Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 20

020. Life is a Battlefield (3)

November 20, 2021

“Excuse me? Director, what are you saying…?” Lee Deok-chun’s eyes, which had been blazing with anger, widened in dismay. His pupils, dilated by the unexpected turn of events, shook violently. “What exactly is it that Lee Deok-chun does on set?” This was Director Heo, who had always overlooked Lee Deok-chun’s numerous NGs without a single harsh word. ‘So, because Min Ye-rin is here, he can’t say anything to me.’ Honestly, Lee Deok-chun had even begun to look down on Director Heo. What good is the title of a famous director? At best, he’s just a pushover who caters to the whims of agencies and advertisers. That’s all he thought of him. But now everything had changed. “Why are you picking a fight with someone who’s minding their own business? Was Lee Deok-chun an idol or a gangster?”

“No, Director…? It’s not that…” Lee Deok-chun tried to make excuses, but someone else intervened faster. “That’s right. Yeon-woo wouldn’t do that. I’d believe it more if Lee Deok-chun strangled Yeon-woo…” Min Writer, who had subtly appeared, chimed in to support Director Heo. “You’ve been ruining the atmosphere from the start, and now you’re making a complete mess of things.”

“If you’re an idol, you should act like one. What’s with coming into the acting scene and acting like you’re something special?”

“Hey, he can hear you. Lee Deok-chun is famous for his bad temper.”

“Let him hear. He really is awful. Did he get cast because he’s good? He’s just riding Min Ye-rin’s coattails; it’s so annoying.”

“Even Min Ye-rin comes to the set early and waits, but what’s with him showing up late and acting important?” Whispers erupted. The onlookers, who had gathered in droves, added their own comments. With each word, Lee Deok-chun’s face turned redder and redder. The final blow was delivered by Kwon Seong-hyun. “What are you doing right now?” Kwon Seong-hyun’s already weighty presence was amplified by the aura of a third-generation chaebol [a wealthy family conglomerate heir]. His voice was low and calm, but no one could fail to sense the frosty anger within. “What did you do to my manager to make such a kind person so angry?”

“No… It wasn’t me, it was that guy…”

“‘Guy’? Watch your language.”

“So, that… person… strangled me…”

“Yeon-woo strangled you? You?” The words sounded as if to say, ‘What possible benefit would he have from doing something to the likes of you?’ Lee Deok-chun’s face had now turned from bright red to a dark, purplish hue. “Um, I saw it. Lee Deok-chun dragging the manager to the corner.” Someone cautiously raised their hand and spoke. That was the beginning. “I also heard. He was unilaterally picking a fight with the manager. He swore at him first and said he got in through Kwon Seong-hyun’s connections.” The set was full of eyes. Witnesses who had seen Lee Deok-chun harassing Yeon-woo came forward one by one. The gazes directed at Lee Deok-chun were icy cold. “So, you’re telling me that because you didn’t like one of the staff, you made up this terrible story?” The director, having heard everything, summarized the situation.

“No, that’s not it…”

“What do you mean, ‘that’s not it’! You’re the murderer. You’re the one who’s the murderer. Ruining an innocent person’s reputation like that is the same as social murder!”

“No…” Lee Deok-chun repeated the word ‘no’ like a broken record. “Tell me if you don’t want to film this drama! It doesn’t matter if you’re not in it!”

Finally, words like a death sentence fell from Director Heo’s mouth. “Director! That’s not it…! It’s all a misunderstanding! When did I ever pick a fight with that guy…!”

“Lee Deok-chun. I told you to watch your language, didn’t I?”

“Damn it. I mean… that person…”

“‘Damn it’? ‘Damn it’? Are you cursing right in front of me because you’re upset?” Lee Deok-chun, startled by Kwon Seong-hyun’s sharp warning, completely self-destructed. “N-Noona! Ye-rin Noona! Please say something!” Unable to endure the situation any longer, Lee Deok-chun took a step back behind the director and shouted towards Min Ye-rin. ‘Min Ye-rin?’ Perhaps because the set was crowded, even Min Ye-rin, who didn’t seem interested in such matters, had come over. ‘How will she react?’ He suddenly wondered what her answer would be. Would she protect him since they were in the same agency? Or… “…” After staring at Lee Deok-chun silently for a moment, Min Ye-rin turned around without any hesitation. “Noona? Noona?!” Lee Deok-chun cried out as if wailing, but Min Ye-rin did not look back.

‘Wow.’ Yeon-woo clicked his tongue. If he was being abandoned even by someone from the same agency, just how terrible of a person was he? “How could you make up such a terrible lie? Yeon-woo is such a kind person. He can’t even stand to see others in pain, and he even does acupressure for them when he doesn’t have to. There’s no way he would commit such a terrible act as strangling someone!” He did. But that fact would remain unknown unless Yeon-woo revealed it, so it didn’t matter. ‘A guy like that needs to be taught a lesson.’ The world doesn’t revolve around your whims. Yeon-woo’s lesson was sure to be very effective. With Min Writer’s additional support, public opinion had completely turned. Lee Deok-chun’s reputation was already ruined, and at this moment, Lee Deok-chun was demoted from ‘annoying guy’ to ‘absolute human trash’. “I knew he was bad, but he’s really awful. He even brought up attempted murder to completely bury a staff member he didn’t like.”

“But his acting skills are so bad that he completely failed. Ah, that’s so satisfying. If you’re going to put on a show, you should at least act properly. Oh, right, he couldn’t act in the first place, could he?” The whispering staff members ridiculed Lee Deok-chun. How badly must he have rubbed them the wrong way in that short amount of time that there wasn’t a single person to take his side? “It’s not true! I didn’t do it! That bastard really strangled me!” When no one believed him, Lee Deok-chun was on the verge of going crazy.

