TRES
"Miss Manoban." Ye-rim was still on the other end waiting for directions. "The other party is saying that they want to arrange a time to meet with Irene and discuss the details of the movie contract. Do you think that's feasible?"
Lisa didn't hurry to answer. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Let's first ask Irene and see."
"Then I'll give Irene a call..."
"No need, I'll tell her myself."
After Lisa hung up the phone, she tidied up the documents on her desk and then got off work on time, going to Irene's restaurant for dinner according to her earlier plans.
Because the restaurant had just gave a special promotional discount the restaurant's business was as good as could be. Irene thus had to take the waiters' place to serve the dishes to Lisa.
"Next time, Miss Manoban should remember to make a reservation before she comes, or else I might only be able to get you a seat next to the bathroom." Jokingly saying.
"Sit down with me and eat a bit." Lisa didn't get angry, simply waving a hand at her.
While Irene said that she was 'too busy, too busy', she still sat down and very conscientiously explained each of the dishes.
Lisa tasted each and every one, saying that 'it was delicious' without exception, but in her heart she actually thought that none of them matched up to Irene's own handiwork.
However, right now their relationship wasn't the same, so she no longer had the standing to ask Irene to cook for her. Sometimes when she thought about it, she also found it regretful.
It wasn't until halfway through the meal that Lisa remembered the matter with Young Master Kim and mentioned it to Irene by-the-by.
Irene had spent this long in the entertainment circle, so how could she not have heard of the name Kim Jun Cotton? But she had simply heard that Young Master Kim had a weird temperament, having never met the person, and hadn't ever considered that she'd be able to act in this person's film.
After she finished listening to Lisa, she didn't display much surprise, simply blinking her eyes.
"How much money did you spend?"
"Hm?"
"If you didn't spend money or effort, how did you get me this kind of job? You couldn't have sold your sex appeal, right?"
Lisa almost laughed. "This time, it was the other party who took the initiative to contact me. I didn't do anything."
"Ah..." Irene finally showed some surprise, and in the end, she tossed out her favorite phrase, "I don't play supporting roles."
"I also specifically asked about this, and the other party said that they want you as the female lead. How about it? If you're interested, then arrange a time to meet up with Director Kim for a chat."
Irene wasn't much interested in the movie, but she was quite curious about why Jun Cotton wanted her as the female lead.
"Then help me arrange it." Irene thereupon nodded at Lisa.
Afterwards, they talked about a few other subjects, and the meal was finished quite happily.
▒ ▒ ▒
A few days later, the manager finished helping Irene arrange a time to meet Young Master Kim.
The chosen location was at a tea shop in the downtown historical district. The tea shop was built near a river, and the interior was decorated with an antique ambience in mind.
Irene arrived ten minutes early to the private room, but when she pushed open the door, she discovered that Lisa had long already been waiting there.
"Why is it you? Where's the manager?" She couldn't help but startle and ask.
Lisa poured her a cup of tea and unhurriedly said, "I had more time today."
This kind of line aroused even more suspicion, but Irene didn't inquire further, simply walking over and sitting down, beginning to chat idly with the other as she sipped at her tea.
Kim Jun Cotton was extremely punctual.
Since the meeting had been scheduled for three o'clock, then he really pushed open the door and entered right as the clock struck three— wore a brown suit as well as a pair of leather shoes on his feet, his pretty and delicate face was expressionless, and his eyes were as cold as a winter, one look could tell that he was as arrogant as could be.
Lisa handed over a business card, but the person gave it only one look before he carelessly put it to the side and introduced himself with a simple, "Kim Jun Cotton."
As if those characters were enough to explain everything.
Though actually that was indeed true.
When it came Irene's turn to introduce herself, Young Master Kim actually paid quite some attention, staring fixedly at her face, before suddenly saying, "Sorry in advance for the offense."
And then he rose from his own seat and reached out a hand to grab Irene's chin.
For a moment, Irene wasn't able to react.
Lisa's expression changed slightly, and she immediately grabbed hold of the other's wrist, asking, "Director Kim, what are you doing?"
Jun Cotton completely ignored her.
The two's strength was about the same, and so they were locked in place like this for a while.
Jun Cotton earnestly scrutinized Irene's features once over, and only then did he release her hand and sit back down.
"Looks just about the same as I imagined. This face really is very beautiful."
Irene rubbed her chin and agreed in a way that could be considered at least somewhat modest, "Many thanks for the compliment."
"I was simply stating the truth, not complimenting you." Unexpectedly, Jun Cotton rolled his eyes.
"Oh, then many thanks for the observation."
"With this attitude of yours, you definitely offend people very easily."
Irene immediately said, "The same to you."
