Former Warrior Turns Into A Million-Dollar Actor [EN]: Chapter 193

[Side Story] Actress Baek Ha-ni (2)

* * *

A five-star hotel in Hannam-dong.

The private lounge, reserved only for VVIPs, was entirely closed off today.

Normally, it’s not available for private rental, but things are different for the owner’s family.

Around a long table lit with candles, the family sat exchanging words.

“…So, when did she say she’d be here?”

“She’ll be here soon. She always keeps her word.”

As the middle-aged man at the head of the table spoke, the woman to his left responded.

She was undeniably beautiful, catching everyone’s eye. Though her tone suggested she was his wife, the age difference between her and the sons and daughters sitting around the table didn’t seem that great.

“I told her not to be late, but she hasn’t changed since she was a child. I wonder when she’ll ever grow up.”

Baek Ha-ni’s father, Baek Seo-gwan, muttered. Her eldest brother, Baek Hoon, nonchalantly chimed in while cutting his steak from the right side.

“Still, she’s opened up a lot, hasn’t she? She didn’t even come to family dinners before.”

“I don’t know, isn’t she just showing up to avoid damaging her celebrity image?”

“Well, then we should praise her. Our Ha-ni is cultivating a sense of professionalism.”

Baek Ran and Baek Hee, the twin sisters right below the eldest brother in the hierarchy, also joined the conversation.

If she had heard them, wine glasses would have flown immediately, but they remained calm.

“The project she’s in… ‘The Cheat’? I heard it surpassed 15% in viewership ratings. She certainly seems to have talent.”

“And she’s had two movies that surpassed ten million viewers. People in our circles are talking about Ha-ni these days.”

“Oh, even to you, Oppa [older brother]? My friends keep asking me to get her autograph, but they don’t believe me when I say I don’t contact my sister. Aren’t bad relationships between celebrities and their families a thing of the past?”

While his children and wife were engaged in a flower of praise for their youngest daughter, Baek Seo-gwan, who had been silently chewing his meat, opened his mouth.

“Is she coming home?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking if she said she’s coming back home.”

“Well, she didn’t say anything like that. I don’t think a child who left on her own would bother to come back.”

Just then, the sound of high heels clicking against the lounge floor echoed from afar.

Soon, Baek Ha-ni, dressed in wide pants, killer heels, and a set-up suit, appeared at the lounge entrance.

“······.”

Although the family had good visuals from the start, it couldn’t compare to a working actress.

Having come straight from the set, her hair and makeup were fully done. The older sisters nodded, scanning their youngest sibling.

“Speak of the devil.”

“Right, she always has good timing for this kind of thing.”

Regardless of what her sisters said, Baek Ha-ni threw her bag on the empty seat and sat down, crossing her legs.

With no greetings to either her parents or anyone else, Baek Hoon’s eyebrows twitched.

“You’re late.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you have a shoot?”

“Well, that too. And the traffic was bad.”

For a family that hadn’t seen each other in nearly a year, the conversation was dripping with coldness. Baek Ha-ni’s stepmother, Seo Hyun-sook, interjected with a graceful tone.

“Ha-ni is doing so well these days. She must be busy every day with filming, right?”

“Still, you should have come to the gathering early. You know how much Dad hates being late.”

“Right. As if her schedule is the only one that matters.”

After the twin sisters each added a word, Baek Ha-ni finally wore a surprised expression.

“Oh my, the parrot set is here too?”

“…What?”

“Hey, I told you not to call us that!”

“Sorry. You’re just the same as always, even after all this time.”

Even if a parrot saw her, it would know she wasn’t sorry at all.

Baek Hoon stopped his younger sisters from getting angry again.

“Why are you all like this on a good day? Ha-ni, it’s your father’s birthday, so at least today…”

“Ugh, you’re a parrot too. I can’t tell if you’re Dad or Oppa.”

“Baek Ha-ni.”

“What? You knew I’d be like this when you called me, right?”

After snapping back, Baek Ha-ni turned her head towards the head of the table. Even in the midst of all this, her father, Baek Seo-gwan, was cutting the steak on his new plate.

He cut a piece, put it in his mouth, and chewed… After a long time, Baek Seo-gwan’s mouth finally opened.

“I saw the article.”

Baek Ha-ni frowned deeply.

“If you’re going to talk about that bullshit…”

“I heard you even grabbed a colleague by the hair. Did you run away to disgrace the family?”

