Life is Easier If You’re Handsome - Chapter 24

‘I’m ruined.’

‘Totally screwed.’  

‘My life is over.’  

“I’m not even worth living.”  

In the empty office, Choi Seok-ho, the CEO of Veritas, stared blankly out the window.  

The view outside was nice.  

‘Too bad the view inside is the worst.’  

Could there be a word more fitting than desolate to describe this situation?  

He thought he had enough connections, and his career seemed solid.  

But he had failed.  

Why?  

Because he had gone against a conglomerate.  

“Was this really necessary?”  

You can’t stop an actor from choosing a project—that’s up to the writer and the director.  

But you can stop them from choosing a management agency.  

Especially when it’s a small, one-person agency that has clashed with a major corporation.  

For Cybers QA, tightening the noose around Veritas was a piece of cake.  

‘I just… I just want to jump off.’  

He had tried to recruit countless actors, but every time, the result was the same.  

Nothing.

He had adjusted the profit-sharing ratio, renegotiated contract terms, and even increased signing bonuses.  

No matter what he did, no actor would sign with him.  

Word had spread.  

Choi Seok-ho had gone up against Cybers QA, and no one wanted to sign with him out of fear of being blacklisted by the conglomerate.  

At this point, he felt like crying.  

Everything he had built in his mid-thirties seemed to have crumbled, his career revealed to be a mere sandcastle.  

‘I feel so alone.’  

Especially since everyone around him had abandoned him.  

Sure. No one could help him out of this mess, but still.

Not a single person had reached out a hand.  

Having left the comfort of a conglomerate, it became clear to him: outside of that world, he was nothing.  

Seok-ho was drowning in deep loneliness.  

And so, on a whim, he had invited the building owner to a meal.  

He wanted to hold onto anyone, even a stranger, just to vent.  

The unexpected kindness from the building owner made him want to lean on someone.  

All he wanted was a simple conversation with someone.  

‘It’s about time to meet them.’  

After looking around at the empty office, with no employees or actors under contract,  

Seok-ho straightened his clothes in front of the mirror.  

The building owner had said they would come if they had time.  

All Seok-ho could do now was wait patiently.  

And just then.

Creaaak.

The door opened.  

“Hello, I’m Kim Dong-hoo. Are you the CEO of Veritas?”  

Light entered the room.  

‘What’s this?’  

First of all, he was incredibly handsome. 

Ridiculously handsome. 

It was unreal.  

Next were his proportions and striking build.  

And finally, the aura.  

Seok-ho had seen the auras of many actors, and they all had one thing in common.

A strong presence. 

The kind of presence that commands attention.  

In that sense, Seok-ho was now feeling the greatest presence he had ever encountered.  

And this boy had walked into his management office on his own?  

This was a gift from the heavens.  

“Yes! Yes! That’s me, I’m Choi Seok-ho, the CEO.”  

Without even realizing it, Seok-ho found himself speaking formally as he clumsily ran toward the boy.  

Kim Dong-hoo, was it? 

This kid is stunning.  

With that thought, he hurried to shake his hand.  

“Welcome to Veritas! So, what should we do first? A contract? Looking into projects?”  

Seok-ho was buzzing with excitement.  

But his excitement didn’t last long.  

“Actually, dinner.”  

“Sorry? Dinner?”  

“You mentioned a dinner appointment today, didn’t you?”  

Dinner appointment? When did I ever arrange that with this boy?  

And then it hit him.  

‘The dinner with the building owner.’  

As everything clicked into place, Seok-ho’s mouth dropped open.  

His shocked expression was like a painting of despair.  

“… You’re the building owner?!”  

———

{Dong-hoo’s POV}

Awkward. Awkward.

That word summed up the situation perfectly.  

Bubble. Bubble.

Between me and CEO Choi Seok-ho, the army stew on the table was the only one assertively making its presence known.

“Let it cook a little longer.”

And there we were, awkwardly staring at each other.  

“So… Uh, how…?”  

