Become a Star

For anyone who viewed the pictures, it would be impossible to figure out the actual context just from the photos and videos alone. The only things people could see were Lee Yeon visiting Woo-Jin, the two men sharing a conversation, and the figure of Lee Yeon staring blankly into space when Woo-Jin had left.

Either way, this little information was enough for people to invent a story about the interaction. It was only a matter of who the reporters would portray in a positive light and who they would attack. However, CEO Jang Soo-Hwan didn’t want to tie Woo-Jin down to someone who was already done for. Woo-Jin didn’t need to improve his image with articles. Thus, CEO Jang simply silenced the press with money.

In the end, CEO Jang’s actions were beneficial to Lee Yeon. The idol had hit rock bottom, and he couldn’t possibly fall further. Now, Lee Yeon wanted the public to forget him as soon as possible and for the media to be indifferent to him. As such, CEO Jang had given him the greatest gift imaginable.

On the other hand, Woo-Jin was severely scolded by his boss. Afterward, he carefully studied the photos and managed to get a rough idea of where the cameraman was hiding. But at that point, Woo-Jin had partially given up.

It wasn’t like the reporter would leave because Woo-Jin told him to. Instead, he’d just change locations and film him in a more secretive manner. Now that Woo-Jin knew where he was, it would be better just to leave the reporter alone and behave carefully when he left his house. And yet, despite planning on leaving Kim Gwang-Sik be, Woo-Jin ended up having to go to see him for a certain reason.

When Woo-Jin returned to Korea after filming his scenes in the US, he resumed his daily life at home. With that said, his everyday life was very different from what the average person would experience. Still, compared to his life in America, his days in Korea were peaceful and were almost akin to the first vacation he had taken in a while.

About ten days had passed since the start of the new semester. Woo-Jin was now a senior at university. He had fewer classes than before, so he had plenty of free time these days. Many of his friends had taken a year off, while other seniors had returned to school after a gap year and filled in those empty positions, so Woo-Jin didn’t know most of the students in his year. Since he didn’t have close friends to hang out with, he ended up with more free time.

Hyun-Min also considered taking a year off for a while to reconsider his course and career, but after a lot of deliberation, he ultimately decided to continue his studies since he wanted to go to graduate school afterward.

During Woo-Jin’s absence, Hyun-Min attended class in his stead, took detailed notes, and recorded the professor’s lectures. In doing so, his interest in studying grew, and he started to enjoy the activity.

Compared to his friends and other seniors who were pondering their future career paths, Woo-Jin was able to spend his time relatively leisurely. He had also experienced a period where he was fiercely debating over his future, though the timing was earlier. Thus, he tried his best not to get in their way.

As a result, Woo-Jin ended up spending most of his free time at home. A majority of this time was devoted to translating his novel into English to show Ilya or watching TV from the sofa with Woo-Sa on his belly.

Yesterday was also such a day.

***

Woo-Sa was sleeping on Woo-Jin’s stomach when he pricked his ears up at the soft piano melody that awoke him. As he heard this, Woo-Jin also turned to the table where Woo-Hee’s phone was ringing.

The call had arrived while his sister momentarily left the room, having gone up to the second floor. He planned on ignoring it and remaining where he was, but the phone continued ringing over and over.

It didn’t appear as if Woo-Hee was coming down anytime soon, and the phone continued to ring for what seemed like forever. So, Woo-Jin stretched his arm out and picked up the phone. If someone wasn’t answering their phone, you could call them again later. Who on earth would continue ringing like this? The dumbfounded Woo-Jin only wanted to check the caller’s name on the phone.

Yet, the first thing he saw when he picked up the phone was Dustin’s face. Woo-Hee was using a picture taken with Dustin as her wallpaper. All her wallpapers were photos of Dustin, so Woo-Jin couldn’t avoid seeing him even if he didn’t want to.

“Isn’t she embarrassed by this?”

Woo-Jin briefly looked at Dustin’s face with a disgusted gaze before his attention was caught by the caller’s name.

[Dumbass]

Woo-Jin jumped up from his seat but sat back down. Surprised by this sudden movement, Woo-Sa got off Woo-Jin’s belly and laid on his thighs.

“Who’s Dumbass?”

When Woo-Hee finally returned from the second floor, Woo-Jin handed her the phone and asked about the caller. He became cautious and wary for a moment, wondering if it was one of the people who had been begging Woo-Jin to introduce them to his sister before.

