episode_0195

“Maid Soo-ah’s words make sense.”

Soo-ah nodded.

However.

‘Just because I’ve gained a suspicion doesn’t mean the work is over.’

It’s only now that the suspects have narrowed down to Lee Ju-hyun and Kang Hak-man. This alone isn’t enough to solve the problem. Because I haven’t caught any solid evidence yet.

‘I need a way to investigate and verify these two, Kang Hak-man and Lee Ju-hyun….’

But the more I thought about it, the more difficult it seemed. Soon, Soo-ah was sweating profusely.

‘I’m not a journalist or a detective. Is it even possible for me to investigate someone personally…?’

The problem is that only Soo-ah can see the 10th level special ability.

Furthermore, this level can’t even be explained to others.

‘I can say it, but no one will believe me.’

If I appeal to people to investigate those two because my special ability is at level 10, I’ll just be treated like a crazy person. If I want to save the work, I have to do most of it with Soo-ah’s own power, but that’s difficult.

‘Ugh…’

Just as her worries deepened.

—If we’ve confirmed the two people, the rest shouldn’t be difficult. There is a way.

Kim Yu-han said that. Soo-ah asked immediately.

‘Really? There’s a way?’

—Let’s get the scripts of the works that Kang Hak-man and Lee Ju-hyun are involved in, except for ‘Crescendo From Tomorrow.’ If we check their levels, we can verify it for sure.

—That’s right! If those two are really having an affair, the levels of their other works must be ruined too.

—Exactly.

‘Ah?’

Soo-ah belatedly understood.

Yu-han Soo-ah’s words are correct.

If Lee Ju-hyun and Kang Hak-man are really having an affair, and if something is about to explode because of it, then the levels of all the works they’re involved in must be ruined.

—Soo-ah sunbae, let’s find out what works they’re participating in first! Something that hasn’t been released yet!

‘Okay!’

Soo-ah immediately started fidgeting with her phone.

She opened the internet app and searched for ‘Lee Ju-hyun’ and ‘Kang Hak-man’ in order. Of course, to find out about their next projects.

[Lee Ju-hyun—Joins Hands with Kim Chan “Filming New Work ‘That’s How It Happened’”]

[Kang Hak-man. Accompanied by Close Friend Yu Han-yeol, Promotes Next Work ‘Project W’.]

It’s not difficult. Both Lee Ju-hyun and Kang Hak-man are high-profile actors, so even searching their names brought up several articles.

‘It’s fortunate that they’re both high-profile actors. They’re involved in quite a few other works besides these.’

The more data there is for verification, the better. Soo-ah carefully recorded the titles of several works, including ‘Project W’ and ‘That’s How It Happened’.

—So far, so good. Now, the next thing to do is….

—Get the scripts. So we can use the special ability.

—Yes. It shouldn’t be difficult to get them. Soo-ah sunbae hasn’t walked alone since her debut. If you mobilize your connections, you should be able to get them.

‘Alright.’

Soo-ah, listening to the Soo-ah Association, nodded.

Her heart was thump-thumping, but it wasn’t just beating from fear and dread. There was also hope that she might really be able to solve the problem neatly.

◈◈◈◈◈

The next day.

Composer Kim Mi-rae’s studio.

Her studio, famous for putting songs on the karaoke charts as soon as they were released, was bustling today. This was because the Netflix ‘Untitled’ team had visited.

Kim Mi-rae, sitting in front of the equipment, said while holding the mouse.

“I’ve recorded all the guide vocals, so tell me right away if you don’t like them. There are five samples.”

“Five samples…?”

The ‘Untitled’ OST manager tilted their head.

“Usually, you only prepare about two samples, even at most, right?”

She seemed to be retracing her steps to see if she had made a mistake. It was understandable. There was already a budget reported to the higher-ups, so there shouldn’t be any additional costs.

However.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t prepare them expecting anything in return.”

Kim Mi-rae leisurely shook her head.

“I just, hearing Soo-ah’s voice, a lot of things came to mind. I hope she’ll sing it properly later.”

Only then did the ‘Untitled’ team’s faces brighten. They were internally exclaiming admiration for Soo-ah one after another.

‘That picky Kim Mi-rae made five samples?’

‘Soo-ah is crazy. She charmed the composer by singing a ballad roughly in the recording studio….’

