Chapter 7: Ripples of Unease

Yoonseo slowly closed and opened his eyes, taking a deep breath, and then moved to check the team’s group chat.

This chat was primarily for sharing schedules, items, and viewership graphs after a broadcast, so it usually didn’t have much conversation.

But today, for some reason, there were over thirty messages piled up, which he found a bit strange.

Tilting his head, he tapped on the chat room. The first thing he saw was an internet link, followed by a low-quality photo.

It wasn’t unusual for Team Leader Kim or the main writer, Seo Hyunjoo, to share links to news articles that could be potential items.

However, there had never been an article accompanied by a photo that was completely indecipherable at a glance.

Puzzled, he scrolled down a bit and saw the headline of the article.

<Han Taekyung Again? Endless Private Life Controversies, How Far Will They Go?>

Yoonseo’s expression instantly hardened as he confirmed the content, which was unlikely to be a potential item.

He had no idea why the name Han Taekyung was popping up here.

Scrolling further down to assess the situation, it seemed this mess was caused by Team Leader Kim pasting the wrong link.

‘I’ll contact you later. See you next time.’

Taekyung’s words echoed in Yoonseo’s mind.

He had taken his business card, promising to get in touch, but so far, there had been no contact.

It wasn’t that he was particularly waiting for his call, but for someone who had gone to the trouble of visiting his office, his lukewarm response made his intentions even more inscrutable.

The deeper he thought, the more questions arose.

He had been too flustered to think about it last Saturday, but he was also puzzled as to how he knew where his office was.

The place he had run into Han Taekyung was the emergency staircase on the 2nd floor of the annex, and all he could have known from seeing his employee ID was his name.

If Han Taekyung had mobilized all his connections, he could have easily found out where a person named Choi Yoonseo worked, but he wondered if there was any reason to go that far.

Did he feel he hadn’t received a proper thank you?

Was he upset about that?

Did I make some big mistake that day?

He thought it over and over, but he couldn’t find an answer.

Because he still didn’t know the person named Han Taekyung very well.

With a sigh, Yoonseo scrolled to the bottom of the chat and then back up to the article link.

There was a hint of impulse in his action of clicking the link.

He thought that by reading it, he might be able to understand a more private side of Han Taekyung.

A new window immediately popped up, and the article filled his phone screen.

Below the headline were two consecutive low-quality photos.

Han Taekyung getting out of a car, and his back as he walked with his arm around a woman’s waist.

Even at a glance, the situation was obvious.

Yoonseo found himself biting his lower lip as he swiped the screen up with his finger.

The gist of the not-so-long article was that Han Taekyung was embroiled in controversy after being photographed entering a hotel with a woman.

It seemed Han Taekyung’s agency had issued a statement saying they would not respond as it was a private matter, and the identity of the woman was not mentioned.

Even Yoonseo, who had no interest in celebrities and deliberately avoided entertainment news, would occasionally come across Han Taekyung’s scandal articles on the main page of portal sites.

He never clicked on the entertainment tab for fear of seeing an unwelcome name, but Taekyung’s articles, in particular, had such provocative titles that it was impossible not to click.

There were also quite a few articles with headlines that seemed to revere his abilities or achievements.

Stories about his drama’s viewership ratings surpassing a certain percentage, his movie’s audience numbers exceeding ten million, or how much the operating profit of a clothing brand he modeled for had increased compared to the previous year.

And in those articles, there was always one fact mentioned: that he was the second son of Han Ju-hak, the chairman of Younghyeon Group, one of the major conglomerates.

That was the extent of Yoonseo’s knowledge about Han Taekyung.

An actor who caused a scandal every time things got quiet.

Yet, an actor who had a tremendous influence on the public.

A person who had everything, to the point that he could be presented as evidence of the world’s unfairness.

A person so different from his ordinary self.

So why had they become so entangled when they should have had no connection?

He had thought it would be a one-time, passing incident, but he didn’t know why it had turned out this way.

But seeing as there was still no contact after he had taken his business card, perhaps his actions hadn’t held any significant meaning.

Yoonseo exited the group chat and then turned off his phone screen by pressing the side button.

He should have at least shared a brief update about today’s shoot, but a sudden wave of lethargy washed over him, and his body went limp against his will.

It would be nice if Han Taekyung would just erase him from his memory.

Just as this fleeting thought began to fade into his fatigue,

“Seonbaenim.”

“…Huh?”

Startled by the voice calling him, Yoonseo straightened up.

He turned his head to see Jaehoon, who had opened the window and was poking his head out, looking at him with worried eyes.

