Chapter 639

Incheon Airport was as bustling as ever.

“Finally...!”

“We’re here!”

“Eeeek!”

“This is so exciting!”

And four people had just arrived there. The girl walking at the very front, filming the airport with a camera for her vlog, turned around and called out.

“Wang Haoyu! Hurry up.”

At her words, the boy following behind while dragging an enormous suitcase sighed and quickened his pace a little. Meiling, who had no intention of waiting for him, raised her mirrorless camera again and captured Korea through its lens.

“We’ve finally arrived in Korea! First thing, we’re going to do something I’ve wanted to try as soon as we got here—ordering in Korean.”

Meiling, Jiarong, Xinlei, and Weixin giggled as they went to order food. Wang Haoyu found himself reminiscing about the past.

So much had happened.

“Why the hell! Isn’t NTV simulcasting it?!”

It had all started with the news about <Dongdaemun Romance>. Han Yeoreum’s Holy Grail War had become a huge topic of discussion even in Taiwan.

The problem was that it would only be broadcast in Korea.

Both <Strange Tales> and <The Great Garland> had only made it to Taiwan quite some time after their Korean broadcasts had ended.

“Does that make any sense?”

“Meiling. Your father....”

“Right. How are we supposed to wait? Please, make NTV do something!”

Meiling and her friends were all furious.

They translated clips from <Dongdaemun Romance> on Intube and Tritter, watched them over and over and over again, and by the time they had already spoiled everything for themselves, the thought that only then would they finally be able to watch it on Taiwan’s NTV was unbearable.

“And <Faster Than the Law 3>...!”

And they had remained steadfast ever since the earliest days of their Han Yeoreum fandom.

“It’s Joo Junseo!”

Joo Junseo and Han Yeoreum.

Meiling and her friends were still firmly pushing that pairing, and they absolutely could not wait for <Faster Than the Law 3> to make it to Taiwan.

So they set themselves a goal.

“We’re all going to Korea.”

As exchange students.

Thanks to years of fangirling, Meiling and her friends had already developed a decent ear for Korean, so they didn’t hesitate. Wang Haoyu was dumbfounded.

“And I’m going to date a Korean guy and make couple vlogs!”

Going to Korea and getting a boyfriend. It was one of the items on K-Drama-obsessed Meiling’s bucket list.

And so Meiling and her friends submitted their exchange student applications. Wang Haoyu was speechless. Watching Meiling and her friends study, he grumbled.

“Does it even make sense to date someone just because you have some fantasy about their nationality? That’s disrespectful to the other person.”

“Disrespectful is when you show off on the school field, break a window, and make us miss out on buying Ruel.”

When she reminded him of the time they had failed to buy the magazine with Han Yeoreum on the cover, Wang Haoyu fell silent for a moment. Still, wrong was wrong.

“Such an artificial way of meeting someone can’t lead to a proper relation—”

“We need to study, so shut up! Wang Haoyu!”

Wang Haoyu stared at Meiling and her friends, who were diligently studying for their exchange program. Tucked between the pages of their exam prep books was a photograph of Joo Junseo from <The Cherry on the Parfait Belongs to the Heroine!>.

They were clearly overflowing with ambition to meet a Korean guy like that and film couple vlogs together.

“Good grief....”

For the record, Wang Haoyu was still firmly on Team Shin Seojin × Han Yeoreum.

‘Being naturally close and then having the relationship develop from there is ideal. Casually talking to each other every day until, at some point, your heart suddenly starts racing. Meeting someone just because of their nationality doesn’t make any sen....’

Then, staring at one spot, he suddenly realized something.

Advanced Korean Textbook (Academic/Social and Cultural Fields)

[Read the following passage and answer the question.]

1. Choose the option closest in meaning to the underlined phrase ‘must not overlook.’

① must not interfere

② must not ignore

③ must not understand

④ must not misunderstand

“...Number 2?”

Thanks to his many years of watching K-Dramas, Wang Haoyu had unknowingly reached the point where he could speak Korean at an advanced level as well.

And so, it did not take long before Meiling, her friends, and Wang Haoyu came to Korea as exchange students.

“First thing tomorrow, we’re going to see <Faster Than the Law 3>.”

“Wait. SBC and MBS just uploaded their trailers?”

“Nothing from KBC yet?”

“Aaah. What are they doing.... Why haven’t they uploaded <Code Name>?”

