“It looked like you would focus on the acting side, and I thought that the production of their album was beyond pretty much outside your- Ah, sorry.”

He grimaced slightly before correcting himself.

“You didn’t look like you were interested in it. Instead, this was my area of interest. That’s why I can’t understand why you are pushing so hard at all. Like the team leader said, all the contributions you accumulated until now might fade if this fails. Well, that’s why I thought there might be something up with you and Taehee.”

“What would there be? Taehee’s song was good, and that’s why I felt it was a waste to miss this opportunity. If it’s like this, is there something between you and Simon Lee?”

“… No way there is.”

At my joking words, the traitor smiled as he shook his head.

I felt this when I talked with him before, but it seemed like he was confident Simon Lee’s song would be a hit. Which was why he wanted to push for an exclusive title track. But why did he push for Taehee’s song in the future?

Was it because he secretly liked her song better?

Or maybe he felt unpleasant that this song was in my hands?

The traitor said,

“If it’s like this, then it’s like we brought a song each.”

“I guess.”

“Although what’s important is for any of the two songs to do well and make this album a success, still, do you want to make a small bet since things turned out this way?”

To others, this might seem like a normal conversation. However, I could see it with my eyes. The bridge that connected the two of us was splitting apart and collapsing. It looked like it would break apart any moment.

I readily nodded my head.

“A bet seems nice.”

That night, I told Lee Taehee the news in front of her residence door.

Lee Taehee was at loss for words for a while then showed off a perplexed expression that I was seeing for the first time. Since she asked a few more times, seemingly in disbelief, I too answered her slowly every time.

“Title…”

She tried her best to control her expression before glancing towards the living room.

The other girls were looking in our direction as if they were dying to hear what we were talking about. The only one who was calm was Lee Songha… Or so I thought, but only her body was still while her head and neck gradually leaned closer towards us like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

“One second.”

Lee Taehee came out and closed the door.

When she shut the door, it looked like there were earthquakes going off in Lee Songha’s eyes.

“It’s really a title track?”

“Yeah, there’ll be double title tracks. You’re going to be busier now that you have to record and mix.”

“Oh my god.”

Lee Taehee covered her face with one hand. What would that do when your ears were red and your lips were wriggling beneath your hand? Although I expected her to be happy, her reaction was bigger than I had thought.

Haha. It was worth going around like a crazy person.

Calming her excitement after a few minutes, Lee Taehee said,

“Thank you for constantly taking care of me. From now on, I’ll-“

“No need to thank me.”

“Practice hard like a dog.”

What?”

“No, don’t do that.”

You already had more than enough practice time. Was she thinking of performing their comeback on an IV?

“Anyways, tell the girls as well.”

I said while glancing at my wristwatch when Lee Taehee suddenly held onto me.

“Have a beer before you go. There are still a few left from what you bought last time.”

“Huh? There are only you girls and without the chief or Gunyoung, that’s a bit…”

“It’ll be a secret.”

Lee Taehee made a ‘zipping her lips’ gesture.

I thought about it while my arm was being held onto.

First, I had stayed up all night yesterday.

As I used up a lot of my mental energy today due to various reasons, my shoulders felt stiff. There also was a schedule I had to take Lee Songha to early tomorrow.

My reasoning told me to stop thinking about drinking and to go home and sleep, yet my body simply nodded its head and entered their residence.

After that, well.

After drinking and toasting with the girls until early morning, I took a short nap in the van parked in front of their residence.

Then, for the first time in my life, I had sleep paralysis.

I realized the reason why when I woke up. There was something heavy on top of me. The thick parka Lee Songha wore on every film set, a microfiber blanket, as well as another blanket, covered me in three layers.

It looked like someone put them on me so that I didn’t freeze to death, but I was lucky I didn’t die of suffocation.

Either way, we all agreed to keep this a secret from Kim Hyunjo.

If he knew, he’d kill me.

Once the title tracks were determined, the album production sped up.

When audio recording was added to the already busy schedule of Next K-Star and Cat Guardian Ghost film shoots, each passing day felt like an hour. However, even though my body was exhausted, I could endure it since my efforts weren’t for naught.

“Looking at the progress of our ratings, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches 10%.”

Chief Lee Bongjoon said while yawning.

Infected, I too yawned as I replied,

“Looks like it. The PR Team is already preparing our viewership ratings pledge.”

