Chapter 88: The Bait of LoveStar

First, to make sure she couldn’t show up again, I ran straight to the village head and reported the suspicious person.

“What? Who is it! Who!”

“Well… they said it was a young woman who seemed a bit off.”

“We’re even filming a TV program here—what’s going on?”

“I know. I’m worried she’ll suddenly appear and cause trouble during shooting.”

“That won’t do. People love how cool the new air conditioner in the community center is…”

He was already fretting that if filming fell through, the production team might take back the air conditioner and air purifier they’d gifted.

“Should we put out a village broadcast?”

“A broadcast?”

“The grandmas don’t even lock their doors properly—you never know.”

“You’re right! Young people are so smart.”

The village head hurried off to the community center on his short legs.

“If anyone spots her, tell them to chase her away or report her!”

“Don’t worry~”

Soon after he dashed off, a broadcast echoed through the entire village.

Testing~ This is the village head speaking. Recently~ a strange person~ has been spotted in our~ village. It’s a young~ woman…

Hearing the broadcast, Kyungho asked,

“What’s all this noise?”

“They say a weird person’s wandering around the village.”

“What?”

“If you see her too, uncle, pretend you don’t know her and run away.”

After hearing my explanation, Kyungho gave me a strange look and asked,

“By any chance… is this person coming because of you?”

Is this guy a ghost? 

How did he know? 

I’d never once mentioned the stalker in front of Kyungho.

“How did you know?”

“Why are you acting like that? You think I’m on top of your head or something?”

“No, seriously—how did you figure it out?”

I was genuinely curious how Kyungho had found out.

“You think you’re the only one who uses SNS? I can use it too.”

“Huh?”

Kyungho and SNS? 

This was a man so detached from the world that he barely watched TV, only tuning into dramas because of me.

“Do you have an SNS account?”

“Of course I do.”

“You do? Uncle, you don’t even know how to make one!”

“I’m not that old.”

Age wasn’t the issue. 

He’d ranted multiple times about how pointless that stuff was.

“I saw it. The weird comments someone leaves on your SNS.”

“You check the comments on my SNS too?”

Even I rarely looked at them, yet Kyungho was monitoring mine.

“Ahem, I just browse when I’m bored.”

“Have you ever left a comment?”

“Why would I comment!”

“You did, didn’t you.”

His intense reaction made it 100% clear he had.

“What did you write? What’s your ID?”

“Tsk~ Stop talking nonsense. A strange person followed you all the way here—what’s your company doing? They don’t even protect their celebrities.”

“The company probably didn’t expect her to come this far.”

“They should prepare and prevent this before it happens!”

Theoretically, Kyungho was a hundred percent right, but in reality, it was tough.

“If we keep chasing her out like this for a while, there’s no end to it. Don’t we need another way?”

“I found a method.”

I’d gotten a hint from what Taewoon said last time and came up with an idea.

“You found one?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you planning? You said reporting something like this is hard.”

“My strategy is ‘an eye for an eye.'”

“…What’s that?”

Kyungho clearly didn’t understand the slang.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We pay her back the same way.”

“Why shorten it like that for no reason!”

“Ah! Everyone talks like that these days!”

“What a load of nonsense, kid!”

“What’s that one mean?”

“Look it up yourself. So, what are you going to do?”

***

“What?”

“Let’s do a lovestagram with me.”

“Did you get shot in the head? Are you sick?”

At first, Taewoon doubted his ears, then he worried about my health.

“I think it’s finally time to shake her off for good.”

“Yeah, that’s a great decision—but what does getting rid of a stalker have to do with doing a lovestagram with me?”

“We need to provoke her so she stops hiding and comes out.”

I planned to poke her trigger buttons by doing a lovestagram.

“Hey, are you even listening? What does that have to do with anything!”

I patiently explained my plan from the beginning to the frustrated Taewoon. 

After hearing it all, he praised me.

“How did you even think of that?”

“Hyung gave me the hint.”

“Ha, smart kid. So, what do we start with?”

“First, make a private account.”

“Do we really need a private one? It’ll get exposed anyway—our fans are total CSIs.”

“If they find it before we go public, that’s even better. Thank you in advance.”

“You’re using our fans for this?”

Taewoon teased.

“Don’t worry. I’ll repay your fans with gratitude.”

“How?”

“That’s a secret.”

“Then what do I get out of it?”

The one who has more always wants extra—Taewoon looked for his own benefit.

“An official declaration that you don’t have a girlfriend?”

“Hey! I really don’t!”

“Then what do you want?”

“Hmm… let’s keep it on hold for now.”

“On hold?”

“Yeah.”

This isn’t a bar—keep what? But I desperately needed Taewoon’s help, so I had no choice but to agree.

***

“Got it. Keep it.”

“Deal.”

“Deal!”

And just like that, a contract was sealed between Taewoon and me.

After finishing the script reading for Love Some, we gathered in a large hall for what they called a gosa ceremony.

“Wow~ This is amazing!”

A long table was lined with food. The highlight in the center was a pig doll with its nose wide open.

“First time seeing a gosa ceremony?”

