Chapter 598 (2/2)

-For now, they have a good reputation here. I haven’t heard of them having any discord, and above all, Ahyoung-unni is someone worth trusting. She’s a little overly sensitive when it comes to money, but she doesn’t let money direct her ways. In fact, she’s the type who controls the money. Hm, her strong point is that she doesn’t fear losses. Though, that’s pretty obvious from the fact that she’s investing in singers even though it’s not going well. As long as that person doesn’t make a mistake, she will keep holding onto that person’s hands. I’m planning to switch to that place once my exclusive contract with Yellow Star is over.

“You just said something that puts my mind at ease. If it’s a place you can trust, I guess I can rest assured.”

-Don’t trust me too much. I might be slightly biased since Ahyoung-unni is someone I know. I can tell you for sure though, that it’s not one of those trashy companies who run off with the money, so tell the person signing the contract that Hwan can be trusted.

“Alright. I’ll tell her that.”

-Is your business over now then?

“Yes. Sorry for calling you late at night.”

-It’s fine. I was watching TV anyway. Just keep watching over Bangjoo so that he doesn’t cause trouble. I’ll hang up now then.

“Have a good night.”

Maru sighed in relief as he hung up. The reason he called Joohyun was because she had once been wounded by the entertainment industry. She was still active in the entertainment industry, but her despise towards trashy companies shouldn’t have disappeared. Yet such a person said that the agency was trustable. From the impression she got from looking around the company, Joohyun’s evaluation, as well as the articles about Hwan in the news, it seemed to be sufficient to be her first company.

He called her back again. As soon as the signal sounded, she picked up the call.

“I asked someone I know, and she said it's a reliable company.”

-Can I ask who you asked?

“Senior Ahn Joohyun.”

-Really?

“Yeah. She seems acquainted with the president there as well. She’s not someone who would be biased because of personal connections, so I think it’s worth trusting. The only thing on my mind is her opinions about your first work, but honestly speaking, I agree with the president.”

-Why?

“Since you’re doing it, don’t you want to become an actress that sells well?”

Maru continued speaking after picking up his coffee cup.

“I definitely want to. Art is good, but to me, acting is a form of labor that I enjoy, and it would be troublesome if it doesn’t become a splendid means of income. I would one day have to feed my family with it, so I wouldn’t want to become an actor who doesn’t have value.”

-I’m the same. I mean, everyone would be like that. No one wants to stay being a nameless actor.

“That’s why the president suggested such a thing to you. It might be bias or even discrimination against women, but the reality is that image still matters a lot to actresses. Not just anyone can be like senior Joohyun. I believe that she managed to make a splendid comeback only because she had proven her acting skills by the time she got caught up in something bad. Without popularity, you can’t even prove yourself in the industry. That’s just the way it works, and you should know that.”

-What if I never get to do anything decent for seven years?

“You aren’t going to be doing nothing for those seven years. In seven years, you’ll be 26. Don’t you think you’ll be in your prime as an actress? It’s the age where mature charm coexists with the purity of youth. Even if you end up not doing any activity for the next seven years due to a series of absurd coincidences, it doesn’t mean that it’s over for you. Also, if the agency is intentionally not letting you do anything, you can sue them as well. Once you start worrying, it will never end. You have to start something one day. What do you think? I think you’re plenty ready to start things off.”

-Do you think I can do it?

“You can do it.”

-Good, I’ll do it then. I’ll try.

“You actually made your decision before you called me, didn’t you?”

-Not entirely, but I was leaning towards it. I wanted to hear your opinion for some reason though.

“Would you not have done it if I told you not to?”

-I’m not sure. But I think that I might not have done it.

“That makes me happy, and a little awkward.”

-Why? You don’t like me relying on you?

“No. It’s awkward because I feel way too happy. I feel like it’s the first time you told me your worries of your own accord. Now I feel like you’ve opened up to me. I guess the only thing left now is to open up when farting, huh.”

-You always stray off to weird directions, you know?

“That’s what’s good about me.”

-Right, that’s your charm. Oh, one more thing. Actually, I’m gathering some opinions about this since it’s a pretty important thing.

“What is it?”

-A stage name.

“A stage name?”

-I heard that a lot of people use the same name as mine. Apparently, there’s also an actor who used the same name as me before.

“Ah, right. I guess it is pretty common. So? What did you decide on?”

-Nothing yet. I thought about it, but nothing really came to mind. Mom’s the same. Actually, my mom might be good at writing novels, but she has a terrible naming sense.

“Don’t say that. Your name is really cool. I really like it because it feels similar to mine.”

-Dad named me.

“Did he?”

He felt like he heard this once before. Maru felt like there was a vague error in his memory, but he didn’t think deeply about it.

-Did anything come to your mind? I’m going to come up with a few and talk about them when I write the contract.

“Now that you say it, I don’t think anything comes to mind.”

-Right?

“Are you going to change your surname as well?”

-No, I’m going to leave it be. Just my given name.

“So I guess, it’s still Han, huh.”

-Yep.

“I think about this sometimes, but if I met you ten-or-so years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to get married because we have the same surname and lineage[1].”

-You’re always on about marriage. I forbid you from talking about it from now on.

“It’s one of my only joys in life though.”

-Quit joking. Anyway, don’t you have anything good? Just tell me one. I’ll go to sleep afterwards.

“Well, then.”

He faintly smiled and looked at the ceiling. A name popped up in his mind. He was surprised by the two characters that filled up his head. He was even given the feeling that this has to be the one.

“I got one. It’s the commonality of our two names.”

-I wonder what it is?

“Gaeul[2]. Han Gaeul. It’s a pure Korean[3] name. Don’t you think it’s pretty?”

-Han… Gaeul. It’s pretty. It sticks to the mouth too.

“It’s just one option, so think about other options as well. There must be many good names out there.”

-Okay. But I quite like Gaeul, you know?

“I’d be honored if you use it.”

Then good night - Maru whispered before closing his phone. The night winds slightly blew into his house from the slightly open window. Perhaps due to the fresh air, he felt a slight pain in one corner of his heart. It was quite weird.

“They say you become emotional with time.”

Maru sipped some of his cooled coffee before picking up the remote.

The night was still long.

[1] Here, ‘lineage’ refers to your family descent. Most commonly noted by ‘region’ then ‘surname’. For example, “I am a Choi from XX region”. Marriage between those of the same ‘lineage’ was forbidden until it was officially changed by law officially in 2005 (same year in the novel) but people have been ignoring it for quite a long time, since this ancestry/lineage was never a rigorous concept in terms of genetics (A child would blindly follow the father’s lineage; it was possible to ‘buy’ lineage with money; and many records were lost in the 20th century due to war.). In this case, Maru and his GF must be a Han surname from the same region. If they are two different Hans from two different regions, the law wouldn’t have applied to them.

[2] Means autumn

[3] Meaning it doesn’t have a Hanja representation.