✏️How to Write a K-Drama: Chapter Eight
Trapped. 🪤
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“Maybe this isn’t for you anymore,” she said.
“What?”
“Maybe you should quit.”
Da Young was upset. With Jae Woon. With herself. With her parents. With the bird that pooped on the storefront window this morning. With everybody. But especially with herself. What exactly was it that she’d wanted from Jae Woon? From this arrangement? Maybe she should cancel it and just wing it with her story. She could get inspiration elsewhere.
“Maybe acting isn’t for you anymore.”
“What?”
“Maybe you should quit.”
Da Young groaned and put her hands up to her head. Why had she said that? Something had infuriated her the night before with how Jae Woon was behaving, and the words had just popped out. Had she wanted to jolt his memory? Or get back at him for telling her to leave the industry when he was the only one she felt she could rely on back then? She hadn’t felt an ounce of satisfaction from seeing the look on his face. It had been a mixture of shock, disgust, and pain. Was that what had been on her face many years ago?
“What were you expecting?” she whisper-screeched to herself. The one customer in the bookstore backed away and left as discreetly as possible, the bell giving the departure away—not that Da Young noticed.
What she had been imagining with this experiment was the kind and patient Jae Woon from their childhood who had taken care of her when the other adults would lose their temper and snap at her. Someone she could feel comfortable around while trying to figure out why he had pretty much chased her out of the business all those years ago. She was still latching onto the past, even now when she had found success as a writer.
Although maybe not for long…she couldn’t help thinking. She still hadn’t written a single page. She groaned again. No. This wouldn’t do. Abort! Abort!
She quickly drafted an email to her agent saying she didn’t think she would need Jae Woon’s help any longer on the drama and that she would figure things out for herself and get her the pilot as soon as possible.
–
“You like me that much?” Jae Woon asked, smiling warmly at the woman snuggling against his arm, clutching it like it was her lifeline.
“Of course! You’re mine forever.”
Jae Woon sat up in bed, the dream disappearing into the early morning air before he could register it. The unpleasant feeling, however, lingered. He blamed it on the night before, when Da Young voiced something that had been bothering him for a while now. He was still angry, but it was a very numb sort of anger that sizzled deep, deep under the surface. More than that, he felt like a shell of a person.
After she had suggested he quit acting, she had pulled out a book she had been holding behind her and nearly shoved it at him. “I got you this. Consider it my farewell gift,” she had said before leaving him. It had been the latest installment of a graphic novel with the male character she had been talking about. He had ordered it in the mail, but it hadn’t arrived yet.
Had he done something wrong? The day flashed before his eyes, and he groaned and grew smaller and smaller as he realized how he had acted like such a tool the whole time. He had assaulted her with an umbrella, but she had laughed it off. He had zoned out a lot when she was trying to be serious about her work. He had grumbled and grumbled about everything when clearly she had been trying to make him feel better. He still felt a bit frozen by the fact that she had taken him to a graphic novel cafe, the memory calling to mind another much older one.
“Isn’t Do Jae Woon really handsome?” squealed one girl in the waiting room. He paused outside the door, his hand hovering over the knob. Inside was an idol girl group he was about to pair up with to host the night’s event.
“Yes,” exclaimed another member. “I can’t wait to see him in person. Do you think he’s as great as his character in the dramas?”
“I heard he is!” said a third. Jae Woon felt a smile creep onto his face, but it didn’t last long.
A fourth chimed in, “But I heard from Senny that he was caught reading a shoujo manga…Isn’t that weird? It was like a cutesy romance she said.”
“Oh, ew, that would totally ruin the vibes.”
“That can’t be right. She must’ve seen something else or maybe he’s been cast in the adaptation. That’d be such a turn off.”
“Should we ask him about it?” The girls giggled while Jae Woon grew paler.
“He seems too cool. Imagine he’s a complete loser. With that face? That’d be such a waste.”
Jae Woon took a deep breath, put on his most charming smile, and opened the door.
