Chapter 85: Japan (4)

Translator: Dreamscribe

In the main conference room of 'Shiori Production', the gathered Japanese actors were watching Kang Jae-ha and An Ji-hee, who had just walked in. Among the Japanese actors, who looked to number more than twenty, was a fair mix of performers ranging from top-tier to A-class.

Three of them counted as top-tier even in Japan.

The two playing the main male and female leads in 'Spring at the Borderline', plus the sub male lead. The actress cast opposite that long-haired sub male lead was none other than An Ji-hee.

On top of that, aside from the main villain and the supporting roles, the rest of the cast was filled out mostly with A- and B-class actors.

What Kang Jae-ha was looking at right now was one of the A-class Japanese actresses, a woman with clear eyes and an innocent air about her. A placard listing her role and name sat in front of where she was seated.

-Towase Rino

Kang Jae-ha gazed steadily at the Japanese actress named Towase Rino.

'Hmm...'

She, too, had been looking at An Ji-hee before she shifted her gaze to Jae-ha, who stood beside her. For an instant their eyes met, and Towase Rino, slightly startled, turned her gaze elsewhere. But Jae-ha did not look away from her.

He had reason to.

Because Kang Jae-ha had just seen a 'Deja Vu' with Towase Rino as its protagonist. The language of the Deja Vu was, naturally, Japanese, and once again it carried that third-person feel.

『A place with an embankment and a stream running through it. The weather was fairly clear, with a faint cold breeze brushing past. It meant summer was drawing to a close. A great many cameras and a crowd of people had taken up positions atop the embankment. Even at a glance, they looked like a film crew. A few of the staff held scripts in their hands, and the title stamped on the cover read 'Spring at the Borderline'.

At that moment, the lead PD in front of the monitor shouted.

"Action!"

The cameras began to capture the Japanese actress standing in the shooting zone. The actress filming now was Towase Rino. The performance she gave. The PD, as if satisfied, sent up the signal once more.

"Cut!! That's a take."

A few staff rushed over to Towase Rino and touched up her makeup. An Ji-hee, watching from outside the shooting zone, was visible too. Her eyes held more than just wonder. That was when it happened. For some reason, a murmur spread among the filming staff. The murmuring infected even the PD in charge of the set, and the faces of the PD and the entire production team turned grave.

At this point a woman in glasses hurried over to Towase Rino. It was Ogawa Sayaka, the one who had pushed for An Ji-hee's casting.

"Towase-ssi. Um... what exactly is your relationship with Minase Kanata-ssi?"

Minase Kanata was a famous Japanese comedian, and Towase Rino, hearing this, was thrown off guard.

"...Sorry? What do you mean by that?"

"Minase Kanata-ssi just posted something on social media. Along with a photo."

"Huh???"

"This seems rather serious."

Sayaka held out the phone in her hand and read the post aloud.

"I have been seeing Towase Rino for roughly two years. Out of guilt toward my wife and children, I confess it now."

The post ran on quite long below that. It took the form of a confession, but something about it felt off. Posted along with it was a photo of Rino and Kanata looking very much like lovers. Mere affection alone would have been problematic enough, but the setting and the clothing were the real issue. They were in bathrobes, so it had to be some hotel room somewhere. Pushing her glasses up, Sayaka asked again, gravely.

"Please explain, Towase-ssi."

"Uh... huh??"

Towase Rino's face turned ashen.』

The 'Deja Vu' Kang Jae-ha had seen ended there. Jae-ha slowly, meticulously weighed everything he had witnessed.

'A run-of-the-mill affair scandal, the sort that crops up all the time in Japan's entertainment world.'

Affair scandals breaking out in showbiz. Korea wasn't free of them either, but by sheer frequency Japan had it worse. In any case, Minase Kanata, a famous Japanese comedian with a wife and kids, and Towase Rino, an A-class actress, had been carrying on an affair.

By the content of the Deja Vu, they had kept the relationship going for about two years, and after they broke up, it was the man's side, Minase Kanata, who blew it open. That was the picture of it.

Why expose it after they'd broken up?

'Plenty of reasons, no doubt.'

Whatever grudge he'd nursed, however things had soured after the split, whatever the reason, the two of them.

