“Pretend to be her boyfriend? Are you out of your ing mind? No!”

Kim Jaejoong, entertainment industry’s resident bad boy on and off cam, was having a bad day. It was one of those moments where he wanted to do a Darko rampage over his frustration with dirty politics.

       Darko would have none of this bull. In Darko’s world, everyone existed according to his rules. He loved playing Darko, his extremely complex character in a superhero movie franchise that catapulted him to worldwide stardom the moment his lips first broke into that now legendary sinister grin on the silver screen some four years ago. Darko made his own rules and broke them. Everyone danced to his tune.

       In the real world, however, Jaejoong  had to dance to someone else’s tune. A woman’s tune, for that matter, but not in the way he wanted it.

       He was about to be HER “boy toy” against his will, not that he hadn’t been a boy toy once or twice in the past, but they were all on his terms. He’d called the shots, when to start it, when to end it and all the encores had depended on his whim. This time, however, was a different story. He won’t be calling the shots. He’d be following orders. HER orders. He wouldn’t even get to enjoy some for his trouble. He’d just be acting.

       Acting as Dara Park’s boyfriend. Meaning, she’d be his pretend girlfriend.

       , no!

       He’d never even had a real girlfriend to begin with. He’d been involved in several semi-steady liaisons with women in the past but “girlfriend” was a higher level of engagement for him. He didn’t take this girlfriend thing lightly.

       “No. That’s bull, Junsu. No. End of discussion.” He raised his hand to make his manager shut up.

       But Junsu was all business today. “This is a sure ticket to your destination, Jaejoong and you know it.”

       “I don’t need to resort to cheap tricks to land this role! My resume will speak for me! I have a ing Oscar, for crying out loud!”

       He wasn’t the type who’d flaunt his acting awards but this was called for. Yeah, granted it was only Best Supporting Actor, but an Oscar was an Oscar, dammit!

       His manager didn’t even bat an eye. “Yeah, Oscar boy, but this role you want is the ing Holy Grail right now. You’re not the only one in the running for the lead. Every A-list actor is after it. I heard Choi Seunghyun wants it.”

       That got him definitely worried. Top was arguably the reigning king. What Top wanted, he got. “Why would he wanna be Super X? He’s already got the Tazza Remake.”

       “Who knows what Top’s thinking nowadays? He’s got box-office records to back him up and the producers are his pals. He might even co-produce. He has the perfect look, too.”

       “I have the perfect look! Super-X is ME! I know it! I feel it here!” He thumped his chest.

       “Of course, man, but you know the big boys. They want the biggest box-office draw for this movie. The budget’s sky-high. They wanna create a new franchise that will rival the other established ones. They’re even courting Hong Sang Soo to direct the maiden installment. It’s gonna be the ultimate superhero movie. They wanna make sure of the returns.”

       “My superhero movies broke box-office records in this decade.”

       “But you’re not the lead,” Junsu pointed out, not pulling any punches.

       Jaejoong sighed and he knew he was losing the argument. Junsu didn’t mince words when it came to managing his acting career. He called a spade a spade and that was what Jaejoong hired the man for. Junsu was one of the most sought after manager-to-the-stars and his client list was peppered by some of actors biggest money-makers. Jaejoong knew that he was currently Junsu’s biggest client, the reason why he got most of the man’s precious time amid his extremely busy schedule. Still, it rankled when Junsu refused to cater to his ego even just a little bit.

       Jaejoong did star in that superhero movie as the main antagonist. It was a role he’d reprised thrice in several off-shoots of the original movie. It was that role that catapulted him straight to the A-list. He knew he’d contributed greatly to the success of those movies. Playing this badass anti-hero with a wounded soul and dark powers required some serious acting, and he wasn’t really lacking in that department. His character even got nominated for an Oscar, extremely rare for a superhero movie since many years ago.