Row of JustX.
Seoyeon had encountered him a few times already.
Since she had filmed
Otherwise, she had seen him before in high society circles.
When he was heavily promoting 'Shine Moon.'
But looking at him now, his complexion was much better than back then.
Should she say he had the face of someone who had struck it rich?
Just looking at his outfit, he was decked out in luxury brands from head to toe.
"Hey, Jo Seohee, do you even go to arcades?"
He grinned at Seohee as he said that.
It was quite a casual tone.
At his attitude, Seohee frowned.
Of course, Seohee didn't seem to be particularly close with Row.
'But given Seohee's personality, she wouldn't just stay quiet after hearing that.'
While she was thinking that, Row added with an "Ah."
"Minyoung talked about you a lot."
"……You must have gotten quite close."
"Come on, why talk so stiffly between us?"
Row seemed to want to get close to Seohee, continuously pushing for friendliness.
Seohee had a thoroughly exhausted expression.
"What, were you in the middle of a versus match? I'm good at fighting games, want me to teach you?"
"No……."
"Oh, you were in the middle of a match. Step aside. I'll show you how I wreck this guy."
"Ha, sure. Do as you please."
Row didn't seem to realize that Seoyeon was sitting across from him.
Anyway, with the game starting like that, Seoyeon furrowed her brow.
Just as she was about to get revenge on Seohee, some weird guy had butted in.
'No, before I use this on Seohee, I should test it out first.'
Seoyeon hated fighting in a petty manner.
So she thought using light attacks was petty and rarely used them.
In a fighting game, shouldn't you fight with flashy combos and techniques?
Poking with light attacks like some petty player wasn't Seoyeon's style…… but to beat Seohee, it was unavoidable.
Before facing Seohee, warming up first wouldn't hurt.
Thus.
"Watch closely, that character's moves have big startup. So…… damn."
"Ah, what the. Why is that bastard playing so cheap?"
"If he does that, there's a way to deal with—no, how do you even parry this?"
Row, who had stepped up quite confidently, was literally beaten down by Seoyeon's light attacks.
Whenever he tried to use a technique, she parried everything with absurd reaction speed and beat him one-sidedly.
Seohee, who had internally thought 'do whatever you want' and stepped aside, widened her eyes at the one-sided fight.
'She would have won even without doing that.'
Had Seoyeon gone easy on her? She couldn't help but think so.
No, but seeing how she had lost ten times in a row and burned with competitive spirit, it didn't seem like that was the case……
But the more she watched, the more Seoyeon's dynamic visual acuity was absurd.
Seohee could tell.
That Seoyeon's inputs were reacting by 'seeing' the opponent's attacks.
That was different from gamers who read techniques by seeing motion.
Should she say it was more animalistic?
Bang!!
"Ah!! This is pissing me off. What the hell? Is it fun playing like that? What kind of bastard are you?"
After suffering two consecutive perfects, the enraged Row slammed his fist on the arcade panel and stood up from his seat.
From his perspective, cold water had been thrown on a situation that was flowing perfectly.
'When I happened to meet Jo Seohee like this.'
For Row, who operated Shine Moon, Seohee was a customer he absolutely had to secure.
No one else, but the heiress of the Newlike Group, ranked within the top 5 of the domestic business world.
Even recently, with consecutive business successes, it felt like she would climb even higher.
'I should thank Minyoung. If it wasn't for Minyoung, I wouldn't have known that Seohee is the daughter of the Newlike Group chairman.'
Seohee was only known in the entertainment industry as an actress.
While open rumors circulated that her family was wealthy, who was backing her was barely known.
But recently, due to the concert at Mirinae Park, there was talk that she might be someone belonging to that conglomerate.
Various speculations were going around, but proper information could be heard from Chae Minyoung, whom she had met at a high society party before.
'Jo Seohee is also an actress with high name value.'
Though still young and couldn't be called a 'great actress' yet, it was clear she had the buds of one.
Even with her sociable personality, she had many connections, and there were even more people who wanted to get close to her.
The daughter of the Newlike chairman.
The countless celebrities connected to her.
Just catching her alone would bring countless benefits.
But had she noticed Row's intentions?
Seohee had never properly answered Row's contacts even once.
So he had continuously tried various things to get close during that time.
Using Chae Minyoung, who was friendly to him, to maintain contact.
Still, it was fortunate that Seohee couldn't refuse young Minyoung's requests, so they could at least exchange words.
Today, when he saw Seohee at the arcade by chance, Row rubbed his eyes several times.
Seohee, who absolutely seemed like she wouldn't come to a place like an arcade, was actually playing a fighting game.
