Become a Star

In the end, even the judges who had been staying silent were hounded by the media for interviews. Perhaps Kwon So-Hyun was walking on eggshells –– she declined to be interviewed; Park Han-Young glossed over the questions and gave vague answers; the Korean branch manager of Midas Agency, Choi Min-Hwan, had no choice but to say positive things about the audition, but the other judges had no reason to do so.

<There was a judge who gave Chae Woo-Jin a low score for his ‘bad pronunciation’ when he used a hood accent even though the character, Lloyd, came from the hood in LA. Initially, the judge criticized him for not analyzing the work properly, but as soon as it was revealed that it was true to the original script, the judge chastised him for not trying something new and called him a parrot. The judges had a hard time because this judge was being unreasonable.>

<The judge that gave Chae Woo-Jin two out of five points for his appearance gave Park Min a perfect score. I can’t comment on those scores as appearance is subjective, but it seems as though the judge was treating the audition as some sort of lifetime achievement award. It was a situation in which the scores were obviously different, even if it was just by a point, but the judge kept insisting that we should take into account Park Min’s hard work and contributions which he has made to the entertainment industry, and insisted on picking him. It’s interesting to note that Chae Woo-Jin’s contribution equaled to that of Park Min, but the judge simply disregarded everything he has done.>

Similarly, Park Han-Young also rigged the scores and insisted on picking Do-Ya over Chae Woo-Jin, but he did that to give the opportunity to a promising actor. He didn’t give a bunch of bizarre excuses like what Kwon So-Hyun did. Since Kwon So-Hyun kicked up a huge fuss, Park Han-Young, who made a relatively less impactful impression on the public, was spared from being attacked.

When the interview was released, people started digging for information about the judge who supported Park Min. And then, the rumor that had been secretly circulating for quite some time about how Park Min had a sponsor started surfacing again. It had yet to be revealed that the sponsor was the judge herself, but there were rumors speculating about how she might have something to do with the high score.

“In any case, there must be a couple of journalists looking into Park Min and Kwon So-Hyun. Wouldn’t one of them publish a major story this time?”

Since they were currently in the middle of a controversy, it was the perfect time for the journalists to publish an article. Kang Ho-Soo remarked that he wouldn’t let the opportunity slip through his fingers if he were a journalist.

“Park Min’s agency or Kwon So-Hyun will prevent the story from getting published anyway.”

“But it’ll be a different story if there’s someone who will offer more for it to be published.”

“Ah!”

After quietly listening to Kang Ho-Soo, Woo-Jin seemed to have realized something and exclaimed in admiration. He had heard rumors about Park Min having a sponsor since a long time ago, but he only found out who she was recently via this incident. And after putting the pieces together with the information he learned about her, Woo-Jin seemed to know what Kang Ho-Soo was getting at.

As soon as Hwang Yi-Young showed that she still didn’t understand what he was trying to say, Kang Ho-Soo explained it to her in simple terms.

“Kwon So-Hyun’s ex-husband.” Only then did Hwang Yi-Young nod, seemingly understanding what he was getting at.

Kwon So-Hyun was currently in the midst of fighting with her ex-husband for custody of their child. After getting a clean divorce, Kwon So-Hyun had custody as their child was a minor, but her ex-husband filed a lawsuit against her when she denied him visitation rights. However, according to CEO Jang Soo-Hwan, he had become really angry when he later found out about their affair, and that there was a story behind his actions.

“Nothing beats a scandal when it comes to winning a court case.”

“She could always claim that they dated after the divorce, though.”

Kwon So-Hyun was single after the divorce, and Park Min was single as well, so even if a scandal broke out, it could easily be countered by saying they were dating.

“It’ll be a different story if they were photographed together before the divorce took place.”

Kwon So-Hyun got divorced two years ago, but her sexual relations started with Park Min prior to that, so it was a classic case of ‘nobody knows what will happen in the future.’ The story would become even more interesting if they were photographed leaving a hotel or either one of their houses in the morning or evening. Any journalist or paparazzi with such a photo would currently be in a happy situation.

“It would be useless if Kwon So-Hyun pays more.”

If a scandal were to break out, Kwon So-Hyun would be the one who would suffer the most, so she would undoubtedly do everything in her power to prevent it from happening. Hence, the sum of money involved would naturally increase. Thus, that was why Hwang Yi-Young was skeptical about Kang Ho-Soo’s suggestion.

