Descent of the Demon Master-Chapter 1274. Punishing (4)

“Nice, Miss Yeon-Ha! Very nice! Yes, that’s what I’m talking about! How about... moving... your head to the side a little? Yes, like that! Exactly like that!”

A dozen-plus cameras simultaneously captured their subject in her natural surroundings.

Choi Yeon-Ha expertly followed the director’s instructions and changed her pose.

“Yes, haughtily like that... Haughty and proud, as if you’re the most beautiful creature in the entire world... Mm?”

The director noticed that Choi Yeon-Ha’s expression had become flat and emotionless. He instantly realized what he did wrong.

“Ah, wait! That’s not right for you, Miss Yeon-Ha! How about... a little more arrogance?”

Only then did the director get the expression he was looking for from his actress.

As Choi Yeon-Ha already viewed herself as the... most beautiful woman in the world, following the director’s instructions would inevitably result in her usual expressionless face instead.

The director smiled bitterly while staring into the bank of monitors. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

‘Well, at least she looks incredible on screen.’

Working with Choi Yeon-Ha was one of the easiest jobs in the world. And one of the most challenging, too!

Trying to humor her demanding personality and doing things according to her schedule could be very stressful for any director. On the other hand, though, working with her usually made things so much ‘simpler’ for anyone brave enough to take the plunge!

Forget compositions or whatever, simply having Choi Yeon-Ha against any backdrop would create a picture worthy of many plaudits, after all!

‘Well, God is fair, isn’t He? He didn’t grant everything to one person, after all!’

Choi Yeon-Ha was probably the best example of that adage. However, it seemed even God had a slight change of heart lately.

“Mm...! Miss Yeon-Ha?”

The director stopped studying the footage on the monitors, got up from his chair, and walked over to Choi Yeon-Ha.

“Miss Yeon-Ha! Everything has come out perfectly today. Even a blind idiot will say the shots we got are verging on perfection!”

Choi Yeon-Ha grinned brightly. “It’s all thanks to your hard work, director.”

“Hahaha! Thank you for saying that. However, it doesn’t matter how good I am as a director. If the subject captured by my cameras isn’t good enough, the resulting images will also be subpar, you see? I’ll be honest, if every model was half as good as you, I’ll be out of work by tomorrow. Every random nobody can grab a camera and start shooting commercials, after all! Why would anyone hire me in that case?”

The director laughed and joked around a bit before sneakily gauging Choi Yeon-Ha’s response.

“Yes, so we got all the best shots today, but... Mm, what can I say? If it was any other actor beside you, I’d have said, ‘OK, we’re done here’. But you know me. I get greedy sometimes. It’s like, if we change our theme for something else I have in mind, I get this feeling that we’re gonna create something special. Something that will sweep aside all the wannabes in the world of advertisement this year. What do you say, Miss Yeon-Ha? Please?”

Choi Yeon-Ha’s brows rose a little higher as she stared at the director. “You want to shoot another commercial with me?”

“Yes, that’s it! But the available time for today is not quite enough...”

The director smiled awkwardly while bringing his hands together.

“Can we extend the shoot for one more day? Until tomorrow? Yes, I know that the contract says the shoot must wrap up by today. But I still have this lingering feeling, you see?”

“Hmm...?” Choi Yeon-Ha stared weirdly at the director before asking a question. “Will that be fine, though? We’ll go way over budget if we do that. I won’t be the only person working hard for one extra day, after all. Whether it’s the cost of retaining the services of the crew or the location fees, the financiers might throw a hissy fit at the additional bill, you know?”

The director grinned and explained, “Actually, we have more room to maneuver than I initially thought, Miss Yeon-Ha. And I’m confident that the financiers will give us the extra dough when they clap their eyes on the fruits of today’s labor. I mean, considering my track record in this business, I should be entitled to that level of support at the very least, am I right?”

Choi Yeon-Ha chuckled helplessly.

“Please, Miss Yeon-Ha. Help me out this once. Help me save my bacon! People have been gossiping about how I’m in a slump right now, you know.”

“Who would dare say that about you?”

“That’s right! My thoughts exactly! Gimme a break. They keep yapping on and on about trendy this, trendy that! I wouldn’t be this pissed if those young upstarts said that crap after shooting half-decent commercials first.”

The director snorted derisively before groveling again.

“That’s why... Please, do me this favor just this once, Miss Yeon-Ha. I beg you. It’s not every day that I get to work with you, after all. That’s why! I want to create a bombshell that will blow everyone away with you as the protagonist.”

