Superstar From Age 0

Translator: MarcTempest

Editor: AgRoseCrystal

Chapter 537

Hwang Ji-yoon bit the inside of her cheek as she saw the students fawning over Oh Seong-tae, who seemed to mock her with his smile.

‘This is really my work…’

It was her work that she had planned to start filming in late autumn, after restoring the script, gathering the staff, and recruiting the actors over the weekend. But she had no way to refute him without any evidence.

Should I have done a good deed instead?

She even thought that.

“Ji-yoon, don’t you have to apologize to Seong-tae sunbae?”

“You know. You accused him of stealing your work and cursed at him without any proof.”

“Yeah. Seong-tae is just being nice and not saying anything…”

“Hwang Ji-yoon!”

Then, a voice of someone who had been forgotten rang out.

Hwang Ji-yoon, who was making a face as if she was biting her tongue, as well as Oh Seong-tae, who was smiling smugly, and the film students who were urging her to apologize, all looked at Hwang Do-yoon, who had no presence at all.

They all had expressions that said, ‘Oh, he was here too.’

Hwang Ji-yoon stared at her brother with a dumbfounded expression. In this serious situation, Hwang Do-yoon was calmly taking a phone call.

Well, fine. It could be an urgent call.

But why was he waving at her with a bright smile?

“Take this call!”

Hwang Do-yoon approached his sister, who was not listening, and handed her his phone.

“…Are you crazy? In this situation, you want me to take a call?”

Hwang Ji-yoon made a face that asked if he was serious, but Hwang Do-yoon pushed his phone towards her with a giggly smile.

“Just take it.”

She didn’t even know why she had to take a call that came to Hwang Do-yoon.

She clenched her teeth and decided to deal with him later at home, and took the phone.

“…Hello. This is Hwang Ji-yoon.”

The students spat out their complaints at the sudden situation.

“What, why isn’t she apologizing?”

“Right. Seong-tae sunbae was almost wronged.”

“Seong-tae, just think of it as a favor. A favor.”

“It’s okay. Ji-yoon is always a bit hasty.”

Oh Seong-tae stopped the students and looked at Hwang Do-yoon with a satisfied and scornful face.

“Can you leave now if you’re done? If you think I stole it, bring some evidence.”

“Wait. She’s on the phone.”

Oh Seong-tae looked at Hwang Do-yoon. His expression, which had been serious until a moment ago, had changed to a relaxed one as if he had put down a burden.

“…Yes? Where?”

Hwang Ji-yoon’s voice sounded like she had heard wrong.

“Co, Cocoa Entertainment?”

Whack!

Oh Seong-tae turned his head and looked at Hwang Ji-yoon, who was on the phone.

Cocoa Entertainment, archive room.

Choi Tae-woo, who won the rock-paper-scissors and got to read [Unknown Painter], opened the first chapter.

‘This is what Lee Seo-joon actor chose…’

First page.

The sound of a horse neighing was heard. A carriage was approaching from afar. A young boy who was running an errand looked at the carriage. He thought he saw a pale face through the carriage window.

The carriage that was speeding up slowed down and stopped in front of a tile-roofed house surrounded by a stone wall.

The young boy asked the old man who was sitting on the platform who the guest who came this time was. The old man said he was a painter from Hanyang.

…? What?

Choi Tae-woo blinked his eyes.

It was his first time seeing this work, but somehow the rest of the story came to his mind.

‘The painter injured his hands…’

The old man said. The painter had injured both of his hands and came to recuperate.

‘This kid will serve him.’

Since it was winter soon and there was nothing to do, the boy became the errand boy for the painter in the tile-roofed house.

His curiosity grew stronger as the story continued.

Here it was like this, there it was like that.

As if he had gained the ability to see the future, the plot of [Unknown Painter] came to his mind. It was too vivid to be a déjà vu. It was as if he had just read it.

!

Snap!

Choi Tae-woo’s head turned quickly to the side. The managers who were waiting for their turn and reading other works were surprised by his movement.

“What, what? What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s… Just a moment.”

Choi Tae-woo reached out his hand to the table and picked up a script. It was an unfinished script that he was debating whether to recommend to Seo-joon.

Choi Tae-woo held the two scripts and flipped through the pages as if they would make a rustling sound. He looked at them quickly, left and right, at a speed that he couldn’t even tell if he was reading properly.

‘This too… This too… They’re all similar…!’

Choi Tae-woo’s eyes trembled.