“I don’t think they’ll make a deal with Kwon So-Hyun.”

However, Woo-Jin shared a different view from Hwang Yi-Young.

Previously, the journalist covered up Lee Yeon’s car accident because of money. If he were to cover it up, he could blackmail both DS and TM for money, but if he were to publish the article, he wouldn’t get any money from either party. He would simply feel proud for getting a scoop and call it a day.

However in this case, both sides were equally wealthy; the journalist would stand a lot to gain financially from either side. Hence, it was an opportunity for the journalist to enjoy the best of both worlds – getting a scoop, and making financial gains. If Kwon So-Hyun’s ex-husband refused to make a deal with the journalist, it wouldn’t be too late for them to switch sides and go to Kwon So-Hyun.

However, Kwon So-Hyun’s ex-husband probably would not miss this golden opportunity. As a journalist who was making a deal, it was better for him to maintain good relations with both sides, and sowing a greater discord before making the most lucrative deal with one person. And so, it would be difficult for Kwon So-Hyun to prevent the untimely article from being published.

“Anything is possible.”

Park Min wouldn’t put himself in a precarious situation after seeing the journalists that were tailing him. He had been harassed by journalists for such a long time that he might have acted cautiously in the first place to avoid being caught. Additionally, if the journalist had a good relationship with Park Min or Kwon So-Hyun, there was a high possibility that they would let their affair blow over quietly.

“In any case, I don’t like those people at all.”

Park Min and Kwon So-Hyun were tainting the entertainment industry with their dirty deeds. Since people like them continued to succeed, others would eventually follow suit. Other people would adopt the mindset that they would be losing out if they didn’t do the same thing.

Woo-Jin had competed fairly but he still ended up being entangled with Park Min and Do-Ya, so Hwang Yi-Young felt it was humiliating for Woo-Jin. If Woo-Jin wasn’t as popular as he was right now, or if the situation was a little worse, he would’ve failed the audition regardless of how good his acting was.

In Hwang Yi-Young’s eyes, Woo-Jin was the best. But there might have been another actor who went through what Woo-Jin went through and vanished after being sacrificed in this manner.

“What power do I have to protect our dear Woo-Jin?”

Hwang Yi-Young wanted to let the whole world know the audition’s inside story, but as a staff member working with Chae Woo-JIn, there were things she could and couldn’t do. In order to do what she could, Hwang Yi-Young searched ‘Chae Woo-Jin’ on the internet to get a feel of the public’s opinion on the matter, and tried her best to correct the inaccurate information posted by others.

“Huh?”

After typing out ‘Chae Woo-Jin’, Hwang Yi-Young saw ‘Chae Woo-Jin T-shirt’ under related search terms. She became flustered and tapped Woo-Jin’s arm.

“Woo-Jin, take a look at this.”

“What happened?”

Woo-Jin thought she saw a problematic article, so he took a look at Hwang Yi-Young’s phone. However, it was someone’s social media page –– not a news article.

There was a photo of a woman wearing a T-shirt that was rather familiar. Her face had been mosaicked, and judging from the quality of the photo and its composition, it seemed as though it had been secretly taken in a cafe.

<This person is at the very least a diehard fan of Chae Woo-Jin. How did she come up with the idea of cosplaying in that outfit?>

–– She isn’t cosplaying as him, she’s simply wearing it. Regardless of how much I like Chae Woo-Jin, there’s no way I’d wear that. She’s really something.

–– That’s the T-shirt, right? He wore that T-shirt in LA previously and caused a stir among his fans! There are a lot of stories about the T-shirt, so it’s meaningful to the fans in more ways than one, but that’s too much.

–– I think all of you guys are even more incredible. I mean, it’s just an ordinary T-shirt, and yet you recognized it.

Someone posted a photo of a woman wearing the same T-shirt Chae Woo-Jin wore back when he was the Slipper Young Man. It was a T-shirt with many anecdotes, but Woo-Jin had received complaints about it because it was stretched out and it looked shabby, so some people had urged him to throw it away. Every single one of his fans undoubtedly knew of its existence.

There were items that had become popular because they had been worn by celebrities, but that T-shirt was something nobody would wear, including his biggest fans. Even if it was something men commonly wore, it was absolutely not something women would recreate to wear.

