The place where Joo Yoo-shin calls me out is a secluded spot a little distance away from the filming location.
It’s the perfect spot to crave my junior out of sight from others.
And this means, in the opposite case, whatever I do won’t catch anyone else’s eye.
It’s exactly like that right now.
Joo Yoo-shin’s manager is waiting a bit away, but since he has his back turned to Joo Yoo-shin, he can’t see my movements.
And the other person… Lion? What’s he doing here?
Although it was a bit surprising that Lion was nearby, he too was sufficiently far away that he wouldn’t be able to tell what was happening here.
So, I freely threw a New Religion punch to Joo Yoo-shin’s sternum.
“Ow, Senior, are you okay?”
There’s this fact that only those who’ve been hit know—when you suddenly get hit in places like the sternum, the shock makes it feel like your breath is cut off.
It also becomes impossible to use normal language.
I approached as if I were assisting him while he was gasping for air and losing his senses, and I struck him strongly at the Jianjing and Gǔqǐ acupoints for a secondary shock.
Most likely, his arms won’t move normally for about a day today.
“Mr. Yoo-shin, what’s wrong?”
“Ahhh, Senior was suddenly… Since the Manager has come, I’ll head out.”
“Y-you… y-you…”
“…Understood. Do that.”
When Joo Yoo-shin started to wobble, the manager rushed over like lightning, and after handing him over to the manager, I took off running.
Seeing Joo Yoo-shin react as if he was unfairly treated made all my stress vanish instantly.
“Good. At least it’ll be quiet for a few days.”
While it’s obviously a reckless move for a junior actor to assault a senior actor, in a situation like this, it won’t cause major problems.
Things like a junior being arrogant, rude, or not respecting their seniors are everyday gossip any senior actor can talk about, but if I were the one who got beat up by a junior, it’s something that’s very hard to talk about openly.
Judging by his looks, Joo Yoo-shin’s someone with a strong sense of pride—would he tell anyone about this?
Instead, it would be obvious that he’d try to stop the rumor from spreading.
If I perform poorly or well, it’s decided that Joo Yoo-shin will spread gossip about me regardless. But if I ever got hit by someone, I wouldn’t be able to tell others about it, right?
There’s no evidence and no witness anywhere.
There’s no reason not to do this.
It’s not like Joo Yoo-shin, with a brain, can keep pulling stunts after suffering this kind of mishap.
He’ll probably be wondering what’s going on, and he’ll need time to gather his thoughts.
And just as I anticipated, it was exactly three days of quiet from Joo Yoo-shin.
But it’s impossible to silence Joo Yoo-shin with just this, right?
After all, people like him are dead serious about trivial matters.
“Why? Are you trying to hit me again like last time? Go ahead.”
It was the third day after I had thrown the New Religion punch at Joo Yoo-shin.
As usual, Joo Yoo-shin called me out.
A day when Senior Actor Kang Ji-woo wasn’t shooting.
It seems like he intentionally picked the day.
Honestly, I also thought today would be the D-day.
Given Joo Yoo-shin’s paper-thin patience, I didn’t think he’d last long.
“Haha, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Tch, what a shameless kid…”
Joo Yoo-shin, with some learning ability, called me out to a different place today.
A place with few people but not completely deserted.
A very delicate space where if I were to attack him, someone might notice.
And here comes Joo Yoo-shin with his overconfident tone.
What an arrogant guy. Haven’t you ever seen someone like me? This guy truly doesn’t know what it means to respect his seniors.
The fact that he’s continuing his bold provocations despite receiving an unexpected blow indicates that something is hidden.
For example, a recorder.
If I violently attack or slip up in front of him here, he would use that as leverage against me.
It’s so obvious it’s making me yawn.
“Hmm…”
I casually looked around.
The manager is stepped back as before, but there’s a strange vibe around.
Could it be reporters?
It doesn’t feel like Joo Yoo-shin summoned them—it seems like reporters just hanging around our set.
Well, since our drama is doing so well, it isn’t strange that there are reporters secretly monitoring the filming site.
If that’s the case, then it’s okay to act a little more aggressively.
“Sorry! Senior!”
“…What?”
“Sorry! Senior!”
No matter how he tries to provoke me, I repeatedly bow to him at a 90-degree angle.
Naturally, people’s attention shifts to us, and the confused manager rushes over.
“Haha, Mr. Baek Si-u. Why suddenly like this? Let’s go.”
Joo Yoo-shin being dragged off by his manager, looking somewhat aggrieved.
Not that I’m saying. If you want to crave after your juniors, you shouldn’t have called me out where no one’s around.
This is obviously a place where people’s eyes are present.
A small commotion occurs, and as Joo Yoo-shin gets dragged away, Lion approaches, bursting into a hollow laugh.
“Hey, the days of performing such 90-degree bows on stone slabs have been long gone.”
“Well, if this makes the Senior feel better, of course, I’d be willing to do it.”
“Strange. You don’t seem like someone with this kind of nature.”
“Nah, nothing.”
So, we’ve wrapped up here.
All that’s left is waiting for the vultures to act like vultures, right?
A junior bowing to a senior at a 90-degree angle at the set.
If the reporters captured this scene, what kind of article would they put out?
