慈禧太后的秘密

The cat flinched and looked at her before creeping over to the top of the laptop keyboard. She sighed.

“It’s not funny if you do this, okay?”

She curled her fingers up with the intent to flick the cat on the forehead. The cat cried curtly and raised her front paw.

She seemed like a baby reaching out to a baby mobile. She looked so cute that Haneul forgot that she was a mischievous kid interrupting her work.

Some say that cats are auspicious animals, and Ricebun definitely looked the part.

“Sheesh, the cute ones are the most frightening,” she said as she tickled the cat’s chin.

She couldn’t bring herself to hate the cat when it approached her like a dog would instead of keeping a distance.

“Still, mom has something to do, so I’ll play with you later.”

She raised the cat up and placed her on her lap. The cat took her place on her lap in comfort as though she found her lap warmer and more comfortable than the keyboard.

She stroked the cat’s round head with her left hand and used a mouse with her right.

She looked alternately at the scenario and the script she had written and opened an editing program for storyboard creation.

She drew some sketches in the boxes split vertically. As she was drawing with a mouse, it didn’t look that great, but that didn’t matter. This was just about setting the structure and getting a general feel.

She would write some words, then draw the storyboard again, then go back to writing. She had gotten used to doing multiple things at once, so she didn’t find anything difficult. In fact, she found it much more efficient than working on them separately.

The cat on her lap eventually left in search of other toys. Haneul kept moving her fingers while the cat explored everywhere in the house.

She focused for a while before checking the clock. She had been sitting down for two hours. Her back, wrist, and neck felt stiff from sitting too long.

She did some light stretches and made some coffee. Her husband was going to be late because of a shoot, so she could just eat a light dinner by herself.

She brought a pillow from the bedroom and placed it on her lap before starting to work again.

Whenever she hit a block, she drank the cooled coffee and took some time to close her eyes.

Opening a book or starting to clean was a terrible idea even if she couldn’t write. She had to stay at the desk even if her head was in a daze.

She fidgeted by scrolling up and down the scroll wheel on the mouse as she drank from the mug with the other hand. Even though she tilted the cup a lot, no coffee touched her lips. It turned out that she had drunk everything already.

“The time… is quite late.”

The sun had set. She clenched her sore eyes shut before opening them again. A sense of hunger she had forgotten about rushed over her. Her brain was demanding glucose.

She opened the cupboard and took out cup noodles. Today, she could only think about instant noodles. It must be a habit from her previous life.

After finishing the cup noodles, she made another cup of coffee and went to the laptop again. She had to write as much as possible while she still had time.

She glanced over the lines she had written in the morning and checked if they were truly lines that stemmed from emotions, if they were unnecessary, and if they felt forced.

Thankfully, there was not that much to edit. It was very satisfactory. But then again, she might feel different a week later.

Just then, she could hear the door opening.

It was 8 p.m. She had heard that he was going to shoot late into the night, so this was surprising. She stood up and stood in front of the door. Her husband came in holding a wet umbrella.

She was slightly startled.

“Is it raining?”

“It’s pouring. Summer’s passed us, but it’s quite heavy.”

“I didn’t even realize it was raining.”

“This house has terrific soundproofing. If you close the door and shut the curtains, you won’t be able to hear anything.”

“Anyway, good work. The shoot must’ve been halted midway, right?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t the kind of rain that would stop. We waited for 30 minutes before pulling out.”

“How about food?”

Maru took off his jacket. “I ate something, but I’m still hungry. Did you make something?”

“I had instant noodles.”

“Then I guess I can eat instant noodles too.”

“Would you like to eat rice instead? I’ll make some.”

“Forget it. You have work to do.” Maru pointed at the laptop she had opened in the living room.

While he changed his clothes in the bedroom, she took out a cup noodles and boiled some water.

“Spicy or mild?”

“Mild.”

She poured the water into the cup noodles and took out some kimchi from the refrigerator and placed it next to the cup. Having left the bedroom, her husband yawned as though he was tired. She sat opposite him.

“How was the shoot?”

He replied as he used chopsticks to eat,

“Senior Yang drained me of all energy today too.”

“You look good for being someone drained of energy.”

“It’s fun at least. It was just a little tiring. Would you like some?”

She shook her head. After drinking the soup, he looked at the living room and asked,

“Is the writing going well?”

“For now, I’m not hitting any blocks. It’s going smoothly. I’m not sure if it’s going in the right direction though.”

“It’s you writing it, so there’s no way it would go off track. Can I read it?”

“I’ll show it to you later. It’s not fun if you read an unfinished script.”

He smiled and nodded.

“Since we’re getting monetary support, try making a huge blockbuster with a 10 billion won production budget. Director Na says he has a lot of money.”

“Even the almighty director Na will refuse that. Also, I can’t handle something that needs a lot of budget. I’m going to increase the density with me, you, and a few others. It’s not my style to create something big,” she said as she glanced at the laptop.

It had been two months since she started trying her hand at writing a film scenario. The trigger was Na Baekhoon. After refusing a few of the scenarios he proposed, he suggested that she write one herself.

He even said that he would hand over the position of director, and at first, she thought of that as a joke. After that, he told her on multiple occasions to be in charge of the script for the film.

She then asked what part he had so much faith in that he suggested something like that.

“I trust the person known as Han Hnaeul. A person with a complete world of their own is bound to stand out no matter what they do. Moreover, when you pointed things out while looking at my script, it wasn’t advice from someone with superficial knowledge. I’m sure you must have tried writing yourself, or perhaps even have a completed script. So, rather than my half-baked script, how about you plan and shoot a movie, Miss Haneul?”

