IJLMT 19

Chapter 19….

“Hey, Yoo Hyun-jae. Just say it straight. I’m seriously amazing, right? I did way better than Im Yu-joo, didn’t I? Do you know Yu-jung got mentioned way more than On-yoo on YouTube Shorts? You don’t? Why aren’t you answering, you bastard?”

“Even if the whole world acknowledges me, it’s not enough. So answer me properly!”

…What the hell is this situation?

In the vision flashing through my head, Lee Joo-ah was gripping me by the collar, her face flushed red, clad in a crimson dress.

[ A new legend has been written! Actress Lee Joo-ah, who captured the world’s attention: “Each of us raises a demon in our hearts.” ]

So in the future, Lee Joo-ah becomes even more famous than now?

I looked at the Joo-ah in front of me and said,

“Of course, I know you’re amazing. The heavens know, the earth knows, the whole world knows, don’t they?”

“I don’t care if the whole world knows or not. Let’s just talk about work. There’s no point bickering with someone who doesn’t even remember me—it just pisses me off.”

Her blunt words left my questions unanswered. When exactly had we met? What did she mean about liking me?

And another thing bothering me was the onion. Under what conditions did this onion ring bloom into a flower?

That weird old man had said the onion would choose who to share blessings with. So that must mean Joo-ah is someone I’m meant to share blessings with too?

“So, what do I need to look at? Hand it over.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The moment I replied, Joo-ah frowned again.

“Fine, forget that you don’t remember me, but can you drop the honorifics already? It’s grating on my nerves.”

“Understo—… Okay, fine. Then, uh… what you need to look at is—”

“That’s you dropping honorifics? Are you gonna greet me with, ‘Hello, Actress Lee Joo-ah~’ from now on?”

“…Then what should I call you?”

“You used to call me ‘noona.’”

“…Alright. So here, there are five scripts, and on the cover pages are the synopses—”

But Joo-ah folded her arms and turned her head with a playful twist.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t even know who you’re talking to.”

“…You do know, right? The project with the largest budget is at the top—”

“Team leader. The department head says you should show her the scripts.”

Feigning ignorance, Joo-ah tossed out the line. Jo Min-soo, our team leader, gave me a sideways glance that said loud and clear: Just do what she wants already!

But I didn’t miss the twitch at the corner of Jo Min-soo’s lips. He was holding back laughter. Of course he was relaxed—he’d dumped everything on me, and the CEO would take responsibility.

“…Alright, Joo-ah noona. Please take a look at the scripts.”

“Good, Hyun-jae.”

She beamed back at me. Calling a top star “noona” in a company meeting room… what kind of fantasy scenario was this? She claimed we already knew each other, but from my perspective it was our first meeting. My cheeks burned.

Finally, Joo-ah started examining the five scripts carefully.

The first project was Thieves of the Heart, a film adaptation of a bestselling novel. It told the story of infiltrating dreams to set villains’ hearts right. Though set in the modern day, the production would require elaborate fantasy-style sets, hence a huge budget. But with the novel’s popularity, it had high box-office potential. Naturally, JM wanted Joo-ah to pick this one.

But the other four were hardly weak options: The Black Witches, Voices of Dogs, Temptation of Hyenas, and Love of Geotaji. All by renowned directors and writers.

As soon as she opened a script, the playfulness vanished from her face. The professional side of Lee Joo-ah emerged. She read synopses carefully, flipped through pages quickly, then doubled back again.

After about fifteen minutes, she put the scripts down.

“None of these work for me.”

Team leader Jo Min-soo asked nervously,

“Really? May I ask why?”

He looked worried. He’d said he’d leave everything to me, but Min-soo was a responsible man. He couldn’t just sit by when she rejected everything.

“They feel like lies.”

“Lies?”

“If I feel it’s a lie, I can’t act properly. Take Temptation of Hyenas. A rich, handsome, tough guy follows the heroine everywhere saying he likes her. And she’s like, ‘Oh no! I’m in trouble because of him!’ But honestly, her emotions wouldn’t be ‘troubled’ at all—it feels forced.”

“Well, that’s true. Media tries too hard to cater to mass taste…”

“I understand that. I’m not saying they’re bad works. They just don’t suit me.”

