Chapter 143: Hoo…?

A sudden silence fell.

“Let’s quit beforehand.”

It was because Hong Yeji had played a very strong hand.

Lee Geum-sook’s division, Sua, Netflix Korea branch officials, Lee Seo-jeong, and her manager.

Everyone was gathered, but there were no exceptions.

Most observed each other cautiously at the chilly voice.

Of course, surprisingly, even after 3 minutes, there was only silence.

No one was actually leaving the meeting place.

“…”

Truthfully, Sua didn’t have much on her mind.

‘She looks so… fierce…?’

Sua knew well it was ridiculous for her to comment on someone else’s fierceness, but Lee Seo-jeong was a woman with that much of a peculiar aura.

A different kind, too.

If Sua was closer to a wolf, was Lee Seo-jeong closer to a snake?

You know, the kind of venomous snake that flicks its tongue.

‘If Yeonju unni has a refreshing and harmless feeling, that one is the opposite.’

‘She seems very alluring but also like she has poison.’

That was why Sua had met Lee Seo-jeong’s gaze.

It wasn’t that she was glaring back with an eye-for-an-eye feeling from the start.

Sua had simply frozen.

The current situation where no one broke the silence.

‘Ugh, I really hate this kind of atmosphere.’

Sua mentally mulled over what to say.

If words came to mind, she even practiced them beforehand.

‘Ah, he-hellooo….’

She thought it was a good thing she hadn’t actually said it.

• [– Hand over the initiative. This venerable one shall press her down.]
• [– Sua sunbae, you should try it yourself.]

The Sua Association chattering this way and that had made her head feel noisy too.

But then.

“…?”

Sua, who had been glancing sideways, discovered something surprising.

It was none other than Hong Yeji’s attitude.

Right now, Hong Yeji, with her arms crossed, was ceaselessly muttering something.

There was no sound, but at least her lip movements were clear, and Sua swallowed dryly.

‘Sh*t’

‘Sh*bal’

‘Sh*beol’

‘Leave’

‘Leave, get the f*ck out, please’

Hong Yeji’s lip movements were definitely saying that.

“…”

Thanks to that, Sua felt a certain emotion welling up.

Perhaps it was感動 (gamdong – deep emotion/being moved) and courage.

Hong Yeji was a person who did not possess a special privilege.

Moreover, she had continued her life as an assistant writer without a single representative work.

Looking at her career alone, it meant she was no different from Sua before her debut as an actor.

But what about the attitude Hong Yeji was showing?

‘She’s different from me.’

‘Everything is.’

Sua saw an unyielding conviction in her.

Even if what she held in her hand scattered like sand, she had the courage to willingly break it if it couldn’t be molded into the shape she desired.

Unlike Sua, who had always been timid.

‘…I want to become that kind of person too.’

Sua thought.

If there was someone in life she should take as a senior, it would surely be that kind of person.

Thanks to that, she also gained courage.

Sua spoke to Lee Seo-jeong.

“You heard what the writer said.”

Of course, her voice had turned cold.

“If you intend to participate, stop the power play, and if you’re not interested in the script, please leave.”

“The people gathered here are, at the very least, all serious.”

“…”

However, Lee Seo-jeong still just stared blankly at Sua and didn’t open her mouth to say anything.

Around this point, Sua felt a slight sense of unease.

‘…Looking again, it seems a bit different from a confrontational gaze?’

‘Then why is she staring at me?’

Of course, Lee Seo-jeong’s inner thoughts were completely different.

‘Wait, just a moment, could it be that the already cast lead is….’

Her heart was beating very fast.

She was busy processing the information that was popping up like popcorn.

‘Lee Sua?’

‘It’s Lee Sua, isn’t it?’

‘Why is she here?’

‘No, more importantly, pictures really can’t be trusted.’

‘They don’t even capture half of her real appearance.’

‘That skin must be soft.’

The fact that Sua had taken the lead role in an outrageous script was a huge shock in itself, and as their eyes met, her body grew warm.

How should I put it, I’m getting excited.

Lee Seo-jeong forced herself to calm down.

Lee Sua’s strong gaze.

She wondered if it would be maintained even if Lee Seo-jeong blurted out all the things she was thinking.

You know, could she maintain her composure even if she rattled off a bunch of lewd stories?

However.

“…Heung.”

Now was not the right time to play with Sua.

Lee Seo-jeong, at least, prided herself on being experienced in this area, and concluded that it was better to hold back now.

For more fun later, that is.

“Huhuhu.”

Instead, she let out a small laugh.

‘What would it feel like to act together?’

Meanwhile, Sua was inwardly flustered.

‘…Her gaze is a bit different?’

It was a somewhat clingy gaze for someone who was angry.

