8 – Who Found Whom (1)
1.
“Thank you for listening, CEO. That’s all for now.”
Kang Jin-hyuk, who came like a typhoon and swept everything away, left the CEO’s office with a refreshing farewell.
“…Huh.”
Left alone, Jeong Baro, the CEO of Barun-gil Entertainment, looked at the door that Kang Jin-hyuk politely closed with a disappointed expression.
“A person who knows it’s forced, yet has such an arrogant attitude?”
[Not just a manager who fills time by staring into space or gets angry at tattooed gangsters, but an idol manager. I want to be an idol manager. Especially for a girl group.]
[What? You’re saying there are no trainees to begin with, and the only celebrity is the dull Choi Cheol-hoon? Even if we recruit trainees, no one will come? They’re just mediocre people? Is that the problem?]
[Then I’ll personally recruit trainees. I can street cast, right?]
I shouldn’t have been swept away by that momentum, but “Is that so?” I gave him a chance and it shouldn’t have.
[Okay. Since you’ve given me permission, I’ll work hard from now on to street cast. What? Manager Choi Cheol-hoon’s work? Didn’t he do well on his own? Besides, I don’t think he even likes me. Wouldn’t it be better for me to continue going alone like before?]
With those words, Kang Jin-hyuk stood up as if he had fire under his feet.
He seemed busier than anyone Jeong Baro had ever met, as if he was immediately getting up as soon as he got what he wanted.
No, he wasn’t busier than anyone. If we’re talking about being busy, the kids I raised before were more…
“······Hmm.”
Suddenly, Jeongbaro’s eyes, recalling the past, turned cold. At the same time, he regretted both reminiscing about the old days and the dried-up look on Kang Jinhyuk’s face.
But now, regretting wouldn’t change the fact that it had already happened.
Jeongbaro had regretted so much to the point of tears, and as someone who still harbored regrets, he understood the truth and could easily brush off this small regret.
“Sigh······. Well, what’s the point of street casting in this day and age anyway? Can you do it properly?”
Street casting, a term that might have been unfamiliar in the past when celebrities were treated like stars, was now an outdated concept in the current generation where many people aspire to be celebrities, and trainees start their practice from a young age.
“Well, it’s been seven years since I came out, so it’s only natural. I didn’t seem to know much about this industry in the first place, though······.”
An anachronistic idea that doing street casting would work, ignorance that dismissed the opportunity to learn about the broadcasting industry while working as a manager for Choi Cheol-hoon, and rudeness like entering the CEO’s office as if owing a debt, all experienced one after another. Despite facing a series of unpleasant events, Jeongbaro didn’t express any anger.
Because, to express anger, Jeongbaro’s impression of Kang Jinhyuk was already as bad as it could get.
Just as it’s natural for a worm to eat a leaf, it’s not strange for a thug to act like a thug.
Therefore, Jeongbaro, without feeling any emotions towards Kang Jinhyuk, simply hoped for this typhoon to pass quickly and for the dull but peaceful daily life he had been leading until now to return.
2.
Street casting.
Perhaps, it’s not the most romantic word when it comes to discovering celebrities.
Casting a gem found by chance on the street and refining it into a giant star that brightens the world – truly a wish that is akin to my long-held dreams.
That was precisely what my street casting aimed to achieve.
“Come to think of it, the young lady was also street-casted.”
The answer that street casting would work came from the memory of that day when the boss mentioned that there were no trainees. When the two of them decided to have dinner and arrived at the eatery alley after about 30 minutes of walking, they finally realized that both had left their wallets behind.
I told the lady that I would bring her quickly, but she just headed to the square in the food alley with a simple invitation to follow.
And then…
“He sang a song without accompaniment, turning his hat upside down.”
Even now, thinking about the moment when the crowd, heading to their respective destinations, stopped when the lady started singing gives me chills.
It would have been enough to eat two bowls of black bean noodles, but while the lady sang one song, the hat filled up with banknotes, and at the same time, she could also receive business cards.
“So, after being cast on the street, passing the regular audition at once, now she has become a superstar illuminating the world.”
The song the lady sang echoed through the streets, and in people’s conversations, the name ‘Nova,’ the stage name of the lady, was heard without boredom.
As the current top superstar shining in Korea, there was a greater resonance for me because her start was a street casting.
“Well, actually, even if she hadn’t been street-cast, the lady would probably have become what she is now.”
Anyway, now that she’s overseas and I can’t meet her, I should stop thinking about the lady and focus on street casting.
“Well, then, where should I start?”