Coincidentally, Row had some expertise in fighting games.
So he planned to show a good performance here and move on to the next step.
'The opportunity finally came, but to ruin it like this?'
Row fumed and went to the person sitting across from him.
Of course, with his celebrity image, he had no intention of causing a scene.
But he felt like he needed to at least see the face to relieve this anger.
"……?"
And then, Row froze.
Because the girl sitting across from him was also quite familiar.
'Joo Seoyeon?'
Was it an illusion?
Could the person who just beat him up be Joo Seoyeon?
No, more than that, Joo Seoyeon at an arcade too?
'No, wait, wait, wait just a minute.'
Come to think of it, when she came to the party before, Seoyeon had also come with Seohee.
'Are the two close?'
Row's mind was spinning rapidly.
Joo Seoyeon.
This one too, though different in nature from Seohee, was clearly a big shot.
She was this year's hottest celebrity, and above all else, her overseas visibility was enormous.
Especially Row, who ran a business, knew.
The interest shown overseas in the 'celebrity' Joo Seoyeon.
Not simply the aspect of being an actress, but every facet of Joo Seoyeon as a celebrity.
'Wouldn't getting close to this kid also bring Seohee along?'
He wondered why Seohee came to the arcade, but it seemed she came because Seoyeon suggested it.
That Seoyeon liked games was an openly known fact in the entertainment industry.
The proof was her appearance on
It was a variety show whose lifespan was greatly extended after Seoyeon appeared, but at the time, it was nearly on the verge of cancellation.
The appearance Seoyeon showed there was something that couldn't come out unless you really loved games.
Plus, if it was Joo Seoyeon, Row had something to say about this too.
"W-wow~, I thought you were some incredible master, but it was Seoyeon-ssi? Awesome!!"
"? Did you come here to fight?"
"Huh?"
Row, who hadn't expected her to ask so directly, froze.
At Row's appearance, Seoyeon tilted her head.
'Isn't that pretty common at arcades?'
Plus, this time Seoyeon was aware that she had played a bit cheap.
She had even heard the cursing coming from the other side.
So she hit even more enthusiastically, even more cheaply.
Even after the character died, she beat the corpse in the air for 30 seconds.
At this point, it would be strange if the opponent didn't get angry and storm off.
Seoyeon knew that fact too, and that's why she had beaten Row.
"D-did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That's……"
At Seoyeon's calm reaction, Row swallowed dry saliva.
He couldn't bring himself to ask if she had heard him cursing this bastard and that bastard from the other side.
If she had heard, he couldn't predict how Seoyeon would react.
If she hadn't heard, he'd just be scratching a wound for no reason.
"I did hear you calling me this bastard and that bastard."
"……."
At Seoyeon's words, Seohee, who had been standing with her arms crossed, narrowed her eyes.
There was a lot she wanted to say, but her face said that since she was beside Seoyeon, she wouldn't bother.
"A celebrity…… cursing when there might be people listening. Hah."
She only said that much.
Of course, Row inwardly bristled at those words, but what could he do even if he was provoked?
'D-dangerous.'
Row was certain that if he stayed like this, he would never even have the chance to speak with Seohee for the rest of his life.
No, was it just words?
If Seohee spoke ill of this incident to the Newlike chairman……
Row felt a chill run down his spine.
"H-hey. Seoyeon-ssi. You see, if you play too well, people might say harsh things, you know. Wow, but you're really too good. I play fighting games quite a bit, but I didn't know I'd get wrecked this badly. Hahahaha!"
Forcing a laugh, Row glanced at the two women looking at him.
Joo Seoyeon, Jo Seohee.
With the two of them standing side by side looking at him, sweat naturally flowed down his back.
'What kind of impressions……'
Row was also quite a flashy student during his school days.
His friends were like that too.
He just never did anything like school violence, so somehow it wasn't at a problematic level.
Anyway, so he had met so-called Iljin girls a few times, but this was on a different level.
Even Iljin girls would probably just lower their eyes if they faced these two?
That was the kind of gaze that naturally came to mind.
'What should I do? Wait, come to think of it.'
Row hurriedly turned on his smartphone and looked through the list of numbers.
Not this one. This one broke up last time.
Ah, here it is.
"Oh right right right, yeah, I should have said this first. Seoyeon-ssi. I was actually planning to greet you from before."
"To me?"
"Well, this is really~ a secret. Oh right, you know? Celebrities protect each other's private lives."
"Yes."
"Well, recently I've been meeting a woman, and she's someone Seoyeon-ssi knows. Almost like a situationship? Should I say it feels like that? We're already half dating."
Why was he suddenly blabbering about his love life?