There were many movies that flowed similarly, but this was too similar to be a problem.

‘No, it’s too early to judge.’

Seven years ago, Oh Seong-tae had submitted an unfinished script to Cocoa Entertainment, and after revising and revising it, he came up with [Unknown Painter].

Was it Director Oh Seong-tae, or someone else’s name?

Choi Tae-woo swallowed his saliva without knowing and flipped the unfinished script to the cover.

[Writer: Hwang Ji-yoon]

!!

He had no time to be surprised.

Choi Tae-woo jumped up and ran out of the archive room.

“I’ll be back from the office!”

The managers looked at Choi Tae-woo’s empty seat with a bewildered expression.

***

Choi Tae-woo showed the two scripts to Ahn Da Ho and the staff of Team 2, who touched their foreheads.

They could understand the situation by just reading the unfinished script, since they had read [Unknown Painter] several times.

“This is… This is not just similar.”

“Yeah. It feels like two people wrote it based on one synopsis.”

“Here’s the director. Here’s the writer. Did the writer give the script to the director? It’s a seven-year-old script.”

There were quite a few directors who bought scenarios from writers or directors and adapted them.

There were directors who paid properly and bought scenarios, but there were also directors who forcibly took them, so Team 2 was careful not to get swept away by minor controversies.

“I heard he wrote it himself from beginning to end.”

The staff groaned at the words of Jung Yu-jung, who was in charge of Director Oh Seong-tae.

“Then what happened?”

“There are two possibilities. Either two completely different people wrote similar works, or Director Oh Seong-tae is lying.”

The staff members of Team 2 nodded at Ahn Da Ho’s words.

“The chances of it being a coincidence are slim, but even if it is, Hwang Ji-yoon’s script came out seven years earlier, so she has the priority.”

“In that case, we should either buy the scenario or go with Hwang Ji-yoon as the writer and Oh Seong-tae as the director.”

Hwang Ji-yoon and Oh Seong-tae, who were currently fighting at Korea National University of Arts, would have been furious if they heard that.

“Then what if they bought the scenario or plagiarized it…?”

“If they bought the scenario, we just need to verify it and move on, but if it’s plagiarism, we might have to reconsider this project.”

Ahn Da Ho answered Choi Tae-woo’s question.

Oh, are they giving up on this project?

Choi Tae-woo, who thought it was a shame to lose such an interesting project, heard the voices of Ahn Da Ho and the Team 2 staff.

“Let’s just find a new director and keep Hwang Ji-yoon as the writer. Or we can just buy the scenario from them.”

“Seo-jun was interested in student directors, right? Should we look for one, team leader?”

“Yes. That sounds good.”

Choi Tae-woo’s eyes flickered at the calm conversation between Ahn Da Ho and the Team 2 staff. They weren’t giving up on the project, they were planning to replace the director.

“Let’s contact Hwang Ji-yoon first. Do you have their number?”

“It’s from seven years ago, though. And the person who answered had a different name. It seems like a family member.”

On the last page of the unfinished script, there was a name, Hwang Do-yoon, and a phone number. A Team 2 staff member dialed that number.

“Hello?”

“Hello, is this Hwang Do-yoon?”

“Yes. Who is this?”

“We’re an agency for actors. We wanted to ask you something about Hwang Ji-yoon’s work, so we called you.”

“Hwang Ji-yoon… a writer?”

A puzzled voice came through.

“Yes. Do you not know them?”

“No, I do know them, but… I didn’t hear that they submitted a script. And a writer, really…”

“Oh, it’s not a recent work, it’s from seven years ago.”

“Seven years ago? That was when Hwang Ji-yoon was in middle school… They did write something back then… Wait! Are you from Cocoa Entertainment?”

Before they could understand what he meant by writing something in middle school, the voice on the other end made Ahn Da Ho and the Team 2 staff widen their eyes.

The name ‘Cocoa Entertainment’ was big, since they only had one official actor, Seo-jun.

They had briefly hidden the fact that they were from Cocoa Entertainment when they talked to Oh Seong-tae, because they were afraid that the cast would change to Seo-jun because of his fame. And they had also avoided mentioning it just before, in case there was a problem.

But how did he know?

“Yes. We’re from Team 2 of Cocoa Entertainment. How did you know?”

“I was the one who sent Hwang Ji-yoon’s script to you. I never thought you’d actually contact me… Oh, but why did you call me?”