Her tone was also smooth like a snake, making her want to take a bath or something.

Actually, it was a gaze filled with ‘lust,’ but Sua didn’t know.

How would a virgin know?

It was also because she hadn’t activated ‘Foxiness’.

Sua, with no sexual experience, couldn’t figure it out on her own.

Then Hong Yeji opened her mouth.

“I don’t hold grudges.”

“I didn’t expect anything in the first place, and I’m confident I can be grateful just for you showing your face today.”

“Speak your mind.”

“My mind?”

“Good.”

“I liked the script very much.”

Hong Yeji flinched as if an electric current had run through her chair, but no one found it strange.

Humans can rejoice at unexpected praise, after all.

Lee Seo-jeong’s gaze returned to Sua.

“However, I’ll withdraw from the meeting.”

“The reason is.”

“The reason is?”

Sua retorted briefly.

Just that alone made Lee Seo-jeong feel like clenching her thighs tightly.

Because it was just so tantalizing.

However, she endured it by swallowing her saliva once.

“Because I don’t think I can control myself.”

Everyone tilted their heads.

It was a statement only Lee Seo-jeong herself could understand, so it was natural.

But Sua relaxed.

‘What, that woman was a strange person.’

Did the fear disappear because she thought the other person had a screw loose?

She felt like she had been overly wary.

Therefore, she spoke without much thought.

“It seems you’re similar to me.”

Like having many friends living in her head, or struggling because her intelligence isn’t high, hmm, maybe that’s really it?

Sua thought her guess was gaining strength.

But why was it?

Lee Seo-jeong shivered.

She turned her back and said.

“Let’s confirm that later.”

“Seo-jeong, Seo-jeong-ah?”

“Hey!”

“Seo-jeong-ah!”

The manager hurriedly chased after the departing Seo-jeong.

***

After Lee Seo-jeong left, the meeting resumed.

The assistant writers chatted quietly.

“Ms. Seo-jeong is as peculiar as they say.”

“I know, right?”

“But I heard she has conviction.”

“Once she’s hooked on something, she goes straight for it without looking back…”

Sua, who was listening, quietly nodded her head.

‘She was peculiar indeed.’

‘She also seemed dangerous.’

Could it be that she herself appeared that way to others?

Sua found herself falling into self-reflection.

Sua-reflecting.

It was then that Writer Lee Geum-sook smiled.

“Ms. Sua, thank you.”

“Hmm?”

“Today, I was planning to mostly watch Yeji handle it on her own.”

“Each meeting is a big experience.”

“But just now, I was really debating whether to intervene, but Ms. Sua stepped up first and helped out well.”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing.”

Sua shook her head.

“It’s not much to say I stepped up.”

“Writer Hong laid down the law first, didn’t she?”

“That did everything.”

At that, the assistant writers smiled brightly.

“That’s right.”

“Yeji is truly different.”

“She’s never ordinary!”

“She’s not afraid!”

The meeting room was instantly filled with a warm atmosphere.

The Netflix officials, who had been keeping silent with a minimal presence, also began to speak up one by one.

“Anyway, it seems Ms. Seo-jeong didn’t refuse either.”

“It’s smoother than we expected.”

“She must have an unexpected charm.”

“The writer seems to have a strong will too.”

“I think it would be okay to proceed in earnest.”

As they each said a word, their gazes converged on one person.

Who else could it be?

It was Writer Hong Yeji.

“…”

Hong Yeji’s face was more serious than ever.

“What on earth…”

Soon, she muttered lowly.

“What on earth, why does it keep turning out like this…?”

Lee Geum-sook quietly patted her shoulder.

“Miracles aren’t something just anyone can grasp.”

“You just need to realize anew that you truly worked hard.”

“When good things happen, you can just be normally happy.”

The assistant writers also nodded.

“R-right!”

“I saw you working hard!”

“And how you were always lost in thought!”

“So it’s natural!”

Hong Yeji slyly rolled her eyes to look at Sua.

“Ms. Sua.”

Sua thought.

‘That is truly the gaze of an adult.’

“Are you really going to do this project?”

“Yes.”

“I will take the lead role.”

“What on earth, what on earth….”

“What is the reason….”

The reason for participating.

Normally, Sua would have had to rack her brain.

Besides seeing a high grade in her privilege, she needed a superficial reason to give.

But the current Sua didn’t need to do that.

Besides the grade, another reason had emerged.

“There’s something to learn.”

“Something to learn?”

“And I’ll be able to grow more.”

Hong Yeji made a groaning sound, “Keueung,” then.

“Keueueueung…!”

She suddenly ruffled her hair wildly.

Soon, her eyes glinted as she looked at Sua.

“Ms. Sua, are you prepared?”

“Prepared?”

“Yes.”