Seoyeon looked at Row with such thoughts.
Seohee slightly relaxed her furrowed eyes.
Seeing him bring up another woman, it seemed he at least had no intention of hitting on this side.
Of course, there was a feeling that he was trying to seduce her in a different sense.
'Recently, he's also running a club with a bad reputation.'
As the daughter of the Hyoyoung Group chairman and Seohee's frenemy, Chae Minyoung was a fan of Row, so she had heard various news.
Especially Chae Minyoung had completely fallen for Row and seemed to have gone to the club several times……
'She denies it with her mouth, but.'
A minor at a club.
It didn't feel good.
Seohee looked at Row with even sharper eyes.
And then.
"Here's the photo! How is it? She's someone Seoyeon-ssi knows, right?"
The smartphone screen that Row showed like that.
Seoyeon, who looked at it casually, widened her eyes.
Because there was a photo of Pyo Jiwoo taken together with Row.
"……Jiwoo unni?"
"Yeah, Pyo Jiwoo-ssi. She's been doing various acting work recently and appearing on TV broadcasts. I ran into her at the broadcasting station last time and we got close."
Pyo Jiwoo was currently appearing as a supporting role in a morning drama that was recently airing.
Her screentime wasn't that high, but her acting was receiving quite good reviews.
Since she had only recently transitioned from theater, she was struggling in various ways, but Seoyeon thought Pyo Jiwoo would soon rise to a higher place.
'Especially if she plays a villain role.'
She was certain that she would definitely receive much higher evaluation than now.
Anyway, she had felt relieved seeing Pyo Jiwoo doing well unlike her past life, but.
"……Are you two seeing each other?"
"Yeah, so don't be too on guard~."
At his light-hearted appearance, Seoyeon let out a hollow laugh.
An idol who does drugs.
The member who immediately belonged to the same agency JustX was 'Gangnam Chair King' Lee Hyun.
Considering that he mainly operated at Shine Moon…… it was roughly birds of a feather.
Therefore.
'Is he the one getting caught this time?'
She couldn't help but think that naturally.
Of course, she had no intention of doing that.
---
"If by any chance, it's better not to take calls from that side."
There was a slightly annoying incident of running into Row in the middle, but other than that, Seoyeon and Seohee generally had fun.
It was awkward to say this, but Seohee and Seoyeon had many personality traits that matched.
Seohee was the type to approach most things without prejudice, and was the kind of person who could enjoy unfamiliar things.
Going to Animate in Hongdae with Seoyeon and wandering here and there, she seemed to have enjoyed herself quite a bit.
'I can see why she has so many people around her.'
Looks aside, she had practically reached mastery in dealing with people.
Seohee, for her part, had a fulfilling day today.
Except for meeting Row, that is.
Before finally parting, at a café, Seoyeon and Seohee talked about the upcoming filming of
"Starting tomorrow, Japanese staff will probably come to the filming set too."
"Japanese side?"
"It seems they want to film something personally to promote
"Then they're filming from both sides at once?"
"Right. We were going to hand it over, but the Japanese side said they wanted to film separately. They even paid more."
It was truly an unprecedented case.
Since this side was going to produce it anyway, they could just receive it and broadcast it.
"Why?"
"It's probably because of you."
"Me?"
"The OTT we're filming is ultimately a promotional tool for the movie
This too was an extremely exceptional case.
Of course, this side didn't really need to film separately.
They could just edit together the leftover footage from filming the movie and put interviews in between.
But that wasn't what the Japanese broadcasting station wanted.
"They want to film you. The protagonist of the movie and drama is Lee Jiyeon, but in the documentary for Japanese promotion…… I think you'll be the protagonist."
Originally, Seohee didn't know much about the Japanese broadcasting industry either.
If that side wanted to do it, she was just leaving them alone.
Even if it failed, there was nothing bad about additional exposure.
"……That's fascinating."
"Hmm, well. I understand. You attract attention to an unusual degree."
Seohee looked at Seoyeon sitting at the café, facing her.
At the blatant gaze, Seoyeon's eyes quietly moved to the side.
Was it awkward?
Seohee inadvertently laughed.
"Honestly, when I first met you, I didn't know we'd be having conversations like this."
"That, the 'parachute' thing?"
"……."
As expected, she still remembered it! Seohee squeezed her eyes shut.
Was she still using formal language because of that? That's too mean, really.
"B-but that had its own……reason, you know? That's……."
"It's okay. I don't really care much now. I just think about it sometimes."
That means she cares about it enormously!
Seohee pouted.
At her appearance, this time Seoyeon smiled softly.
Indeed, now when the two were together, she didn't feel an awkward atmosphere anymore.