“Just some girl without a brain and with no sense of shame,” Woo-Hee replied.

“So it’s a girl?”

Woo-Jin’s voice softened a bit. If it was a woman, then it couldn’t be those men from before.

“Why? You’re okay if it’s a girl bothering me?” Woo-Hee asked.

“That’s much better than a shameless guy bothering you.”

“Well, they’re all equally annoying.”

Woo-Hee sighed as her ringtone continued to echo throughout their conversation.

If the caller really bothered her, she could’ve blocked her before nicknaming her ‘Dumbass.’ However, considering how Woo-Hee hadn’t done so, it seemed the caller wasn’t someone his sister truly hated.

After spending some time contemplating, Woo-Hee finally chose to answer the phone. “Why are you calling me again?”

When his sister responded in a blunt and annoyed tone, Woo-Jin wondered about the caller’s identity. Woo-Hee was the type of person to ignore the call if she was that irritated, but here she was, answering it despite her annoyance.

“If someone doesn’t answer their phone, isn’t it common sense to think they’re busy with something else and call another time?”

Woo-Hee clicked her tongue as she saw the three missed calls on the phone.

“I’m not a freaking tsundere! Geez, you sure know how to use Japanese slang, considering how bad you are at Korean… I’m not praising you!”

Seeing Woo-Hee beating her chest in frustration, Woo-Jin thought to himself that they seemed to be having fun.

“Looks like we don’t have to worry about this Dumbass, Woo-Sa,” Woo-Jin remarked to the cat.

Although he didn’t know who the caller was, seeing how Woo-Hee continued to chat on the phone, Woo-Jin thought he didn’t have to worry anymore. He didn’t meddle with his sister’s interpersonal relationships when she was in high school, so there was even less of a reason for him to get involved now that Woo-Hee was a college student.

And so, Woo-Jin picked up Woo-Sa from his lap and laid back down on the sofa.

“Are you busy, Woo-Jin?” The housekeeper cautiously approached the man slouched on the sofa with his cat and asked.

“Not at all. Do you need help with something?”

Although there were two women doing the housework, Woo-Jin sometimes helped them out when there was some heavy-lifting to do. The housekeeper smiled at Woo-Jin’s instinctive question and shook her head. For some reason, she had a solemn look on her face, so Woo-Jin wore a serious expression as well.

“Remember how we did a big cleanup of the house two days ago?” she asked Woo-Jin.

“Yes.”

While Woo-Jin was away at the Awards Ceremony and doing additional filming in the USA, his mother decided to change the house’s interior. It wasn’t a monumental project, but after she finished changing the interior, she decided to hire a house cleaning service. She then entrusted the house to the cleaners two days ago since it was already time for a spring cleanup.

“Quite a few people came over that day, so Miss Kim and I were busy preparing their meals and snacks. To be honest, that’s why we couldn’t check each and every person one at a time.”

Although Woo-Jin didn’t know what she was going to say, the housekeeper started with an excuse and asked for his understanding since there was a reason behind her actions.

“My mother was also home that day since she took a leave of absence; you two are not responsible for anything.”

Woo-Jin and Woo-Hee were not home at the time, but their mother was present, so the housekeepers couldn’t be blamed no matter what had happened. No one in this house would be so unreasonable with them.

“Still, the madam had left the second floor in my care.”

“Did some valuables disappear?” Woo-Jin asked.

He couldn’t remember any valuable objects disappearing over the past two days, though.

“The valuable items are all here, but.…”

“Oh, then it’s fine.”

It was quite common for Woo-Jin’s belongings to disappear wherever he went. Hwang Yi-Young had gotten angry and even gave his fans a warning, but it was futile. Uncontrollable people were everywhere. With that in mind, Woo-Jin took the situation lightly. He assumed that one of the cleaners had realized this was Chae Woo-Jin’s house and secretly took a couple of his belongings.

“But we’ll still have to complain to the company, so please write down a list of the missing items,” Woo-Jin said.

“I made a complaint this morning, but the company said that their workers weren’t the ones behind the disappearances. It seems they maintain strict management over their people since they work with many wealthy homes. If a bad rumor about the company spreads after they make a mistake, then they’ll obviously have no jobs in this town afterward. However, as I spoke to the company, they mentioned something strange.”

The true subject that the housekeeper wanted to bring up was here.

