The Trashy PD Has To Survive as an Idol - Chapter 378

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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378

“Ah, so Idols don’t smoke?”

Min Ji-heon murmured softly as he stepped forward. His hair, freshly styled from a photo shoot, swayed gently in the late autumn breeze.

“Why did you come, senior? I heard you were busy.”
“Me? I got a call from a staff member earlier about a company dinner. Since I was heading home anyway and wanted to see Seo Ho-yoon, I stopped by for a moment.”

The moment I reverted to formal speech, the grinning bastard looked me up and down without responding, then made his move.

“This place is boring, isn’t it? Want to get out of here?”
“You insult me every time we meet, and I think I’m getting tired of it.”
“Ahahaha.”

Even as Min Ji-heon chuckled, his gaze remained fixed on me. I could roughly guess what that look meant, so I shoved my phone into my back pocket and crossed my arms.

“What are you really doing here?”
“….”
“Are you worried I’ll find out you personally rewrote the script?”

Min Ji-heon’s brow suddenly furrowed.

“…Where did you hear that?”
“Who knows.”

The guy, looking uncomfortable, stroked the back of his neck with his palm before letting out a heavy sigh.

“If there was anything uncomfortable about it, I’m sorry.”

I hated seeing him look so dejected, so unlike himself.
Out of habit, I clicked my tongue inwardly and changed the subject.

“Never mind. Why are you acting like this?”
“Do I have to spell it out for you?”

Min Ji-heon dodged the question awkwardly, but the reason behind his evasion was painfully obvious.
It was his way of being considerate, I supposed.
Surprising, given that he hadn’t cared about such things during the previous drama shoot.
When I shrugged, Min Ji-heon hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth and finally speaking.

“…So, do you really have to appear in this, senior?”
“What do you mean? Are you asking me to back out now?”

Did he think 10,000 Points grew on trees?
Besides, today marked the conclusion of negotiations between WH Entertainment and the drama production company. Unless something extraordinary happened, there was no easy way to withdraw now.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright, senior?”

If anything, he was the one with the real problem now, not me.
“Before the Moon Wanes” was undoubtedly a popular work with appropriate comedic elements, but that didn’t make it a drama lacking in emotional depth. Even from a cursory glance at the script, the role of Won Jae-uk that Min Ji-heon had taken on looked incredibly challenging. He was a character who could seem innocent and pure as a child, yet at other moments ruthlessly rational and cruel—a morally ambiguous figure moving between light and shadow.
And it even included spectacular action sequences, requiring him to perform at his absolute best.
Moreover, the subject matter itself was problematic. Exorcism, of all things. Most actors wouldn’t have an issue, but this guy actually saw genuinely strange things.

“Are you worried about me?”

Min Ji-heon tilted his head slightly and asked.
When I responded with a glare instead of words, Min Ji-heon hunched his shoulders slightly and pulled his lips into a smirk as he continued.

“Haha, well… what can I do? I have to do it. An actor shouldn’t be picky about their roles, right?”

If that’s what he believed.
I gestured for him to follow me back into the restaurant, but he showed no interest in joining the gathering. Instead, he pulled out his phone and remained rooted to the spot, humming softly to himself.

“…Well, if you absolutely insist on appearing in this cameo, who am I to stop you~? Since you’re doing it anyway, give it your all, Seo Ho-yoon~. Shed a tear or two~.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Somehow I doubt you’ll manage it though….”

I laughed despite myself.

“Piece of cake.”

I turned my body around with confidence. I had experience from the Unknown Actor Tycoon series, and I was scheduled to take acting lessons at WH Entertainment before filming began, so I was certain there would be no problems whatsoever.
And I would learn just how arrogant that assumption was the very next day, when my Acting Teacher delivered a harsh reality check.

“This simply won’t work.”
“….”

Damn it all.
The tears wouldn’t come.

***

After struggling in the Training Room for over two hours, my eyes remained embarrassingly dry.
The talkative Acting Teacher tried adjusting her approach repeatedly, but nothing yielded results.

“…Hmm, why won’t it work… It’s so simple…. Even aspiring actors usually manage this….”
“The future of our entertainment industry looks bright. Aspiring actors have such rich emotional sensitivity.”
“Even people as withered as winter branches manage it just fine….”

The teacher drew a deep breath, clenched her fists, and spoke with determined resolve.

“Alright! Let’s awaken the emotions from deep within your heart. I’m sure this isn’t a forbidden territory for Seo Ho-yoon either. We’ll approach it gradually, starting from your very oldest memories~!”

Was this hypnosis?
I suppressed my urge to mock her and simply followed her instructions.

“Think of the last time you cried.”
“….”
“…Don’t tell me you can’t remember?”

When I pressed my lips shut, the teacher grew visibly agitated.

“What do you mean, that’s all?! Working in this brutal entertainment industry?! Stop joking and recall it quickly—recently! Surely it’s happened at least once!”
“…When I yawn?”
“That doesn’t count as tears!”

Merciless.
If crying alone could solve everything in this industry, I’d weep every single day. In reality, the moment tears hang from your eyes, people dismiss you and place you at the top of their priority list to discard.
The teacher sighed as if giving up, scratching the back of her head.

“Whew, I had such high hopes for you, Seo Ho-yoon… I really enjoyed watching ‘Please Camera’.”
“Would artificial tears not work?”
“I heard Director Kang Jung-gun is directing this. Not a chance. If you’re going to squeeze out fake tears, he’d sooner cut the entire scene.”

