooped like a deflated balloon.
He cautiously opened his mouth while watching Sara’s reaction.
“You know I really cherish and care about our Actress Seo, right?”
“Of course I do. I bring in forty percent of our company’s revenue.”
“…Of course, that’s one of the reasons I cherish you. But it’s not just that. Sara has helped me in so many ways…”
“Why are you talking so much? You’re making me nervous.”
After spending so many years with him, Sara had learned that whenever he started speaking this hesitantly, unpleasant news was always coming.
“Actress Seo. Listen without misunderstanding me.”
“Just tell me first. Then I can decide whether I’m misunderstanding you or not.”
“I think Se-yeon’s gone a little crazy.”
“What are you suddenly talking about? Is she saying she can’t apologize because she thinks she did nothing wrong? Or does she claim she doesn’t remember because she was drunk?”
If that had been the case, Sara was fully prepared to show Se-yeon a brand-new kind of hell—very kindly, of course—until her memories returned.
But the answer she received far exceeded anything she had expected.
“If only that were the case. Kim Se-yeon says she won’t return to the drama unless you apologize to her. She even openly told me she was going to cut off all contact with me.”
“…What?”
For a moment, Sara wondered if she had heard correctly.
Apparently, Sara’s head had been the one that was injured, but the shock had somehow been taken by Kim Se-yeon instead.
Otherwise, there was no way she could have said something like that so confidently.
“Is she still drunk, or did she take some kind of drug somewhere? Is she out of her mind?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying! I’m seriously going crazy because of her. I shouldn’t have taken her into the company in the first place… Do you know how many calls I’ve been getting from Director Kwak? Ah, this is so stressful.”
Hyun grabbed his head with both hands and groaned in agony.
What he had told her was so absurd that Sara couldn’t even get angry.
Instead, she found herself genuinely amazed by Se-yeon’s shamelessness.
“What does she think will happen if I don’t apologize? Is she really going to throw away a drama in which she’s the lead? They only have about a week’s worth of extra footage!”
“Exactly!”
“I really don’t understand what goes through her head. Is she acting like this because she trusts Kang Doo-hyun?”
“No. I don’t think even he knows yet. Judging by how Director Kwak was screaming at me on the phone… Uh… But how did you know about it, Actress Seo?”
Hyun answered absentmindedly while repeatedly sighing, then belatedly stopped.
Sara calmly asked in return,
“You thought I wouldn’t find out?”
“…Actress Seo. It’s not like I deliberately hid it from you. The situation was just so complicated, and… You know what I mean, right?”
“I do. I know that our President Park likes money. That’s why you got Kim Se-yeon cast in dramas and advertisements, even though you knew it went against my contract terms.”
“It wasn’t exactly a violation. And, Actress Seo! Why are you being so strict with me between the two of us? It’s not like I actually violated the contract. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I had my reasons.”
Park Hyun instantly erased his previously servile expression and spoke somewhat shamelessly.
Ten years ago, Sara would never have dared contradict a company president she trusted and followed like family. Five years ago, she would have trembled with betrayal only in her heart.
But now, Sara could respond coldly and rationally.
“Looks like you’ve completely erased the inconvenient parts from your memory. Fine. It is renewal season, after all. I suppose it’s about time I changed agencies.”
“Ah, come on. Why are you doing this to me? Don’t be so heartless. It’s not like we’ve only worked together for a year or two.”
“Do I work with President Park because of affection? Since when?”
Sara replied coldly.
Hyun had been trying to smooth things over with an awkward smile, but he once again cautiously studied Sara’s expression.
“Actress Seo…”
“If we’re working together out of affection, why do you take a percentage in the middle? Without affection.”
“There were circumstances I couldn’t talk about. Do you really think I did it intentionally?”
“Whether you did it intentionally or not isn’t particularly important. You must have had circumstances you couldn’t avoid. What grave doesn’t have a story behind it? But do I really have to keep working with President Park while accommodating every single one of those circumstances?”
Hyun clamped his mouth shut like someone who had been force-fed honey, moving only his eyes back and forth.
“What are you going to do?”
“Do what?”
“You have to choose. Me or Kim Se-yeon.”
“Why would you say something so hurtful? Of course I choose our Actress Seo!”
Hyun answered confidently.
Of course, the confident color immediately drained from his face when Sara followed up.
“Really? Then terminate Kim Se-yeon’s contract and kick her out of the company.”
“Actress Seo, that’s—!”
He practically jumped, immediately rattling off about twenty reasons why it couldn’t be done.
There was still plenty of time left on her contract. There wasn’t a sufficient reason to terminate it, and so on.
But Sara spoke even more firmly than before.
“Life is a series of choices, after all. Choose. Who are you going to move forward with?”
“Ughhh! Actress Seo, Sara. Why are you doing this to me? Huh? Please save me.”
“I’m saying this because I’m trying to save you. It’ll be better for you if you get rid of her quickly.”
“I’ll bring Kim Se-yeon here and make her apologize until she’s practically crawling on her hands and knees. Can’t you just accept her apology and let this one go?”
In truth, Sara had been having one conflict or another with Kim Se-yeon since the year before last, but she hadn’t considered them particularly serious.
Among actors, a certain amount of tension and competition was so common that it would have been stranger if none existed.
But this time was different.
Kim Se-yeon had crossed a line she absolutely should never have crossed.
“I’m not doing this simply because she pushed me.”
“Then what? Ah, wait. Is it because of what happened during the bed-scene shoot before…?”
“No. Kim Se-yeon spread rumors to reporters that I was going around meeting movie investors and lobbying them.”
“What?”
“And she even told Eun-young unni about it, making me look like an idiot. And you still expect me to keep putting up with her?”