While they were amazed, Kim Mi-rae played the sample.

『When a cool breeze blows』

Even though it was sung by a guide vocalist and not Soo-ah, you could already feel the refreshing feeling. A feeling that expresses the unique hot yet blue feeling of summer? The song is good.

Immediately after the playback ended, everyone’s mouths were busy.

“It’s good, isn’t it? I just fell for it a little.”

“If we put Soo-ah’s voice on it, it’ll get even better, right? Isn’t it really going to chart?”

“But the song itself is refreshing and good, but will it suit Hong Ye-ji’s work? I don’t know everything, but wasn’t the content roughly hectic?”

“Hey, Hong writer will do something about that anyway.”

Soon everyone nodded. They had infinite faith in Hong Ye-ji.

Composer Kim Mi-rae chuckled.

“I’ve only played the first sample. There are still 4 left, so listen to them all and then choose.”

Thus, the 2nd sample was played.

『I keep wondering about everything about you』

『I’m curious too, my heart tickles』

“Huh?”

“Ah?”

There were people who were surprised as soon as they heard the first verse. This was because the 2nd sample was in the form of a duet.

After the playback ended, the manager asked.

“Composer-nim, this is a duet?”

“Yes. I thought it would be a shame to only have solo songs with Soo-ah’s voice. Is Soo-ah the only one who can sing in that work? Is there no one else?”

“Other people….”

Who could there be? No one immediately came to mind.

“Tell me if there is. I’ll just give it to you.”

“Y-you’ll just give it to us? Really?”

“Would I lie about something like this?”

But it’s also a shame to miss out on it. Everyone here had a similar expression to the manager. This was because their ears were treated royally the whole time they were listening to the 2nd sample that Kim Mi-rae played.

“Then can we take it for now…!”

Taking it for now. It was the wisest among the immediate decisions.

.

.

.

.

.

On the way back, the OST team was in a festive mood.

“Manager-nim, scouting composer Kim Mi-rae was a stroke of genius. I really didn’t think she’d pull it off this well…!”

“I know. I was worried because I heard she was really picky, but it seems she liked Soo-ah’s voice.”

“And we even got a duet song for free, right? For free!”

“That’s right. We can report that to the higher-ups and gauge their reaction, and if it doesn’t work out, we can just throw it away. We’re happy either way.”

Afterwards, the voices of the excited people continued.

“I’m a true listener who lives listening to music all day, and this song is really good. Recording this with Soo-ah’s voice? It wouldn’t be strange for it to chart right away.”

“The song itself is definitely good.”

At that moment, the manager rubbed their chin.

“So, now all that’s left is promotion….”

Receiving a song that exceeded expectations was already a huge success, but there was still work to be done. No, now that they had received such a good song, there was even more work to be done.

That is, promotion.

Soo-ah is currently etched in the public’s mind as an image completely detached from singing. The story is that if she suddenly shows herself singing in the work, viewers will be shocked first rather than just cheering.

Therefore, a preemptive strike is needed. Something to let the public know that Soo-ah has this much singing ability, and to make them hope that she will do something through this in the future.

“I wish there was an opportunity to let the public know about Soo-ah’s singing skills before the work airs. Something that can naturally go viral like that….”

“Natural viral….”

The staff next to them pondered for a moment.

“Ah, Representative-nim.”

Soon, they showed an expression that they had found the answer.

“How about busking?”

“Busking? You’re saying we should do busking?”

“Yes. Is it a bit much?”

The manager was silent for a moment, then soon shook their head.

“…No? That sounds really good, actually?”

◈◈◈◈◈

The next day. Indoor filming studio in Gangnam.

Pop—!

The camera in front of Seo Yeon-ju flashes.

“Let’s go one more time!”

Pop—!

“Okay! Seo Yeon-ju, pull your chin in just a little bit!”

Pop—!

The work of carving out the poster for ‘Lie, Lie, Lie’ was in full swing. They had finished all the filming, so they were going to focus all their efforts on promotion from now on.

Pop—!

After the flash went off once more like that.

“Yeon-ju-ssi, filming is done! Thank you for your hard work!”

Then Seo Yeon-ju burst into a bright smile, and the staff who were waiting applauded from all directions.

“The poster shoot is finally over!”

“Thank you for your hard work, everyone!”

