Chapter 93

Chapter 93

Honestly, it would be a lie to say I wasn't surprised.

I had already heard plenty of rumors that Han Hye-joo came from a wealthy family, but I never imagined it was to this extent.

“What’s with that reaction? Don’t tell me you already knew?”

Won Se-chang blinked at me in confusion when I reacted more calmly than he expected.

“No. I didn’t know.”

“Then why are you reacting like that? Aren’t you surprised? We’re talking about Hanshin Group. Hanshin Group! The fourth-largest business group in the country. Han Hye-joo is the youngest daughter of a chaebol family.”

Ha... this is exhausting.

Won Se-chang moved even closer to me than before and whispered in a secretive voice, practically breathing directly into my ear.

“This is a real, real secret that absolutely nobody knows... I’m only telling you because you’re Team Leader Min. Listen carefully.”

I desperately wanted to escape this ridiculously uncomfortable situation, so I reluctantly nodded along.

“Actually, Han Hye-joo... is our company CEO’s niece.”

Ha... You breathed all over my ear just to tell me that?!

Completely unaware of what I was thinking, Won Se-chang continued.

“I mean, if we didn’t know, that would be one thing. But once we know she’s CEO Han’s niece, how could we pretend we don’t? We should read the situation and cast her first. Don’t you think?”

Ha... So you cast Han Hye-joo because you wanted to suck up to the owner’s family?

“The CEO just doesn’t say it openly. But his niece is an actress. Of course he’d want to give her a push, right?”

Tsk. Talk about excessive loyalty. Instead of wasting time scheming like this, why don’t you attend meetings properly?

“Team Leader Min, watch carefully and learn. Working life isn’t anything complicated.”

He dumped practically all of his own work onto Choi Kyung-min, yet here he was talking about these petty schemes as though they were some brilliant secret to surviving in society.

Just looking at Won Se-chang made me so annoyed that I almost shuddered.

Time passed quickly.

Once the drama’s expected broadcast date was set for the second week of October, we finalized June 12 as the first day of filming.

We needed to have at least six episodes filmed before the first broadcast if we wanted to finish production without any broadcasting gaps.

With that, we sped up pre-production.

By the time the cherry blossoms began to bloom, we had finished most of the casting and staff recruitment.

Fortunately, the article saying that Moon Hyun-bin and Jeong Se-won were being considered for Hong Yeon-hee’s drama had worked in our favor, so Jeong Se-won’s casting also went smoothly.

It was my first drama, but most of the things that had to be done during pre-production were similar to a movie.

Scouting locations, building sets, checking costumes and props, making daily shooting schedules...

However, unlike movies, dramas began filming before the entire script was completed.

That meant location arrangements, sets, costumes, props...

Everything was filled with variables.

Of course, filmmaking was always a battle against unexpected variables too, but drama production felt like an entirely different level.

And those problems started appearing even before filming began, during pre-production.

“What did you say?”

<“The... writer... right now... static... the director...”>

Maybe the hands-free system wasn't very good, because Kang Joo-young’s voice kept cutting out through the car speakers.

“Joo-young, hold on. I’m driving right now...”

I quickly turned on the hazard lights and pulled the car over to the side of the road.

Then I picked up my phone.

“Okay, I can hear you now. Go ahead. What happened with the writer?”

Kang Joo-young quickly explained the situation over the phone.

Today, she had visited Hong Yeon-hee’s studio to discuss several issues.

“I told you, didn’t I? Don’t accept just any PPL deal! Think about it for a second. Ji-soo, the female lead who spends every waking moment obsessed with revenge, is suddenly going to casually put on a facial mask? Or Han Hye-joo’s character, who’s supposed to be the daughter of a chaebol family, is going to sit at home using some cheap-looking sheet mask?!”

Hong Yeon-hee was already extremely sensitive from working on the script, and the planning team’s sudden request to add a PPL scene pushed her over the edge.

“I’m sorry, Writer Hong... I actually asked the director whether we should accept it, and he said it would be fine, so he told us to take the deal...”

Kang Joo-young spoke timidly while carefully watching Hong Yeon-hee’s expression.

“What? The director told you to accept it?”

Hong Yeon-hee frowned in disbelief after hearing that Won Se-chang had approved the PPL without discussing it with her even once.

“And why did you ask the director about that? You should’ve asked me! Does the director write the script? I do! Where is the director right now?!”

Hong Yeon-hee had already been furious because Won Se-chang had recently been making decisions on his own without caring about her opinion.

Unable to hold back, she ended up taking some of that anger out on Kang Joo-young.

As the atmosphere grew cold, Do Gi-jeong, who had been watching from the side, tried to calm Hong Yeon-hee.

“Writer Hong, please calm down for now. Once we reach the director, we’ll tell him. For now, why don’t you go to your room and get some sleep? You’ve barely slept at all for more than forty-eight hours.”

At Do Gi-jeong’s words, Hong Yeon-hee struggled to suppress her anger.

“How am I supposed to sleep in this situation? Episodes six and seven have to be finished within this month, and now I have to revise the script again because of this PPL... Ha...”

According to Kang Joo-young, Do Gi-jeong had stepped in and calmed Hong Yeon-hee down, so the situation had settled for the moment.

However, Hong Yeon-hee had demanded that the director come to her studio.