If I go to a square or a similar place where many people pass by, like the lady did, there might be someone singing, even if not as famous as her.
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Even if not singing, sitting somewhere with a lot of people passing by, I might be able to see a pretty person.
“Okay, let’s go to the place where people walk the most. If I just sit anywhere and stare, I might catch one or two!”
With my own judgment, I immediately moved my steps to the square.
※※※
Sitting on the bench in the square, determined to find a sparkling gem, I endured the cold weather of January with this determination.
“We received a report. A strange man has been sitting anxiously for hours. Can we check your ID, please?”
The police came.
Why?
Of course, objectively speaking, my actions might have raised suspicion, but was it to the extent of warranting a report?
I was just sitting on a metal bench in freezing minus 10-degree weather, wearing only a suit with no overcoat, staring intently at each person passing by for five hours straight…
Well, it does seem suspicious. The fact that the police arrived now is rather peculiar. Even if they had come earlier, I wouldn’t have felt unjustly accused.
Acknowledging that I had raised enough suspicion and created unease among people, I searched my pockets.
“Yes, my ID. Just a moment…”
If it were back in my gangster days, I would have vanished the moment police came into sight. But now, I’m a civilian, a clean ex-convict who has served his time.
Hence, even when the police approached, demanding ID, I could easily take out my ID from my wallet without any hesitation…
“Uh?”
I, I took out the ID from my wallet…
“Huh? Where did it go?”
There should be a wallet in my pants pocket containing my ID, but even after thoroughly searching all the pockets on my clothes, the wallet was nowhere to be found.
What came out was just dust, and nothing was caught. I didn’t even have the phone I received from Manager Kim.
What’s going on? Was I pickpocketed? No, it can’t be. It’s not like I’m the type to be pickpocketed. Then what on earth…
In the moment of unexpected crisis and confusion, I remembered the sauna I had visited with Choi Cheol-hoon earlier.
“Oh.”
Caught up in the urgency of the situation, I rushed out without thinking… and left it there.
Wearing only hastily thrown-on clothes, I had left the items in my pocket, prepared for easy removal, in the locker room.
Back in prison, there was no need to carry anything, so I got used to not putting anything in my pockets. Is that habit coming back to haunt me now?
This was not good. Even if I’m a attempted-murder ex-convict, my criminal record doesn’t show on the ID. Just by showing the ID, the police wouldn’t know I’m an ex-convict.
But if I don’t have my identification and someone suggests that we go together and talk about it, then through a personal inquiry, it will be revealed that I am a repeat offender.
A former convict who was released yesterday, and not just any, but a attempted murderer, wearing a loose suit on this cold day with a temperature below minus 10 degrees, observing the faces of the citizens passing by, sitting on a bench for hours on end?
Anyone could see that this person was about to commit a crime. Even if they made that judgment, it was not at all surprising.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ve committed a crime, so I won’t be caught or anything like that, but… it’s going to be a huge hassle.
What should I do? What should I do?
“Um… You’re asking for identification? Do you happen to not have it? If you don’t, maybe we could go together…”
What a mess. Are they suggesting we go to the police station so quickly? Isn’t that too fast? At least they should give me some time to think!
I was really in a bind.
Even if I revealed the fact that I was sitting on a chair, waiting to do street casting, it was already decided that I would go to the police station.
But looking at the faces of the people around me, it didn’t seem like they would believe me.
And in a situation like this, where I didn’t even have a phone, I couldn’t call someone to help me.
It was truly a desperate situation.
Should I just run away and abandon everything? No, if I run away without doing anything wrong, they’ll just chase after me. Then maybe I should defeat them so they can’t chase after me? No, what would I defeat? I’m not a gangster!
At that moment, when my brain, stimulated by the crisis, was rapidly spewing out useless thoughts…
Click. Zzzt.
While I was waiting, I became convinced that I was seen as a suspicious person, as the police officers were talking into their radios.
I couldn’t exactly understand what they were saying, but one thing was for sure, whatever they were going to say on that radio was not going to be good for me.
Yeah, let’s just give up. Even if there are a lot of CCTV cameras these days, can they really keep an eye on me? It’s not like I’m someone else, I’m me!
In front of the impending time limit, I ultimately chose to flee without making a rational judgment.
Once the choice was made, there was no hesitation in my actions.
Straight away, in the moment I tried to make a quick escape from the police.
“Wait, wait, darling. Sorry I’m, I’m so late.”
With a very awkward voice, as if reading a Korean textbook, something soft embraced my neck from behind.
“Huh?”
It was a back hug I hadn’t received in seven years.