“I was just lucky. Tried a bit of everything.”  

“Oh, um… You don’t have to be so formal. After all, you’re the building owner…”  

“No. You’re much older than me, so I should show respect.”  

“Well, then, you can just call me hyung…”  

CEO Choi Seok-ho—or rather, Seok-ho hyung—was trying really hard to ease the awkwardness.  

Honestly, I wasn’t feeling awkward at all, but it seemed like he was by himself.  

“Alright, I’ll call you hyung then. Thanks for your consideration, Seok-ho hyung.”  

“Uh, uh, yes, yes. But are you really okay with just having army stew?”  

“Yeah. This place is great.”  

For reference, we were on the first floor of our building, at a restaurant called ‘Daemawang Army Stew’.

The owner knew me, and that meant—  

“Oh my, our Dong-hoo, the building owner, is here! Why didn’t you say so?! Hey, ladies! Add more noodles to their pot, and bring out some rolled omelet too!”  

Whenever the owner spotted me, we’d get a ton of free service.  

“Wait. They serve rolled omelets here too?”  

“That’s a building owner perk. They’re really good.”  

“Wow…” 

Seok-ho murmured in amazement before quickly regaining his composure and speaking again.  

“Oh. I really wanted to thank you personally for the flower arrangement. It meant a lot.”  

“Oh, don’t mention it. It’s only natural.”  

“No. I’ve been going through some tough times, and it was a huge help.”  

“Dong-hoo, your army stew is ready, so go ahead and eat!”  

“Thank you, ma’am.”  

The restaurant owner cut in with her cue to start eating, and Seok-ho hyung awkwardly took my bowl and served me the stew, piling it with ramen noodles and spam.  

I appreciated his open kindness.  

“Thanks.”  

“No, no. I’m the one who should be thanking you.”  

We ate the army stew in silence for about five minutes.  

During that time, Seok-ho hyung kept shaking his head now and then, as if he was deep in thought.  

‘He seems to be struggling with something.’  

I had a good idea of what was on his mind.  

Just as I was about to lighten the mood with a casual comment—  

“Have you ever considered becoming an actor?”  

Seok-ho hyung went straight to the point.  

“An actor?”  

“Yes. If you became an actor, you’d… You’d become really famous. Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone as handsome as you in my life.” 

His eyes were dead serious as he said this.  

In that moment, I suddenly saw a glimpse of my past life—  

Back when I was filled with helplessness, yet kept pushing forward, refusing to curse my life over my appearance, and continuing to walk.  

For some reason, I saw that same determination in Seok-ho hyung.  

“I’m already an actor.”  

“Oh, you… You are?”  

The moment he heard those words, Seok-ho seemed to visibly age.  

It was almost shocking how a person could deflate like that, like a balloon losing air.  

Seeing him like that, I immediately tried to lift his spirits again.  

“But I don’t have an agency yet.”  

“Tha—what?! Ah! Just wait a minute! Just give me a moment, please!”  

Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.

Seokho hyung hurriedly stuffed a few more bites of stew into his mouth before jumping to his feet.  

It looked like he was rushing to get the contract, and I couldn’t help but think about how urgent he must’ve felt.  

‘I haven’t even said I would sign anything yet.’  

But, of course, I knew it was going to happen.  

After all, the information from Sims – Real Life was making sure my life would fall into place smoothly.  

Crash! Bang! Boom!

Once again, Choi Seok-ho nearly tripped as he rushed over to me, panting heavily. 

As expected, he had brought a stack of documents, seemingly a whole pile of prepared paperwork.  

———

Of course, no contract was going to be signed in the army stew restaurant.  

Choi Seok-ho realized just how ridiculous he was being.  

Was it because it had been so long since he’d met an actor without representation?  

His face flushed red with embarrassment, but he continued to speak.  

“… So, you’re currently appearing in Dream High as a supporting character, with around five episodes of screen time planned.”  

“Yes. That’s correct.”  