“I plan to work the actors like crazy.”

“If I think a scene is necessary for the work, I will write it without considering the actor’s well-being.”

Hong Yeji’s gaze became murderous.

“Dancing, singing, exposure, action.”

“I will write anything.”

“Really, anything.”

“Ordinary preparedness won’t be enough.”

“Hmm…”

“If I write the 7 characters, ‘It was a perfect dance,’ Ms. Sua must really perform such a dance.”

“Will you still do it?”

“I’m warning you in advance.”

At this point, Lee Geum-sook interjected.

“Yes, things like this must be clearly addressed during the meeting.”

“It’ll be a big problem if we discuss it after filming starts.”

However, what was just said actually made things clearer.

Sua thought.

‘What Writer Hong is saying now is not at all advantageous to her.’

‘It would be easy to break off the casting.’

Yet she says it.

The level where she confidently reveals that there is no compromise in her writing, no matter who the opponent is.

I understand anew.

This kind of being writes a 1st-grade script.

‘It must have been hard.’

She understood why Hong Yeji had ruffled her hair.

This person pursues perfect writing.

However, she was contemplating whether she could apply that standard to others.

How many actors could perfectly embody writing that only exists as printed words?

However.

There is one here.

‘I have my privilege.’

Sua thought.

‘If I try, it’s possible.’

‘In other words, we can save each other.’

Sua could carve the success of an OTT work aimed at overseas viewers into her filmography, and Hong Yeji could see her written words become reality.

A match made in heaven.

Sua, her determination burning even brighter, said.

“Just focus on the writing.”

“Yes?”

“Because I will do my best with the acting.”

Afterwards, silence flowed for a while.

A long time later, Hong Yeji slowly covered her face with both hands.

The fact that her body was trembling slightly showed she was still a rookie.

She was clumsy at hiding her joy.

---

Vroooooom─!

On the way back to the entertainment company in the van.

Lee Seo-jeong, as if drunk, occasionally tilted her head back and made a “Heu” sound.

Regardless of the manager’s passionate speech, her demeanor was relaxed.

“Seo-jeong, that writer has an incredibly strong aura.”

“To think she could speak to you and Ms. Sua like that?”

“I was thinking.”

“I flinched without realizing it.”

“For a moment, I even forgot that the script content was trash.”

Lee Seo-jeong just thought of Sua.

The manager was muttering something, but she couldn’t hear him well.

“Isn’t it strange, no matter how much I think about it?”

“Ms. Sua has completely taken off with Special Mobile Unit 808, right?”

“Why would she agree to be the lead in such an outrageous script?”

Even if Lee Seo-jeong didn’t answer, he chattered on well by himself.

“Ah!”

“I got it!”

“Writer Lee Geum-sook is the writer for Special Mobile Unit 808, isn’t she!”

“Didn’t she somehow persuade her during filming?”

“Really, if it’s not that, it can’t be explained.”

“Me.”

Lee Seo-jeong opened her mouth with a single word.

“Huh?”

“What’s on my schedule for this year?”

“You have a few product commercials to shoot, and meetings for major films are piled up.”

“There are plenty of mouth-watering things.”

“Even you, Seo-jeong, would be startled if you heard the directors’ names.”

“So, there are no confirmed schedules yet.”

“That’s right?”

The manager answered without much thought, then.

A moment later.

He very slowly moved his eyes to the rearview mirror.

“…But why are you asking that?”

Lee Seo-jeong didn’t answer.

The manager seemed to become a little anxious.

“Seo-jeong, it’s not what I’m thinking, is it?”

Lee Seo-jeong parted her lips as if indifferent.

“How well do you drive?”

“What?”

But that was answering a question with a question, and at the same time, it was too out of the blue.

The manager furrowed his brow, unable to understand Lee Seo-jeong’s words.

“Why driving all of a sudden?”

“Are you changing the subject?”

“Are you good at it?”

“…I’ve never made you uncomfortable with my driving so far, have I?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“I’m going to participate in Writer Hong’s project.”

“That’s how you should understand it.”

Immediately after, the van swerved.

The manager, his eyes wide, barely held onto the steering wheel.

No joke, if he hadn’t controlled his body just then, he would have accidentally turned the vehicle and caused a major accident.

Lee Seo-jeong burst out laughing.

“You drive like sh*t.”

---

After finishing all her schedules, Sua’s home.

The house Mystic had gotten for her was much nicer than before.

Sua, after finishing her bath, was on her phone.

She was currently looking at her SNS, which she had opened after a long time.

She had uploaded two photos.

@arctic_fox_sua

[Sua Selca]

• [– Wow, what’s with this charisma!!!]
• [– Unni, take me ㅠㅠㅠ]
• [– Can I call you hyungnim?]
• [– The vibe is no joke.]
• [– Wow…. What an aura….]