Yoonseo smiled brightly, as if he had never been lost in thought.

“You’re already done showering?”

“Yes. Seonbaenim, why are you out here? It’s cold…”

“I was just about to go in.”

Yoonseo stood up, reassuring Jaehoon.

Only then did he realize that his hands, which had been needlessly exposed to the biting mountain air, had become icy cold.

He repeatedly clenched and unclenched his stiff fingers as he re-entered the village hall, and he shivered for a moment as the warmth instantly enveloped him.

“Jaehoon, can you send the footage to Writer Chaewon?”

“Yes! I was just about to do that anyway. Go wash up, Seonbaenim.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Yoonseo said as he took off his padded jacket, and Jaehoon, with a broad grin, sat on the floor and removed the memory card from the camera.

He was grateful to Jaehoon, who always helped with the filming without ever showing any signs of difficulty.

Moreover, on the day Han Taekyung had visited the office, Jaehoon had overheard their short conversation but had pretended not to know, without asking any questions.

He must have been curious about how they knew each other and what had happened, but he had kept his mouth shut about it until now.

He was grateful for that.

I should treat him to something good sometime.

Yoonseo thought as he looked at the back of Jaehoon’s head and then grabbed a change of clothes and started moving.

His long exhale felt like an attempt to release all his frustrations.

The storm that had momentarily shaken him would soon become nothing, as it always did.

Yoonseo decided to end the day by comforting himself with that thought.

As Yoonseo had hoped, the days passed without any major incidents.

The filming had been completed smoothly, and although he had gone to the office for meetings, he thankfully hadn’t run into Kim Injun.

However, the quiet was so profound that it paradoxically made him more anxious.

Every time he walked down the hallway, Yoonseo would habitually glance toward the Sports Department, trying to keep his guard up.

Just as Kim Injun was quiet, there was still no word from Han Taekyung.

He still couldn’t fathom his intentions, but Yoonseo was inwardly relieved that he seemed to have lost interest in him, just as he had hoped.

Today was Thursday, the day before the broadcast.

A screening with the supervising CP was scheduled for the afternoon.

Thanks to that, the office had been in a state of chaos since early morning.

The PDs who had been away for filming were all gathered in the office for a change, and the writers had also come in early and were sitting next to their respective PDs.

They had to complete a rough cut that was in some shape or form before the screening.

“The shots are good this time, aren’t they? Yoonseo, when you have a few more years under your belt, do you want to do a nature documentary with me?”

Team Leader Kim, who had been watching the rough cut, asked in an excited, admiring tone.

Hyunjoo, who was sitting next to him, seemed to agree that it wasn’t an entirely absurd suggestion and nodded slightly in agreement.

Yoonseo, who was standing behind them with Chaewon, glanced at Jaehoon leaning against the doorframe and said with a smile.

“Jaehoon shot most of the footage this time. The insert shots and the epilogue shots were also filmed by him.”

“Really? The kid’s all grown up, huh?”

At Yoonseo’s words, Team Leader Kim turned his whole body to look at Jaehoon.

Jaehoon, who had been silently leaning against the door, blushed in embarrassment at the unexpected praise, but he quickly grinned and played it off.

“I think I’ve grown up a lot too, Team Leader-nim.”

“Oh, have you now?”

“But Seonbaenim set up all the compositions and told me to shoot like this… I’ll continue to learn well under Seonbaenim.”

Jaehoon, who had been speaking confidently with his shoulders squared, gave the credit to Yoonseo.

He was already grinning at Yoonseo.

This time, it was Yoonseo’s turn to blush as he avoided the gazes that were now on him.

His heart fluttered pleasantly whenever he received praise, but it was also burdensome and nerve-wracking.

Thanks to the flustered Yoonseo, a burst of boisterous laughter filled the small editing room for a moment.

Hyunjoo was the first to compose herself and turned her chair completely, saying,

“Chaewon, Yoonseo. Is there anything more we can get out of Grandma Park? Her character is so unique, I think we could even focus the second half entirely on her. There’s also the story that she’s lived in this village the longest.”

Chaewon nodded and handed Hyunjoo a bundle of papers she was holding.

It was a preview, a transcript of the conversations and situations from the footage.

“There’s a lot of footage of Grandma, but it was too long to include everything, so I had to cut it down. Here, there’s a part at the end where she scolds the PD-nim for not eating carrots and being a picky eater. That situation is pretty funny too.”

While Hyunjoo and Chaewon put their heads together and pondered, Yoonseo and Team Leader Kim waited in silence.

It wasn’t long before Hyunjoo nodded as if she had made a decision and looked at Team Leader Kim.