“Im Eunsung.”

The picture of Eunsung backed away from the camera to reveal Mr. Chanwook. He turned it around in his hands to look at her. “Such a nice name for a nice girl,” he mused.

“Where’d you get that?” I asked, trying to sound controlled and even. But deep inside, I was burning with dread. The very thing I had tried to prevent had happened.

“Where do you think I got it, Baekhyun? Lee Yagi has had a whole fleet of photographers on you for the past two days,” the director answered angrily.

I looked down, upset at myself for allowing this to happen. “I know, but--” I sighed, shaking my head. “I was so careful.”

“Now, this is exactly the kind of thing I was afraid of with you, kid.” Mr. Chanwook’s words crushed me. “I mean, you-- you’re obviously not serious about doing this movie.” My eyes widened in horror when I heard him add, “I don’t know, maybe-- maybe you’re just too young.”

“No, sir,” I said immediately. “Look, I made a mistake.”

“Come on, Mr. Chanwook,” my mother intervened. “Give us a chance to fix this.”

The man on the other side of the video call groaned in exasperation and took off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. “All right, all right,” he conceded. “Make the story go away.”

“How do we do that?” asked my father.

Mr. Chanwook replaced the glasses back onto his nose and folded his hands together. “You call Lee Yagi. You offer her an exclusive. You say you don’t know this girl. You say she’s just some fan who was following you around all day,” he ordered.

I looked at my parents then back to the director. “You want me to lie?” I wanted to clarify, a little incredulous at his proposition.

“Baekhyun!” Mr. Chanwook began laughing. “This is the tabloid press, dude. This is not the Supreme Court. Say whatever you have to say, because I promise you, either this girl”-- Mr. Chanwook lifted the picture of Eunsung up for me to see-- “goes away or the movie does. Okay?”

A choice. Either Eunsung or my career. I had to choose.

After a moment, I gave a small nod.

Satisfied, Mr. Chanwook turned off the video call with a short, “Goodbye.”

I turned back to my parents who were watching me carefully. Burdened by their disappointed gazes, I looked back at the ground, my heart heavy. Was this really the right decision?

In a few hours, I was in Lee Yagi’s studio, sitting across her. When the green light indicating that we’re live went off, the woman started, “So we’re talking about this girl.” We both bri