Chapter 1223. Organizing (3)

Chapter 1223. Organizing (3)

Han Eun-Sol’s expression as he drove the van could only be described as ‘stupefied’.

‘Dang it. We’ll get into a huge accident if I keep driving like this!’

He was trying his best to sober up, but his shattered mind refused to get back together. He glanced in the rearview mirror to look at the culprit responsible for his state.

Choi Yeon-Ha was humming away in the backseat.

“

Hnng~, hng

!

Euuh~nnng

.”

However, could that really be called humming?

Humming implied there were pleasant-sounding melodies involved, but all the distorted, out-of-tune grunting didn’t sound all that pleasing to Han Eun-Sol’s ears.

“...Noona?”

“

Ng

?”

“Are you happy?”

Choi Yeon-Ha’s expression crumpled instantly. “Hey, can’t you see I’m pissed off right now? How can you still not tell what mood I'm in after all this time you’ve been working for me!”

“...My apologies, ma’am.”

“In any case!”

Choi Yeon-Ha frowned deeply and emitted the aura of an unhappy woman. But then, the corners of her lips began twitching weirdly before curling upward again.

Han Eun-Sol witnessed that through the mirror and sighed in resignation.

‘Yup, she’s a lost cause.’

Less than a day ago, Choi Yeon-Ha emitted the aura of a lunatic ready to blow up the world. The reason for that was simple enough: Kang Jin-Ho couldn’t be reached.

After sending a simple text message stating that something urgent had come up and that he wouldn’t be able to contact her for a while, Kang Jin-Ho seemingly vanished from existence. Without any trace whatsoever!

That simple event kicked up a storm of inconceivable proportions.

The first day he went radio-silent was relatively peaceful, at least in the morning. By the afternoon, however, there were obvious rumblings in the distance. And precisely one day later, the terrifying storm descended into Han Eun-Sol’s life.

‘She’s definitely a witch. A bloody witch!’

Han Eun-Sol finally learned the truth during this event. Choi Yeon-Ha had been acting like a ‘normal’ person recently, solely thanks to Kang Jin-Ho’s presence. And no, it was definitely not because her personality had changed for the better or anything like that!

As a matter of fact, Choi Yeon-Ha’s true nature had not changed one bit!

The descent of the storm called Choi Yeon-Ha, with all her facade stripped away, was a calamity of epic proportions for the poor Han Eun-Sol.

There was a certain commonality existing in all arduous tasks and events.

When going through those events, it’d feel hellish. Torturous, even. However, once you safely negotiated past said hellish events, you’d inexplicably put on rose-tinted glasses and go,

‘Well, that sure was an interesting experience, now wasn’t it?’

For instance, like mandatory military service for all Korean men!

Even if this were true, folks who fondly said life in the military had been fruitful in its own way would still roll their sleeves up and get ready to fight you to the death if you told them to re-enlist.

Rather similar to that example, Han Eun-Sol got to learn the painful truth of how easy his life had been recently after re-experiencing the ‘old’ version of Choi Yeon-Ha.

“Hey, you! You think this is funny? You think I’m funny, now do you?! How about I let my hair down and show you how funny I can be, ah?!”

When Han Eun-Sol heard Choi Yeon-Ha yell at him, he almost blurted out,

You’ve already let your hair down, noonim. And you’ve already demonstrated how... funny you can be, too. Demonstrating any more than this will disqualify you from being human, okay?

It was a miracle that Choi Yeon-Ha somehow finished the filming of an ad earlier without causing an incident. Had the director of the shoot been slightly poor at reading the room, an ‘Asura’ would have descended on the filming location.

The unwashed masses would witness the descent of Asura to reality and shed tears of guilt and try to look back on their sins...

‘Oops. What the hell am I even thinking about? If that happened, the whole shoot would’ve gone down the drain!’

Han Eun-Sol didn’t care a lot about the breach of contract and associated penalties. Sure, money was important, but some things were far more important than money in this world!

Despite her screwed-up personality, Choi Yeon-Ha still miraculously maintained her position as the top celeb in the South Korean entertainment industry. The reason for that was simple. Her personality might be horrendous, but she still performed her role to the fullest. At least, that was the industry people’s view of her.

And that view must be protected at all costs.

No matter how successful a star was, a slump was bound to come. People would dismiss most unfavorable rumors about you when you were doing well. However, those rumors would suddenly become everyone’s focal point once your career was in the doldrums. That was what this industry was like.

It didn’t matter whether the star was the face of the Korean Wave or not. All celebrities put food on the table through their public image. And the damaged image meant you’d never become a star again.

The last image Choi Yeon-Ha had been protecting fiercely until now was

‘I do my job properly and perfectly.’

So, what would happen if that image was flushed down the toilet?

“It’ll be a free fall to the pits, then,” Han Eun-Sol muttered.

Choi Yeon-Ha cocked an eyebrow. “What was that?”

“

O-oh

, we’re about to go downhill, so be careful, noona.”

“

Hnng

?”

Han Eun-Sol began sweating bullets after realizing he had blurted out his inner thoughts.

