Become a Star

“By the way, when am I going to get a haircut?” Woo-Jin changed the subject and asked about his hair as he touched it with his hand. He hadn’t been able to cut it because of his exam. As his schedule was free, Hwang Yi-Young took this opportunity and went on vacation with her family, prompting Woo-Jin to ask Kang Ho-Soo instead, but his response was rather lukewarm.

“You’re going to cut your hair?” he asked.

“My bangs are annoying,” Woo-Jin answered.

“You might film a historical drama in the future, so you should leave it alone,” Kang Ho-Soo suggested.

“...”

“I’m not saying that you should play Prince Myeong-Hwan, but you could possibly appear in a different historical drama,” Kang Ho-Soo said.

Woo-Jin felt like no one was on his side as he heard Kang Ho-Soo deny talking about Red Enemy. But it was understandable since no one really understood him. The unexplainable frustration that Woo-Jin felt caused him to feel burdened.

Red Enemy was the drama that CEO Jang Soo-Hwan was forcing on him, so Woo-Jin didn’t bother reading the script. Instead, he placed the script on one side of the room and tried his best to forget about it, but he couldn’t ignore it. To Chae Woo-Jin, Prince Myeong-Hwan was one of his past lives that he didn’t want to revisit, but as an actor, he couldn’t help getting curious about Red Enemy.

Since the new semester started, Woo-Jin was busy with school, and unlike before, where he was basically invisible, many people asked for him. Of course, he couldn’t attend all of the gatherings, but he did attend a few to express his sincerity by showing up. As a result, his social life improved a lot.

It had been a few days since he received the script for Red Enemy, but CEO Jang Soo-Hwan and Kang Ho-Soo no longer forced Prince Myeong-Hwan’s role on Woo-Jin. However, seeing how they didn’t mention visiting a hair salon, he could somewhat guess their thoughts.

“Mother?” Woo-Jin asked.

He arrived home late after attending classes and meetings and was surprised to see his mother reading something in his room.

“Oh my! Is it that late already? I read it briefly while cleaning your room…” she said.

After looking at the time, Park Eun-Soo stood up from her seat while holding the Red Enemy script. The script had sat in the same spot for a few days, and while she started reading it out of curiosity, she ended up sitting down and reading the rest of it.

“Did you read it?” Woo-Jin asked.

“Was I not supposed to?” she asked him.

Woo-Jin shook his head while smiling when she asked in shock.

“No, it should be fine as long as you don’t leak it,” he answered.

“Of course, I wouldn’t do something like that, but are you going to do this movie? Who will you be playing?” Park Eun-Soo asked.

“I did get cast for the film, but I’m not going to accept it,” he answered.

“How come?”

“I just don’t like it.”

When her son answered indifferently, Park Eun-Soo looked disappointed but agreed as if there wasn’t anything she could do to change his mind.

“The script seems great, but nothing can be done if you don’t want to do it. It’s said that even roles are part of one’s destiny. Anyway, did you eat?”

“Of course,” Woo-Jin answered.

As she heard his answer, Park Eun-Soo placed the script in its original spot and started leaving the room.

“You can take it with you and read it,” he told her.

“No, I already read it once and was rereading it because it was fun,” she said.

When he heard her, Woo-Jin unknowingly asked while looking at Red Enemy, “Did you enjoy it?”

“I enjoyed reading it, at least. The story was good, and most of all, I was really immersed.”

“What was Prince Myeong-Hwan like in the script?” Woo-Jin asked.

“He was cool and charming, as expected from the main character, but he’s a bit different from the Prince Myeong-Hwan that everyone knows about, so it was memorable. They wrote him so well that he seemed very convincing, however….”

His mother didn’t finish her sentence and instead shrugged while looking at Woo-Jin.

“While reading it, there was another character I was more interested in than Prince Myeong-Hwan,” she said, finishing her sentence.

“Who?”

“They don't appear in a lot of scenes, and the role isn’t very impactful, but personally, I was feeling bad for them,” she explained.

People would usually like one character when reading a script, but since that wasn’t always the main character, Woo-Jin was no longer interested.

