Chapter 2

Twenty years old.

An age when the arrogance of finally being an adult makes it easy to stumble, too busy to look honestly at how much growing still remains.

Yoo Hari was no different from any other twenty-year-old.

Consumed by the grand ambition of becoming an actress, she lacked the judgment to protect herself, and a bad adult who recognized her naivety reached out to take advantage of it.

“Someone wonderful is waiting for you.”

The place Hari had been brought to without explanation was a VIP room tucked deep within a room salon, set apart from the rest.

She should have known something was wrong the moment they dressed her in a low-cut gown under the pretense of an audition opportunity, but the girl who had only just turned twenty was far too innocent.

“Is this what an audition is?”

“Behave yourself. Everyone goes through this.”

Director Gwak Sanggu alone had produced over ten top actresses. Did that mean all of them had risen to fame this way? Hari couldn’t believe it. It felt as though the entire moral order of the world she had believed in had come crashing down, and she felt a deep sense of betrayal.

“All you have to do is sit down and have a few drinks. Be agreeable, keep him company, and you’ll become the most famous actress in Korea. You could be rich, too.”

“Haah……”

She had never taken becoming an actress lightly. She knew it would be a long and brutal road, and she had made a firm promise to herself not to give up even if she ended up rolling through a field of thorns.

She wasn’t unaware that opening this door would turn that thorny path into a smooth highway. She could race down it like a car on the autobahn. What an extraordinary privilege that would be.

“No.”

But Hari had no desire to achieve her dream through cowardice like this. It was her late mother’s unfulfilled dream. Someday, when she faced her mother again, she wanted to throw herself into her arms and proudly tell her she had lived a wonderful life as an actress.

“I will never do something like this.”

Her firm refusal made Gwak Sanggu try a gentler approach first.

“……Hari. Didn’t you say you wanted to earn a lot of money and help the children at the orphanage?”

“That’s true, but……”

“If you get along well with this person, he’ll arrange commercial work for you. You won’t debut in bit parts, you’ll debut as a lead. And of course you’ll earn well. Everything you ever wanted, all within reach. I don’t understand why you’re refusing.”

“No. I still don’t want it this way.”

“Hff……”

When Hari refused to budge, Gwak Sanggu’s irritation began to show. He scrunched his face and let out a heavy sigh, visibly struggling to contain himself.

“This isn’t an opportunity I give to just anyone. Out of every aspiring actress, I’m offering this to you alone.”

His lowered voice carried a threatening edge, but Hari held firm.

“Then you’d be better off giving it to someone else.”

“Why you little—!”

Gwak Sanggu finally lost his temper and raised his hand. The slap came down without mercy, and her head snapped to the side as her soft skin swelled red.

“I took you in without looking down on you for being an orphan, and this is how you repay me? You should know your place. How dare you talk back.”

His furious voice rang through the corridor.

For Hari, seeing Gwak Sanggu’s true nature was more of a shock than the throbbing pain in her cheek.

She had first met Director Gwak when she went to take the practical exam for the theater and film department at university. He had approached her with a very kind smile, rattled off the names of the top actresses he had produced, and boasted that he would make her just like them.

Taken in by that kindness, Hari had even handed over the five million won settlement support she’d received from the orphanage as tuition.

And this was what she got in return. It felt like the price of trusting someone too carelessly.

“Shut up and come inside.”

Her wrist was seized before she could collect herself. With no chance to resist, Hari was dragged forcibly into the room.

“Hey! Director Gwak. Long time no see.”

Empty liquor bottles were scattered across the table, and the man sitting at the head of it, raising a hand in greeting, already looked thoroughly drunk, his eyes glazed and unfocused.

“I apologize for making you wait.”

“I was just about to get annoyed, you know.”

The man ran his eyes up and down Hari with a leering gaze, and the irritation on his face smoothed away at once.

“But how can I be angry when you’ve brought me something this fresh. Director Gwak really does have the best eye in Korea.”

“I’m glad you’re pleased.”

The man clapped his hands together with a satisfied grin stretched wide, and Hari thought his face looked like an old catfish.

“Hello there, sweetheart. What’s your name?”