“Ughhhhh! It’s finally over!”

The cheers of the staff were tremendous every time a long-running flow was brought to a close one by one. They had no choice but to be happy that such a difficult work had borne such dazzling fruit.

Afterwards, Yeon-ju approached bald director Park Mu-ryong.

“Director, I can really rest now, right?”

Then Park Mu-ryong smiled brightly.

“Of course. Yeon-ju, you really worked hard. Actually, I still can’t believe it. That it’s going so well….”

“Is it okay to guarantee that it’s going well already? It hasn’t even been released yet, and the number of viewers hasn’t come out yet, right?”

Seo Yeon-ju threw out a joke.

“When Seung-hwan that bastard uploaded a greatly controversial post on SNS, I thought that this work might be overturned. But haven’t we finished it beautifully now? That alone makes me feel like I have no regrets.”

“There, there, there, you’re talking like someone who’s about to die soon again.”

Then Park Mu-ryong also burst into great laughter.

“I have no regrets even if I die now! I have to write a thank-you note to Soo-ah in my will. I’m really grateful for everything from start to finish!”

“That’s right. She fills the empty spots in the casting, fills the actors with inspiration, and fills the production team with passion… Soo-ah is a shooting star. Director Park Mu-ryong, keep that in mind too.”

“Shooting Star Lee Soo-ah. That suits her.”

Seo Yeon-ju giggled and continued.

“So, you’re really not using Soo-ah on the poster?”

“Yes. I’ll mention Soo-ah a lot in the articles, but I won’t show Soo-ah’s face at all in the videos or posters. I’m going to drive them crazy with curiosity.”

“Oh, you have deep designs.”

Seo Yeon-ju reacted playfully, but she never opposed it. Emphasizing Soo-ah but never showing Soo-ah in the end, the strategy was sure to be very effective.

◈◈◈◈◈

That night. Mystic Headquarters.

“Soo-ah?”

Kim Yi-seo’s eyes widened. It was natural, as Soo-ah, who had been running around with her eyes blazing, had snatched her up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Yes.”

Soo-ah nodded with a serious expression.

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Ah.”

Then Kim Yi-seo immediately nodded. She listened without a hint of difficulty.

“A favor, of course, I have to listen to it. In the first place, I’m doing the CEO thing to listen to Soo-ah’s favors. You came directly without sending a text message, is it urgent?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Tell me.”

“That is….”

Soo-ah’s throat tickled at this point.

The famously well-reputed Kang Hak-man touched my body. He even seems to be having an affair with Lee Ju-hyun….

Because Soo-ah wanted to spill out everything as she knew it.

But she was able to endure it thanks to the advice of the Soo-ah Association.

—If you tell the CEO everything right away, she might drop that work, regardless of whether you get the script or not. Because she cares about Soo-ah sunbae more than anyone else.

‘That won’t do. My goal is to save the work.’

—Yes. So, first request only the script, and when it becomes clear that Kang Hak-man and Lee Ju-hyun are the culprits, then you can tell her all the facts. From then on, it will be possible to kick out only Kang Hak-man and Lee Ju-hyun from the work.

‘How?’

—If you tell Director Go to kick out either Kang Hak-man and Lee Ju-hyun or Soo-ah, he has to choose one of the two. If you’ve obtained confirmation, it’s not difficult to speak confidently.

‘What if he chooses Kang Hak-man and Lee Ju-hyun?’

—Then should we just let her die with the 10th level? Only those who believe in Soo-ah sunbae deserve to be rewarded.

‘…That’s right. Your words are all correct.’

Thanks to that, Soo-ah finished thinking and opened her mouth. She handed Kim Yi-seo a piece of memo paper.

“Representative-nim, please get the scripts for these works.”

“Scripts? Ah, it was scripts again, wasn’t it.”

But soon Kim Yi-seo tilted her head.

This was because all the works on the memo paper that Soo-ah handed over were works that had already passed the casting stage.

“Um, is there a reason why you’re asking me to get these? The casting is already over. Even if Soo-ah liked them, they’re works that you can’t participate in.”

“The reason is….”

Soo-ah thought of a plausible excuse for about 1 second.

‘No.’

Soon she shook her head violently. She didn’t have time to waste like this either.

“Representative-nim.”