Kang Jung-gun, who directed Before the Moon Wanes, had a reputation as a perfectionist.
There were whispers that he’d mellowed considerably since transitioning from film—where he’d earned acclaim—to the longer-form demands of television drama, but his fundamental nature hadn’t changed one bit.
His nickname “Again, go!” came from how he’d relentlessly push actors until a scene satisfied him, earning him the moniker “Dasima”—a play on those very words.

‘This is a mess….’

I’d thought a guest appearance would only require racking up YouTube clip views, but the deeper I dug, the more impossible the Quest seemed to become.
I’d quickly abandoned the idea of proving myself through acting alone, instead wrestling with how to boost viewership—and my Acting Teacher’s sigh escaped once more.

“And above all, you’ll be filming with Min Ji-heon! You absolutely cannot burden him! The moment he steps in front of the camera, everything must be flawless!”
“…Yes, understood.”
“Every actor wants to work with Min Ji-heon even once, you know! Didn’t you feel that while filming Cabu?!”
“Ah, yes, of course.”

I tried to brush past with vague agreement, but my Acting Teacher showed no signs of stopping.

“—he only grows stronger! That’s why anyone who’s ever dipped their toes into acting knows just how extraordinary he is. How does he keep improving like that?!”

I pretended to listen while surreptitiously opening my script. Contemplating my pitiful situation—juggling year-end stage preparations while enduring this monologue and acting practice—I attempted to squeeze tears from my eyes.
Naturally, not even 0.1 milliliters emerged.

“…—heon is fundamentally different from birth! A true genius, I’m telling you?! Oh! And Seo Ho-yoon, did you know?!”
“Yes, I’m aware.”

I’d meant it as a hint to shut up, but my Acting Teacher seemed completely unaffected and continued unabated.

“He’s mysterious now, but he used to do interviews fairly often early in his career! They even published an anecdote about how he started acting back then—aren’t you curious?!”
“Not interested.”
“Gasp! That’s practically heresy?!”

Bewildered by my indifference, my Acting Teacher launched into the story anyway.
I’d already heard the reason directly from the person himself, so I tried to ignore information with zero value—but then something grating caught my ear.

“——Min Ji-heon used to talk to himself while staring into empty space so much when he was young!
“…What?”

Seeing me finally react properly, my Acting Teacher grew even more animated and slapped their knee.

“The details weren’t entirely clear, but it mentioned that he held his parents’ hands and visited the hospital quite frequently because of it.”
“….”
“And after some time passed, he later confessed to his parents that it had all been an act! He got scolded severely for such a cruel prank, but he says that everything became the foundation for who he is now… My goodness, isn’t he a genius?”

…That doesn’t seem right.
Watching the Acting Teacher spew praises for Min Ji-heon right in front of me, I felt an uncomfortable knot in my chest.
I set down the script, no longer in the mood to practice. The Acting Teacher, who had been rambling excitedly on her own, opened her eyes wide and poked me sharply in the ribs.

“By the way, how did you become close with Min Ji-heon?”
“We’re not particularly close.”
“Come on, you’re lying. Min Ji-heon is famous for not meeting people outside of work. But you seem to see Seo Ho-yoon quite often.”

How would she even know that?
At this point, I couldn’t tell if she was an acting teacher or just a devoted fan of Min Ji-heon.

“After Dae Pa-sung was acquired by WH Entertainment, I was incredibly honored to observe Min Ji-heon’s acting for just a brief moment. Though really, I was the one who learned from it, haha!”
“I see….”
“Anyway, seeing Min Ji-heon shut himself away in the practice room and focus so intensely back then, I thought to myself—this person will succeed at anything he does—!”

I picked up my phone to check the time, then tossed the script carelessly into my sports bag when a peculiar word caught my ear.

“Oh, wait. Actually, I did see him meet with someone who wasn’t his manager during that time. Just once. It was a woman….”

There are moments like this sometimes.
When something trivial gnaws at you and becomes irritating.

“I-it was just a coincidence, a coincidence! I’m not a stalker or anything! I just happened to witness him talking with someone at a cafe!”

The Acting Teacher took a step back and waved her hands frantically after seeing my expression.
I released the zipper I’d been holding and straightened my posture.

“…When was that?”
“Well, let me think. The university festival was in full swing, so around May?”

A memory that had been submerged rose to the surface, and my heart began to beat faster.

“What did she look like?”
“Uh… that person? Why do you ask?”
“I was wondering if maybe I know her too.”
“Ah…”

After spouting useless nonsense all this time, when I pressed for details, the Teacher grew evasive and fumbled through an answer.

“Well, she looked quite young… and was pretty, almost as much as the trainees at WH… and there was a mole under her eye? Oh, I remember Min Ji-heon calling her name during a phone call. It was a bit unusual… Jung…”

The more I listened to the description, the colder my head became.

“Jung… Chung… what was it? Chung-jeong? Haha, it’s not like she’s an air purifier, but what a name!”
“…”
“W-why are you looking at me like that? You’re scaring me.”

‘Damn it all.’

Leaving the flustered Teacher behind, I burst into hollow laughter.

‘Min Ji-heon, you bastard.’

Jung Chung-yeon.
The person he’d met was the trainee I’d encountered just before being swept up in the Unknown Actor Tycoon incident—the last person I’d met before coming to this world, the one who’d hurled curses at me.
It was definitely her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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