– Were you awake?
Kim Jeong-sik, who answered the call, asked in a surprised tone.
He hadn’t expected I’d be able to answer right away, even though he’d sent a message.
“Of course. It’s already past ten.”
– Well, actors have such unpredictable schedules… I thought you’d be the same, Taeha.
“If you keep living like that, it’s bad for your health. Once filming starts, my sleep schedule will be a mess anyway, so I try to stick to a regular routine when I can.”
– Haha. That’s a good habit.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep, Writer?”
It wasn’t just actors.
Most writers were night owls, too.
Taeha knew this better than anyone, and he himself had been quite the night owl in his Ho-jun days.
Especially during Script writing periods, he’d see the morning sun before falling asleep, and often only woke up when lunch hours at the restaurants were ending.
“I remember those days—I’d get up wanting to eat, but couldn’t because it was break time.”
– Back then, I lived with my days and nights flipped too. But if you keep living like that, your body won’t hold up. Especially as you get older.
“That’s true, I suppose.”
– Was it around my second project? I realized something big then, so now I make sure to get up before noon and stick to it. Once I adjusted, it turned out pretty okay.
At least, Writer was lucky to be alive long enough to realize that.
Taeha swallowed words he couldn’t say.
He’d heard stories about those so-called “masters” who’d wake up early to exercise and only wrote at scheduled times.
But Taeha always thought that was only possible because they were masters.
After all, they’d written so much and written so well—they didn’t need to pull all-nighters, or seek inspiration in the early morning.
But after coming back from the brink of death, he understood.
It wasn’t that they could do it because they were masters.
If you wanted to keep writing, you simply had to live like that.
“When you think about it, Baek Seung-chul is really something else.”
Baek Seung-chul’s lifestyle was a mess.
He’d basically traded his health for fame.
During Script writing periods, he barely left the writer’s room, and every meal was replaced by delivery food.
He lived with cigarettes and alcohol in his mouth.
His days and nights constantly flipped, and his insomnia was so bad he couldn’t sleep without sleeping pills.
Waking up after a short nap just to start working again was the norm…
“As his Assistant Writer, I had to stay up until Baek Seung-chul went to sleep. Even if I did fall asleep, I couldn’t rest easy since I never knew when he’d wake up and start working again. When I was young, I used to fall asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.”
As experience accumulated, the Assistant Writer’s salary did go up.
But if you calculated it by the hour, it probably wasn’t much.
When meetings ran long, they’d work over twenty hours at a stretch.
Taeha had lived this way for nearly ten years, so even the young Ho-jun’s health inevitably suffered.
“How is Baek Seung-chul still alive? Was he just born with a sturdy constitution or something?”
Taeha was clicking his tongue internally when Kim Jeong-sik continued.
– The reason I called isn’t a big deal… About yesterday’s Reading.
“Yes, Writer.”
– I really wanted to thank you for doing such a great job.
“…You’re too kind.”
– I kept telling you, didn’t I? I really feel like you understand my Script, Taeha. You showed that with your acting at the audition, too.
Taeha let out a low, almost bashful laugh.
– But after seeing your performance yesterday, fully prepared for the role… I just had to tell you how impressed I was. Seriously, it was exactly what I’d imagined when writing the Script.
– Everything, from your interpretation of the stage directions to your tone of delivery. Some parts were even beyond what I’d imagined.
All Taeha had done was fulfill his role as an actor, but he understood why Kim Jeong-sik was so moved and grateful.
Because he was a Writer.
A character you created, lines you wrote, your own story—
To see those things come to life through acting instead of being stuck on paper…
And the thrill when that performance even exceeds what you intended…
Only a Writer could truly understand those feelings.
That was why Taeha had decided to walk the path of a Writer himself.
– I thought you’d fit the role of Lee Jae-hyun, but I didn’t expect it would be this perfect.
“Thank you. All the hard work paid off.”
Kim Jeong-sik laughed happily at Taeha’s calm reply.
– There’s one more thing I’m grateful for.
“Yes?”
– To be honest, when we were casting you, the broadcasting company asked if I could reduce Lee Jae-hyun’s scenes in the later episodes, or revise the content.
“Ah, I see.”
Was he blaming Seon Min-gi for this, or did the broadcasting company actually want it? It was hard to be sure.
“Maybe it’s a bit of everything.”
But regardless of which it was, Taeha wasn’t offended—after all, he’d already accepted the reduction in his own appearance fee, knowing his position.
Honestly, if it meant improving the work’s quality, he was fine with having less screen time.
– But after yesterday’s Script Reading, the response was so good that they said there’s no need to adjust anything. So now, I can write things the way I want to, thanks to you, Taeha.
“That’s great.”
Kim Jeong-sik continued right away at Taeha’s straightforward answer.
– The reason I’m telling you all this… I just didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings later. The story in the latter half is going exactly as I planned, not because of anything else.
“Just in case?”
A thought flashed rapidly through Taeha’s mind.
Right now, Taeha had read up to part 7 of the Script together with Sinom.
And while reading, he’d sensed a certain flow—“Maybe this is how it’ll go?” He had a pretty good idea.
Honestly, as far as Taeha was concerned, “I’d actually prefer it that way.”
“So Lee Jae-hyun’s screen time will decrease in the second half.”
– That’s right. He’ll disappear from the cast list for good.
“He dies?”
– No way… Did you guess that?
