Chapter 109: The Red Star of Manhattan

New York, Midtown Manhattan, USA.

At the intersection where West 7th Avenue and Broadway meet in Manhattan lies a world-famous street known as the Times Square crossroads.

As the busiest pedestrian intersection in the world and the very heart of the global entertainment industry, the Times Square crossroads was, as always, crammed to bursting with people from every corner of the world, their skins of every shade, with not even a toe's space left to stand.

Normally, the northwest area of Times Square would have been teeming with a frantic flow of people coming and going, but today, unlike usual, the line was completely blocked off, making it impossible for anyone to approach.

Unless it was the annual December 31st year-end celebration, it was rare to see people so completely stuck and unable to move even a step, so one would expect the pedestrians, suddenly finding their way blocked, to be annoyed. Yet, their faces were rather flushed with excitement, as if they were delighted to witness something special.

Wei Xiaopeng, a Chinese tourist who had made the big decision to travel to America with his family, stretched his neck and even stood on tiptoe, straining to get a better look at the empty plaza in front of the Times Square electronic billboard.

Just at the edge of his sight, he could make out a huge green chroma key tent set up at the scene, and inside, a woman was moving atop the wreckage of a completely destroyed car.

Relying on a wire connected to a crane, she darted and flew around as if gliding through the air, her movements so natural that, even before any CGI processing, it looked utterly real.

A woman with a striking short red bob and a body-hugging black tights costume made from a special material landed nimbly atop the badly crushed yellow New York taxi roof like a cheetah.

Wei Xiaopeng, watching the scene, covered his mouth and couldn't help but cry out.

“Oh my god, that's really Grace Kim!”

All around, the area was packed with extras and assistant directors in green chroma key suits matching the tent, and the crush of the crowd near the filming location should have been dizzying, but the actress called Grace Kim delivered her lines flawlessly without a hint of distraction.

“Pain only makes us stronger.”

As Grace Kim finished her line, the director holding the megaphone shouted a cheerful, “Cut!” and the shoot wrapped up.

Immediately, over two hundred assistant directors—an enormous number—rushed onto the scene to remove the chroma key tent and the vehicles set up for filming.

Once the shooting ended, the restriction on foot traffic in Times Square plaza was lifted, and assistant directors, assigned to ensure everyone’s safety, began guiding the crowd out with flashing batons.

Following the flow, Wei Xiaopeng managed to get closer to the set and, spotting Grace Kim passing by, waved and shouted.

“Hey, Grace Kim!”

At the booming voice calling her name, Grace Kim brushed her hair aside and turned her gaze toward the people in the plaza.

Bodyguards in black suits, always stationed near Grace Kim in case anything happened, moved sharply to shield her from the sudden influx of the crowd.

“I’m fine. It’s ok.”

Grace Kim, in a gesture of fan service to a fellow Asian fan, stopped her bodyguards and waved to the fan calling her name.

Her response sent Wei Xiaopeng into a frenzy of excitement, and he shouted,

“I am proud! You are Chinese!”

At that, Grace Kim’s expression hardened. She shook her head firmly and quickly climbed into her private trailer.

Inside, the trailer was less like a vehicle and more reminiscent of a luxury hotel, outfitted with every convenience imaginable.

Marble tiles covered the floor, a sofa and TV, even a kitchen, shower, and bedroom were installed along the trailer's length—truly more a hotel car than a camping van.

Once all of Grace Kim’s staff were aboard, the driver of the huge Volvo truck connected to the trailer started the engine and pulled away.

Grace Kim’s trailer, carrying her and her staff, made its way through the crowd, following a route for which the production crew had already secured a permit from the city, and swiftly exited the heart of New York.

Unlike during the shoot, Grace Kim now looked a little tired. As she entered the partitioned bedroom, her personal styling team followed, helping her out of her costume and into comfortable casual clothes.

Once she had caught her breath, Grace Kim stepped out of the bedroom—only to hear a strange voice greeting her.

“Hello, Grace Kim!”

A neat, handsome young Asian man, his black hair slicked back, bowed politely as he greeted her.

Most would have been startled by the appearance of a stranger, but Grace Kim simply looked at her personal manager, Kevin, with a blank expression and asked,

“Who's this handsome guy?”

“I found some spare time before our next schedule, so I arranged that Korean interview I mentioned before. His name is Seunggu? Sunggu? Sorry, the pronunciation is hard for me.”

“It’s fine. Nice to meet you, Grace Kim. I’m Lee Seongguk, an interviewer from Korea.”

When she heard he was from Korea, Grace Kim smiled slightly and shook Lee Seongguk’s outstretched hand.

“Nice to meet you. How much time do we have for the interview?”

“Twenty minutes. I plan to get off the trailer at the next intersection, which we'll reach in about twenty minutes.”

“So we only have twenty minutes, huh? That’s too short.”

Lee Seongguk was a YouTuber who ran the ‘World Seongguk’ channel in Korea, boasting over a million subscribers. He mainly introduced movies and dramas and interviewed the top stars appearing in them.

As a Korean-American, his English was fluent, and thanks to his meticulous research and considerate manner of speaking, he was one of the few Korean interviewers able to conduct global interviews.