Honestly, she was won over the moment she heard those words. Unlike her husband, she had been both an actress and a director numerous times.

Perhaps thanks to the influence of her mother, who was a writer seven out of ten times, she had a keen interest in creating a world.

Just because she was tempted, however, she couldn’t accept it readily. She thought over it multiple times.

The contract had become quite complex, and she had not yet fully spanned her wings as an actress, so she couldn’t just switch course to being a director.

“Then, for now, try writing your piece. I’ll be the capital when you create a scenario that is satisfactory to you, and when you want to make your writing into a video.”

Director Na was a man with a great obsession. He kept persuading her, saying that he wanted to see the outcome even if it were to take time.

The result of all that was the laptop on the table.

She didn’t know when, but she would grab the megaphone at least once before her breathing came to a stop.

“How about 50,000 won for your payment, sweetie?”

“A certain someone told me that you should be more meticulous about monetary matters the closer you are,” he replied as he washed the empty noodle container.

“So you want to get paid in full?”

“By the time the script you write is being filmed, the price tag on my body would be quite considerable. If I do it for a mere 50,000 won, wouldn’t the people around me say something about it?”

“That’s how you want to play this?” Haneul twitched her eyes.

“I was just joking. I’ll take the 50,000 won, so create a splendid story. If I don’t like it after looking at it, I won’t do it. I have my pride as an actor. I can’t participate in an awful story.”

“How picky of you.”

She looked at him cleaning up before sitting at her laptop again.

She was originally expecting a long-distance marathon and tried to take it slow, but when she actually started typing, she couldn’t stop herself.

“Ah, right. Introduce me to Mr. Daemyung.”

“Daemyung?”

“You told me he’s aspiring to become a writer in this life too, didn’t you? I’ll get some help from him. You said he quit working in Pohang and came back to Seoul, right?”

“You want an assistant writer, huh? You’re naturally paying for that, right?”

“I was once a famous scenario writer. Do I really need to pay someone when they get to work with me?”

“Your figure of an evil businesswoman putting passion pay into practice is quite beautiful. If you really want him to do charity work, I’m not giving you his number. He’s my friend after all.”

“I was joking. I have money too. For now, I’ll pay him by the hour to get some feedback and opinions about my work, and if I think it’s okay, we’ll create the plot together. It’d be great if he has talent in this life too. Having a best-selling author as a helper is quite reassuring. Oh, right, how many works did he write that got ten million ticket sales?”

“Uncountably many.”

Haneul tapped on her chin with her index finger. “Am I the one who should be learning from him instead?”

“Try talking to him. He might not have any talent in writing in this life.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to him then.”

Her husband came behind her. He looked at the screen before speaking,

“You’re creating the storyboard at the same time too?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re filled with willingness to create that film, huh? Director Na is quite something.”

“He might be above president Lee Junmin when it comes to discerning other people. He’s quick to catch what I want.”

“He’s a born businessman. Talent is quite scary. Seeing senior Yang makes me realize that.”

Her husband sat on the sofa and started reading his script. Whenever he looked at a script, he would focus on that alone as though he had become deaf.

Haneul too, focused on writing.

Only the sound of typing and rustling paper filled the living room for a while.

After looking over her writing for a while, Haneul thought about her schedule tomorrow and turned her head around.

“I almost forgot, we’re going tomorrow, aren’t we?”

Her husband also closed his script.

“Right. I totally forgot.”

“You prepared your clothes, right?”

“I was going to go with a suit, but I felt like that wasn’t right, so I’m going to go with a neat shirt and cotton pants.”

“That’s what’s best. My mom likes that style too.”

She had announced to her mother about a week ago that she was going to bring her boyfriend home. Her mother asked back multiple times in disbelief.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Going to go with the textbook method. Please give me your daughter, I’ll not have her touch a drop of water all her life!”

“There you go again. If you bring up marriage, mom will pass out on the spot. Just appeal that you’re seeing me seriously, okay?”

“As you wish, m’lady.”

Her husband made a thin voice like a eunuch.

“Is father-in-law there too?”

“Of course.”

“He’s my only ally, my father-in-law. I hope he sides with me this time too.”

“My dad in this life is on the colder side, so he might not like you.”

“I’ll have to do my best to look good to him then. Are you really okay with just buying gifts from the local supermarket?”

“I think looking amicable is the way to go. As for proper gifts, we’ll do them when we properly introduce everyone. I’ll also do that when I visit mother-in-law. What do you think?”

“Mrs. Lee is someone who’ll be humbled even if you come empty-handed, and the same goes for my father.”

She closed her laptop.

“Like this, we’re introducing ourselves to the families, huh? We did it countless times, but I’m still nervous. Quite strange, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

Her husband fell in thought with a phone in his hand. She wondered what it was about and walked over. He looked up ‘how to make a good impression on your mother-in-law’ on the internet.

“Just be proud and tell her that you’re a successful actor,” she said while poking him on the shoulder.

Maru took his eyes off his phone.

“Then I guess I must introduce you as a female president with shares in a solid business and a soon-to-be successful actress, huh?”

“Is the supermarket not a good idea for a female president? Should I buy mother-in-law a bag? I’ll score points early on.”

“You want me to bring supermarket gifts, but you’re getting handbags? Let’s not do that. The thought is what counts.”

“I’ll have to get close to mother-in-law early on so I can talk bad about you together later.”

Her husband chuckled before going to the bathroom.

One by one, everything was returning to its proper place, whether it was for him or for her. Haneul looked down at her stomach.

“Daddy and mommy will play around for a little while longer before going to find you. Please wait a little more.”

She smiled while thinking about the child with lovely eyes, who would eventually, surely come.