<“But neither the director nor the assistant director is answering their phones.”>

“Okay. They’re both at the Ilsan set right now. I’m already on my way there. I’ll explain the situation when I arrive, so you should head back to the office, Joo-young.”

<“Okay...”>

“Oh, is the assistant writer next to you?”

<“Huh? Ah, yes. Should I put him on?”>

“Yes, please.”

Soon, Do Gi-jeong’s voice came through the phone.

Do Gi-jeong had become Hong Yeon-hee’s assistant writer, and he was doing much better than expected.

Hong Yeon-hee had even personally thanked me for introducing him to her.

<“Hello?”>

“Hyung. How’s Writer Hong doing?”

<“She just went into her room to sleep. She hasn’t been sleeping properly at all, so she’s extremely sensitive right now. Anyway, the director definitely went too far this time. Just because he isn’t the one writing the script doesn’t mean he can throw things around however he wants... Ahem...”>

“Okay. I’ll handle the situation here, so please focus on taking care of Writer Hong.”

After ending the call, irritation surged through me so strongly that my head began to ache.

Ha... Won Se-chang, you bastard. Not doing your job is one thing, but at least don’t create more problems...

I had constantly been looking for a way to remove Won Se-chang from this project.

But unlike with Choi Moon-ho, it wasn't easy.

Won Se-chang cleverly and shamelessly pursued his own interests while always staying in that vague gray area between legal and illegal.

Because of that, finding a proper reason to remove him was much harder than I expected.

It was frustrating.

And as situations like this continued to happen, my patience was reaching its limit.

The moment I entered the set, a strange smell of paint mixed with dusty sawdust brushed against my nose.

I quickly scanned the interior of the set, which felt like a strange mixture of a construction site and a filming location.

On one side, several staff members from the set team were wearing work clothes and working on the walls of what appeared to be a living-room set.

I hurried over to them.

“Team Leader Jeong, are you busy?”

“Huh? Team Leader Min? What brings you here?”

“I heard you were having a meeting with Director Won today about the sets, so I came to attend too.”

“Oh, really? But the meeting already ended...”

His words caught me off guard.

“What? Already?”

“Yeah. There wasn’t much to discuss. Director Won asked us to build one additional set, so we just worked out the details.”

“One more set?”

What? The script hasn’t changed, so why would we suddenly need another set?

Seeing me blink in confusion, the set team leader continued.

“Director Won already left. The assistant director and FD should still be in the waiting room, so go check there.”

“Ah, okay. Thank you.”

I pushed aside my doubts and hurried toward the separate waiting room behind the set.

However, only bags and personal belongings were there.

There was no one inside.

Where did they go?

As I looked around, my eyes landed on a script lying on the table.

“What’s this script?”

The title printed on the cover was That Woman’s Garden, so there was no doubt that it was the script for our drama.

However, even the binding looked completely different from the script we had all been sharing.

Naturally, I picked it up and quickly began reading through it.

But then...

Wait... Why is the story like this?!

The content had been subtly altered from the script I knew.

I froze in confusion.

At that moment, Assistant Director Choi Kyung-min entered the waiting room together with the FD.

“Assistant Director, what’s going on with this script?”

At my confused question, Choi Kyung-min visibly panicked and quickly snatched the script from my hands.

“Assistant Director, I’m asking you what this script is!”

When I pressed him for an answer, Choi Kyung-min hesitated with an uncomfortable expression.

Eventually, he opened his mouth as though he had no other choice.

“Fine. Team Leader Min was going to find out eventually anyway...”

According to Choi Kyung-min, this was what happened.

One week ago, Won Se-chang had given him a revised version of the scripts for Episodes 1 and 2, saying that changes had been made.

Naturally, Choi Kyung-min assumed that Hong Yeon-hee had revised them.

But as he continued reading, he noticed that the tone and atmosphere were noticeably different.

He became certain that Hong Yeon-hee had not written these revisions.

“Director, this script... don’t tell me...!”

“That’s right. I hired a ghostwriter and made a few changes. It’s not like I changed much. I just removed a few gloomy scenes and changed some dialogue and situation setups. That’s all.”

Won Se-chang had instructed him to maintain absolute secrecy because they had to do the work without the writer finding out.

“Ha... A ghostwriter? Director, it’s only a matter of time before someone finds out about this.”

“That’s why we have to be careful. Once Episodes 1 and 2 are broadcast, Writer Hong won’t be able to do anything about it.”

Won Se-chang shamelessly insisted on pushing ahead.

“Director, I really don’t think this is right! Wouldn’t it be better to discuss it with Writer Hong, even now...?”

“Discuss it? Tsk. Do you seriously think Writer Hong is the type to say, ‘Sure~ Go ahead’? Forget it. You just do what I tell you.”

Frustrated, Choi Kyung-min continued questioning him.

“Then what about the other staff? What about the actors?!”

“The staff are on our side, so they won’t spread rumors. As for the actors, let them practice using Writer Hong’s script until the full cast reading. Then, right before filming starts, we’ll hand them the revised script. You understand what I’m saying, right?”

Choi Kyung-min said he had been left speechless by how ridiculous and outrageous the whole situation was.

I stared at him.

“So what you’re telling me is... the director secretly changed Writer Hong’s script without her knowledge?”

Choi Kyung-min nodded with a grim expression.

Ha.

I found it.

The way to bring Won Se-chang down!