Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Anger management disorder...?”

By the time I came to my senses, the words had already left my mouth.

‘Wait.’

Ah. Aaaaaah.

Only now did I remember.

Right, it was prince syndrome!

I’d literally thought in the waiting room that I didn’t even need to memorize it!

Of course, I had no idea whether Park Songhu actually qualified as having anger management issues, but from my perspective, he sure as hell looked like he did!

He got angry at the drop of a hat in the hospital room!

It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the studio.

Without realizing it, I stopped breathing.

‘Should I just run?’

My brain started calculating an escape route.

About fifteen meters to that door, three seconds if I sprint at full speed, then through the hallway to the emergency exit...

“PUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

Laughter exploded.

From multiple directions at once.

“Ah, shit, is this going on air? Hey, is this seriously going on air?”

“Uhhah, uhahah!”

“Wow, I’m losing it...”

Every member of the cast started cracking up.

One of them was practically sobbing.

‘...?’

The production staff were the same.

The PD was massaging his cheekbones, and the staff were smacking one another as they lost it.

‘...Did I survive?’

It was too early to tell, but the mood somehow didn’t seem bad.

Rather than laughing at me... they seemed to have genuinely burst out laughing because they found it funny.

‘Th-Then did that actually work out?’

“Hey, Songhu!”

“...Uh, what?”

The person who had just called me was the man known as the nation’s MC, but the show’s concept had everyone speaking casually to one another.

“You really are Park Songhu, right?”

“!”

My heart nearly stopped, but I realized almost immediately.

He was joking.

I might live my life shut away in my room, but I could still read the room that much.

“That video shocked me. You’ve got quite the temper!”

“...”

I wasn’t sure about that, but I did know my face was burning right now.

Then Jeon Jaemin narrowed his eyes at the MC.

“Hyung, aren’t you one to talk when it comes to having a fiery temper? Didn’t you once yell in front of a senior because you lost a wrestling match?”

“...You’re bringing that up again right now?”

“Hahahaha!”

After that, the audio never once went dead. Everything just rolled along on its own.

And all I had done was say one line.

‘Wow, but is it really okay for me to sit here this shamelessly doing nothing?’

If this were a game, it felt like everyone had already divided up their roles.

They already had a system that functioned perfectly well on its own, so all I had to do was stand there and do nothing.

For the record, Park Songhu had promised to give me the entire appearance fee for today...

‘This is insanely good value?!’

Then, as I watched them banter back and forth, throwing verbal jabs at each other, I waited for a decent moment.

“Pfft.”

I covered my mouth with one hand and laughed.

A little eye-smile too.

Whenever Park Songhu appeared on a variety show, he always did this kind of reaction at least once.

“Songhu.”

Jeon Jaemin looked at me.

A mischievous glint flickered in his eyes.

“I know exactly how to cure that illness.”

“...How?”

Then he silently pointed at the MC.

The MC tilted his head.

“It’ll disappear the moment this hyung stands in front of you.”

The scripted flow had gone off the rails ages ago.

Originally, they were supposed to exchange questions and answers about prince syndrome, but the very beginning had already changed.

From this point on, everything was improv.

Maybe that was why something not in the script began unfolding.

“Want to test it?”

“...!”

The huge MC suddenly stood up and started striding toward me!

I reflexively covered my face with both arms.

Just like I had with Park Songhu.

‘E-Eeeek!’

“I-I can manage my anger just fine! Very well, sir!”

“UHAHAHAHAHA!!”

“Puhahah, see? His illness got cured instantly!”

“Wow... Songhu’s seriously amazing. This isn’t the Park Songhu I knew.”

I had merely obeyed my survival instincts.

...And the studio once again dissolved into laughter.

***

After the opening segment ended, everyone decided to take a short break before going back in.

Staff members whispered here and there.

There was only one topic.

“This shoot feels good, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, he’s reacting way better than I expected.”

“His reactions are good, and his comebacks are good too. There’s no dead air at all.”