'Two of a kind, both just as filthy.'

Even in the other world, not this one, no one looked kindly on affairs. Enough to warrant exile from the domain if caught. At any rate, the affair was confirmed. The problem was that the scandal would break right in the middle of filming 'Spring at the Borderline', the very production An Ji-hee had been confirmed to join.

'This is a problem.'

A massive scandal involving one of the cast actresses, breaking right in the middle of filming 'Spring at the Borderline'? And on top of that, an affair, the kind of thing the Japanese public was especially touchy about? It would tank the drama's image, for one, and there was even the chance of an indefinite shooting delay, or the whole thing collapsing. And even if filming somehow wrapped and the work got released, the Japanese public's reaction would surely be ice-cold.

More than anything, it would leave a black mark on An Ji-hee.

For Kang Jae-ha, that was not a particularly good thing. There was only one way to handle it.

'Before the scandal breaks, I'll have to get her... Towase Rino... out of 'Spring at the Borderline'.'

Meanwhile, the Japanese actors gathered in the conference room were busy whispering as they watched An Ji-hee walk in. Word had already spread widely among them. That a rookie Korean actress had been cast as the sub female lead in 'Spring at the Borderline'.

Half the whispers were sheer curiosity.

"Is that her, the Korean actress, An Ji-hee? I've honestly never seen her before."

"I heard she's a rookie even back in Korea."

"Huh? And she got picked for the sub female lead??"

"She is pretty, though."

"Right, there's this really refined air about her, I guess?"

The other half were eyeing her strangely.

"There are plenty of actresses that good-looking in Japan too. Why a Korean, of all things."

"Still, Korean actresses have a different flavor, don't they?"

"They're about the same."

"Anyway, An Ji-hee? That Korean actress is going to be lonely. The only Korean here, all on her own."

The whispering wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for Kang Jae-ha to catch. He huffed out a small laugh and, in a flat voice, murmured to An Ji-hee, who stood beside him with her eyes full of nerves.

"That's just the Japanese and their special brand of backbiting and meddling kicking in, so tune out every bit of their yapping."

"...Sorry??"

"I said ignore it. Just crush them with talent, that's all."

"Ah! Yes, Manager-nim!"

"Go on, take your seat."

Emboldened all at once, An Ji-hee swished her bob and sat down in her own seat, where her name placard waited. Soon she was exchanging light greetings with the Japanese actors around her. Then, just as Jae-ha turned his gaze toward Towase Rino, Ogawa Sayaka, the head of production, sidled up to Kang Jae-ha's side.

She, who had been handling everything from An Ji-hee's first meeting to showing them around Japan, asked Jae-ha a question. In Japanese, of course.

"Does An Ji-hee-ssi seem to be doing all right? She stands out so much on her own, it has me worried."

Kang Jae-ha, who even now was working out his scheme in real time, turned his head toward Sayaka and answered dryly.

"I'd say there's someone else you should be worrying about more than An Ji-hee-ssi."

"Sorry??"

To Sayaka, question marks practically floating in her eyes, Kang Jae-ha murmured under his breath.

"There, among the actors, Towase Rino."

"Towase-ssi? What about Towase-ssi?"

"It's only a tabloid rumor, but I've heard talk of an affair."

"!!!"

Sayaka jolted in shock. Kang Jae-ha, by contrast, was unruffled.

"For now, keep this just between us, Ogawa-ssi. You did look into Towase Rino properly, correct?"

"...Of course."

Of course, my ass. His gaze going even drier, Jae-ha went on.

"Dig a little deeper. Have you started the media play for 'Spring at the Borderline' yet?"

"Now that the casting's all wrapped up... we were just about to get it rolling."

"Hold off until things are certain. An Ji-hee-ssi's matter too."

"Yes... understood."

His conversation finished, Kang Jae-ha picked up his phone. It was to send Ha Yeon-ji a message.

-You got any pull with the Japanese press

After that.

In any case, the cast pre-meeting for 'Spring at the Borderline' got underway. The lead director appeared, and under his lead it kicked off, each of the actors introducing themselves, from the leads down through the supporting cast and so on. After the main male and female leads finished their greetings, An Ji-hee's turn arrived.