Choi Yeon-Ha smiled brightly while nodding away. “Well, how can I say no when you’re asking me like this? Let’s schedule one more day of shoot for tomorrow, then.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much, Miss Yeon-Ha! I mean it.”

“However, I’d like you to return the favor by working more often with our agency’s talents, okay?”

“Of course! That’s a given!”

Choi Yeon-Ha inwardly groaned while staring at the director rejoicing like a little kid.

***

“Argh, that was so frustrating!”

Choi Yeon-Ha sagged in the chair and stared at the ceiling as cusses began freely flowing out of her mouth.

“Perfection, my ass! He used to only need three takes to get everything in the can back in the day, but he actually spent half a day just for one bloody scene!”

Han Eun-Sol sighed deeply. “Noona, please keep it down.”

“Why? It’s not like someone’s gonna walk right past us, anyway!”

When Choi Yeon-Ha shouted even louder instead of piping down, Han Eun-Sol wordlessly raised his hands to cover his ears. This was what he got for needlessly provoking the sleeping tiger.

“You could’ve said ‘not interested’ to the director, right?” Han Eun-Sol asked. “Even the contract specifically stated that the shoot must wrap up by today, too.”

“Hey! You think that’s up to me?”

Choi Yeon-Ha glared at Han Eun-Sol, her temper steadily boiling even hotter.

“Sure, if it had only been about me, I would have gladly told the director to kick rocks, okay? But I’m not alone anymore, right?! Our talents joined our agency because of me, so the least I can do is get them jobs in commercials! If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to agree to an extended shoot! Especially when my back’s been hurting like hell!”

Choi Yeon-Ha lowered her volume for the next part of her ranting.

“Why is this director so obsessed with me making all these contorted poses?”

Han Eun-Sol replied with a shrug. “Apparently, it’s to create that beautiful silhouette.”

“But what about my spine? Doesn’t he care about it cracking in half for his stupid silhouette?”

Han Eun-Sol couldn’t help but chuckle softly just then.

‘Yup, the sun might rise from the west tomorrow.’

Barely one year ago, Choi Yeon-Ha would’ve stormed her way out of the filming location if the director dared to say that to her. Actually, no director would’ve been brave enough to say that in the first place!

But now? Not only did Choi Yeon-Ha not lose her cool, she even went along with the director’s unreasonable demand, too!

‘And this is how she learns to become more like a human being, folks.’

Outwardly, this might look like an extreme transformation, but Han Eun-Sol didn’t find this change all that strange.

Actually, that wasn’t quite right. The way he saw it, Choi Yeon-Ha hadn’t changed at all. What had changed, however, was the situation she was in.

If she was a free agent, nay, if she had started a talent agency just for herself, she would’ve never, ever, said yes to a request like the one from the director earlier. But she was not doing it for herself only now.

MK Entertainment didn’t only look after Choi Yeon-Ha and Kang Eun-Yeong’s interests, but also all the juniors who signed on because of their trust in her fame. For a fledgling talent agency that didn’t do a whole lot of recruitment, it certainly had a pretty packed roster of talents.

It was precisely this situation that prevented her from throwing a tantrum and wrecking stuff.

Until now, the only person getting a bad rep for Choi Yeon-Ha causing a scene was Choi Yeon-Ha herself. One might think her talent agency was also in the firing line, but that was not true. That was because most people actually pitied the ‘poor’ talent agency for putting up with a high maintenance talent like her!

But now, Choi Yeon-Ha was the face of her company. The top representative.

Her causing a scene wouldn’t just end as her problem now. The company’s image would also suffer from her antics. And that, in turn, would harm the talents signed with the company, too.

Knowing all this, even the one-and-only Choi Yeon-Ha had to rein herself in and stop throwing immature tantrums like in the past.

“Aaaargh, I shouldn’t have created my own agency, Eun-Sol...”

Han Eun-Sol groaned deeply. “Noona... That’s why I tried to stop you.”

“I didn’t know things would end up like this!”

Han Eun-Sol chuckled slightly at that.

When Choi Yeon-Ha first thought of going independent, she never dreamed of going so big like this. No, she naively believed that, talent agency or not, prospective job offers would still flood her inbox as usual, so nothing about her life would change even if she and Han Eun-Sol set up a small little company for herself.

If she was being honest, the idea of sharing her hard-earned money with her former agency didn’t sit well with her. But then, Kang Jin-Ho somehow got involved in her planning, and...

Actually, that wasn’t right. It was Choi Yeon-Ha who forced Kang Jin-Ho into joining her scheme, after all!

In any case, that was when this whole talent agency idea began snowballing in the unintended direction.

“Actually, that’s not right, either...” Choi Yeon-Ha muttered. “I didn’t expect things to reach this stage this quickly.”