If there was a reporter with common sense, the most safe and sound headline would be something like ‘Popular Actor Joo Yoo-shin, shocking conflict with a rookie actor!’
The manager probably rushed to get Joo Yoo-shin out of there worrying about these sorts of things.
Joo Yoo-shin, being young, probably doesn’t understand the workings of this industry, but a manager from an SD-class large agency would know that they need to take even more precautions at the filming site when the drama is popular.
But I don’t think they’ll worry too much about this.
They believe that this level of gossip can be sufficiently smoothed over by the company.
Frankly, having 20-something actors joust and seniors checking juniors is so common, it’s not even a big scoop.
Unless Joo Yoo-shin’s a righteous star known for good conduct in this industry, he’s just one of the many popular actors.
But what the manager has forgotten, for a moment, is one fact: I’m a 70-year-old disguise.
Of course, those involved in the filming crew of this set, and the viewers watching this drama, know that Mr. Yoon is actually a 20-year-old rookie actor Baek Si-u.
But there are more people in this world who aren’t interested in this drama, and there are also plenty who want to lash out at someone for no reason.
Suppose, in a situation where you have no prior information and you see a photo of me bowing to Joo Yoo-shin at a 90-degree angle, what would people think?
At this point, do you feel like there’s a tension?
Then that’s completely normal.
Because there’s a good possibility that among the gathered vultures, one may try to use this somehow to grab some clicks.
After all, they’re vultures for sneaking into a restricted drama filming site.
And the results were confirmed the following day.
-Popular star Joo Yoo-shin, bullying a random old man?
“…Of course, that’s what makes a reporter.”
Exactly, a vulture is still a vulture.
Subtly taken photos didn’t even reveal my face, and as a result, anyone could have perceived this as a grey-haired elder bowing to Joo Yoo-shin at a 90-degree angle.
A photo that would prompt any uninformed person to curse Joo Yoo-shin.
From framing to wording, the vulture couldn’t have been better.
“Indeed, vultures are relentless.”
Of course, there was chaos on Joo Yoo-shin’s side.
SD announced they will sue, and Joo Yoo-shin himself explained the situation on his SNS.
Finally, the tabloid aiming for a quick buck published an article, and thanks to SD’s proactive intervention, the situation seemed to be gradually easing.
However, as mentioned earlier, our country is filled with people who want to curse others for no reason.
So, they began a secondary attack on Joo Yoo-shin demanding justification for why Baek Si-u bowed to him.
This left Joo Yoo-shin in a difficult position to explain.
And, to properly reveal the issue, Joo Yoo-shin couldn’t avoid my help, whether he liked it or not.
“So, you’re asking me to pretend we’re close during today’s interview?”
“It’s not a bad thing for you, right?”
“Ah, is it now? But Senior mentioned before not to rely on connections and act cocky. It was you who warned me against trusting writers and senior actors like yourself, right? It’s a valid statement indeed. So, I offered my sincere apology, and moving forward, I’ll rely solely on strengthening my skills rather than connections.”
“Hmph, you…”
Frustrated by my answer, Joo Yoo-shin asked the manager to step aside for a moment and came out candidly.
He seems to have judged that continuing to drag this out would only harm himself.
“Hey, being straight with you. This isn’t good for you either. I’m the lead actor of this drama. If you smear me, will this drama run smoothly? The ratings will drop!”
“True, that’s right.”
“So, you should…you know what I mean.”
“But why should I care if the drama fails?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, why should this matter to me whether the drama fails?”
Joo Yoo-shin looked flabbergasted at my attitude, which showed no concern for the drama’s failure, so I briefly explained my position.
“Because I’ve already gained everything I aimed for. My goal was to make a name in the industry.”
“That’s…”
“Look, even if the drama succeeds, people will remember just ‘Yoon Elder,’ right? That’s not even my real face. How many people will remember the name ‘Baek Si-u’?”
“That’s… that’s true?”
“Of course it is. So, handle this yourself.”
While that’s what I said, the truth was different.
It’s always better for the drama to succeed if I’m participating, and the higher the ratings, the better for everyone, including U PD and Writer Min.
But Joo Yoo-shin only thinks about himself, and this line of reasoning seemed quite convincing to him, causing genuine panic.
Anyway, a young one is still a young one.
Of course, the fact this young one is technically two years older than my physical age can be a bit of a joke.
“Well, if Senior insists, I may not refuse to cooperate.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. From now on, let’s just focus on shooting. You are the leading actor after all. The more the ratings rise, the more benefits there are.”
“…Alright. I don’t want to associate with someone like you either.”
Good.
I never had any intention of reforming or exploiting Joo Yoo-shin.
I just wanted to give the impression that I’m annoyingly crazy to deal with.
Since they’ve come to understand through experience that it’s exhausting to get tangled up with me, from now on, they won’t even come near me.
“…Is it this way?”
“Ah, Senior.”
“Surely you didn’t…?”
“Nah, surely not. Just vultures being vultures.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Today’s other leading actor, Lion, muttering “I kind of expected this, but he’s crazier than I thought” while sitting far away from me.
It seems like there’s some sort of misunderstanding here.
Apparently, I’ve been marked as someone both main actors avoid getting too involved with.