“I actually thought it would be best if he did. That way, it’d be a stronger character.”
The moment Taeha finished speaking, a soft exclamation came through the phone.
***
The protagonist of is Jinseong.
Abandoned by his parents and raised in an Orphanage, he was always exceptionally smart and strong since childhood.
He used these gifts to help the other orphans who were bullied.
Even when he pretended otherwise, his sense of justice was extraordinary.
As he went through adolescence, Jinseong realized he possessed a special ability.
He could see Evil Spirits with his own eyes and perform Exorcism.
Realizing he could never lead a normal life, he decided to become a Chief Priest, and lived quietly in God’s Domain, where Evil Spirits were less likely to appear.
Then, just before his Ordination Ceremony, Jinseong discovered a young child possessed by an Evil Spirit.
He wanted to save the child, so he performed an Exorcism…
“In the process, there was a commotion, and I was stripped of my qualification as Chief Priest.”
After that, Jinseong set up an office disguised as a Cleaning Agency, and became a fixer for those forced into miserable lives by Evil Spirits.
During that work, he discovered there was a group using Evil Spirits for their own gain,
and the plot’s main thread was Jinseong, together with the detective heroine, tracking down these dark forces as the situation grew ever more serious.
“And among the supporting roles, Lee Jae-hyun is…!”
Jinseong had once helped Lee Jae-hyun, who was a high schooler.
Lee Jae-hyun got caught up in a fight with some punks and was beaten up, but Jinseong rescued him, and that’s how their relationship began.
To be honest, Lee Jae-hyun was barely different from those punks, wandering aimlessly through life, until Jinseong guided him onto the right path.
After that, Lee Jae-hyun followed Jinseong like an older brother and helped him out.
He didn’t show it openly, but Jinseong genuinely cared for Lee Jae-hyun, too.
Though Lee Jae-hyun seemed thoughtless and often grumbled, Jinseong knew the real reason why he’d been such a troubled teen.
“His Parents were murdered brutally.”
Lee Jae-hyun himself discovered the corpses and witnessed the scene.
No matter how cheerful he seemed, the darkness he carried inside began from that murder scene.
“Lee Jae-hyun is a character who desperately wants to find the Real Culprit and avenge his Parents.”
Taeha thought there was a reason Kim Jeong-sik set up Lee Jae-hyun’s character like that.
“There’s a hint in the Sinom, too. It says Lee Jae-hyun and Jinseong will end up in conflict during the latter part.”
That made Taeha wonder if, when Lee Jae-hyun tries to get revenge on the Real Culprit, Jinseong would try to stop him, leading to conflict between them.
“And if Lee Jae-hyun dies in the process… it would be enough to trigger Jinseong’s transformation in the second half. It would heighten the conflict, too.”
That’s why Taeha thought Lee Jae-hyun’s character gained more meaning by dying.
“Of course, it would also be fine if he survived a crisis and they avenged together.”
Either way, if you followed that line of thought, it seemed likely the Real Culprit behind Lee Jae-hyun’s parents’ deaths was connected to the dark forces Jinseong was pursuing.
– The Real Culprit who ordered the murder of Jae-hyun’s Parents is the same as the Final Boss Jinseong is chasing.
As expected.
Taeha nodded, about to ask if that meant he would be killed by the Final Boss.
– And that Final Boss is also Jinseong’s Biological Father.
“…What?”
– It’s weird, right? How Jinseong can use those powers over Evil Spirits, almost as if they were limitless?
Kim Jeong-sik added in a casual tone.
“Oh, so that’s how it’s all connected. But in that case, to Lee Jae-hyun, Jinseong is…”
– The son of his Parents’ killer. Jinseong himself is completely innocent, and doesn’t even know who his own Parents are.
With a slightly trembling voice, Taeha asked,
“…Does Lee Jae-hyun know? About Jinseong’s Parents?”
– Yes. That’s why he approached him from the beginning.
It was a shocking twist.
Even Taeha hadn’t seen that coming.
– But as they spent time together, he genuinely came to care for Jinseong like a brother, and while wrestling with that conflict…
“He ends up being killed.”
– Yes.
A tingling sensation ran through Taeha’s palm as he opened and closed his hand.
– I’m expecting it to happen around episode 13. Don’t be too upset about dying.
“Not at all. I’m actually grateful you’re killing me off.”
When all these truths finally came out, Taeha could only imagine the shock and grief Jinseong would feel.
Until the moment the truth was revealed and Lee Jae-hyun died.
The tension and the emotions would be overwhelming.
Taeha didn’t know how Kim Jeong-sik would compose those scenes, but he was sure they would be tremendous.
“This is an even better role than I imagined.”
It was almost a pity for actors who had turned this role down.
“They must have known about this when you tried to persuade them to join. Or maybe that’s why they declined? Even though he’s in the second half, Lee Jae-hyun is a character who leaves in the middle.”
Whatever the reason, Taeha was just grateful.
– I thought you should know, since you’ll be acting the part. Only the Director, me, and you know this—so don’t let it slip!
“Of course. If I leak anything, you can sue me.”
– Haha. Alright.
Taeha and Kim Jeong-sik continued chatting for a while in good spirits.
“Oh, and Writer. There’s something I was curious about. Do you have time to keep talking?”
– Sure, what is it?
***
One hour later.
After a walk to clear his head, Taeha returned home, turned on his laptop, and boldly deleted all the project plans and Scripts he had written up until now.