✏️How to Write a K-Drama: Chapter 25
Da Young's plan. 📃
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Da Young, on autopilot, turned back to look at Ha Na, who was smiling at Jae Woon, almost with a self-satisfied glint in her eye. Her gaze was magnetic, as if she knew he’d try to pull away but she wouldn’t let him. She said in her sweet voice, “Hello. It’s such a pleasure to meet you. I hope we work well together.”
And all Jae Woon could do was bow his head and walk away.
It’s Madame Do’s doing. It has to be.
Jae Woon furiously thought to himself as he strode off to get his makeup touched up. His brain was overwhelmed and running 100 mph; however, he felt numb otherwise, like his feelings couldn’t catch up to his thoughts.
He hadn’t seen her in years…but when he saw her just now, it was as if no time had passed. She looked the same, except maybe more mature and reserved, which seemed to be the case with time for most people. The way she had looked at him had felt the same, making it hard for him to meet her eyes because once he did, he knew it’d be harder to look away.
For some reason, Da Young’s own open eyes suddenly floated into his vision. But this image calmed him. They both had direct gazes, but Ha Na’s was almost demanding, sure of herself in a way that seemed to take from him. Da Young’s was more challenging, sure of herself in a way that made him want to feel the same.
His breathing evened out. The on-set makeup artist could feel his body relaxing in the chair, and she felt her own body release some tension. It was always easier to do makeup on somebody when they were relaxed.
–
“Who is she? I don’t like her,” Yul Hee said, delivering the first question with curiosity and immediately following it up with a flat declaration. Da Young glanced at her, but continued on writing.
“She’s Ha Na, a senior editor at some top magazine. She’s going to do an exclusive on us, so she’ll be on set once in a while.”
“If she’s some toppity uppity editor, why is she the one who’s going to be on set?” Yul Hee pointed out, sipping from her iced Americano like a petulant child.
Da Young released a subtle sigh. “I don’t know. But…” Her eyes flashed upwards at Ha Na, who was mingling with the cast and crew like an experienced socialite.
“You don’t like her, either,” Yul Hee stated.
Da Young sighed again. “I don’t know her.”
“But Jae Woon does?”
This surprised Da Young, whose finger jerked across the keyboard. She slammed her pointer finger into the backwards key a couple times to undo the mistake, each press making Yul Hee flinch, although she exaggerated it comically.
“I guess he does,” Yul Hee replied in a singsong way.
Da Young realized just then and there that Jae Woon was not like her. They had entered this agreement due to her own lack of romantic experiences, but he certainly must have had his fair share of them…
She flashed back to their “dates” so far (taking into account that it had been quite a while since their last date and stopping herself from spiraling into a train of thought on this was how couples who had been together for a while started losing steam and drifted apart).
She focused on the “dates.” She frowned. Based on how he had behaved towards her the whole time, it was hard to picture him ever being a boyfriend at all.
But he had wanted to date Yul Hee…Unless he still wanted to date her, but he hadn’t seemed that interested during their time together, which she already had expected might happen considering the intense nature of her best friend, who scared most men away. Was he interested in anybody? Was he…
In the corner of her eye, she caught Jae Woon trying to brush off Won Joo, who wanted to practice a scene in which they felt a lot of tension—not quite a full-blown fight that would require Won Joo to use his new boxing skills (or “skills,” as Yul Hee would put it sarcastically). Finally, exasperated, Jae Woon counterattacked Won Joo’s leg swipe, gripping the other man’s collar and letting him down onto the floor with surprising ease and gentleness.
Da Young realized she wasn’t the only woman staring at this scene. The two gorgeous men were facing each other, Won Joo looking up at Jae Woon with utter admiration and Jae Woon looking like the cold and tired heartthrob with his bangs dangling downwards, dripping in sweat (imaginary, as he had barely done anything, but the ladies all saw it with their filtered glasses).
“It’s really not that kind of drama, right?” Yul Hee murmured, sipping her Americano with more fervor.
Da Young shook her head. “Maybe next time.”
Then, she remembered Jae Woon’s reaction to Ha Na.
They definitely had something. She knew. She also knew she’d be lying to herself if that didn’t bother her, although she figured she’d need some time to figure out exactly why, but more than that, it bothered her that he looked so in pain—in such sharp contrast to Ha Na’s thinly veiled self-satisfaction.