Jun Cotton wrinkled his brows. Originally, he had simply paid attention to Irene's face, and only at this time did his gaze fall on Irene herself. After giving the person a few more looks, he revealed a sliver of interest in her expression.
"Not bad. This is a bit interesting."
This sentence made people feel quite annoyed.
Lisa cleared her throat and also poured a cup of tea for Jun Cotton, taking the opportunity to say, "Director Kim, let's discuss business now."
Jun Cotton finally retracted his gaze and retrieved a script from his bag, "Let me first summarize the plot..."
"Director Kim," Irene reached out to receive the script, "I have a question I want to ask you."
"Shhh," Jun Cotton waved a finger, coldly saying, "Don't interrupt me."
Thus, the only thing Irene could do was shut her mouth and shoot Lisa a glance, the meaning clear—this Young Master Kim really was difficult to get along with.
Lisa smiled and helped him fill up his tea.
Although Jun Cotton was cold in disposition, he was quite enthusiastic towards filming and very earnestly detailed the story of his film. While the story couldn't be considered particularly brilliant, if the script was written well, and the director also handled things nicely, then the film would still end up plenty interesting.
The most important thing was that the story didn't have a male lead. The majority of it was from the unfolding perspective of the female lead, so the female lead was an especially important character in the film, definitely not any kind of flower vase.
Then why did he want Irene?
When Jun Cotton had finished, he gestured towards Irene and said, "All right, you can ask now."
With a self-important expression as if he was waiting for questions from reporters.
Actually, Irene had only one question—why did Young Master Kim want her as the female lead? Since Lisa was also here, she decided to just straight-out ask.
Jun Cotton actually didn't find her annoying and very breezily said, "First of all, of course, because your face is beautiful enough, making it really suited to my own image of the lead. Second of all, because I incidentally managed to see a certain video."
"What video?"
Jun Cotton didn't respond, instead directly taking out the laptop he was always carrying and placing it on the table. After he turned on the laptop, he clicked open a video in a certain folder and then pressed play.
Irene and Lisa both moved over to look.
Right as the opening music of the video started, Irene was able to recognize that this was the trailer for her movie. That movie had already finished filming several months ago, and the premiere date was set in October, so right now was just about the time to start publicity.
Although Irene's part had been cut significantly, the promotional materials still said that there were two female leads, so she had quite a few scenes in the trailer. One of the scenes was her in a white robe, lowering her head to play a flute in a pavilion, the wind blowing against her black hair slightly. The moment she raised her hand to brush aside her hair, the surrounding flowers scattered and fell, making the scene look singularly beautiful.
Lisa was somewhat entranced watching this.
But Jun Cotton actually yawned and pressed fast-forward to bypass this scene. It wasn't until that disfigured face of Irene's appeared that he once again played at regular speed.
The accompanying music was becoming more and more poignant.
After showing the scene of the male and female lead sweetly taking a boat ride on a lake, what followed was the scene of Irene holding her sword in that pouring rain. Her clothes were all worn and tattered, her entire body soaked through from the downpour, the scar on her face looking especially sinister. As she coughed, hand pressed against her chest, she seemed to be moving with the last of her energy before finally falling, battered and exhausted, in the midst of the rain.
...And she never stood up again.
Irene hadn't expected even that scene to make it into the trailer and was caught off-guard upon seeing that image of herself. Feeling her heart tighten for a moment, she couldn't help but press down on her right hand, softly stroking that scar on her palm.
At this time, Jun Cotton paused the video and said to Irene, "There's no need to mention all the other mediocre parts, but at least this scene was acted quite well."
"You can barely even see my face." Irene very quickly adjusted her mood and smiling.
"As it happens, only this scene left a deep impression on me." Jun Cotton seemed to appreciate Irene's performance at that time quite a bit, rewinding the clip and playing it over once more.
As he watched that figure falling down in the pouring rain, he said, "Everything else isn't important. The most important thing is whether or not your acting will be able to move people's hearts."
Lisa was similarly watching with rapt attention.
The person watched how Irene fell down, fatigued to the extreme, how she struggled to crawl back up, and how she finally gave up in despair, allowing the rain to continue battering down upon her. Her face was covered in mud, that scar across her cheeks looking particularly twisted and frightening, and only those eyes still remained clear and bright.
The camera moved in for a close-up, zooming in on Irene's eyes.
Tears bubbled forth from those black eyes, falling and mixing in with the rainwater, very quickly disappearing amidst the torrent. But she still kept her eyes wide open, staring fixedly towards somewhere in the distance, as if her beloved person was standing in that place, as if she had already been gazing like this for a lifetime.
Lisa's chest felt suffocated, and a ridiculous thought suddenly flashed through her mind. She felt as if what died was not only Irene's character in the film but also that kind of love which had been carved into the bones—every last bit of it had been snuffed out.
― 21 ―
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