Park Songhu.

“That’s one thing, but... earlier in the hallway, he greeted every single one of us personally.”

The camera staff member’s eyes widened.

“Seriously? I met Park Songhu on another show before, and he wouldn’t even make eye contact.”

“Right, he was famous for being aloof. Like there was some invisible wall around him.”

“I’m telling you, he’s a completely different person today. Apparently even the fans waiting outside the station went crazy.”

The PD rubbed his chin with an interested look.

Just as the staff had said, Park Songhu’s temper was so infamous in the industry that practically no one in the business didn’t know about it.

‘But now...’

Park Songhu was visible in the distance.

He awkwardly laughed at the jokes the cast threw his way while constantly sipping water.

He almost looked like a rookie who had just debuted.

And one pair of eyes among the cast was carefully watching him.

‘What is this? His variety sense is no joke.’

Jeon Jaemin observed Park Songhu while drinking water.

He had never expected that arrogant Park Songhu to make self-deprecating jokes.

‘It is a good method.’

People?

If anything, they liked it. They found it refreshing.

You could call it a head-on approach to dealing with a controversy.

But most celebrities couldn’t bring themselves to throw away their image.

Especially an actor like Park Songhu, whose entire career depended on his image.

‘Did he change his mindset during his hiatus? Even so, quick wit isn’t something you just suddenly develop overnight.’

The truth was, the Park Songhu he knew had never been particularly good at variety shows.

Even when he appeared on one, forget witty back-and-forth banter. All he ever did was react.

Of course, thanks to his handsome face, even the most ordinary comments sent the female cast members into fits.

‘This is going completely differently than I expected. If this keeps up, this episode could really come alive. No idea what’ll happen after this, though.’

While he was thinking that, the break ended.

The cast members returned to their spots one by one, and filming began again.

“Looks like everyone has a lot of questions for our new patient, so why don’t we take some time to ask them one at a time?”

A simple Q&A followed.

“What’s your MBTI?”

“...ENTJ...?”

Park Songhu—no, Park Songmin—barely managed to answer by recalling things he had read on Namuwiki.

For this exact moment, he had stayed up last night reading through everything and memorizing it piece by piece.

Thankfully, unlike the prince syndrome line, his mind didn’t go completely blank.

It seemed he had at least adjusted somewhat in the meantime.

Then the MC slapped his knee.

“Ah, right. Songhu. We ran into each other once before, remember?”

“...”

Park Songmin panicked for a moment.

Cold sweat ran down his back.

‘Ran into each other? When? Where? How the hell would I know...’

This was information that wouldn’t show up no matter how much he searched Namuwiki.

Worse yet, Park Songhu hadn’t told him anything about it either.

Possible scenarios spun rapidly through his mind.

‘If I say I remember and he asks for details, I’m dead. If I say I don’t remember, it’ll look like I ignored him...’

It felt like a fork in the road stretched before him, and both paths were covered in thorns.

‘What do I do?’

He didn’t know, but if there was one thing he was sure of.

“...I’m sorry about that day.”

With Park Songhu’s shitty personality, he had definitely done something wrong.

Maybe he had acted arrogant even in front of a huge senior, or just jerked his chin instead of properly greeting him.

So first, apologize.

“...”

“...”

Silence fell over the studio.

The MC blinked.

“You gave me a doughnut that day. What are you sorry for?”

“...Ah.”

‘Park Songhu knows how to do things like that?!’

Flustered, Park Songmin fumbled for a response.

“...I should’ve given you a bigger doughnut.”

That instant.

“PUHAHAHAHA!”

“Right, this hyung isn’t satisfied with an ordinary-sized doughnut.”

“Hey, that’s a whole different class of apology. First time I’ve seen someone apologize over the size!”

“Uhhuhuh! Are you insane?”

Every cast member cracked up.

“Hyung, you’ve been holding a grudge over one doughnut for years? How deep does your resentment go?”