They had barely arrived in Korea when K-Drama trailers were already being uploaded.

After watching the teasers for <Class 1-1> and <Manager Kim’s Survival Story> at the airport, Meiling and her friends all spoke with one voice.

“I wish the <Code Name> trailer would hurry up and come out!”

The drama did not even have a trailer yet, but everyone was already eagerly anticipating Han Yeoreum’s project.

And then it happened. A noisy commotion could be heard from far away.

“What’s going on?”

“Could it be a celebrity?”

“Maybe....”

“Yeoreum Unni?”

Wang Haoyu was about to tell them that seeing Han Yeoreum wasn’t that easy when his mouth snapped shut.

Because he could actually hear people shouting Han Yeoreum’s name.

“Han Yeoreum?”

Wang Haoyu shot to his feet as well.

There was Han Yeoreum, entering the country surrounded by a crowd. Camera shutters clicked incessantly from every direction.

Just as Wang Haoyu raised his own camera to photograph Han Yeoreum—

“Eeeek!”

“What the hell!”

“Holy....”

“What do we do?”

Everyone around Han Yeoreum recoiled in shock.

“Someone collapsed!”

Han Yeoreum had fainted.

And at the exact same time, the trailers for <Class 1-1> and <Manager Kim’s Survival Story>, which had been gaining traction, were instantly buried.

#HanYeoreum

#Fainted

#AtTheAirport

Because the moment Han Yeoreum returned to Korea, she stole every last bit of attention.

Every promotional plan Jeongdam and Management H had prepared in hopes of getting some publicity before the trailer for <Code Name: Time Seven> came out went straight out the window.

* * *

[Han Yeoreum Collapses Immediately After Returning to Incheon Airport Following New York Fashion Week... Rushed to Emergency Room]

[Han Yeoreum Suddenly Faints at Incheon Airport... Agency Says, “Undergoing Detailed Examination”]

[The Flash? “All Smiles” in New York, “Struggling” in Korea... Han Yeoreum Collapses Immediately Upon Returning Home]

[Has Her Grueling Schedule Put Her Health at Risk?... Han Yeoreum Rushed to ER in Real Time After Collapsing at Incheon Airport]

News of Han Yeoreum’s collapse spread at incredible speed. Since she had lost consciousness right in the airport, there was no shortage of witnesses, eyewitness accounts, or photographs.

[HOT/ Han Yeoreum fainted at the airport as soon as she returned to Korea.jpg]

(Han Yeoreum’s face half-visible between her bodyguards.jpg)

-Anonymous 1: Ah fuck, JC, you fucking lunatics T_T

-Anonymous 4: Holy shit what happened

-Anonymous 9: Yeoreum, don’t be sick TT___TT

-Anonymous 13: But honestly with Han Yeoreum’s schedule it would’ve been weirder if she DIDN’T collapse.. she packed in stage greetings right up until she left for America

?Anonymous 18: 222 Seriously it’s more surprising she didn’t collapse sooner

?Anonymous 25: Has Han Yeoreum even had an actual break? like at all?

-Anonymous 59: Fuck, this is heartbreaking, they should be protecting our baby but instead they’re working her to the fucking bone, JC is such a fucking garbage company

Han Yeoreum swallowed up SNS, online communities, and portal-site headlines alike.

As it happened, there wasn’t a single failure in Han Yeoreum’s filmography.

On top of that, her previous two projects had both been enormous successes, so the public couldn’t help but realize just how relentlessly she had been working. Every one of her schedules remained fresh in people’s memories, which meant there were plenty of people worried about her.

[DramaFilmActors TALK/ Yeoreum collapsing seriously fucking breaks my heart but I also wanna see Code Name already..]

I know that makes me trash but

-Anonymous 1: honestly same

-Anonymous 2: honestly same222

-Anonymous 4: T_T Yeoreum wake up.. we can’t live without you..

-Anonymous 9: You fucking trash (same tho)

Jeon Ujeong fidgeted anxiously as she checked the reactions online.

Because, of course, not everyone felt the same way.

Han Yeoreum’s American breakthrough had been so overwhelmingly successful that the “Han Yeoreum isn’t all that” crowd had been unable to say anything for a while, but now they slowly began crawling back out.

