Chapter 81
Fiddling with my empty glass, I tried to appear as nonchalant as possible, pretending it meant nothing.
“Well… they need someone with a certain level of recognition but not overdone, luxurious yet with a fresh feel. Those were roughly the requirements Knox presented. But they didn’t specify a particular model. Companies that already have a model in mind don’t ask us for recommendations. In those cases, it becomes a request to connect them with that specific model, which makes the work much simpler.”
Tucking her straight bob that reached her shoulders behind her ear, the manager looked at me with a gentle smile.
“Ah, since this is a company dinner now, would it be okay if I call you Jiin-ssi?”
“Yes, of course. That’s much more comfortable for me too.”
I smiled back at her and we clinked our glasses together.
Could his influence have played a role in Knox Hotel’s advertising model offer? I’d been thinking about that for the past few days.
If I didn’t get cast in <Eternal Night>, I would definitely return to Italy this time. I had drunkenly ranted to him about that, and he said he was scared by it. I wondered if his influence had affected not only the advertisement but also the drama casting process.
From what the agency manager said, it seemed his influence hadn’t been involved in my selection as the advertising model.
Knox’s deputy insisted he absolutely had to join this toast, standing up and stretching his arm out long, so we repeated our toast. At these kinds of company dinners or business meetings, it felt like we toasted over a hundred times in one night.
“Even when conveying the conditions to the agency, I thought we were being too demanding. The requirements were too picky. Since that’s what the higher-ups wanted, I had no choice but to relay the meeting results… but honestly, I felt very sorry to the manager.”
Knox’s deputy showed an apologetic expression toward the agency manager, with a ‘now I can finally say this’ kind of feeling. Her story continued.
“But when we got Jiin-ssi’s recommendation, I thought ‘this is perfect!’ The atmosphere upstairs is positive too. After we do an additional briefing with the materials you provided today, I think it’ll probably be confirmed as Jiin-ssi.”
Manager Yoon from UB, who had been carefully listening to their conversation from the seat next to me, joined the conversation at the right timing.
“Actor Jung may not have TV commercial experience, but he’s already famous as a pictorial master and a sold-out actor. He’s different from actors who are just handsome. He has the aura and atmosphere that an actor should possess. Whatever concept you shoot with, he’ll handle it excellently. I guarantee that part.”
“Of course, that’s why I actively recommended Jiin-ssi. But seeing him in person today, I can understand why fans call him a prince.”
Whether it was just ceremonial words or sincere, even after several years in the entertainment industry, I still couldn’t get used to direct compliments about my appearance. Even now, I couldn’t respond smoothly and just rolled my eyes while touching my glass.
Fortunately, the appetizers were served soon. Befitting a high-end karaoke, the plating of the dishes was quite elaborate.
While everyone took photos of the beautifully arranged food, tasted it, and recommended dishes to each other, I stayed slightly withdrawn from the commotion. Naturally, I hadn’t had much appetite since that day.
“Jiin-ssi, you’re not eating much. Are you okay? These mini hamburgers are quite good, please try some.”
“Yes, I’ll try them.”
“Ah, are you managing your diet because of the drama? You already look great as is. The body standards demanded of celebrities, regardless of gender, are really harsh.”
Knox’s deputy looked at me with concerned eyes. To avoid causing more worry, I brought the small hamburger she recommended—made to be eaten in one bite like finger food—to my plate and put it in my mouth.
The atmosphere that had seemed like an extension of work at the beginning gradually became more lively. The staff members who had mostly just listened to their superiors’ conversations while maintaining politeness were now enjoying drinks and food in relaxed postures.
“Deputy-nim, you work with Chairman Lee Wooyeol’s son, right? Please tell us about that! Are chaebols really as wild as they show in dramas?”
An employee who had accompanied the agency manager asked Knox Hotel’s deputy.
At the mention of Chairman Lee Wooyeol’s son, my body stiffened with a start. I withdrew my hand that was about to serve some salad and picked up my glass instead.
“From what I hear from Team 2 people, he’s not quite like that. But… he’s an incredible workaholic. Our current CEO is his older sister, and she follows Chairman Lee Wooyeol’s method exactly—completely results-oriented. Family means nothing. It’s cutthroat. Maybe that’s why she has tough demands for her younger brother too.”
Thinking of his schedule where he had to work late into weekday nights to properly rest on weekends, the assessment of him being a workaholic didn’t seem wrong.
Knox’s deputy continued her story.
“He may be called Team Leader of PR Team 2, but honestly, he might become Knox’s president in the future. He receives reports on all major company matters… At twenty-seven, he’s practically at executive level. The project Team Leader started as soon as he came to Korea was lowering the average visitor age by five years, and this advertisement is broadly part of that project too. We’ve never done TV commercials before.”
Her stories were mostly content I’d already read several times while searching for news about him over the past few days.
“Deputy-nim, not those kinds of stories… aren’t there any really interesting stories? He lives in a different world from us. Please tell us some juicy behind-the-scenes stories. I heard he’s tall and handsome like that? Plus with all that money, he must be playing around really messily, right?”
The agency employee openly demanded stimulating stories that could serve as gossip material. I found it increasingly difficult to manage my expression. Afraid harsh words might suddenly burst out, I gripped my glass tighter.