“By the way, you mentioned the application for changing Woo-Hee’s last name. How did that go? She sounded like she was going to apply before the new semester started,” Woo-Jin asked suddenly.

He had forgotten about it as he was busy preparing for the exam and asked his mother when the thought suddenly popped into his head. Since Woo-Hee didn’t meet the condition of getting adopted as a biological daughter, she told them last December that she would look into general adoption and change her last name.[1]

“Oh…about that….” Park Eun-Soo vaguely responded. His mother, who rarely stopped talking midway, smiled awkwardly. Everyone knew that Woo-Hee was Chae Woo-Jin’s younger sister, so changing her name to Choi Woo-Hee would give people something to talk about.

“I did tell Woo-Hee that it was probably better to do it when she enters college, but I guess I forgot to tell you,” his mother told him.

It was strange how his mother was avoiding eye contact. Woo-Hee was known to have the last name “Chae” because of Woo-Jin, so she probably wanted to end the topic quickly as she thought he would feel terrible, so Woo-Jin couldn’t ask any more questions.

After his mother left his room, Woo-Jin picked up the Red Enemy script. He didn’t get rid of it and left it in a place where he could see it because he was still attached to it as an actor. Plus, many people around him had said it was a good script, so he couldn’t ignore it.

“I’m simply curious….”

The moment he flipped the first page, it only took him a moment to read to the last page.

Like his mother said, the story was immersive, so it didn’t take him long to read until the very end. After reading every word, Woo-Jin checked to see who the writer of Red Enemy was and noticed it was written by Yoon Seon, the director.

“Are you serious…!”

Works, where Prince Myeong-Hwan was the main character, always stereotyped the prince. He was usually portrayed as having enjoyed the arts, spending time with courtesans, and pretending to be immersed in dance and poetry while in a complicated political situation. He was even criticized for being a bit indecisive and was bullied by his mother, which caused him to make a drastic decision in the end.

However, Red Enemy crushed many stereotypes regarding Prince Myeong-Hwan, and it was funny how 80 percent of it was close to the truth. Out of all the works Woo-Jin had seen so far, this script understood and portrayed Prince Myeong-Hwan the best. As if the director watched the prince up close, he understood the prince’s personality well and wrote it accordingly. Just how much research did he do that he could write it this close to the truth?

If there was one thing that Woo-Jin found lacking, then it was that people didn’t know that Prince Myeong-Hwan was a narcissist and an immature person, and because of that, Director Yoon Seon glorified him by filling the remaining 20 percent with lies.

“Why am I the one feeling embarrassed?” Woo-Jin asked himself.

Woo-Jin felt mortified and sad because despite living in the present, he was embarrassed about Prince Myeong-Hwan’s life.

***

“Wait, why?”

Since Director Yoon Seon hadn’t gotten any replies, he took the initiative to visit DS because he couldn’t wait anymore. At first, he had been indifferent about casting Chae Woo-Jin, but now, he had changed his mind and was adamant about casting only Chae Woo-Jin. He was confident. Even though he had told Cha Young-Joo that he might get rejected, it was nothing more than worrying about something that hadn’t happened yet. And so, when he heard the situation from CEO Jang Soo-Hwan, he couldn’t believe it.

“In my opinion, I think this is a personal issue,” Jang Soo-Hwan said.

“A personal issue?” Yoon Seon asked.

“When I saw Woo-Jin’s reaction, I noticed how he personally didn’t have a good opinion about Prince Myeong-Hwan, and there’s a good chance that he still hasn’t read the script,” the CEO explained.

Jang Soo-Hwan knew Woo-Jin well, but in the end, all of his assumptions were wrong.

“Wait, how can he dislike Prince Myeong-Hwan?”

Forget the casting issue; Director Yoon Seon didn’t understand that part more. And since CEO Jang Soo-Hwan also agreed with him, he couldn’t hold back his sorrow and grabbed his chest.

“Everyone interprets history differently, and the playboy image of Prince Myeong-Hwan that was first portrayed may have been engraved into Woo-Jin’s head. He’s pretty old-fashioned, so he really dislikes those things,” CEO Jang said.