“We have a work that came in, and it’s similar to Hwang Ji-yoon’s script, so we contacted you. We wondered if you sold the scenario.”

“No, they wouldn’t have sold it. They’re very attached to their work. Similar, you say… Is the title of that work Unknown Painter?”

They didn’t know how many times they were surprised today.

They sighed lightly at the situation that they couldn’t grasp at all, and the mention of a work that hadn’t been released yet by Hwang Do-yoon.

“Can we talk to Hwang Ji-yoon first? You can just give us their contact information.”

“Oh! They’re here. I’ll switch you over.”

After a brief pause,

“…Hello. This is Hwang Ji-yoon.”

A slightly tired voice came through.

***

“My work? My work is at Cocoa Entertainment? No, wait a minute. What’s the title of that work? … Th, The Painter in the Love Room?”

Hwang Ji-yoon was startled by the mention of Cocoa Entertainment and opened their mouth without realizing it.

[The Painter in the Love Room]

That was the initial title of the script that Hwang Ji-yoon was currently restoring (which was also plagiarized by Oh Seong-tae). It was a work that she had conceived after reading a short story called ‘The Guest in the Love Room and the Mother’ in a Korean class in the second year of middle school.

She had written it thinking that it would be interesting to have Seo-jun, who was an elementary school student at the time, as an observer like ‘Ok-hee’ in the short story ‘The Guest in the Love Room and the Mother’.

‘But that was also lost because of the USB malfunction, right?’

Hwang Ji-yoon said in confusion.

“Why is that… there? I never sent it to Cocoa Entertainment…”

Then, an enemy-like voice came.

“Ha ha. I did!”

Hwang Do-yoon, who was a high school freshman at the time, laughed.

“I saw you writing something all the time, and I saw Seo-jun’s name on the cover. So I sent it to Cocoa Entertainment.”

Hwang Ji-yoon slapped their forehead.

“No, who would send a script that a middle schooler wrote for fun to a real agency?”

“That’s not important right now. Sister. How similar do you think your script is to Unknown Painter for Cocoa Entertainment to contact you? You’ve got evidence. Evidence!”

‘…That’s right?’

Hwang Ji-yoon’s eyes sparkled at Hwang Do-yoon’s quiet words. It was the evidence that they thought was all gone.

Just then, a voice came from across the phone.

“So, you’re saying you never sold this script anywhere?”

“Yes, yes! I didn’t sell it! It’s mine! It’s my work!”

***

Why did Cocoa Entertainment contact Hwang Ji-yoon?

Oh Seong-tae and the students were startled and looked at Hwang Ji-yoon, who was on the phone.

They heard Hwang Ji-yoon’s voice, which was raised from time to time. They seemed to be talking about when and where to meet.

“I talked to them for a moment, and they said they were from Team 2. You know who’s in Team 2 of Cocoa Entertainment, right?”

Oh Seong-tae glared at Hwang Do-yoon with a fierce look. Of course he knew. The one who called him was also a Team 2 staff member.

The students were noisy at Hwang Do-yoon’s relaxed words.

“Is it really Cocoa Entertainment?”

“Are you lying? Why would Cocoa Entertainment call Hwang Ji-yoon?”

“Maybe it’s because Oh Seong-tae claimed that he plagiarized, and they want to silence her before the controversy arises.”

“How did Cocoa Entertainment know about this?”

It was a problem that was about to erupt here. No matter how great their information was, it was hard for Cocoa Entertainment to know what happened in these few minutes.

“And even if they contacted her, shouldn’t they contact Oh Seong-tae first?”

He felt like he was being watched. Oh Seong-tae clenched and unclenched his damp hands.

It’s okay.

He had changed one of the two main characters from an adult to a child, and the setting from a Western-style mansion to a Korean-style house.

There was no sentence that could be legally problematic, and he had found works and materials that could be motifs for the impressive scenes. He just had to say that he was inspired by them.

‘People’s imagination is limited.’

It would be difficult to be recognized as plagiarism without clear evidence.

As Oh Seong-tae tried to calm himself down, the ringtone rang. It was Oh Seong-tae’s phone.

He had set the ringtone to be loud to enjoy the calls that were pouring in from all sides. The ringtone thundered like thunder.

It was quiet around him.

“Aren’t you going to answer? It could be an urgent call.”

At Hwang Do-yoon’s words, Oh Seong-tae swallowed his saliva and picked up his phone with a slightly trembling hand.

[Cocoa Entertainment]

Somehow, he had a bad feeling.