Rookie Talent Agent Knows It All-Chapter 789: Miso Effect (1)

Scratch.

Miso pressed her nails into the table while lying forward across it, and began to scrape at the surface.

The scraping sound echoed like something from a hundred years ago. Miso's face twisted in pain as she clawed at the table like Illyeong trapped in a narrow barrel, begging to live. I knew she was wearing artificial nails, yet the way she immersed herself in the role made my body tense without warning.

I took a short, steadying breath to calm my racing heart and forced myself to keep watching her performance. Her nails kept raking across the wood. The sharp friction filled the reading room, and every actor and staff member grimaced as if sharing her suffering.

Then Miso slowly lifted her head. Her eyes had rolled upward until only the whites showed. Her body curled in on itself, as if illustrating that cramped confinement. With her mouth half open, she wheezed shallow breaths and stared blankly into the air. Tears streamed down her face.

『Help... me... please...』

The faint sound, like something squeezed out at the edge of death, tightened around my heart. Even Yoo-Jin, who had told me to hold myself together, gripped my arm before she realized it. The sting barely registered because my chest hurt far more.

『Is... no one... there...?』

The weaker her cries grew, the more the actors' faces twisted with pain. The child actors who would appear in the island scenes covered their ears, terrified. A few adults even held the trembling children in their arms.

Miso's voice carried the despair and terror of a person whose life was slipping away. I hadn't imagined her acting had improved this much. I was wrong. While I hadn't been watching, she had grown into someone capable of this.

Then Park Sang-Gyu, playing Wolryeong, began his scene with a cruel expression.

『Heh heh heh... How could there be no one? I'm right here, child... heh heh heh. Become a Prince's Ghost soon and come with your old grandfather. Go on.』

Even as Miso kept scraping the table, Park Sang-Gyu showed no sorrow or pity. Instead, he looked thrilled, as if his power would grow once the child died and returned as a Prince's Ghost.

Miso stared at him through falling tears, her white eyes trembling. The actors beside him unconsciously twisted their faces to match. Only Park Sang-Gyu kept smiling at her.

『What... did... I do... wrong...?』

『You? Wrong? None at all. Not a thing. You were simply born with great spiritual power, and it was unlucky that I noticed. Blame your fate. And... if you feel wronged, resent me. Resent the people. Resent the world. Then become a mighty vengeful spirit for me. Heh heh heh.』

At Park Sang-Gyu's cursed words, Miso's breathing grew even more ragged.

Her already faint voice faded further, until she trembled and began calling out for her mother in a heartbreaking whisper.

『Mo... Mom... Mom... Mo... om...』

The hoarse, broken sound slipped from Miso's mouth like her last breath. Next to me, Yoo-Jin clutched my arm and let tears stream down her face. With each cry of "Mom," she gripped her chest tighter with her other hand.

『Heh heh heh... At last! It's complete... heh heh heh!』

As Miso's voice dwindled to nearly nothing, Park Sang-Gyu's crazed laughter only grew louder. Playing Wolryeong at the moment of the Prince's Ghost's birth, he spread his mouth wide and began drooling onto the table, consumed with ecstasy. Both he and Miso were completely immersed, their mouths frozen open in pure focus.

Then, An Joong-Taek, playing an islander who had come to stop the shaman from creating the Prince's Ghost, shouted at the top of his lungs.

『There you are!! Wolryeong!』

His voice rang with righteous fury. He shook with rage as if discovering that Sang-Gyu was about to kill his own daughter.

The supporting actors playing islanders raised their voices with him, screaming together.

『The damn shaman's killing the child! Grab that bastard!!』

They shouted in fury, spitting with emotion as if ready to tear Park Sang-Gyu apart. The air grew so thick with tension that it prickled across my skin.

At that moment, Oh Sang-Do silently waved his fingers.

It was the cue to move on to the next scene.

Park Sang-Gyu clutched his chest and cried out.

『Urgh... You... wretched vermin... ruining the great design...』

As he spoke, he began writhing like someone stabbed by countless blades. Gasping for breath, he finally collapsed onto the table.

Thud.

The heavy sound echoed through the room as Park Sang-Gyu whispered in a fading voice.

『I shall return. When the mist rises... and the moon hides... I'll come for you as you sleep... and squeeze the breath from your throats...』

Thump.

Park Sang-Gyu gave his final line and finished his death scene as Wolryeong from a hundred years ago.

The moment he fell still, the supporting actors turned to Miso, lying on the table, and shouted with urgency.

『Illyeong! Wake up! Stay with us!』

As if freed from the barrel, Miso slowly straightened her hunched shoulders. But she looked as if her life had already flickered out.

She wheezed softly and whispered with faint desperation.