“Yes. Soo-ah.”

“Something really important has happened. Just believe me and get them for me just this once. I’ll tell you everything later.”

“….”

Then Kim Yi-seo looked slightly surprised.

It was natural.

It was rare for Soo-ah to emphasize something as important repeatedly. The same goes for the words asking her to believe her.

Fortunately.

“…I see. I understand.”

The fact that Kim Yi-seo soon agreed. Fortunately, Soo-ah had a representative who would believe in her in any situation.

Kim Yi-seo patted Soo-ah’s shoulder.

“I believe in Soo-ah. So I’ll try to get them right away.”

.

.

.

.

.

“Hoo.”

After parting with Kim Yi-seo, Soo-ah let out a sigh of relief first. Along with the thought that she had a good representative again.

—♩♪♬

At that time, Soo-ah’s phone rang. The caller was Monkeying.

‘Monkeying?’

What business does he suddenly have? Soo-ah thought so and answered the phone. Since they were friends, there was no need to be cautious.

“Hello? What’s wrong?”

“Soo-ah. I’ll get straight to the point.”

“What is it? Is it something important?”

Soo-ah reacted like that. Soon, she shook her head.

“No, it’s not. Uh-huh. Just tell me the point.”

Because she didn’t think she would be able to concentrate on the call for long either. She was busy with the thought of saving Crescendo from Tomorrow and burying Kang Hak-man.

“First of all, do you know that the number of fan cafe members has surpassed 300,000 this time?”

“Of course, I know.”

It was a surprising figure even now. How many times can you fill the World Cup stadium?

“We drew just 300 people through a lottery in the fan cafe. We’re going to have a fan meeting that we discussed before.”

“Ah, the fan meeting.”

“This is the first time Lee Soo-ah’s fan meeting is being held.”

“Yeah. I understand.”

Soo-ah nodded with a soulless reaction.

Then Monkeying seemed slightly taken aback.

“You’re not surprised? This is huge. What’s with that reaction.”

“No, no, I was surprised….”

It was a lie. In fact, she was soulless.

The other person was saying the story quite seriously, and the fan meeting was huge, and she knew all that…!

But even so, Soo-ah’s brain couldn’t process Monkeying’s story well right now.

Why else? Because she was fidgeting and waiting for Kim Yi-seo to get the script. Soo-ah’s mind was overwhelmed just by worrying about that.

‘I want to check the script level soon. Please, I hope that garbage Kang Hak-man was actually having an affair. He’ll have to pay the price properly….’

It’s urgent. It’s really urgent. Soo-ah Emergency!

While she was thinking that, Monkeying continued.

“The important thing is from now on. Among the 300 people who were drawn, there is a member using this ID.”

Monkeying held out his phone screen.

[yhr030_112]

“Why? It’s just a normal ID, isn’t it?”

“The problem is separate. Look at the picture I sent you.”

Afterwards, Monkeying opened [Depression Gallery] and [Lee Soo-ah Gallery] and showed the posts and events of a certain fixed nickname user. Soo-ah frowned.

This was because the posts in the picture were very serious.

“What’s with these posts? Is he a depressed patient?”

When Soo-ah looked, she could see that he was not a person with a normal mental state. He was either posting suicide pre-announcement posts, looking for someone to die with, or even strange spam posts….

“I’m the administrator, so I can check the ID, and this depressed patient and the fan cafe member from earlier have the same ID. It’s highly likely to be the same person.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

yhr030_112. The IDs were the same.

“Anyway, this person is coming to my fan meeting, right?”

“Yep. That’s right.”

Soo-ah tilted her head.

“Looking at the comment history, he seems to be closer to a Yang Ha-rin fan than my fan, so shouldn’t this person find the Yang Ha-rin fan meeting and go? Why did he participate in the draw?”

“Originally, there are many migratory bird fans besides fixed fans in this industry. He must have turned into your fan in the middle.”

Soo-ah was convinced. yhr030_112 had been commenting like he was praising Yang Ha-rin in the early days, but as he got closer to the latest order, there was no mention of Yang Ha-rin.

Could it be that he was a Yang Ha-rin fan but turned away, as Monkeying said?

At that time, Monkeying put strength into his voice.

“And one last thing. The most important thing.”

“What is it?”

“This person seems to be Yang Ha-rin herself.”