“And you’ve got over 10,000 followers on FaceStorm…”  

It went beyond just being an actor.  

Though still considered a newcomer, I had already adapted to filming.  

Such cases do happen—when a breakout star emerges.  

But usually, this is only after an agency has nurtured that talent to some degree.  

‘So it’s possible to manage all this alone?’  

Was this just raw talent? 

Seok-ho gathered his wits.  

This was a contract he had to secure, and he was already backed into a corner.  

Holding back now would be foolish.  

“First off, the signing bonus will be 30 million won, with a 9:1 revenue split—oh, and by the way, I’m the 1.”  

Seok-ho laid all his cards on the table.  

He didn’t want to ruin the situation by playing games and holding back.  

“The reason for the 30 million is because I see great potential in you as the building owner. I’m familiar with Dream High. It’s going to be a massive hit, and the fact that you’ve already started filming…”  

“As for the revenue split, it’s the same reason. Normally, there’s a lot of care involved with new talent, but someone like you, the building owner, doesn’t need that. You’ve already achieved so much on your own.”  

“And lastly, the contract term…”  

Seok-ho closed his eyes tightly.  

“I’ll set it for just one year. Honestly, this is everything I’ve got.”  

Now, all that was left was to wait for the response.  

What could be scarier than a building owner holding all the power?  

Then, Kim Dong-hoo finally spoke.  

“Why such good terms? Even if the conditions are fine, you could extend the contract term.”  

“That’s because I shouldn’t. I do business based on trust, and it’s also because I’m confident.”  

“Confident?”  

“I’m confident that you, the building owner, will want to re-sign with me after a year.”  

Please just give me that chance.

He seemed to plead with his trembling voice.  

Dong-hoo smiled brightly and replied.

“Of course.”  

As memories of a time when he had worked hard flashed through his mind, Dong-hoo agreed to sign.  

And Seok-ho immediately lost all composure.  

“O-oh, um, well… How should I address you? Building owner? Dong-hoo-nim? Building Owner Dong-hoo?”  

Unsure how to navigate this, Seok-ho stumbled over his words.  

Dong-hoo burst out laughing.  

“You can just call me Dong-hoo, casually.”  

“Okay, got it, Dong-hoo… Building Owner Dong-hoo…”

“…?”  

Isn’t that sentence a bit strange?  

———

At the same time, at Shinbit Middle School.  

It was the time of day when all the students were heading home.  

A man drove up in a luxury sedan and stood by the school gate, staring intently.  

He had been standing there for about 40 minutes, thinking he’d recognize the boy immediately since he was supposedly very handsome.  

But after waiting for so long without any sign of him, the man finally approached a nearby boy.  

“Do you happen to know a student named Kim Dong-hoo?”  

“D-D-Dong-hoo? Dong-hoo?”  

Glance.

The boy’s name tag read Na Kang-sik.

He was a bit on the chubby side.  

Since he referred to Dong-hoo by name, he seemed to be a friend.  

“Yes. I’m not a strange person. I just…”  

Swipe.

The man pulled out a business card to show who he was.  

Studio Geumgang, CEO Park Geum-gang.

He was a man who more than anyone else wanted his film to be a success.  

And at this point in time, no one wanted Kim Dong-hoo more than him.  

But—  

“D-D-Dong-hoo hasn’t been coming to school lately.”  

“W-What?! Why, why?!”  

“Uh, well… It’s personal information, so I really shouldn’t share that. I can’t tell you.”  

“!”  

Fair enough.  

This kid was pretty sharp.  

Having no other option, CEO Park had to go inside the school and meet Kim Dong-hoo’s homeroom teacher.  

After explaining the situation, he was able to contact Dong-hoo’s parents.  

After all that, he finally obtained Kim Dong-hoo’s phone number.  

It had been a long and arduous process.  

Riiiing. Riiiing. Riiiing

‘Kim Dong-hoo, we have to meet.’

CEO Park’s eyes burned with intensity as he made the call.