“Excuse me, Mr. Baek.”

Subtle cracks appeared on Baek Seo-gwan’s forehead as well. He was the CEO of a mid-sized company, but he usually preferred being called Chairman rather than CEO, due to his usual disposition.

Baek Ha-ni continued in an insolent tone.

“Don’t lump me in with that dimwit. What colleague? She can’t even act properly.”

“You lack a sense of camaraderie.”

“I never had that to begin with. I’ve seen Dad backstab too many uncles.”

‘What you see and learn is what you do.’ After adding that one last word, Baek Ha-ni dropped the bomb.

“Anyway, don’t look for me anymore.”

“What did you say?”

“Didn’t you hear me, Oppa? I said don’t look for me. I’m not coming to Dad’s birthday or family gatherings anymore. I’ll visit Grandma on my own, so don’t try to use that as an excuse to call me out.”

“Hey, what kind of manners are those? You should be congratulating him!”

It was familiar to see her twin sister, Baek Ran, glaring, and her eldest brother sighing deeply like their father.

Baek Ha-ni looked around at her family sitting around the table with a pathetic gaze.

“Honey, is the steak cooked to your liking? The kitchen’s condition is a bit different from usual today…”

“It’s not bad. I heard the head chef has the flu.”

It was the same scene as always. A father who thoroughly neglected his children outside of his interests, and a hypocritical and pretentious young stepmother.

“Oppa, say something! She’s acting out because you always let her get away with it!”

“Little sister said it well. She’s just here to pick a fight today.”

“Just wait quietly. Father hasn’t said anything yet.”

The twin sisters, who were still jealous of their youngest sister even after growing up. And her eldest brother, who had inherited the business and become completely immersed in the persona of the head of the family, like a puppet.

‘…I’m so sick of it.’

A bitter smile formed on Baek Ha-ni’s lips.

How much had she suffered from her father’s desire for control? As a child, she had to study under the supervision of a nanny after coming home from school.

Even after becoming an adult, nothing had changed. She couldn’t stand it when he told her to prepare for an internship in the strategic planning department, which she had no interest in, and she exploded.

The result of her rebellion was complete exclusion. In the small kingdom that Baek Seo-gwan had created, no one had protected her after her mother passed away.

“…If I act like nothing happened now, will it really be like nothing happened?”

At her muttered words, spoken through gritted teeth, her family’s gazes turned to her. Baek Ha-ni slung her bag over her shoulder and stood up.

“Keep living like that. Doing whatever Dad tells you, picking up the scraps that fall. At least Oppa gets to hear the title of Vice President, but you sisters will spend your whole lives as secretaries before retiring with some inheritance. We’ve been Oppa’s accessories since we were born, you know that well, too.”

“What, what…”

The twins trembled without even being able to get angry. Her cold gaze shifted to the side.

“Stepmom… no, stepsister. You don’t need to manage your expression. We won’t be seeing each other anymore anyway, so there’s no need to stress yourself out and get wrinkles.”

“······.”

While Seo Hyun-sook’s beautiful face contorted, the father and daughter looked at each other.

The deeply etched lines became even deeper with the passage of time. Baek Seo-gwan tried to say something, but Baek Ha-ni coldly ended the conversation.

“Don’t do any weird interviews. I’ll sue you.”

*

“Kuh, this is the taste.”

Roman Entertainment headquarters.

Today, many key figures had gathered. Choi Phillip, Gu Shin-seung, and even Jin Ji-yu, who came with team leader Gong Gi-hyung from the public relations department.

With their respective managers and a few members of the A&R [Artists and Repertoire] team sitting around, it felt like an unexpected workshop atmosphere. Yoo Joon-il, the director, took a sip of his coffee and asked.

“So, everyone here is going, right? The workshop is already three days away.”

“I can’t go. I have to go all the way to Chungnam that day.”

Choi Phillip, raising one hand, said indifferently.

“So, Phillip and… who else is missing?”

“Baek Ha-ni, she probably won’t go either. Have you ever seen her join those kinds of things when she’s not filming?”

“That’s obvious. The head of the department didn’t even bring it up, afraid she’d cause another ruckus.”

A large-scale workshop for the company’s friendship and team building was being held in three days. Jin Ji-yu, who was checking her schedule, added.

“Ha-ni unnie [older sister] hates being around a lot of people. She probably won’t come.”

“That’s probably for the best. Ji-yu and I are both going, if she comes too, beer bottles will be broken.”