Blank Baek @kkkkk123

When is this sanctimonious obsession with feeling sorry for celebrities who collapse finally gonna die? your lives are more pathetic

Retrits 5,344 Likes 6,625

Nobi @worker_9to6

(Quoting Han Yeoreum article)

Commoners worrying about a princess lmaooo

She’s hungover from the after-party, you seriously think it’s overwork? tsk

Retrits 8,837 Likes 9,912

Jeon Ujeong shouted in her beautifully projected voice.

“Then spend the time you waste writing this shit actually working!”

It was certainly a booming voice worthy of a skilled voice actress. Jeon Ujeong frowned and checked another post.

[Anonymous Chatter Board/ Doesn’t Han Yeoreum collapsing at the airport of all places kinda feel like JC viral marketing? lol]

jk

-Anonymous 1: LMAOOOOOO fuck

-Anonymous 3: honestly it kinda does feel like they saw their chance and went for it

-Anonymous 5: Why oh why haha did she just happen haha to collapse at the airport

-Anonymous 8: she’s always been so fucking obvious about constantly scheming shit out in her head, it just gives me secondhand embarrassment lololol

Jeon Ujeong was furious.

“How can they say that about such an innocent girl!”

* * *

I lifted my trembling eyelids and diligently continued monitoring the reactions.

“Ha....”

If I’d known this was going to happen, I would’ve arrived wearing a white dress and a pale lavender scarf in preparation for collapsing.... I’d dressed for comfort, so my airport fashion was a little disappointing. I could only regret not having calculated this far ahead.

“If I’m going to collapse anyway, it’d be better to look pure and delicate.”

Now that things had come to this, next time I felt like I might collapse, I absolutely had to wear white. Whenever I sensed an incoming fainting moment, I’d have to reach for something light and fluttery first.

At my words, Manager Choi, who was holding my phone for me, yelled.

“Hey, you little punk, what the hell are you!!!”

“Unni... just call me Yeoreum like usual... What’s with ‘you little punk’....”

“You think I can act normal when I’m about to burst a blood vessel? You think I can?! And you’re worried about looking pure at a time like this!”

“Unni... I’m still a patient....”

Had her sportswoman’s creed that one should be gentle with the weak resurfaced?

At the three words, ‘I’m a patient,’ Manager Choi shut her mouth.

Instead, she turned off the phone.

“I want to monitor some more....”

“Shut up and rest.”

Manager Choi glared at me fiercely, then stepped outside for a moment when someone called for her.

I poked Dok Gomin, who was lying on the guardian’s bed, busy working on her laptop.

“Unni, let me monitor on yours....”

“No.”

“Why....”

“Because that’s not very entertaining. Feast your eyes on the photographs of the genius Dok Gomin instead.”

Dok Gomin refused my request. Instead, she enlarged the photograph she had been working on just moments ago and displayed it across the monitor.

The photographs Dok Gomin had taken at the Fashion Week after-party were genuinely incredible. Tears sprang to my eyes at the fact that I couldn’t upload these photos right now.

“If only I hadn’t collapsed.... Ah, this is driving me crazy....”

Calling it a hangover wasn’t entirely a malicious accusation. It was half true.

I really hadn’t slept a wink all night, probably because I’d had too much champagne.

“Why don’t you just come over right now?”

Myeong Jeha’s words kept echoing in my ears.

“Not with Ji Haebeom. Want to make a movie in America with me?”

Hollywood.

The place I had thought would remain an eternal dream was now somewhere I could reach simply by stretching out my hand.

My heart had been pounding so hard at that realization that I couldn’t sleep.

Myeong Jeha’s face had practically floated around on the ceiling all night as he said those words.

“I swear, from now on I’m watching how much champagne I drink.”

Alcohol really was the problem.

My girls must be so worried about me right now....

But what if, even after collapsing like this, I still managed to carry out all my scheduled activities exactly as planned?

‘They’ll be proud of me more than anything.’

So maybe this was actually a good thing.

With my American breakthrough, some fans might have unconsciously begun feeling a little distance between us, so triggering their protective instincts like this wasn’t necessarily bad.

If they took one step away, I could just move 2.8 meters closer.

I was busy constructing my own little narrative around the situation when the hospital-room door suddenly flew open.

“Oh goodness, what are we going to do...!”

“Director?”

The KBC Drama Director had come to visit me.

It was the beginning of an endless procession of hospital visitors.