The third episode, which aired two days ago, and the fourth consecutively beat our previous peak ratings. Those involved were focused on how much higher it would go beyond 10%. Food trucks, presents, and food continuously arrived on film sets. Because of them, the Cat Guardian Ghost team was always in a festive mood.

“They both are sleeping well. Poor things.”

Chief Lee Bongjoon clicked his tongue as he looked to his side.

With earphones on, Seo Jijoon had buried himself on the sofa and was sleeping. Of course, Lee Songha was nodding off next to me while holding onto my coat. I didn’t know what kind of dream she was having but she tightly held onto my coat.

Since the film shoot started early in the morning and ended at night, I wanted to head straight home and lie down on my bed, but we still had a schedule left. Apparently, they were producing a short video of New Year’s greetings from W&U celebrities. This was why we had come back to work and were waiting for the film crew in a break room.

Although Neptune had already done it, they scheduled an additional one for Songha to air on PBS. Well, this meant that Neptune wasn’t at the level of giving New Year’s greetings on public networks yet.

To be honest, it was only possible for Lee Songha to make a greeting alongside Seo Jijoon because their currently airing drama was trending right now. She was still considered a rookie.

“Right, are there any commercial offers coming in for Songha?”

“Although it’s not certain yet, we are in the talks with some.”

I was already awaiting it. Once things were confirmed, it would probably be Lee Songha’s first commercial.

“I heard that there were a ton of offers for Jijoon.”

I heard that he was almost sweeping them up. I felt that, once Cat Guardian Ghost ended, I would see Seo Jijoon’s face all the time on TV for a while. Since this role suited him like well-fitted clothes, his acting spectrum and fandom had increased drastically.

When he heard me, Seo Jijoon opened one eye.

“To be honest, I wanted to repay you somehow since this was all due to you. I’ll repay with my body. Do you need me for anything?”

When a terrifyingly good-looking person said so in such a polite manner, it was even more spine-chilling.

Do I need him for anything…?

While I thinking, Seo Jijoon asked again,

“What about the program that Neptune’s on, Next K-Star or something? I heard I received a casting call from them, should I go on there?”

“No.”

So who can be happy?

“It’s good if you don’t associate with that program.”

When I replied seriously, Chief Lee Bongjoon, who knew my situation, giggled.

After the event last time, Producer Go Joontae’s acts of using Lee Songha as kindling for ratings had stopped. What a detestable man. He stuck next to me and tried to persuade me during every recording session, but I kept dragging it on.

‘We’re still discussing it, he’s thinking about it, I’m trying to persuade him.’

I kept talking in circles. This was what I learned the most while working. In any case, every time I saw Producer Go Joontae suppressing his temper, I felt refreshed. Should I say he became somewhat of an energy drink for me?

Recently, I began happily thinking about the best way to tell him that I tried to persuade him but that it didn’t work out in the end so that he would burst into a fit of rage.

But to add Seo Jijoon in there? Never.

“Then next time. I’ll repay you.”

Just as Seo Jijoon said this while shrugging his shoulders, the break room door opened.

I shook Lee Songha awake thinking it was the film crew, but the people who entered were those who I didn’t want to associate with as much as Producer Go Joontae.

The crazy bitch of this region, plus one.

Son Chaeyoung and Chief Jo.

“What the?”

As soon as she saw us, Son Chaeyoung glared at us. Her gaze seemed to stab at Seo Jijoon, Lee Songha and me.

It felt like the time she glared at me was especially long.

Lee Songha, absentminded since she had just awoken, fumbled around before grabbing the gummy bears she had been eating before. If Son Chaeyoung charged at us again, it seemed she would throw the jellies at least.

Of course, I had no thoughts on stopping her. She needed to grow up strong.

“I’m going crazy. Oppa, how did you set my schedule?”

While throwing a fit at Chief Jo, Son Chaeyoung clenched the paper in her hand.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a short 1-2-page script.

Last week, Mermaid out of Water’s rating had continuously shot up until their third episode. They maintained their ratings on their fourth. Perhaps it was because of this, but Son Chaeyoung’s complexion was lively like a poisonous flower in full bloom even though she had been suffering from the short, rewritten scripts. Her temper was lively as well.

“Don’t you know that I can’t do anything if something’s bothering me?”