Just looking at his face disgusted her, so Hari averted her eyes and refused to answer. Gwak Sanggu grabbed the back of her head and forced her into a bow.

“This is Executive Director Kim Yeonghun of Chayoung Group. Greet him properly.”

The words came through clenched teeth, barely containing his anger, and Hari heard in them the threat of another blow.

“Easy now. We don’t want to leave marks on something this pretty. Director Gwak.”

“She’s not quite broken in yet. My apologies.”

“I like that, actually. Half the fun is the breaking in.”

Even visibly trembling, she refused to give her name, and that defiance only seemed to sharpen the man’s twisted appetite.

“Her name is Yoo Hari. Please treat her well.”

“Of course, of course. Trust me! Consider the Cha Foods commercial yours.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll take my leave.”

Gwak Sanggu shoved Hari toward the table and walked out of the room.

“D, Director……”

Hari rushed to follow him out, but the door had been locked firmly from the outside and only rattled as though it might break.

“I don’t want this. Please…… Please open the door! Director!!”

The man watched her struggling desperately to open it, as though he found it charming, then picked up his glass and walked toward her.

“It’s alright. Everyone’s like this at first. You’ll get used to it soon.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder with a show of warmth and pulled her close, and Hari shuddered as though something had crawled onto her skin. He laughed softly, tightened his grip, and brought the glass to her lips.

“Drink this and relax.”

“I, I don’t want to…… Let me go.”

Hari kept her lips pressed shut even as she trembled with fear, and the whiskey he forced against her mouth ran down her chin without entering.

He then grabbed her face, pressed both cheeks, and forced her mouth open.

“Mmph.”

The harsh whiskey poured in and burned her throat, and Hari coughed violently. The effort of forcing out each breath left her too drained to keep fighting back.

If only someone would break down that door. An impossible miracle filled her thoughts.

In that moment, a quick idea flashed through her mind.

The man seized the opportunity and pulled her tighter, then began pouring the liquor straight from the bottle.

“That’s it. Good girl.”

Hari writhed as though in pain, kept her mouth shut, and let the liquor run down her face.

‘When this bottle is empty, he’ll order another. When the server comes in, that’s when I get out.’

She was acting out that plan when the man suddenly moved to kiss her. Hari shook her head with everything she had.

“Don’t. I don’t want this……”

He slapped her across the face without hesitation.

“Ngh……”

The force of it was enough to fill her mouth with the metallic taste of blood.

Two hard blows from a heavy hand, and her skin had given way.

All she had ever wanted was to become an actress. Was dreaming too big a sin for an orphan? Why did she deserve this?

Tears streamed down her face from the grief and hopelessness of it all, but even then, Hari fought to keep her composure.

“I, I’d rather drink until I black out completely. Could you give me more……”

She spoke as though resigned, and as planned, the man picked up the interphone and ordered more drinks.

“Look how sweet you are when you behave.”

Hari endured his filthy hand stroking her cheek by keeping her eyes fixed on the door.

At last, she saw the door handle turn. The instant it did, she shoved the man away with all her strength and ran to pull the door open.

The server pushing it from the other side stumbled and crashed to the floor from the impact, and the bottle that fell shattered with a sharp crack.

Hari didn’t waste the opening. She leapt over the fallen server and escaped the room.

Clutching her skirt in her hands, thinking only of the exit, she ran as fast as she could down the long corridor.

“Hey! Stop right there!”

The man and the server came tumbling out after her.

She was nearly out of breath, but Hari wrung out every last bit of strength she had and ran toward hope. She couldn’t look back, so she had no way of knowing how close they were.

Then at last she found the exit. She ran up the stairs, and the blaze of neon signs flooded her vision so suddenly that everything went white for a moment.

When her sight cleared, the first thing she saw was a man in military uniform, leaning against the wall with an effortlessly striking posture, smoking a cigarette.

‘Thank goodness. A soldier.’

To a girl who had only just turned twenty, a soldier seemed no different from a police officer.

So she grabbed his arm without a second thought and begged for help.

“S, sir! Please help me!”

“Sir……?”

His cap was pulled low and she couldn’t see his face clearly. But she could see the unlit cigarette fall straight from his parted lips to the ground.