『So... hun... gry...』

Thump.

Like Illyeong seeing the last light of day before dying in the dark, Miso collapsed with a dim expression onto the table.

Both Miso and Park Sang-Gyu remained frozen in place, having finished their scenes. But the reading room was dead silent, stunned by their performance.

Even Oh Sang-Do, who had been leading the session, remained frozen, not calling cut or reading the next stage direction, just staring at the two of them.

They couldn't stay like this any longer, not without exhausting themselves.

I finally shouted.

"Mr. Oh!"

Startled, Oh Sang-Do flinched and shouted back.

"O-Oh! Cut! Cut! Okay~"

Only then did Miso slowly lift herself up and sigh deeply.

"Thank you~"

Just then, Yoo-Jin sprang up as if she'd been waiting and ran straight to Miso. I wanted to check on her too, but instead, I gripped my phone and began recording the scene.

I wanted the world to see what Miso had poured into this moment.

***

"Mom, the fake nails you put on for me all broke. What do I do?"

Now out of character, Miso raised her hands with a small frown. All ten artificial nails were bent upward toward the ceiling.

"They're just fake nails—we can buy new ones. But hold on, let me check if you got hurt."

"Okay."

Yoo-Jin pulled Miso into a hug and inspected her fingers one by one. Even fake nails could cause injuries when they snapped off, especially on a child's delicate fingers. After carefully checking each one, Yoo-Jin finally let out a relieved breath.

"Whew~ You're not hurt. You scared me, sweetheart."

Miso gave her a sheepish grin.

"Hehe. Really?"

"Really. You did so, so much better than the last time I saw you. Did you learn a lot from Ms. Choi Ji-Young while I was away?"

"Yup! A lot!"

As they talked, Yoo-Jin helped Miso fully detach from the role of Illyeong. The other actors nearby waited quietly for their conversation to finish.

"Our Miso, are you feeling okay now?"

"Me? Yeah. I feel totally fine."

Miso tilted her head with a cheerful smile, and only then did the tension in the room ease.

Actors began to exclaim in admiration all at once.

"Miso~ If you raise the bar like that from the start, what are the rest of us supposed to do?"

"Phew. I'm seriously scared to act now. Why are kids these days so terrifying?"

"Man... I've been acting for 30 years, and suddenly I feel like I need to go relearn everything."

"I heard Choi Ji-Young's been mentoring a bunch of kids lately. Maybe I should go get some lessons too."

The supporting actors, with careers ranging from three to thirty years, praised Miso with genuine awe. Meanwhile, the younger child actors, who had been frightened, looked at her wide-eyed and worried.

"Miso? Are you okay?"

Miso nodded.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

The kids gave her a double thumbs-up.

"It... it was really scary! But you were awesome!"

"Yeah, I almost cried!"

"I thought you were really dying, Miso!"

They gazed at her with admiration, and Miso, bashful under all the attention, smiled shyly.

That same attention turned toward Park Sang-Gyu across from her.

"When Sang-Gyu appears in this drama, I bet the viewers are gonna hate him."

"He's definitely getting pelted with stones on the street. Better go out and enjoy life before it airs."

"Totally agree. I got genuinely pissed watching him act earlier."

"You saw me stand up during that scene, right? If I didn't have the script in my hands, I swear I would've rushed over and grabbed his collar. I mean, the immersion? It was real."

Park Sang-Gyu looked around and gave a dramatic shiver.

"I thought I saw murder in everyone's eyes just now."

"You only just noticed?"

Miso's total immersion had spread to Park Sang-Gyu as well. Thanks to that, everyone in the room had been pulled deep into the scene.

It made me want to scream, ‘These are my actors!' to the whole world.

Still, for the actual shoot, we'd need to disguise Park Sang-Gyu more with makeup. I couldn't let the public start throwing rocks at one of my precious actors.

At that moment, Oh Sang-Do cleared his throat, pulling everyone back to focus.

"Ahem. Alright, if we've settled our emotions, let's move on with the reading, shall we?"

"Yes, Mr. Oh."

Seeing the energy among the cast, Oh Sang-Do smiled with satisfaction.

"Also, Yung-In and Kyu-Hwan, let's step it up, alright?"

Ju Yung-In, the lead actress, responded confidently.

"No one's gonna say the lead got outshined by Miso. I'll make sure of that."

Meanwhile, Sung Kyu-Hwan answered with nervous determination.

"I... I'll give it everything I've got."

Oh Sang-Do nodded with satisfaction and began reading the scene direction.

"Alright, let's jump right in. Scene 10. A fog-covered sea with zero visibility. A large fishing boat crashes into a reef and the motor fails. Drifting through the thick mist, the boat eventually arrives at Yeonmu Island. It's the day of the Grand Ritual."

