Chapter 189

Chapter 189. K-Emily Berry

The dress shop had been exhausting.

As luck would have it, the paparazzo who had come back to follow us managed to take even more photos.

Among them was one of Youngchae twisting the woman's arm.

I deleted that one.

The woman left grumbling while clutching her bent arm.

After that, shopping resumed, and we bought two dresses for each of them.

Why two each?

Because there was a pre-Academy party the night before the ceremony.

They couldn't exactly wear the same dress two days in a row.

What else could we do?

The paparazzo uploaded the photo of the woman shoving Youngchae's forehead with her palm.

Only after articles started appearing did I realize the woman was much more famous than I'd thought.

I also learned that Youngchae was apparently a master of joint locks.

[Actress Emily Berry Assaults Blue Moon's Jin Youngchae at Dress Shop...]

Judging by the way she spoke, she seemed like someone who regularly threw her weight around.

Either American reporters hadn't been doing their jobs properly until now, or Emily Berry had simply been in an especially bad mood that day.

Either way, the public was pretty shocked by the released photos.

That shock did nothing to stop the criticism.

Tens of thousands of Apollo fans flooded Emily's social-media account demanding an apology.

Thoroughly frightened, Emily posted one.

[That day, I was in a very bad mood and made a mistake. I'm very sorry. I'm sorry to Ms. Youngchae Jin, and I'm also sorry to Mr. Jun-hyeok Do. I'm sorry to the employee as well. I will make sure something like this never happens again. I'm truly sorry. However, I had no intention of hurting anyone's feelings. I sincerely hope their anger passes soon.]

┗[You shoved her head and didn't mean to hurt her feelings? Is that supposed to be words, a fart, crap, or diarrhea?]

┗[You think saying "I'm sorry" three times makes it a sincere apology?! Go apologize in person!]

┗[What's "Youngchae Jin"? Youngchae is already Youngchae! Write Korean names properly~.]

┗[Recruiting people to go shove Emily's head.]

The pre-party was also being held in New York.

Academy officials and nominees gathered together, drinking champagne.

Emily had posted an apology, but the hate comments hadn't stopped.

So she even came all the way to the party to personally ask Youngchae for forgiveness.

"I went too far last time. I'm sorry. But I'm under a lot of emotional stress right now. Please ask your fans to go easy on me. I really am sorry."

"What's she saying?"

I translated Emily's words for Youngchae.

Youngchae laughed.

"Pfft. No, I understand what she's saying. I mean, what kind of nonsense is she talking about now?"

It wasn't that Youngchae didn't understand English.

She meant, What kind of garbage is this woman saying after the fact?

Then Youngchae thought for a moment and said,

"I can't order my fans around. I can only hope they calm down. They're not angry because I told them to be. Still, I'll make sure to say that I accepted your apology."

Youngchae was right.

No matter how much the fans loved the members, they weren't followers who obeyed every command.

After sending Emily away, I went to pick up the photographers I'd personally invited.

That was when Park Chan-deok and Choi Gyu-sik approached.

"Ah, Directors. You're here?"

"Yes. Did things get settled with Emily Berry?"

Choi Gyu-sik asked.

"Yeah. It was just a tiny, trivial little incident."

"Make sure you walk around and get photographed a lot. Director Park is going to drag down the Korean average pretty badly today, so CEO Do, you'll have to work extra hard."

Choi Gyu-sik pointed at Park Chan-deok.

Park Chan-deok snorted.

He was wearing shabby elastic-waist pants and a thick gray field jacket.

Even I, who was here merely as the members' guardian, had worn an ordinary suit and tried to look presentable.

Wasn't Park Chan-deok going to be photographed today too?

"He's been photographed like that ever since the Golden Bear, so there's no helping it. Search him online. No matter where the picture was taken, he's always dressed exactly like this."

"Really?"

"Yes. Film students absolutely adore Director Park. If you meet young unknown directors, there isn't a single one who doesn't own a gray field jacket. Apparently they feel like filming only goes well if they hang one over their director's chair."

