Chapter 596 (1/2)
“Aren’t you going to go?”
“I don’t know, don’t ask.”
“I thought you came here just to make a visit, but you actually have some problems, huh.”
“I told you I was here to complain. Rather than that, I need some water. You have carbonated water, don’t you? Give me some with lemon extracts.”
Ahyoung blankly stared at Narim, who boldly asked her for a drink while lying on the beach chair. She could tell that Narim was giving her glances through the sunglasses.
“Why don’t you get it yourself?”
“How cold-hearted. Unni is asking you for a favor, but you’re glaring back at me instead.”
“Why don’t I make you feel cool by spraying you with some water instead?”
Ahyoung walked up to a hose. Only then did Narim stand up in a hurry and enter the building. She came back with two bottles of carbonated water in her hands while grumbling before sitting down on the beach chair again. She gracefully stretched out her legs.
”You keep posturing like that, but it doesn't look good you know? Sometimes, you get all hung up on putting on a front.”
”Front? Please, just call it a facade.”
”That's a bit harsh.”
”Good on you for being so nice. Also, who else could I even be this open with? Out there, I’m the definition of charisma, so I can't put it down around other people.”
“Why don’t you take it easy a little? Don’t try to look too heavy.”
“If I put those weights down, those weights will all go to the people below me. Do you think I can accept that?”
“And you’re acting like the good guy again.”
Ahyoung stretched her arms out and lay down on one of the beach chairs. A parasol was shielding her face from direct sunlight. As for her body and arms, they were being scorched.
“Is that how you usually do your interviews?” Narim asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Telling her every little detail.”
“I have to. It’d be too pitiful if she challenged the industry without knowing anything and then got horribly burnt from it.”
“I thought you were talking from a business perspective. Don’t you have to lure her in no matter the cost? From what I saw, I thought you were trying to stop her at all costs.”
“It’d be too pitiful if she challenged the industry without knowing anything and then got horribly burnt from it, wouldn’t it?”[1]
“It’s her who has to bear the risks, isn’t it? If you’re going to take her in, you should urge her to be energetic. You’re supposed to be the president, yet you show her the shithole reality of things first. Don’t you think she’s gonna be scared and not come?”
“Maybe not coming will be better for her.”
“She has a pretty decent face though, and she seems resolved. I’m not sure about her qualities as an actress, but that’s not something you can find out in a short time. The person herself isn’t lacking by any means, so it’d be good to accept her. Why did you make her turn around by telling her all those things?”
“She said she likes acting. It’s been a long time since I met someone who didn’t have any ulterior motives. She is uneasy about becoming successful, but she has values she prioritizes above that. For girls like her, it would be for the best if acting stayed a hobby.”
Just as Ahyoung was about to take a drink,
“Aha, I was wondering why you were treating her so emotionally. You found your younger self in her.”
“Unni, why don’t you stop being a CEO and open a fortune telling business? I think you’ll earn a lot of money that way.”
“Maybe I will once I get old. Rather than that, are you going to accept her if she wants to sign a contract?”
“I will. As long as I’m doing business, I can’t keep acting like that. I definitely did tell her though. That countless people disappear from the industry while practicing.”
Ahyoung had a look at the empty bottle. As pretty as it was, it no longer had any value. A bottle was only fulfilling its job when it contained something inside.
“So, what’s the real reason?”
“For what?”
“For scaring her like that.”
“You were the one who told me. I was emotional because I saw my younger self in her, and because I pitied her.”
“How many years do you think we’ve known each other? You’ve never even done acting properly. Why don’t you tell me the real reason now?”
“Hey, I was praised by her for good pronunciation, you know?”
“That wasn’t because you were practicing acting. You only practiced like that for your career as a businesswoman. Hey, did you lie to her and say that you were acting when you were young?”
“That’s good for the flow of the conversation. There’s no need to break that misunderstanding, is there? It’s something that both of us can talk about.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her that I was a nameless actress for a few years before I quit. I wasn’t entirely lying. I’ve seen so many people doing that, so I know what it’s like. I just never experienced it for myself.”
“She looked like a good girl though. You shouldn’t tease her like that.”
“I never did. I only gave her a reason to accept. Rather than as a woman who had a fantasy about neckties since young, don’t I give off a much better image when I say that I used to pursue the same thing as her?”
“What are you going to do if she finds out later?”
“If that happens, it happens.”
“Sometimes, you’re a really bad girl.”
“Deceiving someone isn’t a bad thing. Illegally doing things is obviously not good, but deceit of that level is just some condiments to spice things up. In fact, it’d be weird if I showed her everything about myself. Don’t you think so? Miss Charisma?”
“I don’t dare retort.”
Ahyoung threw away the empty bottle into a trash can next to her beach chair. The plastic bottle made a low bumping noise.
“And I wasn’t entirely lying. Like what you said, I did find a nostalgic figure in her. It’s just that it’s not me.”
“Who is it?”
“Someone who belonged to the theater troupe I used to be in.”
“Was that person an actor too?”
“No, she was more like the manager. She was the one who managed the funds so that we could buy the props we need to perform plays. Man, it feels like yesterday when we were quarreling with the owner of that building all the time, and now, here I am, lying on top of a rooftop of a building.”
“That was unexpected, I mean, you belonging to a theater troupe.”
“Unni, I’m running an agency here. It doesn’t make sense to not have worked in a related field even once. I even went up on stage a couple of times. Though, I was a passerby.”
“So there was someone who’s similar to that girl in that theater troupe?”
“They were both similar in the way they were honest about acting. She was four years younger than me, and she loved dogs. Though she had a weird preference when it came to dogs and liked the vicious-looking ones. No matter how hard I look at them, they’re ugly, but she found them so cute. When I think about it now, maybe the reason I stayed in that shabby theater troupe that didn’t have a future was because of her. When I looked at her putting in so much effort, I wanted to give her a share of my own time.”
“The lofty Yoo Ahyoung even thought about doing that? Is this the same Yoo Ahyoung I know of, who has a special attachment to her own time?”
“Why do you keep making me out to be some heartless person? Unni, I’m also a woman who has a warm heart.”
“I acknowledge that you’re a woman, but I’ll pretend that I never heard anything about the warm heart.”
“You just listen to the parts you want, huh.”
As Narim put down the bottle on the floor, she spoke.