慈禧太后的秘密

Chapter 927. Crank Up 4

When he opened his eyes to the tickling sensation on his cheek, he saw that ‘Bullie’ had approached him and was rubbing his nose against him. Usually, Bullie never climbed up onto the bed, despite being quite spoiled, so it was quite a wonder. He sat up, feeling fatigued. Bullie lightly jumped off the bed. He looked at the wall where sunlight shone and checked the time. It was 11 a.m. It turned out he had slept so deeply that he forgot about his morning exercise. It was not surprising that Bullie climbed up onto the bed to wake him up. He was probably checking if his owner was dead since he would always feed him in the morning.

When he went to the living room, Woofie rushed up to him in an instant. After pouring some dog feed for the dogs asking him for food, he picked up his phone. It was flooded with photos sent by Gaeul. After a photo of her dipping her feet into a strangely green-colored sea was a photo where tropical fruits were piled up like a tower. She sent him photos of where she was, what she was doing, and what she was doing every hour like a civil servant reporting to her higher-ups. Maru felt like he would be in big trouble if he didn’t reply after reading it. Looks good, looks fun, looks delicious – was what he was going to use as replies before he ultimately decided to add some emojis into it. He originally wanted to send a long piece of text, but he felt like he would look old, so he changed it to short sentences.

Seeing her smile like usual, it seemed that she rather liked her paid vacation. He was inwardly worried because there were two annoying people mixed in the group, but it seemed that he was worried for nothing. Though, he shouldn’t really be worried since she was someone who would reject anything that she didn’t like without batting an eyelid. Apparently, Lee Miyoon was holed up in the hotel and Kang Giwoo was also maintaining a certain distance, so it should become a paid vacation without many problems.

When he showed the two dogs the photos with Gaeul in them, they jumped around in joy. Maru captured the dogs on video and sent them to her. After looking at the photos, he stood up. He put away the dog bowls and had a light breakfast.

-Have you eaten lunch?

“I just ate. I woke up late, so it was more like a brunch.”

Byungchan had called him. He poured some water into a mug as he listened.

-The afterparty has been scheduled, so get ready for it.

“The afterparty? I’m invited?”

-Of course you are. We didn’t get any calls until now, so I was worried if I had to give them a call myself, but we got one now, albeit a little late. It’s in two days in Seoul, so don’t schedule anything for that time.

“I don’t have anything to do. But am I really allowed to go?”

-If you aren’t going, then who will? Don’t talk nonsense and wait at home. I’ll go pick you up.

“It’s right nearby, so I can drive there on my own.”

-I’m bored. Also, I got orders. You know that actor who got exposed to the media for going rampant after getting drunk recently, right? I’ve gotten orders to drive the actors around as much as possible. Heck, we’re on the lenient side. The agency next to us even put out a driving ban. Though, they’re an idol agency.

“Then I guess I should comfortably get you to drive me after all this time.”

-I’ll give you a comfy ride so you should wait at the styling shop the day after tomorrow. I have work in the morning, so I can’t give you a ride to the shop. There should be a stylist waiting for you there. You got some sponsored clothing too, so put that on.

“So someone has graciously sponsored me.”

-I’m not sure if this is true or not, but the owner of that business apparently saw your video.

“Of the drama? Or the film?”

-The cute dance.

Maru laughed in absurdity.

“I should really stake my life to erase that video or something. At this rate, I’ll be known as a comedic actor.”

-You’re gaining an image that you didn’t have before, so be grateful. I thought you’d become popular since your name came on the search rankings when Doctors was trendy, but it cooled down in an instant. That’s just the sorrow of an unpopular actor. It’s a good thing to get yourself known like this, so if people ask you to do it, then at least pretend to do it.

“If I can make myself known that way, then I guess I have no choice.”

Byungchan hung up, saying that they should meet in two days. Maru wanted to stay in the drama until the end, but the writer deemed that he should pull out while he still left behind a strong impression, and Maru agreed with her, so he didn’t feel too disappointed. Thanks to that, he had been controversial for quite a while and managed to go to a talk show.

He lifted up the half-filled mug. As there was nothing for him to prepare since there would be a stylist preparing the clothes for him, there was nothing for him to do. Usually, actors would be sent some photos of the options of clothing they would wear, so he just had to choose. Just as he was thinking about when he last cleaned the bathroom, his phone started ringing. His phone was working quite hard today.

“I always feel uneasy when our director Kang calls at this hour.”

-Did I ever make you feel uneasy, seonbae?

“If I had to list it, I think I can talk until 2 o’clock.”

-Ando-oppa says he has no complaints against me.

“You’re bound to lie and suck up if you’re held hostage. So hey, why did you call?”

-You’re at your house, right now, right?

“Why are you asking me about my location again? It’s making me uneasy. Aren’t you at work?”

-I took the day off. It’s the end of the year, so I’m having a blast using them all. Of course, I do have something to do too.

“Now I suddenly want to leave.”

-That means you’re at home now, huh? Stay right there.