Everyone agreed with Choi Phillip’s words. Director Yoo shook his head as if he had a headache just thinking about it.

“Why are you guys so eager to tear each other apart?”

“I just don’t like her.”

“No, Ha-ni is relatively docile as long as you don’t order her around, you know? Team leader Gong knows too, right? Baek Ha-ni is surprisingly normal usually.”

The public relations department is where they try to cover up cases that appear in the news rather than her usual behavior, that is, fights.

Gong Gi-hyung, the public relations team leader, muttered with a sullen expression.

“Well, for us, it’s more important that articles don’t come out than her usual behavior…”

“Anyway, I understand Phillip. He’s pretty much a honey badger, so he might not get along with someone like Ha-ni.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

It was a joke that could only be made because he had managed most of the actors in the early days of Roman. While Choi Phillip grinned, the topic turned to Jin Ji-yu.

“But you and her always growl at each other whenever you meet. Is it because there can’t be two suns in the sky, or something?”

Jin Ji-yu playfully wrinkled her nose.

“I don’t know either. Maybe our personalities don’t match, I heard that unnie is an INTJ [Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging personality type, according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator].”

“The spiritual wavelengths may be different.”

Gu Shin-seung, who had been sitting with his eyes closed and hadn’t said a word until now, opened his mouth.

It seemed that this over-immersion was a historical drama. Whether team leader Yang Soo-yeon touched her forehead or not, Gu Shin-seung continued in a serious voice.

“Everyone has a past life, and there are spiritual wavelengths that come from it. That’s where the misalignment between Lady Baek and Lady Jin began.”

“…Team leader, has Shin-seung been reading books about fortune-telling lately?”

“Not that I know of…”

“Take away any strange novels. If he keeps this up, he’ll be cast as a fortuneteller in his next role.”

A great actor doesn’t care about the teasing around him. Gu Shin-seung, with his arms crossed, stubbornly said what he had to say.

“You never know. Someone might appear to melt Lady Baek’s frozen lake. As they say, heroes appear in times of chaos, don’t they?”

“No, I’m asking who are you imitating!”

*

“…That’s what happened, but our actress Baek, you’re not thinking of going, are you? This workshop is just for one night.”

“Why are you asking when you already know? If the head of the department told you to bring me…”

“No, no! I was just asking!”

In the small conference room of the broadcasting station ahead of the wrap-up party, Baek Ha-ni relaxed her furrowed brow and leaned back in her chair.

Director Yoo Joon-il, who was waving his hands, tilted his head.

“But what’s wrong with your face? Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

“Why? Am I swollen?”

“You’re not too swollen… but it might look a little puffy if it’s caught on a 6mm lens. I heard a lot of cameras came to film the last episode of ‘Mephil’.”

“It’s okay. Even if I’m swollen, I’m still smaller than Lee Soo-ryun.”

Baek Ha-ni glanced at the mirror on one side. As Director Yoo said, her condition wasn’t good.

It was because she hadn’t slept a wink last night after going to that damn family gathering.

‘Isn’t it your fault? You should have ended it a long time ago.’

She tried to ignore the voice in her heart.

What it said was right. Wasn’t it her family home that she had run away from a long time ago? If she really hated it, she should have just cut ties.

But… there was a small hope in one corner of her heart. A vain expectation that her father might have changed a little, just as she had changed over time.

“That’s it, I won’t be seeing them anymore.”

“Huh? Who are you seeing?”

“Lee Soo-ryun. Filming is all done.”

“Ah, that’s true. The Joinus kids were using so many tricks behind the scenes… it’s a relief that it ended without any major incidents.”

After roughly making an excuse, Director Yoo Joon-il nodded as if he understood and answered the phone.

“Yeah, why? I’m at MBS [a Korean broadcasting station] with Ha-ni right now.”

Despite the rumors of discord between the actresses, ‘The Cheat’ ended with viewership ratings close to 20%. The sensational articles that had been pouring out for a while also became quiet like a lie when there were no more follow-up stories to report.

Whatever the actress’s inner thoughts were, the work was a success and another line was added to her career.

Since filming is over, should I stay abroad for a while? Relax in Europe for about a year….

While she was pondering, Director Yoo Joon-il suddenly jumped up.

“What? Someone broke into the company?”

“…Who broke in?”

“Whaaat? They twisted the CEO’s jaw?”

“······?”

It seemed that a strange guy had appeared.

* * *