“He really is handsome. That family is all good-looking anyway. But the youngest son is exceptionally outstanding. He’s really tall with a good build, so he has a somewhat foreign atmosphere too…”
While picking up baby back ribs that had been cut along the bone for easy eating, the deputy nodded and spoke.
The agency employee leaned forward toward the table with curiosity shining in his eyes.
“So is that rumor true?”
“What rumor?”
“About that youngest son—the rumor that Chairman Lee Wooyeol isn’t his real father.”
He seemed quite interested in this type of story. It was quite different from how he’d sat frozen, just observing the meeting next to his manager earlier.
I looked at his face sitting diagonally across from me, careful not to let emotions show in my eyes.
“The birth mother was sponsoring a celebrity and had the youngest son… there’s talk that the celebrity was a foreigner.”
“No way! There was even that rumor? I only heard that Chairman Lee Wooyeol might not be the biological father.”
The agency manager hit her subordinate with a surprised face. At his superior’s reaction, he seemed even more excited.
“Deputy-nim, what’s the talk like inside Knox? What’s actually true?”
His interest in chaebol family gossip didn’t easily fade.
Even though they weren’t on the same team, perhaps because it involved stories about her workplace superior, the deputy seemed a bit cautious.
“Come on, it’s just us here, what’s the harm? Knox people honestly whisper about that story when they gather too.”
At his urging, she finally smiled and nodded. It was a smile acknowledging that his words weren’t wrong.
“To put it nicely, Team Leader is the company’s idol, but to put it badly, he’s like entertainment for boredom relief. Since the owner family works nearby, everyone makes all kinds of speculations even if Team Leader just changes his cologne.”
Entertainment for boredom relief… Her harsh expression almost made my face scrunch up. I quickly brought my glass to my lips to hide my expression.
“Actually, we don’t know the family’s inside story either. But seeing him in person… he really resembles Moon Seyeon. Our team members think that even if we don’t know about the biological father, the biological mother is probably Moon Seyeon. His older sister and brother are good-looking too, but honestly not to the youngest son’s level. But Moon Seyeon was so pretty when she was young, and still is now… For that kind of face to emerge, Moon Seyeon being the biological mother is more convincing than Kim Juseon.”
“Who’s Kim Juseon?”
“The person known as his birth mother. Chairman Lee Wooyeol’s ex-wife. Second daughter of Dongsin Group.”
It was the agency manager who answered the male employee’s question. He seemed knowledgeable about gossip situations but not particularly interested in business world genealogies.
Someone’s pain and wounds being reduced to crude entertainment material—I knew that’s what gossip was. But I couldn’t consume his life as gossip. To me, he was… someone I could touch, whose eyes I could look into, someone I’d even felt heat with inside me—he was still my lover.
“So what? Moon Seyeon is the biological mother and the biological father is a foreign celebrity? And the Hanseo Group chairman accepted him as his own child? Wow… if that’s really true, his origins are completely mixed up. No, accepting a child that a sponsored celebrity had with another man—should we see this as Lee Wooyeol being truly in love?”
The advertising agency employee burst into loud laughter as if he’d made some very witty joke. I couldn’t bear to listen anymore. I felt like I might even throw up now.
“Isn’t that just groundless talk?”
“……What?”
The employee who had been laughing heartily looked back at me with a puzzled expression. He seemed confused about why I was suddenly making atmosphere-breaking comments when I’d shown no interest in such stories until now. It didn’t matter.
“Chairman Lee Wooyeol’s appearance when he was alive was so similar to that youngest son. Especially looking at photos from his youth, anyone could tell they were father and son.”
The tall height, Western-style handsome face, long sensual lips straight as a line, and solid-looking impression. Chairman Lee Wooyeol’s youthful appearance that I’d found on the internet was quite similar to him. Yet people were turning away from the truth in favor of more stimulating lies they wanted to believe.
“Lee Wooyeol was that handsome in his youth?”
The advertising agency manager showed interest and picked up her phone as if to search.
“I happened to see it on the internet—he was really actor-like in his youth. The youngest son especially inherited his father’s lips. The exotic eyes seem to resemble Kim Juseon.”
“Oh my, it’s true! Deputy-nim, have you seen this photo? This is from before Lee Wooyeol’s marriage, and even now he looks better than most actors.”
The agency manager handed her phone to Knox’s deputy, raising her voice. The agency’s male employee peered over with a curious expression.
“Manager-nim, let me see too. He was that handsome?”
“Search for it. When I searched ‘Lee Wooyeol past photos’ it came right up.”
While people were busy looking up Chairman Lee Wooyeol’s youth photos, I quietly stood up from my seat.
I went into the private bathroom attached to the room and locked the door. Once alone, a heavy sigh escaped. I had intended to just listen no matter what was said…
My face reflected in the washbasin mirror looked haggard. With lack of sleep and not eating properly, it was inevitable. I sat down on the bench in the powder room separated from the bathroom and habitually took out my phone to look at it.
I hadn’t noticed while at the drinking gathering, but there was a message from him. It was the first message received since that day.
《You’re at a company dinner at K&K Building, right? I’ll pick you up. Let me see your face for a moment.》
I started typing a reply asking how he knew the location, then stopped. The people I was currently having dinner with were from Knox Hotel’s PR team.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