“Stop it. Do you still want to keep saying that? You’re really a useless person.” Director Heo shook his head. “I mean it. You can quit if you want. I’ll talk to your agency. You have only two choices: quit right now, or shut your mouth from now on, don’t disrupt the filming, and behave yourself.” Director Heo’s momentum was already in full swing to get Lee Deok-chun off the show. With even Min Ye-rin turning her back, Lee Deok-chun had no one left to rely on.

‘Why did you try to pick a fight when you weren’t even in the position to do so?’ A faint sneer appeared on Yeon-woo’s lips. Lee Deok-chun’s miscalculation was that he didn’t properly recognize who he was picking a fight with. The guy stared at Yeon-woo with a dazed look, watching the people moving away as if despising him.

‘Trash like that only realizes the reality after being thoroughly humiliated.’ How many people had Lee Deok-chun harassed with his narrow-minded thinking until now? It was obvious without having to think about it for long. Didn’t the thoughts clinging to Lee Deok-chun clearly show what kind of person he was? [Wow, that’s so refreshing! As expected, bad guys like that need to experience real life!] The Child Spirit, who had been anxiously watching from Yeon-woo’s arms, shouted a bizarre phrase, ‘Bartender! A bowl of cider here!’ [I think it would have been okay to just kill him back then. There’s no way that guy living would be of any help to humanity, right? Ah. But then bad karma would accumulate, so it wouldn’t be good?] The Child Spirit wriggled and muttered. [But even so, that was a pretty good cider. He tripped over his own feet. Aw. That was so funny?] The Child Spirit was satisfied, saying it was like watching a drama. However.

‘But it’s a bit of a shame to end it like this, isn’t it?’ Yeon-woo had no intention of ending it like this at all.

***

After hearing the expulsion declaration from Director Heo, Lee Deok-chun looked like he would pack his bags and leave right away. But surprisingly, he didn’t run off the set and instead endured. His face was grim, and he was busy watching everyone’s reactions, which meant his agency must have said something to him. “That’s good.” That was exactly what Yeon-woo wanted. The Child Spirit asked, as if curious. [What?]

“Honestly, it was a bit of a shame to end it like that, wasn’t it?” Lee Deok-chun’s reputation on set was the worst. Thanks to Yeon-woo’s words, he wasn’t fired immediately, but people’s gazes towards Lee Deok-chun were so cold that he wouldn’t have been able to say anything even if he had been fired. ‘I was wondering if he would run away crying because he couldn’t stand it.’ Fortunately, he seemed to have a bit of tenacity. [Ah, right! That’s true. But what are you going to do? There are so many people watching, so you can’t just beat him up, can you?]

“I wasn’t even thinking about that. It might be possible the first time, but you could get caught the second time.” [Then what are you going to do?]

“People should do what they’re best at.” [Ah…!] The hamster’s whiskers stood up. Yeon-woo handed a sunflower seed to the hamster, who had a look of enlightenment on his face. The Child Spirit was disgusting, but the hamster was cute. The cute hamster was innocent. ‘As expected, it’s grown even more.’ He had clearly removed a few thoughts that had shortened his lifespan two days ago, but the number of nasty and large thoughts had increased as if filling the void. The reason why Lee Deok-chun’s complexion was so dark was probably also due to the increased thoughts. ‘That’s good.’ The increased thoughts, the increased nightmares, would swallow Lee Deok-chun whole. “Hey.”

Yeon-woo approached Lee Deok-chun, who was sitting in a corner of the set. “Eek! Wh-What!”

“Why are you so surprised to see someone? It’s disgusting.”

“What, what are you? Why are you coming here?!”

“Am I not allowed to come? It’s a film set anyway; it’s not like Lee Deok-chun has leased this place?” Lee Deok-chun’s eyes anxiously looked around. Sure enough, some people were watching this way. Their eyes were worried that Yeon-woo might be harmed. Step.

“D-Don’t come closer!” As Yeon-woo took a step closer, Lee Deok-chun quickly took a step back.

“What is it?”

“What about you?! Why are you suddenly showing up and acting like you know me?! Go! Go away!”

“Are you yelling at me right now?” This guy still hasn’t come to his senses. At that time, Yeon-woo heard the staff members whispering in his ear. “That bastard is throwing a tantrum again? He still hasn’t come to his senses.”

“It looks like he went to try and lighten the mood, but he’s a jerk who doesn’t even know how to be grateful. Isn’t that manager so kind? He even takes care of the person who slandered him, so he must be worried about interfering with the filming.”

“The writer said so. The manager asked them not to fire that guy right away.”

“How can he do that? It’s no wonder he’s Kwon Seong-hyun’s acquaintance. He’s very polite to the manager. At first, I didn’t even think he was a manager.”

Thanks to Kwon Seong-hyun’s attitude during the Lee Deok-chun incident, Yeon-woo unintentionally received attention. [How close are they that he’s so angry about what happened to the manager?] This thought spread among the people. Kwon Seong-hyun’s usual respectful attitude towards Yeon-woo also fueled this hypothesis. Moreover.

-Although that person has committed a wrong, I don’t think firing him right away will harm the atmosphere of the set or the drama. You don’t have to do that for my sake.

Because of this statement, which he made directly to the director, the staff’s perception of Yeon-woo could not help but be more positive. A person who forgives the person who slandered him and even has the consideration to care about the set. That was the people’s evaluation of Yeon-woo. The reason why Yeon-woo said these words was not out of consideration, but rather, ‘It’s no fun if you run away already. I haven’t even finished the education properly yet.’ However, the misunderstanding deepened, but no one noticed it.