The memory was replaced with Da Young’s face peering up at him the night before. “Maybe you should quit.” It was a different type of judgment, but it was judgment all the same. He bristled, the anger simmering closer to the surface now.
Furiously, he dialed his manager. He’d tell him he wouldn’t be able to work with the writer anymore—no matter the consequences. Maybe he’d drop from the drama altogether and take a nice long break on Jeju Island. Start a tangerine farm. Join a squad of haenyeo in the ice-cold sea. Farm seaweed. Become one with a pack of boars.
-
Ms. So worried her lower lip as President Ha poured her another cup of tea and Jo Suk shuffled back and forth nervously behind the couch. They were having an impromptu meeting to discuss this latest development—or, rather, setback—in pre-production.
“What did she mean she wouldn’t be able to work with him any longer? In what capacity exactly?” asked President Ha, trying to hide his deep concern. He was getting a headache from this drama already and it hadn’t even started yet. It hadn’t even been long since Jae Woon had returned from America and already there was all this trouble. Was he really losing his touch?
“She meant the fake dating, I believe. She said she’ll try to figure out the story by herself,” replied Ms. So. She paused, her own worry showing on her face. “I think she’s really feeling stuck and could use the inspiration, but it seems the actor is also unwilling to go on with the arrangement.”
“Well, they already signed the contract,” Jo Suk pointed out, “so it won’t be hard to make them go through with it, but there wouldn’t be much point if they hate each other.”
“Ah, we’re going from the fake dating trope to enemies-to-lovers perhaps?” chimed in President Ha, his eyes brightening. It was his favorite trope, although he was sure he was hiding it well from the others. Ms. So and Jo Suk pretended not to notice his sparkling eyes.
“We’ll have to make it work then,” President Ha continued, pounding his fist into the palm of his other hand with determination. “They just need some nudging. We all want this drama to work.”
“That’s right,” Ms. So said with an enthusiastic nod. “We can make this work out somehow. Let’s help them out. We’ve watched enough dramas to handle this.”
Jo Suk pulled out the tablet and the three crowded their heads over the table to make their plans.
–
Da Young walked through the company building, feeling out of place. She had never visited a management company before. She was also feeling nervous, wondering why Jae Woon’s CEO had called her out there. According to Ms. So, who was supposed to meet her there, they had to discuss some logistics about the drama, but Da Young never had to do this before and had already said she wouldn’t be meeting Jae Woon in private anymore.
“Oh, there you are!” Ms. So popped out of nowhere, surprising Da Young. President Ha and Jo Suk were hiding behind some plants in the distance.
“Where are we meeting them?” inquired Da Young, looking around the brightly lit cafeteria, which was a nice cozy size for the mid-sized agency. It was empty as it was past lunch time.
“First, let’s go to the kitchen,” she said. “I ran out of carrots and they said I can take some home.”
“How…generous of them,” said Da Young, giving Ms. So an odd look but following her to the kitchen area, which was likewise empty. “Where can we find these carrots? You must be close to them, Ms. So, to ask them for, uh, carrots.”
“Hm, I’m going to check the cabinets. Can you look in that freezer?”
“The freezer?”
“They might have frozen ones at least.”
“Uh…sure.” Da Young reluctantly approached the large walk-in freezer. The door was slightly ajar. She pulled it open and went inside but was confused. She turned around to yell out to Ms. So that there didn’t appear to be anything in the freezer at all but faced a startled Jae Woon instead. He hadn’t yet noticed her as he was busy being pushed inside by two pairs of hands that, unbeknownst to her, belonged to President Ha and Jo Suk.
“Why do you suddenly want carrots so badly?” he was asking, when they shoved him in with one final push. Then, he saw Da Young. The two stared at each other and continued to do so as the large metal door slowly closed in on them with a clang and locked shut, leaving them cast in a bluish glow.
Next week on 🌟How to Write a K-Drama🌟
Ms. So, President Ha, and Jo Suk couldn’t hear much of what was being said while the two were reconciling in her corner, but now Jae Woon’s voice went through the ventilation system more clearly. “Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?”