Of course, Choi Yeon-Ha’s popularity wouldn’t just disappear overnight because she threw a tantrum during an ad shoot. But all bad things began with something trivial. Today’s mishap could have started the downward spiral of Choi Yeon-Ha’s popularity.

‘Is she even aware of it, though?’

Han Eun-Sol sneakily glanced at the rearview mirror again. Choi Yeon-Ha was staring outside the window, softly humming away as if she thought her manager couldn’t hear her.

Back when a celeb being multi-talented was all the rage, the agency president badly wanted Choi Yeon-Ha to debut as a singer, too. But her singing skill was so terrible that the president passed out after hearing two notes from her.

Since she was also aware of her lacking vocal chops, Choi Yeon-Ha consciously tried her best never to sing in front of other people, but her buoyant mood today must’ve made it impossible for her to stay quiet.

Han Eun-Sol smirked bitterly.

‘To think she’d be this happy because of that one message...’

Of course, it was a fortunate development, all things considered.

Han Eun-Sol could still remember Choi Yeon-Ha gripping the water bottle the wrong way to use as a weapon when the director made a mistake with her and cracked a dad joke to improve the atmosphere.

If it hadn’t been for the incoming message beep coming from her phone at the perfect time, that water bottle could have flown through the air and crashed accurately into the director’s forehead.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Thankfully for Han Eun-Sol and the director, that message came from Kang Jin-Ho, and Choi Yeon-Ha instantly transformed from the Ice Witch freezing the entire filming studio to the loving goddess of acting.

That was the story so far.

“

Hnng~, hng, hnnnng~.

”

A bright grin didn’t want to leave Choi Yeon-Ha’s mouth. Her mood must be indescribably good, judging from how she couldn’t stop ‘singing’ despite her own voice’s power to torture her.

Han Eun-Sol groaned deeply before talking to her. “Noona?”

“Yeah?”

“You... aren’t thinking of meeting Mister Jin-Ho while making that face, now are you?”

Choi Yeon-Ha tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“You look like a love-struck idiot.”

“

Wha

?! I would never do that!”

“...Dang it. I better install a mirror in here or something.”

Han Eun-Sol stopped at the red light and turned around in his seat to stare directly at Choi Yeon-Ha.

“Noona, you are going to bite his head off, right?”

“O-of course.”

“Noona.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Yes, I get that you learned everything you know about romance from scripts you’ve read.”

“Hey! How dare you spread false information like that!”

“Oh? Are you saying I’m wrong?”

Choi Yeon-Ha triumphantly shouted, “Of course! I acted out the scenes, too!”

“...

Ah

. You’re right.”

Even if there was no difference there!

“In any case! Noona, being so happy and coddling like this is no good. You know that, right? If you keep forgiving Mister Jin-Ho for going radio-silent without warning you ahead of time, sooner or later he’s gonna take it for granted.”

“I know, okay?”

“Really? That’s not what your face says, though?”

Choi Yeon-Ha forced the corners of her lips to stop curling upward. The way her cheeks still twitched instilled zero confidence, but at least it looked like she understood the importance of giving Kang Jin-Ho a harsh dressing-down.

Another bitter smirk formed on Han Eun-Sol’s face.

“I don’t get it, noona. You two have been going out for a while now, right? But the novelty hasn’t worn out yet?”

“Eun-Sol?”

“Yes, noona?”

“Sure. Date someone for a while, and your passion is bound to cool down, and you start seeing reality for what it is.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But you? How long have you known me for? Yet you dare keep your head straight and even give me advice?! You want me to snap your spine in half?”

Han Eun-Sol obediently turned around in his seat and sat upright. “I’ll resume driving again, noona.”

“If the car shakes around, your life will

shake

around, too. Got that? Drive quickly, but make sure it won’t shake around.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

How unfair.

Life was so unfair!

Han Eun-Sol pouted while gripping the steering wheel, then frowned deeply at the sight of the traffic jam on the road and a throng of people on the sidewalk.

“Did something happen? Why are there so many people today? Is today a special day or something?”

Choi Yeon-Ha tutted. “Yes.”

“

Huh

? What day is it, then?”

“It’s the finals.”

“...Sorry?”

“Forget it, Eun-Sol. You won’t understand the noble pastime of sports fandom even if I explain it to you, anyway.”

Han Eun-Sol’s complexion paled in an instant.

Just who was Choi Yeon-Ha? Wasn’t she a woman who, when a sports journalist jokingly asked

“Miss Choi, do you know the difference between a strike and a ball?”

, offered the legendary answer of,

“People refuse to work during a strike, no?”

Han Eun-Sol could still vividly recall how he and the talent agency employees tirelessly worked through the night to delete all traces of that stupid interview footage! But now, what did she say? Noble pastime of what now?!

“Noona, did you really say sports just now?”

“I did. So what?”

Han Eun-Sol stared at Choi Yeon-Ha’s face through the rearview mirror, his eyes blinking nonstop. “T-then, are you seriously going to the stadium? To watch whatever is going on??”

“Yeah.”

“...Seriously?”

Choi Yeon-Ha tutted loudly again. “Hey, you? It feels like you’ve been picking a fight with me for a while now. What’s the matter with you? I’m not allowed to watch sports? Is that it?”