“When the people from the cleaning company entered the house that day, apparently a young lady tagged along with them naturally and without hesitation. The team leader asked her if she worked at our house, and she said yes.”

“A young lady?” Woo-Jin repeated.

The only people working at Woo-Jin’s house were two middle-aged aunties and an uncle who came to manage the garden twice a week. Woo-Hee was the only person in this house who could be called a young lady, but she wasn’t home that day. And even if she were home, there was no reason for her to tell them she worked here.

“When I heard that, I also distinctly remembered a cute-looking girl inside the house. I assumed she was one of the cleaners, and I presume Madam thought the same.”

Woo-Jin was shocked to hear that someone had entered their house freely without raising any suspicions. Rather than blaming anyone, he felt like he had been stabbed in a tiny gap in his armor that he wasn’t aware existed. Woo-Jin was especially surprised by the girl’s crafty yet bold actions that took advantage of the chaotic house-cleaning day.

“I am quite suspicious of that lady,” the housekeeper stated.

“What are the missing items?” Woo-Jin asked.

“One of them was the box with the items that could be thrown out; the one that you prepared a day before. The other was one of the photobooks you made with your friend Hyun-Min.”

Except for the photobook, all the items that had disappeared were things that were going to be thrown away anyway. Thus, it was only natural that no one was aware of their disappearance nor cared enough to check. However, the housekeeper noticed the abnormality this morning when she was sorting the trash to take out the bins.

“Wait, I’m missing something too.”

After finishing her call, Woo-Hee had been quietly listening to their conversation from the side when she suddenly remembered something and raised her hand.

“You’re missing something too?” Woo-Jin asked in surprise.

“Yeah! Remember the box that I use to collect all the sticky notes I get from you? It disappeared as well. I thought a cleaner confused it with garbage and threw it away.”

Occasionally, when he had something to tell her, Woo-Jin would write messages on sticky notes and stick them on either the door of his sister’s room or the refrigerator. It was a habit he had gained and kept from the days he didn’t have a phone when he was young.

Woo-Hee started keeping them in a small box at some point because she didn’t want to throw them away. In this era where people didn’t write letters anymore, it was nice to have handwritten notes like these for some reason.

“I’m sure that we put the items we were disposing of in cardboard boxes and put them aside. Before the cleaners started working, we clearly told them that there was nothing to discard aside from those boxes. So, there’s no way they threw something away accidentally.”

The housekeeper guaranteed that the cleaning company could not have thrown something away by accident. In other words, it could only have disappeared if someone stole them with malicious intentions. Woo-Jin and Woo-Hee’s expressions turned solemn. It almost sounded absurd to say that a stranger had broken into their house while it was defenseless, and no one was aware of it, but they couldn’t deny it now.

“Although it was a special case this time, we should be more careful from now on. Was the woman caught on our security cameras?” Woo-Jin asked.

“I checked the footage, but she turned her face away whenever she was in their field of view. It was as if she had been aware of each camera’s location in advance.”

Sometimes, a few people who claimed to be Woo-Jin’s fans came to the house or loitered in the area. These people had even gone through the garbage bags at times, so the housekeeper only put the trash outside right before the pickup truck arrived. Those people would’ve been well aware of the positions of each security camera installed outside the house.

“Even if that’s the case for the exterior cameras, the ones inside the house must\'ve seen her.”

When Woo-Jin brought up the cameras situated at the entrance and the living room, the housekeeper shook her head.

“That’s why this is a serious situation. It’s like she knew their positions well in advance. She kept showing her back to the cameras the entire time. Whenever she had to walk past one, she’d walk sideways or backward. I just checked the footage and got goosebumps all over my body because of that,” the housekeeper said.

Woo-Jin initially thought that it was simply the actions of a bold and shameless fan. But the more he listened to the housekeeper’s story, the more their situation seemed grave and alarming.

“At first, I thought I was being too paranoid, but after listening to the cleaning company and checking the cameras, I don’t think we can turn a blind eye to this issue.”

The disappearance of a box of trash could be overlooked, but having worked in this house for a few years, the housekeeper could make a clear distinction between regular fans and crazy ones. Furthermore, she knew from experience how reckless and unhinged the latter could be, so she couldn’t let this issue go.

Woo-Jin and Woo-Hee took the housekeeper’s words seriously and went to check the security camera footage as well.