Han Eun-Sol cocked an eyebrow. “Huh? Does that mean you knew this would happen one day?”

“Really now? Do I look like a fool to you?”

“...”

“Why aren’t you answering me?”

“Uh, okay? Do you want the truth? Or...”

“Get out! Now!” Choi Yeon-Ha yelled while throwing a nearby cushion.

Han Eun-Sol chuckled while catching the cushion. “Wow. You started this whole thing even though you knew how it’d end up? That’s a surprise, knowing your personality.”

“Oh, Eun-Sol. Eun-Sol...”

“Yes, noona?”

Choi Yeon-Ha deeply sighed. “Maybe you think I’m thoughtless and clueless about things in my life, but...”

“Yeah, I do.”

“...You’re not supposed to answer there, okay?”

“Oops. My bad.”

“In any case! You might think I’m pretty thoughtless, but I think about a lot of things. A heck of a lot more than you can imagine!”

“Really? Then why did you create your own agency?”

Han Eun-Sol was genuinely curious about this. In his view, quitting her old agency only to create her own wouldn’t have benefited Choi Yeon-Ha. Maybe if it was a small agency only for her, then sure, why not? But acting as the top representative of a sizable agency and even going around promoting the talents in the roster? Now that would be a net loss for her.

Devoting that time to her own work would have been so much more beneficial to both her public image and financial security.

Choi Yeon-Ha replied, “I did it because I wanted to be successful, Eun-Sol.”

“But aren’t you already successful?”

“No. I want to be more successful.”

“Then, as an actress...”

“No, not in that sense,” said Choi Yeon-Ha as she fixed her sitting posture. It seemed she was ready to discuss something serious. “Will I still be a top actress ten years from now?”

“Of course.”

“What about twenty years?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll still be in demand by then, too.”

“Then, thirty years?”

“That... I guess that’s being a bit too greedy.”

Choi Yeon-Ha casually shrugged. “No, let’s be real. Even twenty years is being greedy. By then, my age will be touching fifty. We gotta be objective here. There’s no way I’ll still be in demand as an actress like right now.”

“I guess so,” Han Eun-Sol nodded.

Of course, Choi Yeon-Ha wouldn’t completely disappear from the public consciousness even at that age. Actresses in their forties were regularly getting starring roles in prestige shows these days, after all.

However, competing against the young and upcoming actresses, who should also be beautiful to boot, would be a tall order. The issue wasn’t really with one’s looks, though. The truth was, the audience constantly craved new, fresh faces.

“I might reach even greater heights as an actress who can actually act, not someone who relies on her looks alone. And I’m also trying hard in that regard, too. But...” Choi Yeon-Ha furrowed her brow deeply. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll be more successful than now, right? That’ll be more like I’ve staved off the competition to stay relevant for the time being.”

“Mm... Honestly? Yeah, I can’t deny that.”

“But I want to be more successful. More successful than I was yesterday. More successful than today! And tomorrow!”

“...”

“I don’t want to look at myself twenty years in the future who’s not as successful as the current me and say, yeah, that’s me. And I certainly don’t want to console myself with the wealth I’ve accumulated after reaching that point in my life. When I reach that age and look back on my life... I think it’ll be too horrifying to admit that my glory days have already passed me by.”

Han Eun-Sol thought he could understand her.

Unfortunately, an actress’s career was heavily dependent on her age. Even if it was the one and only Choi Yeon-Ha... No, even the actresses in the past, who enjoyed a level of fame far surpassing Choi Yeon-Ha’s, ended up being forgotten by the ruthless passage of time.

As a participant in this industry, she had witnessed such things happen far too often. No wonder she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Yes, noona. You’re thirty now, so...”

Choi Yeon-Ha unhappily yelled, “Hey, you! Wanna die today?!”

“Oops, my bad! I accidentally blurted out what was in my head...”

“You, come outside, now!”

Choi Yeon-Ha shot up to her feet. Just as Han Eun-Sol tried to calm her down, though, he was interrupted by the sounds of knocking on the door.

Knock, knock!

Choi Yeon-Ha turned her head to look.

‘Who’s that?’

Choi Yeon-Ha’s shoot for the day had ended already, so who would come to disturb her in the waiting room? It couldn’t be a crew member, since they should be busy with setting up the next shoot on the day’s schedule.

Regardless of what she thought, though, there could only be one response in this situation. Choi Yeon-Ha fixed her posture, softly cleared her throat, then said, “Come in.”

The door opened almost right away. And Choi Yeon-Ha furrowed her brow ever so slightly after realizing who her new guest was.