Right now, the opinions on social media were divided – some said the fan had gone overboard, while the rest said it was rather cute.

“This is the same T-shirt, right?”

“I’m not sure. It may or may not be the same T-shirt…”

He had worn that t-shirt for many years, but it was hard to make a definitive judgment just by looking at the photo. Woo-Jin was more amazed by the people who could tell it was the same T-shirt just by looking at the photo.

“You can’t underestimate the sharp eyes of fans. They are people who can find out who their favorite celebrities are dating by looking at the dolls and things in the background of selfies. Even with my untrained eyes, I think it’s the same T-shirt too. It’s not even an imitation, it’s the actual thing!”

Hwang Yi-Young had suffered a lot of humiliation because of this T-shirt, so there was no way she couldn’t recognize it. And there was another reason behind her confidence.

“The silhouette of this person! It’s definitely that girl.”

It was difficult to make out the face of the girl sitting on the chair because it was both mosaicked and a photo of her side profile. But as soon as Hwang Yi-Young saw it, she could tell the girl was Woo-Jin’s neighbor. Hwang Yi-Young knew this because she scrutinized her every time they met, after Hwang Yi-Young found out that she was the stalker and the prime suspect who stole Woo-Jin’s trash.

“Even today, she glared at me as though she really wanted to kill me when I happened to look away.”

Whenever Woo-Jin had work, Kang Ho-Soo and Hwang Yi-Young made it a point to go up to escort Woo-Jin out. Every time that happened, Woo-Jin’s neighbor would also leave the house and take the elevator down together, so she often ran into Hwang Yi-Young.

When Woo-Jin was facing forward, the two women behind him would wage a war with one another by exchanging glances that only women would recognize. Because of their relationship, Hwang Yi-Young now had her eyes on the neighbor. Now, she was able to recognize her from afar just by looking at her back view.

“In any case, the actual T-shirt is in her hands. It makes no sense for her to make a copy of it to wear it. That must have been why she stole it in the first place.”

Hwang Yi-Young looked at the photo that was posted on social media while clicking her tongue, but she couldn’t just laugh it off. The agency was also taking this matter seriously, so she was worried about Woo-Jin living alone. Thus, Hwang Yi-Young got Hyun-Min to stay with him. That was her way of ensuring Lee Yeo-Rin wouldn’t get the chance to meet with Woo-Jin alone.

However, this couldn’t drag on indefinitely. While Woo-Jin went to America for the audition, the agency was planning to relocate him again. This time around, they were looking for a house for Woo-Jin to move into as secretly as possible. Initially, Woo-Jin also wanted to confront Lee Yeo-Rin head on, but because of the unexpected audition schedule, he held it in and put it off.

In some sense, this was the last chance he was giving to Lee Yeo-Rin.

***

Chae Woo-Jin’s T-shirt started trending and ultimately climbed up to the first spot in the real time search. As time went by, the testimonies of those who knew who she was started surfacing one by one. People also talked about how she was originally Chae Woo-Jin’s fan, and that she said it was a T-shirt which her boyfriend was going to throw away. On the other hand, some people also said her boyfriend was like a saint. It was an interesting anecdote that lingered in people’s minds.

“She’s here again.”

As soon as Hyun-Min heard the doorbell, he ran over to take a look at the intercom, and said to Woo-Jin with a fed-up look on his face.

Woo-Jin couldn’t leave the house alone because of Lee Yeo-Rin. Ever since Hyun-Min moved in, he had gained a lot of freedom. Since they had the same classes, they went to school together, so it was perfect. At times like these when Lee Yeo-Rin came knocking on the door, Hyun-Min dealt with her as well. It was also fun for Hyun-Min to live with his friend in a spacious house away from his parents' watchful eyes, and it was nice to live close to school.

Lee Yeo-Rin however, was more horrifying than a midsummer horror movie, as she rang the doorbell every night. In truth, Woo-Jin had no complaints about living here apart from this problem.

“Why does she ring the doorbell every night at 10 P.M.? Is she testing out Pavlov’s theory of Classical Conditioning or something?”

“Ask her what she wants this time.”

After hearing Woo-Jin’s request, Hyun-Min narrowed his eyes and looked at his friend.