“Oh wow! That’s why I didn’t like how they portrayed Prince Myeong-Hwan the first time. I still don’t understand why they portrayed someone like him that way,” the director said.

“But he was portrayed in a pretty charming way,” the CEO commented.

Even though they didn’t like how the prince was portrayed, no other actor would be able to surpass their interpretation of Prince Myeong-Hwan’s carefree personality and loneliness. It was a well-known fact that Prince Myeong-Hwan’s popularity increased because of that.

“Then what should we do?” the director asked.

“We need to convince him,” CEO Jang answered.

CEO Jang Soo-Hwan had fallen in love with the sword dance that Woo-Jin showed during his last appearance on The King of the Masked Singers. Now, unable to imagine anyone else as Prince Myeong-Hwan besides Chae Woo-Jin, he was just as desperate as Director Yoon Seon. “I’ll set up a meeting so that you can meet him, so try your best to convince him,” CEO Jang said.

Jang Soo-Hwan let Yoon Seon take over. If it were any other actor, they would’ve had to prepare a lot of things before going into filming, but for Woo-Jin, there wouldn’t be any problem if he joined now, so taking that into consideration, putting in the time to convince Woo-Jin wasn’t a waste.

Thanks to CEO Jang Soo-Hwan’s arrangement, Woo-Jin ended up having dinner with Director Yoon Seon. When Woo-Jin saw a table full of Korean food, he understood why CEO Jang Soo-Hwan told him not to leave until he finished all the food. As a result, Woo-Jin and Director Yoon Seon looked as if they were having a meeting between families while having more than enough food for two people.

“Have you had the chance to read Red Enemy?” the director asked.

“Yes,” Woo-Jin answered.

Director Yoon Seon's face brightened up instantly when Woo-Jin gave him an answer different from his expectation. Even though he wrote it, Director Yoon Seon was really proud of how the script turned out and was confident that no actor would turn down the role once they had read it.

“The script was good, but I believe I lack…in many things to take on the role of Prince Myeong-Hwan,” Woo-Jin told him.

“You’re not lacking at all! I’ve wandered for three years looking for the right candidate and chose you for the role!” the director said.

Truthfully, since last year, the investors had suggested Chae Woo-Jin, but Director Yoon Seon had kept rejecting him all this time. However, he changed his mind after watching the telecommunication commercial.

The way Woo-Jin fought off the robot birds with a sword made him think that he was good at sword dancing, and since his acting and appearance were acceptable, the director thought he would be able to interpret and act out Prince Myeong-Hwan the best out of all the young actors.

Ultimately, Director Yoon Seon selected Chae Woo-Jin because the investors pressured him to stop delaying the film. But the end justifies the means, and after three years, he was confident that Chae Woo-Jin was the only actor he was okay with.

“If you have any misunderstandings regarding Prince Myeong-Hwan, that’s because the previous dramas and movies interpreted him wrong, and actually, he’s not that kind of a person,” Director Yoon Seon explained.

“When I read the script, I realized that you interpreted him differently,” Woo-Jin said.

“The prince that’s portrayed in the Red Enemy is the actual prince. So I didn’t interpret him differently.”

For the first time today, Woo-Jin was genuinely curious after seeing Director Yoon Seon’s confident attitude. In history, all they talked about were the results of Prince Myeong-Hwan’s deeds, works of art, political situations that surrounded him, and their consequences. Additionally, the media had a big influence on portraying him in a certain way.

But Director Yoon Seon’s Red Enemy portrayed Prince Myeong-Hwan differently from the others, making Woo-Jin curious about how he got that confidence when writing this story.

1. Based on a google search, if the adoption of a biological child is allowed, the kinship with the biological parents will be terminated, the legal kinship with the adopted parents will be newly formed, and the surname of the biological child will also follow the adopted father. In a general adoption, the adopted adoptive parents acquire the status of the birth of their adopted parents during marriage, so the adopted parents are subject to the parental rights and relatives of the adopted parents. However, the existing kinship with his biological parents remains the same. In order to “qualify” for an adoption as a biological child, the person who will be a parent must be a married couple for at least three years and the person who will be an adopted child must be under the age of 15. ☜