Park Chan-deok's gray field jacket carried that much symbolism?

Hearing that made it sound kind of cool.

If Park Chan-deok were Admiral Yi Sun-sin, that jacket would be his turtle ship.

"Hello!"

Serin and Youngchae greeted the directors.

Naturally, Serin moved toward Choi Gyu-sik, while Youngchae stood beside Park Chan-deok.

"Serin, that dress looks amazing. So? Have you decided about the drama?"

"Thank you. Ahaha. I'm still thinking about it."

"If I make the drama, I guess I'll have to include a scene where you wear a dress."

Choi Gyu-sik and Serin laughed together while catching up.

"Youngchae, your dress looks nice too. Have you been doing well?"

"Yes. It's cold lately. Are you staying healthy?"

Park Chan-deok and Youngchae also spoke quietly.

Their personalities were strangely similar.

The two pairs almost looked like fathers and daughters.

"How is Youngchae's training going?"

Park Chan-deok quietly asked me.

I'd been receiving updates from Yeo Eun-joo from time to time.

Apparently, Youngchae was doing reasonably well.

She didn't have the extraordinary talent Serin possessed, but she was progressing at the level of a normal aspiring actress.

Still, Youngchae was unusually hardworking, so Yeo Eun-joo thought she could improve fairly quickly.

"She's doing well. She still needs to keep working at it, but at least she won't b-break anything anymore."

"Hah, CEO-nim, stop..."

Youngchae squeezed her eyes shut and cut me off.

Then...

"Oh my~! I'm such a huge Blue Moon fan! I've wanted to meet you so badly. Goodness, Serin and Youngchae are so beautiful, but why are you wearing such cheap-looking dresses? Tomorrow, I'll make sure you're properly taken care of!"

We were talking with adults.

Who was barging in like this?

I looked at the woman who practically pushed her way between us and started acting overly familiar with the members.

Her name was Kim Chae-ryeong.

She was the eldest granddaughter of Sriver Chairman Kim Gyu-bong and an executive director at Sriver Group's holding company, Shinseo Group.

She was a private citizen, but still a famous one.

Obviously, it wasn't because of her career as an executive.

It was because she was married to top star Park Jae-hyun.

Park Jae-hyun had debuted as a rookie in the 1990s and remained one of Korea's top actors ever since.

Recently, he'd starred in a major Watflix-produced American film that became a huge hit, earning him an invitation here.

Kim Chae-ryeong had become known to the Korean public because she always accompanied Park Jae-hyun to awards ceremonies and took photos with him whenever he won something.

While Serin and Youngchae were caught by Kim Chae-ryeong and started talking with her, Park Chan-deok and Choi Gyu-sik quietly slipped away.

"Oh! My goodness...! I'm so sorry. What do I do...?"

Just then, I heard a glass bottle roll across the floor, followed by a man's frantic apology.

When I turned around, a waiter was repeatedly apologizing in front of Serin.

Red wine had splashed across the hem of her dress.

"What the hell are you doing?! On a light-colored dress!"

Instead of Serin, who was perfectly calm, Kim Chae-ryeong suddenly exploded in anger.

Did she really want to get close to the members that badly?

At first, I assumed she'd pretend to be angry for a moment and stop.

But her voice never lowered.

If anything, the insults became harsher and harsher.

She was even more furious than Emily had been at the dress shop.

"I-It's okay! The hem is long anyway, so people in the old days probably walked around getting it dirty like this all the time. Right?"

"Yeah. It looks like Cinderella. I actually like it better this way."

Serin and Youngchae looked flustered by the abuse being directed at the waiter and began throwing out excuses that had no chance whatsoever of working.

As expected, they didn't.

Was this sort of thing common in America?

Like I'd done at the dress shop, I stepped in to stop Kim Chae-ryeong.

"Serin says it's fine, so why do you keep attacking the guy? Can't you see everyone staring?"

"..."

Maybe because I'd been listening to her spew insults right beside me, my own nerves had started to fray too.