“Since time is short, let’s get started right away.”

“Yes, I did get prior approval, but would you mind if I film the interview?”

“Well, I look a bit rough right now, but if you don’t mind, go ahead.”

“Not at all, you look absolutely beautiful right now. I mean it.”

She wore a tight white crop top that accentuated her glamorous upper body and comfortable denim shorts, but true to her status as a top star, her elegance and beauty shone through even in the most casual clothes.

“Wow, you call this ‘rough’? Your Korean is even better than I imagined.”

“Of course. A Korean should speak Korean well.”

“That’s so true, but… it’s just amazing to see Miss Fortune from a Marvel hero movie speaking fluent Korean. It’s so moving and yet so new to me.”

“Hahaha, I suppose it would sound that way to you, Seongguk.”

Although her grammar was a bit reminiscent of a Korean-American, her pronunciation and intonation were so perfectly native that Lee Seongguk couldn’t help but be impressed.

Top actors could master even unfamiliar foreign languages, adjusting their mouth shapes, breath, and voice as if acting.

Though Grace Kim had spent her childhood years in Korea, her flawlessly natural Korean was by no means something to take for granted.

Lee Seongguk quickly and efficiently exchanged congratulations and thoughts on her new movie, ‘Lucid Dream,’ which had opened two weeks ago and was now number one at the U.S. box office. Realizing there were less than three minutes left, he jumped to his final question.

“Did you know your Korean fans are eagerly awaiting your visit?”

“I’ve heard. I really miss Korea too. I really want to see my Korean fans.”

“Is there any chance you might visit this year? Could you give us a hint?”

“Let’s see, hmm…”

Grace Kim put her finger to her chin and pretended to ponder, making her manager Kevin shake his head anxiously, worried she might say something unexpected.

But soon, the ever-capricious Grace Kim bit her lower lip and smiled before answering Seongguk’s question.

“Maybe… I might be able to meet Korean viewers within this year. Would that count as a visit?”

“If you mean viewers… do you mean…?”

At that point, manager Kevin jumped up from his seat and cut Grace Kim off.

“Grace, that’s enough. You’ll be breaking your contract.”

“Oh, Kevin, don’t be so dramatic. What did I even say?”

“I’m sorry, but let’s end the interview here.”

Sensing that if he pushed any further, he might get a scoop, Lee Seongguk smacked his lips regretfully, nodded, and switched off the camera.

At that moment, the trailer arrived in front of the Chrysler Building at East 42nd Street and stopped at a red light.

With a hissing sound, the massive trailer's rear door opened, and Lee Seongguk stepped out.

“Well, I understand. Thank you so much for taking the time for this interview even though you’re so busy.”

As Lee Seongguk reluctantly left the trailer, Grace Kim tossed him a passing remark.

“Hope to see you in Korea soon.”

“Pardon?”

“Off the record.”

“Hey! Grace! What the—!”

With a playful wink, Grace Kim closed the trailer door with a thunk.

Watching Grace Kim’s trailer truck pull away as the light turned green, Lee Seongguk stood there, dazed, replaying her last words in his mind.

“No way… is Grace Kim planning to work on a project in Korea?”

***

Right after Korean YouTuber Lee Seongguk left the trailer.

Grace Kim’s manager, Kevin, waved his hand wildly and scolded her.

“Grace, do you realize you almost caused a major incident just now?”

“So what if I did?”

“You almost blurted out something that’s not even confirmed yet.”

“Enough, Kevin. Where’s the script?”

Ignoring his words, Grace Kim began searching for her script, making Kevin’s frustration boil over, but with no other choice, he pulled the scriptbook from the drawer and handed it to her.

“That script—is it really that interesting?”

“Yeah, of all the scripts I’ve seen recently—no, in the past three years—it’s the best.”

“Grace Kim, famous for her high standards, praising it that much… I wonder what kind of person the writer is.”

“So about that, I’ve totally changed my mind.”

At Grace’s words, Kevin’s face turned pale.

Waving the script she held in her hand as if to tease him, Grace said to Kevin,

“I finished reading the whole script. I went from ‘I might do it’ to ‘I absolutely have to do it.’”

“No way, absolutely not, Grace.”

“When have you ever stopped me from doing anything? I’m going to shoot this project this year.”

It sounded simple, but if Grace really did shoot this script from the Korean ‘Setflix’ production team this year, it would seriously disrupt her already packed schedule.

If this project was squeezed in, Grace’s staff wouldn’t even have time to sleep or eat—they’d have to work nonstop.

Naturally, Grace Kim herself would bear the toughest schedule of all.

If her health suffered, as her manager, Kevin would be solely responsible.

But.

“Kevin, did you forget? When I signed with my exclusive agency, what was my only condition?”

“…Ha, that anything you want to shoot, you get to shoot. Fine. You win, Grace.”

“Okay. Then set up the Korea schedule as soon as possible.”

Leaving Kevin slumped on the sofa with a resentful face, Grace intently stared at the cover page of the script she set down on the side table.

On the cover, in bold letters, was written .

Below that, looking at the name of the writer, Grace Kim bit her lower lip and carefully enunciated,

“Lee Junghyuk. I really wonder what kind of person you are.”