“What about Thieves of the Heart?”

“This one… it doesn’t try to understand villains enough.”

“Understand… villains?”

“I’m not excusing their actions, but whether someone turns good or bad often comes down to luck. If you think about it, the same emotions inside a villain exist inside me too, just in different proportions or directions. So tearing out their hearts to ‘fix’ them feels wrong… Ah, sorry.”

She waved a hand mid-sentence.

“Not liking something doesn’t mean I refuse to do it. My old agency always said, ‘Just act well, why do you overthink everything?’ so I pushed back out of spite. But media exists for the audience, and I’m just one cog in that fun. If my agency says it’s a fun project, I’ll follow their judgment.”

“I see. Very professional. Why don’t you and Part-leader Yoo Hyun-jae discuss further?”

…Huh? She’s nothing like the rumors.

That thought ran through my head—and probably Jo Min-soo’s too.

Joo-ah’s old agency was Radoremi Entertainment, third in the industry by market cap. Unlike JM, which let its talents refuse projects even if it hurt the company, Radoremi seemed different.

“So, Hyun-jae. You’ve been doing well, haven’t you? You boosted NovaGirls and Im Yu-joo, right?”

“It just looks that way. They all rose on their own… Wait, why bring up Im Yu-joo?”

“You really don’t know? After that radio show you went on, mentions of Im Yu-joo skyrocketed. What kind of entertainment exec doesn’t even check SNS?”

So that’s what happened…

Honestly, I’d avoided checking. Seeing my name mentioned always made my heart pound too much.

“So, tell me. What do I need to do to make it big?”

“Hmm…”

Our company wants to push Thieves of the Heart. I could just go with that and end this meeting. But…

Joo-ah had been chosen by the onion, just like NovaGirls and Im Yu-joo before her. If I devoted myself to her success, the onion would bloom further, bringing me even greater blessings.

But honestly, even aside from the onion’s rewards, helping those it chose was fun. NovaGirls, Im Yu-joo—they never claimed their success was theirs alone.

I reached for the script. The violet flower sprouting from the onion ring brushed its tendrils over the cover. Beautiful flower, creepy feelers.

[ Film <Thieves of the Heart> barely breaks even. Fans of the original disappointed. ]
[ Fooled by casting? Too many plot holes in <Thieves of the Heart>. ]
[ Only watched for Lee Joo-ah, but left disappointed. Harsh reviews pile up. ]

“Don’t be discouraged, Hyun-jae. This isn’t your fault. You only picked from what the director gave you.”

In the vision, Joo-ah was comforting me. Who knew she had such a gentle side?

So it’s not Thieves of the Heart. What about the others?

The onion’s violet flower revealed more futures.

But The Black Witches, Voices of Dogs, Temptation of Hyenas, Love of Geotaji—all mediocre. The best-performing was The Black Witches, but…

[ World star Lee Joo-ah suffers severe headaches after filming <The Black Witches>. Too much asbestos inhaled during shoot. ]
[ Cinematographer: “Didn’t consider asbestos in the abandoned factory. Facilities manager to blame.” Joo-ah enters long-term rest for recovery. ]

I’ll need to remember to warn someone about that asbestos. Could save others too.

But that left me stuck. None of the five worked.

[ A new legend has been written! Actress Lee Joo-ah, who captured the world’s attention: “Each of us raises a demon in our hearts.” ]

She was ridiculously successful in that earlier vision. Was that far in the future? For now, should I just set it aside…?

Then I recalled the first video the violet flower had shown me.

“Hey, Yoo Hyun-jae. Just say it straight. I’m seriously amazing, right? I did way better than Im Yu-joo, didn’t I? Do you know Yu-jung got mentioned way more than On-yoo on YouTube Shorts? You don’t? Why aren’t you answering, you bastard?”

“Even if the whole world acknowledges me, it’s not enough. So answer me properly!”

On-yoo? Yu-jung? Familiar names. Why hadn’t I realized it right away? On-yoo was the protagonist of Chalk and Spear. Yu-jung was the main villain.

In that vision, Joo-ah said Yu-jung got more mentions than On-yoo. And she compared herself to Im Yu-joo, who’d been nominated for a Platinum Globe.