“Yeah, Chaeyoung. Since the drama filming schedules have been all over the place, things might have… We can go as soon as you do a 30-second greeting.”

“I have to spend all night memorizing the script after this, but do you think I’ll be able to like this? When the top 3 people I consider eyesores are gathered in front of me?”

Who was first?

I seemed to be sleep deprived since that was what I was curious about in this situation.

“Who’s first?”

Instead, it was Seo Jijoon who asked while shaking one of his crossed legs up and down.

Son Chaeyoung snorted.

“Why? Do you want to be first?”

“If it’s a ranking of people who you consider an eyesore, then, of course, I want to be first.”

After a few exchanges, they began to bicker more severely. I did hear that they didn’t have a good relationship. Well, I did wonder who else would be on friendly terms with Son Chaeyoung besides Teacher Shim Kyungtaek.

While the two fought each other, Chief Lee Bongjoon didn’t seem to have any thoughts on stopping them. Chief Jo looked pitiful, nervously trying to stop them by himself. I remained a spectator, and Lee Songha snacked on jellies instead of popcorn as she watched.

“Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung. The broadcast, your drama began airing.”

“What? When?”

Just then, Chief Jo was successful in gaining Son Chaeyoung’s attention.

Since it was 10:15 pm right now, the fifth episode of Mermaid out of Water started 15 minutes ago.

It seemed she had forgotten her bickering with Seo Jijoon as Son Chaeyoung grumbled about how he didn’t tell her sooner.

Then she sat on the sofa in front of us, crossing her legs.

“Put the episode on your phone.”

“Uh, one sec.”

Chief Jo tapped his phone with his thick fingers.

During this time, Son Chaeyoung raised her chin as she looked at us. Her eyes narrowed and her lips curved upwards in a slant. It was a familiar expression. Ah, it was the expression the quadruplets would make when they wanted to brag about something.

Damn it, how could I have recalled the quadruplets while looking at Son Chaeyoung?

“I don’t know if you guys saw the progress of my drama’s ratings?”

Son Chaeyoung said in a passing tone.

“I didn’t.”

“I didn’t see it.”

“Why would I watch that? I’m already busy checking mine.”

“Me too.”

Seo Jijoon and Lee Songha replied one after each other.

“Who asked you? I didn’t check your ratings either!”

Snorting, Son Chaeyoung asked again.

“Did you see it?”

At me.

Why was this woman acting like this towards me since last time? For some reason, I thought that the first on her ranking of eyesores was me. It was the same for me as well.

Although I was checking Mermaid out of Water’s ratings every time, I acted as though I didn’t and shook my head. Chief Jo mouthed that I reply that I saw it, but I didn’t see him. I didn’t.

“I didn’t see it either.”

“Really?”

I thought she would shout like last time, but she was unexpectedly calm.

Instead, Son Chaeyoung even crossed her arms and smiled.

“Well, not looking at it will be good for your mental health. When the difference is so large, you’d only feel sad if you saw it. Since we reached 15% in metropolitan areas in four episodes, we’ll definitely hit 20% at this rate. There’s already more than 5% difference from the cat or rat thing so it’s obvious what will happen in the future.”

Then she started talking for a long while about things we never asked like how the times when 10% on cable being equal to multiple times that of public networks had passed, that there weren’t any TVs not connected to cable these days, and that we had to consider cable and public networks on the same level.

But you said that you didn’t know Cat Guardian Ghost’s ratings.

I made a dumbfounded expression, and as if just remembering, Son Chaeyoung swiftly turned to Chief Jo.

“Oppa, what are you doing? Aren’t you going to give it to me?!”

“No, um, Chaeyoung. Let’s watch this after we film your greeting.”

Chief Jo, who had been looking at his phone, stuttered.

“Why? Since we were hastily filming the adjusted parts, I didn’t have time to properly monitor it on set. I have to check it.”

“Uh, but I think it’ll be good if you watched it from start to finish after this episode airs.”

“That’s why I’m asking, why?! Is there a problem? Was my scene cut out?!”

“No, that’s not it. The viewers’ reactions right now are a bit…”

Chief Jo’s face was pale as if he was watching a horror movie. As if trying to not show his phone to Son Chaeyoung at all costs, he slowly backed away.

Ah, I had a strong intuition.

Finally.

Mermaid out of Water finally slipped up.

^[1] Approximately 2.66 USD.