“No, well... It’s because this is all so strange, you know? Hang on, noona? Do you even know who Messi is?”

“Mesh? Isn’t that a thing with lots of holes in it?”

“Not ‘mesh’, but Messi!”

“Why are you shouting?!”

“...”

Han Eun-Sol clamped his mouth shut. Trying to reason with an unreasonable person had to be one of the most torturous things in existence.

Choi Yeon-Ha grunted. “Park the van here.”

Han Eun-Sol asked back in surprise. “

Huh

? Here? Why?”

“We won’t find him in this crowd, after all. Besides, we promised to meet by the subway entrance, anyway.”

“

Oh

, okay. Then, I’ll park the van nearby and wait for you. Call me when you guys are done.”

“Don’t bother. You can go back without me.”

“...I’m sorry?”

“I said, you can go back home. By yourself.”

Han Eun-Sol’s cheeks twitched ominously. “Noona... You do know you have an appointment tomorrow morning, right? Remember, nonsense like insisting on staying in this city overnight or stuff like that will wreck our agency. People already don’t trust us because of how new we are, so you breaking the contract will mean our agency will never recover, okay?!”

“Hey, you! You think I don’t know that?”

“...”

Choi Yeon-Ha narrowed her eyes. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Of course. Of course you’d know. But,

uh

...”

Why did this situation feel like leaving a child... No, freeing a venomous snake by the water’s edge? Han Eun-Sol was worried about innocent children playing by the water getting bitten. And he was also worried about snake catchers finding this snake—raised at a significant cost, by the way—and selling her off in some black market or something.

“Eun-Sol, Eun-Sol? Ohh~, Chief Han Eun-Sol?”

“Yes, noona?”

“Stop worrying about me and focus on your job instead, okay? Did you forget I’m a director in the agency, too?”

“...Yes, you are.”

“So, stop the van.”

“Got it, noona.”

Han Eun-Sol groaned loudly while parking the car next to the sidewalk.

Choi Yeon-Ha took out a compact and fixed her makeup before putting on a jacket. She asked Han Eun-Sol next. “So? How do I look?”

“What do you mean, how? You’re as pretty as always.”

“Right? I’m pretty!

Haah

~, even I can’t do anything about my beauty, Eun-Sol.”

“Yes, yes. Please don’t say that in front of other people, okay? Only say that when there’s no one in the room except me. Please!”

“Stop worrying and have a safe trip back, okay~?”

Whiiiiirrr...

The van’s automatic side door slid open, and Choi Yeon-Ha put on a hat. While carrying another hat, a black one this time, she cheerily jumped out of the van.

“...Please don’t cause a scene. Please.”

Han Eun-Sol’s lengthy groan fogged up the van’s window.

***

“There are more people here than I thought?”

Choi Yeon-Ha pressed the hat down even more on her face. Even though she had covered her face with a hat and a pair of sunglasses, some people were bound to recognize her sooner rather than later.

The species called ‘fans’ could be such strange creatures. With a disguise like this, even Choi Yeon-Ha would’ve had a tough time recognizing herself, yet some fans would have no problem noticing her.

If someone blurted out,

“Hey, that’s Choi Yeon-Ha!”

in this massive crowd, the ensuing chaos would make it impossible to move an inch from here.

Despite all these worries, however, Choi Yeon-Ha’s steps remained cheery.

‘I’m gonna bite his head off.’

How dare he disappear from her life with only a text message as a heads-up? That's not how people do things. Even if Kang Jin-Ho was that kind of man, Choi Yeon-Ha should not forgive him for it this time.

She must lose her temper and thoroughly chew him out. And when he started fidgeting and sweating, she’d pretend to forgive him out of the goodness of her heart.

Should she ask him to buy her a present? Since he was loaded, she could ask him to buy something expensive. No, doing so might sour her image in his eyes, so... How about asking him to treat her to a sumptuous meal instead?

While thinking about this and that, Choi Yeon-Ha made her way toward the subway entrance. Eventually, her eyes caught the back of a familiar person.

“...”

She sneaked closer to Kang Jin-Ho. Should she try to surprise him? Or should she stand a bit away, looking a bit annoyed with her arms crossed? It didn’t matter which option she went with, however. Because today...

That was when the familiar back turned around slightly. Kang Jin-Ho’s gaze met Choi Yeon-Ha’s.

He smiled softly. “You’re here.”

“...”

Choi Yeon-Ha bit her lip before sighing deeply.

‘Nope. Can’t do it.’

How could she lose her temper when she wasn’t angry? Although it was annoying, and she wanted to kick him in the butt, for some reason... Her mood was great.

Even Choi Yeon-Ha had to acknowledge that this was some kind of illness.

“Shall we get going?” Kang Jin-Ho asked.

“Okay.”

Choi Yeon-Ha making a coy expression stuck close to Kang Jin-Ho. But then...

Kang Jin-Ho asked in confusion. “...By the way, where should we go from here?”

“...”

The blinders called “love” had lifted up a little from Choi Yeon-Ha’s eyes just then.