–
Later, Jo Suk returned to the set. Considering Jae Woon was an expert and a generally well-behaved star, Jo Suk did not have to babysit him so much, so he had stepped out to accompany another smaller star from their company to an event as the normal manager had had a family emergency. When Jo Suk came back, he too noticed something very different in the atmosphere, and he was less reserved in his displeasure at finding the source.
“What’s she doing here?”
Da Young overheard him. Her ears practically perked up. She pretended nonchalance, not even turning to look at Jo Suk, as she explained, “Ms. Ha Na is here to cover a series of exclusives on the drama.”
He retorted, “Sure she is…”
He then muttered under his breath, “Madame Do…”
Da Young’s ears perked up. She remembered Madame Do in all her ridiculousness, from her over-the-top outfit to her rather insufferable bearing perfumed with self-importance.
“That’s Jae Woon’s mother, isn’t it?” Da Young asked, surprising Jo Suk.
“Um, yes…”
“What does she have to do with this? Is she connected to the magazine?” That made sense to Da Young. Everything in every industry, but particularly in the media and entertainment industry, had to do with connections and behind-the-scenes rubbing of elbows. Did Madame Do have a special link to the magazine and ask them for this favor? How well did she know Ha Na?
“Jae Woon doesn’t really like to talk about it,” Jo Suk said with some hesitation, as if to suggest he shouldn’t be talking about Madame Do, either.
“I met her,” Da Young reminded him.
“Ah right,” he murmured, “so you know what she’s like.”
“Mhm.” Her tone of voice gave away her clear opinions about the lady.
This further appeased Jo Suk, who opened up more, “Yeah, she’s terrible. She’s always harassing Jae Woon whenever he’s working on a project or doing absolutely anything for the public space. He’s been ignoring her as usual, but it still takes a toll, you know? He gets all tense and stressed on set. She’s almost like a sasaeng fan, but, well, you know, his mother, which kind of makes it worse.”
Jo Suk couldn’t seem to stop himself, like everything had been building up inside him for years. He rambled on, “And the best way to ease Jae Woon’s mind is for him to go on a nice long ride on his motorbike, but he can’t even do that because there’s no open space here and it freaks his mom out, so he hid it a long time ago on Jeju Island, but when can he even go there. It’s so suffocating in the city sometimes, and hiking just isn’t the same…”
He finally paused to take a breath and realized he had just ranted about Jae Woon’s private life and his family for quite a while. “Ah, sorry. I mean, you probably know all this already, but it’s still not my place to talk. Please don’t let Jae Woon know…”
He was about to leave when he froze again. Feeling a bit unsure of himself and yet feeling instinctively that this was the right thing to do, he said quietly, “Please watch over him for me.”
Da Young nodded. The whole time, she had been typing away, but her fingers had slowed down as thoughts took over her mind. A few hours later, the wispy beginnings of a plan had solidified into something much more substantial, enough so that she felt confident enough to head towards Kyung Hwan, who was directing a scene.
Yes, this works perfectly, she thought, albeit a little bit like she was trying to convince herself. It did work for her story, and people did tend to love these moments in dramas for being cozy and providing a brief escape.
“Cut!” Kyung Hwan called out. She knew this was the moment and began to approach him while Jae Woon glanced their way every now and then, as if making sure everything was alright. Meanwhile, Yul Hee was doing air jabs at Won Joo to show him firstly how to do the jabs and secondly to show him who was boss.
Kyung Hwan automatically turned towards her from his director’s seat to lend an ear. He was looking down at her script, but also ready to listen to the writer, who likely had something important to tell him. She generally did not approach him otherwise, which he respected.
She whispered in his ear, and he nodded after a while. “Yes, I think that’s doable,” he said. He shot her a grin and said, “This drama is a hit. They can’t say no to anything right now.”
This made Da Young’s heart flutter in both hope and pride in herself. It positively radiated outward as she gave a small smile.
“So…” she said.
“So…” Kyung Hwan repeated. “Guess we’re going to Jeju Island.”
Next week on 🌟How to Write a K-Drama🌟
“Apologies, but there was an error in the reservations. There are no rooms for you two at the moment. I’m afraid I might have to direct you to another place farther down the road,” she said. 🤪