The meaning was clear.

“Why aren’t you saying anything, Hyun-jae?”

Joo-ah pressed.

“Because, like you said, none of them feel right.”

Team leader Jo Min-soo whipped his head toward me in shock. Of course—JM had decided to push Thieves of the Heart, but I’d just rejected it.

Even Joo-ah widened her eyes.

“What? You don’t have to fit things to me. I said I’d go along with your judgment.”

“I’m not fitting it to you. This is my judgment.”

“So what now? I just sit around after joining JM?”

“No. Take a look at this.”

I pulled out an extra script of Chalk and Spear.

“P—Part-leader Yoo?” Min-soo stammered.

“Yes, Team leader?”

“Wait, are you…? No, never mind.”

Clearly, he wanted to stop me but didn’t dare. I handed the script to Joo-ah.

“Noona, what do you think about playing Yu-jung?”

I feel uneasy. Uneasy enough to die.

Jo Min-soo’s steps toward the CEO’s office were heavy. He had to report Hyun-jae’s handling of today’s meeting, but doubts gnawed at him.

The Im Yu-joo case had been fine—it was already pre-approved by the CEO. When Hyun-jae wrapped that meeting in 15 minutes, Min-soo had thought, As expected, the kid’s got talent. And since Yu-joo was primarily a singer, taking on something experimental wasn’t a bad idea.

But then things went sideways. Tossing all five scripts? Those weren’t just any scripts—they’d been carefully narrowed down for Joo-ah.

Now Hyun-jae wanted to throw her into Chalk and Spear—as the villain? And Joo-ah, notoriously stubborn, just agreed? Surely she knew its success potential was a big unknown?

A quick call to the production company, Gigi Studio, confirmed the Yu-jung role was still open. Auditions ongoing. If it had already been cast, they could’ve backed out with a polite excuse.

Knock knock knock.

“Yes, come in.”

It was hard to meet CEO Lee Jong-mook’s eyes. He’d told Min-soo to let Hyun-jae handle things, but… this much? Surely it was Min-soo’s duty as team leader to intervene?

‘What were you thinking, Min-soo? You’re the team leader—you should’ve stopped this!’ He half-expected to be chewed out. In corporate life, “Do as you like” rarely meant it literally.

“So, how did it go?”

The CEO’s eyes sparkled with interest. Min-soo relayed everything, then added,

“…We haven’t informed Gigi Studio yet, so it’s reversible. Surprisingly, Joo-ah was cooperative. So I think we can still proceed with Thieves of the Heart.”

“No, no, Min-soo. Call Gigi Studio right now. If Yu-jung’s role gets cast elsewhere, it’ll be messy. They won’t turn Joo-ah down, so hurry.”

“W-we can really proceed that way? Are you sure?”

“It’s not about being sure—we must proceed.”

“….”

Min-soo swallowed hard. CEO Lee Jong-mook—impressive. Part-leader Yoo Hyun-jae—also impressive. But was this really right? To be so certain Chalk and Spear would succeed, when even WatchFlex, the streaming platform, probably wasn’t that confident?

WatchFlex often made experimental originals, but most fell flat. Chalk and Spear would likely be the same…

“Wait. Hold on.”

Jong-mook muttered, giving Min-soo a flicker of hope—maybe he’d changed his mind?

“If this is guaranteed to be a hit… why not go all in? A full investment. A theatrical release. Yes, tell them to plan for theaters. We almost wasted 3.5 billion already, so…”

“…Sir?”

The CEO’s words sent a chill down Min-soo’s spine. Then Jong-mook smiled.

“It’s fine, Min-soo. I’ll handle contacting Gigi myself. You may go.”

“….”

Leaving the office, Min-soo felt like he’d been thrown into another world. Everyone—Im Yu-joo, Yoo Hyun-jae, Lee Joo-ah, even CEO Jong-mook—believed without question that Chalk and Spear would be a hit.

Even earlier in the meeting, he’d overheard Joo-ah ask Hyun-jae:

“So? You really believe this film will blow up?”

“Yes.”

“How big a hit?”

“In Europe, in America,…”