Ju Yung-In and Sung Kyu-Hwan, cast as a college couple stranded on the boat, grabbed their scripts and threw themselves into the reading with everything they had.

***

To keep up with Miso's incredible performance, lead actors Ju Yung-In and Sung Kyu-Hwan had to give it their all. And even the seasoned supporting actors, who had shown up expecting a light table read, were so shocked they ended up pouring themselves into their roles.

Thanks to that, the script reading for Yeonmu (Smoke & Fog) wrapped with more passion and fire than any other drama I'd seen.

Looking pleased, Han Yoo-Sik addressed everyone.

"After next week's final script reading, we'll begin on-site filming in early April. The locations will be islands off the southern coast—Jodo, Hodo, and Namhae. That's when the sea fog typically rolls in. Most of the time we'll use CG, but we may shoot in natural mist when possible. Please prepare accordingly."

"Yes, sir!"

"Alright then—dismissed."

With that, the actors and staff rose and began filing out of the meeting room.

A moment later, only Yoo-Jin, Miso, Ju Yung-In, President Ahn Young-Hee, and Han Yoo-Sik remained.

We needed to talk about the upcoming stock listing for Hoop Entertainment with Mirinae, which would become our white knight, and JU Entertainment, Ju Yung-In's agency.

At that moment, Miso, seated beside me, was staring at me like a sunflower, completely ignoring the fancy snacks on the table. She was clearly waiting for feedback on her performance, so I smiled and showered her with praise.

"Our Miso. You were the best today!"

Miso clapped her hands and beamed.

"Hehehe. Really?"

"Absolutely."

"I'm so glad. I practiced hard just to show you, Uncle~"

Han Yoo-Sik let out a hearty laugh.

"Chief Jung, after what Miso showed us today, it's clear we need to start treating her as a proper actor, not just a child star."

At that moment, I made up my mind—this was the perfect opportunity to remove the ‘child actor' label from Miso once and for all. And to push Mirinae and Hoop Entertainment front and center for promotion, too.

We were about to list on KOSDAQ, after all.

"President. I think we should release footage from today's script reading to the media right away."

"How can we promote a drama that hasn't even started filming? Wouldn't May be better—maybe a month from now?"

"No, there are two reasons why it has to be now."

"What are they?"

"First, we need to address the skepticism surrounding Mirinae as a new production company."

Despite the star-studded cast—led by Yoo-Jin and Ju Yung-In—public concern lingered. People doubted Mirinae because it had only recently emerged from bankruptcy.

But if we showed Miso's performance today, no one would dare suggest the drama would flop, or that the production was unstable.

"Fair point. What's the second reason?"

"The stock listing of Hoop Entertainment."

In this industry, a company's share price hinges almost entirely on how well its celebrities perform.

A big-name actor choosing the right project could rake in hundreds of billions. That's why Yoo-Jin was actively promoting her link to She Was Beautiful—to boost Hoop's stock value.

But Miso hadn't been involved in promotion so far.

Child actors didn't get paid much, and their ad rates were low. And when Miso delivered a strong performance in In the Name of God, it was less about acting skill and more about public sympathy for a poor orphaned child.

The public didn't see her as an actor—they saw her as a tragic figure.

But today, Miso proved otherwise.

Her performance was on a completely different level—enough to earn respect as a true actor. Which is why I decided to include Miso in the IPO Jackpot campaign[1] for the first time.

After a short pause, Han Yoo-Sik nodded.

"Okay. Then let's package Ju Yung-In and Kyu-Hwan's performance together, and pair Miso with Park Sang-Gyu in a second clip. We'll release them as a double feature."

"Agreed."

Promoting Miso was important, but to promote the drama itself, we had to push the leads as well.

After discussing a few more strategic details with Han Yoo-Sik, I immediately called reporters Choi So-Hye and Jang Moon-Ki.

***

Thirty minutes later.

We had edited the footage into short clips and finished the phone interviews. Now all that was left was to wait for the articles to go live.

Han Yoo-Sik muttered with a hint of worry.

"I wonder how people will respond once the articles are out..."

Yoo-Jin gave him an encouraging smile.

"Don't worry, sir. Everyone's going to love it. The script is solid, and the acting's on another level. You've got nothing to worry about."

"I hope you're right..."

Then—

"It's up!"

The articles by reporters Choi So-Hye and Jang Moon-Ki hit the front page of the major portals.

And it exploded far beyond what I'd imagined.

"This... this is insane."

1. The korean word for this was 따상. 따블 (double) and 상한가 (upper limit). It refers to an ideal scenario where a stock opens at double its IPO price and then hits the upper limit ☜