The conversation naturally shifted toward the MC’s appetite.

Scratching his head, the MC said.

“Songhu, the doughnut had a hole in the middle that day. Want to apologize for that too?”

“...Next time, I’ll prepare one without a hole.”

“UHAHAHAHA! Then it isn’t a doughnut anymore!”

The studio erupted once again.

Park Songmin sighed in relief internally.

Thank goodness he had somehow managed to get through it...

***

The CEO’s office at JH Entertainment.

Baek Hoseon reclined his chair all the way back and stared at the ceiling.

The reason he had sent that long message was simple.

Because of what Jo Yonggi had told him.

-Songhu hyung... he’s gotten a lot more humble than before. I seriously thought he was a different person.

“A different person...”

Park Songhu.

He had first scouted that guy seven years ago.

He spotted his face on the street and immediately handed him a business card, but even the way Songhu accepted it had been unusual.

He gave the card a quick glance, scanned Baek Hoseon up and down, then walked off indifferently.

With an agency of their size, most people either showed obvious excitement on their faces or accepted the card nervously.

Baek Hoseon had known from that very day.

This kid had nerves of steel.

Someone who never shrank in front of seniors, said whatever he wanted to directors, and openly showed it on his face whenever he didn’t get along with a fellow actor.

He had spent years hearing industry people call him arrogant until his ears hurt, and the only reason that could be packaged as part of his charm was his face.

“And that guy became human...”

Had he spent over a year of hiatus locked in his room eating nothing but mugwort and garlic or something?

During his years in this industry, Baek Hoseon had seen countless celebrities return after going on hiatus.

‘Hiatus?’

What a joke.

They went overseas, traveled around, healed themselves, then came back.

Very few of them actually changed.

‘Is Park Songhu one of those rare few?’

He looked out the window.

The sun was setting.

‘The <​Our Hospital> shoot should be wrapping up around now.’

Had he done well?

Had the episode turned out entertaining?

If Baek Hoseon had to give his honest prediction, there was no way.

Park Songhu was not a funny person to begin with.

That was his cold assessment as the head of the agency.

That guy made a living with his face, not his mouth.

Becoming humbler didn’t magically make someone funny on a variety show.

The realistic scenario was that he would sit quietly through the entire shoot and finish with nothing but reactions.

‘Probably just reacted the whole time again.’

Still, his comeback alone was enough of a talking point to pull ratings.

Even if the episode wasn’t entertaining, the name Park Songhu still carried weight.

‘We should take things a little slower from now on.’

Park Songhu was so unpredictable that Baek Hoseon had always kept the reins tight.

Most notably, he had openly gotten into fights with directors during shoots three separate times.

That was why Baek Hoseon personally managed his schedule and projects, packed in the appointments, and narrowed down his options.

But if he had genuinely changed, just as Jo Yonggi said... Baek Hoseon was willing to loosen the reins.

If he showed even the slightest sign of reverting to his old self, everything would immediately go back to the way it was.

‘For starters, he has no eye for projects.’

Just remembering the projects Park Songhu had personally brought in and said he wanted to do made his head throb.

Every single one had bombed at the box office.

At the very least, he should choose projects that could capitalize on his looks, yet somehow he managed to step on a land mine every single time.

Still, that wasn’t what mattered right now.

Before looking at box-office results, he needed to confirm whether this change was real.

Baek Hoseon couldn’t help worrying that perhaps all of this was just Park Songhu acting.

‘Then again, his acting is so damn bad that if this is an act, we’ll find out soon enough...’

Then, bzzzzzt—

His phone rang.

It was the PD in charge of <​Our Hospital>.

Looks like filming had ended.

“Hello.”

The moment he answered, an excited voice burst through the speaker.

-No, CEO Baek!!

What?

Did he cause some kind of accident?

-What the hell is with Park Songhu?!

Haa.

Of course. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks—

-In all my years as a PD, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve laughed this hard on set!

...?