When I snapped at her like that, Kim Chae-ryeong's face turned red and blue.

She looked around at everyone watching.

Then she hurriedly ran out of the pre-party hall.

I had no idea what she was thinking.

Still, at least the disturbance was over.

"Whew. That was stressful. Thank you so much. But what do we do about the dress? The stain really soaked in..."

"It's fine. Youngchae can rip it apart or smash it or something."

"CEO-nim. I don't customize clothes like that anymore..."

Anyway, the point was that it was fine.

But just because I said so didn't mean the waiter could relax.

He kept watching Serin's expression.

"Even if I go get another dress right now, it'll take some time..."

Serin seemed to understand what he needed.

She imitated a famous line from the animated film 〈Cinderella〉.

"It's all right. Even miracles take a little time."

Maybe it was because of her clear, precise delivery.

For a moment, Serin genuinely looked like Cinderella.

The waiter recognized the quote and finally relaxed a little.

After he left, Youngchae, Serin, and I started discussing what to do about the stained dress.

Then, from off to one side, a middle-aged white man gave Serin a thumbs-up.

"Serin, I think he's impressed because you're so kind."

"It's nothing."

Anyone attending this event probably wasn't an ordinary person.

Who was that man?

I'll remember his face and ask around later.

Park Jae-hyun only realized much later that Kim Chae-ryeong had left the pre-party.

He hurried back to the hotel.

There, Kim Chae-ryeong was sitting alone, eating rice with side dishes spread out in front of her.

"I heard you fought with Mr. Do Jun-hyeok at the party. What happened?"

"I'm pissed off. I'm seriously so pissed off."

Stuffing rice into her mouth to calm herself down, Kim Chae-ryeong finally burst.

"That waiter spilled wine on Kim Serin. Fine! People make mistakes. But it wasn't some half-finished glass. It was an entire wine bottle! That means he was carrying an opened wine bottle around, doesn't it? What are temporary stoppers for?"

"Right. The waiter made a mistake."

Kim Serin aside, Jin Youngchae was Sriver's model.

There was nothing strange about Kim Chae-ryeong trying to become friendly with her.

From her own perspective, she'd been making a genuine effort to build a good relationship.

And all she'd received in return was cold treatment.

"So I criticized the waiter a little, and that bastard Do Jun-hyeok suddenly activates his weird sense of justice and starts lecturing me. What is he, addicted to feeling sorry for poor people? Seriously."

Kim Chae-ryeong's family might have had absurd amounts of money, but even that waiter was probably highly qualified and earning decent money.

"Does he think he's something special just because he's doing well? Ridiculous. He's nothing but the owner of some small business who wouldn't even be able to continue his activities properly if he got on my bad side!"

"So what? Are you going to retaliate against him?"

"Retaliate?!"

When Kim Chae-ryeong shouted, Park Jae-hyun shrank back.

She was angrier than usual.

Even after pouring out every insult she could think of, she still didn't seem satisfied.

Her hands trembling, Kim Chae-ryeong pulled out her phone and called the company.

"Hey! It's me! 〈Entertainment News〉 is coming to New York tomorrow to film, right? Stop them from coming!"

If they came, the cameras would obviously focus mainly on Blue Moon.

〈Entertainment News〉 loved idol stories more than anything.

"What? Entertainment News? Is there a reason?"

"They're going to cover those arrogant Universe bastards! From this moment on, until dirt gets in my eyes, make sure those people never appear on television again! Got it?"

"...If that's the reason, I don't think that's possible."

Kim Chae-ryeong, who had been firing off orders with full confidence, froze.

"Youngchae of Blue Moon is our Sriver model. It'd be a problem if she stopped appearing on television."

"Obviously the commercial she's already doing is an exception, you idiot!"

"And we've been specifically told not to interfere with Universe. Actually, not just to leave them alone. We've been told to support them."

Kim Chae-ryeong demanded to know who had given such an absurd order.

"Chairman Kim Gyu-bong personally instructed us to do so."

The employee answered coldly.

Then hung up.