The director asked me as I excitedly examined everything.

“Yes! It’s totally fascinating!”

“Really? You’ve done a few projects already.”

“They didn’t do this there?”

I’d only heard the word “gosa” recently.

“Well, a lot of places skip it these days. I was debating whether to do it too.”

He trailed off, but I knew why. 

They’d gone through so much hardship just to start filming.

“It’ll do well.”

“Of course. It has to.”

There was a bitterness in his voice. 

The director had probably suffered the most emotionally.

“You ready for your turn to speak later?”

“Huh? Speak what?”

“The male lead has to step up and say a few words!”

“Huh?”

Wh-what am I supposed to say.

“Alright~ Let’s begin the gosa ceremony praying for the success of Love Some.”

Before I could think, the assistant director grabbed the mic and started hosting.

“Our Love Some has walked a winding path, but finally, we’re all gathered as one…!”

He spoke so eloquently—I wondered where he’d learned it—and I listened, mesmerized.

“Praying for smooth filming without any accidents and for our drama to be a huge hit—let’s have a few words from our actors!”

“Hello. I’m Jung Haewon, playing Han Jaehee.”

The mic went first to Haewon, who was closest to the assistant director.

“I’m so honored to work with such wonderful people… I’ll give my all, burning my entire body! Thank you!”

She declared her bold ambition.

“Next, our male lead!”

Naturally, the mic passed from Haewon to me. It seemed they were going by role size.

“Hello. I’m Jung Hyunjae, playing Lee Kangha.”

I greeted, but nothing came to mind, so I just blurted it out.

“I’ll make this drama a massive hit!”

“Whoa~”

“Wow~”

Cheers erupted from all over at my words.

“I’ll work my hardest so no one’s efforts go to waste! Thank you.”

“Hello. I’m Kim Minjun, playing Ha Doyoon…”

It naturally moved to Minjun next. 

The mic went around to the supporting actors before finally reaching the end.

“Now, everyone, please offer what you’ve prepared.”

At the assistant director’s words, people rushed forward and pulled money from their pockets.

‘Ah! This is it.’

Thanks to Hayoon telling me in advance, I’d prepared a 50,000-won bill in my pocket.

“Huh? Why here…”

Others rolled their bills long and stuffed them into the pig’s nose.

“Poor thing.”

Even if it’s a doll, stuffing money in its nose like that? The director overheard my mutter.

“That’s how blessings come in. It’s not real. They used to bring a real pig’s head.”

“No way.”

How could they bring a real pig’s head? The director was totally bluffing.

“It’s true~”

“Don’t lie~ How would they bring a real pig’s head?”

Just the head, leaving the body? The thought alone was horrifying.

“He doesn’t believe it? Haewon, you tell him.”

“It’s true~ There are even ones with smiling expressions—they say those bring more luck and cost extra.”

A smiling pig? These cruel people.

“Pfft! Look at his face.”

“It’s a bluff. They just make them at factories for good luck symbolism. It’s fake.”

“Ah~ You scared me.”

Yeah, no matter how cruel humans are, they wouldn’t decapitate a pig for this.

“You seemed like you’d fall for it, but you buy it so easily?”

“Hyunjae’s still a rookie~”

“Ah, right. He was a rookie?”

The vibe between Haewon and the director was warm and friendly, as if the dating scandal had never happened.

“Alright~ Everyone done stuffing? Then we’ll bow to finish. If anyone has religious reasons, a moment of silence is fine.”

We bowed one last time, and the gosa ceremony praying for the drama’s success ended.

“Hyung, give me my phone.”

“Here.”

Hayoon pulled my phone from his bag, and I turned on the camera to snap the pig doll.

“Why are you taking that?”

Haewon looked at me curiously from the side.

“To post on Beolstar. It’s cute.”

“Ah! Hyunjae-ssi, you’ve been really active on Beolstar lately?”

Haewon and I were Beolstar friends.

“Photos keep going up~”

“Haha, I’m working hard.”

“But those photos… they’re a bit suspicious?”

Haewon stood on her tiptoes, whispering quietly in my ear.

“Are you dating?”

I grinned at the question.

“Does it look that way?”

“As someone who’s done secret dating… posting these little things, using the same specific emojis over and over—that’s all signs of being in love.”

“Haha.”

“Huh? For real?”

Seeing me just smile without denying it, Haewon got shocked, thinking it was true.

“Unfortunately, no~”

“Ah, what. I got startled thinking it was real. Though if it were, you wouldn’t make it this obvious.”

“Great work today~”

“See you on filming day!”

After parting with Haewon, I walked to the car with Hayoon and posted the pig photo I’d just taken on Beolstar.

“Hyunjae, that moon photo you posted the other day.”

“Yeah.”

“There were a few comments asking if you were doing a lovestagram…”

“Really?”

It was welcome news.

“I deleted them like you said.”

“Good job!”

If we leave other comments but delete only those, people will pay even more attention.

“But will she really fall for this?”

“She definitely will.”

When jealousy blinds you, that’s all you see.

And proving it, Miyeon was losing her mind.

“Aaah! That bitch—who the hell is she!”