"Hello!"

After greeting them first in Korean, she went on to introduce herself in halting Japanese. The moment she finished, applause broke out.

-Clap clap clap clap clap clap

Some clapped sincerely, others not so much. Off to the side, in a folding chair set out separately, Kang Jae-ha.

"......"

He was still watching the A-class actress Towase Rino. Rino only stole glances at An Ji-hee and clapped halfheartedly. A reaction that laid her true feelings bare. Because, contrary to her innocent image, she found An Ji-hee a nuisance.

'What the hell. Casting some Korean actress out of nowhere? Just makes the whole mood awkward. So annoying.'

Then Towase Rino met eyes with Kang Jae-ha once more. Jae-ha's gaze was flat and expressionless, and Rino, brow faintly furrowing, looked away yet again.

'What's with him, giving me the creeps this whole time.'

Just then, a short buzz went off on the seated Kang Jae-ha's phone. A reply had come from his subordinate, Ha Yeon-ji.

-Yeah, Commander. I know a few people over at the Japanese outlets, but we're not close. Why??

Kang Jae-ha replied to her right away. The message was simple. To quietly leak word of the affair between Minase Kanata, the famous Japanese comedian, and Towase Rino, the A-class actress.

'Just drop the bait, and these outlets will tail the two of them without a soul ever knowing.'

A tail that long was bound to get caught in the end. And even if the Japanese press failed to catch them, Kang Jae-ha had another scheme in reserve. Either way, the pre-meeting, which had run for about an hour, came to an end. Quite a few Japanese actors crowded around An Ji-hee. They had plenty of questions. On the other hand, fully half the actors walked out of the conference room ignoring An Ji-hee entirely.

Towase Rino was among them.

Climbing into a van parked in the lot, Towase Rino immediately clicked her tongue and muttered to herself in low Japanese.

"Tsk. Why An Ji-hee, of all people? I really don't get the interest in her."

Mid-grumble, the screen of Rino's phone lit up. A message had arrived from someone. The saved name read like this.

-Minase Kanata-ssi

The message wasn't very long.

-Did the pre-meeting go all right?

With a faint smile, Rino sent a reply right back.

-Yeah, it went well. I want to see you soon, Minase-ssi

By all appearances, the two of them were still very much in the middle of their affair.

That same afternoon.

Having finished his morning and midday schedule, Kang Jae-ha returned to the hotel room where he was staying. For now, the day's agenda was over. Originally there had been a meeting with 'Shiori Production' set for late this afternoon, but owing to circumstances on their end it had been pushed to tomorrow morning.

Cracking his neck side to side, Kang Jae-ha let out a small breath.

"Hahh..."

That was when it happened.

"Hm?"

All at once, Kang Jae-ha's vision swam again. That sense of déjà vu washing over him. The omen of a 'Deja Vu'. It was his second Deja Vu, following the one that morning. Except this time.

'There's no protagonist.'

There was no protagonist in the Deja Vu. Which meant it was a Deja Vu tied to one of his subordinates. Jae-ha's vision changed in an instant and gave way to another scene.

『A woman, red blood dripping from her wrist, lowered herself fully clothed into a bathtub filled with water. Her expression was rigid, her eyes brimming with emptiness and despair. Little by little, the water in the tub stained red. The woman simply closed her eyes.

The scene changed once more.

A TV came into view. A grave-faced news anchor spoke in solemn-toned Japanese.

"Actress Kamijo Yuu-ssi was found dead in the bathtub at her home. Police have stated that her estimated date of death was two days ago, on September 29th, and that the cause was suicide."』

Around here, Kang Jae-ha came back from the 'Deja Vu' to reality. His vision quickly filled with his own hotel room, and after a moment's thought, Jae-ha.

"September 29th. But today's the 29th."

Suddenly, with a whoosh, he bolted. Of course he did.

-Bang!!

Because she was his first subordinate in Japan, and at the very least, he had to keep her alive.

*****

For more extra chapters, you can check out my Patreon here --> patreon.com/dreamscribe

If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊

To receive the latest update notifications or report mistakes, join our Discord server linked below.