[Sumi Photo]

• [– Sumi is so cute]
• [– Is her name Sumi? Cute ㅠ]
• [– Sumi, I love you ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
• [– Sumi’s cheeks, nom!]

“…”

Yes, well, she had expected it.

‘Still, I didn’t think it would be to this extent.’

The reaction Sua wanted was going to Sumi, and the reaction Sumi wanted was coming to Sua.

What trick of fate was this!

Why did the heavens give birth to Sua and then give birth to all living creatures cuter than Sua!

Why!

Sua thought it was fortunate that Sumi couldn’t speak Korean.

Let Sua carry this pain alone.

Because Sumi would be very sad if she knew….

Then, a text message arrived.

[Sender: Lee Geum-sook]

[▷ Ms. Sua, I’ll call you soon.]

[▷ Please take good care of it!]

What call?

Take good care of what?

Sua, holding onto her questions, took out her scripts.

Special Mobile Unit 808 had ended, and the road ahead was long.

She wouldn’t stop until she conquered the whole world, so it was right to hone herself further.

Sua-conquest!

─♩♪♬

It was then that a call came unexpectedly.

An unsaved number.

Sua debated whether she shouldn’t answer, but soon changed her mind.

She thought it might be an important call if they knew her changed number and called.

…Huh?

Am I smart?

Sua-smart?

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

The other person greeted her playfully in English.

Sua furrowed her brow.

It was because she could immediately guess the other person’s identity.

She wasn’t pleased.

“You are…”

“That’s right.”

“We met once at the meeting, right?”

“Lee Seo-jeong.”

“How do you know my number?”

Sua said, disgusted.

And the answer was unexpected.

“Writer Lee gave it to me.”

Writer Lee Geum-sook’s betrayal?

Just as Sua was shocked.

“Don’t misunderstand.”

“She didn’t just give it to me casually.”

“I just offered conditions she couldn’t refuse.”

“Yes, in a way, it’s close to a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Conditions?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Writer Hong Yeji’s work.”

Lee Seo-jeong paused for a breath before speaking.

“If you, Sua, directly say with your own mouth that you want my participation, I said I would also willingly jump in.”

Sua quietly blinked her eyes.

It was a good thing for a high-level actor to join Hong Yeji’s project, but, how should she put it, she couldn’t understand why she was doing this to her.

Suspicious and ominous, perhaps.

“If I say it with my own mouth, you’ll participate immediately?”

“Yes.”

“Exactly.”

Sua tilted her head.

‘She really is a strange person.’

‘It was like that last time too.’

Sua thought.

‘Let’s be more wary.’

‘My guess from last time must have been correct.’

‘Someone with somewhat deficient intelligence.’

‘Huh?’

Come to think of it, she didn’t feel bad.

There was someone with lower intelligence than Sua.

Yes, she wasn’t the most primitive human being.

No?

Perhaps that person was also a wonderful person.

Maybe Sua had just become too smart….

‘….’

Sua became afraid of her own development.

Sua, trying hard to be smart towards someone dumber than herself, or more accurately, pretending to be smart, said.

Her shoulders were raised like mountain peaks.

“If you want to do it, you do it.”

“If you say it, I think I’ll want to do it.”

“This person has low intelligence.”

Sua frowned.

It was simultaneous with slightly understanding the gazes of her friends who had been looking at her all this time.

“I wish Ms. Seo-jeong would participate in this work.”

“Like this?”

“We don’t even know each other, and for just one word like this?”

But immediately after, she doubted her eyes.

[Unclassifiable ─ Unidentified]

[▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements]

[▶ Grade 1.5]

Crackle!

Grade 1.5 → Grade 1.4

Grade 1.4 → Grade 1.3….

[Unclassifiable ─ Unidentified]

[▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements]

[▶ Grade 1.3]

‘Huh?’

She blinked her eyes several times and looked again.

‘…It’s changing?’

‘Why?’

What is it?

Then Lee Seo-jeong said slyly.

“Yes.”

“You just have to say that.”

“No, no no…”

Sua came to her senses.

She almost got blinded by the grade and begged her to do it, right?

That shouldn’t happen.

The grade is already high enough, and Hong Yeji is a person she respects.

So, it’s better to filter out such low-intelligence impurities beforehand.

Even if it’s a high-level actor, it doesn’t matter!

This person has low intelligence!

She’s strange!

“Hoo…?”

Crackle, crackle!

Grade 1.3 → Grade 1.2

Grade 1.2 → Grade 1.1….

[Unclassifiable ─ Unidentified]

[▶ Sufficient Implementation Elements]

[▶ Grade 1.1]

‘What, what is it?’