Before he could reply to that, the call ended. Maru stared at his phone, which had turned silent, hoping that it would give him a solution, being the high-tech device it was, even though he knew that he had no other method but to wait obediently. The ring of the elevator quietly echoed in the living room. Being the meticulous person she was, director Kang made the call right at the entrance. So… she didn’t even consider the possibility that he wasn’t at home?

Knock knock - hearing the knocks against his door, he sighed bitterly before opening it. Sora was standing outside, wearing a semi-formal suit.

“There’s one more dog now?” Sora said as she looked at the Pit Bull — Bullie — watching from the distance.

“Yeah.”

“I heard that dogs get lonely too, and it’s better to have two of them instead of one.”

“That’s good info. You’re here just to tell me that, right?”

“No, I’m here to pick you up.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“To where?”

“To a fan meeting.”

Maru played back the short conversation they just had and spoke again,

“Fan meeting?”

“Yes.”

“Of who?”

“You.”

“Why?”

“Because you have fans? Keep asking if you want to ask foolish questions, but just remember, the more you delay things, the more likely you’ll end up participating in the fan meeting in that jersey you’re wearing.”

Maru became speechless. He was surprised at this young director’s skills to host a fan meeting for an actor without any name, and even more at her insensitivity to call on the day itself to check the schedule.

“What were you going to do if I had a schedule?”

“Of course, I checked that beforehand. I have a different driving force compared to other people, so it might look like I’m rushing things, but I’ve never ignored the process. I called the manager, no, wait, the head manager of whom I got a number before. Head manager Lee Byungchan.”

As soon as Sora’s words ended, a notification arrived on his phone. There was a message from Byunchan. The content wasn’t that long: ‘Miss Sora said she scheduled a fan meeting regarding the indie film. She’ll probably call you soon.’ Maru was pretty sure that even Byungchan didn’t know that ‘soon’ would be this fast.

“So you didn’t get notified yet. No wonder I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with you.”

“I just received it. Maybe it’s because I’ve been playing around for a long time, but my luck with work seems to be erupting right now. So, do we have to go right now?”

“You have enough time to change clothes. Put on some neat clothes. You do have some, right?”

Maru pointed at the small room he was using as a dressing room and went inside to get changed. He put on a long coat that he got as a gift before coming back out.

“I’m not sure about anything else, but you do look great in a suit.”

“Thanks for the compliment. So where are we going?”

“It’s not that far. It’s near Gangnam situation.”

On their way down the elevator, Maru heard how this fan meeting came to be. Apparently, it started at the Chungmuro Short Film Festival. She and the film were invited and she greeted the people there, and apparently, the responses were much hotter than she had expected. The atmosphere was so good that she ended up talking about the film in great excitement until they talked about the actors and then the fan meeting.

“The first one to bring up the fan meeting was the owner of a café. I obviously thought that it was going to be for Sooil-oppa, so I was going to turn it down, saying that it would be a little difficult, but that person talked about you. She said she would gladly arrange the location for us, so there was no reason to refuse. There were more than fifty who were willing to participate back then. Do you know what’s even better, though?”

“What is?”

“Most of them are women.”

“That’s nice to hear.”

“I should record that and send it to Gaeul-unni.”

They got in the car. Sora, who was behind the wheel, inputted the address on the GPS navigation device and drove off.

“It was quite unexpected. Quite a lot of people knew about you. What made me really happy was that there were some people who watched our work three times. She’s a blogger who frequently visits indie film festivals, and she apparently fell in love with it during the first screening, and she ended up watching it in Chungmuro this time, and back when it aired in Suwon.”

“I’m grateful.”

“There were many people who came after reading her blog during the invitation. There were some journalists for film magazines too. When I looked at them, the audience worked in many different fields, so I thought that there was no better form of promotion. That’s why I agreed to the fan meeting.”

“So the fan meeting was being set up while I didn’t know anything about it, huh?”

“That’s just how figureheads work. You just lend them your name, and things work out by themselves.”

Maru looked outside the window and rolled the word ‘figurehead’ inside his mouth. It had a pleasing tone. Wasn’t it a dream job where he would earn money just by pretending to work? Though, joint responsibility would be a problem.

“And there were quite a lot of people who said they became fans after watching Doctors. There was a lady who had a hard life because her salary was getting delayed that felt better through watching you. It seems like there were many people like her, who wanted others to sympathize with their pains.”

“I guess that’s just how tough the world is.”

“When I heard all that, I felt like I should do a comedy for the next film so that the viewers can watch without thinking about anything. You look like you’d be great at it too.”

“As long as you pay me money, I’ll do anything.”

“How can you talk about money between us?”

“It’s precisely because it’s between us that I should talk about money. If you want to use me without pay, then why don’t you become a famous director first.”

“Don’t come crying to me later asking for a role.”

“Say that after you’ve become famous.”

The car jolted once. Sora was smiling brightly after speeding right past a speed bump. Maru turned quiet, and then put on his seatbelt.